Pinboard (robertogreco)
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recent bookmarks from robertogrecoWords we've ruined. - YouTube2024-02-12T01:46:58+00:00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVbCY51iz1k
robertogrecoenglish words language change etymology 2024 comprehension clarity petersokolowski robwords misusehttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:75c233954d13/The Dig Presents: Alien Jerky Sold Here · The Dig2023-09-16T19:11:27+00:00
https://thedigradio.com/podcast/the-dig-presents-alien-jerky-sold-here/
robertogrecodisinformation ufos aliens usmilitary military obfuscation misdirection 2023 extraterrestrials trevorpaglen valeriekuletz markpilkington danieldenvir thedig counterintelligence airforce usaf us paulbennewitz richarddoty imagination experience folklore manipulation exploitation power control narrative belief unknown notknowing newmexico chinalake manhattanproject weapons militaryindustrialcomplex navy deserts indigenous indigeneity destruction california science nevada highdesert waste contamination mojavedesert nuclearbombs aldoushuxley scientists rockets rocketry missiles cancer nativeamericans nuclearfallout downwinders freemandyson cia area51 tonopahtestrange photography art waronterror guantanamobay prisons blacksites disappearance place government history nevadatestsite basecamp warfare distance vision sight seeing documentation imagery understanding images howwesee clarity baker perception archaeology aviation aerospace drones senses allthesenses sound smell environment subtlety details attention naturehttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:e7fb1a09f37a/Shari Frilot - “Sundance and New Frontier 2021” AD 190 - YouTube2022-06-08T23:25:24+00:00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0zFclaxA1A
robertogrecosharifrilot 2021 interviews collectiveconsciousness newfrontier sundance communities community ove visualization art film newmedia transdisciplinary interdisciplinary multidisciplinary filmmaking culture neuroplasticity curation presentation performance humanity inclusivity connectedness clarity vision paradigmshifts covid-19 pandemic coronavirus biodigital digital storytelling bodieshttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:141aaf373e7d/Disambiguation • Buttondown2022-03-07T21:19:05+00:00
https://buttondown.email/aworkinglibrary/archive/disambiguation-a-working-letter/
robertogrecomandybrown ambuguity ursulaleguin 2022 clarity taoteching adriennemareebrown learning perspective individualism howwelearn conversation utopia fiction nonfiction borges samueldelaney laotzu thedispossessed yinyang dichotomy devonprice davidwengrow davidgraeber tishanidoshi jakeskeet elisepaschen louiseerdich cliffordgeertzhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:a1211e1d9c38/Interviews: Aneil Rallin and Kartika Budhwar - YouTube2021-10-20T15:26:53+00:00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHuolyg4WZE
robertogrecoaneilrallin kartikabudhwar writing howwewrite reading howwetread collaboration form education academia academics highereducation highered experimentation whiteness alternative queer immigration language english americanenglish teaching howweteach progressive progressivism radical radicalism activism change place being essays fiction genre pedagogy learning howwelearn clarity communication conversation interviews india ushttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:66088e70eaa0/The UX design case of closed captions for everyone // Sebastian Greger2019-03-30T19:29:49+00:00
https://sebastiangreger.net/2019/02/ux-closed-captions-for-everybody/
robertogrecoAfter seeing several photos my (English-speaking, non-deaf) friends have taken of their TV screens over the past week, I’m realizing that many of you watch TV with closed captions (or subtitles) on?! Is this a thing? And if so, why?
The 150+ replies (I guess this qualifies as a reasonable sample for a qualitative analysis of sorts?) are a wonderful example of “accessibility features” benefiting everybody (I wrote about another instance recently [https://sebastiangreger.net/2018/11/twitter-alt-texts-on-db-trains/ ]). The reasons why people watch TV with closed captions on, despite having good hearing abilities and not being constrained by having to watch muted video, are manifold and go far beyond those two most commonly anticipated use cases.
[image: Close-up image of a video with subtitles (caption: "Closed captions are used by people with good hearing and audio playback turned on. An overseen use case?")]
