Curiouser & curiouser

This is a bit of a delayed post, in response to the documentary ‘The Power of Community’ we watched in the Monday evening lecture on 17 March. One quote I jotted down was “Wind turbines began to appear on the landscape.” This reminded me of my travels back in January when I was taking the bus from St Jean du Luz, on the coast of France, across the border into Spain, on my way to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. We were driving along the highway, parallel to a mountain range that ran right along the coast, and there were literally hundreds upon hundreds of wind turbines, lining the ridge of the mountain range, as far as the eye could see. It was a really amazing sight, and it really visualised just how much Spain is developing as a country, and working towards a better economy and a more sustainable future, through industry and initiative. This picture was taken on the return trip, when the sun was setting. You can just make out the wind turbines running across the horizon…

We Think…

A new book by Charles Leadbeater, ‘We Think’ explores the potential of the latest developments of the Internet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiP79vYsfbo

UNICEF’s Tap Project

On World Water Day, March 22, 2007, hundreds of restaurants in New York City invited customers to donate just $1 for the tap water they usually enjoy for free. All the money raised through the Tap Project helps UNICEF save lives by providing safe drinking water to children around the world.

See what can happen with just one idea… 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OmN4B7yyS8

Our Design Research group project is looking at taking on a different direction, or more-so, we are looking at extending our research topic to a broader domain. From the initial idea of ‘Urbis’ we branched off into social and virtual networks. There is a possibility of now looking into the opportunity to utilize society’s increasing dependence on this information technology – the internet and virtual social networking, and use it to share information, or alternatively as a source for education purposes.

Stay tuned…

For the past fifteen years, Dutch kinetic sculptor Theo Jansen has been creating animals, made from commonly available tools like plastic tubing, cardboard boxes, plastic bottles, hose, and tape, which are powered by the wind. A modern-day DaVinci perhaps?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMqftVhOuTw

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” Upton Sinclair

Now here’s an idea…

Dutch graphic design studio Scherpontwerp has created a world-first: Their office interior is entirely made of cardboard!

A total of 7300 sheets of cardboard were glued together to create dividing walls, desks and tables for the new quarters…

A nice initiative…

I came across a site that “tells you everything you need to know to be a more environmentally aware graphic designer.”

Worth a read…

http://www.lovelyasatree.com/

Some interesting points in relation to social patterns, urbis and networks:

“… an ambitious project that attempts to chart the bewildering complexity of our increasingly interconnected (and designed) world. We have done our best to open it up by breaking it down, and putting as many fascinating fragments as we could find back together again…” 

“We will build a global mind” 

“The most profound impact of information technology has been to transfer the potential of the scientific method – that ever-expanding accumulation of knowledge ­– to the cultural sphere. Internet protocols allow us to link any two computers, enabling an explosive global network of networks.”

“…generating a worldwide cultural accumulation beyond imagination, available to anyone, anywhere.”

taken from: Massive Change, Bruce Mau and the Institute without boundaries