Thriving too

$300 milllion on new climate change campaign

Al Gore is launching a new advertising campaign this week - one of the most costly public advocacy campaigns in history.

"This climate crisis is so interwoven with habits and patterns that are so entrenched, the elected officials in both parties are going to be timid about enacting the bold changes that are needed until there is a change in the public's sense of urgency in addressing this crisis," Gore said. "I've tried everything else I know to try. The way to solve this crisis is to change the way the public thinks about it."

Private contributors have already donated or committed half the money needed to fund the entire campaign, he said. While Gore declined to quantify his contribution to the effort, he has devoted all his proceeds from the Oscar-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," the best-selling companion book, his salary from the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers and several international prizes, such as the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, which add up to more than a $2.7 million. Paramount Classics, the documentary's distributor, has pledged 5 percent of the film's profits to the group, and some of the money raised through the 2007 Live Earth concerts will help the campaign, along with Gore's proceeds from an upcoming book on climate change."

I think it is called putting your money where your mouth is... very impressive!

Read more on this at the Huffington Post

Interactive Creativity

"Interactive creativity also calls for heterogeneity -- it is the successful synthesis of different perspectives that creates something new." So there.

Steve Brogatti from Carroll School of Management will make that statement clear in his essay on Network Structure and Innovation and it has very interesting thoughts regarding radical innovators can get swamped by the prevailing wisdom and thus require sparser and clumpier networks....as in a skunk works.

A lot more interesting things on Learning by Connecting which covers networks and social capital.

Happy Pills

A wonderfully imaginative sweet shop in Barcelona designed by Studio M.

Creative content

There is a really interesting post by Ewan McIntosh and his edublog talking about the research showing that young people are not, as we assume, all embracing and using web 2 skilfully.

The article is well worth a read, as is the rest of Ewan's blog, as it highlights what is really going on 'out there'. I was particularly interested as I have been experimenting with a class blog for a programme I am teaching. The appetite to create new content just isn't there currently and my observations match the research described. Content creation mainly centres around social network sites, such as Facebook and Bebo, which involves very little original creativity in the main because it centres on building up applications. Lots of adding and commenting on photos.

I think what probably differs is that when young people are ready to create original content they will find the mechanics easy and they won't find the degree of transparency as difficult to overcome. But most importantly it seems teachers need to really start to build on web 2 for the students to get excited about the creative possibilities....

Pic from Illegal Art installation.

WorldChanging: The Politics of Optimism

WorldChanging's Alex Steffen recently published a piece titled The Politics of Optimism.  I think what's most important about his analysis is this statement:

I'm more and more convinced that incrementalism in the absence of committed vision almost always serves the politics of impossibility.

It coincides with some recent thoughts I've been having about the role that art and design can (and should) play in activism.  As committed artists and designers, we need to be more holistic in their approach, and work to enact social change, rather than simply live public lives of social concern.  Steffen imagines the possibilities when we think optimistically about our contributions.  Optimism makes possible:

1. That realism ought best to be defined as "within our capacity" and "necessary."
2. That we have the capacity to create and deploy solutions to the world's biggest problems, and the magnitude of the consequences of failure (both for ourselves and generations to come) demands that we act immediately.
3. That it is possible to act in such a way that the prospects of most people on the planet are improved. While certain costs will be incurred, the returns on those investments will be quite attractive, not only in ecological stability, international security and human well-being, but in terms of plain old economic prosperity. These solutions will make the future better than the present for the almost everyone, and greatly improve the lots of our children and grandchildren.
4. Therefore, defining our win scenarios, imagining the kind of future we want to create, describing the solutions that will make building that future possible, and publicly committing ourselves to success are the appropriate course of action.

This, along with much of what happens over at WorldChanging, is a worthwhile read!

Sold Out - Very disappointing

This lovely gnome pic is sold out. :(

Stephen Yang's Photography

Stephen Yang composes impressive sets of photographs that highlight continuity in color, form, and line.  His Flickr stream contains his potential materials, and he's made some of his sets available, too.  Disclosure: Stephen is a long-distance friend of mine, and I visit his site for design inspiration.

