It's official: Burning Man sells out
An interesting rumor from reliable sources: The folks at Burning Man have just signed some kind of a deal with both Google and Sprint, presumably for laptop and cell phone access for the more than 40,000 hipsters at the annual festival. How cool is that? Actually, not very cool at all to some long-time burners, who have evidently lost the battle to keep the event from becoming a brand rather than a creative, counter-cultural happening. An article posted on the Burning Man website in effect announced the sell-out earlier this month. It's all about Burning Man "growing up," you understand (Burning Man grows up).
Labels: Burning Man
posted by Rob Anderson @ 11:03 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
screw burning man
-anonymous "bike nut"
Re: Google and Sprint: Alas, I'm afraid your "reliable source" is yanking your chain.
-Andie Grace, Communications Manager, Burning Man
Was burner/journalist Chris Taylor yanking everyone's chain when he wrote this in the article posted here?:
"Plenty of companies do, it seems, and at the front of the line this year is Google. Its engineers are building software for unbranded kiosks at the pavilion where participants can zoom in to a virtual version of Burning Man. Just click on a given technology or art project and Google will take you directly to its website."
There is a project being made by burners, working with the "Google Earth" software, called "Burning Man Earth". It is a way to use that software to navigate a view of Black Rock City and interact with it -- it has nothing to do with providing wireless access to Burners. And no, it doesn't represent the signing of any kind of "deal". It's a creative collaboration using technology Google happen to have created, but there have been no "deals" signed and no money is changing hands in that endeavor.
Furthermore, we have zero interaction with Sprint. The rumor you quote in your first sentence is what I was responding to. It is simply not true.
"A creative collaboration using technology Google happened to have created"? Sounds like a "deal" to me. That no money is changing hands is not particlularly significant, since "branding" is evidently now the name of the game for Burning Man. Burning Man gets a nice toy for its operation, and Google gets its brand associated with the Burning Man brand. On Sprint: I trust my sources more than I do claims by a flak for Burning Man. We'll see.
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