Elements of Co-Creation

The reading by Vladimir Zwass was interesting from the perspective that it touched on many aspects of the material explored thus far in my MACT journey. It was a bit of a ‘light-bulb’ read for me in that I felt like my understanding of this article was enhanced because of a strong theoretical foundation. The most succinct alignment is rooted in the con-current course several of us are enrolled in, Using and Managing Communication Networks, which focuses on the study of virtual/online communities. The definition of an online community, ways in which to motivate contribution and the role that trust plays in a community or project have been fundamental concepts throughout the coursework.

From a co-creation standpoint, understanding the dynamics of a community can lead to a deeper understanding of the potential for collaboration. An online community can be defined as group of people that come together for a shared purpose in order to cooperate, collaborate and work towards a common goal. The users share a core set of values, interests and a strong set of secondary connections. Vibrant virtual communities are critical to effective co-creation. 

Zwass defines co-creation as the creation of value by consumers, (2010, p. 11). It can also be defined as “the participation of consumers along with producers in the creation of value in the marketplace,” (p. 13). This definition is expanded through the reading with a focus on defining two type of co-creation, sponsored and autonomous. In sponsored co-creation, organizations open themselves to the co-creation efforts of external individuals, including present or potential consumers. In autonomous co‐creation, individuals or consumer communities produce marketable value in voluntary activities conducted independently. 

In both instances, the role of the consumer and the producer is being redefined in unprecedented ways. The line between producer and consumer is also becoming increasingly blurred. 

Technology development and use means that new forms of production are emerging at a rapid rate. Van Dijck, suggests new interactive platforms “promise to make culture more participatory, user centered, and collaborative,” (p. 10). The context for much of Van Dijck’s commentary can be related to his idea that websites are conduits for activity and the new platforms of today have turned these conduits into new ways of delivering goods. 

Zwass suggests that the nature of goods involved in co-creation is specific in that the goods are all digital and available to anyone with access. “ The collective processes of sharing data, information, and knowledge in the digital domain by individuals vastly contribute to the growth of co-creation activities” (2010, p. 14). With the mass adoption of technology, the major barrier to being a producer has shifted from lack of production capability to lack of knowledge. Readers can become authors almost instantaneously. 

The following TED Talk used some practical examples to illustrate this point quite well.

The ability to become an author, producer or contributor is in part made possible by access to shared resources and information. Zwass defines commons as the universally shared resources owned in common (2010, p.18). The idea of common ownership (or lack of ownership) is such a new phenomenon in the face of copyright and individualism. Commons only works on the backs of those who are procuring or authoring with belief that the greater good is most important. Personally, I feel like a move towards Open Data within municipalities is a demonstration of this shift in thinking. While it is possible to make data open, it takes collective will and intelligence to make something of the information. This is where co-creation and collective intelligence are exercised. 

The emergence of intelligent behavior in a collective has been described by Surowiecki as the “wisdom of crowds,” generating the concept of crowd- sourcing, (as cited in Zwass, 2010, p. 19). Crowd sourced information can be useful as prediction, preference, or idea-generation. In the example of Open Data, idea generation would be at the forefront of this collective work.

Trust creation is defined by Zwass as a reputation system built by: 

• Word of mouth promotion
• Collective Sense making
• Ranking
• Sentiment Expression
• Task Redistribution

Trust in itself is a complex concept to study and understand. Trust in an online community carries this same level of complexity with fundamentally similar characteristics to the real-world; only there is a new level of understanding that needs to be applied in relation to the digital aspect of the online model of interaction.

Module 11: What's Next? Future-Casting & Review

Module 11: Future-Casting and Review (two weeks)

Monday, March 30, 2015 - Friday, April 10, 2015 March 31: Tweet @JessL something that you’ve just learnt from a reading April 4: Think about all the readings you have done and all the games that you have played (board games, playground games, computer games, ipad games, nintendo games etc…) in relation to what Dr. Mark Butler says about time and that all games create their own idea of time and don’t always maintain that idea (see the video of his talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ag5MMKkk0k, see his ideas at about the 5 minute point though the video is 20 minutes). Write a blog comment on my Module 11 blog post explaining your thoughts April 8: Write a blog post in which you reflect on the course. What has been new to you? Have any of the readings, discussions, blog conversations, tweets etc.. changed how you thought of any of the topics? What readings really made an impression on you? What are your key take-aways? Is there anything you might change in the future (tweet more often, run a crowd-funding project, look at selfies in a different way)

Kickstarter: Games, Clocks, and Bottles

Kickstarter. Crowdsourcing. Another way that people have found out to get out of anonymity online. This phenomenon is explained in the dictionary as being popular thanks to the internet: “the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people and especially from the online community rather than from traditional employees or suppliers” (Merriam-webster.com, 2015).

