November on diffusion.org.uk
December 18, 2010 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on November on diffusion.org.uk
A handy list of eBooks and StoryCubes published on diffusion.org.uk in November :
City As Material Underside eNotebook
The Tournament of Beasts by DodoLab
As It Comes eBook & StoryCubes by Alice Angus
City As Material : Skyline eNotebook
Ebb and Flow – a collaborative eBook produced by the participants of the City As Material : river event
City As Material : River eNotebook by Proboscis
Second Impressions – Hazem Tagiuri
December 16, 2010 by hazemtagiuri · Comments Off on Second Impressions – Hazem Tagiuri
Hello again. Since writing about my initial experiences of working at Proboscis, I’ve been working on various projects, primarily with bookleteer and the blog. Contributing regularly since Karen Martin sadly left us, I’ve been continuing to look at zine culture, and recently highlighting interesting uses of bookleteer in the Diffusion archive. Blogging several times a week has helped me develop a work ethic in regards to writing, something I was struggling with before joining Proboscis.
Giles and I also launched a new platform for collaborative publishing – our Pitch In & Publish: City As Material series of events. The fifth, and final, event “Sonic Geographies” was last Friday, having being held fortnightly since the 15th of October. Developing the format and planning the entire series was an exciting process, and having an integral role in the creation and running of it was a prestige. Being able to trace it’s inspiration from my early work with zines (the idea born from one day zine-making events), to what we plan to accomplish with future Pitch In & Publish series, gives me confidence to be able to create new long term projects.
A definite highlight of my role is having the chance to sit in on creative meetings, listening to established figure’s ideas whilst observing their ways of working, as well as giving input myself. The enthusiasm that results from open-minded thinking and the visualisation of possible concepts, is hard to match.
Several new team members have also joined us – Radhika, Christina and Moin. Their arrival has certainly brought a surge of activity into the studio, enabling us to work together on projects and gain new insights from other backgrounds.
Lastly, I have to thank Giles and Alice for giving me to opportunity to be here (particularly in this turbulent employment climate), as well as New Deal Of The Mind, whose work to find roles for young people in creative industries is invaluable.
Outside The Box – Progress
December 16, 2010 by mandytang · 1 Comment
Outside The Box is a project inspired by the Love Outdoor Play campaign, which supports the idea of encouraging children to play outdoors. We brainstormed about possible games children could play and creating props to assist their gameplay using Diffusion eBooks and StoryCubes made with bookleteer.
The first idea was a visual game using the StoryCubes, which Karen had blogged a sneak peek of a few weeks back. It was a brain teaser type of game, where one image was spread across two squares – so one face of the cube had 4 halves of an image along each edge of the square. The aim was to match up the top and bottom half together. The puzzle only worked if there was nine squares, any less and it wouldn’t have been challenging enough.
The original set had 4 themes, the first being domestic pets, the second insects and bugs, the third sea creatures and the fourth snakes.
The animal draft set.
After leaving this set out for members of Proboscis to try and solve, they thought it was humorous mismatching the animal halves together. They came up with many wild combinations such as a mer-dog (top half of a dog and lower half of a fish) which struck the idea of another way to play with this set of cubes – make the sound of the animal on the top half and move like the animal on the bottom half. Keeping this idea in mind, I redeveloped the set by adding different animals which make funny noises or move differently and as a result it made the puzzle easier for a younger age group because it resembled the card game Pairs.
More animals have been added!
The next set consists of a role playing game, encouraging children to use their imagination and interacting with each other if played in groups. With elements of exploration, this set was most fitting for the Love Outdoor Play campaign. There are six characters to choose from, each occupying one face on each cube with a mission. Just like the first set, this game used a total of nine cubes – meaning each character had a total of nine missions to accomplish. Characters for this set included spy, detective, super hero, storyteller, adventurer and scientist.
Role playing set progress.
The last set is a story telling game, the set of cubes acts as a starting point in telling a story leaving children to fill in the gaps with their imagination. One cube decides the genre of the story, another cube decides the time setting and a third cube decides how the story will be told. Keeping the consistency of using nine cubes in one set, the remaining six cubes consists of words to which the player will use in their story.
Genre progress
At the moment these games are in prototype stage, where the final colour palette is to be decided and the finishing touches to be made and polished. Although I had hoped to have finished the prototypes sooner I guess working on 162 faces was a lot more challenging than I thought (laughs). 120 of the faces were illustrated and the remaining 42 contained words, which the Proboscis team kindly assisted with (thanks everyone!) Nonetheless, I have enjoyed the whole process and think that this project has given the opportunity for team work and I still feel that I have much to learn and look forward to learning more about the different methods used in deciding a colour palette for the final product.
Second Impressions – Mandy Tang
December 15, 2010 by mandytang · Comments Off on Second Impressions – Mandy Tang
Wow, it’s already time for me to write about my second impressions huh? If you’re wondering, it’s Mandy here! I started in July as a Creative Assistant for Proboscis, it’s been five months already!! Where did all the time go?! (laughs)
It’s been pretty busy during these five months, Giles and Alice have been cracking the whip to keep me busy working (T_T). Just kidding haha. They’ve been great fun, and most generous when offering advice and enlightening me with their knowledge, it always leaves me in awe with the amount of things they know.
