Michael C Hogan

Agile Product Development & Innovation Strategy

Apr
27

By

“The Trouble with Dilbert”

Category: Art, Society

Norman Solomon critiques the cartoon “Dilbert” in this series of essays collected as “The Trouble with Dilbert”.

https://web.archive.org/web/20040218235653/http://free.freespeech.org/normansolomon/dilbert/book/

Solomon investigates the hypothesis that companies allow Dilbert to be successful, and pay Dilbert’s author to speak at company events, because the cartoon conditions employees to accept a certain set of working conditions as normal so that they will not seek change. Who knows if it’s true, but it’s pretty interesting.

Jan
4

By

Studio 6 at the Artery

Category: Art

First Friday in 2013 and no better way to spend it than at the Artery.

Located at 627 East Indian School in Phoenix, the Artery is a collective of independent artists that work across an exciting variety of media. From sculpture to paint to photography there is something new every month.

Read More

Oct
2

By

Publishing Royalties Contract Language

Category: Art Tags: , Leave a Comment

A nice overview of publishing royalties contract language.

Learn what to look for, what to look out for, and get familiar with common publishing contract language.

Sep
22

By

STEM + A = STEAM

Category: Art, Engineering Tags: Leave a Comment

STEM + A = STEAM

When art meets science, technology, engineering and math. In season 43 of Sesame Street, the show continues its focus on STEM education, adding the arts to the equation, creating STEAM. The cornerstone of the curriculum remains the connection between the four main domains: science, technology, engineering and mathematics, but the updated approach integrates the arts.

Sep
22

By

“Artrepreneurs”

Category: Art Tags: Leave a Comment

“artrepreneurs”

WIRED | If Design’s No Longer the Killer Differentiator, What Is?

Sep
16

By

Value: is Your Story Golden?

Category: Art, Engineering Tags: Leave a Comment

Value: is your story golden?

(Photo credit: Clearly Ambiguous via Flickr)

Last Thursday I attended Producers Go Digital hosted by Digital LA at the ioLA incubator. The panel shared a variety of insights about the realities of being a producer (some of may favorites are below). Yet there was one question I had trouble getting answered…

How do I value the worth of a story?

Most of the answers I got focused on the cost of the project. The problem is that cost does not equal value, not in digital media and not in any other industry. While it’s relatively easy to put a cost on the effort that will be required to tell a story (think location fees, salaries, equipment, logistics, manufacturing, printing, marketing), the real challenge is deciding if the value of the story is great enough to warrant all that cost.

One formula for value: D.U.S.T.

Read More

Oct
3

By

The Blinding Flag

Category: Art, Philosophy

Originally published October 3, 2001 for USC Writing 140

The photographic composition, Farewell to Faraway Friends, 1971, is the culmination of artist Bas Ader’s attempt to resolve the relationship between the contrasting Dutch and American influences that shaped his identity. Both the romantic interpretation of art popular in Europe, and the industrialized artwork of California are represented in Ader’s piece. This combination of styles was done purposefully to illustrate that the two cultures could reside within one individual while maintaining harmony.

When Ader traveled from the Netherlands to California, he left behind a continent of romantic history. Its landscapes were the backdrop for religious paintings, vast empires, and the kingdoms of divine rulers. European romantic artwork served to illustrate the divine beauty of God’s creations. Drawing from these influences, Ader selected a sunset on the coast of the United States as his subject matter. The ocean beyond the coast serves as a theater for romantic adventure, a link to all that Ader left behind in the Netherlands.

Read More