Even applying a rather shallow, ex-tempore categorisation exercise based on the replies on Twitter, I end up with an impressive list to start with:
• Permanent difficulties with audio content
◦ audio processing disorders
◦ short attention span (incl., but not limited to clinical conditions)
◦ hard of hearing, irrespective of age
• Temporary impairments of hearing or perception
◦ watching under the influence of alcohol
◦ noise from eating chips while watching
• Environmental/contextual factors
◦ environment noise from others in the room (or a snoring dog)
◦ distractions and multitasking (working out, child care, web browsing, working, phone calls)
• Reasons related to the media itself
◦ bad audio levels of voice vs. music
• Enabler for improved understanding
◦ easier to follow dialogue
◦ annoyance with missing dialogue
◦ avoidance of misinterpretations
◦ better appreciation of dialogue
• Better access to details
◦ able to take note of titles of songs played
◦ ability to understand song lyrics
◦ re-watching to catch missed details
• Language-related reasons
◦ strong accents
◦ fast talking, mumbling
◦ unable to understand foreign language
◦ insecurity with non-native language
• Educational goals, learning and understanding
◦ language learning
◦ literacy development for children
◦ seeing the spelling of unknown words/names
◦ easier memorability of content read (retainability)
• Social reasons
◦ courtesy to others, either in need for silence or with a need/preference for subtitles
◦ presence of pets or sleeping children
◦ avoiding social conflict over sound level or distractions (“CC = family peace”)
• Media habits
◦ ability to share screen photos with text online
• Personal preferences
◦ preference for reading
◦ acquired habit
• Limitations of technology skills
◦ lack of knowledge of how to turn them off
An attempt at designerly analysis
The reasons range from common sense to surprising, such as the examples of closed captions used to avoid family conflict or the two respondents explicitly mentioning “eating chips” as a source of disturbing noise. Motivations mentioned repeatedly refer to learning and/or understanding, but also such apparently banal reasons like not knowing how to turn them off (a usability issue?). Most importantly, though, it becomes apparent that using CC is more often than not related to choice/preference, rather than to impairment or restraints from using audio.
At the same time, it becomes very clear that not everybody likes them, especially when forced to watch with subtitles by another person. The desire/need of some may negatively affect the experience of others present. A repeat complaint that, particularly with comedy, CC can kill the jokes may also hint at the fact that subtitles and their timing could perhaps be improved by considering them as more than an accessibility aid for those who would not hear the audio? (It appears as if the scenario of audio and CC consumed simultaneously is not something considered when subtitles are created and implemented; are we looking at another case for “exclusive design”?)
And while perceived as distracting when new – this was the starting point of Kottke’s Tweet – many of the comments share the view that it becomes less obtrusive over time; people from countries where TV is not dubbed in particular are so used to it they barely notice it (“becomes second nature”). Yet, there are even such interesting behaviours like people skipping back to re-read a dialogue they only listened to at first, as well as that of skipping back to be able to pay better attention to the picture at second view (e.g. details of expression) after reading the subtitles initially.
Last but not least, it is interesting how people may even feel shame over using CC. Only a conversation like the cited Twitter thread may help them realise that it is much more common than they thought. And most importantly that it has nothing to do with a perceived stigmatisation of being “hard of hearing”.
CC as part of video content design
The phenomenon is obviously not new. Some articles on the topic suggest that it is a generational habit [https://medium.com/s/the-upgrade/why-gen-z-loves-closed-captioning-ec4e44b8d02f ] of generation Z (though Kottke’s little survey proves the contrary), or even sees [https://www.wired.com/story/closed-captions-everywhere/ ] it as paranoid and obsessive-compulsive behaviour of “postmodern completists” as facilitated by new technological possibilities. Research on the benefits of CC for language learning, on the other hand, reaches back [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19388078909557984 ] several decades.
No matter what – the phenomenon in itself is interesting enough to make this a theme for deeper consideration in any design project that contains video material. Because, after all, one thing is for sure: closed captions are not for those with hearing impairments or with muted devices alone – and to deliver great UX, these users should be considered as well."
