Bookmark Club: Chapter 2

NICHOLAS A. CHRISTAKIS, a physician and sociologist, is a Professor at Harvard University with joint appointments in the Departments of Health Care Policy, Sociology, and Medicine. For the last ten years, he has been studying social networks.

Another fortnight, another top 20. There's some serious - and seriously interesting - articles about new business and advertising models. There's plentiful social-science and technology learnings courtesy of Edge, MIT and the National Academy of Engineering. But mixing it up are a bunch of bonkers, brand-related bookmarks - some from the usual suspects (Red Bull, Nokia), some from perennial squares (Ebay, Kraft). Enjoy!

1. Edge: SOCIAL NETWORKS ARE LIKE THE EYE: A Talk with Nicholas A. Christaki
It turns out that all kinds of things, many of them quite unexpected, can flow through social networks, and this process obeys certain rules we are seeking to discover.

2. Diamond Shreddies
Spoof product launch, spoof focus groups, spoof website - the joker's guide to marketing

3. Free Online Course Materials | MIT OpenCourseWare
MIT is committed to advancing education and discovery through knowledge open to everyone

4. eBay: Hooves/Force 1 | Creativity Online
A miniature horse and a mission drive Randy Krallman's short film for eBay, which screened at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

5. Engineering Challenges
With input from people around the world -- much of it on this website -- an international group of leading technological thinkers were asked to identify the Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st Century. Now their conclusions are revealed

6. Norrlands Guld, Guldsits
Lovely football chant generator from a Dutch beer brand Norlads Guld

7. Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business
Thanks to Gillette, the idea that you can make money by giving something away is no longer radical. Chris Anderson article in Wire magazine.

8. Flickr: CD Cover Meme
Always wanted to be in a rock band? Well, here's your chance...sort of. Make your own CD Cover with the following steps and rocket yourself to mulit-platinum status and start fending off the groupies.

9. Swedish Armed Forces - Recruitment Campaign
A series of abstract perceptual tests designed to challenge the mental fitness of prospective soldiers

10. Dawn of the digital natives - is reading declining? | Technology | The Guardian
If you believe a scary US report, reading is on the decline. But, says Steven Johnson, it completely fails to consider the amount that we do every day on our computers

11. Red Bull Flugtag Flight Lab Online Game
Design, build, fly and share your own flying machine

12. VIDEOEGG UNVEILS BRAND RESPONSE ADVERTISING MODEL | Videoegg
Microsoft First to Deploy Pioneering Ad Model Priced by Audience Engagement

13. Amplive - Rainydayz Remixes
Download Amplive's Rainydayz Remixes, an 8-track collection featuring remixes of Radiohead's historic seventh album, In Rainbows.

14. "Intellectual property" is a silly euphemism | Technology | guardian.co.uk
"Intellectual property" is one of those ideologically loaded terms that can cause an argument just by being uttered.

15. BBC - Homepage
Beta version of the new BBC homepage. Very nice. Very 2.0

16. My Cortex Made Me Buy It - New York Times
There is research suggesting that the bias toward higher-priced goods may have something to do with the way the brain links price with pleasure — and thus leads people to make assumptions about quality.

17. The world is my canvas
Nokia promotes geo-tagging with Stavros, a Position Artist

18. The electronic bureaucrat | Economist.com
Putting their services online should allow governments to serve their citizens much more effectively. But despite heavy spending, progress has been patchy, says Edward Lucas.

19. Wellcome Collection: The Heart
Vast array of inspiring, educational content presented via a dynamic, multi-layered interface with neatly nested navigation. So much more than you'd expect from an exhbition microsite.

20. Aleks Krotoski: What web designers can learn from games | Technology | The Guardian
I recently ran into a web designer friend who's developing the user experience for a new site. She's never worked in the games industry, nor is she a particularly keen gamer, but she told me that games are a key inspiration for her work.