It's All in the "Brown H"

Establishing, continuing, or changing one’s career path can be a challenging endeavour. In doing so, and especially in a world in which the ease of electronic communication gives backseat to face-to-face first impressions, our names are our introductory ambassadors, heralding our existence. What can make this career creation more difficult, is when one’s name proves a challenge in itself (particularly when it contains a non-existent, culturally specific letter).

Facing the challenge of unworldly articulation approaches for far too long, Arati (R-Thi) Sharma, project manager at Toronto digital experience creation firm Jet Cooper, decided to make an appropriately pre-emptive video detailing the proper pronunciation of her name. Having made the mistake once myself (sorry, A-Rat-tee), and then awkwardly tip-toeing around it saying it for at least a couple weeks (for A-Tari’s sake, not mine) the intent behind this video is both appreciated and justified. The video can be found on the Jet Cooper blog.

However, beyond the retellings of tragic first days in September, and even beyond the hilarious proclamation of the existence of a “Brown H,” (the alphabetic Big-foot of Indian names – has anyone really ever seen it?) the video highlights an oft championed, but rarely executed-so-well capability of our digital age; the individual ability to share our own stories and advance our own identity.

Nice Rack

The Paperback Bookshelf, by Studio Parade

If there is at least one thing that the old-fashioned, physical book has over the various types of e-readers, aside from a few millenniums of existence, it is the bookshelf. This thankless vanguard of intellectual support and storage has been keeping our bound volumes safe for as long as there has been a necessity to have a space to cram texts, parchments and/or papyrus.

Yet, beyond the functionality of the shelf, serving as a place to place our paperbacks, is its legacy as an element of interior design. Whether it’s for the infusion of an eclectic collection of colours in a common area or the development and gradual procurement of a stately library to ensure, and quite obviously assert, one’s intellectual acumen (whether feigned or for real), the bookshelf (presumably loaded with books) is an ancient and essential component of decor.

Of course, there are countless iterations of the bookshelf, from those costing $29.99 at your nearby Ikea, to improvised stacks of anything from milk crates to skateboards. However, the inspiration behind the Paperback Bookshelf, from Dutch-based design firm Studio Parade, is so absolutely simplistic, it borders on ingenious. This minimal shelf simply positions books on their sides and in small stacks. When said aloud, admittedly, it sounds ridiculous that such a thing had to be designed. Yet, when viewed, one has to appreciate the blunt wisdom inherent in the simple desire to see things from a different perspective.

I, Telenoid

One sometimes wonders if the whole effort to create humanoid robots that will fulfill various household tasks is actually derived out of necessity, or some sort of Popular Science-Fiction/fantasy wish-list. Sure, various types of robotics and machines can, could, and do make our days more convenient, but making it into some sort of cyborg android seems more in line with frivolity than utility.

It is this thought that occurs to me as I look at the Telenoid R1, a nightmarish, android, alien baby with a body like a semi-formed tad-pole. Designed and constructed by roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro, in collaboration with Osaka University and Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, the Telenoid is intended to aid in long-distance communication. Functioning somewhat like a telephone, you speak to the Telenoid, and as the person on the other end of the line replies, the Telenoid program picks up their facial cues and physical language and mimics it.

Apparently, speaking to the alien from Cocoon, who has inexplicably assumed your friend’s voice, eases the pain of distance more than Skype does. And this is precisely the question, sure the Telenoid is terrifyingly neat, but is it (and would future ancestors of it) be truly more effective at personalizing long distance communication than future incarnations of a service such as Skype? I think, in the future, I would much rather speak to that ridiculous CNN hologram of Will-I-Am, than I would C-3PO with Will-I-Am’s voice.

That is, of course, until Apple gets a hold of it and creates an entirely new, hip, lifestyle changing, tech product, that they tell us we need, the iPerson.

The Wilderness Beyond Boundaries

A couple months ago, Radiohead lead Thom Yorke prophesized the music industry’s imminent and not-too-far-off downfall. The cause of this would be related to reasons that have been heard before, those being primarily the industry’s player’s unwillingness and inability to adapt to more innovative models of distribution, and lack of embracing the possibilities inherent in new technologies. Yorke encouraged young artists not to sign with the sinking ship labels, and instead, explore these new possibilities on their own.

In terms of embracing these new possibilities, artists need to look no further than Arcade Fire. Though still represented under label Merge Records, the band has not been shy about experimenting with everything from distribution to music videos in the lead up to the release of their new album, The Suburbs. Earlier in the summer, the band not only webcast their Madison Square Garden show on YouTube, but had auteur director Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) direct the project. As well, in terms of the album’s release, aside from traditional methods and among other things, the band also made the songs available to listen in full off their own website.