So, Kickstarter, as a crowdsource, is “a new way to fund creative projects” (Kickstarter.com, 2015) because on the internet, people “have complete control over and responsibility for their projects” (Kickstarter.com, 2015). In a blog article Yannig Roth’s (2012) suggests that crowdsourcing works because it complements the traditional co-creation -- “[the]creative and social collaboration process between producers and consumers, facilitated by the company (Piller et al., as cited in Roth, 2014). This might be true as many unsuccessful kickstarter projects seem to lack the “organisational knowledge” (Roth, 2014) that the traditional co-creation usually involves. When co-creation and crowdsourcing are blended together, they bring up to the surface nice and successful new media stories.

This idea is valid if we look at  the story of  Jaded Gamercast: Adepticon Double Date, a Kickstarter project created by Lange Grinevitch from Edmonton, AB, who succeeded to go way over his goal (159% funded). No doubt, this story succeeded on Kickstarter, mostly because his creator nicely blended the traditional co-creation with crowdsourcing: first, there is a clarity about what is being kickstarted: miniature gaming podcasts, called  Jaded Gamer Cast (offered for free 200+ episodes if the project reaches it’s goal); second, the creator calls backers to action through a simple story, using the internet crowdsourcing multimodality (videos and pictures).  

Another successful story is  'Time as Moments' Designer Clock created by Donald Papp from Edmonton, AB. The Kickstarter project was successfully funded (164%) as it promotes an ingenious and unique work of art, something practical and relatively cheap: “Each number becomes clearly defined only once each hour before becoming once again unclear. The design reflects time as moments.” The project is successful, although it is presented in an incredible simple way: there is only a picture of the clock and only a few words used for description. It is astonishing how the image speaks for itself and so, it gathers so many backers. Perhaps, if other forms of crowdsourcing have been used, such as videos, this project might have had gathered even more supporters. Again, like the previous project, this  stands out due to its clarity and simplicity. However, the elements of traditional co-creation (“social collaboration process …facilitated by a company”) are not present. The project succeeds only because the product is unique.

An example of unsuccessful project is  Living Necklaces! Beauty and Nature to Wear by Your Heart! created by Tara from Edmonton, AB. Although this project looks like one of a kind -- “[t]his empty necklace will contain a thriving, healthy moss or fern, keeping nature right over your heart!” -- the number of backers is 0. Why this is unsuccessful? Perhaps due to its’ lack of practicality– who would wear around his neck a bottle with a fern inside? Plus, the jewellery-plant will definitely die outside during the Edmonton’s winter months. Besides, there are no elements of “organizational knowledge” of a co-creation, and the multimodality (i.e. video) is also missing.  Perhaps,Tara’s project might have had chances of success among flower-lovers if the piece would have been designed for indoors, as an ornamental plant.

These three kickstarter projects, make me believe that crowdsourcing nicely complements the traditional co-creation. However, crowdsourcing projects can stand by themselves without traditional co-creation as long as the projects are unique and presented with clarity, simplicity through new media multimodality.

References

Kickstarter.com,. (2015). What is Kickstarter — Kickstarter. Retrieved 27 March 2015, from https://www.kickstarter.com/hello?ref=footer

Merriam-webster.com,. (2015). crowdsourcing | the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people and especially from the online community rather than from traditional employees or suppliers. Retrieved 27 March 2015, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crowdsourcing

Roth, Y. (May 2012). “Crowdsourcing and CoCreation are Complementary”. Innovation Excellence.

http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2012/05/31/crowdsourcingandcocreationar

ecomplementary/

Fund your dream

Raising funds to kickstart your dreams has risen to a new level with crowdfunding; entrepeneurs, artists and activists utilize crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter to help raise funds to launch and hopefully, turn their hope from a dream to a reality. 

Crowdfunding has become a widely accepted way to raise funds by seeking support from local community involvement, although this is not a requisite as investors can be from anywhere on the web. Canada held its first Crowdfunding Summit in Toronto the week of March 3, 2015, that brought like minded people together to cover all aspects of crowdfunding.