Also, there has been more placements on board! Christina and Radhika are such lovely people, they both have a great sense of humour, easy to talk to and are always offering to help when it seems like I have too much going on (laughs). Oh and Moin; our programmer, joined just recently too! As for Haz… he’s been picking on me since day one!! that aside, he offers me assistance and I’ve enjoyed his blog posts and look forward to his future posts. Thanks guys for your help and support!
During the past few months I have been working on various projects. The first being Tangled Threads, then my current project Outside The Box and offering assistance here and there with City As Material.
Throughout these projects I sincerely thank Giles and Alice for trusting me with creating work without any pressure and just allowing me to carry out the projects to the best of my ability whilst offering kind encouragements. I tend to get carried away with trying to perfect everything so I thank you both for your patience and apologise for the delays!
If you remember reading my first impressions, I mentioned the many different assets in the studio either tucked away or on display and wondering about the story behind them… well… I’ve joined in with my own clutter! I’ve made so many Story Cubes I can build a fortress! Soon I’ll have enough to make a draw bridge to go with it (laughs).
It’s been really fun so far and I’ve learnt a great deal from Giles and Alice. I’ll do my best to fulfil my role and create work which others will enjoy! Have a great Christmas everyone!
A quick doodle of my fortress!
Education Research & Outreach for bookleteer
December 14, 2010 by Giles Lane · 1 Comment
At the beginning this year I started planning how we could begin to introduce bookleteer into education and learning contexts and programmes – not just in formal settings such as schools, colleges and universities, but also in other spaces and places where learning takes place : museums, community centres, libraries, archives and grassroots groups.
We began this journey with a Pitch Up & Publish workshop in February co-hosted by former teacher, writer and digital evangelist at TeachersTV, Kati Rynne which was aimed at teachers and creative people who work in education settings. Among the participants who took part was Ruth from Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination who have ended up creating around a dozen eBooks for workshops and projects they’ve been running with people of all age groups. Others have also used bookleteer in their own projects and for creating teaching and learning outcomes – workbooks, notebooks, documentation and course materials – and not just in English, but Hindi and Arabic so far too.
Our own City As Material event series has also outlined a simple model to bring a group of people together to explore an idea, place or theme and then collaboratively produce eBooks (you can follow the development of the series over at diffusion.org.uk). In these events we’ve shared lots of local knowledge and experience within the group of participants, and found creative ways to share and explore themes of common interest with other people. Its very much in the informal/non-formal learning space (one of the participants was Fred Garnett, a former policy advisor at Becta who’s written on and worked extensively in this area) and I think it suggests exciting ways in which hyper-local groups can come together to explore or pool knowledge and experience, capture and share it in a rapid and very easy way not only among themselves but with wider communities too.
More recently we’ve been joined by an Education Assistant on a 6-month placement whose role is to help extend and focus our efforts on working both in formal and informal learning. We’ve begun a collaboration with Soho Parish Primary School, where she’ll be spending 1 day a week from January til Easter – helping both teachers and students use bookleteer to create tangible outcomes from curriculum based projects. We’re also using this project to understand more about the specific needs of schools in using online platforms like bookleteer; potentially to build a separate schools version that suits the context of authoring and sharing by children and the need for oversight by staff around issues such as child protection.
bookleteer is about helping people make and share beautiful publications of their own – whether they handmake the results or choose the PPOD professional printing service. We want to help people find new and dynamic ways to record and share the ideas, stories, knowledge and experiences they have – learning and exchanging things of value as they go. bookleteer has enormous potential to enable people to make and share things of their own, books and storycubes; things which they can share with people all around the world, without the problem of shipping physical objects. Hand-written eBooks can be scanned in and made available online in the same way as ‘born digital’ ones and can also be turned into professionally printed books too.
We’d love to hear from other people in education and learning contexts who see the potential of using bookleteer in their own work and play, want to try it out and share their ideas, experiences and templates with others. We’d like to see bookleteer evolve into more than just a tool – into a community of practitioners creating and sharing across many languages, geographies, interests and outcomes. In the new year we’ll be launching new functionality which will open it up even further. Watch this space.
Radhika Patel – 1st impressions post
December 13, 2010 by radhikapatel · Comments Off on Radhika Patel – 1st impressions post
Hey, Radhika here, Proboscis’s new Marketing and Business Development Assistant. It has been 2 years since I graduated and I felt like landing a job in marketing which I craved so much, was not going to happen any time soon, until I came across Proboscis through the Future Jobs Fund placement. I applied to the role straight away, which I knew was perfect for me and when I got the call saying I had been offered the job, I was over the moon.
I have been at Proboscis just over a month now and really feel apart of the team. Giles and Alice are both welcoming as well as the other placements. As this is my first time working in the arts, which is proving to be an enjoyable experience, I have had the opportunity to learn about new and interesting topics. I find Alice and Giles to be really knowledgeable which is quite inspiring at times, as I have explored areas which I wouldn’t have if I wasn’t here.
