#participatory design

[designleadershipcdnm]

Visual Diary 7: Participatory Design in Action

I attended a conference this week that focused on leadership in learning and development. A panel speaker shared an incredible example of design leadership. Her organization recently leveraged a participatory approach to design the company's new strategy. Employees of all levels (excluding C-Suite) were invited to apply to be part of the team. The team was responsible for research, ideating, defining, and communicating the new strategy (with support and feedback from relevant support and operations groups). This empowering approach resulted in huge buy-in, ownership, and accountability from the employees who were part of the team--and all the employees they brought along with them through their relationships.

[nightmarist]

friend and i saw FNAF

it was a pretty fun movie !

i think it kinda. fell apart at the end a little lol. but it was fun and frankly i think thats all that really mattered. the animatronics looked so fucking good.

a bit cheesy in some parts but i went in expecting Not A Lot. blumhouse kinda produces a lot of everything, not all of it good, but i did have hopes that bc of the importance of the franchise as a sort of idk, neo horror monolith (is that anything) itd be good. and it was!

Fucking. Kids in the audience though. Im about to beat the shit out of children. They do NOT know how to behave in a theatre.

[gromit-we-forgot-the-crackers]

so this designer i connected with while i was at my last job (former Chief Strategy Officer at a different firm) has just founded a new consultancy and i am now foaming at the mouth to work there (at least on a contract basis)

[nicholasandriani]

Homestuck Fans: Media Theory and the Fans that became Home-Stuck, Igniting a Shift in the Zeitgeist

As a media scholar, I would say that Homestuck is a groundbreaking webcomic that has had a significant impact on the online media landscape. Created by Andrew Hussie, Homestuck is a sprawling narrative that combines elements of science fiction, fantasy, and comedy in a unique and compelling way. The comic’s use of interactive elements, such as animations, music, and reader participation, sets it…

[hellyeahscarleteen]

Caitlyn Tivy, the (awesome) pelvic health physical therapist, is back with us again, talking vaginal dilators in a new two-part series.

"Perhaps you’ve heard of dilators — also known as vaginal trainers — before, but you weren’t sure where to learn more about them. Maybe you’ve never heard of them, but you’re looking for ways to manage pelvic pain. Perhaps you’ve already tried using dilators, but weren’t very successful. Regardless, you’re in the right place!

“Vaginal dilator” is the most commonly used medical term for these devices, though many clinicians and researchers are shifting to the term “vaginal trainer.” Many pelvic PTs—myself included!—prefer the term trainer. Not only does “training” sound less aggressive than “dilation”, it also communicates a key concept of trainer use: it should be an active, participatory process in which the user is in control, rather than an experience that is happening to them as a passive recipient.

I also generally refer to these devices simply as just “trainers”. This terminology is inclusive for everyone with genitalia that allow for use of these devices. For these reasons, I’ll use the term “trainer” for the remainder of this article.

If you search online using the terms “pelvic floor trainer” or “vaginal trainer”, you may see ads for other devices designed to help people learn to perform pelvic floor exercises, or “kegels,” properly. These devices are not the same as the trainers we’re discussing here, but not to worry: I’ll include a guide to finding the right type of trainers later!

The trainers we’re discussing here are medical devices used to decrease pain and improve flexibility in the tissues of the vaginal and neovaginal canals.

Trainers can be made from a variety of materials. They are typically cylindrical in shape. At first glance, they can look a bit like sex toys, but that’s not their intended use. Trainers are designed to provide therapeutic stretching and pain relief for the tissues of the vaginal canal. Let’s learn more about the many cases in which trainers can be useful!"

[srbachchan]

DAY 5844

Jalsa, Mumbai Feb 17/18, 2024 Sat/Sun 1:47 AM

🪔 ,

February 18 .. birthday greetings to Ef Sriskandan SK from Sydney, Australia 🇦🇺 .. love from the Ef Family always .. 🙏🏻🚩❤️

... mixed up in the creative designing of an animal kingdom and declaring the impossibility of being able to manufacture something in this sphere with relative ease ..

.. communication utensils - if one can take the liberty of addressing them thus - have given answers to all and sundry in various all and sundry apertures ..

the era of not knowing .. of seeking with some deliberation, has vanished .. the question mark that invaded our psychological and mental disposition does not have any relevance .. indeed the only usage of the question mark now lies in the singular domain of the media .. they need it, for they are the ones that advantage themselves, in putting the questions to the World .. seeking answers .. and thereby debate on each response ..