In the province of Alberta, crowdfunding is popular and is currently being used to raise funds for many endeavours.  Three I have focused on are the following:

Chartier

A couple, Sylvia and Darren Cheverie, who want to bring an authentic French Canadian restaurant to the Alberta Canadian town of Beaumont, Alberta have turned to Kickstarter to help them make their cream possible. The owners hope they can get people to band together to create something bigger.  The town of Beaumont has a history of neighbours helping each other and this is promoted in the spirit of their campaign.  In their promo video they state they feel this is fundamental to Kickstarter. 

Sylvia and Darren currently have  140 backers, having raised $40,941 towards their goal of $95,000, with 39 days to go in their campaign.

I think the presentation of their project is well thought out and presented with a great video that introduces them to their potential backers.  The have researched the history of the town and brought in many players, like the chef and baker, to supplement and support their project.  They've done a great job.

Drawings for a dollar! by Jessie Somers sought to find supporters who would allow her to exercise her creative talents and encourage her to draw.  Jessie offered supporters a fantasy drawings from her, which she would mail to the supporter, for $1. Jessie quickly met her fundraising goals and as she states in her notes, made some typical first time errors such as not calculating shipping costs.

She currently has 127 backers, having raised $1,616 towards her $500 goal. She still has 28 days to go in her campaign.

Jessie was very successful in her first attempt at Kickstarter and aside for doing some research into additional costs, has succeeded in her first attempt at Kickstarter. This was a smart project because she is entirely within control of the project and needs little resources to meet the requirements established between she and her supporters.

The third project is Tiny Houses by Heather Giles and Brad Penney. The two are attempting to raise money to support their plan to build tiny houses for people who cannot afford typical mortgages. An added bonus is these homes are mobile and can be towed on a trailer, allowing you to transport your 160 square foot home with you.  The car/truck does not come with the house!

They currently have one backer, who has pledged $150 of their  $25,000 goal, with 12 days to go.

What Heather and Brad could have done to garner more support was perhaps show the process of building one of these houses, to show they can build them. A video of the process, with a few drawings of the interior would have been very helpful. Is the house in the picture a house they made themselves? More information about timelines and plans for the houses would definitely have helped. Also, give people an indication of how easy are they to transport, offer to come see one built and provide more details overall, would encourage people to invest or at least consider their project.

Obviously, some projects are more appealing to the public than others, but Kickstarter clearly has potential. It's really up to the project and their developers to develop their pitch. Its left me wondering if I can use this method to fund my journey around the world on my sailboat.

Fundraising 2.0

While I am familiar with the concept of crowdsourcing, I had never actually spent much time looking at the breadth of projects available to fund. From the serious to the ridiculous, from the clever to the mainstream there does seem to be something for every type of interest on the Kickstarter site. I chose to analyze three projects with different intentions and varying degrees of creativity as well as support.

O2 The Dance Company presents: Between the Branches

by O2 The Dance Company

This project immediately appealed to me in part, because of a passion for the arts and in particular dance. The video immediately drew me in with a sense of professionalism as well as openness and authenticity. As a dance teacher I was also encouraged by the caliber of the company portrayed through the footage. The text narrative enhanced my understanding of the sense of this company in relation to their community connection. It also used an emotional appeal by expressing a string desire to not only succeed as a Company but to grow opportunities for dancers in Alberta and in Canada.

They are a third of the way to goal with six days remaining so I would say it is moderately successful.

In terms of recommendations, I think the video could have been even more powerful if it was a bit shorter or was separated into a couple of impactful clips. Also, I would consider changing the music to something a bit more uplifting to change the tone of the request. The mood created was somewhat melancholy which negatively contrasted an uplifting message.

REink - A Personalized Notebook
by orangedoor

I was so intrigued by the product and message I am planning on backing this project! I think the product itself is creative and practical and these characteristics are reflected in the content as well as the design.



The style of the video and use of statistics was powerful! I was also impressed by the name & logo and the play on words that were developed to create a compelling closing statement. ReThnk Ink. ReWrite. ReNote. ReDraw. ReMember. ReInk.

In the text based narrative, the description of the product is concise. The idea of personalization is also key and should resonate with a generation that is used to accessing custom options. They have included illustrations to highlight the rewards in a more artistic way which is consistent with the style and energy of the site.

There has been some moderate interest generated.

From a recommendation standpoint, I wonder if the name gives enough insight into the project? I think the recyclable aspect deserves more of the focus than the personalization. Perhaps Reink: a Reusable Notebook would garner more attention, particularly from a target market interested in sustainable products.