[See also: https://kottke.org/19/04/why-everyone-is-watching-tv-with-closed-captioning-on-these-days ]]]>closedcaptioning subtitles closedcaptions text reading genz generationz audio video tv film dialogue listening howweread 2019 sebastiangreger literacy language languages ux ui television ocd attention adhd languagelearning learning howwelearn processing hearing sound environment parenting media multimedia clarity accents memory memorization children distractions technology classideas zoomershttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:861800781312/Is "Show Don't Tell" a Universal Truth or a Colonial Relic? | Literary Hub2018-11-20T00:11:54+00:00
https://lithub.com/is-show-dont-tell-a-universal-truth-or-a-colonial-relic/
robertogrecoorality oraltradition visual via:vruba 2018 storytelling walterbenjamin culture tradition namratapoddar globalsouth maggieawadalla paulmarch-russell billashcroft garethgriffiths helentiffin vernacular zoranealehurston creole creoleness folktales writing salmanrushdie vikramchandra junotdíaz edwidgedanticat edgarallanpoe johnbarth fancineprose criticalwriting howwewrite literacy multiliteracies dialect rhythm patrickchamoiseau caribbean africa asia colonialism english alicewalker imperialism gishjen jamesbaldwin tonimorrison tiphanieyanique zzpacker showdon'ttell sandracisneros roxanegay ajeshparameswaran négritude papacésaire haiti aural oral sight brevity clarity grammar fiction aimécésaire martinique léopoldsédarsenghor léondamas postcolonialism louis-ferdinandceline latinamerica indigenous canonhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:790499edff08/Trinh T. Minh-ha - Wikipedia2017-11-26T06:27:42+00:00
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinh_T._Minh-ha#Woman.2C_Native.2C_Other:_Writing_Postcoloniality_and_Feminism_.281989.29
robertogrecoanthropology hegemony audrelorde nelliewong gloriaanzaldua non-binary women gender diversity clarity oraltradition ideology truth canon othering narrative binaries patriarchy reality structure convention colonialism colonization decolonization srg gloriaanzaldúa trinhtminh-hahttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:18d2f3e1abce/////////// from “Commitment from the Mirror-Writing Box,” Trinh T. Minh-Ha, Woman, Native, Other2017-11-23T21:32:45+00:00
http://some-velvet-morning.tumblr.com/post/166694371846/shinjimoon-nothing-could-be-more-normative
robertogrecorolandbarthes literacy clarity writing language taoism zen buddhism persuasion authority authoritarianism power control tradition poetry prose canon rhetoric grammar rules expression classics communication subjection instrumentality beauty style genre composition correction improvement purification speech vernacular schools churches professions professionalism convention conventions trinhtminh-hahttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:949d697f4808/18F Design Presents — Language: Your Most Important and Least Valued Asset - YouTube2017-08-04T04:53:05+00:00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raN4S2B4-vo
robertogrecolanguage content design 18f contentstrategy 2017 informationarchitecture abbycovert information webdev webdesign communication vocabulary misinformation clarity welcome hospitality audience sfsh mentalmodels context culturallyresponsivedesign tone nouns verbs wordchoice duplicity controlledvocabularyhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:26a9cdb37aa1/Where’s Your School On This Spectrum? Where Do You Want It To Be? | Josie Holford: Rattlebag and Rhubarb2017-07-12T22:27:22+00:00
http://www.josieholford.com/wheres-your-school-on-this-spectrum-where-do-you-want-it-to-be/
robertogrecosfsh schools identity education josieholford 2017 progressive experientialeducation purpose clarity branding reputation mindfulness permissiveness teaching learning experientiallearninghttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:b1344a6fb454/Plastic Words — davidcayley.com2017-05-29T21:57:27+00:00
http://www.davidcayley.com/podcasts/2017/2/18/plastic-words
robertogrecodavidcayley deschooling ivanillich 2017 toolsforconviviality unschooling jargon meaning language uwepörksen 1993 1988 georgeorwell jamesthurber communication clarity convivialityhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:b4fa03dbc673/A neuroscientist explains a concept at five different levels2017-05-29T19:42:05+00:00
http://kottke.org/17/03/a-neuroscientist-explains-a-concept-at-five-different-levels
robertogrecobobbykasthuri neuroscience richardfeynman science video explanation communication clarity complexity teaching howweteach classideashttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:0c67845681c6/'Such freedom is unthinkable today' – my life making television with John Berger | Television & radio | The Guardian2017-01-08T21:34:16+00:00
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/jan/06/john-berger-ways-of-seeing-mike-dibb-freedom-unthinkable-today
robertogrecojohnberger 2017 mikedibb collaboration writing howwewrite revision criticism relationships handwriting editing clarity howwethink thinkinghttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:b481231540eb/Stop Serving the Feedback Sandwich – Medium2017-01-07T21:03:16+00:00
https://medium.com/@AdamMGrant/stop-serving-the-feedback-sandwich-bc1202686f4e#.jkhcrdumh
robertogrecofeedback feedbacksandwich damgrant 2016 trust psychology management leadership criticism constructivecriticism clarity teaching education changehttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:b10ed7daca07/John Berger remembered – by Geoff Dyer, Olivia Laing, Ali Smith and Simon McBurney | Books | The Guardian2017-01-07T04:58:55+00:00
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/06/john-berger-remembered-by-geoff-dyer-olivia-laing-and-ali-smith
robertogrecojohnberger 2017 geoffdyer olivialaing alismith simonmcburney marxism capitalism migration soundbites hospitality storytelling hope hopefulness utopia hierarchy consumerism compassion unselfishness questioning skepticism simoneweil creativeattention attention goldenrule humanism encouragement relationships friendship equality giving generosity solidarity suffering seeing noticing looking observation senses kindness commonality belonging ownership thinking howwethink care caring blackpanthers blackpantherparty clarity money communalism narrowness alls difference openness crosspollination hosting hosts guests strangers enemies listening canon payingattention audience audiencesofone laughter resistance existence howtolive living life howwelive refuge writing certainty tendernesshttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:a2e0332c6f6d/on expertise - Text Patterns - The New Atlantis2016-07-28T01:13:31+00:00
http://text-patterns.thenewatlantis.com/2016/07/on-expertise.html
robertogrecoPeople who spend their time, and earn their living, studying a particular topic produce poorer predictions than dart-throwing monkeys who would have distributed their choices evenly over the options. Even in the region they knew best, experts were not significantly better than nonspecialists. Those who know more forecast very slightly better than those who know less. But those with the most knowledge are often less reliable. The reason is that the person who acquires more knowledge develops an enhanced illusion of her skill and becomes unrealistically overconfident. “We reach the point of diminishing marginal predictive returns for knowledge disconcertingly quickly,” [Philip] Tetlock writes. “In this age of academic hyperspecialization, there is no reason for supposing that contributors to top journals—distinguished political scientists, area study specialists, economists, and so on—are any better than journalists or attentive readers of The New York Times in ‘reading’ emerging situations.” The more famous the forecaster, Tetlock discovered, the more flamboyant the forecasts. “Experts in demand,” he writes, “were more overconfident than their colleagues who eked out existences far from the limelight.”
So in what sense would it be rational to trust the predictions of experts? We all need to think more about what conditions produce better predictions — and what skills and virtues produce better predictors. Tetlock and Gardner have certainly made a start on that:
The humility required for good judgment is not self-doubt – the sense that you are untalented, unintelligent, or unworthy. It is intellectual humility. It is a recognition that reality is profoundly complex, that seeing things clearly is a constant struggle, when it can be done at all, and that human judgment must therefore be riddled with mistakes. This is true for fools and geniuses alike. So it’s quite possible to think highly of yourself and be intellectually humble. In fact, this combination can be wonderfully fruitful. Intellectual humility compels the careful reflection necessary for good judgment; confidence in one’s abilities inspires determined action....
What's especially interesting here is the emphasis not on knowledge but on character — what's needed is a certain kind of person, and especially the kind of person who is humble.
Now ask yourself this: Where does our society teach, or even promote, humility?"]]>experts expertise authority alanjacobs psychology 2016 danielkahneman philiptetlock brexit economics politics predictions dangardner judgement self-doubt intellect reality complexity clarity character hyperspecialization specialists specializationhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:a2a1c248facd/Earl Sweatshirt With Microphone Check: 'I'm Grown' - YouTube2016-03-18T03:16:00+00:00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV_UQIs3er8
robertogrecoearlsweatshirt 2015 interviews music microphonecheck npr thebenerudakgositsile oddfuture ofwgkta alishaheedmuhammad franniekelley wokeness clarity moments flow creativity growingup transcontextualism rap hiphop transcontextualizationhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:30b20a46fed3/Russell Davies: Doing the hard work to make it clear2015-06-10T06:11:44+00:00
http://russelldavies.typepad.com/planning/2015/06/doing-the-hard-work-to-make-it-clear.html
robertogrecoclarity presentation russelldavies 2015 thinking socialmedia convictionhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:7d1caec0653c/Nicole Fenton | Words as Material2015-06-10T03:53:56+00:00
http://nicolefenton.com/words-as-material/
robertogreconicolefenton writing 2015 design words language howwewrite whywewrite learning communication annegalloway mattjones frankchimero abbycovert clarity annelamott thichnhathanh collaboration jean-paulsartre sartre thíchnhấthạnhhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:877e21929223/Michael Winter, Ursula Franklin - Home | The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers | CBC Radio2015-03-06T19:16:04+00:00
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thenextchapter/michael-winter-ursula-franklin-1.2842683
robertogrecoursulafranklin 2015 interviews feminism quakers shelaghrogers canada collectivism citizenship humanism pacifism clarity patriarchy capitalism privatization socialism scrupling scruples hope hopelessness optimism change civics activism discourse problemsolving townmeetings commongood conversationhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:248447348907/The Web’s Grain by Frank Chimero2015-03-03T20:49:37+00:00
http://frankchimero.com/talks/the-webs-grain/transcript/
robertogrecofrankchimero davidhockney joinery web webdev internet responsive responsivedesign design technology grace clarity simplicity complexity dependencies edges purpose adaptability divergency thisandthat convenience autonomy control influence responsivewebdesign webdesignhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:362f27d34f6d/Oliver Sacks on Learning He Has Terminal Cancer - NYTimes.com2015-02-19T21:14:45+00:00
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/opinion/oliver-sacks-on-learning-he-has-terminal-cancer.html
robertogrecocancer death life neuroscience living oliversacks 2015 legacy individuality davidhume health dying mortality audacity clarity goodbyes perspective humanism privilege adventure consciousnesshttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:b13de102d560/Mary Oliver — Listening to the World | On Being2015-02-10T20:01:45+00:00
http://onbeing.org/program/mary-oliver-listening-to-the-world/7267
robertogrecomaryoliver onbeing wisdom poetry 2015 poems writing place religion rumi spirituality life living howwewrite discipline creativity language process staugustine attention reporting empathy fieldguides clarity death god belief cancer kindness goodness nature prayer loneliness imagination geese animals slow posthumanismhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:83de14de7517/Sara Wachter-Boettcher | Personal Histories2015-01-15T06:24:38+00:00
http://www.sarawb.com/2015/01/13/personal-histories/
robertogrecoYour preferred pronoun is Public and can be seen by anyone.
