Chicago – How do we go on? How do we pick up the pieces after devastation so shocking and damaging that words can hardly do it justice? The great lesson on the ten-year anniversary of the tragedy of 9/11/01 may be that we might have different ways to heal, but we all do it. We move forward. And that ability to go on in the face of unimaginable trauma has rarely been chronicled more beautifully than in Jim Whitaker’s “Rebirth,” a documentary currently on DVD from the great Oscilloscope Studios and airing Sunday night on Showtime. Don’t miss it.
TV Rating: 4.5/5.0
Even though the film wasn’t complete until recently, Whitaker’s most important filmmaking decision actually came ten years ago. In the days after 9/11, he decided to begin a film about the healing process and chose five people to follow through it. He picked five unique subjects — a widow,...
TV Rating: 4.5/5.0
Even though the film wasn’t complete until recently, Whitaker’s most important filmmaking decision actually came ten years ago. In the days after 9/11, he decided to begin a film about the healing process and chose five people to follow through it. He picked five unique subjects — a widow,...
- 9/10/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
What topics are dominating the hallways and panels at the World Economic Forum? From low-income countries to Larry Summers, David Kirkpatrick on six things everyone is talking about. Plus, John Kao on the irony of Davos' elites bent on social innovation and the best video moments from WindMade's panel on wind power.
Digital + Business = Everything
Related story on The Daily Beast: Obama's Apology Tour
The realities of digital convergence are finally sinking in on Davos Men and Women (of whom there are more here than in past years), from the discussions to the behavior of conference attendees. At one session of 80 people, about 35 were carrying iPads, a device only first announced sometime around last year's Davos. What does Digital Convergence mean? That the proliferation of digital tools fundamentally changes the social and business landscape. Both hallway talk and numerous formal sessions explored the likely transformation of industries of all sorts...
Digital + Business = Everything
Related story on The Daily Beast: Obama's Apology Tour
The realities of digital convergence are finally sinking in on Davos Men and Women (of whom there are more here than in past years), from the discussions to the behavior of conference attendees. At one session of 80 people, about 35 were carrying iPads, a device only first announced sometime around last year's Davos. What does Digital Convergence mean? That the proliferation of digital tools fundamentally changes the social and business landscape. Both hallway talk and numerous formal sessions explored the likely transformation of industries of all sorts...
- 1/28/2011
- by David Kirkpatrick
- The Daily Beast
In his latest venture, Jai White channels some of Blaxploitation’s most famous faces – such as Shaft, Super Fly and The Mack - in the super-fly satire Black Dynamite. We speak to the actor about the film’s surprising success...
LOVEFiLM: Did you base the character on anyone in particular?
Michael Jai White: It’s loosely based on a few characters I saw growing up, such as Shaft, Superfly and The Mack - A mixture of guys who were the predominate archetypes for that particular genre. There were a few actors I based him on as well, namely Jim Kelly and Tim Brown. If Jim Kelly and Tim Brown had a baby, that’d be Black Dynamite.
LOVEFiLM: I heard that the trailer was shot before you had any funding or any story ideas...
Mjw: Absolutely. It’s really a bare bones trailer that we spent about $500 on in all.
LOVEFiLM: Did you base the character on anyone in particular?
Michael Jai White: It’s loosely based on a few characters I saw growing up, such as Shaft, Superfly and The Mack - A mixture of guys who were the predominate archetypes for that particular genre. There were a few actors I based him on as well, namely Jim Kelly and Tim Brown. If Jim Kelly and Tim Brown had a baby, that’d be Black Dynamite.
LOVEFiLM: I heard that the trailer was shot before you had any funding or any story ideas...
Mjw: Absolutely. It’s really a bare bones trailer that we spent about $500 on in all.
- 8/10/2010
- by jennifer.trevorrow@lovefilm.com (Jennifer Trevorrow)
- LOVEFiLM
In his latest venture, Jai White channels some of Blaxploitation’s most famous faces – such as Shaft, Superfly and The Mack - in the super-fly satire Black Dynamite. We speak to the actor about the film’s surprising success...
LOVEFiLM: Did you base the character on anyone in particular?
Michael Jai White: It’s loosely based on a few characters I saw growing up, such as Shaft, Superfly and The Mack - A mixture of guys who were the predominate archetypes for that particular genre. There were a few actors I based him on as well, namely Jim Kelly and Tim Brown. If Jim Kelly and Tim Brown had a baby, that’d be Black Dynamite.
