Mind Space

The GOOD community

2009-01-28T13:27:00.003+01:00

I think this is an interesting source for us. As part of our core idea was to create a facebook but with common good values... check this out:

http://www.good.is/user/community.php

Can a good samaritan be sued?

2008-12-23T09:24:00.002+01:00

A controversial court case from California - In 2004 a group of office workers headed home after a party and were involved in a car crash. One pulled a co-worker from the crash fearing it will catch fire. The woman rescued was left paraplegic and sued her co-worker for treating her like a rag doll. Can a good Samaritan be sued?

The California Supreme Court says good Samaritans can be sued. The woman who was pulled out of her car can proceed with her law suit against the co-worker who rescued her.

The problem is that you can't be careless when you are helping someone. The victim here says I would have been better off if you had not tried to help me and let some professional come on rather than be left as paraplegic for life.

The backlash is so strong that the California Legislator may rewrite the law to give more protection to good Samaritans.

(original source: CBS news)

DDB pushes it forward

2008-12-23T09:03:00.002+01:00

During the holiday season, so many of our offices and our people open their hearts (and their wallets) to help those less fortunate than us. It is always gratifying to hear of our toy drives for needy children, the food and clothing drives and all the other good things being done across the network.

They remind me that generosity has always been a trait of DDB people.

This year, one particular story of generosity stood out for me and I'd like to share it with you.

Like many of our offices in this difficult year, DDB Mexico has cancelled their traditional holiday party. The tradition at DDB Mexico has been to take all the employees on a three-day trip to a resort at Christmas time. DDB Mexico is not a bad place to work!

This year, however, all the money that would have been spent on the party is not going to the bottom line. It is going to the family of Mr. Rigoberto Cesario Gonzales, "Don Rigo" to everyone at DDB Mexico, where he worked in the administration department for over 20 years.

In early November, Don Rigo was killed in as freak accident as he was simply crossing the street in center of Mexico City. A small plane that was carrying the Mexican Interior Minister encountered severe turbulence as it approached the airport and crashed into rush hour traffic. Don Rigo was a victim of the crash.

I'm sure that DDB Mexico President Raul Cardos feels it is the least he could do for Don Rigo's family. He took this action quietly, without fanfare, so I'm sure he won't be happy with me sharing it will all of you.

But I thought it said something special about the people of DDB Mexico and what Christmas means to them this year.

Finally, I'd like to wish each of you Happy Holidays, whichever holidays you happen to be celebrating this time of year!

A thought from Bob Scarpelli - Chairman, Chief Creative Officer

For Our Reference 2

2008-12-16T13:05:00.001+01:00

Twitter Tools

(source)

For Our Reference

2008-12-16T12:31:00.001+01:00

Use Google Web History Without Installing Google Toolbar

(main source)

The Future of the Internet III

2008-12-16T12:18:00.002+01:00

A survey of internet leaders, activists and analysts shows they expect major tech advances as the phone becomes primary device for online access, voice recognition improves, artificial and virtual reality become more embedded in everyday life, and the architecture of the internet itself improves.

They disagree about whether this will lead to more social tolerance, more forgiving human relations, or better home lives.

Here are the key findings on the survey of experts by the Pew Internet and American Life Project that has asked respondents to assess predictions about technology and its roles in the year 2020:

• The mobile device will be the primary connection tool to the internet for most people in the world in 2020.

• The transparency of people and organizations will increase, but that will not necessarily yield more personal integrity, social tolerance, or forgiveness.

• Voice recognition and touch user-interfaces with the internet will be more prevalent and accepted by 2020.

• Those working to enforce intellectual property law and copyright protection will remain in a continuing arms race, with the crackers who will find ways to copy and share content without payment.

• The divisions between personal time and work time and between physical and virtual reality will be further erased for everyone who is connected, and the results will be mixed in their impact on basic social relations.

• Next-generation engineering of the network to improve the current internet architecture is more likely than an effort to rebuild the architecture from scratch.

(for more check this out)

Some features that we should consider

2008-12-03T13:03:00.003+01:00

Here are a few features I thought might be helpful to consider:

http://www.google.com/friendconnect

http://yanswersblog.com/index.php/archives/2008/12/01/what-is-mybloglog/

Korea: An Actress, Her Good Deed & Her Family History

2008-11-26T13:30:00.003+01:00

A popular young actress who is called the 'national star' due to her naivete, humble attitude, and good acting, Moon Geun-young is famous for making donations to society. She usually hides her good deeds from public view. This month a welfare organization, exposed that she donated 850 million won (1 US dollar= 1,500 won) for 6 years in public. Her family history was also introduced by the media for the first time.

Under the condition of being the actress, she promised her family to share her earning with the poor and organizations, such as North Korean aid organizations. Her grandfather was in prison for more than 30 years as a political prisoner and communist and her family members were victimized in the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement. While the media tended to introduce her good deed and her family story as a sad part of Korean history, it leads to unexpected reactions. Some netizens praise her good deed and feel sorry for her family story. But the history seems to still linger around now. Some politicians regard this action as a dangerous element in terms of political security and other netizens interpret this scandal in diverse ways.

(for full story)

2008-11-26T12:59:00.000+01:00

Subject on Voluntary Work Introduced into Curricula

2008-11-25T08:36:00.004+01:00

Kuwait: A new subject has been introduced into school curricula for the current academic year. According to an education official, the new subject pertains to volunteer work and the preservation of Islamic values and identity.

Speaking at a seminar on Sunday which was held to discuss this new subject in coordination with the Kuwaiti Volunteer Center, the Head of the Farwaniya Educational Zone Yuser Al-Omar said that the new subject is aimed at fostering a stronger sense of social responsibility and community work amongst students.

Al-Omar noted that the introduction of this subject will serve to promote volunteer work in the country and will tackle many of the impediments faced by workers in this field, such as a lack of awareness of the need for voluntary work, a lack of encouragement to the youth to engage in such activities and a poor sense of community amongst the younger generation.

Also speaking at the seminar was the principal of Anas Bin Malik High School, Waleed Al-Eisa, who explained that the value of volunteer work has been recognized as a leading principle in the fields of education and parenting and is an area which merits greater attention on the part of parents and teachers in order to ensure a better future.

The seminar, which was held at Anas Bin Malik High School, included the participation of a number of education officials as well as students from the school.

People, this is a good opportunity for us to initiate contacts with schools for 'push it forward' and get the students engaged also off-line and on-line.

Yalla!

(original source: Al Watan Daily, Monday 24/11/08)

PUSH IT FORWARD ONE LAST TIME IN SWEDEN

2008-11-16T11:08:00.002+01:00

It is my last day in Sweden. I will be heading to the airport in 10 minutes.

I leave totally happy and satisfied that just a few minutes ago, I have given one of the Hellstein Hotel employees my train pass and asked her to be inspired to push it forward to someone else and to certainly log into our blog and write about the experience.

Erik Pushes It Forward - Observations

2008-11-05T14:52:00.002+01:00

Erik Pays it forward

2008-11-04T18:18:00.001+01:00

Agnes Pays it forward (3)

2008-11-04T18:15:00.002+01:00

3. Pushing a bill down a neighbour’s mailbox.
I’m a little doubtful as to whether this was really a good deed. 20 crowns isn’t a lot and I could certainly have given it to someone more deserving than a random neighbour - like a homeless person or a charity organization, but I was running out of time. Ironically, while doing this I was really scared of getting “caught”.

Agnes Pays it forward (2)

2008-11-04T18:12:00.002+01:00

2. Visiting my grandmother

This was a good deed in itself - a visit from her grandchild makes my grandmother really happy - but I decided to add on to it by helping her out with the dishes. Doing so made me realize I should help her out more instead of letting myself be pampered by her when I visit. (Also, I forced myself to eat a huge piece of apple pie even though I was so full I could burst. But I always do that, my grandmother would be heartbroken if I said no to dessert)

Agnes Pays it forward (1)

2008-11-04T18:09:00.001+01:00

1. Brewing coffee for my classmates.

When a classmate expressed his desperate need for caffeine after lunch, I immediately jumped at the opportunity to help. It’s obviously a small gesture, but it seemed like a good place to start. I asked if anyone else wanted some and ended up brewing a whole pot. I rather sheepishly explained to everyone that I wasn’t doing it out of the goodness of my heart, but that I was on a mission. In retrospect, I wonder why I was so reluctant to let them think I was just being genuinely nice.

Agnes Pays it forward

2008-11-04T18:03:00.001+01:00

23-year old female, living n Stockholm
Previously studied Philosophy
Currently studying Digital Media / Hyper Island
Currently working part time in a Café
Likes watching TV, going out with friends, cook, video games, art, Literature, comics.