Now the band has launched one of the most fascinating projects associated with The Suburbs, The Wilderness Downtown, the interactive short-film/Google Chrome and street view project that blasts the boundaries of the traditional music video. Directed by Chris Milk, the video, for the song “We Used to Wait,” prompts the viewer to enter their home address and then proceeds to lead the viewer through an abstract narrative set in their own neighbourhood.

Nearly three months since Yorke’s declaration, the industry still remains standing, but at least bands that matter, like Arcade Fire, are continually testing new waters.

You've Got Mouse

Mice exist, deal with it.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we have to deal with it inhumanely, as we have been doing for the last however long time.

For those who’d rather avoid pinched fingers, mess, smells or murderous guilt, the new OneDown mousetrap design, entered into the 2010 International Design Excellence awards (and winner of the gold prize), on behalf of the DSK International School of Design, does precisely this. When set on its side, the bottle shaped trap allows the mouse to enter through its mouth. Once in, the mouse’s own weight causes the trap to roll upright, on its rounded bottom, indicating that it has made a catch. From here, one can simply empty its contents outside and away from the home.

Now, the comment may be posed that, by doing this, it just gives the mouse a chance to come back. This is true, but, with far more mice in the world than people, it is more than likely that another mouse will make a visit anyway. If you really want to keep mice away altogether, a cat is still tops in design and function.

This trap design was not quite functional... and was never as fun as the commercials made it look.

Tailored Back to the Future

Last week, at a local pub, I had a conversation with a fella about “old-world” professions, such as cobblers and tailors, and their (often diminishing) translation and presence in the modern world. The conversation, largely focused on the admirably persistent cobbler that still operated a shop a block away, was concerned with a question of whether we should, as a society, be dismayed over the loss of such practices, or recognize their greatly lessened necessity and be comfortable with their products more streamlined production.

Now, two things, first; though tailors were discussed, it would be wrong to put it, as a profession, anywhere near the modern status of cobblers. Despite the “mall-ification” of mainstream fashion, with designer brands and template “fitted” clothing, tailors are still a very essential, everyday profession. Second; New York based tailoring company Second Button has quite adequately addressed the above questions and taken an entirely novel approach to re-translating an old-world profession into the new world of fashion.

How Second Button works is a person would first custom order a shirt through the company’s website, selecting from five different styles (classic, alternative, western, military, utility), and then from a variety of details, buttons, fabrics, and colours. Upon checking-out online, you are prompted to enter your measurements, if you do not know them, visit a tailor or follow the site’s how-to videos. Shortly thereafter, the customer would receive their bespoke shirt for the relatively (considering the services involved and high degree of customization) inexpensive price of $70-$85.

Second Button takes its name from the issue its founder had taken up with the placement of the second button on most men’s shirts, and the difficulty in its look when the top button is left undone (either showing off too much chest, or running right up into the neck.). To this end, the company’s primary mission is to produce comfortable, customized shirts, with an impeccable male neckline when worn casually undone.

The one conceivable minus to Second Button, is that despite the innovative reinvigoration of the ancient craft of personalized clothing, under the site’s FAQs it is noted that all shirts are precisely tailored in Hong Kong. Issues regarding working conditions aside (as I cannot say whether or not there would be any here), the obvious issue to be legitimately concerned with is that this does little to revive this old, and necessary, profession on a “main street” near you. Very little can compare the face to face service of a locally dedicated (and talented tailor), so it is always recommended to find one in your own town and start building that relationship.

Now, how do we revive the art of cobbling?

Sterling-Cooper Lands Mattel

In a promotional tie-in, that kicked off the fourth season of the TV sensation MadMen (now in full-swing, having premiered Sunday, July 25), toy-maker Mattel teamed with the show’s production company, Lionsgate, to release four, very limited edition, MadMen Barbie dolls. Being translated into doll form, sharp suits, high retro fashion and all, are the characters Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks), Roger Sterling (John Slattery), Don Draper (John Hamm), and, most appropriately, Betty Draper (January Jones).

Though every TV show, movie, video-game, and their aunts seem to have collector’s edition action figures/dolls tied into their promotional/product strategy, the MadMen partnership with Barbie stands alone in that it is a very well suited one, no pun intended. As Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University put it in a New York Times article, “Mad Men’ represents so beautifully the universe that created Barbie.” This is particularly evident when considering that Barbie was introduced to the world in 1959, and the first episode of MadMen takes place in 1960.

