So Im still using the super basic Nokia phone(The Gooseberry) after loosing my Blackberry earlier on in the year. During the holidays not having an electronic device which alerted me to new emails, Facebook messages, BBM’s and the like was a pleasure. I was quite literally disconnected. And while on holiday its exactly what I wanted.

The question though, now that I am back in the swing at work, is do I need it now? And its a bit of a mixed answer.

Most days I’m at my computer the whole day anyway so can receive all electronic communications and updates anyway. When sitting at my desk the Blackberry was more of a distraction and excuse not to work than anything else. So thats pretty much a no.

When running around and going to meetings however, i did feel a gap. Often I have needed to be in email communication and of course the Gooseberry cant do email so it had to wait till I got back to my office. This scenario, in the not too distant past, was totally acceptable. Now that the ability to respond immediately no matter where one is located has been given to us by the Mobile Gods, its not. I felt a need to respond. A need to let the other person have whatever I wanted to send them. A need to feel connected.

Does this need come from me alone? Or is it two sided? Is there an expectation from the other side of the mobile universe?
I can only answer this from my perspective. When I send someone a BBM for example, my expectation is for a reply sooner rather than later. When I post something, like this for example, there is a hope that someone will read it and respond. I think as humans most of us have the desire at some level to connect with others. It is this desire in my opinion that is being tapped into with all the new technology and social media we see.

Is all of this to our benefit? Its a difficult sea to navigate. Often the communication is beneficial, often not. In some ways the world is smaller and we are all closer because of the technology we have at our disposal and in other ways we are more disconnected from ourselves and each other than we ever have been. At the end of the day its up to you how you use the technology available and how much you allow it to operate in your life.

Id be interested to hear other people’s opinions on this?(If anyone actually reads this) Does technology work for you?

Seed opened for business for the 2011 year yesterday.
Firstly Id like to officially welcome Craig Ackerman to the team. Craig has been a Seedling since the first of November last year and has already made an impact to what we can offer our clients, he is in charge of all things technical. We will be telling you more about him in the near future.

After spending most of yesterday putting thought and energy into what it is we want out of the year to come I’m very excited to get going.
The break brought a few interesting things for me around the ways things are moving online. Ive been reading a book called “The Facebook Effect” which has quite frankly changed my perception of what Facebook are and what their intention is, especially after reading about what mark Zuckerberg(CEO and creator) believes and feels this service is about. They are trying to take over the world and with a user base of 500million they are well on their way. In a soon to follow blog I will discuss this in more detail.

Then I lost my Blackberry. I was at the local nursery with my kids and somehow it dropped out of my pocket. Its been an interesting experience as it wasn’t insured so for now I’m using the most basic phone you can get, it doesn’t even offer multiple ring tones. For my holiday its been great because I haven’t been “connected” and haven’t wanted to be so its allowed me to switch off more. This highlights the dependence we have on our digital devices and the positive and negative aspects of it. Again I’ll write another blog with more detail in the coming weeks. Mobile is another growing online trend because the user base is so much larger and users can connect anytime from anywhere which creates more opportunity and possibility.

So with the massive explosion of social media and the mobile web, at Seed we have some exciting goals and intentions around both these arenas and will share them with you as they transpire.

Good luck for the year ahead.

Lee Rael
Owner/ Designer at Seed.

Its been a long time coming but due to the fact that I have been so busy, as usual my own website has had to take a back seat.
I decided that it cant wait any longer. After sitting in a meeting with a potential client last week trying to find work to show them, I realised I just have to get it done. SO here it is. Please take a look through my current and past work. There is still more to be added, but at least its a start.