" In a relentless quest for engagement and interrogation, the media adopts a unique approach by framing responses with question marks. This stylistic choice adds an element of curiosity and prompts critical thinking. Journalists, armed with the power of inquiry, transform statements into thought-provoking queries, inviting audiences to explore various perspectives. This technique not only challenges assumptions but also fosters a dynamic discourse. The media's pursuit of truth becomes an ongoing dialogue, as each response evolves into an interrogative exploration. This method not only captures attention but also encourages a deeper understanding of complex issues, transforming news consumption into an interactive and participatory experience. "

good night ..

😴

Amitabh Bachchan

[notwiselybuttoowell]

By the 1980s, some women had had enough. After decades of struggling with prams and shopping trolleys, navigating dark underpasses, blind alleyways and labyrinthine subways in the urban obstacle course mostly made by men, it was time for a different approach. “Through lived experience,” wrote the Matrix Feminist Design Co-operative, when they launched their manifesto in 1981, “women have a different perspective of their environment from the men who created it. Because there is no ‘women’s tradition’ in building design, we want to explore the new possibilities that the recent change in women’s lives and expectations have opened up.”

A case in point is the Essex Women’s Refuge. The complex, designed by a male architect, had got basic things wrong, from the shared kitchen, which was far too small, to the location of the children’s play areas, which were completely separate from the main communal areas, with no visual or aural connection for passive supervision. Matrix worked on the centre in 1992. Using what became a regular tactic, they presented the women with big cardboard models of different spaces, which they could rearrange to test out different configurations, along with using ribbon marked like a ruler to measure their existing spaces, which were added to the plans as a comparison.

“These were all simple techniques,” says Jos Boys, a founder member of Matrix, “But they made the women feel part of creating the project. A key part of everything we did was to make the language and practice of architecture more transparent and accessible to non-experts.”

Boys describes what now sounds like an unimaginable heyday of community action, participatory planning, squatting, workers’ co-operatives and technical aid centres, with public money readily available. Much of what Matrix worked on was funded by the Greater London Council under Ken Livingstone, before it was abolished in 1986 by the then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. Their projects included the groundbreaking Jagonari women’s educational resource centre in Whitechapel, east London. Working for – and with – a group of South Asian women, Matrix ran workshops with demountable models, asked the women to bring pictures of buildings from their home countries that they liked, and took them on a “brick picnic” walk to discuss what building materials and colours they preferred.

The result, completed in 1987 and now home to a childcare centre, incorporated a variety of Asian influences, deliberately not linked to any Hindu or Islamic imagery. It included decorative metal latticework over the windows, to provide both visual interest and security, mosaic patterns around the doors, squat toilets and sit-down sinks for washing large saucepans from communal meals. Every part of the building was fully wheelchair accessible too, a rarity in those days.

“They understood exactly what our requirements were without being patronising or judgmental,” wrote their client, Solma Ahmed, in a glowing tribute written three decades later, in support of an unsuccessful bid for Matrix to be retrospectively awarded the RIBA gold medal. “We said what we needed in that building: safety, security, childcare, sensitive to women’s cultural and religious needs while breaking some myths about Muslim women in particular. They were [the] perfect fit.”

When people have encountered Matrix in the past, they have sometimes asked what exactly feminist design looks like. How would a city designed and built by women be different? But, in Boys’ mind, that misses the point. They weren’t promoting a feminist aesthetic, but a way of looking, listening and designing that takes account of people’s very different needs and desires, one that embodies “the richness of our multiple ways of being in the world”. It’s about who gets to build it, too: a large part of Matrix’s work was devoted to publications, manuals and events, explaining routes into the building trades and running training courses.

As Matrix write: “Consciously or otherwise, designers work in accordance with a set of ideas about how society operates, who or what is valued, who does what and who goes where.” The question is who gets included, whose values we prioritise, and what kind of world we want to create.

[mariacallous]

As Moldova hurtles toward critical elections on Sunday, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Malicious actors, bankrolled by foreign sources, are working to sway the country’s public. And their target? President Maia Sandu — fighting not only for reelection but for her country’s future as a European democracy.

 As Moldova’s first female president, Sandu’s candidacy has become ground zero for a flurry of gendered disinformation attacks, all designed to undermine her leadership and derail the nation’s EU membership referendum, which coincides with the election.

