DREAM:IN – Engage local design expertise globally.

Earlier this year DREAM:IN, an international inititative was started by Carlos Teixeira and Sonia Manchanda in conjunction with idiom and support by Bruce Nussbaum.  See below for original details. DREAM:IN is a platform for engaging local design expertise globally.

The DREAM:IN Project challenges one and all, to begin the creation process, not from people’s needs but from their dreams. To share dreams, to create big ideas that help realize dreams. And to bring ideas to reality, leveraging networks, with skill, speed and imagination. The DREAM:IN project is the creation of a set of design thinkers across borders. It is designed to challenge us to create not for people’s needs, but for their dreams. Its time to get greed and need out of the way and create common dreams. In India, is it the time to unlock dreams, the dream of every common man, woman and child.

We are inviting students, faculty, design experts, entrepreneurs, artists, venture capitalists, activists, business leaders, not-for-profit agents, government leaders, and who ever else would like to: a. apply user-centered design to collect and interpreted the DREAMS of people in India b. play the role of a knowledge broker to transform DREAMS into projects with economic, social, cultural, territorial, and environmental value c. explore new ways of enterprising design knowledge through open innovation systems and global networks based on local expertise d. imagine new ventures based on new types of organizations and business models e. transform DREAMS into tangible realities

Connect with DREAM:IN Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/DREAMIN_Team

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dreaminteam

Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/dreamin

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dreaminteam/

Youtube: DREAM:IN Youtube Channel idiom design consulting

Source: origional event email from Carlos Teixeira (Parsons The New School for Design profile) and NODES (http://spread-design.blogspot.com/ )

Social Media Week Predictions

Social Media Week is February 7-11, 2011.I predict that during Social Media Week, people will be stuck inside on their computer and mobiles accessing social networks and soc-com (social communication - not to be confused with SOCOM).  That is except when they are at a social media conference, they will be at the conference venue glancing between the presenter and their own computer or mobiles accessing social networks and soc-com. Join the discussion. Twitter - @smwnyc Site - http://socialmediaweek.org/newyork/

I will be in Boulder for Interaction 11, but will still participate in Social Media Week by being antisocial and not skiing.

UX Show & Tell 2011

The first UX Show and Tell for 2011 was held at Moment, an interaction design firm.  It was another great IxDA event. A team presented on a new way to create, share and collaborate on iPhone mockups. And we got a sneak peak of a SXSW presentation. One of the presentations was about a high-tech way to navigate the city, wish good research and stakeholder interviews. It was real service design, which I always find interesting as it's very much the work I want to do. View Moment here http://www.momentnyc.com/.[singlepic id=459] [singlepic id=460] [singlepic id=462] Upstage http://upstageapp.com/ [singlepic id=471] timed presentations [singlepic id=470] thanks to Moment [singlepic id=472] Chris Avore - UX Show & Tell [singlepic id=473] John Payne - Moment [singlepic id=474] Moment

Join us for the next one. To throw your own UX Show and Tell, check out UXShowandTell.com And then check out the guide on how to set one up http://erova.com/showandtell/UX_Show_and_Tell.pdf

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Service Design Jam

"On 11 March, 2011, people interested in service and customer experience will meet at locations all over the globe. They will be designers, students, academics, business people, and customers. In a spirit of experimentation, innovation, co-operation and friendly competition, teams will have less than 48 hours to develop and prototype completely new services inspired by a shared theme.  At the end of the weekend, their collection of brand new services will be published to the world. Join us at the Global Service Jam 2010."

Schedule: "Multiple locations, worldwide, jamming to the same beat:

[Fri. 11 March by 5 pm local]

The Jam participants come together at worldwide locations prepared by local organisers.

[Fri. 11 March, 6.30 pm local]

The global themes and achievements (optional goals) for the Jam are presented. Discussion in informal groups.  Dinner is a good idea.

[Fri. 11 March, 9pm local]

The local Jam comes together for the pitching session.  Anyone can present their basic idea, groups form, and participants join the group that interests them.

[Fri. 11. March, 10pm local] until  [Sun. 13 March, 3pm local]

The groups work independently, supported by Mentors and Specialist Providers in some locations.  Research or observations are performed virtually, or through short excursions. The teams develop their service design and prototype it using whatever methods they choose. Sleep is optional, but recommended.

Local Jams are in contact globally through social media, wormholes, carrier pigeons or whatever else we set up. Share, exchange, inspire. But remember - it is deeply Cheesy and Uncool to communicate the themes to teams to the West of you. For a level playing field, themes are announced at LOCAL time...

[Sun. 13 March, 3pm local]

The teams deliver documentation of a working prototype.  This can be a film of human interaction, photos of a mock-up, a dummy website, or anything else that provides a permanent, publishable record of their idea and work. These are uploaded and published for the world under Creative Commons licensing.