LOVEFiLM: I heard that the trailer was shot before you had any funding or any story ideas...
Mjw: Absolutely. It’s really a bare bones trailer that we spent about $500 on in all.
LOVEFiLM: Did you base the character on anyone in particular?
Michael Jai White: It’s loosely based on a few characters I saw growing up, such as Shaft, Superfly and The Mack - A mixture of guys who were the predominate archetypes for that particular genre. There were a few actors I based him on as well, namely Jim Kelly and Tim Brown. If Jim Kelly and Tim Brown had a baby, that’d be Black Dynamite.
LOVEFiLM: I heard that the trailer was shot before you had any funding or any story ideas...
Mjw: Absolutely. It’s really a bare bones trailer that we spent about $500 on in all.
- 8/10/2010
- by jennifer.trevorrow@lovefilm.com (Jennifer Trevorrow)
- LOVEFiLM
Have "design thinking" and "social innovation" become permanently intertwined? You'd have to think so based on Tim Brown's book and the prevailing discourse at any major design/innovation conference (SXSW, Picnic, Gel, Gain, Lift). There seems to be a firm belief that you can't establish any cred as a designer these days if you haven't applied design thinking to a major social issue of some sort (health, energy, education...). Similarly, it would seem that social innovation (or social entrepreneurship) is hopeless without a designer at your side.
So I find myself in an odd spot as I board the 18-hour flight to Tanzania for the World Economic Forum on Africa. While I am committed to using my skills as a designer to engage in social issues, particularly health care, I am finding the discussions at many design conferences to be repetitive and naive. Yes, design can help. But can designers?...
So I find myself in an odd spot as I board the 18-hour flight to Tanzania for the World Economic Forum on Africa. While I am committed to using my skills as a designer to engage in social issues, particularly health care, I am finding the discussions at many design conferences to be repetitive and naive. Yes, design can help. But can designers?...
- 5/5/2010
- by Robert Fabricant
- Fast Company
Two years ago, the the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York displayed 30 humanitarian design and engineering projects, including a biodegradable shelter, a low-tech food cooler, and a straw that helps prevent the spread of cholera and typhoid. They were exhibited, incongruously enough, on the back lawn of the museum's headquarters, the former Carnegie mansion on Fifth Avenue. The show, called "Design For the Other 90%," was a reminder that only a tenth of the world's population benefits from the services of designers.
"Design For the Other 90%" marked the unofficial beginning of social design, a movement that coalesced and found new urgency during the financial crisis as the design community started to rethink its role in a culture less fixated on consumption.
The latest chapter in social design occurred earlier this month in Aspen, where the latest iteration of the 50+-year-old Aspen Design Summit (Pdf file) teamed up designers including Tim Brown of Ideo,...
"Design For the Other 90%" marked the unofficial beginning of social design, a movement that coalesced and found new urgency during the financial crisis as the design community started to rethink its role in a culture less fixated on consumption.
The latest chapter in social design occurred earlier this month in Aspen, where the latest iteration of the 50+-year-old Aspen Design Summit (Pdf file) teamed up designers including Tim Brown of Ideo,...
- 11/25/2009
- by Michael Cannell
- Fast Company
By pushing the principles of scientific management too far, corporations are short-circuiting their own futures, says the designiest dean of all the business schools. "The enemy of innovation is the phrase 'prove it,'" Roger Martin says.
The folks at McKinsey, Bain, and Bcg should be happy that Roger Martin likes his job. Otherwise, he could cause them a heap of trouble.
As it is, the dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto is traveling the country, throwing down the gauntlet to companies who hope to analyze and strategize their way out of a recession by bringing in armies of management consultants. You'll get what you pay for, he warns, and it won't be innovation.
"The business world is tired of having armies of analysts descend on their companies," he says. "You can't send a 28-year-old with a calculator to solve your problems."
The problem,...
The folks at McKinsey, Bain, and Bcg should be happy that Roger Martin likes his job. Otherwise, he could cause them a heap of trouble.
As it is, the dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto is traveling the country, throwing down the gauntlet to companies who hope to analyze and strategize their way out of a recession by bringing in armies of management consultants. You'll get what you pay for, he warns, and it won't be innovation.