Further bolstering this is simply taking into consideration the character of Betty Draper, the conflicted and seemingly soul-less, Barbie-resembling, ‘50s/60s housewife. Not to overly simplify the Betty character, but she does often come across strikingly doll-like, blonde outside, hollow plastic inside. One wonders if perhaps this partnership better serves MadMen and the themes it presents, rather than Barbie and the, continuously, under-fire image of females that it represents.

Nevertheless, this strategy continues to cement MadMen’s place as a modern, pop-cultural phenomenon, and though I would never fork over the $74USD to purchase any of the dolls anyway, I do find it unfortunate that the Betty Draper doll doesn’t come with an air-powered rifle and her neighbour’s doves to use as target practice (remember that? Wow! Craziest/funniest way to end an episode).

Design Advancement in Frog-Leaps and Bounds

How does someone in Shanghai reduce the power cord clutter in their workspace? Does someone in Seattle have an interesting way of organizing this chaos? And, what are the many ways in which bikes are used for work worldwide?

A new site, Frog Mob, aims to make an instant ethnographer out of all who visit it. Through crowdsourcing people’s creative solutions to common obstacles, a visitor can instantly research how these problems, circumstances, or obstacles may be addressed by various cultures.

Essentially, a topic is created on FrogMob, and then visitors are prompted to submit simplified pieces of media pertaining to the topic, primarily photographs and a brief note. In regards to submissions, FrogMob maintains the following rules:

"1. Keep it visual. A primary goal of this study is to get as many photos as
possible.
2. Be original. All photos must be your own: no stock photography
or published database images.
3. Make it conversational. Whenever possible,
talk to people. Save notes/quotes along with your pictures.
4. Keep it
simple. No reams of notes or audio/video recordings to help us streamline
analysis and synthesis.
5. Make it quick. All photos and insights due back
within one week.
6. Share your findings. Upload and tag your photos to the
active frogMob.
7. To see examples, please view the synthesized results of
past frogMobs"

Beyond the stated ethnographic intent, FrogMob also aims to provide inspiration to designers and manufacturers to aid them in the creation of products and services that are of greater benefit to the user/consumer, on this, FrogMob states that:

“At frog, design research is a tool we use to make sense of human behavior. It
helps us to find those nuggets of insight that lead us to create products and
services that make people’s lives better. With this in mind, we are opening up
our design research process. And we want you to join in.”

Despite the prospects that FrogMob holds for intellectual inspiration and design research potential, it is still in its infancy, with only three topics to date (the third, power solutions, is still open for submissions). Nevertheless, its functionality is still there for anyone looking for creative solutions for the existent topics, whether it be cluttered power cords or the ways in which people effectively take part in social contexts, despite differences in place and time. Moreover, the future potential for crowdsource-inspired easing of humanity’s daily experience, certainly makes it a website to watch and continually check in on.

Enjoy the Sorrow

At a four-movie, dusk ‘til dawn show at East Hamilton’s Starlite Drive-In, I once again, and quite happily, saw Get Him to the Greek. In what has been a very dismal cinematic summer (thank god for the arrival of Inception), the quasi-sequel/spin-off comedy Get Him to the Greek has been a hilarious saving grace.

Staring Russell Brand, reprising his role as Aldous Snow from Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), and Jonah Hill, not reprising his role from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek is about Hill’s character’s struggle to get “off the wagon” again Aldous Snow from London to a live show at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles (and convincing him to revive his washed-up career along the way).

For those who remember Forgetting Sarah Marshall, you may recall a number of faux-rock singles performed by Aldous Snow and his band Infant Sorrow, such as “We’ve Got to Do Something” and “Inside of You.” What is great about Get Him to the Greek is that not only did the makers continue with this idea, but the entire film soundtrack does, in fact, double as an Infant Sorrow – Live at the Greek album, enticing the audience to believe that Infant Sorrow, and front man Aldous Snow, do actually exist.

The album is comprised of a number of Infant Sorrow’s supposed classic hits, such as “Going Up,” “the Clap,” “F.O.H.,” and the ill-received “African Child.” And, to ensure the correct sound (90s inspired Brit-rock), the album is actually a collaboration of established contemporary British rockers such as Carl Barat of the Libertines and former Pulp front man Jarvis Cocker. As well as influences from Russell Brand, and Jason Segel - who wrote the songs that were featured in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and make appearances in this film.