Take the City as Material (Skyline) walk, which occur fortnightly, as an example. This walk has been my favourite so far as I simply love walking around a city (in any country) looking at the architecture. It made me look at London from a whole new perspective, as well as learning interesting facts throughout the day from Giles and the special guest speaker Simon.
I spent my first week getting to know Proboscis, their projects and how to use Bookleteer. Along with Christina, Proboscis’s Education Assistant, we both created eBooks (shown below) using Bookleteer – ‘Eye Make Up Tips’ and ‘My London.’
I am still getting the hang of assembling the eBooks, but I am getting quicker and better each time I put one together. 🙂
Currently, I am working on the new StoryCubes website (launching soon), writing posts for various uses of a StoryCube. I’ve never been a blogger of any sort, so when it came to writing posts I found it difficult to get my head around. However after some guidance from Giles and Alice, I’ve now got the hang of it and am excited to carry on and write more posts for you all to read and enjoy.
What I like most about working at Proboscis is being able to work on my own projects as well as working with the other placements, helping them with their projects and working as a team. We all get along really well and the atmosphere is really relaxed and laid back which makes working in the studio more fun!
This is just the beginning for my time at Proboscis and even though the four flights of stairs takes it out of me every morning, I am looking forward to see what my forthcoming days here will bring.
Mandy’s guest post on NDotM blog
December 6, 2010 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on Mandy’s guest post on NDotM blog
Mandy recently had a guest post published on New Deal of the Mind’s blog where she discusses her experiences of the first few months and the GOALS programme which is offered as part of the placements run through NDotM.
welcoming another new placement
December 6, 2010 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on welcoming another new placement
We’re very happy to welcome Moin Ahmed to the Proboscis team on a six month placement funded through the FutureJobs Fund, in partnership with the London Borough of Islington.
Moin has joined us as a coder/web development assistant and will be working primarily on bookleteer.com as well as other online projects we have running. He recently completed a degree in Computer Science and Informations Systems at Goldsmiths College, University of London and has been volunteering for non-profits and working on his own projects since then.
With Dodolab in Oxford
December 3, 2010 by hazemtagiuri · Comments Off on With Dodolab in Oxford
Yesterday, Giles and myself took a trip to Oxford to meet Andrew and Lisa from Dodolab, who have just arrived in the UK, for an informal City As Material style wander. We thought it might be a great place to hold future Pitch In & Publish sessions, so we explored several of its museums as possible locations for inspiration.
First up, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, (whose sign actually bears a Dodo) an amazing building hosting the skeletons of various beasts and stuffed creatures, and also containing the entrance the Pitt Rivers Museum. Dedicated to anthropology and world archeology, this extraordinary place is crammed with a huge array of exhibits; ancient handicrafts, shrunken heads, ornate weaponry, lining every inch. Lastly, the Ashmolean, with an extensive collection of western paintings.
Impromptu Pitch In & Publish sessions, perhaps causing some light mischief along the way with our partners in crime Dodolab, would be a great idea. The Pitt Rivers in particular would be perfect, perhaps a storytelling scenario where participants swap real and imagined tales about found objects and create their own eBooks chronicling them. We’re looking forward to returning and having some more fun.
Trading drawings, tea and mince pies
December 2, 2010 by aliceangus · 1 Comment
My time in Lancaster on As It Comes is drawing to a close this weekend with our final event this Saturday when we’ll be hosting a stall at the Vintage and Handmade Market at Storey Gallery in Lancaster from 11am until 6pm. Instead of a financial exchange for one of my drawings (with a brew, mince pie and piece of cake), I’ll be asking for your memories about independent shops. So bring me a memory and we will provide a drawing and some tasty refreshments. Directions are here.
At 1pm I’ll also be doing an informal talk about the work and weather permitting we will walk down to the hangings in 18 New Street and talk about Lancaster’s independent traders. You’ll also be able to pick up the set of storycubes and the project publication.
This week we had Caroline Maclennan in the studio using bookleteer to create a download-print and make sketchbook of documentation of As It Comes. We’ve been lucky to have Caroline as a placement on the project and she has also been documenting its progress. You can download her book here:
With DodoLab & Broken City Lab in Windsor, ON
November 24, 2010 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on With DodoLab & Broken City Lab in Windsor, ON
From Windsor to Detroit (McKee Park)
I’ve just returned from a research trip to Ontario, Canada with DodoLab where we spent a week planning new projects and doing a site visit to Windsor, Ontario for a batch of projects next Autumn with local artist-led group, Broken City Lab. Windsor is on the south side of the Detroit river from Detroit itself and, whilst being one of the earliest settlements in Canada, owes much of its former prosperity to Detroit’s auto industry. Today it is a town with serious industrial decline, urban blight and heavy pollution from the surrounding heavy industry and the vast numbers of trucks rolling across the Ambassador Bridge from the US into Canada.
Over the next year we aim to participate in DodoLab’s ongoing, intermittent residency in Windsor culminating in a week-long anarchaeological exploration of the city and the history of its futures. Building on the process we are developing through our current series of events here in London, City As Material, we’ll aim to work with local people in and around Windsor to create a series of shareable publications with bookleteer that can begin not just to map out the imagined futures of the past as created by the City and corporations, but also to project new ones based on hopes and aspirations of the grassroots communities who live there now.
