atlanta mapathon

In an effort to position Atlanta as the most digitally mapped city in the US, over 200 volunteer organizers carried out a large-scale, mapping exercise in the city two weekends ago. The "mapathon" was organized by citizens, professors, geo-professionals etc and OpenStreetMap (OSM), an organization that promotes "the most accurate" mapping through open source mapping - allowing the public to contribute and access maps and geo-data free of charge. Basically Wikipedia and Google Maps had a beautiful love child.

The founder of OSM, Steve Coast, founded the organization to address what he saw as a lack of community and user contribution, as well as restrictive licensing that prevents public access to important and useful data.

The Atlanta Mapathon was apparently a huge success and will be followed up with monthly mini-mapping parties!

GOOD magazine: CEO compensation contest

GOOD Magazine's CEO Compensation Contest asked designers to create a graphic that explores and makes an interesting statement about executive pay in the U.S.. The winner (above, announced Oct 2) by Dee Adams is a great visual representation of hierarchy and the imbalance in pay and position between  executives and the employees that are (literally) beneath them. It's an awesome way to incorporate social commentary into an infographic.

 See here for GOOD's analysis on the winner and the entries of the runners up. Click here for other contest entries.

GOOD Magazine has a lot of interesting infographics and studies related to current public policy dilemmas, campaigns, claims etc in their transparency section.
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bring in 'da fun

According to the Thefuntheory.com (an initiative of Volkwagen), changing people's behavior (for the better) is as easy as introducing some fun into mundane tasks like throwing away garbage. Even if it's just a fun way for some Volkswagen employees to get a few laughs, or generate a little "green" publicity for the car company, it's a nice thought - changing behavior doesn't always have to be a deep psychological experiment, or a matter of garnering support to change public policy (though this is lovely as well) - sometimes we just have to put a little fun into it!

One of their projects, the world's deepest bin:

unlikely dream job: maldives cabinet member

Agence France-Presse — Getty Images (via New York Times)

Apparently the Maldives government is getting creative with its campaign to combat climate change. The President, VP and cabinet members held a meeting 20 feet under water to highlight the fact that if we, globally, don't cut our carbon emissions and engage in more sustainable activity, the effects - including possibly engulfing entire countries - will be irreversible.

Ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December - the first global meeting of its kind - accountability of each country is key. Though this underwater meeting is definitely largely a publicity stunt, I think that it's also a unique and clever way to integrate their local culture and environment to garner support for creative and innovative strategies to combat climate change. Plus, it's pretty baller.

now you see me...

via rebel:art

Love it.

IDEO: living climate change

Living Climate Change is a initiative of design and innovation consultancy, IDEO, that serves as an online space to discuss our approaches to climate change, particularly with the view that designers can play an essential role in visualizing our futures.

Instead of relying on policymakers to solve our climate change problems, thereby positioning ourselves as passive observers, the forum encourages us to all participate in thinking critically about shaping and adapting to our changing global world.

Living Climate Change is formatted as a blog with essays, imagery, visions etc. that are also categorized by various topics (ex: campaigns, photography, transit, youth etc). Though is it promoted as an open format for discussion, as of right now only certain contributions are published, and it relies largely on experts to create the material. It was launched fairly recently - at the end of September - so I wonder if the format will become more democratic as the site evolves...

no more bloodless sheets

via Frisky

My friend Ranya tipped me off to a product, Gigimo's "Artifical Virginity Hymen," via an article in HuffPo suggesting that Egyptian lawmakers may ban it. Gigimo is a sex-toy shop based in China, so naturally the marketing for this product focuses on fulfilling whatever fetishes men may have about women who are virgins. I am much more concerned about this product from a cultural perspective - Egypt's claim that the product encourages premarital sex, and undermines the principle of women maintaining strict purity. The argument is that the product allows women to misrepresent their sexuality, and thereby defy Islamic law.

In a society where honor killings/beatings are not out of the ordinary, this product has significant potential. At $30/piece, it's not necessarily readily available, but is much more so than hymen reconstructive surgery .

Does the product get to the root of the problem, the cultural stigmatization of women's sexuality in the Middle East? No, not directly. But hopefully such controversies, and yes, the associated media attention, will guide a more thorough discussion on the cultural implications of such a device. On the other hand, there is always the risk that any cultural exploration/intervention will only lead lead to colonial backlash and cultural defense in the form of stricter punishments.

it ain't cheap, but it's sexy

Theaster Gates presenting The Dorchester Project

"It ain't cheap, but it's sexy"  - just one the many choice phrases spoken by Theaster Gates, who presented The Dorchester Project at this past weekend's two-day Accidental Publics Symposium, co-hosted and sponsored by Northwestern University and School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). The symposium focused on temporary works of public art that, by nature, created an "accidental" or unintentional audience or community. The purpose of the symposium was to explore the ways in which these projects help "bridge the art and everyday life divide in present tense and real space."

