tumble together

‘Housing First’ is an approach to ending homelessness that...

Thu, 03 May 2012 15:02:00 +1000

‘Housing First’ is an approach to ending homelessness that centers on quickly providing homeless people with housing and then providing additional services as needed.

It is an approach first popularized by Sam Tsemberis and Pathways to Housing in New York in the 1990s (Padgett, 2007: 1928), though there were Housing First-like programs emerging elsewhere, including Canada (HouseLink in Toronto) prior to this time.

The basic underlying principle of Housing First is that people are better able to move forward with their lives if they are first housed. This is as true for homeless people and those with mental health and addictions issues as it is for anyone.

According to Pathways to Housing, “The Housing First model is simple: provide housing first, and then combine that housing with supportive treatment services in the areas of mental and physical health, substance abuse, education, and employment.”

As described by the Guardian: “When he’s bored,...

Thu, 03 May 2012 11:01:00 +1000

As described by the Guardian:

“When he’s bored, there’s nothing Damon Albarn likes to do more than knock out an Afro-pastoral folk opera. Especially when it’s an Afro-pastoral folk opera about a 16th-century mathematician.”

"The feeling that you may have just boarded a Scientology cruise ship is not accidental. It’s rooted..."

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:01:12 +1000

“The feeling that you may have just boarded a Scientology cruise ship is not accidental. It’s rooted partly in Silicon Valley’s techno-Rapturist soil, and partly in Anderson’s own evangelical yearnings. Those invited to speak at TED are mailed an actual stone tablet engraved with “The TED Commandments.” (One is “Thou Shalt Not Sell From the Stage”.) June Cohen, who runs TED’s media operation, told an audience two years ago that her sister-in-law calls the TED Talk “a secular sermon”. The atheist Daniel Dennett suggested that TED could “replace” religion, observing that it “already, largely wittingly I think, adopted a lot of the key design features of good religions”, including giving away content.”

- Really fascinating article all about the phenomenon that is TED.

http://www.afr.com/p/lifestyle/review/flat_out_talking_at_club_ted_pi8xrho3fx79WCiGkv1VeO

2012 is shaping up to be the year of the city. This project from...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:01:00 +1000

2012 is shaping up to be the year of the city.

This project from the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at the University College London is a dashboard that displays a single, open overview of almost all available data streams across eight different cities.

It’s all part of the smart city movement, which looks to bring data around environmental and social capital into the urban policy and planning process.

And 2012 is also the first year that the TED Prize didn’t go to a person. Instead, the TED Prize for 2012 went to a thing - The City 2.0

TED prize 2012: the city 2.0 from designboom on Vimeo.

I spoke at Vibewire’s fastBREAK event at the start of the year on how we can all nurture our creative and imaginative capabilities and put them to use on the things that matter most.

The CASA dashboard project starts to show how we can take real-time urban data streams and use them to come up with creative solutions to the most challenging issues in our cities: public disorder, crime, and homelessness.

I’m looking forward to seeing the reinvention of our cities kick into gear in 2012.

I’m on the board of The Awesome Foundation in Sydney,...

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:31:00 +1000

I’m on the board of The Awesome Foundation in Sydney, where we help turn awesome thoughts into awesome deeds.

Experiments in micro-philanthropy

Every month we award a $1,000 no-strings-attached grant to the most awesome submitted application. Previous grant recipients include: a project to develop the world’s smallest patch synthesizer, the Green Bans Art Walk and Exhibition, and Physique, a weekly 80s themed aerobics night.

Our latest experiment in micro-philanthropy is a crowd-funded pitch night called Awesome Soup that is taking place on Saturday 2nd June at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

What is Awesome Soup?

The event is aimed at creative people who are awesome. Ten people will pitch their creative project ideas on the night, and the audience will debate which of the ideas they think is the most awesome and then vote for who gets $5,000.

How can I get involved in Awesome Soup?

APPLY

If there is a project you are working on or are thinking of working on that is awesome and could benefit from $5,000, then please consider applying to pitch your project idea live to the audience on the night at the event. Just head here and fill in the application form: http://www.bit.ly/awesomesoupapply

ATTEND

If you want to show your support for the Awesome Foundation and decide which project gets the $5,000 then please consider coming along to the event. For just $30 you get a delicious soup dinner, the chance to debate what is awesome and a vote on which project deserves the $5,000. Invite a few friends and make an awesome dinner date of it! To buy your ticket, head to http://bit.ly/awesomesoupattend

Help share the awesome news!