Mira Paying it Forward

2008-11-04T17:51:00.003+01:00

Mira Speaks about her Paying It Forward Experience:
http://blip.tv/file/get/Salehmeka-MiraVoicerecord287.mp3

Dear Friends of YLVP,

I was asked by our friends of MindSpace to document myself doing 3 good things to people, so I was wondering what that could be .. I have 2 little things this morning which I wouldn't necesserly see as a help but well since I need to document things I will just count in and what remains is the third thing .. My dear team-mate Nasry "My Victory" has just provoked me a little hehehe but well ya I know he is just kidding, I decided that instead of teasing him back that I do something nice to him, I have a HUGE chocolate bar that I have home that I wanted to share with him, but then I decided that it would be nicer if I just shared it with all of you because I like you all as you are and I would like to make you all happy today or at least smile a little as my third ''doing good thing" ... so today you are all invited to share a huge bar a chocolate maybe this evening when you get back to the hotel and in addition to that I dedicate you all this ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVczDSiAWPY ) lovely piece of music for Fairuz .. which I imagine we all like or most of us at least do .. I got inspired by the snow coz we are in sweden heheh and also the tayr (Bird) symbolyzes freedom to me and so it is an inpiration again !So I wish you a lovely day .. and hope to see you all smiling especially with finishing most of our assignments..TRY TO BE POSITIVE AND SMILE :D-- Mira Nabulsi,Cellphone (ES): +34 65 33 52 601Cellphone (PAL): +970 599 845 139E-mail: mira.gabi@gmail.com

******************

Re: Dear YLVP`s Have a Smiley Day‏
From:Maha Alaswad (maha.alaswad@gmail.com)
Sent:Tuesday, November 04, 2008 12:51:17 PM
To: Mira A.B. Nabulsi (mira.gabi@gmail.com)

sweet Mira I just loved you email and the lovely song , it's one of my favorites, Birds are my favorite creatures and they mean freedom for me too ,if you remember in the very 1st presentation in Swedish institute.

i am definitely smiling now sweetie

take care

*****************************

From: Hazem Abo Youness

Sent:Tuesday, November 04, 2008 10:57:05 AM
To: Mira A.B. Nabulsi (mira.gabi@gmail.com

Dear Mira, thank you allot it's very nice words, and feeling which touched me deeply, thank you again and also for the song, which I didn't see one in Sweden (I know it's winter) thank you and for all of the group, please take it easy, so you will do it, Best regards and Great Love for all of you,

Hazem

http://www.hyperhummus.com/

Sophi Paying It Forward (3)

2008-11-04T17:49:00.000+01:00

http://www.youtube.com/v/qSjMZmoEziw

Sophi Paying It Forward (2)

2008-11-04T17:44:00.001+01:00

http://www.youtube.com/v/062BwTvYyhI

User Studies - Test Initiators

2008-11-03T17:01:00.004+01:00

Sofi Andersson:
Swedish
27-year old female,
living in Karlshamn.
Studied Business Management / Hyper Island
Project Manager / Hyper Island
likes dogs, films and walk in nature

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5g_z5ezGDE

User Studies - Test Initiators

2008-11-03T16:58:00.003+01:00

Mira Nabulsi:
Palestinian
25-year old female
Master Peace Conflict & Development studies
Not working at present
Previously worked as a Local Coordinator in GTZ,
many years of volunteering experiences.
Likes music (Sufi and Oriental), cooking, and travelling.
http://www.youtube.com/v/StAxiviCEZ4

User Studies - Test Initiators

2008-11-03T16:26:00.006+01:00

Erik Öhlen:
Swedish
22-year old male,
living in Stockholm,
studied 1 year of History and Philosophy,
currently studying Digital Media / Hyper Island.
not working at present.
likes books, music, meeting up with friends and boxing

http://www.youtube.com/v/13f1S40pKdI

Face Lift - Pay It Forward 2.0

2008-11-03T16:13:00.004+01:00

Concept:
Pay It Forward is a book written by Catherine Ryan Hyde and released in January 2000. In 2008 and with the current status of the world around us, we have realized the need to re-interpret this initiative but with a new facelift. Pay It Forward 2.0 wants to change this work of fiction and its foundation into a real life social movement that will also be interpreted into a digital social network.
Pay It Forward 2.0 is an open group where people from different backgrounds, fields, and nationalities can participate. It investigates the relation between private and public (private relating to the immediate context in relation to the world) in reference to the private/public as the main philosophical construction of social networks.

