Alexis Ohanian: How to make a splash in social media | Video on TED.com

Alexis Ohanian: How to make a splash in social media | Video on TED.com

Jane McGonigal at TED

Stock market Trends as mountain ranges

http://infosthetics.com/archives/2010/03/high_altitude_the_stock_market_trends_as_realistic_mountain_ranges.html

I really like this visualisation although it doesnt have any real meaning. Its definitely a nice metaphor.

Also check out STOC. Stock market visualisation based on the solar system- its awsome and free to download at Uniformchaos.org






Youtube below;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J47OJ7scP-Q

Service Design Supplement in The Guardian

Really insightful supplement in the Guardian on Service Design. Anyone who's interested in Service design should get down to the bunch of grapes on the last Friday of each month for some drinks and a chat on all this service design. Sign up at servicedesign.org.

I found Nick Marsh article on Silent Designers especially interesting.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/service-design

http://www.servicedesign.org/

Filtering media Techniques/

For my final university project I have decided to run two projects that grew organically from research I undertook. The first was explained in a previous post about Virtual Protest in a Physical world, the second is on filtering Media sensationalism and spin to reduce the amount of fear and alert generated.

Although I ha vent settled on any ideas just yet, my initial response for the work in progress show we held is below. Its called the good morning group. It was a way if visualising the areas I'm thinking about and my research outcomes to start a discussion and debate about what it could be and what needs to be addressed.

The idea was based on conversations I had with various journalists, as well as reading a lot of books and articles. The techniques the media use to sensationalise stories are made up of a few standard techniques and phrases.

My thinking was surely with the internet allowing access to a huge number of news sources, could a system be set up that gathers the ten most googled stories of the day. Could it then gather these stories from a number of news sources and then scan them and provide you only with the most objective news stories? What would be the effect of this? Would we even enjoy it if it wasn't sensationalised?

With the internet now enabling anyone who is a consumer of the internet to also be a producer of information, and allowing us to access huge amounts of information at the touch of a button. Is it not now more important to understand how to judge a source rather than learn dates of battles, or the periodic table? Should their be assessments on googling?

Is it about filtering media techniques, teaching people about these techniques, or just drawing attention to them....? I'm not sure but its going to be fun to explore them all.

Some Pics of me making the mock ups...

London By Night.

Working on a self initiated project creating lights based on the London Skyline. I was inspired by the way London looks when it is lit up at night and decided to do a short project on this idea. It is a working progress but the images below show where I am at the moment. I have so far made mock ups of initial designs for the Gherkin, and the London eye. They hold tea lights.

The aim of the project is also to have the materials and manufacture done within London so they become a true product of London- however a number of iterations need to be made first. I am going to have current ideas manufactured using water cutting, but the final pieces need to be chemically etched to give the details that are not cut through. They will also only be two sided, this is because the lighting effects are better, and also I can fit more on a single sheet of metal making them cheaper to produce.

Had very positive feedback from everyone I have shown it to, and also from two companies (who cannot be named) who might be looking to produce them in small batches. Its been cool to work on a simple object and focus on aesthetic and manufacturing problems and solution's.

PiggyBank Process images

Some backdated Snaps from the PiggyBank Project- showing a bit of design research and process. PIggyBank was a finalist at Audi Design Foundations Sustain Our Nation Competition.