As It Comes
November 5, 2010 by aliceangus · Comments Off on As It Comes
For the past few weeks I’ve been heading up and down from Lancaster working on As It Comes. It was commissioned by Mid Pennine Arts and Lancaster District Chamber of Commerce and is inspired by both the heritage and future of local traders and shopkeepers.
I have been interviewing and drawing with some of Lancaster’s current shopkeepers and traders to understand more about their businesses and talk about; craft and knowledge; communities and friendships; and the relationship with commodities, food, and people that is different from chains and supermarkets.
The project is continuing my work on markets and shops exploring the people and communities they engender. I’ve been continually inspired by the skills, crafts and care of traders I’ve met in Lancaster – whether selling fabric, repairing tools or butchering meat. The As It Comes blog is recording some of the thoughts and conversations as the project continues.
Next week I am hanging some large scale work in New Street that combines traditional embroidery with drawing and digital printing on fabric, inspired by these conversations, the history of trade, development of textile technologies and history of cotton weaving in the area.
On the 4th December I’ll be leading a walk around of Lancaster talking about some of the issues raised by the project and thinking about the future of independent traders and town centers. NEF (New Economics Foundation) have published a follow up to their 2005 Clone Town report, entitled Re-imaging the High Street: Escape From Clone Town Britain which supports the need for independent traders; and the Transition Town movement – among others is gathering pace – so I am wondering what we want the new ecology of the high street to be? If you believe that supermarkets and large chains are unsustainable environmentally and socially, but we need some of what they offer, what new retail ecology might we build in the future?
City As Material Series
November 3, 2010 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on City As Material Series
We’ve recently started a new series of events called City As Material. Between October and December 2010 we’re running 5 one-day urban exploration and collaborative publishing events which aim to bring diverse groups together around a number of topics to generate some fresh perspectives on urban space and experience. We will be coordinating the creation of a collaboration Diffusion eBook as the outcome of each event, which will be published on diffusion.org.uk and printedin a limited edition using bookleteer’s PPOD service. Each event will also have a special guest who will be invited to share their personal interests in the topic and who will also be commissioned to create their own eBook for the series:
- Streetscapes (15th October) – guest : Tim Wright
- River (29th October) – guest: Ben Eastop
- Skyline (12th November) – guest : Simon Pope
- Underside (26th November) – guest : Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino
- Sonic Geographies (10th December) – guest : tbc
Book places for the events here : cityasmaterial.eventbrite.com
Download publications from the series here : diffusion.org.uk/?cat=976
Follow our reports on the events here : bookleteer.com/blog/tag/pitch-in-publish/
October Newsletter
October 27, 2010 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on October Newsletter
October 2010 Newsletter
A roundup of activities, projects, events, publications and other assorted good things/mischief which we’ve been up to recently.
NOW & UPCOMING
CITY AS MATERIAL EVENTS
Proboscis is hosting 5 fortnightly participatory publishing events at our studio from October 15th to December 10th 2010. Each event has a special guest and a topic serving as the focus for producing a collaborative publication/zine (using bookleteer.com) which will be printed in small editions using bookleteer’s PPOD service.
The first event on Streetscapes with guest Tim Wright took place on Oct 15;
The next event on River with guest Ben Eastop is on Friday 29th Oct;
The third event on Skylines with guest Simon Pope will be in November 12th.
http://cityasmaterial.eventbrite.com/
AUTUMN OFFER – 60% OFF SPECIAL SET
To help raise funds for a new security system at the studio (after our 2nd break in this year) we are offering a massive 60% discount on a special set of our previous bookworks : the Social Tapestries Case of Perspectives, Alice Angus’ Endless Landscape Magnets and the Being In Common: Catalogue of Ideas deck of cards.
http://proboscis.org.uk/store.html#offers
NEW STORYCUBE SIZES
We have recently introduced a new medium size StoryCube (82x82x82mm) that is available both as an option to design your own personalised StoryCubes with bookleteer.com and also in packs of blanks to buy for workshops, projects and activities.
http://storycubes.net
DODOLAB WINDSOR/DETROIT
Giles will be collaborating with DodoLab in Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan as part of their ongoing project with Broken City Lab in November.
http://proboscis.org.uk/projects/dodolab-collaboration/
AS IT COMES
Alice has been commissioned by Mid-Pennine Arts to create a new site-specific work in Lancaster in response to the history and future of local trade and independent shops which launches on 10 November and on 4th December there will be a talk and walk-round in the city.
http://lancasterasitcomes.wordpress.com/
TANGLED THREADS
Proboscis is developing a new film about our work with sensors, mapping, mobile technologies and community for an upcoming online exhibition curated by Jeremy Height of the MIT Locative Media Institute. Mandy Tang has created a storyboard for the film which has been published as a Diffusion eBook with pop-ups.
http://proboscis.org.uk/1927/tangled-threads/
NEW BOOKLETEER FEATURES
Over the summer we’ve made a number of changes and added some new features to make bookleteer easier and better to use. Its free to join and create your own Diffusion eBooks and StoryCubes. You can also order professionally printed and bound versions via our exclusive PPOD service. We also have a supporters’ club which ‘crowdsources’ donations towards the costs of developing and maintaining the platform – members get benefits such as discounts on PPOD orders and other freebies.
