Dear Toronto #11 - Metronauts
Freshly released mere hours before the TTC suddenly announced that they’re striking is Dear Toronto #11 - Metronauts. This one took quite a bit of time to put together, and the raw footage will be available soon at the Metronauts.ca (Creative Commons NC-SA licensed).
Design and the Elastic Mind
I’ve written about Paola Antonelli before, but I think the above video by Cool Hunting gives even more understanding about her sense of design which I find so interesting.
She takes almost an engineer’s approach to the role of the designer, looking at it as a necessity for solving a problem and doing it in an elegant and novel way - innovation. I really appreciate the work she highlights because it’s some of the most thought-provoking and profound stuff you’ll see. No wonder why I have such a desire to visit MoMA!
Dear Toronto #2 - Video Games Live
Over at Dear Toronto, Episode 2 (Video Games Live) is now up!
Dear Toronto #1 - Snow Fort
Dear Toronto, the new video project I’ve started with Ryan and Rebecca has gone live
Paola Antonelli on Design
From the wonderful TED conference, MoMA Design Curator Paola Antonelli talks about her appreciation for design in all its shapes and sizes.
Students Today
Having graduated from university almost a year ago, I’m no longer a student, but still remember very vividly how school changed in the almost five years I spent in my program. Here’s an interesting video by Michael Wesch (made famous by his “What is Web 2.0?” video) on ‘A Vision of Students Today’.
Although I went through a technology-heavy program, many teachers and professors still used some truly ancient teaching styles that didn’t engage the class whatsoever. I’d say that 95% of the facts presented in this video were true to my experience with university, particularly in regards to unused (and irrelevant) textbooks.
I still have stacks of books at home that I’m in the process of trying to liquidate on Amazon.com, and at least half of them are brand new, never opened. It was never a matter of not having the motivation, self-discipline, or interest in reading them. It was that with the available time I had between commuting an hour each way to school, studying, eating, maintaining a barebones social life, and sleeping, I had to proritize, and reading books were ALWAYS at the bottom of that list.
A vast majority of my studies, including project work, exam prep, and even in writing my thesis, was done through online sources. I believe the traditional textbook designed for higher level education is obsolete. They’re too difficult to parse, present concepts in a needlessly theoretical and pompous manner, and are just way too expensive.
What was your post-secondary experience like?
Pecha-Kucha
Dan Pink in Wired this month has a nice little piece on Pecha-Kucha, a movement that’s half art, half efficiency in which presenters can only use 20 slides at 20 seconds a piece. As Dan appropriately puts it, “Pecha Kucha: Get to the PowerPoint in 20 Slides Then Sit the Hell Down”. This is a response to the innumerable amount of dull, drab, and torturous PowerPoint presentations (likely set in the default template) any cubicle-dweller has likely had to endure.
This whole thing is similar to Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule in making a sales pitch — 10 slides, 20 seconds each, with 30-point font. If 30 is too big for your liking, Kawasaki suggests “find out the age of the oldest person in your audience and divide it by two. That’s your optimal font size.” Above, Dan put together an example of Pecha-Kucha, where he goes into the emotional intelligence of signs, and how they can connect with people to get their message across effectively.
Video Friday: Cool Hunting / Tord Boontje
This week over at Cool Hunting they’ve intereviewed Dutch designer Tord Boontje at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York. Tord’s designs take an environmental focus, and he explains the nature of his interest in this type of design evolves from the attempt to evoke emotion, rather than the coldness of minimalistic design. Cool Hunting’s video features are always a pleasure to watch; They’re impeccably produced, shot with a real professional eye, and has always been one of my favourite podcasts.
Joost
I just got into the beta for Joost last week, a new P2P IPTV application from the creators of Skype, and I’ve got to say it’s pretty slick. Great UI, nice quality content (near-HD), and best of all, it’s free.
The Phone Guy
Merlin Mann, with wallet to ear, brings us the Phone Guy. “You know Phone Guy. He’s that guy who’s always on the phone.”
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Adam is a User Experience Specialist at IBM in Toronto and also produces content of all kinds around the Web.
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