Journalism in the Age of Data, a Visually Stunning Documentary
/If you have a spare hour, then feast your eyes on Geoff McGhee's video documentary "Journalism in the Age of Data," which explores the exciting potential and occasional pitfalls of modern data visualization.
via good.is
There is so much data floating about that at some point it all becomes meaningless, impossible to process because we can't relate to it. It seems everyone recognizes the challenge and many have begun to create infographics to present information.
The problem is that many infographics are not infographics at all or are not very good. Bad infographics just muddy our understanding of the data.
This well-worth-your-time documentary explains data visualization and showcases some of the best work. In the end data visualization is about taking complexly large amounts of data and beautifully presenting it in a manner that makes us grasp proportions instantly.
The End of Education Is the Dawn of Learning
/Schools are full of things that our descendants will look back on and laugh out loud at: ringing a bell and expecting 1,000 teenagers to be simultaneously hungry; putting 25 children together in a box because they were born between two Septembers; assessing children based on how well they work alone; and so on.
But schools can be wonderful places -- just think of the Christmas production, or school musical, and you will see a large hall filled with children of all ages, determined to create the best ever version of Grease (or whatever), with youngsters chasing the older ones, their role models, who in turn gain from working with the youngsters. Small groups are working on the front-of-house details, the choreography, painting the set, rehearsing scenes, sorting out the lighting technology, and doing all of this in parallel. If things are not going too well they will stay late, come in early, work though weekends...it is a clear vision of just how wonderfully seductive learning might be, yet schools seem not to notice this and put the same children back in their boxes, only to be amazed at their disengagement.
This might have gone on forever, but mercifully the great Trojan horse that is technology has forced us to think afresh. Back at the dawn of technology in schools, folks struggled to imagine what it might do that was useful; today it can do anything you like and the tougher question is, "Well, what would you like learning to be like?"
via fastcodesign.com
Professor Stephen Heppell highlights the impact of digital media on pedagogy. Stephen's voice is the loudest in asking educators to move away from the factory school model of the 20th century and toward a more agile learning environment of constant adaption.
Trailer for Andrew Zuckerman's Documentary Music
/via musicthebook.com
Andrew Zuckerman, of "Birds" fame, uses his focused style to explore the world of music. Many points of views and ideas that can apply to any creative endeavor, and really encapsulate the power of music. Can't wait to see it.
Steve Jobs Explains Branding
/One of the first things that Steve Jobs did after taking over as Apple’s interim CEO in 1997 is to get Apple back on track with their branding. In this short presentation from ‘97, Jobs talks about branding & Apple’s core values and introduces the Think Different campaign.
via kottke.org
Steve Jobs, wearing shorts (!), gets to the essence of great branding and introduces another ad in a long line of iconic ads. The copy for the Think Different campaign is brilliant.
Great find by Kottke.