Technology
To promise the sun is better than the moon
15/06/1013:29
“We simply must balance our demand for energy with our rapidly shrinking resources. By acting now, we can control our future instead of letting the future control us.”
- Jimmy Carter, 18. April 1977
More than thirty years ago, a set of solar panels were installed on the roof of the White House, Jimmy Carter dedicated them with the foreboding words:
“A generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken, or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people.”
In a society so utterly driven by success, it has become a standard for the new person in charge to radically break with the ideas of their predecessor. The constant reinvention demanded by society meant that after less than seven years use, the solar installation was removed at the request of the new president Regan.
Whilst Swiss artist filmmakers Christina Hemauer and Roman Keller fulfill part of Carter’s prediction by handing over one of the original panels to the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum, their film, A Road not Taken allows us to step back in time to follow the route taken by the solar panels, the different people involved, and the larger decisions made in relation to the oil crisis of the time.
By reviewing the current focus on the ‘urgency’ of climate change within the lens of decisions taken and not followed through over 30 years ago, this film is a reminder that the way forward, the way to reinvent and innovate, is to start to look in the rearview mirror a lot more than we do. We don’t need anyone to promise us the moon, but promising the moon is a different matter and we need to be able to recognise the difference.
Read more about the making of the film via: roadnottaken.info
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Experiments in experiential typography
16/04/0900:13
One Day Poem Pavilion, by Jiyeon Song
Life gets interesting when different worlds start to collide. The increased focus in the media on creativity of artists and musicians to offer hope and an idea of rebirth to a struggling financial system is one obvious example. I’ve previously blogged on the merging of art and design practice but my real fascination at the moment is looking at more extreme worlds merging, get an engineering mind with an artist for example...
On this post, you are looking at the thesis work of graduate Masters student Jiyeon Song; he positions himself as Media Designer / Artist, his practice being focused on the exploration of ‘Experiential Typography’. Anyone involved in design will recognise the phenomena of the typography ‘geek’ who can name any typeface from 100 paces whilst being blindfolded, most people who find this site will know at least one person like that. I would be very surprised if Jiyeon would classify his work in the context within typography. The fact he works with hardboard sheets and yet calls himself a Media Designer is fascinating... that’s a new hardware approach perhaps.
‘Media’ as a classification is nowadays assumed to relate to the digital world, at the very least. And with that comes the idea of instant change, rapid update ability, fast control of information. Imagine a billboard which reveals its message over time in opposition to instant messaging (Stefan Sagmeister and others have explored this idea in various ways). There is a cultural confusion — in the positive sense of redefining how we classify the world or read information — where artifact blends with experience, where design message blends with art object. Experience of the art object carries with it the assumption that time is taken to absorb meaning, and that meaning is taken away with the viewer. That sense of reflection, consideration, mulling over is a fascinating challenge to a world which has been about speeding up. Maybe we’re recognising the value in moving forward ‘effectively’ is more rewarding simply moving forward ‘fast’.
It is interesting to contrast the speed at which we need to move towards sustainability with the need to slow down and consider the consequences of our actions that will help make it a reality. Lets have more designers considering slow communication and encouraging consideration. If your computer loads this image more quickly than the work itself appears then consider what we’re loosing in the tremendous value to be accrued from just waiting.
As the poem is slowly revealed, the meaning can resonate with its patient audience.
Read more about the project on: www.OneDayPoem.com
And read more about Jiyeon Song at: www.artcenter.edu
Innovation to change the world
13/04/0911:18
Calling all software developers, designers, business brains and other seriously creative minds, oh, and a raft of social problems which need to be solved through some innovative thinking, and action.
Over one weekend from 19th-21st June 2009, some of the best of the UK’s software developers and designers will be brought together with those at the sharp end of social problems at the Saltire Centre, Glasgow.
Their mission will be to convert six raw ideas to change the world into six social start-ups in under 48 hours — complete with working software.
If you would like to take part, or have the ideas for problems which need to be solved (from education, to health care, the environment; something on your doorstep or stuff that effects the world) then take a look at the Social Innovation Camp website to join up.
The deadline for the big problems is Friday 22 May 2009, so check out: www.scotland.sicamp.org
Keep it, kept it, share it
04/04/0911:03
Looking for the latest gadget? Got to have that iPhone (yes, it can be a tough choice!). We are ‘programmed’ to ‘need’ the latest badges of post-post-modernity, sometimes it is useful, and at other times it represents desire, pure and simple. Imagine for a moment that it is now cool to have only as much as you require to enjoy life, and no more. Straightforward idea, and one which many belief systems have constructed themselves around.
Enter a straightforward project called, Kept. The idea being that you take pride in valuing what you have around you, avoiding having more and more stuff produced to satisfy a desire. Of course, a natural response might be, ‘loss of a commercial reason will kill development’ (based on the creation of desire as a drive for commerce). The challenge to move to a post-consumer world is baffling to some, and to others a new kind of self-control might be well considered, bearing in mind the fierce effect now being felt by the actions of the banking profession.
Projects like Kept shouldn’t be viewed as a full answer, but it does perhaps offer an opportunity for us to rethink the way we individually calibrate our concept of ‘desire’. One thing is for sure: we won’t create any type of paradigm shift to benefit the world by consuming more stuff. The development of the commercial service sector has surely only just been born. And with that, the practice of design continues to redefine itself.
