Get the Lead Out

April’s Experimonth experiment is called Get the Lead Out and the goal is to write a handwritten note everyday.  Sign up here.

The Eyes of March

Announcing The Eyes of March, March’s Experimonth experiment. If you’re interested in joining the experiment, learn more about it and sign up here.

Twenty-eight Tables

Announcing Twenty-eight Tables, February’s Experimonth experiment.  If you’re interested in joining the experiment, sign up here.

Experiments scheduled for each month of 2009.

The experiments for 2009 have been determined.  Thank you to all who voted.  The year looks like this (clever names TBD):

1. January – A Month in the Raw
2. February – Each Dinner with your Family at the Table Everyday
3. March – Write a Handwritten Letter or Thank You Note Everyday
4. April – Take a Picture of Something Beautiful Everyday
5. May – Walk a Mile and Collect a Stone Everyday
6. June – Wake Up at 5am Everyday
7. July – Interview Somebody Everyday
8. August – No Tee-Vee for a Month
9. September – Write a Haiku About Your Day
10. October – Do Push-Ups Everyday
11. November – Take a Vow of Silence Before 9am Everyday
12. December – Give Up Something & Donate the Money

Join Me.
I’ll create a group blog for each experiment and I encourage anyone who wants to join along to do so. Recruiting for each month will commence as the experiment nears.  If you’d like to go ahead and resolve to participate in any of the experiments, go ahead and let me know (comment below or email) and I’ll remind you when the time comes.

In January five of us Museum staffers are going raw.

I’m tossing around the idea that I’ll do an experiment a month in 2009. It will be called “experimonth” and you are welcome to join along (let me know in the comments if you want to).

To get started, I tweeted my request and over 25 people from Twitter and Facebook responded with ideas. I’ve collected the ones that most appeal to me and have put them up over at uservoice, where you can vote them up or down.  I voted one vote for the ones that I want to do the most.  The top twelve will win.

Click here to vote on ideas.

I want to plan the year (along with charting which month will be which experiment) by 1/1/09.  Each experiment will have an associated blog, especially if there are others joining me in it and it’ll last for however long the month has days.

The Eyes of March is the third of twelve Experimonth experiments.  The point of this month’s experiment is to take a picture everyday.  It’s up to you to determine what kind of picture (drawing? video?) you’d like to make and what the point of taking/making it will be. If you would like to participate, sign up here (if you have trouble with the form, email me at beck@becktench.com).

Some things to think about:

1. What’s a picture?
   A traditional photo taken by a camera?  If so, what kind of camera?  Digital? Film? Web? Phone? Polaroid?  A drawing or video?  Something else entirely?
2. Will your picture have a theme?
   A concept (beautiful, lost, strong, etc.)? Miksang-inspired? Yourself everyday? Your town? A person? A pet? A child? Time-lapse? An inventory?
   
3. How much time will you devote to the activity?
   Will you take several shots and edit?  Will you get one shot a day and that’s it?  Will you go around hunting for your picture or will you take/make it when the moment finds you?
4. Will you share and archive your photos beyond this blog?
   Do you have a Flickr account already?  A Picasa web album or personal website where you want to cross-post the pictures? What will you do with the pictures after the 31 days?
5. How often will you post?
   What happens if you miss a day?  Will you self-impose deadlines?
6. What do you think will happen or change as a result of this effort?

As with any Experimonth project, it’s okay if you don’t take a picture everyday or for the whole month as long as you blog about it.  Experimonth participants promise to always be upfront and forthright about their successes and their struggles.  Sign up to participate here (if you have trouble with the form, email me at beck@becktench.com).