I want it NOW!!!

This is all i've ever wanted, since i saw Minority Report. But would it really make life better? Hell Yeah it would!

BLU!!

COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis (2 times loop) from blu on Vimeo.

Ryan showed this to me last night. It's pretty amazing. I can't imaging how long this took. If you watch the shadows it looks like possibly a week when by, but I kept loosing track since the animation is so beautiful.

HA!!

I'd say this is mostly true.

little birdy, num num num

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!

This is the most amazing creature on the face of the planet. The Blob Fish is a delicacy in France and most Asiatic countries.

MX: Poster Process!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Click Here for Process

Click Here for Process

This post represents weeks worth of qualitative and quantitive work. These posters show an in-depth analysis of the bird-watching community. There are robots and clowns that are on fire. Sorry it was getting kinda dull. However, this process shows the stages of refinement that our posters went through to make them clear and understandable, as well as visually engaging. Gun fire: parap-pap-pap-pap!

Objectified at the Tivoli

September 15, 2009 7:30pm

VA: Narrow Focus

NARROW FOCUS

Traffic in Kansas City

DEFINE ISSUES MORE CLEARLY AND SPECIFICALLY

Kansas city is looking to build a carpool lane for their highway system that will encourage car pooling for commuters. MARC has tentatively added it to their 30 year transit plan. Over crowed highways cause longer commutes, wasted fuel, accidents, pollution, traffic, and angry drivers.

I don’t believe that a car pool lane is the best solution to this problem of over crowed highways. Car pool lanes just encourage people to try and figure out how to cheat the system. There are cases of pregnant women claiming that the baby they are carrying count as a second passenger, or funeral home workers claiming the corpse qualifies them. I think there are better more immediate solutions to the problem.

The problem is there are too many cars on the road. This causes too much traffic, which causes pollution. I think the problem beneath this problem is that people don’t realize just how many other people are headed in the same direction as they are. If people only knew or had a tool that allowed lots of people to interact with each other then it would be possible to get them together and utilize each other for car pooling.

DETERMINE AUDIENCE

I think that my audience could be Kansas Citians who commute to work. Or, if that is too big i could narrow my focus to the Kansas City Art Institute, and try encouraging car pooling on that level.

DETERMINE HOW AND WHERE TO CONTACT AUDIENCE

I could contact people in the school, by making a questionnaire for people to fill out about their feelings on car pooling and why they do or don’t do it. Also I think I could send my questionnaire to VML, and possible T2 since they are both located in the city and people commute their it might prove a valuable source for insight.

WHO DO YOU KNOW LOCALLY THAT FITS THE TARGET GROUP

People from school, VML, and T2 would all be possibilities for people to contact.

RESEARCH

-$27.5 billion are budgeted for roads and highways

-we don’t know exactly what this money will be used for

more lanes

new construction

redesigning existing structure to reduce traffic

-$8.4 billion is for public transit

-possible solution to traffic issue

congestion pricing: charge a toll in high congestion areas drawbacks of this are

people with low income can’t afford the expense

-”there is a default assumption that we are going to keep growing those [airports, roads, etc.]...into whatever kind of future we imagine. Sustainability mean coming to terms with the natural biophysical limits of our world.” –Bryan Davidson

-the last mile problem: people take the train to work, but work isn’t at the train station so they have to figure out how to make it the rest of the way.

-car pooling on average saves $3000 per year

-car pooling slashes a persons carbon foot print by 2/3

-people don’t know who’s “goin’ their way”

-86% of trips we take in the car we take alone

-these trips cost us $0.50 per mile, which averages to $8,000 per year

-”Humans are inclined to change when they see that it will improve on what they already experience. This is where the role of the designer comes into play.”

MX: Community_Model

see the real community model here

reference01

reference02

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reference04

WHAT IS BIRD WATCHING?

The observation and study of birds with the naked eye or through a visual enhancement device like binoculars. To members it is often referred to as birding. Birding often involves an auditory component in addition to the optical, because much of birding is identifying both the sound and physical characteristics of a bird.

PHYSICAL BOUNDARIES:

The small size of these countries make quickly traveling to prime bird watching areas much easier, and it is this ease that is one reason for birding being so prevalent in these areas.

EQUIPMENT NEEDS:

binoculars, spotting scope, tripod, notepad, field guides, hides (observation towers), cameras, video cameras,

DEMOGRAPHICS:

countries with populations that are interested in birding include but are not limited to:

the United Kingdom

the Netherlands

Denmark

Ireland

Finland

Sweden

90% of American bird watchers are caucasian with only a few African Americans.

Birders tend to be made up of people with above average means given the relatively high cost of the activity.

INDIVIDUAL AND COMMUNITY WANTS & NEEDS:

there are growing concerns in bird watching communities about the environmental impact.

-phishing is becoming a problem in causing stress to birds

-flash photography is also causing stress among bird populations

-people need to remember to maintain a respectful distance away from the nesting grounds of these birds, as not to disturb their habits.

SYMBOLS (uniforms, tools, markers of activity’s community):

twitcher–one who travels long distances to see a rare bird that would be “ticked” off of a list.

some birders engage in competitions to see who can accumulate the longest list of bird species spotted.

twitchable–a rare bird that stays put long enough for people to see.

binoculars–birders tend to have extreme interest in binoculars and understand that there are definite advantages to a $900 pair as opposed to a $100 pair.

dipped out–when a twitcher fails to see a rare bird that has been marked as twitchable.

supression–concealing news of a rare bird from other twitchers.

phishing–an automated bird call, usually indicating alarm

MOTIVATIONS:

Nikolaas Tinbergen–birding is an expression of the male hunting instinct.

Simon Baron-Cohen–links birding with the male tendency toward systematizing

New York birding study–males were interested in sharing knowledge while females found it intellectual and challenging.

CONTRIBUTIONS:

The activity of birders inherently helps to document migratory patterns of bird species as well as the success or failures of govt. ecological initiatives to foster grow of at risk or endangered species of birds.