War on Stupid at DMA

 Earlier this week I was up in Boston co-presenting "The War on Stupid" with Andrew Davies, a designer extraordinnaire with Paragon Design. As part of the Geekend Roadshow we presented at the Direct Marketers Association conference. It went well, and the crowd seemed to enjoy it. If you read/speak Danish, let me know if this article about the talk is good or bad.

The basic idea is that people need access to important information about the world around them, but most people either don't like to read, or never find time to keep up with more news than what is available via cable news channels. They are left under-served in the realm of informational nourishment. We propose to combat that through the collaboration of creatives (designers, illustrators, filmmakers, sound designers, etc) with 'sense-makers' (journalists, research scientists, etc) to turn complex ideas and data heavy material into short videos.

We created a demo of our idea. Drew took a 3-part investigative piece that I did about a nuclear reactor project outside of Augusta and turned it into a minute-and-a-half long motion graphic video. Check that out here.

You can follow the War on Stupid blog, which highlights other folks working in the realm of information translation.

The War on Stupid demo

Last October, I collaborated with graphic designer Andrew Davies from Paragon on a presentation called "The War on Stupid Needs You," for Geekend. We discussed how the increase in information available to people hasn't been accompanied by any increased ability to process or analyze that information. We talked about how "data" collectors like scientists, journalists and others need to develop new relationships with digital creatives like designers, filmmakers and illustrators who will translate complex ideas into more palatable info-tainment.
As a demonstration, we worked together to take a 3-part series I wrote about funding for Georgia Power's nuclear development of Plant Vogtle and turn it into a short animated video.

Nuclear Bailout from Andrew on Vimeo.

And now we're back...

Saturday night inside the Moogaplex during a secret DJ set by Caribou and Four Tet.

Whoah. Sorry for the delay between posts. It's taken me several days to recover from the weekend in Asheville and to catch up on everything else going on - like my Geekend talk this Friday (11/4) with Drew from Paragon Design called "The War on Stupid Needs You."

The talk is about information translation - taking the important issues covered by long form journalism (which relatively few people can tolerate because of our society's collective media-induced A.D.D.) and distilling them into pill-sized caplets of information that are readily digestible quickly but are able to impart relatively complex discussions on policy, politics, etc. It lays out some guidelines for creating a new system, which is already starting to develop in small clusters, where journalists and creatives of all kinds (designers, animators, recording engineers, etc) join forces to create effective bursts of information that will help explain the issues of the day.

Robot Koch

I posted a video called "Hard to Find" by Robot Koch a couple weeks ago, and I got a little wise, because the video itself was hard to find on Youtube. The reason it was so hard to find was because I thought dude's name was Robert. Robot is a much more fitting name though because in the realm of futuristic beats, this man is on point.

Check out "Away from Me"

On a side note, I really like how some dubstep early adopters are starting to move in a more experimental direction that sits at the center of a triangle between hip hop, electro and house. (Listen to "Away from Me", then go find some of Koch's other stuff, and it will make more sense.)

As further evidence, I submit the artist formerly known as MK2 - he has to change his name because a french company holds a trademark on the name MK2 - who is now known as MNUVR. I hope to be getting my hands on some his new stuff pretty soon. His performance at Geekend was awesome.

Geekend

First of all, I have to apologize for not posting something about this sooner, but you know how it is, something slips onto the back burner and pretty soon, it's boiling, and you've forgotten about it...

Geekend 2009 is gonna be something new for Savannah. It's like the tech side of SXSW, except we can drink in the streets, which means that it will be more fun. Among this year's guests are graphic designer David Carson, Xbox Live's Major Nelson, and many more.

The music bill has fluctuated, roaming from Paul "DJ Spooky" Miller to Killah Priest, but unless there are some changes, it will be a wildly fun evening featuring the artist formerly known as MK2 (he just got a cease and desist from a french company who registered that 3 character moniker) and possibly the most exciting new act in Savannah, Hula Hoop, who have been getting more buzz than just about any band in recent memory for their high energy live shows that combine live drums with skillfully arranged samples that range from old-timey to funky-soul.

Nov. 6-8, go ahead and mark your calendar.