This is no ordinary election. It’s an all-out assault on Moldova’s sovereignty, and at the heart of the battle lies one simple truth: Whoever controls the narrative determines Moldova’s future.

In a crowded field of 10 candidates, Sandu’s still expected to win the first round, despite being buffeted by efforts to weaken and discredit her and the women serving in her administration. These attacks are gendered, insidious and relentless, looking to exploit traditional gender norms in a country where 97 percent of the population believes women should be “cherished and protected by men.”

But this isn’t about traditional values — it’s about manipulating them to maintain Russia’s grip on Moldova.

Disinformation targeting female leaders isn’t just a women’s issue. It’s a democracy issue; it’s a human rights issue; and in the digital age, it’s also a matter of national security. These weaponized lies are meant to fracture the foundations of participatory governance and erode trust in democracy.

Our organization, #ShePersisted, has been tracking these toxic trends since 2022, identifying common gendered narratives aimed at women in politics across major digital platforms in countries like Italy, Hungary and Ukraine. Now, it’s Moldova that’s become the latest battleground in Russia’s destabilization playbook.

The parallels to the U.S. are striking here. Much like Vice President Kamala Harris, who has similarly been the target of disinformation campaigns, Sandu’s candidacy has been a lightning rod for misogyny cloaked in political rhetoric. And just as we’ve seen false claims about Harris’s identity and qualifications, Moldova’s social media platforms are awash with deepfake videos and conspiracy theories aimed at the sitting president.

Both women have dealt with an onslaught of digital attacks designed to weaken the public’s trust in their leadership — attacks that are gendered, racist and xenophobic — and it’s no accident these narratives spread so easily. Social media algorithms reward the most divisive content. For the Kremlin, manipulating online discourse by gaming algorithms is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel, all thanks to the oligarchs of tech that foster this environment, where digital distortions flourish in the name of keeping users hooked and advertisers paying.

In Moldova in particular, the malign actors are explicitly pro-Russian, using inauthentic and coordinated behavior to seed and amplify their attacks. And the campaigns are part of a broader strategy to destabilize the country, oust pro-European Sandu and drag Moldova back into Russia’s orbit.

The Kremlin’s use of deepfakes and false narratives — claiming Ukrainian F-16s will soon land on Moldovan soil and fabricating stories about compulsory EU-mandated “sexual education” — mirrors the chaos it tried to sow in the 2016 U.S. election. Its methods, however, have become more sophisticated. According to a joint statement by the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., Russia is now actively using “disinformation, criminal and covert activities, and corruption to undermine sovereignty and democratic processes” in the upcoming Moldovan elections.

Despite the red alert, though, it’s still largely U.S.-based digital media companies that are acting as modern-day conflict profiteers.

Earlier this year, #ShePersisted combined social listening with forensic data analytics to understand the toxicity directed at women leaders in Moldova. The results? A chilling glimpse into the future of global disinformation campaigns.

From deepfakes of Sandu resigning while wearing a hijab to offers of bribes for voters to reject Moldova’s EU integration, the manipulation is as multifaceted as it is dangerous.

In one case, exiled oligarch and opposition leader Ilan Shor — widely seen as “Moscow’s man in Moldova” — used Facebook to run hundreds of ads that were viewed 155 million times. And the fact that he could do this while not, in fact, being in Moldova is a testament to the power online infrastructure afforded him, as Meta has repeatedly failed to track and remove these coordinated campaigns.

But the threats aren’t confined to political manipulation. Human traffickers and scam artists are leveraging these same platforms to victimize Moldovans too. In a country where 80 percent of the population is deeply concerned about human trafficking, social media platforms have become the primary tool for traffickers, targeting vulnerable women and girls.

And what has Meta done? Almost nothing. Regardless of clear abuse, social media giants continue to prioritize profits over safety, allowing both gendered disinformation and criminal exploitation to thrive.

For Moldova, the road ahead is now fraught with peril— it’s a path the U.S. knows all too well. And as Sandu prepares for a tight election, the parallels between the challenges faced by women leaders worldwide are impossible to ignore.

Whether it’s Harris or Sandu, gendered disinformation is among the most powerful tools bad actors use to erode democratic progress around the world today. And if social media platforms don’t step up to enforce their own rules — removing posts inciting violence, disabling accounts that spread gendered falsehoods and curtailing the amplification of disinformation — they’ll continue to be complicit in corrosion of democracy.

