So now, we are looking for a python developer to help us in developing a Boxee application that will inject SweetClarity into Boxee. Please contact us at info[at]sweetclarity[dot]com.

I just finished reading a thought provoking article by Clay Shirky titled Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable and the phrase that shimmered for me most was “Society doesn’t need newspapers. What we need is journalism.” Previously in the article, and in other articles I have encountered in recent months on the challenges facing journalism, there is well deserved recognition of the “watch dog” role played by journalists.

This phrase stuck with me and led me further into the rabbit hole. Why does society need watch-dog journalists? What & who needs to be watched? It seems that there are a lot of powerful people at play in the world, affecting many lives, and it seems that they cannot be trusted. So do we need Journalists to watch out over those people? My answer would be yes, but that is not enough.

It seems to me that even if the watchdogs succeed in doing their jobs - they are playing a losing game. They are beating a snake hidden under the carpet - the snake is just moving around from place to place. Suppose a watchdog journalist manages to bring down a crooked politician, chances are the next politician is going to be just as crooked. I have spoken to a political expert who claims that political positions can be inherently corrupting - so as so taint anyone who will step into them. So where is all this going?

Story Telling

Story Telling is another kind of “journalism”.  Journalism is a “left-hemisphere” (of the brain) form of communication - it is logical, orderly, it is backed by corroborating research, etc. Story Telling has the potential to be a more “right-hemisphere” form of communication - it is moving, inspiring, mystical and captivating - it goes beyond perceptual reality. It restores faith and trust.

Story Telling was once (and I would like to believe that in some remote places may still be) a common social practice. The Shaman dancing and singing next to the fire was/is a story teller. When the tribe meets around the fire, listening to the same stories over and over again, they are fueling a mythical, communal experience that goes beyond the events of the day.

Rainforests?

I wonder if in some far reaching karmic circle we “newspaper consuming societies” who have indirectly caused the destruction of (forest dwelling) cultures that carried the torch of story-telling, are now suffering from the absence  of that sacred and almost lost art?

My contention is that alongside watchdog journalists who stand guard against social corruption, we need to also reinstate qualities of shaman story-tellers. I sleep peacefully at night because I have been fortunate enough to meet and spend time with such people - yes they do exist and they do tell fascinating stories - there simply aren’t enough communal fire’s happening for them to make appearances.

Story telling is at least as important for a healthy society as journalism can be. SweetClarity is here to make sure that more people in society meet more inspiring story-tellers. I have been living with a smile and a sense of purpose since I met story-tellers.

If you want in - please contact us here.

We have managed to put together a home page that sums up our vision in one visual:

On the visitors page there is a glimpse of the materials inside and an invitation to look further:

On our current agenda:

• Upgrading our hosting infrastructures.
• Piloting the authoring environment with numerous artists.
• Completing the development of a full screen & hi definition player.
• Presenting the contents in numerous environments and seeing how it all comes together.

It’s really a great feeling, 18 months after the SweetClarity vision was born to finally see an entire working system come together and make its first steps in the world.

The obstacle we now face is getting a web-hosting service which can support this application steadily and responsively (=fast). We’ve gone to much effort to create a pleasant and fluid user experience - and now we need to get a technological infrastructure to deliver that.

A few months ago we were searching for help to develop our vision - we couldn’t. We ended up doing it ourselves. Now here we are with the solution in hand. SweetClarity seems to bounce from one obstacle to another - but nothing seems to be able to stop it. This challenging process leads me inevitably into a recurring personal introspection and exploration.

We are coming : )

We are finally underway in developing our platform. I have been seeking development help for months - and so far, except for Doug, I haven’t been able to find people who are interested and able to invest efforts in SweetClarity. So I have rolled up my sleeves and gotten back into development myself. I have been playing with internet technologies over the past year and have become somewhat familiar with their approaches. Over the past few weeks I have begun to study these technologies and immediately put them to work for SweetClarity. Sometimes the progress seems slow other times it seems to be fast… but there is definite progress. I can’t really provide any time estimates (since I am not just developing but also in a steep learning curve which includes time-guzzling obstacles) - but I have a feeling that within a month or two there will be substantial results.

