A good friend has just lent me a 1.8F lens for my Canon EOS 400d for the Transmediale festival in Berlin which I will be setting off for in less that 4 hours. Here are a couple of random shots I took to test it out and I am really impressed with the result. I feel there could be a purchase to be made when I return!
Levergaing the web to create global citizen mobilisation through participation and conversation
‘Lights out’ is the initiative of the ‘l’allicane pour la Planète’s’- a a national grouping of environmental organisations, who’s aim is to raise awareness of the urgency of the global warming by inviting the world to switch off all their lights between 7:55pm and 8pm on the 1at Feb 2007. The campaign coincides with the release of a new paper from the United Nation’s environmental on the 1st of Feb in Paris.
The purpose is not just to save electricity for 5 minutes that day, but to draw the attention of citizens, the media and the authorities to the waste of energy and the need to initiate action! 5 minutes respite for the planet: that’s not long, it costs nothing and will show our politicians that climate change is something which should figure prominently in political debates.
An invite has been sent out on Facebook to over 84,000 people and nearly 30,000 people have already responded with the intention of participating in this global campaign. An increidble demonstration of how the web faciliate conversation and participation on a global scale!
I just want to say a huge thank you to a very special person in my life, Lucy is my greatest inspiration and has provided me with unwavered support for longer than I can remember.
It’s amazing what you can find when you’re not looking very hard, take for exmaple this bus that I found, abandoned, trashed and burnt in the middle of a bustling town!
Well, I say I found it, in reality my friend Jo introduced me to it, a really bizzare find, but enough for me to submit it to Davy, Jason and the rest of the crew at Found Magazine.
“Found” items have become pretty popular in the past few years, whether it’s a random nonsensical note that you find on a park bench or a photo you find in a used book, these objects are fascinating because of what you don’t know about them. They are a mystery, and we share them with others so they may share in the mystery also.
The Transmediale festival, which is on from 30th Jan- 4th Feb ‘07 in Berlin, seeks to explore ‘how art and society are changing under the influence of media and technologies’. As a student of converging cultures and technologies it’s an opportunity to find out what is being said and who is saying it. In particular I’m interested in the ‘unfinishing creation’ panel which deals with the relationship between humans, science and the future. The panel raises questions of ‘continuous transformation and constant change in present day society’. I’m currently reading a book called ’six degrees’ in which the author, Duncan Watts theorises on the science of networks and it’s implications, there is a clear overlap of ideas between the book and the ideas being discussed in the panel and I’m keen to find out more!
Two point Zero is the first of what I hope to be a number of informal discussions on various topics surrounding web 2.0.
It is being held at Vox bar in Huddersfield (UK) at 7pm on the 19th of Feb, and currently includes short presentations from The Ronin, Dstrukt, Hex induction.
The evening, which will be very relaxed and informal, aims to spark debate and discussion between like-minded creative thinkers with an interest in web 2.0.
Some of the discussion points include social networking and social search, online/digital identities, habits of digital natives, the culture of participation and the significance of the Blogosphere.
More info on Upcoming.
I will be posting photos and possibly a podcast of the event the week after for those than can’t make it.
I’m pleased to be teaming up with Dr. John Bonner and the live:lab team at the University of Huddersfield’s School of Computing and Engineering.
live:lab is a new collaborative centre which will provide an open environment and partnership to look at how new technology is increasingly impacting upon design and new product development. The aim of Live:Lab is to bring local businesses and researchers together to explore new ventures and future opportunities.
I recently found myself in Liverpool with about an hour to spare, and so I decided to visit the latest work of Antony Gormley (creator of the Angel of the North). ‘Another Place‘ consists of 100 cast iron, life-sized sculptures which are spread out over 3km of Crosby beach shoreline in the borough of Sefton in Liverpool.
The sculptures which are actually casts from Gormley’s own body stretch nearly a kilometer into the sea, and are shown at different stages of rising out of the sand. The work is expected to go to New York next having already been seen in Germany, Norway and Belgium.
If you get a chance to visit it’s a spectacular sight, and apparently has been extended until the end of Feb. Unfortunately my visit was very brief but I hope to get another chance to go before it disappears.
