Incommunicado

Over the next several weeks I'll be incommunicado. Nothing dramatic, just taking time to gain some perspective on what's next. I particularly like this quote as well as many observations motorcycle adventurer Ted Simon makes in Jupiter's Travels. "One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time." - Andre Gide

Adult Hats

On July 31, 1944, Antoine de St. Exupéry's plane was shot down over the Mediterranean as he headed home from a reconnaissance mission. One year earlier he published "The Little Prince," a beautiful and fantastical book which appears to be for children but speaks deeply to the adult heart tired of adult concerns.

In the first passage, he tells the story of his drawing Number One.

"Once when I was six I saw a magnificent picture in a book about the jungle, called True Stories. It showed a boa constrictor swallowing a wild beast [...] In those days I thought a lot about jungle adventures, and eventually managed to make my first drawing, using a colored pencil. My drawing Number One looked like this:

I showed the grown-ups my masterpiece, and I asked them if my drawing scared them. They answered, 'Why be scared of a hat?'"

Drawing Number One

How quickly we try to identify and categorize things, slotting them into our understanding of the world.

St. Exupéry continues, "My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant."

Children do not have that condition, they think with recklessness and infinite possibilty. Adults are not encouraged to think this way so we leave that to the children and geniuses (who have somehow figured out how to be adults, imaginative, and revered.)

The goal in this jam is to rekindle the fantastical in our lives; to return to our child-like creativity and make new media experiences; to go beyond the transmedia mash-ups where we find understanding and comfort; to make more than just hats.

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TIFF Nexus is an initiative exploring new trends in interactive design. It comprises four conferences and jams, one of them being the Youth New Media Literacy Jam to be presented as part of TIFF Kids (the film festival/conference for youth, youth content creators, and educators.) There's more about TIFF Nexus here and TIFF Kids here.

Disruptive Wonder

"Disruptive Wonder," isn't that a great phrase? I love how it marries change together with playfulness. It's how Kelli Anderson describes what she tries to realize in every one of her projects, from a recursive Christmas card to the subversive, fake New York Times - this video will get your creativity flowing.

Here are some other highlights:

• There is a hidden code in the visual world
• People arrive to experiences with expectations. Small things can either reinforce or jar them out of those expectations
• "The world is full of order that doesn't deserve out respect" (another great line)
• The hidden talents of everyday things
• Doing something better by doing something absurd
• A paper record player wedding invitation (quite incredible)
• Mess with the complacently rational

Band of Misfits

Originally posted on TIFF Nexus where I'm leading the Youth New Media Literacy Jam.

When I was a kid, my parents would pack us into the car each summer and set-off down the I-75 towards Florida. Tennessee was easily the best part of the trip as fire crackers were not only legal but seemed to be the state’s main attraction. Massive firework warehouses peppered just about every interstate off-ramp and it seemed Tennesseans were more interested in blowing stuff up than feeding or lodging their visitors. All good for me because for a kid who's fireworks were limited to birthday sparklers, I fantasized about handfuls of M-80's, cherry bombs, and burning school houses.

We rarely stopped so I never lived that fantasy but now, years later, I've found this "band of creative misfits" for the Youth New Media Literacy Jam. An explosive group of unconventional people, compacted into a space in time, and lit with the challenge of creating something experimental in the youth content/media industry.

I'm proud to introduce the "more explosive than a Tennessee fireworks warehouse" Band of Creative Misfits.

Who are the misfits? Click here.

Young Teachers Less Likely to Embrace Technology

Among other interesting insights around youth and new media literacy, Mizuko Ito talks about how younger teachers are less likely to incorporate technology in the classroom. [Original post]