http://bookleteer.com
http://bookleteer.com/blog/pod/
http://bookleteer.com/blog/alpha-club/
RECENT ACTIVITY
GRAFFITO AT VINTAGE & TENT DIGITAL
Graffito, a free collaborative drawing app for iPhones/iPads, was shown during the summer at the Vintage@Goodwood Festival and then at Tent Digital as part of the London Design Festival. Graffito is a collaboration between BigDog interactive, Queen Mary University of London, University of Nottingham, University of Glasgow and Proboscis, funded by the Horizon Digital Economy Research Institute. Download it from the App Store and play on its global canvas today.
http://proboscis.org.uk/tag/graffito
100 VIEWS OF WORTHING PIER
Alice was commissioned by Artistsandmakers to create new work for Worthing Pier as part of Pier Day/Made in Worthing Festival in September.
http://proboscis.org.uk/1951/100-views-of-worthing-pier-tall-tales-ghosts-and-imaginings/
SEVEN DAYS IN SEVEN DIALS
Proboscis was one of several partners helping young placements in the Culture Quarter programme explore and create new works about the Seven Dials area of Covent Garden. Alice, and our own placements Karine & Shalene, worked with the other young people to create a series of Diffusion eBooks using bookleteer.com
http://proboscis.org.uk/1738/seven-days-in-seven-dials/
DODOLAB RIJEKA
Proboscis took part in DodoLab’s creative intervention in the city of Rijeka, Croatia in June, Alice is making a new animation about the role of the market in city life and Proboscis were helping create and print StoryCubes and Diffusion eBooks.
http://proboscis.org.uk/tag/dodolab/
CREATIVE PLACEMENT PROGRAMME
Proboscis has developed a new creative placement programme in partnership with New Deal of the Mind and the London Borough of Islington. During 2010-11 we will be hosting 7 placements (funded through the Future Jobs Fund). The roles include: communication assistant, creative assistant, marketing assistant, education assistant and web development assistant. Two people have now completed their placements with us, Karine Dorset and Shalene Barnett – you can read their reports on their experiences here:
http://proboscis.org.uk/tag/placement-report/
NEW DIFFUSION TITLES
Below is a list of new titles of downloadable Diffusion eBooks and StoryCubes published on http://diffusion.org.uk since our last newsletter
The Stories So far… by Cartoon de Salvo http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2193
The UnBooklet of Diasappropriation: Situated Moments from the City http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2188
Passivhaus Field Trip eNotebook by Rob Annable http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2182
Streetscapes eNotebook by Proboscis http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2175
Tangled Threads by Mandy Tang http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2171
Graffito by BigDog Interactive & Proboscis http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2146
Topographies and Tales StoryCubes by Alice Angus & Joyce Majiski http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2140A StoryCube about bookleteer.com by Proboscis http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2135
My Work at Proboscis by Karine Dorset http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2130
Bird Song by Melissa Bliss http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2122
Graffito Vintage Festival ScrapBook by Jennifer Sheridan http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2115
Ode to Dawson by Joyce Majiski & John Steins http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2111
Excavations in the Temple Precinct of Dangeil, Sudan by Julie Anderson & Salah Mohamed Ahmed http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2108
Seven Days in Seven Dials by Proboscis http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2096
What Type Are You? A StoryCube Game by Mandy Tang http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2090
Scribbles by Hazem Tagiuri http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2087
Cosmo China 20th Anniversary Exhibition http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2081
Cocktail Recipes by Karine Dorset http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2076
Greenhill eBooks by Gillian Cowell http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2069
Rijeka Pier (RIBA RIBI GRIZE REP) by DodoLab http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2066
Kitchener African Canadian Workshop by DodoLab http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2054
Meet Us At Kont by DodoLab http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2060
Rijeka, City of Diversities by DodoLab http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2051
Rijeka Work Book by DodoLab http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2047
In-site Toronto by YZO http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2039
Schedulers by Alice Angus http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2023
My Thought Book & StoryCube by Shalene Barnett http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2019
Cook ‘N’ Colour by Karine Dorset http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2016
DodoLab: Island Stories Book 1 by Andrew Hunter & Paula Jean Cowan http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2011
The Coalition: our programme for government by HMG http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2008
Graffito @ Tent Digital
October 6, 2010 by hazemtagiuri · Comments Off on Graffito @ Tent Digital
The other week I had another chance to help the Graffito crew, this time exhibiting at Tent Digital in the Old Truman Brewery, as part of the London Design festival. I popped down on Thursday and Friday to lend a hand showcasing it, in much the same way as the Vintage at Goodwood festival; getting visitors to collaboratively doodle on an iPhone or iPad, their handiwork being displayed via a projector onto a large screen. This time however, the focus was very much on Graffito in its own right, rather then part of a festival arena. Many visitors were in the design industry and were considering larger implications for Graffito, which meant diverting many of the more technical questions to Nick and Jenn, the developers. I was content to continue doodling, and now I can boast impressive renditions of a rabbit, a rural landscape, and a raincloud, very topical considering the weather outside.