Tiny Houses

by Brad Penney and Heather Giles

Viewing a project without a video certainly shows the stark comparison between multimedia and text based project descriptions. I also didn’t find the narrative to be particularly compelling or descriptive. My first thoughts were that it looked like a shed or a trailer so I wasn’t convinced of its uniqueness in the marketplace.



Without an interior shot or details on how one lives (electricity, plumbing, etc.) it seemed to be lacking any sort of business case or plan.

Wile the idea of living in a small affordable space has merit, I would recommend additional development of the case through a video that features that speaks to the benefits and describes how you actually live in this space.

Kickstarter: Best and Worst Practices

When I first saw what our adventure was to be this week, I went back to my roots as a Business Communications instructor and thought of the AIDA approach to pitching an idea or writing a persuasive message.  In short, the message is organized to:

1. Get the reader's ATTENTION
2. Pique the reader's INTEREST
3. Build up the reader's DESIRE to participate
4. Provide methods for the reader to take ACTION

With this, I chose three Kickstarter ventures to analyze using the AIDA approach:

Chartier by Darren and Sylvia Cheverie

I first saw this one featured on Edmonton's Shaw Community TV Channel 10 - yes, I am that kind of person.  Anyway, Darren and Sylvia want to open a Quebecois-cuisine restaurant in the Capital region's very own Paris of the Prairies - sorry, Winnipeg! I'm talking about Beaumont, AB, just a half hour's drive south of Edmonton.  Their message draws in the reader by starting with a love story about themselves, then tying it in to creating roots in Beaumont and fostering its Francophone culture with food (they had me at roots, BTW, warm fuzzies and all). While it does not follow the AIDA approach 100%, it contains all of the elements, and its desire segment is multifaceted - they even offer hugs when you come in for your first meal as a donor. It just needs a bit of tweaking to make the message's end more action-oriented - reminding people of the time limit and the rewards would reinforce the message.  Its strongest element, however, is its video:

No launch date is given, but site comments start at March 6, and they have until May 4 to reach $95,000 - as of March 25, they are almost halfway there, and no wonder - they have used Sylvia's marketing know-how to create a very powerful message.  

Imagination Studio by William Steed

I chose this last one as it is reminiscent of Curiosity Hacked's Open Lab concept for kids.  William has an innovative idea here but has presented it in a direct-message form - main idea, details, positive close requesting action. He has embedded a video, but the message is different from that in the text - it tells a story of how donors and clients would benefit, but that's left to the last 30-45 seconds of the video.  I am unsure as to whether most would get there, however, as the speed of new images flashing across the screen is so high, I actually got nauseated watching it:

Perhaps others have as well, for the $100k project has only $256 in pledges with 6 days left.

Alberta Legislature Grounds Mirror for PC MLA's by Marc Doll

Okay, so this one is entirely a parody - its creator even says so! "Chances of this project [$150k by April 4, 2015] coming to fruition are between zero and well none...but what the hell...let's have some fun" (para. 2). Doll has chosen emphasize this by only including information under the Risks and Challenges banner, so he is trying to dissuade contributors. Doll is instead trying to bring to attention the fact that the ruling Progressive Conservative government MLA's only need look in the mirror to identify who is at fault for Alberta's current fiscal crisis. He could have emphasized this further in his message and instead asked site visitors instead to take action by emailing their MLA's or using SM to spread the word.

Your money or your ... indifference

For my first-ever foray into the merciless realm of Kickstarter, I briefly examine three varied Alberta projects: one abject failure, one modest success, and one ambitious dream project.

The fail

As I write this, "send my daughter to Spain" has raised $100 of its $2,500 target, with 21 minutes left and counting. I don't like its chances.

I'm sure lower-case-w wendy is a sweet mom with a sweet kid, but this is one sad Kickstarter. The pitch looks like it was slapped together, complete with random punctuation , and Weird Capitalization. It tells us nothing about her daughter — What does the trip mean to her? Is this campaign her only hope? What effort is she contributing?

But the biggest flaw with this effort boils down to two factors:

1. The project photo is strangely lit and massively overexposed. 
2. The pledge reward is a photoshoot.

The (im)modest success

To this charming young artist I say: Your idea is crazy. But, then again, I'm 53 and I think a pierced septum is also crazy. So, you go, girl.

I clicked on this project because I thought it was a joke, but chelsea (again with the lower-case!) won me over with her persuasive, articulate and quirky pitch. She clearly won over a few other people; her $300 project is fully funded with 5 days to spare. I kind of want to follow this story. What will she look like? Are 500 tattoos really enough? ("I've got underwear that I will be willing to wear" — hee!)