Mission:
A social network interface that is user generated and will be the umbrella of diverse other services that will help sustain the network.

Objectives/ Challenge:
Get people to act within their immediate context, write about it and inspire others to carry on.
Our other challenge is to sustain the network through offering the user engaging interface and services like: music, video uploads, simple posting, idea book, celebrities section, tagging, GPRS type of system to help locate the other initiatives around the world, discussion panels, etc.
Also we were thinking of other offerings like a ‘Pay It Forward 2.0’ group, multi-media installations in public spaces (bars, night clubs, streets, etc.), success story books, documentary compiled from all the members, instant messages (twitter application maybe) to stay updated on the stream of good deeds, income generating applications for companies to have good deeds pop up on their main page, etc.
Also other applications like including the YLVP network and other networks as groups within the main frame, public information panels (voting, welfare, etc.), etc. can also be added into the application.

Style:
Transparent, young, dynamic, interactive and ego-less

Strategy:
Provoke action through confrontation and transparency

Effects:
Open individuals and small communities to the idea of positive change and interaction. Push individuals to own their actions and become more accountable to their responsibilities as citizens of the world.

Paying it Forward 2.0 comes to life

2008-10-31T15:43:00.005+01:00

The idea is to create a social media solution that tells stories of paying it forward. You've seen the movie. One person helps three people, these three people help three other people each, who help three other people each. Turning it into Paying it Forward 2.0 allows for people to be inspired by another person's story to begin paying it forward.

We started by paying it forward to our three Hyper Island friends. Help us with your ideas and input and we'll be inspired to help someone else.

An information site needs to include:
- I helped and I was helped stories
- possibility to share favorite stories
- simple posting
- simple instructions and idea
- maximum length
- celebrities posting good deeds that were done to them

Financing? Revenue possibilities?
- publish book with sample stories
- make documentary
- good will donations from celebrities/ companies
- advertising
- lectures about paying it forward
- sign up to receive a text message or email per day with a good deed
- companies pay for application to have good deed pop up on their website

User generated or user enhanced?
- user generated

High level of interactivity secured by doing:
- create tags to gather readers around one theme
- organize non-conferences - virtual meetings
- create widget for blogs so people can link to their website or blogs
- daily text message or email to inspire reader to write more
- expose good deeds in public spaces
- create Facebook application or similar application where good deed pops up on desktop
- animated billboard where good deeds pop up on subway, bus, etc.
- readers' poll that leads to hall of fame - top 20 stories
- choose your favorite story, write why it's your favorite, create a link to your own website

Censorship avoided by:
- we don't censor stories, create function where users can protest and start a discussion
- focus on cheesy, positive feelings so that governments are unlikely to censor

Target audience:
Pay It Forward 2.0 proposes a global solution within the immediate local context. The major target audience is everyone in this world living in the 21st century and uses different interactive interfaces.
The smaller target group is people between (9 - 60) who mainly use the internet and come from different areas of this world. These will include the MENA region, Europe and the rest of the world.
Target audience psychography
Young (of different sociopolitical backgrounds/ low, middle or upper), adult, married or single male/female. Human conscious. He / she are up to date on what's going on in the world through exposure to satellite and internet that keep them in touch with any development in any sector of life, they live and interact within their immediate context. He/she are individuality seekers, are passionate about different issues in life and don’t forget to have fun.
Decision makers:
Our decision makers in this case are the users- the singular drive i.e. the ‘I’.

Tone and Style:
Young, dynamic, versatile and accessible.

SWOT analysis
Strength the need to being part of something effective and positive in a world that lacks enthusiasm about a better future
Weaknesses lack of hope and trust in the system
Threat people loosing interest and then it doesn't become sustainable
Opportunities making the best out of the current multi cultural network among the group to promote for the website and for the initiative.

How would you promote intercultural dialogue and exchange?
By urging people to take charge and instigate positive changes in a small manner in their own societies we spread positivism and we promote the idea of unity in the world. We show that people, no matter where they live, strive for positivity and that a positive action in Syria can inspire a positive action in Sweden.

