Category Archives: Research Notebook
Narrative, comedy, and a message: The Internet Must Go
In 2012, market researcher John Wooley was dispatched to help the big ISPs figure out how to sell their vision for a “faster,” “cleaner” Internet. Six months later he produced this report — and shared it with the world. A great example of using comedy to play the villain, a great narrative, and still able …
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Annie Lennox on creativity: “leave the critic outside the room”
“Catch ideas… get them down… leave the critic outside the room, close the door, lock it really hard.”
IMAGINE there’s no fracking …
“Don’t Frack My Mother” Sean Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Artists Against Fracking Present: "Don't Frack My Mother"Watch this video on YouTube In addition to coming together through song/video to send a message to Governor Cuomo this video, Yoko Ono and friends have been busy in other ways as well — learn about their efforts here …
Are you an overworked activist?
“The enemy often tries to make us attempt and start many projects so that we will be overwhelmed with too many tasks, and therefore achieve nothing and leave everything unfinished. Sometimes he even suggests the wish to undertake some excellent work that he foresees we will never accomplish. This is to distract us from the …
Border Patrol Body Slam
In a California lucha libre-style wrestling match, Blue Demon Jr., a self-proclaimed defender of Mexican immigrants, does battle against wrestlers who portray United States border patrol agents.
Rights, Demands, and Radical Reimaginings: Art and Labor in the US
Alexis Clements is running a class on Art and Labor. When: Tuesday evenings, from 7.00-8.30pm Aug 27 – Sep 24, 2013 (5 sessions) Where: Brooklyn, NY (see class reg for full details) Description: In the past century, artists working across disciplines have undertaken a variety of efforts to not only get paid a decent wage …
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Egyptians Understand Spectacle
Egypt: President Morsi defies army ultimatum. Now what? | Toronto Star.
David Letterman – Environmental Activist, Tim DeChristopher
Watch this video on YouTube Tim DeChristopher makes an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman and is able to talk about some really radical ideas in a sensible way.
Bloomberg’s Ramadan Breakfast menu
Rumor has it that this special menu was distributed outside the Mayor of New York’s Ramadan breakfast celebration. It references NYPD’s surveillance of innocent NY Muslims, stop and frisk, and excessive violence. (Click to enlarge)
Wealth Inequality in America – YouTube
Very encouraging that this video has 6.5 million views. Since our idea is so far from reality, how does this change the way we talk about this issue? How do we approach the topic so the people we’re talking to don’t dig in and defend what they believe to be true? And how does the …
Heavens, Not Havens
Heavens, Not Havens A short article on the public relations problem around taxes and some ideas for helping it.
Make Your Own Damn Art – Bob and Roberta Smith – documentary trailer – YouTube
Bob and Roberta Smith: ‘It’s important to undermine and subvert things’ Make Your Own Damn Art
Freedom to Fail, Harvard-Style
Even Harvard Business Review gets it: failure is a necessary part of creation and innovation. This blog post highlights how a few forward-thinking organizations build failure-friendly practices into their structure. One of our favorites is from DoSomething.org: DoSomething.Org, a nonprofit that helps young people take action on social change initiatives, has a “FailFest” once a …
Making Taxes Visible
In a recent New York Times editorial, Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton discussed America’s broad distaste for the institution of taxation, a phenomenon that plagues advocates of progressive taxation in this country. Rather than addressing the historical-political underpinnings of these contemporary attitudes, they approach the issue from a design perspective. Their conclusion? Taxes could benefit …
Tactics and Strategies
A directory of tactics and strategies for human rights activism: http://www.newtactics.org/tactics
Escrache in Spain
The term “escrache” comes from Argentina, where it was coined in in 1995 by the human rights activist group H.I.J.O.S, to condemn the genocides committed by members of the military dictatorship that had been pardoned by Carlos Menem, who was prime minister at the time. When justice fails to signal a violation of human rights, the …
Those in Charge
On August 2012, seven black Mercedes drove through the Gran Vía, one of Madrid´s main streets. This image reminded of a State funeral, or some kind of military or religious parade. On top of each of the luxurious cars, there was an academic-style painting of a person that had been in “in charge” of the …
Will changing your Facebook profile picture do anything for marriage equality? | PsySociety, Scientific American Blog Network
As SCOTUS debates the constitutionality of Proposition 8 and DOMA this week, Facebook users all over the nation have become part of a burgeoning social media trend. Supporters of marriage equality have been changing their profile pictures to the icon on the left, a version of the Human Rights Campaign logo designed specifically to indicate …
Howitcouldbedifferent.org: A Wikipedia for Social Change
Looking for some inspiration for your next creative activist project? Look no further than howitcouldbedifferent.org, which is described as a wikipedia for social change allowing users to post and share visions for a better world and ideas of specific progressive changes they would like to see happen. It was founded on a simple …
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