The dream project

This Beaumont couple is doing so many things right—and they've raised $40K of their target $95K with five and a half weeks left to go.

They go a bit overboard with the level of detail in their pitch, but I like the sense that they have truly done their homework. I'll even forgive the occasional lapse into hyperbole ("The service will be unlike anything you've had before").

Their rewards (example: brunch for two for a $40 pledge) offer decent value for money, along with the excitement of supporting a new local business — without burdening the owners with a huge financial liability down the road.

This thank-you YouTube video to their supporters pushed my twee-meter slightly into the danger zone — but, gosh darn it, I am pulling for these two.

Module 10: Co-Creation or Crowdsourcing

Module 10: Co-Creation or Crowdsourcing: Moving Beyond Multiple Choice

Monday, March 23, 2015 - Sunday, March 29, 2015 March 26: Find three kickstarter projects that are based in Alberta. Write a blog comment noting your critique of how the stories of the projects are written, whether the projects are (or seem to be) successful and what you would do to improve their success (in terms of the narrative and getting funders emotionally invested) March 29: Having read Vladimir Zwass’s article: “Co-Creation: Toward a Taxonomy and an Integrated Research Perspective,” in a blog comment on my Module 10 post define: co-creation commons collective intelligence trust creation

"Earth is home to the soul" - John Seeds

As corny as it may seem, the content of the Smith article on the ecological unconscious leapt out at me.  I took what was for me the key paragraphs on human displacement and created a Worldle, below:

I love how the words layer interconnectedly in continuous forms of grey. Of course, the largest and darkest terms, one, just, land, heart’s ease spoke easily, but the terms on the periphery, removed, continue, unrecognized, unsettled, communities, changed also spoke, but quite uneasily.

We think, as humans, that our experiences are based on our ability to manipulate that which surrounds us.  We forget, usually purposefully, that we are changed by those experiences, that those surroundings change us as well.  We try and dominate nature, yet the struggle is futile and peace can be found when we realize that, instead, we must commune.  One fiction author that weaves this theme well is Barbara Kingsolver – several of her novels remark on how the environment shapes her characters: this theme dominates The Poisonwood Bible, The Prodigal Summer, and her newest, Flight Behavior. 

Reading Smith also brought to mind the Japanese concept of shinrin-yoku or forest bathing.  Many may think that the Japanese are so focused on technology and modernization, yet its religion, Shinto, is naturalist, as is its most famous form of poetry, the haiku. Yet nature is such an important part of Japanese life; it is more than getting away from it all or getting back to nature – the Japanese see nature as being integral to well-being: 

This Globe and Mail article refers to a study which hypothesizes that the essential oils given off by cedars and other coniferous trees native to Japan (and the NA pacific coast) improve human mindfulness.  This video describes more fully the thereputic benefits of shinrin-yoku. I like how this production utilizes pop-ups to reinforce some of the concepts and provides live links to the sources mentioned, too. 

And finally, for anyone wishing to pursue the study of Interpersonal Ecopsychology, you might want to join the good folks at Colorado's Naropa University (shades of Allan Ginsburg!) - there's actually some cool stuff here, (including the title quote of this blog) especially for those of us who are Whole Foodies:

In the meantime, I have the sudden urge to plan a Sunday trip out to Elk Island National Park, just east of where I live.  Anyone interested in joining me? 

REFERENCE

Smith, D. (2010, January 27). Is there an ecological unconscious [blog post]? Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/magazine/31ecopsych-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Nature and new media

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the readings this week, particularly Smith's article, Is There an Ecological Unconscious?  I read E. O. Wilson's book Consilience in 1999 and was deeply influenced by the message. I later read Biophilia and was captivated by the concept and fly bought into the idea that there is an instinctive bond between human beings and other living systems. To me this is pure logic, because after all how can we be separate from it when we are made of it?

So to come upon Smith article and read about the work of Albrecht, Bateson and Doherty was like a revelation to me.  I watched a TedTalk video of Albrecht (and made my husband watch it!) in which he further expounds on the concepts of solastalgia and soliphilia. Albrecht views solastalgia as a new form of psychoterratic disease, describing it as in a way as to lose solace in the loss of home environment, describing it as a feeling of "homesickness you have when you’re still at home”.  Soliphilia on the other hand is the love of the totality of our place relationships and a willingness to accept, the process to build life rather than destroy it. Albrecht is interested in relationships between environment, natural and human made and our human consciousness. 