What are your strategies to include perspectives such as gender, disability, environment, etc?
By allowing people to tag what sort of good deeds they are doing we can have different categories of good deeds, and in this way include perspectives such as gender, sexuality, ethnicity, etc.

How will your solution engage young leaders and opinion maker?
By showing how one good action can inspire other good actions we engage leaders and option makers.

New friends

2008-10-31T14:08:00.004+01:00

We have 3 new friends. Erik, Agnes and Madeleine gave us immensly helpful feedback during our session this morning, which was broadcasted live.

Thank you Erik, Agnes and Madeleine for your help!

Feedback meeting NOW!!!!

2008-10-31T11:39:00.001+01:00

Watch our feedback meeting with Hyper Island students live!

Our ideas

2008-10-31T11:28:00.002+01:00

We want to create a new social media solution. A place to meet.
These are our ideas. Please give us some feedback. Which one would you use? What questions come up for you when you read these ideas?

1- Agents of change , pay it forward
Chain reaction of good deeds within your own context

2- Rock the vote campaign:
Creating a forum where people can figure out why they need to vote and allow transparency.

3- Blogers solidarity
Imitating a digital syndicate for blogers all around the world, trying to cause change

4- Stereotype
Stereotype watch dog that looks at different stereotypes in the media and compares diverse sources.

5- Transient
From --- with love
Creating an interactive platform that connects people from all around the world who are dislocated.

6- Idea book

Post an ideas and ask people to complete it and get inspired by the ideas of others. (start ideas and get inspired by other people's Ideas to finish them)

7- Censorship
Site that helps to reveal the censored sections in diverse mediums

8- Freedom Alarm
Digital safety net for people who are in trouble

9. Connecting volunteers during crises.

What is going on when it comes to interactive user-generated solutions?

2008-10-30T12:03:00.001+01:00

1. Engaging the audience through what they really are passionate about. So not interrupting their daily lives but rather integrating user-generated forms within their lifestyles.
2. First Person Singular is the NOW
3. Faster networks means greater more effective interactions and certainly singularity is in the driver’s seat.
4. Computer processing and storage will continue to increase performance and decrease in price in accordance with Moore’s Law
5. High definition screens that are cheaper, lighter and more portable
6. Mobile phones are rivaling today’s desktop PCs for power and storage
7. Instantaneous communications everywhere and anytime
8. Mobile access to e-mail from different channels
9. Gaming has become a live imitation of reality. Everybody is in the game and playing. Just like ebay, buyers and sellers were introduced as part of the game.
10. Social networking/UGC sites have unpredictable storage and bandwidth needs, making technical infrastructure (and therefore, budget and capital expense) planning a crap shoot.
11. Accessibility of podcasts has fragmented music revenue to create ‘unpaid’ music promoters that will potentially return real value to songwriters and publishers.
12. Home made production of video is a part of so many people’s daily lives.
13. Online music users and sharing every song through the user play lists while online—whether via iTunes, YouTube, last.fm or services—and then creates a single timeline of the music they’ve been listening to
14. Bookmarks can be added to the top left of the page, and a feed reader is included at the bottom of the screen. AOL is also inserting direct links to third party news sources via Relegence, a company they acquired in 2006 and began integrating into AOL Finance in late 2007.
15. 2.5 billion interactions/month on 300 leading digital destinations
16. Tear-down-the-walls home page strategy, allowing users to view email from Yahoo and Gmail

Links:
http://www.slideshare.net/cssa/gadgets-and-technology-trends-to-2010
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1570707,00.html
http://www.springwise.com/
http://www.learningapi.com/blog/archives/000114.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1570707,00.html

What does our future look like?

2008-10-30T11:43:00.006+01:00

Our worlds are changing. New technologies open up many windows of opportunity and allow space for the ideas you never had.

Gartner does IT research and predicts in a recent press release that the following trends will peak in the next two to five years (remember point 32 of the Manifesto - Imitate):

Green IT — Along with broader societal pressure for environmentally sustainable solutions, IT has the opportunity — and in many cases, a requirement — to improve the "greenness" of its own activities, as well as to contribute to broader company and industry environmental initiatives.

Cloud computing — As companies seek to consume their IT services in the most cost-effective way, interest is growing in drawing a broad range of services (for example, computational power, storage and business applications) from the "cloud," rather than from on-premises equipment. Many types of technology providers are aligning themselves with this trend, with the result that confusion and hype will continue for at least another year before distinct submarkets and market leaders emerge.