After publishing, teams can sit back, kick back, enjoy a well-earned beverage and browse through the global results. Or they can get busy supporting teams further to the west..."

via: http://www.globalservicejam.org/content/just-48-hours

How to Join: USA, New York City The contact for the New York City, USA location is Cameron Tonkinwise. Are you local? Contact Cameron! Cameron Tonkinwise - Parsons tonkinwc@newschool.edu Twitter: @camerontw

China, Shanghai The contacts for the Shanghai, China Jam are Bruno Porto and David Fox. Are you local? Contact Bruno & David! Emails: design@brunoporto.com & mrsmithdesign@hotmail.com

For information on more locations: http://www.globalservicejam.org/locations For information on how to start your own: http://www.globalservicejam.org/content/participate

Interaction 11

Interaction 11Presented by Interaction Design Association and Boulder Digital Works.

IxDA's mission: "We believe that the human condition is increasingly challenged by poor experiences. IxDA intends to improve the human condition by advancing the discipline of Interaction Design. To do this, we foster a community of people that choose to come together to support this intention. IxDA relies on individual initiative, contribution, sharing and selforganization as the primary means for us to achieve our goals."

All tickets for Interaction 11 are sold out, but join the global discussion at www.ixda.org and on twitter with the hashtag #IxD11 http://www.interaction.ixda.org/

For the next conference created in conjunction with IxDA check out Midwest UX Conference http://midwestuxconference.com twitter hashtag #midwestux

NYU in Shanghai

NYU currently has a presence at East China Normal University (华东师范大学). They're opening a full campus in Pudong, the new district. Maybe they understand they can't just feed Wall Street, so Pudong is a logical decision. But it's a good decision for more than just being situated in the new financial district of a new financial power. "In the 2011-12 academic year, NYU plans to begin an executive education program, which will not grant degrees. A degree-granting, professional Masters program would begin in the 2012-13 academic year, and in the fall of 2013, NYU hopes to welcome its first undergraduate class to NYU Shanghai. "

East China Normal Uni is located at what was the campus of St. John's University right by Suzhou Creek. St. John's University was dissolved after the revolution with parts of it absorbed into Shanghainese Second Medical College and Fudan University.

Even though St. John's University was registered in Washington DC, a BA from St. John's University and a CPA from Hong Kong (which is qualified through the UK) would not even let you sit for the CPA in the United States. NYU is really (has really been) leading the curve. They accepted programs from St. John's back in 1956, organized semesters abroad with ECNU and now are opening their own campus.

I am still trying to have Parsons give me credit for my semester at Fudan.

Original source: http://nyunews.com/blogs/on-assignment/2011/01/22/22shanghai/

Print Relaunch

Paper Magazine Relaunch at Phaidon[singlepic id=457] [singlepic id=451] [singlepic id=456] [singlepic id=446] [singlepic id=449]

www.printmag.com [nggallery id=36]

Education in China

; approach pushes students to top of tests "Many educators say China’s strength in education is also a weakness. The nation’s education system is too test-oriented, schools here stifle creativity and parental pressures often deprive children of the joys of childhood, they say."

"These are two sides of the same coin: Chinese schools are very good at preparing their students for standardized tests." "For that reason, they fail to prepare them for higher education and the knowledge economy.”

"In an interview, Mr. Jiang said Chinese schools emphasized testing too much, and produced students who lacked curiosity and the ability to think critically or independently.

“It creates very narrow-minded students,” he said. “But what China needs now is entrepreneurs and innovators.”

This is a common complaint in China. Educators say an emphasis on standardized tests is partly to blame for the shortage of innovative start-ups in China. And executives at global companies operating here say they have difficulty finding middle managers who can think creatively and solve problems."

Related: "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

Source: "Shanghai Schools’ Approach Pushes Students to Top of Tests" David Barboza, New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/world/asia/30shanghai.html?scp=1&sq=shanghai%20schools;%20approach%20pushes%20students%20to%20top%20of%20tests&st=cse

Chinese Model - US Model

"China adapts quickly, making difficult decisions and implementing them effectively," "Americans pride themselves on constitutional checks and balances, based on a political culture that distrusts centralised government. This system has ensured individual liberty and a vibrant private sector, but it has now become polarised and ideologically rigid." -Francis Fukuyama, historian, featured in Financial Times

"Fukuyama seems to be warning that, in Darwinian terms, the Chinese system may be more adaptive than the land of the free." I love when people apply Darwin theory to things other than biology. I think the land of the free needs to rethink itself. But that's what we've always been doing, rethinking ourself. Now we realize we need to rethink ourself.

side note: Why is Time developing articles off of Financial Times?

Source: Time (who sourced from FT) http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2043235,00.html#ixzz1BidMhwtn

Friday Night Fights

We went to see Watt's fight.[singlepic id=437] She's an awesome photographer and can throw a strong right cross. [singlepic id=441] Ashley Kechego-Nichols looks a little like our friend Ilene (www.ilenebyersart.com) [singlepic id=442] Congrats to everyone who fought. People like that juice me. It's a trickle down effect of motivation.

I want to do Service Design for a fight event. Crazy white space in the blueprint! [nggallery id=35]