Not unlike Flight of the Conchords, these quirky songs sound great while giving a sort of cheeky wink to the listener. Yet, what is particularly interesting with this album is that despite being, at face value, a fictional band with false singles made for the soundtrack of summer comedy and all tied into a clever marketing strategy, it’s actually a much more enjoyable listen than a good amount of what’s currently heard on mainstream radio.

Unfortunately the Infant Sorrow live-shows were a very limited engagement, however, to further suspend your disbelief (and gladly so), check out the Infant Sorrow website. Or simply buy the album here.



Infant Sorrow "Going Up."

Denim Futures

Now, I do not want to get into the habit of talking about the same topics/organizations within short time spans (see Urban Outfitters last week, and now Levi’s), but sometimes curiosity is peaked by interesting ideas worthy of being shared.

Braddock, Pennsylvania was once a thriving municipality with an economy built around the steel industry. Following the decline in the North American steel industry in the 1970s and 1980s, and an influx of drugs, Braddock saw such a fall from prosperity that by 1988 it was declared a financially distressed municipality. However, since 2005 Braddock has seen growth in its creative sector with the targeted attraction of artists, urbanists and other creative individuals, and it is because of this that the city has begun to see a grassroots driven reversal of fortune.

Enter Levi’s Jeans and their We Are All Workers campaign. Telling the tale of how work is in everything (and presumably, how such various workers enjoy Levi’s clothing), Levi’s has invested in Braddock, both physically, in providing urban infrastructure funding, and public relations wise, through its short film episodes detailing the story of Braddock and its citizens, (see We Are All Workers: Episode 1 –Seeds of Change).

Related to my previous post on Levi’s jeans, the marketing goal here seems to be in linking the story of Levi’s being a pioneer of cool to the grassroots pioneers of a reinvented community that are the current citizens of Braddock. Such investments in social causes are not rare for large corporations; Nike, for example, has in the past put much in the way of resources towards sponsoring inner-city athletic programs (among many other things). What is particularly interesting here is the promotion of the city, and results that the seemingly selfless short films could yield. As well as the inspiration that the activities of the citizens of Braddock, as documented in the film and its following episodes, could provide to likeminded individuals in similarly afflicted municipalities.

Many in Hamilton, Ontario could likely sympathize with the residents of Braddock, PA. Some may even feel that they could directly and understandably identify with them, though luckily, Hamilton’s fortunes did not reverse to the same tragic extent. Nevertheless, Hamilton, like Braddock, is a city of proud citizens, new and old, that are working to rebuild the city under a new image and with a vibrant creative sector.

As stated, an important component of Levi’s investment in Braddock is the public relations contribution made through the short film and its following episodes. In doing this, Levi’s has made less a public service announcement than it has a declaration that creative labour and gentrified communities are cool. As far as attraction and development are concerned, it is this partnering, of the work going on in Braddock and the iconic brand image of Levi’s, that may be the most resounding effect offered by the We Are All Workers film. Moreover, it is this identification of grassroots, sleeve-rolling, creative community development work as cool, that similarly afflicted municipalities may want to leverage (properly) as they look to push things forward.

Digital Incubation

Yesterday the Imperial Cotton Centre for the Arts’ Cossart Exchange ran an “e-Commerce for the Artistically Minded” workshop, located in their Jackson Square office in Hamilton, Ontario. The open event had guest, author, technophile, and Personal Computer Museum curator Syd Bolton, discussing the various means by which an artist or artisan can go about making a living (or at least generating some measure of monetary return) off their works/crafts.

Pointing out that, for many, e-commerce marketplace participation can be a full time job, Bolton illustrated how sites such as eBay, Etsy, iStockphoto, and Lulu can be important tools in the effort to both make a name for oneself, and make some coin off one’s passion. Additionally, that greater usage and participation in social media facets, such as facebook, twitter, digg and blogs, can bolster this awareness and transform the aforementioned marketplace sites into electronic check-out counters.

The commercial potential of digital media/marketplace platforms is increasingly recognized, yet, despite this, participation, particularly from those for whom independent success and low overhead costs would be of great benefit, is still not what it could be. Such participation is often still portrayed in popular media as a novelty. What is important to recognize is that, in an increasingly globalized culture, a creative-entrepreneur’s audience and prospective customer may be on the other side of the world. Therefore, participation on such electronic platforms enhances potential awareness and bridges that commercial gap.

The Cossart Exchange, overseen by program director Steph Seagram, functions as an incubator, specifically aiding creative industry entrepreneurs, artists and other innovators in transferring their ideas from theoretical interests/hobbies into creative sector careers. For more Cossart events click here.

