Category Archives: Uncategorized

SURFING @ 1000 FRAMES PER SECOND. Epic footage taken by Chris Bryan. Love the opening shot featuring Mark Mathews dropping in at Ship Sterns Bluff. Amazing!

What is the role of informal learning environments in knowledge transfer? How do we design effective learning settings that encourage socialization and innovation? These questions and more are addressed in the University of Melbourne’s 2012 panel session on Knowledge Precincts: Creating New Places and Partnerships for Learning. Enjoy!

P.S. As mentioned in the presentation, check out TechShop. It’s a studio/hackerspace offering a multitude of resources and tools allowing patrons to design and build their ideas. Very cool!

I was reading A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni when my son asked me how chameleons change colour. Great question! I have no idea! So on to YouTube we went and located this very in-depth and interesting explanation by the SciShow. We all learned something that evening!

Chemistry was just a brutal subject for me. It decimated my GPA in college as did my addiction to attending Oakland A’s baseball games but that’s a whole other story. For those teaching high school or college chemistry, you might enjoy this recent collaboration between Periodic Videos and TED-Ed. TED-Ed Periodic Videos is a lesson on every single element on the periodic table. How cool is that! If only Californium featured some legendary surfer like Tom Curren breakin’ it down. That would be icing on the cake…

When you have 20 minutes to spare, check out J.K. Rowling’s Harvard’s Commencement speech above. It’s about the fear of failure, what constitutes it, and the benefits that we experience in going through the process.

To learn more about this initiative, click here!

I’m taking on the Delft Design Approach and the instructors have asked us to illustrate our design thinking process. Love this doodle by Newman but would argue that the design phase is not as smooth and linear as it appears to be. It sort of reminds me of an EKG flatline and that conjures up images of EMT responders smacking on a defibrillator to the chests of each design team member to revive the group. Maybe the flatline is reflective of a death in the creative and chaotic process because now you are committed to one concept and one manifestation of that idea in the physical form. And maybe I’m reading too much into it?! My depiction would at least indicate one hiccup registered along the way and possibly a loop or two back to research and concept. Something more along these lines (no pun intended ;o):

How would you best illustrate your thought process when it comes to design?

 

BBC’s Top Gear episode on Rolling a Reliant immediately reminded me of a Mr. Bean episode. If only Rowan Atkinson had been test driving! This video raises so many questions though about the sacrifices we make in design to meet certain needs and not others such as “sudden directional changes and high speed cornering.” In design, you have the user, the context, and the product. The product may alter the user’s behaviour (remember to take it slow around the corners) but the context, particularly in driving, frequently changes. So when your neighbour’s cat darts across the road…what do you do? Read more the Reliant Robin.

Voices From Venice: Conversations at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale with Women who Practice Architecture from Voices from Venice on Vimeo.

“Meaning is not something out there waiting to be discovered but something that we create in our own lives.” Why am I here? What’s my purpose in life? Will I find happiness? Is the golden ticket wrapped around this chocolate bar? The British Humanist Association has created a series of animated shorts on Truth, Death, and Happiness that attempt to address these questions (well, not the golden ticket one…that’s mine!) or at least provide a framework for further exploration. In light of our recent global events, I posted the video above on Right or Wrong. I also like this snippet on Happiness: