But the campaign by IBM’s People for Smarter Cities Project, by Ogilvy & Mather France, has a better approach to big signs. Namely, they’ve incorporated useful functions into their billboards. One sign is simply curved at the bottom to double as a bench–and flipped upside down, a similar protrusion creates shelter from the rain. Genius.
Via Fast Co Design
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June 10, 2013 by Kirsty
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Last week we were thrilled to be invited to run a brand new DIY Mini Synth workshop at the the launch event for a fantastic new campaign and website Make Things Do Stuff, which we are delighted to be a partner of.
Make Things Do Stuff aims to mobilise the next generation of digital makers. Which here at TWSU HQ we are very proud to be associated with and championing along with some other fantastic organisations .
The launch event was hosted by the inspiring Roundhouse in Camden, a super interesting round space that resembled something from an Indiana Jones film – but instead of the requisite traps – it was filled with various groups of young people doing some very cool workshops with us and the other organisations. There was also a special visit from George Osbourne, Chancellor of the Exchequer. More about his vist in a lovely Wired article
We were excited to be teaching a workshop using the all new Mini Synth – a scaled down and super cute version of the DIY Synth Kit. We were experimenting with what can be used to control the sounds from the Mini Synth. Our young participants had some excellent ideas involving different types of sensors and electronic components including LDR’s, Arduinos and some Bare Conductive variable resistors (just like the ones we have been experimenting with our friends at Studio Luma)
We had so much fun at the launch and met some fantastic participants and other workshop hosts. There is a lot more to come from the Make Things Do Stuff Campaign - everything from events to competitions and clubs. If you’re interested in this world of making – and theres a strong likelihood that you are if you’re reading this – then its definitely worth following the campaign!
To see the rest of the photos check out our flickr set here.
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June 3, 2013 by Kirsty
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Yesterday we attended the Launch of Make Things Do Stuff a campaign and website designed to mobilise the next generation of digital makers. It was a great day and we got to meet lots of awesome Young People and get them making with tech and even the Chancellor popped in to say hello. A full blog post will follow next week but in the meantime here is what Wired had to say.
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-05/31/george-osborne
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May 31, 2013 by Kirsty
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We want to see what you do with our kits after you have left a workshop or made a kit for the first time. What new skills have you learnt and what do you do with them – we want to see it all.
So please share your pictures and projects with us at share@technologywillsaveus.org and they will be featured here for all to see.
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May 29, 2013 by Kirsty
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May 28, 2013 by Kirsty
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(Credit: Lego)
The Lego Foundation is set to open a new school in Denmark, combining global education standards with a focus on creativity and play.
It’s a rare few who gets to play with Lego for a living — now, it’s a rare few who will get to live a child’s dream: going to school in an official Lego institute. The Lego Foundation’sInternational School of Billund in Denmark will be opening its doors to children aged three to seven in August this year.
The school was the brainchild of former Lego president Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, who was born in Billund, where his grandfather founded the Lego company. He wants to put the small town on the map as more than just Lego’s headquarters; he wants to make it the world capital of children.
The plan for the school is to educate children from pre-kindergarten all the way through to grade 10 (16 years old), following a curriculum approved by theInternational Baccalaureate, combined with an emphasis on curiosity, creativity and play.
“Children are open minded, curious and innovative,” said the school’s website. “They are not afraid to experiment. These abilities will be nurtured in our school to help our pupils reach their full potential. We believe that all children have the right to become the very best they can be.”
To serve as the school’s headmaster, the Lego Foundation has engaged Richard Matthews, a former physicist who has led a number of international and bilingual schools around Europe, Africa and South America. Since the International School of Billund is to teach in English, with a mix of 50-50 international and local students, he seems an excellent fit for the role.
“Allowing time for creativity, play and getting into a state of flow is at the centre of Lego’s philosophy, and we’ll be experimenting with this and other ideas in the timetabling,” Matthews told The Guardian. “But we also have a responsibility; the children’s education comes first, and sometimes the old methods will be the best.”
Fees will be set at 2545 Danish krone per month for kindergarten, and 2945 Danish krone per month for older children, payable every month except July. These fees include compulsory healthy lunches and snacks for the children, as well as transport. Children who need before- and after-school care can join the Breakfast Club and the After School Club, which will include activities such as sport and art, free of charge.
It sounds like an amazing learning environment. Although the school is partially being built to bring more people to settle in Billund, we hope the Lego Foundation decides to branch out its education initiatives around the globe. Maybe they can add a few institutions for grown-ups, too.
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by Kirsty
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Do you often get the chance to work on some exciting briefs for charity campaigns and social impact brands? But at the ideas generation stage miss a vital link that could make the campaign go from good to great! To solve that problem Thomas Kolster, author of Goodvertising has come up with a great idea – a calendar that make it easy for creatives to plan campaigns for good.
The calendar highlights all of the existing days or events that are associated with a charities brand or mission to increase awareness around that cause. The Calender for Good helps you to plan your campaign to coincide with existing designated days, or claim one of the many days not yet designated and create your own!
Buy one for yourself, studio or agency here.
Designed by Shaun McCormack Concept by Goodvertising Poster A2 (594×420)
Via Good Design
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May 24, 2013 by Kirsty
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all images courtesy flashpoint
Presented in new york city’s times square, the LEGO star wars X-wing starfighter has been introduced as the company’s largest model built to-date.
measuring 11×43 feet with a wingspan of 44 feet, the 1:1 scale model is constructed 42 times larger than the #9493 star wars set currently available
for children. put together in the LEGO model shop in kladno, czech republic, the replica incorporates over five million bricks, weighing just over 45,000
pounds (including steel infrastructure). an international team of designers, builders, engineers, mechanics and logistics experts spent over a year
bringing this full-scale spaceship from brainstorm to reality using the same bricks and elements featured in the general LEGO retail collection.
the LEGO star wars X-wing starfighter has been introduced as the company’s world’s largest model built to-date
the model measures 11×43 feet with a wingspan of 44 feet
the replica incorporates over five million bricks, weighing just over 45,000 pounds
an international team of designers, builders, engineers, mechanics and logistics experts spent over a year bringing this full-scale spaceship to reality
the 1:1 scale model is constructed 42 times larger than the LEGO star wars set #9493
the unveiling in new york city’s time square
key model specifications
LEGO bricks used: 5,335,200
weight: 45,979.61 pounds (including bricks and steel infrastructure)
height: 11 feet / 3.35 meters
length: 43 feet / 13.1 meters
wingspan: 44 feet / 13.44 meters
construction time: 17,336 hours (about 4 months)
construction location: kladno, czech republic
the model was heavily engineered to withstand all the transportation, setup/break down and to ensure it was safe for times square
given the subway system below and california’s seismic requirements for the legoland california resort installation.
via Design Boom
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by Kirsty
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If your local school system offers computer science courses, chances are those courses are electives that won’t count toward core science or mathematics credit. The implicit message is that, while those skills may prove important for some students’ futures, they aren’t as transferable to a wide range of occupations as, say, Algebra 2 or Biology.
But students like Sam Blazes and Wilfried Hounyo, two winners in the 2012 National STEM Video Game Challenge, say they see their passion for computer programming is potentially leading them into a wide range of future professions.
“There’s no specific place you can plan on going because there are so many different things you can do with programming,” Blazes told an audience during a panel discussion at The Atlanticmagazine’s Technologies in Education Forum earlier this month. “You can do pretty much anything with it that you can program.”
That’s because computer programming is a study of languages more than of technology or mechanics. And command of those languages allows programmers to control the functionality of anything that is driven by a computer.
For example, Blazes and Hounyo, both now high school students in the Washington, D.C. area, each won acclaim for helping to design educational video games. But they both said they initiallyembraced programming through school robotics clubs, where students not only build robots, but work to write code that can control robots’ movements and reactions. And as Blazes pointed out, the same skills could also be used for a wide range of career purposes, such as constructing meteorological simulations, making financial predictions, or creating personalized online learning curricula.
Yet in most secondary educational settings, programming is treated as a primarily technological pursuit with a far narrower potential application. One reason may be a simple lack of community exposure, said U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) in a separate conversation at the May 15 event.
“It’s really easy in a town like Rochester, Minn., where you can see you can get a two-year degree (in computer science) and you can get a job at IBM or (the) Mayo” Clinic nearby,” said Klobuchar, referencing one industrial town in her state where there is widespread need for employees with programming ability. “They see a connection. That doesn’t happen all the time with inner city kids or kids in small towns.”
Blazes and Hounyo say they have experienced a range of academic and extra-curricular benefits as a result of their pursuit of programming:
1. SUBJECT MASTERY
A primary use of programming is to lead a user through the acquisition of knowledge, whether it’s through a traditional lesson or an educational game like those created by Blazes and Hounyo. To lead a user through a range of possible options requires a coder to understand all those options and their implications. Blazes, for example, had to master the basic principals of genetics before creating his game, while Hounyo’s team had to learn about the principals of electricity.
2. SYSTEMS THINKING
Whether writing code to lead a player through a game or a robot up a pyramid, the programming process requires an understanding of how possible inputs and outcomes effect one another. Further, as students move from their first programming language to others, they also learn what organizational elements are universal and what elements may be specific to a particular coding language.
“They’re all sort of the same grammatical structures, and there are sort of different dialects, key words, or quirks to them that you sort of have to learn,” Blazes said of the coding languages he’s learned.
3. COLLABORATION
Most programming projects are multiple-person efforts because the pursuit lends itself well to specialization. For example, if a group of students are creating an educational game, one may have a firmer grasp of the subject matter, while another may be the head coder, and the third may be the visual artist. Some students are actually drawn into programming because of collaborative environments.
“I joined my school robotics team, and we did an awesome first season, and I got hooked to robotics ever since,” Hounyo said. “There are students and mentors working together, and they program the robot to do different tasks, from basic to higher levels.”
4. PASSION
Both Blazes and Hounyo pursued programming out of their own interest, and suggested not all of their school classmates would be engaged by a formal computer programming education. But they also said the constructive nature of programming allows students who are passionate about it to harness that interest and take it as far as they might dare.
“Programming is fun to me,” Blazes said. “It’s something that I can sort of do and have fun and work on, and I can feel a sort of sense of accomplishment when I start working on stuff and even finish something.”
Via KQED
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May 23, 2013 by Kirsty
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The GIGS.2.GO pack by Bolt Group is made of recycled paper pulp and contains four tear-off tabs with a USB flash drive in each.
The concept was inspired by Bolt Group designers frequently having problems sharing presentation and CAD files with clients.
“Burning CDs is slow and impractical, and nobody wants to leave behind their trusty—and expensive—32GB thumb drive. We saw a need for a smaller pack of drives that could be shared and even left behind with a client,” said designer Kurt Rampton.
Though the drives are designed to last for many uses, the paper and electronic components can eventually be separated and recycled.
Via Dezeen
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by Kirsty
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