I don’t care who knows what my preferred pronoun is. But I’m not a trans teen trying to negotiate the complex public-private spaces of the internet. I’m not afraid of my parents’ or peers’ reactions. I’m lucky.
Whether it’s an immediate announcement to a user’s social circle that they’ve changed their status or a note in their file about sexual assault that every doctor will ask about forever, users deserve to know what happens when they enter information—where it goes, who will see it, and how it will be used.
5. Above all, be kind.
When you approach your site design with a crisis-driven persona, you WILL see things differently.
Eric Meyer
Most of us aren’t living the worst-case scenario most of the time. But everyone is living. And that’s often hard enough.
How would our words change if we were writing for someone in crisis? Would our language soften? Would we ask for less? Would we find simpler words to use, cut those fluffy paragraphs, get to the point sooner? Would we make it easier to contact a human?
Who else might that help?
Humility. Intention. Empathy. Clarity. These concepts are easy enough to understand, but they take work to get right. As writers and strategists and designers, that’s our job. It’s up to us to think through those what-ifs and recognize that, at every single moment—both by what we say and what we do not say—we are making communication choices that affect the way our users feel, the tenor of the conversation we’re having, the answers we’ll get back, and the ways we can use that information.
Most of the choices aren’t inherently wrong or right. The problem is when our intentions are fuzzy, our choices unacknowledged, their implications never examined."]]>design interface inclusion accessibility humility difference intention empathy clarity communication purpose kindness ux contentstrategy gender content 2015 sarawachter-boettcher privacy complexity binary inlcusivity inclusivityhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:949726c244f9/Russell Davies: clarity as a business model2014-10-08T05:59:54+00:00
http://russelldavies.typepad.com/planning/2014/10/clarity-as-a-business-model.html
robertogrecoclarity communication business russelldavies 2014 eulas simplicity comparison publicservicehttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:1a0fc255aaa5/A Conversation With Ted Nelson - YouTube2014-07-03T22:13:57+00:00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsNpdVtk5zg
robertogreco2014 tednelson gardnercampbell education policy unschooling deschooling technology edtech learning howwelearn curriculum training dreammachines internet computing freedom 1974 marshallmcluhan content media documents xanadu projectxanadu hypertext math mathematics algebra schools filmmaking film howwework making dougengelbart hierarchy hierarchies aristotle plato intertwingularity depth richness clarity composition arbitrary systemsthinking generalization text franklloydwright leonardodavinci coding programming teaching structure rules academia publishing self-publishing headstart preschool language languageacquisition poverty vocabulary alankay multicontextuality wikipedia youtube curiosity raspberrypi anarchy anarchism collectivism interdependence mutualaid society generalists selfpublishinghttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:90cb58b01eac/ying gao - designer2014-06-13T04:41:59+00:00
http://yinggao.ca/eng/interactifs/nowhere-nowhere/
robertogrecofashion wearable wearables gaze yinggao presence disappearance chiaroscuro clarity obscurity paulvirilio absence photoluminescence visionhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:ead88611667f/cityofsound: Essay: 'Designing Finnishness', for 'Out Of The Blue: The Essence and Ambition of Finnish Design' (Gestalten)2014-05-12T05:39:28+00:00
http://www.cityofsound.com/blog/2014/05/essay-designing-finnishness-for-out-of-the-blue-gestalten.html
robertogreco"The press conference is over, and in comes Jari Litmanen, from behind the door. And I looked at his face and I looked at his eyes, and I recognised something in those eyes. And I thought, this is a man with a great willpower. Because he was not shy, not timid, but he was modest. He is not a man who will raise his voice, or bang with his fist on the table and say, ‘We do it this way.’ No, he was more of a diplomat, not wanting to be a leader, but being a leader." [Former AFC Ajax team manager David Endt, on legendary Finnish footballer Jari Litmanen]
Finland has proven that it can take care of itself locally and globally. At home, its sheer existence is a tribute to fortitude, guile and determination, never mind the extent to which it has lately thrived. Globally, through Nokia, Kone, Rovio and others, through its diplomatic and political leadership, and through its design scene in general, it has punched well above its weight. Having been a reluctant leader, like Litmanen, will Finland once again step up to help define a new age, a post-industrial or re-industrial age? Unlike 1917, there are few obvious external drivers to force Finns to define Finnishness. So where will the desire for change come from?