I attended Saturday's discussion at SAIC on "Claiming Public Space" with presenters Dara Greenwald and Olivia Robinson (Spectres of Liberty), Theaster Gates (The Dorchester Project), Kyle Tidd (K1-430), Adam Farcus (Store Interventions) and Fereshteh Toosi (The Fourth River).

All of the talks were incredible explorations into the role of art in shaping and investigating our public realm, but to me Theaster Gates' Dorchester Project was the most compelling. Like me, he is primarily interested in visual art and urban/community planning, but does not limits his project to these fields of design, recognizing that all artistic disciplines and ways of viewing and interpreting the world are interrelated. The Dorchester Project is a house, 6918 S. Dorchester, on Chicago's South Side, that Theaster is continually transforming into a space for "creative activity" that is centered around a kitchen serving traditional soul food and Japanese cuisine. I'm planning on visiting the house, so I'll write more in detail when I do. But some of the themes from his talk that really resonated with me are:

1. These projects enable us to rely less on traditional institutions - museums, schools etc - as means to disseminate and receive cultural, historical and artistic information, and thereby create opportunities to develop deeper and more complex meaning and relationships with others and the world around us.
2. The role of this project as an "anti-gentrification" tool. The house allows people who would otherwise have no reason to visit this South Side neighborhood to engage in a new type of community. This community is independent of the typical commercial and residential transformations associated with gentrification. Instead of suggesting that people buy (cheap!) property in his neighborhood, Theaster encourages people to rent plots of land for gardening, or other community activities, in order to participate in more meaningful ways to the neighborhood.

Theaster (or should I say, Professor Gates), also teaches at the University of Chicago and is a fun-loving, brilliant and hilarious guy. Can't wait to check this project out and actually get a chance to chat with him.

Check out photos of the project via Theaster's site.

people-mapping by the mapping people

I read about Worldmapper and one of their studies on BBC News. Worldmapper itself is an initiative of various geographers at Sheffield University (and one at University of Michigan...) that reinterprets maps to visualize different demographic information. The map shown above is from a series of population maps that the group developed to emphasize population densities  in different countries.

Professor Danny Dorling, who oversaw the study, argues that the creation of these maps "changes how you think about places...if you really want a fair map of an area you do it by population. What you are interested in most of the time is people." (via BBC News)

While I don't necessarily agree with this statement (depends on what field you're working in!), I do agree, of course, that population is a critical measurement to take into consideration when studying regions. On a country-by-country level, I don't think that these visualizations really add much to the comprehension of population densities. However, from the perspective of say, a planner trying to get his/her bearings on a new town, city county etc, this would be a really helpful visual tool to interpret population trends throughout the area of study.

Many of the other visualizations Worldmapper does are really instructive, such as an animation that displays internet usage over time or one that shows age of death worldwide.

and the winner is...

 

RIO DE JANEIRO

I may be a Chicagoan, but I'm thrilled about Rio 2016! We watched the bid videos at work today (aired on ABC) and I have to say, theirs was definitely the most powerful/passionate. Perfect mix of the city, the culture and sports. Still trying to find it online and will post it when I do...

If used properly, this could be an amazing chance for Rio to improve its infrastructure, restructure (instead of just pushing out) its slums, improve its terrible crime rates and from there...who knows what could happen.

CONGRATS South America!!

One of the main complaints about the Chicago bid was that our performance was "flat" -  without a sense of passion and direct vision for our Olympic plan. I'd have to say I agree. Our bid, compared to the others, just seemed SO corporate and sort of took the fun out of the games. It was all about producing a sustainable, economically- viable and efficient games, which IS important but should be one of many focal points when we're talking about an international celebration that should be exciting, vibrant and a real shared experience.

These aren't THE videos that they played in Copenhagen, but they are promos for the bid:

RIO

MADRID

(This video is very focused on the actual plan - which the short promo videos played in Copenhagen weren't AT ALL. But alas, I can't find them...)

TOKYO

CHICAGO

CHICAGO ARTISTS MONTH

Meant to post on this yesterday. October is Chicago Artists Month!

Love this year's theme:
"Chicago Artists Month 2.0, refers to the concepts of interactivity and connectivity associated with Web 2.0, and highlights the ways in which artists interact with their audiences, interface with other artists, and use technology in order to create and distribute their work - locally, globally and virtually."

The month is chock full of events and a bit overwhelming...but I'll be posting about the ones that I'm able to attend and are of particular interest.