I was fortunate enough to attend the Microsoft Research Social Computing Symposium on “The City as a Platform” in fabulous NYC last week and thought i’d share my Ignite-style talk. This event and talk was an opportunity for me to do 4 things: – talk about something that’s related to my design interests – break… Continue reading Deep city
Dog-earing: City by Alessandro Baricco
I’m one of those people who, in order to thoroughly enjoy a book, underlines my way through it. I re-read this one in the last month and thought i’d write things down down. They won’t make much sense outside of the context of the book and maybe that’s what’s interesting to a certain extent. I’ve… Continue reading Dog-earing: City by Alessandro Baricco
The year that was
A bit of a tradition started 3 years ago by a canadian friend. I think it’s as good a way as any to recap. 1.What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? Missed a flight. 2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Really… Continue reading The year that was
Thoughts for better conferences
Good conferences are about managing expectations: the speakers’ and the audience’s. They’ve paid to attend, the speaker has probably paid to fly over and add their professional profile to making the event worth going to in the first place. Both parties should be cared for. At the end of a realllly long year and looking… Continue reading Thoughts for better conferences
The beauty of forgetting
Read one of Wired Uk’s 20 ideas worth considering for 2010 and one of them caught my eye. Clive Thomson reported on ideas from the author of Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age and I can’t help but think that we have naturally adapted to what we so often call “information overload”… Continue reading The beauty of forgetting
Looking back
I decided to publish all the update emails I’d sent back home during my first year in Ivrea. It’s all there, the sweat and the tears, so if you know how to read french, enjoy.
Design as survival tool for the 21st century
Forgive this: a quick and dirty theory that I’ve been working on passively as I read Novecento this weekend lounging in a metal chair in the jardin Luxembourg in Paris and later as I flicked through this month’s Marie-Claire Maison in one of Brixton’s fashionable cafés. I wonder if design as an activity, a field… Continue reading Design as survival tool for the 21st century
A City Experience: Canvases
I’ve been thinking for a while about contributing to the latest design craze among my peers: cities. I’m not an architect but I like cities as a user, as a designer, and I thought I’d write very short bursts about what I like about them, having lived for years in some of the best and… Continue reading A City Experience: Canvases
Rants I don't have time to write
There are things about this type of criticism that makes me cringe. Things about this, that makes me feel like I’m not included in the city experience in the same way as my more testosterone-driven peers and that the entire point made in this article was obstructed by one simple statement: “The next day I… Continue reading Rants I don't have time to write
Getting old
Stuff I’ve noticed is happening as I slowly crawl towards my 30s: – Chocolate isn’t that great anymore. It’s still nice, but not as a snack, in the middle of the day or milky. And brownies are gross. – Grey hair appears on pictures more clearly. – Bullshit meter is at its most efficient. –… Continue reading Getting old