Smith's article focuses on the work of people like Albrecht and Doherty who investigate the relationship between  the health of the natural world and the health of the human mind.  As we continue to develop the planet what impact is it having on our psychology?

The Wordle produced from the article made perfect sense to me highlighting words such as nature, psychology, ecological, ecospychology and health. The human race has contributed to the industrialization of the planet and thereby created the ecological challenges we face today, that continue to grow. Is there any doubt it might affect us detrimentally as it does the ecosystem?

It reminds of this video, sadly.

References:

Wilson, E. O. (1984) Biophilia. Harvard Press.

Wilson, E. O. (1998) Consilience : The Unity of Knowledge, Knopf.

Playin' New Media

Tetris®: One of my favourite electronic games ever. As a kid, I played Tetris game on a device as big as a smart phone. As a grown-up, I still have the game on my phone -- I don’t mind getting some points building  up the ‘bricks’ in a perfect wall. Thanks to the researchers, Bushman and Jodi Whitaker, now I know why: “these games not only relax players, but they can lead to . . . ‘kindness’.” (Moore, 2011, para. 4).

While I prefer to let others to appreciate my kindness, I can certainly say that the research findings are true for me: "Relaxing video games put people in a good mood. And when people are in a good mood, they are more inclined to help others." (Bushman, as cited in Moore, 2011, para. 11).

Even if Tetris can be considered the modern video games’ precursor -- it was released on June 6, 1984, I believe that Bushman’s findings are viable for my favourite game, too, as for other non-violent games, as well. As such, Wordle seems to ‘understand’ my appreciation for 'building walls'. It’s true, to me, Tetris is “entertaining’, “relaxing”, “enjoyable” in the “long-term”.

Creative misunderstanding

In picking one of this week's readings to plug into a Wordle, I decided to throw a bit of a curve ball by going with the lyrics to Bjork's "Sacrifice" (Internet song lyric sites are notoriously unreliable, but these lyrics seemed to match what she was singing).  Here's what Wordle gave me:

Given the title Bjork chose for her 2011 album, Biophilia, I read the lyrics metaphorically—as a plea to humanity to reconnect with nature:

Build a bridge to her.

Initiate a touch

before it's too late.

Having played a bit with Wordle, I see it as a kind of typographic Rorschach test—you often see what you're looking for. "love Now," Bjork seems to be commanding us, and we reply "Yes, before it's too late!"

The punchline to my little foray into Bjork analysis came when I probed a bit further on the Internet, to maybe get a sense of what drew the quirky Icelandic singer to Edward O. Wilson's writings. I found this Q&A from 2011, in which Bjork admits she picked the title for the album without having a clear idea of what the word "Biophilia" meant. 

"My bad sense of English thought it was feeling up nature or something — Biofeelingup. When I read about it online some people were speculating about the name — I think they went to a dictionary and saw that it means “love of life” and — and I was like “Oops. OK, I can go with that.”

Health. Environment. Human.

The following wordle represents the reading by Daniel B. Smith, 'Is There an Ecological Unconscious?'

The idea of ecological unconsciousness was fascinating and new to me. I have never considered the relation of the human impact on the environment and the resulting psychological effects associated with the health of our planet.

The most noticeable words in white: human, health and environmental are the most aligned with my interpretation of the concept in the reading and serve to support two key theories.

Smith coined the term “solastalgia,” which he defined as “the pain experienced when there is recognition that the place where one resides and that one loves is under immediate assault . . . a form of homesickness one gets when one is still at home.” I interpret that to mean that if the health of the environment suffers, the health of the human will suffer as well. 

Doherty is an advocate of ecopsychology which supports the idea "that grief, despair and anxiety are the consequences of dismissing equally deep-rooted ecological instincts." Again, human health is connected to environmental health. 

Every time I look at this wordle, those three words continue to stand out even while my eye is drawn to varying secondary concepts such as ecological and environment. I definitely think that colour plays a major role in the interpretation and power associated with each word. 

To illustrate the point about colour consider the following image: 

Rubin’s vase: A classical example of figure/ground segmentation. The image is fundamentally ambiguous. People perceive a vase or faces, but not both at the same time. Wikimedia Commons

In both cases my eye is drawn to the negative space created by white on black. So I would presume, like in this sample, that interpretations of the wordle and where the emphasis has been placed will also vary.

ac·tiv·ism

ac·tiv·ism

noun: activism

1 the policy or action of using vigorous campaigning to bring about political or social change.

