By trying to do the right thing and by designing for the poorest people in the world, we’ve made the greenest laptop in the world. And that’s not just the color!
More over at the Greener Gadgets Blog.
Archive for November, 2008
Words by cefa founder Natacha Beim:
It has been ten years since we first began instilling in children an insatiable desire to learn, to be knowledgeable, and to recognize themselves as an important piece of a very large puzzle: our world.
Core Education & Fine Arts is more than a place to learn: it is a place where children learn to discover themselves, to believe in themselves, and to believe in the freedom that comes with knowledge.
Our schools invite children to explore the world through art, through books, through yoga, and yes, through exploding scientific concoctions!
Dedicating myself to teaching, to learning, and to continuing to develop the cefa curriculum, has been immensely rewarding. It has also given me the privilege to work with very talented teachers and with dedicated parents.
Core Education & Fine Arts now has six schools and thousands of graduates. The cefa program has gained international interest and great recognition in Canada. But although I look back at the last ten years with a sense of achievement, there is still one thing I am striving for and working towards: making junior kindergarten education in Canada a child’s right, not a privilege.
May the next ten years make this wish come true.
CHEERS to that!
Basic sign module uses (left) from the 1989 MTA Sign Manual (courtesy Peter Joseph); and typographic alphabet (right) from MTA Graphic Standards: Signage (1988) (courtesy Michael Hertz).
“There is a commonly held belief that Helvetica is the signage typeface of the New York City subway system, a belief reinforced by Helvetica, Gary Hustwit’s popular 2007 documentary about the typeface. But it is not true—or rather, it is only somewhat true. Helvetica is the official typeface of the MTA today, but it was not the typeface specified by Unimark International when it created a new signage system at the end of the 1960s. Why was Helvetica not chosen originally? What was chosen in its place? Why is Helvetica used now, and when did the changeover occur? To answer those questions this essay explores several important histories: of the New York City subway system, transportation signage in the 1960s, Unimark International and, of course, Helvetica. These four strands are woven together, over nine pages, to tell a story that ultimately transcends the simple issue of Helvetica and the subway.”
By Paul Shaw. Read more on the AIGA website.
“Do you have to be a Medici or a Rockefeller to collect art?
Not according to Herbert and Dorothy Vogel. This documentary film tells the extraordinary story of Herb, a postal clerk, and Dorothy, a librarian – an ordinary couple of modest means who managed to build one of the most important contemporary art collections in history.
In the early 1960s, when very little attention was paid to Minimalist and Conceptual Art, Herb and Dorothy quietly began purchasing the works of unknown artists. Devoting all of Herb’s salary to buy art, and living on Dorothy’s paycheck alone, they continued collecting artworks guided by two rules: the piece had to be affordable, and small enough to fit in their one-bedroom Manhattan apartment. Within these limitations, they proved themselves curatorial visionaries; most of those they supported and befriended went on to become world-renowned artists. Their circle includes: Sol LeWitt, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Richard Tuttle, Chuck Close, Robert and Sylvia Mangold, Lynda Benglis, Pat Steir, Robert Barry, Lucio Pozzi and Lawrence Weiner.”
I cannot wait for the chance to see this film. Please come to Vancouver!
via swissmiss
Early childhood education and care: Private commodity or public good? “is a project of the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU). Many thanks to the Canadian Union of Public Employees for funding to support this project.
CRRU is a policy research institute that focuses on early childhood education and care (ECEC) and family policy. CRRU has a commitment to a universal high quality ECEC system and works with researchers, NGOs, advocacy groups and government policy makers. CRRU’s basic operating premise which drives its activities is that public policy should be based on the best knowledge available from a wide range of sources about best practices in policy and practice.
This project aims to gather and develop resources to inform and encourage Canadian dialogue on this important public policy issue. To this end, CRRU has gathered pertinent documents available online and in print. CRRU will also develop and make available resources on this topic such as a comprehensive bibliography of key research. The project will be ongoing and the website will be updated on a regular basis.”
A fabulous event that took place in October at the Sydney Opera House.
“Across four days, cardboard buildings will go up, be pulled down, redesigned, extended, walked through, jumped on and reconstructed.
Polyglot Puppet Theatre’s creation ensures imagination is the key as kids are free to create their own fantasy city made entirely from thousands of cardboard boxes.