Moldova’s election isn’t just a fight for one woman’s political future, it’s a fight for the future of democracy itself. Like any good fight, it requires action — in this case, both online and off. And if we fail to address the weaponization of gendered disinformation now, the next battlefield could be much nearer to home.

[mpchev]

You like reading fanfics? How about reading about fanfics? 😏

Here’s what I've read so far (or am currently getting through) for my dissertation on fanfiction bookbinding! I'll be updating it as I go until the end of July. If you have any recs to add to the towering pile or any questions/opinions about something on there, I’m all ears!

on fan studies & ficbinding ✔

Alexander, Julia, ‘Making fanfiction beautiful enough for a bookshelf’, The Verge, 9 March 2021 <https://www.theverge.com/22311788/fanfiction-bookbinding-tiktok-diy-star-wars-harry-potter-twitter-fandom> [accessed 12 June 2024]

Buchsbaum, Shira Belén, ‘Binding fan fiction and reexamining book production models’, Transformative Works and Cultures, 37 (2022)

Dym, Brianna, and Casey Fiesler, ‘Ethical and privacy considerations for research using online fandom data’, Transformative Works and Cultures, 33 (2020)

Jenkins, Henry, Textual Pochers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture (New York: Routeledge, 1992)

Jenkins, Henry, ‘Transmedia Storytelling 101’, Pop Junctions, 21 March 2007 <http://henryjenkins.org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html#sthash.gSETwxQX.dpuf> [accessed 12 June 2024]

Hellekson, Karen, ‘Making Use Of: The Gift, Commerce, and Fans’, Cinema Journal, 54, no. 3 (2015), 125–131

Kennedy, Kimberly, ‘Fan binding as a method of fan work preservation’, Transformative Works and Cultures, 37 (2022)

Minkel, Elizabeth, ‘Before “Fans,” There Were “Kranks,” “Longhairs,” and “Lions”: How Do Fandom Gain Their Names?’, Atlas Obscura, 30 May 2024 <https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/fandom-names> [accessed 12 June 2024]

Penley, Constance, Nasa / Trek: Popular Science and Sex in America (London: Verso, 1997)

Price, Ludi, ‘Fanfiction, Self-Publishing, and the Materiality of the Book: A Fan Writer’s Autoethnography’, Humanities, 11, no. 100 (2022), 1–20

Schiller, Melanie, ‘Transmedia Storytelling: New Practices and Audiences’, in Stories: Screen Narrative in the Digital Era, ed. by Ian Christie and Annie van den Oever (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2018), 99–107

on folklore, the internet, other background reading ✔

Barthes, Roland, ‘La mort de l’auteur’ in Le Bruissement de la langue: Essais critiques IV (Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1984)

Blank, Trevor J., Folklore and the Internet: Vernacular Expression in a Digital World (Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2009)

Mauss, Marcel, ‘Essai sur le don. Forme et raison de l’échange dans les sociétés archaïques.’, L’année sociologique, 1923–1924; digital edition by Jean-Marie Tremblay, Les classiques des sciences sociales, 17 February 2002, <http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/mauss_marcel/socio_et_anthropo/2_essai_sur_le_don/essai_sur_le_don.html> [accessed 10 June 2024]

McCulloch, Gretchen, Because Internet: Understanding How Language is Changing (Random House, 2019)

Niles, John D., Homo Narrans: The Poetics and Anthropology of Oral Literature (University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia, 1999)

hopefully coming up next (haven't started yet)

A Companion to Media Fandom and Fan Studies, ed. by Paul Booth (Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2018)

A Fan Studies Primer: Method, Research, Ethics, ed. by Paul Booth and Rebecca Williams (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2021)

Dietz, Laura, ‘Showing the scars: A short case study of de-enhancement of hypertext works for circulation via fan binding or Kindle Direct Publishing’, 34th ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media (HT ‘23), September 4–8, 2023, Rome Italy (ACM: New York, 2023)

Fathallah, Judith May, Fanfiction and the Author: How Fanfic Changes Popular Cultural Texts (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2017)

Finn, Kavita Mudan, and Jessica McCall, ‘Exit, pursued by a fan: Shakespeare, Fandom, and the Lure of the Alternate Universe’, Critical Survey, 28, no. 2 (2016), 27–38

Hjorth, Larissa et al., eds. The Routledge Companion to Digital Ethnography (New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2017)

Jacobs, Naomi, and JSA Lowe, ‘The Design of Printed Fanfiction: A Case Study of Down to Agincourt Fanbinding’, Proceedings from the Document Academy, 9, issue 1, article 5