After Tessy's recent post on beautiful Polariods, I couldn't resist sharing!

Can't wait for Pangea Day

On May 10, 2008 -Pangea Day - sites in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro will be linked live to produce a program of powerful films, visionary speakers, and uplifting music.

The program will be broadcast live to the world through the Internet, television, digital cinemas, and mobile phones.

You can also arrange to host an event on that day.

Beer can butterflies

Beautiful butterfly instalations by Paul Villinski

Cooking our children 'just right'

I admit to being pretty horrified by this article in the New York Times about the support in the US being given to ideas about educating boys and girls separately following a book by Michael Gurian called Boys and Girls Learn Differently. I am sure they do. What really struck me however is that the advice being offered, and taken up in some schools, extends to teaching girls and boys in different room temperatures . . . 69 degrees for boys and 75 degrees for girls. Also the light bulbs in the boys classrooms emit cool white light while the girls light bulbs emit warm yellow light.

Mmmmm .... Optimum growing conditions?

So refreshing then to hear this great TED talk by Gever Tulley entitled '5 dangerous things you should let your kids do'. In case you don't have time to watch this persuasive 10 minute talk below are the five/six things are:
1. Play with fire
2. Own a pocket knife
3. Throw a spear
4. Deconstruct Appliances
5. Break the digital media copyright act
6. Drive a car

I know how I would like to grow up and learn about myself and the world. In fact I spent a lot of time playing with fire and knives and had chances to drive trucks around when I was very young .... and look what can happen with that!!

How do we know exactly where the lines should be drawn between safety and exploration, under-stimulated and over-stretching? It seems that on the one hand we want to teach children how to be resilient and robust and on the other we are taking away these experiences and treating children like fragile plants where education works to create only the most perfect flowers?
More on this emotive and important subject soon, as I will be reviewing Hothouse Kids and Everything Bad is Good for You very soon.

Exploring Faces

The photographer-activist, JR, converts his pictures into posters and transforms streets into universal open-air galleries. From Los Angeles to Berlin, he keeps his independence and illegal exhibits in the streets, which he considers to be his very own gallery.

With a 28 millimetre lens, portraits of people pulling faces, huge posters and anonymity, JR changes some basic rules. As people are asked not to smile but to make faces for the portrait, they are not subjects, but actors. JR aim is to shift thinking habits and reframe our stereotypes and prejudices. They are inspiring and beautiful photos . . .

The 3rd stage of the 28 millimeters project - Women Are Heroes - has already led him in Africa in post-conflicting zones to shoot the women who wish to share painful stories and to testify of their desire to live. Their portraits have already been pasted in Sierra-leone and in Liberia. In 2008-2009, JR will develop this project in India and in Asia.

Clay Shirky on Love

Clay Shirky is about a lot at the moment - mainly due to his new book Here Comes Everbody which has just come out, which discusses the effects of technology on the forming of groups outside of traditional organisational structures. I know this because I am on page 46, and I fully intend to write a full review of this fascinating book in the near future. However in the meantime I stumbled on this presentation by Clay Skirky which talks about how now, thanks to all the wonderful tools at our disposal WE can do the most wonderful things collaboratively .... for love, and not money.

To watch this optimism filled, human-loving talk just click here

Discovering The Making

I am delighted to share the most marvellous find, based only a couple of miles up the road from me. The Making is an arts education charity established to develop high quality contemporary craft and to inspire new audiences to engage with the art of making.

The quality of the work being produced is astonishing. It engages new audiences, especially young people and families, by providing innovative, high quality programmes in non-traditional venues throughout the region and by piloting new approaches to informal learning. Significant outcomes have been the development of Street Art and The Theatre of Making.

Fantastic Co-creating Conversations

Tim Davies is organising a BarCamp on the 17th May in London!