Finland, and Finnishness, is not immune to the problems facing other European countries; the Eurocrisis, domestic xenophobia, industrial strife. Challenging these is difficult for an engineering culture not yet used to working with uncertainty, and in collaboration.
That requires this sense of openness to ambiguity, to non-planning, which is quite unlike the traditional mode of Finnishness. And yet there are also valuable cues in Finnishness, such as in the design—or undesign, as Leonard Koren would have it—of Finnish sauna culture.
"Making nature really means letting nature happen, since nature, the ultimate master of interactive complexity, is organized along principles too inscrutable for us to make from scratch. … Extraordinary baths … are created by natural geologic processes or by composers of sensory stimulation working in an intuitive, poetic, open-minded—undesign—manner." (Koren, ibid.)
Equally, the päiväkoti day-care system demonstrates a learning environment built with an agile structure that can follow where children wish to lead. The role of expertise—and every teacher in Finnish education is a highly-qualified expert—is not to control or enforce a national curriculum, but to react, shape, nurture and inspire. As such it could be a blueprint not only for education generally, but also for developing a culture comfortable with divergent learning, with exploration and experiment, with a broader social and emotional range, and with ambiguity.
Chess grandmaster Savielly Tartakower once said “Tactics is knowing what to do when there is something to do, strategy is knowing what to do when there is nothing to do.” Indeed, Finland's early development was driven by tactics—survival, consolidation and then growth in the face of a clear set of "things to do"; defeat the conditions, resist the neighbours, rebuild after war.
With that, came success, comfort and then perhaps the inevitable lack of drive. The country is relatively well off and stable, and perhaps a little complacent given the recent accolades.
Design in recent years has seen a shift towards the ephemeral and social—interaction design, service design, user experience design, strategic design and so on. Conversely, there has been a return to the physical, albeit altered and transformed by that new modernity, with that possibility of newly hybrid “things”: digital/physical hybrids possessing a familiar materiality yet allied with responsiveness, awareness, and character by virtue of having the internet embedded within. With its strong technical research sector, and expertise in both materials and software, Finland is well-placed. Connect the power of its nascent nanotech research sector—interestingly, derived from its expertise with wood—to a richer Finnish design culture capable of sketching social objects, social services and social spaces and its potential becomes tangible, just as with the 1930s modernism that fused the science and engineering of the day with design in order to produce Artek.
Finnish design could be stretched to encompass these new directions, the aforementioned reversals towards openness, ambiguity, sociality, flexibility and softness. Given that unique DNA of Finnishness — both designed and undesigned, both old and young—Finland is at an interesting juncture.
The next phase, then, is knowing what to do, despite the appearance of not having anything to do.
Buckminster Fuller, a guest at Sitra's first design-led event at Helsinki’s Suomenlinna island fortress in 1968, once said “the best way to predict the future is to design it.” Finland has done this once before; it may be that now is exactly the right time to do it again."]]>finland 2014 design danhill cityofsound sitra buckminsterfuller education strategy culture exploration experimentation ambiguity emergentcurriculumeurope undesign leonardkoren nature complexity simplicity davidendt jarilitmanen unproduct efficiency inefficiency clarity purity small slow sisu solitude silence barnraising helsinkihttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:7147498e00d9/Frank Chimero × Blog × Waste Need Not Waste2013-06-24T00:58:56+00:00
http://frankchimero.com/blog/2013/03/waste-need-not-waste/
robertogrecofrankchimero 2013 writing clarity robertcaro jamesgleick howwewrite repetition communication complexityhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:f553f2f0bf6f/The Disciplined Pursuit of Less - Greg McKeown - Harvard Business Review2012-08-23T22:18:11+00:00
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/08/the_disciplined_pursuit_of_less.html
robertogrecoglvo diffusion opportunity attention effort 2012 clarityofpurpose clarity enricsala gregmckeowen purpose psychology endowmenteffect focus simplicity strategy business work careeradvice careers success disciplinehttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:e3ca3f99485a/On September 7th, 1982, Ogilvy sent the following... - Preoccupations-on-Tumblr2012-08-14T04:21:39+00:00