"The business world is tired of having armies of analysts descend on their companies," he says. "You can't send a 28-year-old with a calculator to solve your problems."
The problem,...
- 11/5/2009
- by Linda Tischler
- Fast Company
What will life be like 20 or 30 years from now? That used to be a question for futurists, now global climate change makes it something we all think about. The trouble is that the way we think and talk about our impact on the environment is measured in abstract statistics. Try to picture reducing carbon emissions by as much as 80 percent by 2050...what do you see? There is a more tangible way to imagine what that future will look like: Tim Brown, CEO of the design and innovation firm Ideo, calls it "Design Thinking."
Today, Ideo begins exploring those possibilities with a new website: Living Climate Change. As you'll see in the video, the aim is to expand the dialogue about our environment beyond policy positions and national sacrifice, and instead explore new possibilities. Or, as Ideo puts it, move the debate "away from what we have to give up and toward what we can create.
Today, Ideo begins exploring those possibilities with a new website: Living Climate Change. As you'll see in the video, the aim is to expand the dialogue about our environment beyond policy positions and national sacrifice, and instead explore new possibilities. Or, as Ideo puts it, move the debate "away from what we have to give up and toward what we can create.
- 10/24/2009
- by Noah Robischon
- Fast Company
Plans for a national design center to help alleviate rural poverty will be solidified when 60 designers, corporate leaders, foundation heads, and journalists meet next month for the 2009 Aspen Design Summit. The event, sponsored by the Aiga and Winterhouse Institute, is a strategy session for the social design movement.
The prospective design center will be based in Hale County, Alabama, one of the poorest areas in the country. The county was chosen because it already hosts a number of similar efforts, including Project M, Teach for America and Rural Studio, a group started by the late Samuel Mockbee to help Auburn students design and build structures for poor communities in Western Alabama, including the Harris House shown above.
The center would serve as a collaborative hub and a laboratory for design ideas that could be used in Alabama or elsewhere, according to William Drenttel, a founder of the Winterhouse Institute and editorial director of Design Observer.
The prospective design center will be based in Hale County, Alabama, one of the poorest areas in the country. The county was chosen because it already hosts a number of similar efforts, including Project M, Teach for America and Rural Studio, a group started by the late Samuel Mockbee to help Auburn students design and build structures for poor communities in Western Alabama, including the Harris House shown above.
The center would serve as a collaborative hub and a laboratory for design ideas that could be used in Alabama or elsewhere, according to William Drenttel, a founder of the Winterhouse Institute and editorial director of Design Observer.
- 10/14/2009
- by Michael Cannell
- Fast Company
Better ballot design could have changed the results of the 2000 election. A better design for information sharing might have prevented 9/11. Now, could design thinking help fix something fundamentally broken in American democracy: how we engage in national debate?
Whether the topic is climate change, financial regulation, or health care reform, when asked to "discuss amongst ourselves," the conversation devolves into who can shout the loudest, hurl the nastiest epithets, or pervert the facts to fit their own agendas. Can this process be saved?
We spoke to Tim Brown, CEO of famed design and innovation firm, Ideo, and author of Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation, (and Fast Company expert blogger) to see what might be done.
Fast Company: Lately, our national conversations about important issues seem to have reached a new low. Could design thinking improve how we engage in national debate?
Tim Brown...
Whether the topic is climate change, financial regulation, or health care reform, when asked to "discuss amongst ourselves," the conversation devolves into who can shout the loudest, hurl the nastiest epithets, or pervert the facts to fit their own agendas. Can this process be saved?
We spoke to Tim Brown, CEO of famed design and innovation firm, Ideo, and author of Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation, (and Fast Company expert blogger) to see what might be done.
Fast Company: Lately, our national conversations about important issues seem to have reached a new low. Could design thinking improve how we engage in national debate?
Tim Brown...
- 9/28/2009
- by Linda Tischler
- Fast Company
As designers working to improve the quality of life in other countries, the firm Ideo has spent more than 10 years creating a methodology focused on designing for the user. And now, Ideo wants to give all of that methodology away. A series of PDFs that are free to download, the Human-Centered Design Toolkit hopes to empower organizations and design firms by giving them their field-tested tools for social impact in a way that focuses more on sharing information than authorship.