Jenkins, Henry, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (New York: New York University Press, 2006)

Jenkins, Henry, Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning In A Networked Culture (New York: New York University Press, 2013)

Kennedy, Kimberly, and Shira Buchsbaum, ‘Reframing Monetization: Compensatory Practices and Generating a Hybrid Economy in Fanbinding Commissions’, Humanities, 11, no. 67 (2022), 1–18

Kirby, Abby, ‘Examining Collaborative Fanfiction: New Practices in Hyperdiegesis and Poaching’, Humanities, 11, no. 87 (2002), 1–9

Kustritz, Anne, Identity, Community, and Sexuality in Slash Fan Fiction (New Work: Routeledge, 2024)

Lamerichs, Nicolle, Productive Fandom: Intermediality and Affecive Reception in Fan Cultures, (Amsterdam: Amsterdam Universtiy Press, 2018)

Popova, Milena, ‘Follow the trope: A digital (auto)ethnography for fan studies’, Transformative Works and Cultures, 33 (2020)

Rosenblatt, Betsy, and Rebecca Tushnet, ‘Transformative Works: Young Women’s Voices on Fandom and Fair Use’, in eGirls, eCitizens: Putting Technology, Theory and Policy into Dialogue with Girls’ and Young Women’s Voices, ed. by Jane Bailey and Valerie Steeves

Soller, Bettina, ‘Filing off the Serial Numbers: Fanfiction and its Adaptation to the Book Market’, in Adaptation in the Age of Media Convergence, ed. by Johannes Fehrle, Werner Schäfke-Zell (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2019), 58–85

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Ruth Wisse

Hamas recently beat the competition with a demonstration of savagery unlike the earlier improvised pogroms in Europe to which it has been compared. October’s slaughters were plotted with crucial input from Gazans employed in Israeli homes they had scouted and mapped for the purpose, making this the first military campaign designed to culminate in acts of beheading, torture, and rape of predetermined victims. As attempts to destroy Israel through conventional warfare had only made Israel militarily stronger, the new tactics aimed at destroying the Jews’ will to remain among antagonists sworn never to leave them in peace. More than to intimidate, these attacks were made to demoralize.

Survivor-witnesses describe new refinements of psychological warfare. Hamas murdered parents and children in each other’s presence so as to sharpen the survivors’ agony. They took hostages—not, as others do, for eventual exchange—but to taunt the country with images of prisoners’ suffering, and fear that many would never be returned. Every Jewish value—respect for women, honoring the human being who was made in the image of God—was gleefully defiled.

As for the Jews living in nearby Gaza, many of them self-described Jewish “peaceniks,” they had prided themselves on the medical help and hospitality they extended to their Gazan neighbors, persuaded that cooperation was obviously to everyone’s benefit. The terrorists exploited the Jews’ desire for peace as a means of entrapment and further opportunity for torment. By attacking on a Jewish holiday and a secular festival, they intended to destroy the Israelis’ joy in life. Anyone reading Dan Senor and Saul Singer’s exhilarating book about the collective strengths that constitute The Genius of Israel will recognize how Hamas turned precisely those virtues into weapons of torture to tear the Jewish people apart.

October’s slaughters were plotted with crucial input from Gazans employed in Israeli homes they had scouted and mapped for the purpose, making this the first military campaign designed to culminate in acts of beheading, torture, and rape of predetermined victims.

Nor does this exhaust their inventiveness. The Arabs’ strategy of martyring generations of their own people in the cause of eliminating Israel dates back to the 1947 refusal of Arab leaders to accept the partition of Palestine into two states—in order to keep Arabs perpetually homeless. Arabs were to remain permanently displaced as evidence of Israel’s “occupation” while Israel integrated the over 800,000 Jewish refugees from Arab lands and granted participatory citizenship to over 2 million Arabs who chose to remain in its boundaries.

Taking this tactic of martyring their fellow Arabs to a new level, Hamas turned Gaza into suicide central. Above ground, residents were allowed to conduct a quasi-normal life, knowing that, below ground, every school, every hospital, and many private homes were booby-trapped for the Israelis whom their leaders would lure into their cities. The IDF continues to uncover a tremendous amount of infrastructure built over years, confirming Hamas’ intention of invading and killing Israelis en masse. In the words of one of its soldiers “[It] is clear they expected us to arrive and laid plans to exact a cost in the form of IDF casualties.” The attack of Oct. 7 had to be monstrous enough to provoke Israel into full-scale war in the hope of rescuing the hostages and destroying the terrorists—a plan that would also ensure the collateral death of as many Gazans as possible to attract Western sympathy.