We also have on board the unofficial SweetClarity team accounting and legal firms. I am very thankful for the kind people (Israel & Eyal) for joining the effort. This means that our infrastructures will be robust when we do not to launch into formalities. Their presence is also a highly appreciated vote of confidence. SweetClarity is a challenging endeavor and the involvement of  business-oriented people is a kind of reality check for me - that says “we can do this” - it is possible, feasible and attractive.

We are also in touch with a few artists who are making initial efforts to create their first publications. I am thankful for their interest and involvement as well. I appreciate the efforts that are required to getting started with SweetClarity. I also appreciate the faith they have in our intentions - since this is all we can really offer them in return at this point in time.

It is now a holiday season here in Israel which means that business is slow. After the holidays we have some meetings ligned up with potential investors. We will also be making more efforts to finding public locations to pilot the service and see how audiences react to SweetClarity.

…so for now back to Javascript & AJAX so artists can not only view but also sort and edit the contents of their publications : )

What I would like to suggest is a basic structure for an exercise - in improvisation (which is where most of my photography takes place) this is sometimes called a Score. A score is a simple collection of guides/rules. They really should be kept simple otherwise they create confusion and distraction. They are used as a mechanism to approach an unknown performance - or in this case an unknown SweetClarity publication. The first rule is that the score can be changed on the fly. The score is there as a support - you don’t need to adhere to it strictly. If you feel you don’t need it you can leave behind and maybe come back to it at a later time. I find that in improvisation a good score usually changes quickly - yet having one is a key that opens a magical door.

The following score is a suggestion on how to transform a collection of images into a SweetClarity publication:

1. Choosing a first image. I like to think that if you give it space - an images will choose you instead of you having to search for it. Simply hold the wish to create a publication with you until an image in your collection comes to mind.
2. Let the choice sink in. Spend some time with the first image - look at it. This can be anywhere from 2 seconds to 2 years. Trust your instincts. The image will speak to you. You may see it in a different way - it may touch you differently.
3. Scan for additional images. When the first image has spoken - scan your images lightly. Let additional images call to you. You may not understand where this is going or what is guiding your choice. But rest assured - something is at work. You may want to do this numerous times until you get a feeling that you have completed this part. This can also happen in anywhere between 2 minutes to 2 years. Trust your instincts.
4. View your new collection of images. If possible play the images as a slide-show. See what you see. You may feel that a story is unfolding before you - again you may not understand it - but you can feel it. You may then want to play around with the order of the images to support the emerging story.
5. Happy? Do you feel good with the selection you have created it? If you do - then you are ready to move to the technical part. This is detailed in our artists space (available to registered artists - to register contact us). If you are not happy set the collection aside, take a break (as long as you need) and start over.

Remember - this is just a sample exercise. You can use it, change it or create your own exercises (just remember to keep them simple). The idea is to create a ‘mechanical’ process from which you will depart. You can make specific rules such as ‘pick one image every day’, ’sit with the laptop on the porch’,'look at the 1st image once a day’… do whatever supports you and remember - you don’t need to stick to the rules - you probably won’t. If you made up a rule to ’select one image every day’ and on a given day find 4 images - that is not just OK - that is exactly the point. Listen to what comes. The score (rules) are there to help you free you and remind you to listen.

Keep it simple, be playful & enjoy yourself. If you find yourself blocked and lost - then you are probably trying to hard - stop. If it doesn’t seem to come together - play around with your score, move to another collection of images, do something arbitrary to change the score - see what happens. You will experience and learn more by staying in motion then being stubborn with some concept of how things should be.

