Socialight / blog+news

Today and tomorrow, we’ll be at the awesome Open Media Developers Summit hosted by ITP in NYC. Check out the live stream on the site, and the live chat that goes along with it - it’s all part of a research project to create a video comments tool.

Super hip’n’snarky NYC real estate guide Curbed
is convinced that Socialight is “Further proof the Internet will destroy us all”. We’ll let you decide that one…

We’re unbelievably and unabashedly excited to say that Socialight has launched. Don’t resist! You can now use Socialight on the web and on select mobile phones. Sign up now, give it a little spin and let us know what you think.

Socialight is in beta - it usually works fine, but since we’re actively developing the system, things may break from time to time. But the exciting thing is that in the coming weeks and months, we’ll be adding many more features.

And remember, Socialight is only as good as the people who use it, so please invite any friends who might be interested.

See you on Socialight.

This is off-topic from Socialight, but we’re too excited to keep it to ourselves. This week, Kamida, the folks behind Socialight, along with Area/Code and Mobot, launched SuperStar at UbiComp 2005.

SuperStar is a massively multiplayer real-world game taking place in Tokyo.

The game uses Japanese Puri Kura sticker-clubs as a starting point for a playful experiment in social networks, automated phonecam image analysis, and urban visual culture. The goal of the game is to see and to be seen, using swarms of microscopic images woven into the complex fabric of Tokyo streetlife.

We’re in Tokyo for a couple of weeks bringing a project called SuperStar to life. Has to do with Purikura and camera-phones. Details to follow…

Here’s an update on the book we mentioned we were working on in March. It’s now focused on ethnographic and social research case studies so Socialight won’t be featured.

We’re a bit disappointed, but best of luck to Stefan Bertschi with his book, to be titled Thumb Culture. I’ve seen the table of contents and it looks like it’s going to be wonderful. You can purchase the book here.

Socialight is going to be in the Bay Area in California at the end of June for the first O’Reilly Where 2.0 Conference. The conference is June 29-30, 2005 and covers “the movement of mapping and location technology from the theoretical to the masses, illustrating the creativity that’s waiting to be unleashed as the tools and data become readily available”.

There are a ton of people going who we can’t wait to meet.

Socialight will be heading to E3, the giant Electronic Entertainment Expo / gaming conference in Los Angeles in mid-May. We’ll be there from the 18th-20th of May so please drop us a line if you will be in the area and would like to meet.

Dan Melinger, a founder of Kamida, the company behind Socialight, will be speaking on a panel at Digital Hollywood Spring on April 1, 2005 in Los Angeles, CA. The panel is entitled, “Media at the Edge of the Network: Are Location-based Media Networking Operators the Dark-Horse Media Titans of the Future?”. Joining Dan on the panel will be Shawn Conahan of Intercasting Corporation, Mike McGuire of Gartner, and Patrick Holohan of NewBay Software. More information on Digital Hollywood Spring is available at the conference website.

A chapter on Socialight, titled “Socialight: Mobile Network, Meet Social Network” will be featured in an upcoming book, covering the social and cultural consequences and effects of mobile phone use. The book is to be published by the Institute for Media and Communications Management at the University of St. Gallen and is being edited by Stefan Bertschi. Kamida will provide more information on the publication as it becomes available.