http://preoccupations.tumblr.com/post/17627847668/on-september-7th-1982-ogilvy-sent-the-following
robertogrecovia:Preoccupations writing ogilvy communication tips clarity via:migurskihttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:ae4894683241/naffidy: Andrea Zittel -----"These things I know for sure"2012-07-31T22:21:20+00:00
http://naffidy.blogspot.com/2007/06/andrea-zittel-these-things-i-know-for.html?m=1
robertogrecoandreazittel criticalspace progressive human humans sorting dichotomy dichotomies categorization patternfinding patterns generalizations generalization surfaces maintenance time art learning filingsystems design rules constraints personaltruths universaltruths truths happiness movement progress attainability goals perspective comfort security clarity creativity freedom creation choice polarization ambiguity functionhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:247a3c2f81a0/lonelysandwich - Human-computer-human interaction2012-07-13T00:35:44+00:00
http://lonelysandwich.com/post/12952975549/human-siri-interaction
robertogrecohuman interaction language accuracy intention comprehension robots 2012 clarity communication lonelysandwich adamlisagor siri applehttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:e6e7182329bc/Agnes Martin Interview (20:00 version, 1997) on Vimeo2012-07-12T19:59:24+00:00
https://vimeo.com/7127385
robertogrecoglvo brucenauman self clarity agnesmartin inspiration howwecreate howwework vacanmind ideas sonokuwayama chucksmith via:caseygollan interviews 1997 loneliness alone life painting art evolution education ambition failurehttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:65212e10a668/92nd Street Y (Kurt Vonnegut Audio: May 1983)2011-07-29T04:52:54+00:00
http://92y.tumblr.com/post/220232172/kurt-vonnegut-audio-may-1983
robertogrecokurtvonnegut vonnegut writing clarity communication classideashttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:3d4a4f4a7b07/What does your school stand for? « Re-educate Seattle2011-06-30T02:29:03+00:00
http://stevemiranda.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/what-does-your-school-stand-for/
robertogrecoeducation values mission missionstatements tcsnmy clarity purpose outcomes lcproject teaching learning community parents students stevemiranda pscs publicschools 2011 pugetsoundcommunityschoolhttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:394d7593b62d/Conan O’Brien’s Dartmouth Commencement Address ... - AUSTIN KLEON : TUMBLR2011-06-27T08:07:33+00:00
http://tumblr.austinkleon.com/post/6564599185/conan-obriens-dartmouth-commencement-address
robertogrecoconano'brien dartmouth creativity voice identity humor 2011 change mannerisms johnnycarson davidletterman jackbenny failure copying mimicry quirkiness personality mutations babyboomers uniqueness success nietzsche disappointment socialmedia innovation spontaneity satisfaction convictions fear reinvention perceivedfailure self-defintion clarity originality commencementspeeches boomers commencementaddresseshttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:259e37ec7a82/Nothing « aronsolomon dot com2011-05-30T08:00:36+00:00
http://www.aronsolomon.com/nothing/
robertogrecoaronsolomon simplicity nothing nothingness teaching thinking clarity noise focus technology attentionhttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:4959561403f2/Buster Benson2011-05-08T18:52:55+00:00
http://busterbenson.com/
robertogrecobusterbenson howto living life presence advice meaning makingmeaning sensemaking meaningmaking change vision values cv well-being stress health clarity selfhttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:60c54c6f0085/Frank Chimero - Designer’s Poison2011-04-17T00:28:08+00:00
http://blog.frankchimero.com/post/4638456712/designers-poison
robertogrecofrankchimero cv advice design communication why how craft tasks objectives business clients criticism philosophy happiness well-being meaning values clarity ethics bias cognitivebias definitions 2011 thisishuge practice holisticapproach authority dicussion aiga work glvo twitterhttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:efcc5709e61a/How to Give Your School Leader a Grade | Edutopia2011-04-15T19:52:15+00:00
http://www.edutopia.org/effective-school-leadership-characteristics
robertogreco
Your principal knows her stuff…well versed in various instructional practices, & current educational research & findings. Because of this, & because of her time in the classroom, she is not fooled by any quick-fix, silver-bullet solutions. She knows slow & steady wins the race.