Activism is such a big word, it implies commitment, energy, motion.  Yet online activism gets downgraded into slacktivism, something Morozov (2009) refers to as ‘political activities that have no impact on real–life political outcomes, but only serve to increase the feel–good factor of the participants’. Christensen  (2011) too believes that online activism is less effective and leads to lower overall levels of participation. Yet, I’m not so sure I agree with them. Yes, people may not be going down to the town square to protest or throw their support behind a movement such as the search for equality but there is the power to share, to make aware, to connect. Raine et al. (2012) argue that people who use social media are more politically active and civically engaged.  Why should using your computer or smart phone be less valid than marching in the street? 

Creating a petition for this assignment was empowering and informative. I sign  petitions online but never really thought about creating one, yet it is such an effective way to get a dialogue going on an issue and make people aware. And interestingly Mitchel & Hitlin (2013) note that the dialogue online can be very different than the one playing out in mainstream media.

Which brings me to my petition for the assignment. 

Deciding on a topic was very difficult because lets face it there’s a lot of issues out there. Having worked in the political world for the last six years and then in the oil industry, for a Norwegian company, Statoil, I’ve had some insights into how the industry is run and how government and industry work with or against one another.  The province of Newfoundland and Labrador, once the poor cousin to the rest of Canada, has been leading the country in growth for several years now, mainly due in large part, to our oil industry.  But part of me believes that we are not managing the resources well and its time  for government, whether its Liberal, PC or NDP, to be more accountable and responsible to the people who live in this province today and to the ones who will be here when the oil runs out.

While working for the Norwegian company, I came to admire their management style and their countries long-term vision for their resource. If I can bring attention to the issue of mismanagement here and get a few people on side with me, then who knows what could happen? Maybe the government in Newfoundland and Labrador will pause and think about how the revenues and structure of oil management is working for this province and look to Norway for guidance and inspiration. And that is what Cadwalladr (2013) is talking about. With effort, we can change the world, have our voice heard and maybe make a difference. And if it is to start with a Facebook post or a Tweet, then what’s wrong with that?

References

Cadwalladr, C. (2013). “Inside Avaaz – Can Online Activism Really Change the World?” The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/17/avaaz-online-activism-can-it-change-the-world

Christensen, H. (2011). “Political Activities on the Internet: Slacktivism or Political Participation by Other Means?” First Monday. Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3336/2767,

Mitchell, A., & Hitlin, P. (2013). “Twitter Reaction to Events Often at Odds with Overall Public Opinion,” Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://journalistsresource.org/studies/politics/elections/pew-research-twitter-reaction-events-odds-overall-public-opinion

Morozov,E. (2009). “The brave new world of slacktivism,” Foreign Policy (19 May). Retrieved from http://neteffect.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/05/19/the_brave_new_world_of_slacktivism

Rainie, L., Smith, A., Lehman Schlozman, K.,Brady, H & Verba, S. (2012). “Social Media and Political Engagement,” Pew Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/10/19/social-media-and-political-engagement/ 

Remove The Cyanide and Other Toxic Ingredients from Our Table Salt!

Check your salt ingredients. Does this contain more than Sodium Chloride (salt) and iodine? Probably, yes. 

While iodine is a good agent, contributing toward optimum endocrine health, table salt may also contain harmful agents -- sugar, dextrose (glucose) -- known to increase the blood sugar levels in diabetics, and toxic chemicals -- cyanide, aluminium, bleach.

Although several studies have indicated that the continued use of refined salt will expose the consumer to aluminium, cyanide and/or bleach toxicity, this dangerous product is still on our tables because manufactures want to secure their profits, selling a long shelf life table salt with poisonous ingredients. This issue bothers me for a while, especially because I have noticed that people who usually are conscious about reading the ingredients on a food product, they omit to check what their salt box contains. This is because they expect the salt to be exactly what the name implies.

Reading about online activism throughout the course, I realised that social media is really capable of “rearticulating solidarity across the world” (Kennedy, 2011). For instance, according to Pew Research Center, “31% of social media users have used the tools to encourage other people to take action on a political or social issue that is important to them” (Rainie et al., para. 7).  Moreover, a report about #Occupy movement indicates that “77.3% [participants] posted about Occupy via Facebook”; and “62.1% signed a petition” (Constanza-Chock, 2012, fig. 3, p. 5). These numbers speak for themselves: They indicate the powerful influence the online activism has nowadays.

