Look over to the right on my sidebar and notice that clothing store Uniqlo has come out with a tilt-shift video calendar. I love it and it also has music by Fantastic Plastic Machine. Click the calendar to go full screen mode.
While I’m at it, also go to Slide:ology to hear an interview with Daniel Pink on his creative process for his book Johnny Bunko.
Last night I went with some co-workers to the Mac Store in Ginza (Tokyo) to hear Garr Reynolds give a talk entitled, ‘Think Like a Designer.’ For those of you who don’t know, Garr is the author of the book and popular blog, Presentation Zen. When giving presentations, audience members usually want content and a clear message. More often than not, we usually get confusion or boredom.
Basically, everyone is a designer if you know it or not. Everyone wants to change things and/or make them better. What do designers know that we don’t? Here are my notes:
What were some of the best and worst presentations you have seen? I have posted the clip below before, but it’s worth sharing again. Also, check under my ‘Arts, Learning & Talks’ tab to see a presentation done by Garr at Google. UPDATE: Check Garr’s Posterous site for more pics from the event.
UPDATE: (April 9) Note the graph for hits to this site. It’s the power of Garr and Twitter. Looks like a graph of popularity for saying ‘happy new year.’ Spikes once a year.
UPDATE 2: Slide:ology has a good post about improving slides and shows examples of their paper drafts.
The Carrot Revolution blog featured this article from the magazine, Educational Leadership. I’m glad M. Anderson did. Luckily, my school subscribes to it and as soon as I read it, I forwarded it onto our staff bulletin board. I’ll agree, it’s an excellent read. More and more we read and hear how creativity, design, story and collaboration are vital for success in the 21st Century. I guess many have read Dan Pink and others these days and are taking note. (I will be touching upon this at a presentation I am making in April)
Now, how many of your schools are ready to crumble the academic hierarchy?
Highlighted summary (the article goes in depth with each number):
Eight Guidelines for Teachers
1. Shift from text centrism to media collage.
2. Value writing and reading now more than ever.
3. Adopt art as the next R.
4. Blend traditional and emerging literacies.
5. Harness report and story.
6. Practice private and participatory social literacy.
7. Develop literacy with digital tools and about digital tools.
8. Pursue fluency.
Daniel Pink posted this clip on his blog which is hilarious. Thought I should share too. Think about technology in the 21st century now for a minute…
Being creative or artistic doesn’t mean you know how to draw or play an instrument. Being creative is a way of thinking, a way of viewing the world.
Creative people use the RIGHT side of their brains more than the LEFT. Take the test and find out if your brain is RIGHT for a creative career. Try the test here from the Art Institute of Vancouver.
Just like I thought, I am more right-brained. I shall make Daniel Pink proud. My results below.
PopTech is a great site similar to TED. It is a one-of-a-kind conference, a community of remarkable people, and an ongoing conversation about science, technology and the future of ideas. Below are some recent and past presentations.
Pop sociologist and best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell has honed in on a profound new question: what separates extraordinary and average people? Discussing findings from his much-anticipated book “Outliers,” Gladwell details how we’re squandering human potential everywhere from the football field to the classroom – and what we can do to change it. Watch video here.
Provocateur Daniel Pink has built a career on his keen insights into business, technology and the economy. Engaging, enlightening and funny, the best-selling author heralds a new job market—one that devalues the logical and rule-based in favor of the artistic, empathic and inventive. Watch video here.
Internet guru Clay Shirky has a unique ability to present the chaos of the Web in stunningly clear terms, as he does here, documenting what a “spontaneously, self-assembling, online philanthropic venture” tells us about the nature of human motivation. Listen as he explains the concept of “designing for generosity,” and what we can learn about it from the Josh Groban Foundation, Napster and a top online mobile phone forum. Watch video here.
Well school has started here in Japan. As students and teachers settle into their classes, schedules and lessons, it’s important to remember to keep the ball rolling in new ways. Why teach the same repetitive lessons the same way? I have been converted. I have begun to create videos to introduce and reinforce lessons and posted them onto our school’s website as well as YouTube and TeacherTube for students to access as a resource. Within five days, I had a teacher from Hawaii contact me commenting that it was a great resource for her students. She was even kind enough to give me a five star rating and introduced it to a few forums she belongs to! Five days later and it already has over 470 hits. How is that as a motivating factor?
So, try new things while you are still feeling fresh. Here is a short video as well by Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind giving some advice on exercising creativity at the work place.
