August 2008

everything is ok. An ‘activist toolkit’ enabling you to comment on the visual trappings of security in a site specific location near you. The kit includes postcards, buttons, warning labels, and various caution stickers. The centerpiece is police-style caution tape with the repeated mantra “everything is ok.” One of the designers writes, “The tape is sort of a giant interactive caption that modifies spaces, gatherings, traffic, etc.” See examples of the kit in action in the user gallery. It’s satire in a box, available for sale.

everything is ok  ¶
perspctv.com. A stylish, real-time data visualization dashboard of the U.S. presidential election. The site charts polls results and projected electoral breakdown as well as references to the candidates in the mainstream media, on the blogs and on twitter.

Presidential Infodesign Widget  ¶
Labour Photo of the Year. LabourStart is hosting a juried competition on Flickr for “Labour Photo of the Year:”
“Photos should be, very broadly, of union members in action. At work, in struggle...surprise us!”
 ¶
The New Orleans 100. The folks at alldaybuffet put out a call for the 100 best projects helping the people of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The results are a mixed, eclectic brew of cultural, educational, for-profit and non-profit projects.  ¶
Satirical Russian Magazines of 1905-08. In 1905, as dissent boiled over against the Tsar and violent uprisings sprouted across the empire, hundreds of critical underground magazines blossomed. These gave voice to, and no doubt nurtured, the rage and discontent. The nonist has posted a few gruesome and beautiful, satirical illustrations. (Click view full text on the page.) (via)  ¶
Blog Action Day. On October 15, 2008 over 2,600 bloggers, podcasters and videocasters will post about poverty.  ¶
Counter-Recruitment Mural. The NY Times blogs a counter-recruitment mural going up in Sunset Park. The mural’s image was designed and is being painted by 15 teenage girls working with artists Katie Yamasaki and Menshahat Ebron under the Groundswell’s Summer Leadership Institute. Other Groundswell mural projects this summer look at bio-diversity, NYC’s water supply, and neighborhood history.  ¶
Craigslist: worker-owned design collective (Portland, OR). Hard to know if my little article inspired this, but that's a nice reference. Update 8/13/08: Now one in NYC, too!  ¶


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Back to July.