Social computing platforms — Following the phenomenal success of consumer-oriented social networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, companies are examining the role that these sites, or their enterprise-grade equivalents, will play in future collaboration environments. The scope is also expanding to incorporate the notion of social "platforms," or environments for a broad range of developers to build on the basic application.

Video telepresence — High-end videoconferencing systems (for example, from HP, Cisco, Teliris and others) that utilize large, high-definition (HD) displays and components to show life-size images of participants in meeting rooms or suites have proven significantly more effective than earlier generations of videoconferencing technology in providing a strong sense of in-room presence between remote participants. High cost is currently the barrier to broader adoption.

Microblogging— Pioneered by Twitter (although other services such as FriendFeed or Plurk are also available), microblogging is a relatively new addition to the world of social networking, in which contributors post a stream of very short messages (fewer than 140 characters) providing information about their current activity or thoughts, which can then be subscribed to by others. The phenomenon has caught on among certain online communities, and leading-edge companies are investigating its role in enhancing other social media and channels.

Other trends...
Affordability - Computers, mobile phones, internet access are all becoming cheaper and often free.

Portability - Tech tools are smaller, lighter, better quality.

Speed - Networks are becoming faster.

Processing and capacity - Computer processing and storage capacity are improving.

Google's power - Google is gaining "galactic domination" - will there be a revolution against Google? Did you know that Google does research on neurological activity in order to make advertising as efficient as possible? Read more HERE.

TRUSTONOMICS - social currency - is trust becoming a commodity?

Some tools according to TechCrunch are...
ChaCha & Aardvark - ask any question, humans answer
docstoc - upload a document by emailing it to an address
iPhone - if you have an iPhone you get free WiFi all over the US

Some developments...
Read HERE about mobile phones not serving as a distraction from school work, but rather as an education tool. Practice for the SATs (US standardized test for college) by playing? Read more HERE.

Digital solutions that support processes to strengthen democracy, equality, and freedom of expression?

2008-10-30T11:37:00.004+01:00

"Freedom of expression online is a right, not a privilege - but it's a right that needs defending," said Steve Ballinger of Amnesty International. "We're asking bloggers worldwide to show their solidarity with web users in countries where they can face jail just for criticising the government." Read more here

Does the censorship always come from government? What about parents, libraries, Swedish censorship board? Is there a “good” censorship? Who decides what/where/when to censor? Does the censorship only involves political issues? What about violence, pornography, ...?

"The Swedish censorship board is angry at the court's decision following previous accusations they were too lenient, according to Variety". Read more here

Is Technology / Social media against values? Read more here

Which values does technology promote? Read more here

The Future of Social Media Entertainment

2008-10-30T11:31:00.001+01:00

Future Of Social Media Entertainment

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: street trigger)

Very interesting

2008-10-29T11:57:00.000+01:00

This is really interesting for our project. Google and a few other internet companies are going to promote free speach.

An Incomplete Manifesto for Mind Space Change

2008-10-29T09:45:00.000+01:00

In 2008, we reaffirm and refuse to complete the Incomplete Manifesto first written by Bruce Mau. Mind space has made some linguistic adaptations to better fit our group. Mind space also took the liberty of removing some points that were overly abstract. Collectively, these points are how we approach this project.

1. Allow events to change you. You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.

2. Forget about good. Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. As long as you stick to good you'll never have real growth.

3. Process is more important than outcome. When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we've already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be there.

4. Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child). Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.

5. Go deep. The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value.

6. Capture accidents. The wrong answer is the right answer in search of a different question. Collect wrong answers as part of the process. Ask different questions.

7. Study. A team project is a chance to study. Use the necessity of production as an excuse to study. Everyone will benefit.

8. Drift. Allow yourself to wander aimlessly. Explore adjacencies. Lack judgment. Postpone criticism.

9. Begin anywhere. John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.

10. Everyone is a leader. Growth happens. Whenever it does, allow it to emerge. Learn to follow when it makes sense. Let anyone lead.

11. Slow down. Desynchronize from standard time frames and surprising opportunities may present themselves.

12. Don’t be cool. Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort.

13. Ask stupid questions. Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant.

14. Collaborate. The space between people working together is filled with conflict, friction, strife, exhilaration, delight, and vast creative potential.

15. ____________________. Intentionally left blank. Allow space for the ideas you haven’t had yet, and for the ideas of others.

