Internship Alert: We’re Hiring Interns for a Live Music Photo Site

We’re currently looking for 3 people to fill part-time (10-15 hrs/wk) internship positions. This is a great opportunity to be part of a live music photo site/start-up site while developing social media know-how and communications skills. The ideal candidate is a student of communications, journalism or related field of study, as well as a music lover with interest spanning multiple genres.

The intern will work closely with our Community Engagement Coordinator to help to build traffic and mind-share through outreach into the music community. This outreach would occur online and at music events around Indy. The intern candidate will gain first hand experience contributing original content, managing multiple social networking platforms and interacting on music blogs and fan sites.

Additional tasks may include:

• Monitoring and reporting on site analytics and keyword analysis
• Adding and tagging content on the site
• Writing artist bios or concert reviews
• Reviewing and reporting on feedback for our mobile app currently in development
• Creating and editing photo and video content in conjunction with the Creative Producer and Community Engagement Coordinator

Helpful skills and traits:

• familiarity with basic creative software (Photoshop)
• a keen interest in social communications
• ability to adapt to new roles and work well independently

These internship opportunities for the fall semester will run from September 2010 through December 2010 and are Indianapolis based. The positions are open to all currently enrolled students who are eligible to receive school credit for their internship with us. These are unpaid positions requiring a minimum of 10 hours per week.

To apply, send a resume and cover letter to sara [at] wiseelephant [dot] com by September 15, 2010.

One of the things we do at Wise Elephant is help launch start-ups and products. Currently we’re heading up operations for one of our clients, a live music photo website. Our roles include overall strategy, marketing and everything from planning workflow to building a team.

We’re currently looking for a person to fill a part-time (10-15 hrs/wk) Community Engagement Coordinator position. This is a great opportunity to get involved with a start-up from the ground up. Our ideal candidate is a music lover with interest spanning multiple genres.

The Community Engagement Coordinator seeks to build traffic and mind-share through outreach into the music community. This person is our ambassador, evangelical and street team rolled into one. This outreach would occur primarily online, and include managing multiple social networking platforms and interaction on music blogs and fan sites.

Additional responsibilities may include:

· Monitoring and reporting on site analytics and keyword analysis
· Adding and tagging content on the site
· Writing artist bios
· Reviewing and reporting on feedback for our mobile app currently in development
· Creating and editing photo and video content in conjunction with the Creative Producer

This position requires a familiarity with basic creative software (Photoshop) and a keen interest in social communications. Helpful characteristics include ability to adapt to new roles and work well independently, as the position will start as a virtual, work from home opportunity. Attendance at meetings in Indianapolis will be required.

To apply, send a resume and cover letter to sara [at] wiseelephant [dot] com by September 1, 2010.

Image Credit – phil h

Bicycling just got a shot in the arm as a strong option for public transportation in the US. Sobi, the Social Bicycle System, offers bicycle sharing in a model reminiscent of Zip Car. Sobi is an innovative mash-up showcasing what is possible at the intersection of good design, technology and social strategy.

Once an account is created, ’social cyclists’ can use a smart phone to locate and unlock nearby bikes. Users can track the environmental impact of their bike trips, as well as calories burnt on the Sobi system.

Bike share programs have popped up in cities across Europe and Asia, but relatively few are up and running in North America. Sobi claims to have trimmed the per-bike start up costs to only $1,000, down from the $3,000 – $4,000 spent per bike in existing initiatives.

The SoBi team is currently still in prototyping and will test their system in New York City this fall.

The Social Bicycle System from Ryan Rzepecki on Vimeo.

Americans have a romantic notion of being able to walk next door to borrow a cup of sugar, but most people I know don’t have that type of relationship with their neighbors. Neighborgoods seeks to change that by setting up a network where you can search for items you need to borrow, or lend/rent your own goods. A quick scan of my own zip code turned up a wide array of available items. With a few clicks I could borrow a video camera, a sewing machine or a tent.

On the surface, the site aims to save you money, but the deeper purpose is to build community. In tandem with the rising popularity in location-based social networking, our comfort level with getting to know our neighbors online will increase.

How NeighborGoods Works from sparky rose on Vimeo.

After watching ice cream trucks all but disappear from streets, the food truck business has made a huge comeback. When a taco truck in Indiana can make it into the New York Times, you know there’s a trend afoot. West Coast Tacos in Indianapolis is the perfect example of the hybrid business – new product, old package, new relevance. It’s new in the sense that it offers fusion food, korean tacos. West Coast Tacos then uses the old delivery method of the food truck, made relevant in today’s market by the fact that they broadcast their location through twitter to let people know where they’ll be on any given day. In addition, location-based game foursquare allows checking-in to food trucks, and there’s even a badge to earn, adding to the allure for the hyper-connected.