There seemed to be a lot more collaborative drawing this time around, with people adding to drawings by others, perhaps due to the more focused interaction in a smaller space. The eBook created for the event by Giles proved to be very popular – we even had to restrict the amount available at any time to avoid being empty handed on the remaining days.
Keep doodling!
FJF Placement Opportunity: Marketing/Business Development Assistant
October 5, 2010 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on FJF Placement Opportunity: Marketing/Business Development Assistant
*** Update 22/10/2010 : this vacancy has been filled ***
Are you aged between 18-24 and receiving Job Seekers Allowance?
Want to gain experience working in a creative company?
Proboscis is recruiting for a new Future Jobs Fund Placement (6 months at 25 hours per week) to join our team. We’re looking for someone who has a keen eye for detail and strong communication skills, someone who’ll want to help us reach new audiences, engage new participants and help our projects have a bigger impact.
To Apply : contact/visit a JobCentrePlus quoting reference CTE/154611
This placement is offered through our partnership with New Deal of the Mind
Marketing/Business Development Assistant Placement (NDotM FJF)
Role: Marketing/Business Development Assistant
Location: Central London (Clerkenwell)
Salary: £6.14 per hour
Job Type: Part-time 25 hours per week, 6 month placement
Person Specification
Are you interested in social media, art, creative technology and social engagement?
Can you communicate complex ideas in a simple and understandable way to different audiences?
Would you like to be part of a small dynamic creative artist studio which creates innovative projects?
The role of marketing assistant is for a highly motivated individual to help us communicate our work to diverse new audiences and to help us develop new business opportunities to promote growth, resilience and sustainability.
Duties
– support the creative team to communicate a range of projects to different audiences
– produce and disseminate marketing materials for different projects and activities using social and traditional media
– research & identify new business opportunities and markets for our projects, platforms and products
Requirements
– ability to work in a small team
– interest in arts, film, social media, design, culture and people
– experience of marketing, PR or business development
– familiarity with computers, the internet and social networking tools
– self-motivation
– willingness to learn new skills and take on personal challenges
Applications
All candidates should submit an up-to-date CV, with two references (where possible) and a covering letter explaining your interest and suitability for the job.
Eligibility
You must be aged 18-24, be unemployed and claiming Jobseekers Allowance for 6-12 months. Other JSA claimants aged 18-24 may also be eligible regardless of how long they’ve been claiming the benefit (please check with your Adviser).
FJF Placement Opportunity : Education Assistant
October 5, 2010 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on FJF Placement Opportunity : Education Assistant
*** Update 14/10/2010 : this vacancy now closed ***
Are you aged between 18-24 and receiving Job Seekers Allowance?
Want to gain experience working in a creative company?
Proboscis is recruiting for a new Future Jobs Fund Placement (6 months at 25 hours per week) to join our team. We’re looking for someone who is passionate about working with learners of different ages and engaging them in new creative experiences.
To Apply : contact/visit a JobCentrePlus quoting reference CTE/154610
This placement is offered through our partnership with New Deal of the Mind
Education Assistant Placement (NDotM FJF)
Role: Education Assistant
Location: Central London (Clerkenwell)
Salary: £6.14 per hour
Job Type: Part-time 25 hours per week, 6 month placement
Person Specification
Are you interested in working with children and young people on creative projects combining the internet, publishing, arts and design?
Would you like to be part of a small dynamic creative artist studio working with children and young people using our innovative bookleteer.com publishing platform?
The role of education assistant is for a highly motivated individual interested in creativity, art, film, social networking tools, internet, design, culture and people to work as an assistant on education projects in a school and with other young people using bookleteer.com to help young people create their own publications.
Duties
– be part of a creative team
– act as the key contact for education projects
– work with children and young people on creative projects in schools and other venues
– work with our partners (teachers, artists, writers etc) to design and deliver projects and workshops with children and young people
– research & identify opportunities for new partnerships and collaboration in education and learning
Requirements
– ability to work in a small team
– interest in arts, film, social media, design, culture and people
– experience of working with children or young people in an education or learning environment (school, youth group, etc)
– familiarity with computers, the internet and social networking tools
– self-motivation
– willingness to learn new skills and take on personal challenges
– CRB check required (can be obtained on appointment).
Applications
All candidates should submit an up-to-date CV, with two references (where possible) and a covering letter explaining your interest and suitability for the job.
Eligibility
You must be aged 18-24, be unemployed and claiming Jobseekers Allowance for 6-12 months. Other JSA claimants aged 18-24 may also be eligible regardless of how long they’ve been claiming the benefit (please check with your Adviser).
Autumn 2010 Special Offer/Fundraiser
October 1, 2010 by Giles Lane · 1 Comment
Last weekend the Proboscis studio was burgled for the 2nd time this year. As a result we need to install a new alarm and security system (costing over £2k) so we’re hoping to raise funds for it with a special offer on some of our publications.
We’ve bundled together 100 copies of the Social Tapestries Case of Perspectives, Alice’s Endless Landscape Magnet Set & the Catalogue of Ideas from our Being In Common project – all for less than 50% of their combined usual price.