Wooster Collective: Online Gallery of Art on the Edge

Street art and culture jamming is by no means a new or culturally specific phenomenon. Excavation at Rome's fallen city of Pompeii has revealed graffiti scrawled on walls or commentary etched over top of various political or commercial announcements. However, with our continually, and undeniably, commercialized world, the proliferation of various sorts of culture jamming and street art becomes a refreshing alternative to the monotonous drone of the regular promotional noise in our daily experiences.

Though street art and culture jamming are mutually inclusive, they do exist as seperate ideas. Whereas each involves the creation of a public piece of interest and often through the use of pre-existing materials or structures, culture jamming typically takes the form of "subvertising," and creates a commentary, often critical in nature, directed towards an existing organization or group.

The Wooster Collective, named for a street in NYC's SoHo, has, since 2003, documented global instances of both street art and culture jamming, including anything from photos of specific works, interviews with specific artists, and even instructional videos for specific techniques, such as "tape art." Ranging from the whimsical to the witty, Marc and Sara Schiller's Wooster Collective has amassed such a vast collection of documented works that in August 2009 a YouTube channel was devoted to the Collective's videos.

Though we are now quite far from the 19th century styled Salon approval of "official art," the works and artists featured on the Wooster Collective are still frequently considered as existing on the periphery of the art world. Nevertheless, it can be said that the continuation, documentation, and accessibility of the various types of street art and culture jamming, from sites such as Wooster, provides us with a much needed, creative and inspirationally rebellious break from our world through challenging the daily mundane.

Space Invaders mosaic piece, by French street artist Invader. Photographed in Montpellier, France.

Hamilton Open Streets and New Urbanism: What's Old is New in the World of Urban Planning

Yesterday an Open Streets event was hosted in the James Street North area of Hamilton, Ontario. Coordinated by a number of different individuals and parties, the event saw the stretch of James, between Cannon and Burlington streets, closed to all vehicular traffic between the hours of 10 am - 3 pm. Taking the place of the regular Sunday morning bustle was pick-up games of soccer and hockey, musicians, refreshments and various other attractions. This event is among the first of its kind in this area of the city, and with a repeat in the works for September, it certainly will not be the last.

The inspiration and motivation of this event is very much aligned with theories related to New Urbanism. Emerging in the early 1980s, but with roots in the writings of resistors of American post-war urban development practices, New Urbanism is focused on the development of diverse, mixed use communities that are built around the experience of the person, rather than the automobile. After World-War II, automobile ownership ballooned and North American cities sprawled into segregated commercial centres. Dissenters, such as Jane Jacobs, author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities, decried the loss of communities and urban centres built around a variety of uses, industries and purposes. The idea was that the hyper-rationalism being married with post-war urban planning was actually occurring to the detriment of the benefits of the seeming chaos of classical urban development.

It was these benefits that the leaders of the New Urbanism movement saw as integral to the success of healthy and vibrant cities. Moreover, it is these benefits, such as walkability, diversity of cultures and industries, relative closeness of amenities and institutional necessities (such as schools), and generally self-sustaining communities that are once again becoming norm, or, at least, ironically heralded as the future. For example, Next Generation Consulting, an American consulting firm that specializes in the strategic youth development of firms and municipalities (and was brought to Hamilton to assist with topics and projects related to the Hamilton Economic Summit), identifies these themes associated with New Urbanism as central to the success of emerging "Next Gen Cities" in both the United States and Canada.

As the City of Hamilton continually looks to renew itself, and as an increasing number of its citizens get more enthusiastic about its potential future and engage in grassroots attempts to push it towards a better one, it is very much hoped that the requisite support is found in its political management.

In the meantime, it was a great event, can't wait for the next one.

An Appetite for Change

"All art is theft." A statement by Picasso and an idea echoed in the pages of Reality Hunger: A Manifesto, a new book by author David Shields.

At face value, Reality Hunger is a book composed of everyone else's words. Quite literally, the book is made up excerpts and quotes from other authors and other works, but assembled, as though it were a literary collage, to produce an entirely new and powerful work. The manifesto is a call for the advancement of literature as an art, and greater introspection into the boundaries of copyright and the ownership of culture, if not reality itself.

