Mobile Behavior: an Omnicom Group Company

For SXSW, event organizers have developed a trendy new way for attendees to network and exchange information using bar codes. By including a QR code on attendee badges, people will be walking around with an interactive "follow me" button.

When you meet someone at an event, let them scan your badge with their smart phone, and they will automatically be following you on my.SXSW, where they can message you or access your contact information.

This is good for the environment. It also makes following up with contacts a whole lot easier. After the event users will be able to download all of their new friends from their my.SXSW address book.

SXSW has also supplied a list of recommended bar code scanning apps and instructions on how to use them.

During London's six-day East Festival, agency Chance Collective has fixed up a bike, connecting it to the grid for a more interactive social media experience.

The Twike for the East Festival has been fitted with a cell phone programmed to tweet out messages when it comes within range of key areas of the festival.

Along with messages tagged #eastfest and @eastfestival, users can follow along via Flickr and an eventual Google Maps mash-up.

[via mashable]

iBAC is a mobile app by Alcosystems that lets consumers track their personal blood alcohol level.

The phone application includes an algorithm that tells you how much you can drink the night before in order to be able to drive safely at a particular time the morning after. You take readings during the evening to feed data into this, and the system takes into consideration to user’s gender, age, weight, etc.

Personal analytics tools such as this are helping us optimize our lifestyles through data and generally make better choices. In this case, that choice would be not to get behind the wheel after too many kegstands. We can see MADD or a similar organization branding an app like this.

[via mobilebeat]

In light of the 2010 Winter Olympics, the Vancouver Organizing Committee and Bell have put together an iPhone application for event attendees. 2010Guide is location-aware and uses GPS to point visitors to what is happening around them. Also included are maps, both exterior and interior, for straight forward navigation. For those who are not going to be in Vancouver for the events, the app provides a schedule and headlines to follow along from afar.

These all-in-one guides are becoming increasingly common, my.SXSW for iPhone is one other example that bundles event specific schedules, maps, and news to place in the palm of your hand. Not only are these applications replacing physical brochures, but they make use of our existing devices to present up-to-date event information.

[via intomobile]

On the heels of several big announcements from new Foursquare partners, the New York Times says they are launching our first integration with Foursquare this Friday for the Winter Games. According to Jenna Wortham on their Bits Blog:

In conjunction with the Winter Olympics, The Times will be offering recommendations to Foursquare users on restaurants, attractions, shopping and nightlife in Vancouver, Whistler and the nearby town of Squamish. The tips will be pulled from The Times’s travel and entertainment coverage.

Foursquare users who check in at one of the suggested venues will earn a New York Times Olympics badge, said Stacy Green, public relations manager for The New York Times Company.

“Going forward,” Ms. Green said, ”we are looking into other ways we can work with Foursquare in New York and other markets to integrate our strong travel and entertainment content.”

Ms. Green tells us the Times believes this partnership "will be a great way to bring useful Times content about Vancouver and Whistler venues to Foursquare users."

There are several other mobile components to this effort. Times mobile users can sign up for text alerts for medal count per country and medals awarded per sport, according to Ms. Green.

To sign up for all medals awarded for countries of choice:
Text MEDALALERTS [country] to 698698. E.g. MEDALALERTS USA

To sign up for text alerts to receive a message when medals are awarded to the sport of choice:
Text OLYSPORTS [sport] to 698698. E.g. OLYSPORTS Figure Skating to 698698

Alternatively, users can go to mobile.nytimes.com/smsalerts with a mobile phone to signup, though they will need to login with their New York Times ID.

If you just want a single update without signing up continual alerts, they are adding a one-time request option: Text OLY to 698698 to request the latest 3 Olympics headlines from The New York Times.

There is also a BlackBerry shortcut for the Olympics (pictured at top) available for download from mobile.nytimes.com. The shortcut will live on the user's homescreen (like an app) and take them directly to the sports sections of the Times' mobile site.

The concert experience is evolving as users capture and share content using their mobile phones. The band Noisettes has taken this observation and put it to use by fan-sourcing the music video for their latest single, Saturday Night.

Equipped with Nokia mobile phones, fans were seeded across the dance floor to record and capture the band's performance. With a room full of cameras, the resulting video presents many perspectives and give viewers an experience much like actually being present at the concert. The planners involved even considered how different Nokia phones would provide a variety of video styles.

Taking it to the next level, Nokia set up a website, ShotByFans, where users can view and rate the videos, and then even create their own mashups of the concert.

A band or artist's fanbase is a powerful resource to be tapped into; discovering creative ways to let enthusiastic followers provide input can turn into crowdsourced content. Expect more participatory creation to come, as mobile phones empower individuals and help realize a more authentic group experience.

Awards show attire is usually inspired by fashion shows, not ITP shows. But Imogen Heap's gown at the Grammy's last night could easy have been an NYU grad student's project in wearable technology.

Her so-called "Twitdress" had its own Twitter feed and displayed pictures sent by fans. As she accepted the award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, images tweeted with the hashtag #twitdress supposedly appeared in real-time on a small screen she was wearing. We say "supposedly" because, after watching the awards, we couldn't actually see any images -- it just looked like a rather quirky dress -- but Heap told the audience that it was indeed working. According to a tweet she sent, the dress was a way of letting fans "accompany me on the red carpet."

Perhaps it's appropriate that Heap brought not just her fans onstage, but Twitter as well. The so-called “queen of social media” may owe some of her success to the social networking site with almost 1.5 million followers.  As the Times Online points out, Heap has invited her followers to provide feedback, lyrics and remixes of her songs online. She has been a pioneer on other social media platforms as well: Her songs have been played over 44 million times on MySpace; Fans were invited to contribute designs for her album artwork on Flickr; and she informed her public about the progress of her latest album through online video.

Not only is this an instance of the "Internet of Things" i.e. connecting an object to the web, it's a great example of portable technology being used to connect people and share experiences in real-time. This follows on the heels of the People's Choice Awards which, as we wrote the other week, were a strong testament to the power of mobile at events. Jessica Alba tweeted while she was presenting, Ashton live streamed his acceptance speech from his own phone over Ustream, and Queen Latifah snapped and uploaded photos as she hosted the event. Meanwhile concert events are becoming more participatory thanks to mobile -- the Jonas Brothers livestreamed a look backstage, Superglued aggregates mobile uploads from shows, AT&T powered text-to-screen at Demi Lovato's summer tour.

Continue to watch the intersection of mobile/portable tech and events to see how formerly one-way broadcasts are being turned into interactive experiences.