The magnets and cards make ideal gifts, while the Case of Perspectives is a limited edition artists bookwork created by Alice and me as part of the Urban Tapestries and Social Tapestries projects.
*** Buy your set here ***
100 Views of Worthing Pier: Tall Tales, Ghosts and Imaginings
September 21, 2010 by aliceangus · 5 Comments
Earlier this year I was asked by artist Dan Thompson of Revolutionary Arts Group and www.artistsandmakers.com to create new work inspired by Worthing Pier for the tremendous Worthing Pier Day and the Made in Worthing Festival.
I recommend a visit to Worthing Pier, its not the longest or the oldest but in its fabulous streamlined charm it has all the hope of the future. When the wind blows you feel it might break loose and sail off, past the kite surfers, windsurfers and yachts, beyond the lifeboat men and fishing boats and way on out over the misty horizon and over the high seas.
I think Dan just wanted a couple of drawings but after getting the chance to explore the Pier and get to know it better I got carried away by the stories I discovered and set out to make a new series of works on paper and an animation. I’m interested in our relationship to water and how it is changing;- the life above and below the pier, in and out of the water, the characters of seaside entertainment, the ghosts of past fishermen, sailors and boatmen, all the tall tales of the sea, the lore of tides and weather, the survival of coastal communities and the feat of the engineering of the pier.
I made some visits to the Pier to explore it above and below, at low tide and high tide, walking, swimming, in a kayak… I thought very much about the icon of the pier and its visibility all along the coast. I found so many intertwined stories of lives lived, and lives imagined around the pier and decided to make a series of 100 views of the pier, partly inspired by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi‘s legendary 100 Views of the Moon published in 1885. The views incorporated characters from legends as well as real life.
Around 40 of my 100 Views of the Pier were installed temporarily on the Pier in September for Pier Day and the festival the remaining ones will eventually be published via Bookleteer.com and launched alongside a short film I’m working on of my explorations above and below deck.
Tangled Threads
September 20, 2010 by mandytang · 2 Comments
Tangled Threads consists of a storyboard in the form of a Diffusion eBook, that reflects upon the different projects and aspects to which Proboscis has delved into. You can download a copy of the eBook here: http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=2171
My task was to create a storyboard using only the text Karen had scripted. With her words I had to create a series of fast sketches within a short time frame, jotting down the first visual that came to mind. It was later decided that the finished storyboard was to be presented in the form of an eBook, as a counterpart for a new Proboscis film that will be presented as part of a Leonardo/MIT mobile digital exhibition curated by Jeremy Hight.
This was my first time creating a full scale storyboard, but it was also my first time adjusting it to an eBook format. It encouraged me to use different panels and discard frames which can be reduced to one panel. I am also glad it became an eBook because it would have been a real shame if others could not see the impressive text Karen had written.
The most challenging part of this project was the initial sketches: being asked to do fast speed sketching within a time limit. This method made me stay focused and avoid swaying off into different artistic directions and just sketching the first thing that came to mind, then only further developing that idea. Although this method sounds like rushing, the results were pretty interesting!
Overall, it was a great challenging project which allowed me to experiment with a different technique to spark my imagination and creativity. It gave me a chance to use some of my own knowledge about storyboarding and panelling, and Alice had given me a lot of freedom with the concepts. It was also a great opportunity to practice artistic techniques and being aware of areas that may need more improvements.
Here are a few samples from the eBook and initial sketches, the first stage as I mentioned earlier was creating the quick rough sketches of what popped up in my mind. Then I condensed frames to a set of panels on a single page, with this it is scanned in and cleaned up. The final stage was digitally painting the images and resizing them according to the Bookleteer guidelines.
10 Years of Diffusion
September 18, 2010 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on 10 Years of Diffusion
Its 10 years since we published the very first series of Diffusion eBooks – how time flies! Over on diffusion.org.uk we’ve written a short recap of what we’ve achieved with this project in the last decade and look ahead to what we’re planning to kick-off the next one. You can also read a more in depth post from 2007 on the history of Diffusion.
Graffito at London Design Festival
September 17, 2010 by Giles Lane · Comments Off on Graffito at London Design Festival
Next week (Thursday 23rd to Sunday 26th September) Graffito will be exhibited at the Tent Digital in the Truman Brewery, Brick Lane as part of the London Design Festival. Around 19,000 visitors are expected at the venue over the four days, and we will also be presenting the project at a special event for UK Trade & Investment.
We’ve created a special Diffusion eBook about the project for the event – where we’ll have some PPOD printed copies to give away. We’ve also done some early analysis of the server logs. To date we’ve had over 8,000 downloads of the App from the iTunes App Store and 18,000 connections since August 10th (that’s about 500 people a day playing with it). The map below shows where people have been connecting from (based on their iPhone/iPad GPS).
Come along and take part.
Shalene Barnett : Placement Report 2010
September 10, 2010 by admin · Comments Off on Shalene Barnett : Placement Report 2010
Communications & Coordination Assistant
(6 Month Placement Future Jobs Fund, March-September 2010)
When I first started working for Proboscis in March 2010, I was unsure about what my role would be or even what Proboscis was really about.