[freddiemercurylegendabovelegends]

Today, on April 22nd, 1989 - Queen Story!

Queen filmed promo video for “I Want It All” at Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, UK, director David Mallet

🔸Roger Taylor: Yes, it is our first studio album since 1986, I think that the reason for, for the delay, no, not the delay, for the long wait in between was that we wanted to sort of go away, and just recharge our batteries, quite logical really, and er, and just sort of generate some, some new energy and enthusiasm for, for being Queen

John Deacon: After we did the, the tour in 1986, which was a very big European tour, we were all absolutely exhausted, and shattered, and basically we didn't want to really work together or see each other for a while

Roger Taylor: To get into the whole cycle of er, just making an album, then going on tour, then coming back home and making an album again, we wanted to get out of that

Brian May: We said right, we'll take a little break, we're not, we're not going to split up, but we just er, we need some space for ourselves, and when the time is right, we'll make the album, rather than, you know, somebody says you've got to make one so we make one, so we waited, and we did some, did various other things, you know, Freddie and Roger both did solo projects, and I'm half way through one, and did a lot of producing

John Deacon: That took at least a year to a year and a half, and then towards the end of that second year, er, we sort of met up, and Freddie suggested, I think it was Freddie, perhaps we'd try a little time in the studio

Roger Taylor: So we went into the studio, saw what it was like, and we enjoyed it very much, and we still didn't have any material, so then we decided to go in for the long, for a long, longer time

John Deacon: You know, the third year was spent making the album, so the, in a way it was a two year gap to us, rather than three years, and er, and what was the, I've forgotten the second part of the question already

Interviewer: Did it help you to return to the studios feeling refreshed?

John Deacon: Yes (laughter) yes

The first few weeks of the recording we did a lot of live, er, material, a lot of songs um, ideas came up, some jamming, we had a few ideas that were already prepared, er, 'I Want It All' was one of the, one of the few songs that was actually, written before we went in

- From 'The Miracle' Interviews

Various and separate interviews recorded with Brian, Roger and John on the set of the 'Breakthru' promotional video, May 1989

👉"We were heading into the period where we decided to share the credit for all the songs, and John has said that [the song] was pretty much a finished song when we went into the studios – that's true, it was just this riff that I was obsessed with for months. The actual title was a favorite phrase of Anita's, a very ambitious girl: 'I want it all, and I want it now '... We were never able to perform this song live. It would have become something of the staple core of the Queen show, I'm sure, very participatory. It was designed for the audience to sing along to, very anthemic."

- Brian May, interview 2003, from Greatest Video Hits 2

[designleadershipcdnm]

Philadelphia Chief Administrator Office has a Service Design Studio, which supports service implementation efforts in the city by "collaborating with Philadelphians to design better City policies and services."

This blog series By the people (linked below) explores how the Service Design Studio partnered with the Office of Homeless Services (OHS) and the Office of Open Data & Digital Transformation (ODDT) to tackle homeless prevention, diversion, and intake services in the city. The project utilized participatory design methods to uncover and prioritize key opportunity areas and design solutions. The series describes their strategy and tactics in detail.

In one post, they described the ladder of stakeholder participation, which they utilized to guide their strategy and tactics. This ladder helped them define:

When are we looking for input?

When are we interested in brainstorming ideas?

When do people have decision-making power?

When are we simply sharing information?

I found this heuristic quite helpful for thinking about our commitments to our stakeholders.

Even beyond the By the people series, the Service Design Studio blog offers many insightful resources. Highly recommend!

[uwmspeccoll]

It’s Feral Friday! 

This week we’re taking a look at This Land is My Land, a newly acquired addition to our collection from book artist, concrete poet, & graphic designer Thad Higa. This 100-page work is “a fictional narrative from the imagined headspace of current day, online white supremacists, nationalists, and their sympathizers”. It was digitally printed, features Coptic binding with uncovered boards as well as two multi-page foldouts, and was self-published in a limited edition of 50 numbered copies in Oakland, CA in 2023. 