Read more about the project and subscribe at: www.kept.it
News relationships lead to innovation
04/12/0814:34
We’re used to seeing sponsored sections of newspaper, the big player’s version of an inserted flyer, the PR value is varied but always clearly focussed on the sponsor’s product as the result of a simple cash/ad space exchange. In this hard copy news encounter there’s obviously a halo effect between the brands of sponsor and news organisation.
Things have been a little more clear-cut in the online world of news organisations; The Guardian’s website was The Guardian’s own domain, apart from the odd banner ad,
A new kind of relationship with IDEO looks set to change that online balance. Since working with IDEO as a consultant a few years back I’ve kept an interest in the relationship of their practice to the PR, and this recent development is an interesting and rather impressive move. IDEO and The Guardian Online have started a quasi joint venture to publish thoughts on... anything to do with ‘innovation’ (which happens to be one of IDEO’s key self generating labels.) Whilst it could be easy to dismiss this a purely a PR exercise for a big and bright international service and product design company, it is also a significant move for Guardian themselves.
This IDEO driven/branded marketing exercise uses some of the Guardian’s columnists shoulder to shoulder with its own writers. There is clearly an eye for an opportunity from the guardian in this new style relationship. The news industry has been in sharp decline in recent years, and clearly they are looking at expanding and innovating themselves into new relationships with thinkers, content makers, and ultimately it’s increasingly technologically driven public.
In the same way that ‘everyone’ can now call themselves a ‘designer’ (from bioengineers to service strategists), the news industry is opening themselves up to new ‘content developers’ from diverse practice backgrounds. This isn’t much of a surprise when you consider the impressive rise of the blogger, however there is an interesting paradigm shift when institutions such as the Guardian open up their website, and not only their comments and blog in collaboration with their own columnists. Let’s see where this can go next.
Take a look and see what you make of the inspire-innovate relationship.
Multi-touch
06/10/0822:02
I am fascinated by anything which creates interactivity, from pens and paper, to multi-touch and more. I found this back yard experiment online at IDEO Labs
Demand for change
01/10/0821:38
This stunning range of statisitics comes from the annual Global Management Meeting event by Sony BMG Entertainment in May this year. Its role: to illustrate the demand for change. When a company shows its investment in knowledge like this it is hard to knock it. Mixing visionary message and with brand is a winner. This is actually a revised version of an earlier video, but the combined work of research and graphics compliments each other with simplicity and directness. Enjoy, and reel at those stats, how have they changed in the 5 months since this video was first made, what will they be like a year on from now, change is exponentially faster day by day. How are you going to react to the increasing speed of change?
Another more recent related video by the Now Network, similar thinking!
(this last video link added on 27.04.09)
Googled: it's a long, long post...
01/10/0809:45
Yes, another project with 'good' ambitions; to 'change' the world, or create a step change in peoples attitude and action. Often a project will give space for reflection, and most often it results in a series of ideas, some old, some new. One of Google's current projects is the 10 to the power of 100, based on many ideas contributing to a manifesto for change. 10tothe100 is a competition project being run by Google, submit your ideas before 20 October, 2008. Project10tothe100.com
It reminds me of the various editions of the Whole Earth catalogue, initiated by all round inspiration, Mr Bucky Fuller, and published (rather a short time before I entered this world) in 1969:
A rather worn copy, of the increasingly rare 'Whole Earth Catalogue'.
Pages have the layout of a typical catalogue of products of the era (think about warming up your Gestetner machine!). The frontispiece informs the reader, "The Whole Earth Catalogue functions as an evaluation and access device. With it, the user should know what is worth getting and where and how to do the getting."
Under the title, "Purpose", the text goes on to say, "We are as gods and might as well get good at it. So far remotely done power and glory--as via government, big business, formal education, church--has succeeded to the point where gross defects obscure actual gains. In response to this dilema and to these gains a realm of intimate, personal power is developing--power of the individual to conduct his own education, find his own inspiration, shape his own environment, and share his adventure with whoever is interested. Tools that aid this process are sought and promoted by the WHOLE EARTH CATALOGUE."
I wonder how Bucky would change his approach if he was blogging himself, and advising the people at the Google project (above). The above paragraph could be talking about the current scope of the Internet. Never before have we had so much capacity to change the world, so many tools within easy reach. To what degree does the power still remain in the word, getting traction on new ideas is still the challenge to engineering social behaviour change.
I wonder if Patrick Leavens was able to push forward this idea. It still offers an interesting and potentially viable alternative to the Internet experience, Internews/Internet. Shame that now google has to engage people with a competition that crowns an individual winner, rather than expecting that they'll enter out of good will for change...
Design the world: solutions to water crisis: competition
30/09/0820:06
Another fascinating and ambitious competition from the people at Aspen, lets see more ambition changing events like this, certainly it makes a more relevant focus than the usual, 'design a poster', water is going to be one of the most highly contested resources over the next few decades. Aspendesignchallenge.org
Sketchy attitude
18/09/0808:12
Created by three researchers in the Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, it’s great to see an interface which brings us back to basic directness of sketching. I noticed that there has been some criticism of this interface because there is a fear that many CAD trained operatives would be redundant, it’s an unfortunate thing that we are loosing that ability to sketch, as technological interfaces continue to develop, it shows how important it will be for us to connect back to simple tactile expression. Pick up your pencils now.