15th November 2022
15th October 2014
One of the most important areas in any creative thinking process, and one often ignored in brainstorm sessions, is The Geography of Ideas.
A definition of Geography is – ‘ the nature and relative arrangement of people and places’. With regards to brainstorming, the relative arrangement of people and how they interact in a creative thinking session, is fundamental to its success.
10th October 2014
1) The World’s 48 Most Contagious Myths & Falsehoods Quashed from eminent visualiser David McCandless.
2) Stories that Scale – from the smart folk at Brilliant Noise – Content is everything. It’s what you have to inspire the consumer, to answer their questions, solve problems, surprise, inform and delight them.
3) Roman Emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius, on what his father taught him about humility, honour, kindness and integrity. True then and just as true today.
The way he handled the material comforts that fortune had supplied him in such abundance – without arrogance and without apology. If they were there, he took advantage of them. If not, he didn’t miss them.
No one ever called him glib, or shameless, or pedantic. They saw him for what he was: a man tested by life, accomplished, unswayed by flattery, qualified to govern both himself and others.
4) BBC Music unites Brian Wilson, Stevie Wonder and Elton John for epic ad.
5) Social Networks are good for us? Apparently we now have too many friends – The New Yorker’s Maria Konnikova explains that social networks are already pushing us to the limits of friendship.
6) Thats what they are up to !!! – A comparison of how parents and their kids consume media.
7) Welcome to the Future – Pew’s new report on killer apps in the gigabit age.
8) On gaming –
How gaming is good for you. Minecraft is surrounded by a culture of literacy.
“I’ve never heard of anyone wearing out their brain.” From The Boston Globe Magazine: Do brain games work ?
9) This is rather wonderful – Compelling animations from the Science Illustration blog – Tabletop Whale.
10) From Cassetteboy – Cameron’s Conference Rap
…and some more stuff for the weekend –
A Film of Rolling Cloud Formations That Make You Feel like You’re Underwater.
Oftentimes, photos can tell a better story than words. Here’s a pretty remarkable collection of photos of health care workers wrapped in plastic as they try to deal with the Ebola crisis.
Pithy, but quite fun – A History of Advertising in 60 Seconds.
From Mental Floss – 100 amazing facts that everyone should know.
A new podcast, from the Makers of American Life.
Brilliant Jerry Seinfeld rips advertising to shreds.
A subject we have looked at before, and always reassuring – Nobody knows what the hell they are doing……..
6th September
1) Is Modern Life Making Us Dumber ?
We already know that we have smaller brains than our distant ancestors and more recently research has indicated that overall IQ’s are dropping.Apparently the rot set in when we stopped hunting and started farming.
This is not a solution but it can help limit the damage – Why Walking Helps Us Think.
2) The Brighton Digital conference is on this month and kicked of with the standout Dots : Connecting Ideas event ( #dotsconf ) which featured such innovation luminaries as @neilperkin, @faris and @herdmister. If you did not manage to make it you can find all speeches on here.
My favourite quote from the day – You are a mash up of everything you let in your life HT Hugh Garry (@huey)
In the same vein , from @brainpickings this week – On Why Dot Connecting is The Key to Creativity.
3) A rather ‘time sensitive’ travel and information guide – 33 things to Eat, Drink, See and Do , before climate change ruins everything. Some of the highlights include – Cherries, Las Vegas, Oysters and of course – The North Pole.
4) From Frederic Filloux – Legacy Media: The Lost Decade In Six simple Charts.
5) So Apple may have had a data breach ( or not? ) Who then is at risk now?
But this is more interesting – Our moral perspective on different kinds of leaks and how inconsistent we are.
Slate’s Amanda Hess takes on commentators who have shared advice such as “don’t take nude selfies” that appear to be blaming the victim: “These messages instruct women that they are to blame for being sexually exploited because they dared to express themselves sexually in private and in consensual contexts. (When hackers steal credit card information, the public isn’t blamed for daring to shop.) As Lena Dunham succinctly put it, “The ‘don’t take naked pics if you don’t want them online’ argument is the ‘she was wearing a short skirt’ of the web.'” Hess brings up a lot of important points. But there is a difference between blaming the victim and reminding everyone of the inherent risks built into the network. We shouldn’t blame someone who had their personal photos hacked any more than we should blame a victim of credit card theft. But we should advise both to assume that if it’s on the Internet, it’s not safe.
6) The Digital Revolution Exhibition finishes next week. Definitely worth a visit if you haven’t been.
At the exhibition, City of Drones allows players to pilot virtual crafts through a ‘generative geometric environment’. City of Drones charts “the story of a lost drone drifting through an abstract cityscape,” in which, “players pilot a virtual craft to explore an infinite urban landscape.” It looks great and you can get an indication of how it works here.
7) Interesting piece on why we always like to hear bad news and positive thinking and optimism come less naturally.
8) Worth checking this out ,weekly from MIT – Recommended From Around The Web – Including : There is no hope for Amazon’s Fire Phone, Ferguson reveals a Twitter loop, Three things you didn’t know about Arachnids that live on your face….
9) A must for all lovers of sophisticated writing – The Unlikely Rise, Fall, And Rise Again Of “Viz” Comic (spoiler alert – it’s not as funny as it used to be…..)
10) Essential weekend viewing : Slow-mo skateboard tricks – Impressive and soothing.
Finally – love the new delivery mechanism for the latest IKEA catalogue.Welcome to the ‘bookbook’.