Everything we do at the Awesome Foundation is completely volunteer based, and organising an event like this takes quite a bit of effort. Any help you can give us by spreading the word would be much appreciated.

Please consider reblogging this post, tweeting about it (we’re @awesomefoundsyd, hashtag #awesomesoup), sharing it on Facebook and with any other creative awesome people and communities you know or are part of.

Thanks, and I really hope to see some of you at the event on Saturday 2nd June!

At the start of the year I spoke at the kick-off event for the...

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:49:00 +1000

At the start of the year I spoke at the kick-off event for the 2012 Vibewire fastBREAK series on the topic of Beginnings. You can watch all the five-minute talks from the event in this YouTube playlist - fastBREAK: Beginnings.

I wanted my 5-minute talk to serve as a provocation to members of the audience to nurture their creative and imaginative capabilities, and to put those capabilities to work on the problems that matter most.

It’s always interesting to watch yourself present. Lots of gesticulation, some verbal repetition and ticks, the gentle swaying from side to side - but overall I was pretty happy with the pacing and with the way I managed to connect with the audience.

I’m always grateful for opportunities to speak, as among other things they help me to improve the way I communicate.

I’ve been part of the fastBREAK series since I spoke at the inaugural event as part of the 2009 Innovation Festival. In 2012 I have been helping to source inspirational speakers for the series.

Do you know someone inspirational who would be perfect to speak at the fastBREAK series?

"The world is full of order that doesn’t necessarily deserve our respect. Sometimes there is meaning,..."

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 20:32:14 +1100

“The world is full of order that doesn’t necessarily deserve our respect. Sometimes there is meaning, justice, and logic present in the way things are — but sometimes there just isn’t. And I think the moment that we realize this is the moment we become creative people. Because it prompts us to mess things up and do something better with the basic pieces of experience.”

- Designer Kelli Anderson reflecting on her practice of ‘disruptive wonder’. Worth taking the time to watch her TEDxPhoenix talk below:

There is a great collection of videos over at the Tate Modern...

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 21:09:00 +1100

There is a great collection of videos over at the Tate Modern website that I’m enjoying exploring. There are over 300 artist interviews alone!

I especially loved Olafur Eliasson’s exhibition at the MCA in Sydney a while back, so worth checking out this clip. Click the image below to be taken to the website to watch the video:

Some of you may know that my better half Karla maintains a baby...

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 12:07:23 +1100

Some of you may know that my better half Karla maintains a baby fashion blog featuring our wonderful son Marshall. It’s called The Tiny Sartorialist and she’s been running it for nearly a year now.

The thing I love most about it is that she takes such incredible photos that really capture Marshall’s happy-go-lucky personality. The Tiny Sartorialist is a fantastic record of how joyous and delightful our family life is, and for that I’m really grateful.

And today The Huffington Post recognised just how awesome Karla and Marshall are by featuring a gallery of photos of Marshall from The Tiny Sartorialist. You can check out the full gallery over on the Huffington Post Parents section.

Really proud of Karla and really happy to be able to share the fun with more people.

Meet Faraday, one of three beautifully designed bicycles that...

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 22:26:30 +1100

Meet Faraday, one of three beautifully designed bicycles that came into being as a result of the Oregon Manifest Creative Collaborations.

Fittingly as I’ve been investigating service design of late, this is an IDEO x Rock Lobster collab joint.

Pretty much ticks all my boxes, and while I probably wouldn’t opt for an electric bicycle personally, this thing is a work of design genius.

Read more about this fantastic design over at IDEO, check out the website of the team that built it here, and read some reviews of the bike here and here.

Make sure you check out the other two Creative Collaborations entrants too, Fuseproject x SyCip Design’s The Local and Ziba Design x Signal Cycles’ The Fremont, both gnarly bicycle too.

Much of my time is taken up helping brands navigate the...

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 21:37:00 +1100

Much of my time is taken up helping brands navigate the fast-changing world of social media. So the recent Facebook Marketing Conference has given anyone who works with social media plenty to think about.

Alongside announcements about new advertising units, the biggest announcement was the launch of the Timeline page format for Brands. There are already a few great examples, but my favourite so far is the Fanta Facebook page.

I like it because it’s one big game.

The four Fanta characters are lost! Visitors to the page are tasked with scouring the decades to find each of the characters. When they find the characters they are then asked to Like the relevant status updates to return the characters to the Cover image.

