Innovation as a learning process
Innovation as a Learning Process from Roger H. Shealy on Vimeo.
Filed Under Creativity, Research
Languages of the World
Here is a site that is not that rich in graphics, but contains a treasure-chest of information in words. Behold the Ethnologue website!This on-line encyclopedia contains comprehensive information about the languages of the world. A brief foray into its contents can reveal interesting facts; did you know that Italy was home to 42 different languages, with forms like Mocheno, which is spoken only among 1900 people in the Trentino region? There is also an extensive catalogue of “nearly extinct” languages, some of which, like the Djawi language of Australia, have only one speaker. Languages are arguably the pillars of cultures, the defining features of people, both as individuals and groups. It’s a shame not to learn mmore about them. Make sure you visit this archive today!
Filed Under Diversity, History & traditions
The web on a map
You can already order it from Information Architets.
Filed Under Creativity, Design, New Media, Technology
Shoot an Iraqi - The Art of Wafaa Bilal
Wafaa Bilal is an Iraqi multimedia artist who achieved global fame with his work, “Domestic Tension,” during which he lived for a month inside a cage with a remote-controlled paintball gun that visitors from the internet could control to shoot - or not shoot at the artist. While some visitors used the gun to actively pursue and shoot at Bilal, others took turns to “hijack” the system so that the artist could get sleep, rest, etc. In my opinion, it is one of the greatest artistic comments on the recent spate of conflicts in the Middle East. This, however, is not Bilal’s only work. Make sure you visit the artist’s web site for a comprehensive tour of his work, including complete recreations of the houses and rooms destroyed by war in Iraq. Make sure you look at the latest issue of COLORS magazine to see more of Wafaa’s work.
Filed Under Art, Creativity, Events, Human Rights, Media & Society, Politics
Where’s the most remote place on earth?
The New Scientist publishes a map of the most remote places on earth. Surprisingly enough, less than 10% of the world’s land is more than 48 hours of ground-based travel from the nearest city.
“In the Amazon, for example, extensive river networks and an increasing number of roads mean that only 20 per cent of the land is more than two days from a city - around the same proportion as Canada’s Quebec province. ”
Nevertheless, most people still don’t have access to the most basic resources such as water, education and medical care.
Filed Under Environment, Food, Human Rights, Water, World Health
Congo launched in space
While the big news fills up with the war and turmoil in this Central African nation, Congolese rocket scientists are experimenting with space. Grand ambitions.
Filed Under SPECIAL FEATURE
Squatters of the World Unite!
Squatting involves using loopholes in local laws to build and occupy housing, free of charge. While a streak of anarchic activism has always run through squatters, in some cases they can create social problems, or give indirect support to crime and drug-dealing. Regardless of its consequences, squatters are a global phenomenon, and they usually find themselves in the middle of conflicts between local populations and the companies and governments of a globalizing and gentrifying world.Author Robert Neuwirth has written a bestselling book on the squatting phenomenon, and edits what is possibly one of the most comprehensive squatting-related blogs over at Squattercity. From the century-long occupation of flats in an expensive district of London, from the Brazilian favelas to the newly-spreading “tent cities” in depression-stricken America, this blog is a must-see.
Filed Under Diversity, Environment, Human Rights, Modern Life