Higa is an Okinawan-Korean American cultural worker born in California in 1989 and raised in Hawaiʻi. His practice “investigates the intersections of language, technology, capitalism and eurocentrism, and their roles in controlling perceptions of reality and legibility.” In This Land is My Land, Higa “weaves together all manner of rhetorical devices and strategies, creating an experience familiar to anyone who has read the comments on an online article or listened to attendees at a Trump rally.” The structure of the book inherently encourages interaction, emphasizing the participatory and performative nature not only of reading & text-based communication but also of the formation and enaction of political identity.  

His work has been highlighted on the Lantern Review, Artists’ Book Reviews, Art Review, Art Papers & Hawai’i Public Radio, and featured in the exhibitions whistling the avant garde (Small Press Traffic, San Francisco CA, 2023) and O, (FiveMyles, Brooklyn NY, 2021).  

--Ana, Special Collections Graduate Intern 

View more Feral Friday posts. 

View more Artists’ Books posts. 

View more Concrete Poetry posts. 

View more Graphic Design posts. 

[kensanwrites]

639 Hz Social Butterfly Affirmations ~ Luxury Lifestyle ~ Healthy Relationships Frequency Meditation

Welcome to our uplifting video, "639Hz Heart Chakra Social Butterfly Affirmations - Embrace a Luxury Lifestyle with Meditation" - Your Path to Cultivating Positive Relationships, Abundance, and Empowerment!

💖🌟 In this transformative session, we've thoughtfully designed an experience that combines the power of 639Hz Heart Chakra frequency, I AM affirmations, and the soothing influence of guided meditation for manifestation. Join us on a journey of positive thinking, manifestation techniques, and the transformative energies of the Law of Attraction and the Law of Assumption.

🌌 Here's what you'll experience in this video:

💖 **Heart Chakra Social Butterfly Affirmations** - Immerse yourself in affirmations that nurture positive relationships, inner abundance, and empower you to live a luxurious lifestyle.

🌟 **I AM Affirmations for Self-Belief** - Cultivate deep self-belief, knowing you are deserving of the abundance and beauty that life has to offer.

🎶 **Manifestation Music** - Elevate your vibrations and enhance your manifestation abilities with harmonious music that resonates with your dreams and desires.

🧘‍♀️ **Guided Meditation for Manifestation** - Deepen your connection with the Law of Attraction and explore manifestation techniques that will help you manifest the luxury lifestyle you envision.

Join us on this transformational journey as we guide you toward cultivating positive relationships, embracing abundance, and living a life filled with empowerment and luxury. Like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to stay connected with our empowering content.

🌟 Embrace a luxury lifestyle and manifest abundance with us. Let's begin! 🌟

****** Here are some user listening instructions to enhance your experience and maximize the benefits:

1. **Background Listening:** Let the affirmations play in the background during your daily activities. Whether you're working, exercising, or doing household chores, allow the positive messages to permeate your surroundings. The subconscious mind is receptive, even when you're not actively focusing on the affirmations.

2. **Meditation Mode:** Set aside a few minutes each day for a dedicated meditation session. Find a quiet and comfortable space, play the affirmations, and focus on your breath. Let the positive words guide you into a state of calm and mindfulness, reinforcing the affirmations at a deeper level.

3. **Interactive Affirming:** Engage with the affirmations actively by repeating them aloud or in your mind. Use the video as a guide and affirm along with the positive statements. This participatory approach can strengthen the impact of the affirmations as you internalize them consciously.

4. **Loop for Maximum Benefit:** The affirmations in this video loop three times for maximum effectiveness. Feel free to let the video replay or manually loop it to extend your listening experience. Repetition is a key factor in affirmations' efficacy, reinforcing positive beliefs and intentions.

Remember, consistency is key. Choose the listening style that resonates most with you, and make these affirmations a regular part of your routine. Whether in the background, during meditation, or actively affirming, these positive messages are designed to uplift and empower you on your journey. Enjoy the transformative experience! 🌟

[cognitivejustice]

The new Task Team was formed by the WMO World Weather Research Programme and the WMO Services Department with support from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Both the FAO and the UNESCO collaborated with WMO on the workshop, which featured case studies that use indigenous and local knowledge in agriculture in Latin America, in forestry in Southeast Asia, in fisheries and hunting in the Arctic, and in livestock management in Eastern Africa.

The case studies demonstrated the benefits of using indigenous and local knowledge to enhance uptake, use and ownership of information by smallholder farmers as well as to better target their needs. During the workshop, the Task Team defined a clear roadmap to produce a position paper to highlight the need to strengthen climate resilience by blending climate science and Indigenous and local knowledge. This will enhance information uptake and contribute to preserving cultural heritage and ensuring food security. A project proposal for co-design and co-production of climate services with Indigenous peoples and local knowledge will also be produced based on participatory approaches and cases presented at the workshop and the feedback of participants. 

