I’ve never quite enjoyed the whole video call idea, because to me, it felt more like a hinderance to my mobility and multifocal tendencies. However, Videkura is different in that the interaction initiative is an active one: you don’t go in and do videkura unless you want to; it’s an active form of playing.

and social.

why would you do it unless 1) you’re with friends and you want to play with them in this space and/or 2) share the outcome with other friends? Mizuko Ito and Daisuke Okabe have done a study on the social uses of purikura, which has some interesting points (view their paper here). I believe that social playing is fundamentally crucial to humanity not only because it makes people happier by means of pleasure (which I think is the key importance of playing) but also because that’s where not “coercion” but “negotiation” of the familiar and foreign can occur, leading to mergings and emergings. A lot of us miss the point; sometimes we get it, but sometimes, many times, many of us don’t.

Along the way, I’ve learnt to prefer the idea of the for- movement as compared to the against- movement. Positive verbalisastion is something that’s advocated by religions and spiritual groups, but in my case, I approach it from the “play” perspective. For example, slogans like “against terrorism” and “against poverty” fundamentally assume some form of resistance and therefore establish the definitive positions of the winner and loser. In this case, the activity of playing becomes a rigid game in which the player must try to be the winner so as not to be the loser. So playing leads to the learning of taking and breaking rather than sharing and creating. Personally I think the latter sounds much more fun and constructive.

Now, Karaoke. A few years back Karaoke recording was hugely popular in Korea and no doubt in other Asian countries too - basically you go in and sing (dance, drink, talk, scream, make out, what not) and you get an audio CD or VCD of your performance. you could then share it with others (if you dare) or keep it as a sentimental souvenir. You can still do it at some karaokes but the whole recording hype’s pretty much gone flat. Then the second stage of that, at least in the case of Korea, was a variety show on TV that featured a segment in which general pubic would volunteer and perform in a karaoke box (if selected) as a performance battle against celebrities - like these girls:

This has been one of the most popular videos of all times on YouTube and subsequently been parodied by many keen youtubeans - from various cultures including US, Mexico, Switzerland … and the Sims:

So here, you do exactly what you would in a karaoke room but in a karaoke booth (like purikura booth) but with increased consciouness about the assumed audience, and in this case the performers are “selected” by the show’s producer, and the outcome is “broadcast” via television.

With videkura, U(sers) can choose to perform and communicate their “creative outcome” in a method/s of their choice. There are two types of videkura available in Japan at the moment:

1. Ututu’s MYSQ
   MYSQ stands for “My style so qute” - I love quirky semi-make-sense english names like this. Their website has some info in English. I like their video; especially how they used a narrator with a Japanese accent :) To view the video, click on the “concept” button as shown below, and click on the video: 

   Basically you go into mysq, choose your songs etc, and go crazy while stepping on different seonsor tiles on the floor (which will generate video effects) and dance to the music (again, your sensor-enabled wrist bands will generate effects accordingly). Once you’re done, your video is compressed and sent to your mobile phone and a QR code will be displayed on the screen. Then you scan that QR code with your phone, which works as a link to your video, so you can send it to your friends - for different purposes: to make them admire you, fall in love with you, laugh at you, or even hate you ;) MYSQ is like an amalgam of purikura, DDR (dance dance revolution), and possibly in the future, karaoke, all coming together via mobile network. I like the playful combination of mobility and space. Smart.

2. Sega’s Love & Berry Digital Stage
   Who could possibly resist the temptation of playing on something with a name like “Love and Berry Digital Stage”? This one’s closer to the idea of Purikura: you get to take photos, manipulate them by adding decorative graphics and effects etc. You also get to dance to the music but without the whole fancy sensor effect generators. Once it’s all done, you get your purikura print, which is basically a set of sticker photos but with a QR code at the bottom. Then you can scan the code with your phone to view your pictures and download your video. It sounds all good and fun but unfortunately, Love & Berry Digital Stage, unlike MYSQ, doesn’t allow you to share the outcome with other friends (come on!). Apparently you can only download it to your own phone :( Sega’s selling point appears to be in incorporating anime characters like Naruto. 

   view more info about Love & Berry Digital State here

I believe that convergence is an inevitable phenomenon in any facet of life; it is particularly conspicuous in today’s techno-driven society. If we are to find any value in developing new communication technologies, it will only be through convergence - ultimately it will be the convergence between the technology and human senses (some might want to call the latter “spirituality” - I fancy the Taoist idea of “all is one,” so to me, these are talking about the same thing just in different discursive frameworks).

I guess the first technological convergence in the milieu of the mobile phone was between the phone and the user’s computer - transferring contact info and similar activities. Now it’s obviously between the phone and a big network of computers - the Internet. And I find it fascinating how things converge and emerge so quickly in such diverse domains of life in different techno-social contexts.

Join Convergekura, why don’t we? ;)

Just in case I was too subtle last time about the race and gender politics of the personification of technology in the ‘Get a Mac’ ads, here are two new ones (one, two). I’m speechless.

girl in pink:
“even I know stuff like this”

Japanese salarymen looking for a quick shape up can now get themselves jazzed up in a jiffy thanks to a nifty new speed grooming service, according to Sunday Mainichi
full story @ mainichi daily

so the basic story is this: a company called menza has set up some booths around central tokyo for japanese sarariman (salary men). kuse-oyaji (stinky old man) uses his mobile to access menza’s website to locate the booth closest to his current location, and there he gets checked up on various things from creases on his suit to whether his’s got an adequately “smiling face” or not…

// this is my visual interpretation of what it’d be like to be in a menza booth… but unfortunately for me, i’ll never find out… until they open “womenza” :(

my favourite part is this:

Menza.jp employees all line up to send off customers, who can choose whether their farewell will be given in the form of a bow, a wave goodbye or high fives.

gotta love the flexibility in things ;)

i remember reading in a journal article a while ago that the level of trust the japanese have in the national news media is lower than that of the korean public, so it’d be very interesting to see how ohmynews japan develops.