Collaboration Is KEYThe toolkit began as a conversation between Ideo's CEO Tim Brown and a program officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who first broached the idea of creating some kind of common language around designing for social impact. "Human-centered design has always been Ideo's approach to creating innovation," says Hcd Toolkit project lead Tatyana Mamut. But it was the Gates Foundation's work in developing nations where Ideo...
Collaboration Is KEYThe toolkit began as a conversation between Ideo's CEO Tim Brown and a program officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who first broached the idea of creating some kind of common language around designing for social impact. "Human-centered design has always been Ideo's approach to creating innovation," says Hcd Toolkit project lead Tatyana Mamut. But it was the Gates Foundation's work in developing nations where Ideo...
- 7/7/2009
- by Alissa Walker
- Fast Company
I first met Jennifer Bove in Austin, Texas, at the annual interactive hootenanny SXSW. We had just watched the premiere of the industrial design film Objectified at the Paramount Theater and, after being introduced by a mutual friend who thought we might like each other, made our way together over to the film's afterparty at the Driskill Hotel.
As we mixed it up with the film's stars--Dan Formosa, Tim Brown, and the film's director Gary Hustwit--it was one of those magical convergences: big names and old friends from all corners of the design community sipping Shiner Bocks. But especially after seeing a film about the design industry, all anyone could talk about were hot button issues: Detroit, sustainability, and inevitably, the economy. And as we made our way to the bar and ordered a pair of spicy-sweet Mexican martinis, I realized I hadn't asked Jenn what she was...
As we mixed it up with the film's stars--Dan Formosa, Tim Brown, and the film's director Gary Hustwit--it was one of those magical convergences: big names and old friends from all corners of the design community sipping Shiner Bocks. But especially after seeing a film about the design industry, all anyone could talk about were hot button issues: Detroit, sustainability, and inevitably, the economy. And as we made our way to the bar and ordered a pair of spicy-sweet Mexican martinis, I realized I hadn't asked Jenn what she was...
- 6/29/2009
- by Alissa Walker
- Fast Company
Those who have stuck with me all week, know that I believe that participation is key to the next big wave of innovation in business and society. Whether it is in the fundamentals of how we think about wealth or the economy, how we parse the minutiae of individual transactions, or how we evolve our most important social systems such as health care, I believe that the interconnectedness of our information society makes this shift inevitable and highly desirable.
The question that I inevitably ask as a designer is how we design these kinds of participatory systems?
The first and most obvious response to this question is that it really is all about we, not I. In other words, corporations and their designers cannot presume to conceive of, design and engineer complete systems and role them out to the enthusiastic applause of the masses. The best examples of current participatory...
The question that I inevitably ask as a designer is how we design these kinds of participatory systems?
The first and most obvious response to this question is that it really is all about we, not I. In other words, corporations and their designers cannot presume to conceive of, design and engineer complete systems and role them out to the enthusiastic applause of the masses. The best examples of current participatory...
- 5/1/2009
- by Tim Brown
- Fast Company
In the U.K. in the 1940s, Sir William Beveridge designed what became known as the welfare state. In an ambitious program, the post-war Labor government attempted to put in place a series of services designed to ensure that the population of Britain could reliably receive high-quality public education, health care and other public services. Beveridge envisioned a system in which citizens participated directly in their own well-being. Instead, he helped create what he later described as a "culture of consumption" of public services.
Here in the U.S., a "culture of consumption" is exactly what we have when it comes to health care. The third-party payer system (whether it is private insurance or government) has created passive consumers of health-care services who have little motivation to engage, and bloated, bureaucratic service providers who have little motivation to become more efficient. It is difficult to envision any effective reform of...
Here in the U.S., a "culture of consumption" is exactly what we have when it comes to health care. The third-party payer system (whether it is private insurance or government) has created passive consumers of health-care services who have little motivation to engage, and bloated, bureaucratic service providers who have little motivation to become more efficient. It is difficult to envision any effective reform of...
- 4/30/2009
- by Tim Brown
- Fast Company
A significant difference between those of us fortunate to be living above the poverty line and those unfortunate enough to be at the "bottom of the pyramid" is that the 'wealthy' can afford to consume. Being a "useful" member of a consumer society requires the consumption of products and services not directly necessary to survival. The very poor do not generally have that choice.