I’m looking forward to seeing how other brands get creative with the new timeline format.

3 ways the Global Service Jam changed my life Last weekend I...

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 22:21:00 +1100

3 ways the Global Service Jam changed my life

Last weekend I took part in a service design jam in Sydney, one of many events taking place that weekend in 90 different cities all around the world as part of the Global Service Jam 2012 (GSJ12).

Reflecting on the experience, I can already see 3 key ways that GSJ12 in Sydney has changed my life meaningfully for the better:

1. It helped me realise what matters most to me

On Friday the global theme was announced that all Jammers across the world would be using as inspiration for the services they were to design. That theme was ‘Hidden Treasure’.

Placed on the spot to think about a user-centric service that was worth designing I immediately thought about the problem of homelessness. I have been fascinated by the challenge of addressing homelessness my whole life but had never found a clear way to get more involved.

The fact that it was such an easy decision to focus on homelessness showed me just how deeply held my belief is that this is a complex societal problem I care deeply about and want to work on.

2. It introduced me to new ways of thinking

I signed up for GSJ12 because I have been interested in design thinking for some time but have not found a way to incorporate more learning about it or practicing of it into my life.

Over the weekend we were mentored by a number of great facilitators. The were incredibly giving of their time and energy, and observing the way they operated opened my eyes to all sorts of new techniques and ways of thinking and acting.

We created personas to brainstorm need states, we role played, and we mapped out the touch points in our core stakeholders’ days. I learned so much about what Dave Gray and others have usefully called Gamestorming and I have already started to incorporate some of that thinking into my daily work.

3. I met many wonderful people

When you throw a bunch of strangers together and get them to collaborate on each others ideas over 48 hours, in that intense environment you learn lots about people very quickly. You also learn lots about yourself too.

Working with Jakob, Ollie and Jarryd was amazing and I can’t wait to catch up with them all again soon. Ben’s interest in our project gave me confidence that I was working on something that mattered and his understanding of the subject area was a real help.

Samuel, Christian, Jax, Alex and Michelle were all incredibly giving of their time, as were the totally amazing organisers. Meeting these and other people at the GSJ12 I already know has improved me as a human being and as a thinker and doer.

Taking part in the GSJ12 is something I would recommend to anyone looking to challenge themselves. The experience helped me recognise and work on the things that matter most to me, learn all about service design through doing it, and meet and work with inspiring people.

Can’t wait for next year!

joinsessions: poler Walking is the secret.

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:21:15 +1100

joinsessions:

poler

Walking is the secret.

Making spectacles of ourselves « the {tiny} sartorialist

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:31:54 +1100

Making spectacles of ourselves « the {tiny} sartorialist:

Ummm, cute attack

shanghaifiction: Zhang Shouwang of Beijing band Carsick Cars...

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 18:50:51 +1100

shanghaifiction:

Zhang Shouwang of Beijing band Carsick Cars plays a takeaway show for us on the roof of his 23-floor apartment building (via dabaoge.net)

The {tiny} sartorialist asked his audience to vote for his top...

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 10:00:23 +1100

The {tiny} sartorialist asked his audience to vote for his top looks of 2011 and they chose these ones:

Clockwise from the top:

Knits – warm tones in cool weather
Harlequin – the print that keeps on giving
Pattern mixing – stripes + anything = go time
1980s – fluoro + spandex = out there fun

My favourite is the knits outfit, especially because I know Marshall’s amazing Mum knitted his awesome tiny cardigan.

2011 has been a great year for the {tiny} sartorialist and there’s lots of great things planned for 2012 too, so go check out the best baby fashion blogger on the interweb.

Please watch this. And then go out and create something...

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 16:01:05 +1100

Please watch this.

And then go out and create something beautiful.

Maybe it doesn’t have to consume you for decades.

But definitely try and create something beautiful.

Amazing set of New Year’s resolutions, as made by Woody...

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 12:00:06 +1100

Amazing set of New Year’s resolutions, as made by Woody Guthrie, 1942.

For those of you who are feeling a little worse for wear on this...

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 10:00:05 +1100

For those of you who are feeling a little worse for wear on this first morning of 2012, I thought this infographic might be of interest.

What can machines tell us about being human? In this RadioLab...

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:59:00 +1100

What can machines tell us about being human?

In this RadioLab podcast episode (60:00) we get to explore the point where what it means to be human and how we understand what it means to be machine crash messily into each other.