If you have Adobe Lightroom installed I invite you to use it. It is very easy to create, modify & work with collections (there is actually an object in Lightroom called ‘collection’). It is also a comfortable tool for the additional technical preparations and final export of images.

If you’ve been playing around with this and have some insights, your ate invited to comment on this post and share your experience with us and other curious artists.

I recently encountered an article about art written by a talented technologist and business person. It really got to me and actually helped in consolidating many thoughts that were floating around in my head. I replied to this article with a letter on my personal blog. SweetClarity it the reason I encountered this article and the reason I took the time to write about it.

“Obviously I don’t believe the status quo is healthy, I don’t believe it’s even promising. Single events flicker here and there. Different schools of theater come and go. A new playwright emerges. But I don’t see much hope in any of this because I don’t believe it begins to grapple with the essential problem. How to make theater absolutely and fundamentally necessary to people, as necessary as eating and sex? I  mean a theater which isn’t a watered down appendage or cultural decoration to life. I mean something that’s a simple organic necessity - as theater used to be and still is in certain societies. Make believe is necessity. It’s this quality, lost to Western industrialized societies, I’m searching for.”

Once in a while I indulge myself and submit  my art work to one of the endless ‘calls for artists’ that come to my attention (as a photographer this means choosing art work, writing an application, paying to have it submitted and then hoping to get picked out of the crowd). I did this today. I do this because I want to share my work with others. Yet every time I do this I feel disappointment - it’s not right and not relevant. This is part of an old and uninspiring paradigm which does nothing more then “decorate life”. There is more to art and It will be experienced when a real day-to-day meeting with audience takes place.

I have (and I am practicing) trust & faith in this world we live in and create. I think it would be great if SweetClarity could be leveraged without external funding. It’s definitely possible if we get the right people on board. I think that the more progress we make independently the closer it will bring us to relevant funding. In my mind SweetClarity is NOT a non-profit organization - it is for profit. Profit is required to pay artists for their creative work and to sustain SweetClarity and the people who make it happen. I am convinced that SweetClarity will be financially rewarding for all involved. It will take time and perseverance to make this happen.

Yet, the financial status of SweetClarity disturbs me. I have dedicated the past two years of my life to art and the past year to SweetClarity. During these two years I have had some unsteady income from some consulting work I do. I keep this to a minimum because my heart is with SweetClarity and I prefer to invest my time in it. I have been living off savings from my previous hi-tech career. This scares me. I have taken measures to lower my personal burn-rate to give me as much time as possible.

Given my personal status and the fact that I want to get more people on board - I am naturally leaning towards raising money. As I put efforts into this (hence my thoughts on Venture Capital & Philanthropy) I can feel this tendncy beginning to change form. Despite my personal discomfort, I am beginning to feel that maybe it’s a good thing that we have not yet managed to raise any funding.

I don’t trust the overall market dynamics of Venture Capital. I recently approached the first and only VC fund based on (1) their investment in another company that I felt resonated well with SweetClarity and (2) because of the personal qualities of the directors of the fund. I thought I should give it a chance. I believe that people shape the world - that good VC people can therefore find a way to help us by properly interfacing SweetClarity with the dynamics of VC business.

As for philanthropy - I feel that SweetClarity will be best served with a philanthropic backing. It is as difficult to find as VC. There are many philanthropic financial sources but I have not yet found one that is capable of containing SweetClarity. Art is a low priority compared to helping the underprivileged (which is in high fashion). Those that do invest in art usually invest in familiar settings ranging from large investments in new museum wings through to supporting a specific art competition that is expected to have some local social impact. They are supporting and captivated by the classic art institutions and not really open to the innovative artistic challenge embodied in SweetClarity.

With VC I feel uncomfortable talking about equity because I feel that only financial qualities are valued while SweetClarity has much more to offer. With Philanthropy nothing would please me more then to give back much more then was given (or simply forwarding that money directly to other relevant investments) knowing that that money will be used to support other quality investments.