I never really appreciated that distinction until I began to understand what was so powerful about the concept behind organizations like Kickstart.
Founded by Martin Fisher and Nick Moon, Kickstart designs and distributes hand and foot-operated water pumps in West Africa. Unlike many organizations dedicated to alleviating poverty in struggling areas, Kickstart does not give the pumps away: it sells them.
Fisher believes that farmers who pay for pumps will have a far greater commitment and will devote a far greater effort to making their fields...
I never really appreciated that distinction until I began to understand what was so powerful about the concept behind organizations like Kickstart.
Founded by Martin Fisher and Nick Moon, Kickstart designs and distributes hand and foot-operated water pumps in West Africa. Unlike many organizations dedicated to alleviating poverty in struggling areas, Kickstart does not give the pumps away: it sells them.
Fisher believes that farmers who pay for pumps will have a far greater commitment and will devote a far greater effort to making their fields...
- 4/29/2009
- by Tim Brown
- Fast Company
When I consider bidding for something on e-Bay, the first thing I do is check the reliability rating of the seller. When I want to meet a hard-to-reach executive, I try to establish a link through my network. When I consider which conference I will pay to attend, I choose Ted because I know it will give me the most new ideas to feed off for the year.
Each of these qualities--reputation, access, and ideas--has real and tangible value to me and to the individual or institution that holds them. I am more likely to shop with an e-Bay vendor with a stellar rating. I am more likely to meet that executive if I have a large and well-maintained network. I am more likely to pay (a very large sum of money) to go to the conference with the most useful ideas. So why don't we measure some of these...
Each of these qualities--reputation, access, and ideas--has real and tangible value to me and to the individual or institution that holds them. I am more likely to shop with an e-Bay vendor with a stellar rating. I am more likely to meet that executive if I have a large and well-maintained network. I am more likely to pay (a very large sum of money) to go to the conference with the most useful ideas. So why don't we measure some of these...
- 4/28/2009
- by Tim Brown
- Fast Company
About a year ago, I happened to be at breakfast panel at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, where Tim Brown, CEO of Ideo, was speaking. At the time, the topic, "What is Wrong with American Design?" was much in the air. Figuring this was as good a place as any to pose the question, I raised my hand and blurted it out.
Tim looked a little chagrined. "First off," he chastised me, "you have to define what American design is." Good point. There he was, a native of rural Oxfordshire, England, working at Ideo, one of the pre-eminent design firms in the country--but headquartered in Palo Alto. Down the road, in Cupertino, was Jonathan Ive, also a Brit, churning out lust-worthy products for Apple. Up the road, in San Francisco, Yves Behar, a Swiss, was crafting Jawbone headsets. In New York, Dror Benshetrit, an Israeli, was designing condo projects in Dubai.
Tim looked a little chagrined. "First off," he chastised me, "you have to define what American design is." Good point. There he was, a native of rural Oxfordshire, England, working at Ideo, one of the pre-eminent design firms in the country--but headquartered in Palo Alto. Down the road, in Cupertino, was Jonathan Ive, also a Brit, churning out lust-worthy products for Apple. Up the road, in San Francisco, Yves Behar, a Swiss, was crafting Jawbone headsets. In New York, Dror Benshetrit, an Israeli, was designing condo projects in Dubai.
- 4/27/2009
- by Linda Tischler
- Fast Company
For the next few days I plan to explore what I am calling the Age of Involvement: the role of participation in an information society and how it leads to an expanded view of our economy. I am not an economist and have never studied economics. I am approaching this as someone who believes that innovation is redefining everything around us, including the ways that we measure human achievement. For those who do understand economics I apologize for the inevitable naiveties represented here but I hope there is enough of interest to stimulate a conversation.
I have been thinking quite a bit recently about the failure of the economy and whether we want it to recover to its pre-bust state. As I listened to the arguments for various stimulus packages, the main justification for distributing hundreds of billions of dollars seemed mostly to involve getting us to spend more by consuming more.
I have been thinking quite a bit recently about the failure of the economy and whether we want it to recover to its pre-bust state. As I listened to the arguments for various stimulus packages, the main justification for distributing hundreds of billions of dollars seemed mostly to involve getting us to spend more by consuming more.
- 4/27/2009
- by Tim Brown
- Fast Company
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