Instead of being showy w/ this abundance of educational wisdom, she models it every day -- in her actions toward those she has been chosen to lead."]]>leadership education administration howitshouldbedone tcsnmy management lcproject modeling vision purpose clarity bigpicture patience philosophy transparency schoolshttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:b110093d41e7/Ten Big Ideas of School Leadership | Edutopia2011-04-15T19:47:40+00:00
http://www.edutopia.org/maine-project-learning-ideas-school-leadership
robertogrecoleadership education administration management lcproject schools tcsnmy vision consensus clarity people watereddown compromise children howitshouldbedone mikemccarthyhttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:7125fa1ebe5f/The Seven Characteristics of a Good Leader | Edutopia2011-04-15T19:41:42+00:00
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/successful-school-leadership-social-emotional-learning-maurice-elias
robertogrecoleadership education edutopia change vision management administration lcproject purpose clarity respect justice convictions schools howitshouldbedone tcsnmyhttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:465fbf8f4840/Hot Stuff: Is the Kool-Aid wearing off? - Smiley & West2011-04-02T22:27:54+00:00
http://smileyandwest.ning.com/forum/topics/hot-stuff-is-the-koolaid
robertogrecobarackobama tcsnmy administration vision belief purpose clarity management focus cv tavissmiley cornelwest 2011 policy decisionmakinghttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:4990918f0fc7/"Wittgenstein Plays Chess with Duchamp or How Not to Do Philosophy: Wittgenstein on Mistakes of Surface and Depth" by Steven B. Gerrard2011-03-14T02:10:44+00:00
http://www.toutfait.com/issues/volume2/issue_5/articles/gerrard/gerrard.html
robertogrecophilosophy art games chess marcelduchamp wittgenstein clarity perspicuity sensemaking connections psychoanalysis shocktherapy complexity simplicity philosophicalremarks stevengerrard seeing seeingtheworld perception nonsense sense cvhttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:59b4cc932fe5/What is social information? « Snarkmarket2011-02-27T07:27:20+00:00
http://snarkmarket.com/2011/6679
robertogrecotimcarmody snarkmarket davidfosterwallace infinitejest language solitude loneliness human need information redundancy efficiency purity clarity communication infooverload connectedness connection freemandyson malcolmgladwell devinfriedman ycombinator dailybooth expression jamesgleick congo kele languages words pinging drums 2011 northafrica revolution revolutions media raymondcarver history cannon signalinghttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:048cd53c6a14/What are the Habits of Mind? | Institute For Habits of Mind2011-02-26T22:04:41+00:00
http://www.instituteforhabitsofmind.com/what-are-habits-mind
robertogrecothinking habits habitsofmind mind teaching tcsnmy learning education lcproject flexibility risktaking humor creativity imagination impulsivity impulse-control persistence clarity passion communication empathy datamining wonderment wonder wonderdeficit accuracy questioning problemsolving independence lifelonglearning historyhttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:d5b51abda750/The School Day of the Future is DESIGNED | MindShift2011-02-24T01:18:37+00:00
http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/02/the-school-day-of-the-future-is-designed/
robertogrecoschools education hybrid mindshift tcsnmy progressive onebreakstheother purity unpredictability inconsistency learning studentdirected student-centered discovery criticalthinking realworld schoolofone missionstatements clarity unschooling deschooling lcproject experientiallearning ellioteisnerhttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:c2dc18e02403/Frank Chimero - Velocity2011-02-21T22:05:40+00:00
http://blog.frankchimero.com/post/3430957759
robertogrecofrankchimero change perspective travel newzealand airports human slow velocity urgency improvement self-improvement clarity accidents serendipity timehttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:3974cc63ef7c/Knowable - Neven Mrgan's tumbl ["About those daily walks of mine: they’re great…"]2010-09-01T02:40:30+00:00
http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/1043353886/knowable
robertogreconevenmrgan wonder search mobilephones ubicomp thinking belief answers questions information efficiency clarity distraction walking whatweusedtodo appropriateuseoftechnology understanding technology 2010https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:8cb15e8498d6/6 Questions from Kicker: Julian Bleecker ["5 things all designers should know? Humility; Listening skills; How to find 3 positive, thoughtful observations about something you dislike; be more adamantine about saying “no” to PowerPoint...]2010-07-27T21:03:13+00:00
http://www.kickerstudio.com/blog/2010/07/six-questions-from-kicker-julian-bleecker/
robertogrecodesign process reflection howwework productdesign risk hunches risktaking clarity sensibility learning julianbleecker curiosity doing priorities tcsnmy cv glvo business science engineering rationalityhttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:2a9b366f9921/On words alone - Bobulate2010-06-16T05:45:51+00:00
http://bobulate.com/post/687256791/on-words-alone
robertogrecoworking writing design culture art glvo creation creativity cv thought tcsnmy words clarityhttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:0bb43901dea9/From Social Media to Social Strategy - Umair Haque - Harvard Business Review2010-04-14T05:08:41+00:00
http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/2010/04/from_social_media_to_social_strategy.html
robertogrecobrands socialnetworking umairhaque twitter strategy marketing meaning society socialmedia culture creativity communication change business innovation tcsnmy clarity cohesion choreography control hierarchy characterhttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:dddfdab8d80b/Tuttle SVC: "Literacy" Considered Harmful2007-10-26T14:19:00+00:00
http://www.tuttlesvc.org/2007/10/literacy-considered-harmful.html
robertogrecolanguage literacy clarity writing jargonhttps://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:0bc5b3f1d481/