Nico Luchsinger

trying to make sense out of stuff

Documenting the Misfit Economy


Sandboxers Kyra Maya Phillips and Alexa Clay are currently working on a book on black market innovation:
What do pirates, terrorists, computer hackers and inner city gangs have in common with Silicon Valley? Innovation. Across the globe, diverse innovators operating in the black, gray, and informal economies are developing solutions to a myriad of challenges. Far from being “deviant entrepreneurs” that pose threats to our social and economic stability, these innovators display remarkable ingenuity, pioneering original methods and best practices that we can learn from and apply to formal markets in urgent need of change. 
The Misfit Economy is a book that explores stories of incredible human resilience, self-sufficiency and teeming innovation. It will be published by Simon & Schuster in 2013.
They just launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to produce some additional video content around the book - support it here!

Homeless People As Hotspots?

South By Southwest 2012 can be summarized thusly: An impossibly-named marketing company called Bartle Bogle Hegarty is doing a little human science experiment called Homeless Hotspots. It gives out 4G hotspots to homeless people along with a promotional t-shirt. The shirt doesn't say, "I have a 4G hotspot." It says, "I am a 4G hotspot."

You can guess what happens next. You pay these homeless, human hotspots whatever you like, and then I guess you sit next to them and check your email and whatnot. The digital divide has never hit us over the head with a more blunt display of unselfconscious gall.

The full story is at readwriteweb.com