My first month was spent learning about what Proboscis is about. I learnt that they are an art organisation who work on a variety of projects within the art sector, I also learnt that they create and publish eBooks and story-cubes using a programme called Bookleteer which was created by Proboscis.
In my first month I was introduced to tender searching. This was something I had not heard of before. I learnt that tenders are like projects, so I learnt how to project search on various art websites.
Once the first month had passed, and I fully understood what Proboscis was about I was asked to try and think of a way that the eBooks could be used to connect with young people. Over the next couple of months I went about creating a variety of eBooks and story cubes using Bookleteer. I came up with many different ideas such as a calendar, lyrics pad, diary etc. All of these were brilliant ideas but we still could not find a way to make them into a project so as to connect young people to Bookleteer.
One day I was sitting having lunch with my boss and a colleague and we were discussing things we do in our spare time. My boss discovered that I create music and said he would of liked to have known that in the interview. This sparked an amazing idea which was called the MeBook and this MeBook was going to be the connection between young people and Bookleteer.
The MeBook is an informal curriculum vitae. It is a little booklet that would have everything that you would not think about telling an employer in an interview. Its all about what interest you, what makes you tick. We did a trial run making MeBooks but discovered that it was difficult to lose the formalness so because of this another idea was born it was called MeSketch. The MeSketch was another eBook which we created with questions about you, what your ambitions are, what drives you etc. We also structured a workshop as we thought this could be the easiest way for people to understand what the MeBook and its contents were really about.
I had now arrived at the fifth month of working for Proboscis, preparations for the mEbook were going well, and Proboscis had another project for myself and a colleague to work on. It was called Seven Days in Seven Dials. Seven Dials is an area in Covent Garden. A colleague of Giles and Alice (Proboscis directors) had found an empty shop off one of the streets leading of Seven dials and decided to turn it into an exhibition with the help of several FJF placements. We were split into different groups over the time we was there. I was documenting the work of each group so I got to work with different groups everyday.
The first day in seven dials I spent following the film group. They were creating short videos about the seven streets in the Seven Dials. This was interesting as I got to know what each street had to offer weather it be a shoe shop or an interesting piece of history.
Over the next couple of days I followed the photography group and the podcast group. The photography group produced some amazing pictures which I later made into a photography book. The podcast group made podcast about the surrounding area of the Seven Dials, and also some history about the area of Covent Garden. The exhibition was a success.
I am now in my final month at Proboscis and have enjoyed each step of my journey here. I would like to thank Proboscis for showing me my creative side and giving me this opportunity.
Shalene Barnett, September 2010
Graffito: Vintage Festival replay videos
September 8, 2010 by Giles Lane · 1 Comment
Some videos from Graffito in use at the Vintage@Goodwood festival
FJF Placement Opportunity: Coder/Web Programming Assistant
September 1, 2010 by Giles Lane · 1 Comment
***** Update 11/11/2010 : this vacancy has now been filled *****
Are you aged between 18-24 and receiving Job Seekers Allowance?
Want to gain experience working alongside artists in a creative environment?
Do you love building things with HTML, CSS, Javascript & PHP?
Proboscis is recruiting for a new Future Jobs Fund Placement (6 months at 25 hours per week) to join our team. We’re looking for someone who loves developing with CSS, PHP and Javascript (among other things) and wants to get involved in working on creative applications such as bookleteer.com and working mobile apps for iPhone etc.
To Apply : contact/visit JobCentrePlus quoting reference CTE/154454
This placement is offered through our partnership with Islington Council, details of the post are held at the 3 Islington JCPs : Highgate (contact Robert Tomlinson), Barnsbury (contact Yvonne Loong) and Finsbury Park (contact Vanessa Lazarus) as well as Denmark Street JCP.
Coder/Web Development Assistant Placement (Islington FJF)
Role: Coder / Web Development Assistant
Location: Central London (Clerkenwell)
Salary: £7.60 per hour
Job Type: Part-time 25 hours per week, 6 month placement
Person Specification
This role is for a highly motivated individual with good skills working with HTML, CSS, Javascript & PHP who is interested in creativity and culture to assist us on our creative web and mobile projects.
Duties
– be part of a creative team working on Proboscis projects and activities
– work directly developing web projects (primarily HTML, CSS, Javascript & PHP-based) and mobile apps (iPhone/Android)
– be part of a team to researching & identifying creative opportunities for engaging young people with our web and digital media projects
Requirements
– ability to work in a small team
– interest in arts, film, social media, design, culture and people
– experience coding HTML/CSS/Javascript/PHP/Python for web development
– interest/experience in developing apps for iPhone/Android
– self-motivation & responsibility
– willingness to learn new skills and take on personal challenges
Applications
All candidates should submit an up to date CV, with two references and examples of your programming ability (i.e. web/mobile projects you have made).
Eligibility
You must be aged 18-24, be unemployed and claiming Jobseekers Allowance for 6-12 months. Other JSA claimants aged 18-24 may also be eligible regardless of how long they’ve been claiming the benefit (please check with your Adviser).