Literature, like film (not even touching music), as popular arts are far more governed by legality and business than they are by self-referential freedom. Take, for example, the world of visual arts, and the ability to repurpose pre-existing materials and even pre-existing works to form an entirely new, and often challenging, piece. Great and famous examples of this can be found in the works of Dadaist Marcel Duchamp, who's pieces in criticism ranged between challenging the very foundations of fine-arts to being absolute nonsense. Shields argues that this same sort of re-purposing should also exist in writing.

Though, reference is always, and has always been possible in literature, through proper citation techniques and the legalities surrounding plagarism, Shields' manifesto focuses on the assemblage of words themselves, rather than the ideas they represent. Essentially questioning that though ideas maybe protected by copyright laws, it is not truly possible to copyright the order of the words that produce the idea. As William Burroughs asked, "who owns the words?" This notion is reminiscent of the Library of Babel, the short story by Jorge Luis Borges that details a seemingly infinite library where every combination of letters, characters, and words exist to form every book, thought and idea imaginable.

Of course, still published under the modern literary practices, Shields could not produce the work without copious amounts of citations. However, staying true to his message, each bibliographical page is marked by a dotted line and scissors at its crease, encouraging the reader to simply cut the pages out.

As society produces culture at increasingly rapid rates, the necessity to interpret and re-interpret reality becomes paramount. Moreover, underlying all of this, is a call for an empowered, and often subjective, pursuit of the "real" through unguarded, societal self-reflection.

The Irony of Intrapreneurship: Looking Out from Within

In the recent comedy She's Out of My League an awful ex-girlfriend of the central character attempts to shame him by stating that her new squeeze is an "Entrapener" (spelling error intended). To this, the central character incredulously retorts "he owns a Pizza-Hut franchise!"

Now, the blurred lines of franchise ownership vs. entrepreneurship aside, the scene both highlights and lampoons a prominent social trend , that being the romanticism placed on being an entrepreneur. Granted, as far as business trends go, particularly in the west, much importance is placed on the growth of entrepreneurs and the emergence of small business start-ups. This is rightfully so, particularly from a macro-economic perspective. As certain manufacturing and production costs increase in developed nations, larger and less encumbered firms will continually search for, and shift to, inexpensive location alternatives. For many regions in developed nations this leaves a commercial gap, a gap that many thinkers and leaders have identified as needing to be filled by empowered entrepreneurs and small business owners. Though this heralding of the socio-commercial heroics of entrepreneurship is not without its numerous truths, it does unfortunately obscure an (in many cases safer) alternative, Intrapreneurship.

Coined in the late 1970s by Gifford Pinchot III and Elizabeth Pinchot, intrapreneurship is essentially the translation of the same sort of risk-taking, ideation and project-management behaviours commonly associated with entrepreneurs, but into the boundaries of a larger organization. A popular outcome of intrapreneurial behaviour, but little known example, includes the creation of the Macintosh in the early 1980s, done by a project group working within Apple Computers. Of course, such intrapreneurial developments do not need to be technically inclined, nor directly responsible for a firms revenue. With many large organizations placing a greater emphasis on social-responsibility, they can also be socially beneficial developments and enterprises existent under the larger organization. An example of this can be seen in Nokia's "Nokia Life Tools" initiative, which aims to "brige the digital divide in emerging markets."

Not only does the notion of intrapreneurship minimize the risks commonly associated with entrepreneurship, it also minimizes the by-product noise inherent in a market made up of myriad small businesses, all struggling for their own recognition. An example can be seen in the microcosm of university campus environments, where in some cases over 250 student clubs exist (many similar in mandate), all fighting for the same captivated audience of students and pool of funding. Intrapreneurs can, and in many cases much more easliy, leverage pre-existing pools of resources, partners, and channels. Yet, it is also not without its failings. Organizations that are not horizontally structured, have myopic vision, or are overly possessive of information or employee creations might not only squelch potential intrapreneurial behaviour, but in-fact may prompt the departure of employees who would rather be entrepreneurs.

In a recent report on Intrapreneurship, Beyond Profit begged the question "Is it the future of social business? And if so, how do we make it the 'new sexy'?" In response to this, I would say that there are many ironies inherent in the idea of intrepreneurship, among them are the idea that in an increasingly individualistic world the idea of working for a larger organization could actually, once again be vogue. As well as the conflict of whether or not one can be truly, individually empowered under a larger organizational umbrella (no matter how horizontal its structure). Yet, perhaps the most prominent irony, and relevant to their question, is that despite the individual bend of intrapreneurship, it is not about "we," nor is it about the individual, but rather "them," and the idea that a firm would first need to enact large cultural shifts and relinquish much control before it can be truly, intrapreneurially attractive.

Photo by Me.