What Can Detroit Learn from Google? - Jeff Jarvis

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/02/18/Jeff_Jarvis_What_Would_Google_Do

Journalist Jeff Jarvis discusses how to make the auto industry "Googley." "If [automakers] came out with an API for the car," he asks, "what could people build on top of it?"

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Named one of 100 worldwide media leaders, Jeff Jarvis discusse his book, What Would Google Do? - Books, Inc.

Jeff Jarvis is an American journalist. He is the former television critic for TV Guide and People magazine, creator of Entertainment Weekly, Sunday editor and associate publisher of the New York Daily News, and a columnist on the San Francisco Examiner. Until recently he was president and creative director of Advance Internet, the online arm of Advance Publications, where he developed the children's educational site "Yuckiest Site on the Internet" with Susan Mernit. Jarvis currently consults for Advance Internet. He has also consulted for the New York Times Company at About.com, where he worked on content development and strategy. In 2006 he became an associate professor at City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism, directing its new media program. He has a fortnightly column in the MediaGuardian supplement of the British newspaper The Guardian.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• google
• cars
• automobile
• industry
• bailouts
• company
• companies
• general
• motors
• gm
• ford
• chrysler
• restructuring
• corporations
• corporate
• models
• production
• innovation
• research
• development
• open
• source
• software
• design
• designers
• fora.tv
• foratv
• fora
• tv

[Hopeful71]

We need to move into a post-consumer society & one of those steps is to get over our love affair with cars; it's a mode of transportation, not your identity.

[WhyNotTruth]

Homer's car was awesome.

[StevenTacle]

Google will once again take over the economy then who knows.. maybe the government.

[Swansen03]

Maybe if detroit listened period.. even from their workers, OR if their workers just made most decisions. I see all the time throughout auto forums where some worker has a great idea and tries to convey it to a higher up but is always ignored...

[Barin954]

He brings up 2 ideas: open source development (aftermarket) and the equivalent of a rental club membership where you lease from a variety of cars depending on the need. Both good points and both already existing in some form. I like it.

[funkalunatic]

Poor examples. Good point.

[AtSwimTwoBricks]

I don't know. His suggestions were little more than the trimmings--interchangeable surface details. The seats and dash are a major part of a driver's interface with the car but a minor part of the design.

In fact, one might be able to get away with less overall design. Detroit has already backed off from complete mass production. Every model of every year is a brand new design. Getting the right replacement parts is a pain. Why not just standardize and then customize on top of it?

[fatmanprime]

Hard to imagine that it would be profitable. Designing cars is far too complex to just have the buyer fill out some form describing what they want.

[McArrowni]

Reminds me of The Simpsons, when Homer's brother asked him to design the next car for his family.

[quinn2469]

An open source car? Nice.

[arequipa1]

consumption drives the economy.