Our reconnection with the business on wheels might just be an extension of our addiction to cell phones, mobile apps and an on the go lifestyle. And this could be just the beginning. Enter LaSMOOCH, the couture truck, your roving source for fashion and accessories, at least if you’re in the Hamptons. This is hybrid to the extreme – a high-end product, typically sold from glass cases in posh retail environment (or maybe a catalog or web site) available in a truck converted to look like a walk-in closet. According to Manhattan Style, LaSMOOCH carries pieces ranging in price from $50 to $1,200.

Fashion might be old business, and mobile trucks might have been around the block, but together? All of this combined with neighborhood targeting via drive-by. This isn’t so different from the age-old marketing tactic of buying zip codes to send a catalog or snail mail promotion, but in this physical manifestation it offers the immediacy of product now versus in 8 to 10 business days for shipping.

In some cases the nonprofit sector has turned mobile to get services to those in need or to deliver health service messages in new ways. The documentary Born Sweet showcases a mobile karaoke truck visiting remote Cambodian villages to steer people away from old water wells tainted with arsenic.

Beyond the truck, the vending machine is another example of businesses going hybrid to meet new demand, find niche markets. If you’re in Spain, you can access gourmet meat 24/7, thanks to a butcher shop that installed a meat vending machine outside its shop. Or, consider the Art-o-mat, a refurbished cigarette machine, modified to dispense $5 art. We’re not only mobile, but seeking convenience in clever, unexpected forms.

The next wave of hybrid business could very well be less about product, and more about experience. Think: Mobile Karaoke, Tattoo trucks, Photobooth on wheels. What else could work in a vending machine? or on a truck? If you’re in an old biz, can you mix it up with new distribution? Can your business go hybrid?

Image credit: pamhule

As news consumption shifts between mediums, the future of printed news comes into question. Somewhere between feelings of nostalgia for the tactile experience and a drive for progress and technology, there’s cause for great reflection on the role of newspapers.

Lauren DiCioccio creates mixed-media work for a mixed media world, using the New York Times as her canvas. She says,

As news-gathering departs from paper form and is conveyed instead through the television and internet, the newspaper becomes a nostaligic and old-fashioned object. I describe the beauty of the ritual experience of newspaper-reading by describing the paper as a tactile and fragile object in the language of craft. The pieces in this series are entire issues of The New York Times encased in hand-embroidered cotton muslin. I select a photograph from the paper; usually a strong image suggestive of power, leadership or communication; and embroider the image onto the fabric, applying colors in a painterly way and layering line and thread. Portions of the image remain as outline and threads tangle and unravel from the fabric.

The result is thought provoking, a beautiful illustration of what could be lost.

Jamie Keiles, at just 18 years old, has raised the bar on the student resume, not once, but twice. Having just completed The Seventeen Magazine Project, in which she documented 30 days of living life as advised by Seventeen, she has widened the scope for her latest project, teenagerie.com to cover representation of teenagers in media.

Major media outlets, such as NPR and Bust Magazine, have already taken note. Keep an eye on this one. There’s no telling what her future projects might include.

Seeking a million voices for a cause isn’t anything new, but peopleforbikes.org have put together an ambitious nationwide call to action to help create a more bike-friendly environment in the states. If you’ve ever biked on a busy road, you know how much this movement is needed.

They’ve gotten a great start – a beautifully designed website with clear paths for engagement. In addition to signing a pledge to bike more often, users can learn about local biking initiatives and contact legislators to support public policy for biking issues. Of course, this is just the beginning, but I look forward to seeing how their community grows. peopleforbikes.org is an initiative of Bikes Belong.

Found via Eric Stine

I went to my bank, Marshall & Ilsley in Broad Ripple, the other day and something really strange happened. There was no one else in line and the two tellers were finishing up with their previous transactions. One of them looked up at me and said, “Hi Sara, I’ll be right with you.” WAIT – what? She used my first name? Which she obviously remembers from previous visits?

In a time when “personalized” is often achieved by an automated feature, like when your name is added to a letter via mail merge, this really floored me. I wondered, did the teller do this on her own? Or was it a part M & I Bank’s training and customer service policy to use the customer’s name if known?

It reminds me of erwin, one of my favorite restaurants in Chicago. I haven’t lived there since 2005, but when I did, I dined at erwin once every couple of months. I like to make it back there for dinner when I’m in the city, mostly because I love the food and seasonal menu. It doesn’t hurt that the same host has been there for years, he always remembers me and we have a nice chat. Even though I haven’t lived there in 5 years! I can’t imagine how many people have passed through the restaurant’s doors.

This is one simple thing you can do that won’t cost anything extra to do business – integrate remembrance into your customer service. It makes people feel good when you remember them.

Image Credit: mprinke

Inspired by Mira Calix, visual and aural arts composer. See her work featured on The Creaters Project. First she envisions the creative work, then finds the technology to make it happen.