The Task Team’s work will contribute to upholding and including the voices of indigenous, and local communities in decision-making. The roadmap and project proposal will acknowledge the important contribution if indigenous, and local communities to effective locally-led meteorological services that enhance community-based monitoring and strengthen local languages, knowledge and cultural practices.  

[dailyanarchistposts]

Innovation and Cooptation

With Musk’s purchase of Twitter, we see the conclusion of a cycle of innovation and cooptation in the field of communications. In the late 20th century, the dominant political and technological models were monolithic and unidirectional: network television, mass-based political parties. In response, anarchists and other rebels experimented with independent media and underground networks, producing innovative horizontal and decentralized models like indymedia.org. Tech corporations eventually monetized these models as the participatory media of Web 2.0, such as Facebook. Yet from the turn of the century through the uprising of 2020, the lingering horizontal and participatory aspects of the internet in general and social media in particular continued to empower those who sought to achieve more self-determination—witness the “Thank you Facebook” graffiti in Tunisia after the so-called “Arab Spring” uprisings of 2010-2011.

Over the past decade, however, corporations and governments have introduced more and more online surveillance and control. Musk’s acquisition of Twitter is the latest stage in a reactionary clampdown with grim implications.

Musk and his colleagues see capitalism as a meritocracy in which the shrewdest and most hardworking competitors inexorably rise to the top. Hence, presumably, their own success.

Of course, if Musk wishes to prove that his success is not just the consequence of privilege and luck—of fortune and good fortune—he could demonstrate this easily enough by giving away his wealth, cutting his social ties, changing his name, and repeating his supposed rags-to-riches feats a second time. If he were able to climb the pyramid a second time without the benefit of growing up white in apartheid-era South Africa (setting aside the question of his father’s emerald investments for now), we might have to grant a hearing to his claims that the market has elevated him on account of his personal qualities—though that still would not show that capitalism rewards the efforts that are most beneficial for humanity.

According to the Silicon Valley narrative, platforms like Twitter are the inventions of individual entrepreneurs, propelled into being by the finance capital of canny investors.

But Twitter did not simply spring, fully formed like Athena, from the head of company co-founder Jack Dorsey. In fact, it was a modest refinement of a model already demonstrated by TXTmob, the SMS text messaging program developed by the Institute for Applied Autonomy for protests at the 2004 Democratic and Republican National Conventions.[1] Blaine Cook and Evan Henshaw-Plath, anarchist developers who worked alongside Dorsey at his previous company Odeo, helped refine TXTmob and later took the model with them into the conversations with Dorsey that gave rise to Twitter.[2]

If the unrelenting urgency of social media in general and Twitter in particular can be exhausting, that’s to be expected—the infrastructure of Twitter was originally designed for street communications during high-stakes mass mobilizations in which information must go out immediately, boiled down to its bare essentials. It’s not a coincidence that, despite its shortcomings, the platform has continued to be useful to street activists and conflict journalists.

The point here is that innovative models do not necessarily emerge from the commercial entrepreneurism of the Great Men of history and economics. More often, they emerge in the course of collective efforts to solve one of the problems created by the capitalist order. Resistance is the motor of history. Afterwards, opportunists like Musk use the outsize economic leverage that a profit-driven market grants them to buy up new technologies and turn them definitively against the movements and milieux that originally produced them.

We can identify two stages in the capitalist appropriation of the TXTmob model. In the first phase, a framework that was originally designed by volunteers for the use of ordinary protesters was transformed into a publicly traded corporation, around the same time that the open spaces of the early internet were being colonized by the for-profit surveillance systems of Web 2.0. In the second phase, this publicly traded corporation has been transformed into the private plaything of a single entitled tycoon—with consequences that remain to be seen.

Musk claims that his goal is to open up the platform for a wider range of speech. In practice, there is no such thing as “free speech” in its pure form—every decision that can shape the conditions of dialogue inevitably has implications regarding who can participate, who can be heard, and what can be said. For all we might say against them, the previous content moderators of Twitter did not prevent the platform from serving grassroots movements. We have yet to see whether Musk will intentionally target activists and organizers or simply permit reactionaries to do so on a crowdsourced basis, but it would be extremely naïve to take him at his word that his goal is to make Twitter more open.