Pentagon to Allow Photos of Soldiers' Coffins. “The military said the ban protected the privacy and dignity of families of the dead. But others, including some of the families as well as opponents of the Iraq war, said it sanitized the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and was intended to control public anger over the conflicts.... The original 1991 ban had its genesis in an embarrassment for the first President Bush. In 1989, the television networks showed split-screen images of Mr. Bush sparring and joking with reporters on one side and a military honor guard unloading coffins from a military action that he had ordered in Panama on the other.”  ¶

crisisofcredit.com. Stylish narrated information graphic animation about the current financial crisis.

A good yarn, beautifully rendered. But like this previously blogged infographic, it focuses on the financial machinery more than the legal chicanery that got us here.  ¶

Add-Art. “Add-Art is a free FireFox add-on which replaces advertising on websites with curated art images. The art shows are updated every two weeks and feature contemporary artists and curators.”
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40 Key Articles in Radical Geography. Apropos of yesterday’s post, Antipode, a radical journal of geography, celebrates 40 years of publication by posting 40 favorite articles from their archives online. Since 1969, Antipode has published: “dissenting scholarship that explores and utilizes key geographical ideas like space, scale, place, borders and landscape. It aims to challenge dominant and orthodox views of the world through debate, scholarship and politically-committed research, creating new spaces and envisioning new futures.”  ¶

Change Observer. The Rockefeller Foundation has granted $1.5 million to the Winterhouse Institute to fund a two year project to promote “collective action and collaboration for social impact across the design industry — and encompassing a range of other institutions that work on the needs of poor or vulnerable people.” Projects include a conference, website, and matching designers with foundations and NGOs. Two veteran design journalists have been recruited thus far. Last year, Rockefeller hired the design company IDEO to draft a workbook and guide on design for social impact.  ¶

Low- and No-Cost Online Advocacy Tools. The Tactical Tech Collective has put up a brief guide for non-profit organizations listing out a collection of popular web services that can be used for advocacy quickly with little to no technical support and at low- to no-cost. The guide is organized as follows:

• Mobilising and Coordinating
• Documenting and Visualizing
• Informing and Communicating
• Bypassing and Accessing

A few good case studies in there, too.  ¶

In Paris, Anti-Ad Insurgency. “The Dismantlers, as a nationwide group of anti-ad crusaders call themselves, aren’t violent or loud or clandestine. In fact, they invite the police to protest rallies where they deface signs. With a copywriter’s flair, one of their slogans warns: ‘Attention! Avert your eyes from ads: You risk being very strongly manipulated.’ The goal of the Dismantlers is to get arrested, argue the righteousness of their cause in court and gain publicity.”

Via Just Seeds I found this condescending story in the LA Times. But it’s interesting nonetheless: “Baret, who like his fellow insurgents is a veteran defendant, had refused to pay the $58 fine. His lawyer argued that his actions were less destructive than the 57,000 giant signs that fill the train stations of France.... ‘The advertising budget in France is $39 billion a year.... That’s equivalent to the entire education budget in France.... Our movement goes a lot further than a simple symbolic gesture. And that’s what we want the public to understand.’”

This two-pronged attack on aggressive advertising, fighting with both graffiti and law, seems to be a growing pattern, a combination of legal and extra-legal civil disobedience (with a dash of spectacle) in the battle over what constitutes public space.  ¶

"The Gum Problem". After decades relying on concrete, granite, and porcelain tile, MTA New York City Transit is testing a new resin-based floor that is less expensive, easier to maintain, will resist gum, and glow in the dark to illustrate exit routes in the event of an emergency. Throw in a splash of art and it’s a full sweep!  ¶