In Tim's words
"BarCampUKYouthOnline is not some big corporate event. It's being created on a voluntary basis by people interested in conversations, co-creation and action connected to themes of online interaction, youth engagement and young peoples lived experience of offline and online worlds."

The possible sessions already include some really interesting themes by Tim, David Wilcox, Alice Casey, Hilary Mason ... and me!

Participate!!

Drive By Press

Drive By Press makes it their civic duty to spread the gospel of printmaking.  They strive to democratize the medium through lectures and creative sessions with students and art audiences across the United States.  What's more, they operate a mobile press out of the back of their van.

Their successes are both self-made and community supported.  DBP is a self-funded endeavor; they make their money from visiting artists honorariums and sales from their prints.  The blocks they print from have been donated by contemporary wood cut artists in support of the project.  DBP has logged more than 20,000 miles on their tours, and have managed to collect "the largest collection of contemporary prints from across the country" along the way.

You can join the Drive by Press Pit Crew in support, and receive some great stuff in return.

Seriously Interesting on Social Networks

A really interesting article by Stephen Dubner who gathered Martin Baily, Danah Boyd, Steve Chazin, Judith Donath, Nicole Ellison, and William Reader, — and asked them this question:

Has social networking technology (blog-friendly phones, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) made us better or worse off as a society, either from an economic, psychological, or sociological perspective?

The recent interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg described as a 'train wreck' in WIRED is an example where perhaps it could be argued networking technology can be used quite aggressively.. and not making society better in some occasions. I suspect others might disagree? The interview was taken over by the audience taking part in a back-channel discussion on Twitter.

It could certainly put people off standing up in front of an audience even further . . .and see live tv programmes become 'No Twittering allowed' zones?

Story and WIRED link from NESTA Connect Blog

Things I Have Learned In My Life

I love this site... Things I Have Learned In My Life.

The film clip entitled Kids Make Mini Vans More Interesting shows two girls taping plastic coloured eggs to the rear window - brilliant!!!

If you're not crashing, you're not trying shows a beaming skateboarder, Tyler Tate, displaying his wounds of only 5 days ago.

In the Laugh pic below the letters are stuffed with teddy bears....

Fab and Quirky Music Video

Quirky is good! Video from Matt Costa

Stunning Colour Exhibition at MoMA

Beautiful online exhibition called Colour Chart which looks at colour in art from 1950 to today.

Gorgeous Books

Richard Wentworth's 'False Ceiling' exhibition. I might try this in my living room.

The evolution of social networks.

One of the things I  admire about older cities is that they're walkable. Modern  cities like Atlanta aren't built around communities, they're built with  efficiency in mind so there are vast tracts of suburbia with no sidewalk  and nothing within walking distance. Anywhere you want to go is a half  hour or more away by car.

Older cities evolved naturally based on needs- there's always a store within walking distance because there's demand for a store within walking distance. Farms were nearby out of necessity - produce had to be brought in regularly. What the modern world would see as a lack of  efficiency built a robust, balanced, durable institution.

Modern cities  have no such constraints. They're built on the assumption that cars will work and that the best way to distribute population is to segment it into residential, commercial, and industrial zones, each separated from the other by a long drive along the freeway. Farms are located hundreds, perhaps even thousands of miles away and produce is trucked in.

Dunbar's Number says that humans work best in groups of up to 150 people - beyond that we lose the ability to interact with them meaningfully.

As we move further into the digital age, trusted networks will  become more & more important - social networking sites like  Facebook and LinkedIn are based largely on trusting those around you.  The information you get through, say, Facebook - which is increasingly  a platform for passing along nuggets of information, typically in the form of funny youtube videos - is from your peers, from your  circle of trust. Sites like Digg.com put a human, community-based  editorial face on the news of the day. Treehugger has taken the Digg  concept and applied it to "Green" ideas with Hugg.com. Blogs like Thriving too and Treehugger are based on a small team of writers cherry-picking the news of the day for their audience and even writing original articles. Their popularity waxes and wanes with their ability to connect to their audience.