For that reason, I took this opportunity to write a petition to address the salt table issue. Ok. Maybe this subject is not so interesting as the #Occupy subject is, yet if you think that every one of us consumes salt with every meal, it is essential to be sure that this will not kill us.

https://www.change.org/p/the-public-health-agency-of-canada-stop-the-cyanide-aluminium-and-bleach-poisoning-with-table-salt

I am aware that this petition might not reach its 100 signatures target. Yet, if some people will check the ingredients on the salt packages, and make the right choice when buying salt, this petition will make a difference. And why not? Maybe, someday, because of our informed choice, all the salt brands will be safe for consumption. It is time to act! Sign this petition! “[The] ‘real’ change can only come from outside the representative democratic system” (Juris, 2012, p. 261). 

References

 (2015). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXeUIYyDE0g

Corriher, C. (2015). The Truth About Table Salt and The Chemical Industry.Healthwyze.org. Retrieved 15 March 2015, from http://healthwyze.org/index.php/component/content/article/115-the-truth-about-table-salt-and-the-chemical-industry.html

Costanza-Chock, S. (2013). Mic Check! Media Practices in the Occupy Movement: Social Movement Studies. Retrieved March 13 http://web.mit.edu/schock/www//docs/pubs/mic-check-2012-costanza-chock.pdf. 

Juris, J. (2012). “Reflections on #Occupy Everywhere: Social Media, Public Space, and Emerging Logics of Aggregation.” American Ethnologist, (2), 259. doi:10.1111/j.15481425.2012.01362.

Kennedy, M. (2011). Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, and Historical Frames: 2011, 1989, 1968. Jadaliyya.com. Retrieved 2 April 2015, from http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/2853/arab-spring-occupy-wall-street-and-historical-fram

Louix Dor Dempriey Foundation,. (2011). The Difference Between Refined Salt and Unrefined Salt - Louix Dor Dempriey Foundation. Retrieved 15 March 2015, from http://www.louix.org/the-difference-between-refined-salt-and-unrefined-salt/

NaturalNews,. (2015). Confront Salt Confusion. Retrieved 15 March 2015, from http://www.naturalnews.com/026080_salt_sodium_health.html#ixzz3UIjunn4G

Rainie, L., Smith, A., Lehman Schlozman, K.,Brady, H & Verba, S. (2012). “Social Media and Political Engagement,” Pew Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/10/19/social-media-and-political-engagement/

My homework assignment changed the world

March 15:
Scott speaks to McDougall congregation about his petition

Okay, so my blog title might be a tad optimistic at this point. But, I really do believe that this little homework assignment will have a lasting impact on Edmonton’s historical, artistic, and literal landscape. In 30 years I fully expect to drive down 101 Street and say to myself, “My #NMN homework assignment helped save McDougall Church.” I am thrilled by this thought.

I had been dreading this assignment because, to be brutally frank, I’ve always viewed online petitions with a jaded eye. I would have become actively involved in the fight to preserve McDougall Church regardless of this assignment—but an online petition would likely not even have been on my radar.

[See the petition here.]

Almost as soon as I created the petition, however, my attitude changed. I felt encouraged by readings like Rainie et al, which talk about people’s political engagement on social media, and by my own independent readings—including this article from the Guardian—that discuss the power of online petitions in spreading awareness and generating publicity.

My petition passed 500 signatures in the first two days, and today (March 15) stands just a few shy of 1,500. Along with the list of names—from across Canada and around the world—the petition has already generated hundreds of eloquent and passionate user comments (read them here).

I have been particularly moved to see the petition spread through social media—and far beyond my own social network. I have seen Facebook posts by complete strangers and tweets by prominent Edmontonians, including this one from renowned choral director Leonard Ratzlaff (U of A professor, director of U of A Madrigal Singers and Richard Eaton Singers, and member of Order of Canada):

City of Edmonton and Government of Alberta: Save McDougall Church http://t.co/fwwuEdY6sf via @CdnChange
— Leonard Ratzlaff (@lratzlaf) March 7, 2015

In my MACT program so far, I have been lucky enough to have several opportunities to apply my schoolwork directly to real-world projects. This unexpected fringe benefit has enriched my learning experience immeasurably.

References:

Rainie, L., Smith, A., Schlozman, K., Brady, H., & Verba, S. (2012, October 18). Social Media and Political Engagement. Retrieved March 15, 2015, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/10/19/social-media-and-political-engagement/

Lowery, B. (2013, April 12). Small online petitions can effect change. Retrieved March 15, 2015, from http://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2013/apr/12/small-online-petition-change