spaceshaper

In my Geospatial Analysis & Visualization class at UIC, we had a lengthy class discussion springing from an article we'd been assigned, The Utopianism of Children: An Empirical Study of Children's Neighborhood Design Preferences by Emily Talen and Mary Coffindaffer, published in the Journal of Planning Education and Research.The article speaks to the need to engage youth in the community planning and design process. In all spheres of the public decision making process, young people are very marginalized. This article makes the argument that young people bring new, perhaps more imaginative perspectives to ways to shape our public space. This was one of the more interesting discussions we've had in class and one that I've since thought a lot about.

One related initiative that I came across is a collaboration between CABE, beam, and the Bristol and Kent Architecture Centers called Spaceshaper, launched in Feb 2007. The web-based questionnaire, coupled with workshops by a trained facilitator, provides youth with the opportunity give their input on specific public planning projects. For some examples of previous workshops, see here.

Definitely a great concept, though there is obviously a wealth of potential that this tool leaves untapped. Will be interesting to see if the tool gets further developed towards a more interactive approach.

visual (r)evolution

CNN has done a feature, "A new way of looking at the world" that focuses on the growing diversity and use of visualization tools to express data in interesting, instructional and also beautiful ways. In other words, exactly the stuff this blog is made of!

What is a graph? A graph is a more accessible, easier and faster way of interpreting information that otherwise may take a certain expertise, and certainly greater time, to comprehend. Using this principle to visualize increasingly "data" - such as Ben Fry's work on Darwin's The Origin of Species - gives a whole new agency to visualization. Though visualization projects are more time-consuming for a "user" to create, they are much like Wikipedia entries in terms of their ability to instruct, social accessibility and function. I've been looking for a great visual on the health care legislation - so I'm excited to hear about Many Eyes, which features, among other great projects, visuals galore on issues surrounding the contentious health care debate.

Another development that the article touches on in the field of visualization is the ability to provide new insight on certain social, behavioral, environmental etc ideas and norms. Bruce Mau, who calls the merging of technical and cultural changes a "social revolution," has a particularly interesting installation that questions the way we, as humans, measure wealth. The installation makes us wonder - how did our mass culture form in such a way that we value money - a complete social construction - over something as critical and physically real as the number of species on earth?

If the proliferation and accessibility of such tools continues to grow, maybe a "visual" Wikipedia isn't so far-fetched?

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...