The two-and-a-half hour sessions, twice daily at 10am and 2pm, are open to the general public as part of Sydney Opera House’s commitment to providing FREE family entertainment.
Skyscrapers, castles, houses, bridges, roads, tunnels and mazes; if you can dream it, you can build it! Polyglot’s construction experts will wander through the new city offering advice and assisting with building challenges, mending broken boxes and clearing roads.
No construction zone is complete without some funky tunes for everyone to sing, dance and play along to. Our resident DJ will be on hand to keep the vibes going all day long.
At the end of each session, everybody can have fun knocking down the city before the next group builds it again. There’s even more fun to be had on the last day when the entire city is squashed into a recyclable heap of cardboard rubble. We Built This City is as much fun to watch as it is to do!
Polyglot Puppet Theatre is one of Australia’s leading children’s performance companies, creating original theatrical adventures for kids and families.
Placing children’s imaginations at the centre of a collaborative arts practice, the company has won many awards for its shows and community processes which provide access to the arts for all children.
We Built This City has been hugely popular with kids and families both locally and internationally. The event has been staged at Melbourne International Arts Festival, Perth’s Awesome Festival, Brisbane Powerhouse and the Act3 Singapore Children’s Festival.
Now it’s Sydney’s turn to watch the kids take over the city and build a better one!”
via lmnop
We “work to bring literacy based resources and programs to communities with obstacles to education. Through providing these tools and motivational learning experiences we build on an individual’s capacity for personal success.
Our Strategy:
1. Connect with Community
2. Customize our programming to fit their needs
3. Deliver programs and resources
4. Follow Up
Our Outcomes:
1. Belief in ones own potential to learn
2. Confidence in ones own ability to create
3. A positive attitude towards education
4. A connection to the community.
Summary:
Unlike institutional learning scenarios, we provide positive learning experiences for every participant regardless of their learning style and developmental status. By offering the children and youth the opportunity to direct the process of the project, they invest that much more of themselves into it. Our flexible curriculum is able to shape itself around any particular communities’ obstacles to learning, thereby ensuring the success of its execution and making the ‘return’ of the participants efforts that much more obvious to them.
In the 3 years of delivering our programs we have yet to come across a child or youth who did not enjoy the process of the program, show pride in the product of their efforts and/or appreciate the resources offered them. Parents and care givers are equally supportive as are the literacy advocate groups, child development charities, literary publishers and retailers, schools and teachers we engage with. “
“How to Catch a Star” One of my favorite stories of all time!
Mister “Oliver Jeffers’ practice as an artist is concerned with the difference between things, the space between perceived absolutes. For the last several years Oliver has been interested in the gulf that exists between logical thinking and emotional understanding. His interest in figurative painting stems from its non-objective process: the decisions the artist makes in representing the subject effect how it is viewed.
His interest in mathematics stems from its objective process: mathematics strives to explain using universal terminology. His interest in combining mathematics and art comes from the idea that mathematical language can explain the formal aspect of a subject, the same aspect that painting interprets as beauty.
That changed the day he met Dr Hugh Morrison, a Quantum Physicist from Queen’s University, in conversations they shared about the relationship between traditional figurative painting, human behaviour and mathematics, Jeffers came to realise philosophical similarities shared by either enterprise.
He continues to cross examine emotion and logic.”
via Swissmiss who let us know that there are picture book prints available in the shop on Mr. Jeffers website.
Yes, these posters were made by two talented swedish graphic designers but why not work on an alphabet like this with your child, scan their work and get it printed poster size?!
via swissmiss
Words by Megan Metcalfe, Energy by Charlotte and Photograph by Me.
“This is a photo of my little firecracker, my daughter Charlotte. At four (going on twenty-four!) my little girl charms me with her delight in life and sense of humour, shocks me with her lack of inhibition and moves my heart with her intensity and sensitivity…her heart is always on her sleeve. She loves deeply, fights fiercely and laughs loudly. I hope she never loses that pretty dimple, her confidence or her faith in all good things.
This photo reminds me of a song I wrote many years ago now, called “Starbird Road”…
“I used to jump into fate’s pocket recklessly, and the dreams flew up like dust on either side of me….”
Fly and run and dream, little Charlie. I want to be just like you!”