The future of knowledge on the internet is in our ability to form  collectives around niche topics, filter and pass on information. Raw  news arrives on the internet on, say news.google.com, and is filtered through sites like Digg and Treehugger first and then again through social networking sites like Facebook or DESIGN 21. So  we get this multi-tiered filtering system all based on humans and trust.

Richard Dawkins would call these bits of information memes - like genes, but for ideas. The same way a bit of genetic code is  passed down from one generation to the next based on its ability to  survive, memes pass from one person to another like a virus: at points of contact and where mutual interest keeps the  meme alive.

The evolution of information networks is here - it's all around us.  It is us. We can't help but shape the world to our way of thinking. We  talk about what's interesting and relevant, whether it's online or in  person. We're social animals and no matter the form, we build social  systems. Systems that aren't social or don't offer value as social  platforms are replaced by systems that are more social. The very act of  creating a website - a permutation of another website - is a form of  evolution. Facebook is a variation on MySpace is a variation on  Friendster and so on. These sites live and die based on their popularity. This is the  very definition of evolution - change and survival of the fittest. We will build systems that are closer and  closer to what works for us and the internet becomes like the old cities - a series of small communities that supply us with what we need.

Design can change the world.

DESIGN 21 was founded on the belief that design is everything and through design we can change the world. Everything that exists in the world of people is a reflection  of what goes on inside our minds. We must be able to conceive of  something before we can create it.

The big question now is whether or not we're conscious  enough to change decades if not centuries of self-centered design and begin  designing things, systems, policies, platforms, actions, etc. that are  sustainable, perpetual, and in harmony with the world around us.

If the right knowledge is reaching the right people - and surely it  is - and if they're alert enough to pay attention to it, then we stand  a chance of, perhaps for the first time in human history, making a conscious choice to change the world through design. To focus everyone in the  same direction and from policy to furniture to communications tools,  make the right design choices for ourselves and the planet. That is the essence of what we call Social Design, and that ideal is becoming more of a reality every day.

[image credit: mattlogelin]

We Think

Charlie Leadbeater's book 'We Think' launched last night at NESTA in London. For a summary of the evening please see the NESTA Blog. The great short film below explains some of the thinking behind the book, which has been mass written online.

It all just serves to re-enforce my latest thoughts about idealism being the new realism!

Evolutionary Networks

On two recent occasions I have been confronted with the realities of the information and population explosion. Sharing a meal with a well informed professional person, we have mentioned leaders in our respective fields of work, only to be faced with completely blank looks. These are social trials .... either trying to hide our shock at another's ignorance, or even worse pretending to know who is being discussed. It can be really quite embarrassing if we don't openly understand and acknowledge the reality of the situation. It has always happened to a certain extent, but it is getting increasingly difficult to keep up. And there is little authenticity in pretending.

In the revised Shift Happens film (below) it quotes that the amount of technical information is doubling every 2 years, there were 3000 books published today, 2.7 billion searches performed on google this month . . .

Which is why computers are no longer optional... and why social network sites have literally exploded. We need to manage all the connections and all the information. The truth is really quite profound. We cannot manage without people networks, where we have connections with lots and lots of other people. And with those connections can come a measure of confidence. Perhaps we don't need to be trying desperately to absorb so much information, perhaps it is OK to let others know lots of other things we don't . . . but are only a click or a call away? We need people, and we need to build trusting relationships with those people in order to collaborate.

I think that that this is a truly wonderful thing.

Memberships to associations and groups have in one sense become short hand personal branding. We scan through people's online profiles, including their memberships, as a way of creating a picture of that person.

I was fascinated reading Roland Harwood's post on the development of cities. There is certainly no doubt in my mind that self-organisation has already happened with regard social networking sites.

The challenge is to design systems evolutionary enough and quickly enough to ensure their relevance . . . next week.

There is a new site called The Membership Project which aims to explore these themes in closer detail, and to look at ways the networks can be used to help online collaboration and project development. Good luck to David Wilcox and Simon Berry