16. Stay up late. Strange things happen when you’ve gone too far, been up too long, worked too hard, and you're separated from the rest of the world.

17. Work the metaphor. Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent. Work on what it stands for.

18. Be careful to take risks. Time is genetic. Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow. The work you produce today will create your future.

19. Repeat yourself. If you like it, do it again. If you don’t like it, do it again.

20. Make your own tools. Hybridize your tools in order to build unique things. Even simple tools that are your own can yield entirely new avenues of exploration. Remember, tools amplify our capacities, so even a small tool can make a big difference.

21. Stand on someone’s shoulders. You can travel farther carried on the accomplishments of those who came before you. And the view is so much better.

22. Don’t clean your desk. You might find something in the morning that you can’t see tonight.

23. Don’t compete. Just don’t. It’s not good for you.

24. Read only left-hand pages. Marshall McLuhan did this. By decreasing the amount of information, we leave room for what he called our "noodle." So trust your own interpretations.

25. Make new words. Expand the lexicon, yani. The new conditions demand a new way of thinking. The thinking demands new forms of expression. The expression generates new conditions.

26. Think with your mind. Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent.

27. Organization = Liberty. Real innovation in design, or any other field, happens in context. That context is usually some form of cooperatively managed enterprise. Frank Gehry, for instance, is only able to realize Bilbao because his studio can deliver it on budget. The myth of a split between "creatives" and "suits" is what Leonard Cohen calls a 'charming artifact of the past.' Use the limitations at hand to come up with creative solutions.

28. Don’t borrow money. Once again, Frank Gehry’s advice. By maintaining financial control, we maintain creative control. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’s surprising how hard it is to maintain this discipline, and how many have failed.

29. Listen carefully. Every collaborator who enters our orbit brings with him or her a world more strange and complex than any we could ever hope to imagine. By listening to the details and the subtlety of their needs, desires, or ambitions, we fold their world onto our own. Neither party will ever be the same.

30. Take field trips. The bandwidth of the world is greater than that of your TV set, or the Internet, or even a totally immersive, interactive, dynamically rendered, object-oriented, real-time, computer graphic–simulated environment.

31. Make mistakes faster.

32. Imitate. Don’t be shy about it. Try to get as close as you can. You'll never get all the way, and the separation might be truly remarkable. We have only to look to Richard Hamilton and his version of Marcel Duchamp’s large glass to see how rich, discredited, and underused imitation is as a technique.

33. Scat. When you forget the words, yell out “such shite through a big pipe” out loud with an Irish accent, then do what Ella did: make up something else ... but not words.

34. Break it, stretch it, bend it, crush it, crack it, fold it.

35. Explore the other edge. Great liberty exists when we avoid trying to run with the technological pack. We can’t find the leading edge because it’s trampled underfoot. Try using old-tech equipment made obsolete by an economic cycle but still rich with potential.

36. Coffee breaks, cab rides, green rooms. Real growth often happens outside of where we intend it to, in the interstitial spaces -- what Dr. Seuss calls "the waiting place." Hans Ulrich Obrist once organized a science and art conference with all of the infrastructure of a conference -- the parties, chats, lunches, airport arrivals — but with no actual conference. Apparently it was hugely successful and spawned many ongoing collaborations.

37. Avoid fields. Jump fences. Disciplinary boundaries and regulatory regimes are attempts to control the wilding of creative life. They are often understandable efforts to order what are manifold, complex, evolutionary processes. Our job is to jump the fences and cross the fields.

38. Laugh. We laugh a lot, and out loud when everyone else is silent. Use laughter as a barometer of how comfortably we are expressing ourselves.

39. Remember. Growth is only possible as a product of history. Without memory, innovation is merely novelty. History gives growth a direction. But a memory is never perfect. Every memory is a degraded or composite image of a previous moment or event. That’s what makes us aware of its quality as a past and not a present. It means that every memory is new, a partial construct different from its source, and, as such, a potential for change itself.

40. Power to the people. Play can only happen when people feel they have control over their lives. We can't be free agents if we’re not free.

Khallas.

Our logo is up and running!

2008-10-28T19:59:00.000+01:00

Mind space democracy rules!!!!!

2008-10-28T13:34:00.000+01:00

Mind space group ROCKS :)

Mindspace in space!

2008-10-27T16:31:00.000+01:00

Mindspace hereby exists.

Welcome!