Sarah Hay

Serious Play

Sarah Hay — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:28:08 -0800

I've just come back from a 'serious play' long weekend, sailing around the San Juan Islands in Washington (video footage here). It was a regatta called Round the County that spanned 2 days, saw 64 boats participate, 46 knots of wind the first day and basically none the next day. We placed 3rd in our division and 8th overall. Sailing to me is one of the best examples of serious play. We're all out there giving 110% because we love it and at the same time there is a lot at stake. Overcoming fears and inihibitions, placing ourselves in unknown territory, pushing the limits of our bodies and designs, because in the end it makes everything seem easier and more alive.

Tim Brown's Ted Talk on Serious Play came into my inbox this morning. It's 30 minutes long but it sure is great. He covers a lot of ground explaining how adults can overcome inhibitions surrounding play, learning from children, breaking habits, defering judgement and the absolute importance of creative experimentation.

Seriously good stuff!

tortoise and hare

Sarah Hay — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:06:57 -0700

Are you really in a hurry

Sarah Hay — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:03:08 -0700

When does the story end?

Sarah Hay — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:59:48 -0700

Have you ever wondered what happened after the tortoise beat the hare in that famous race? I hadn't ever really stop to think about what might happen the next time (or times). While jamming on some ideas for stickers to give away for a bike safety station my friend was organizing, I did a quick search for images of the tortoise and the hare. We wanted the caption to say: "Are you really in a hurry?". On my search I found a speculative epilogue to one of my favourite children's stories. I won't recap the story because it's quite short and a great read, but suffice to say, there are a few new morals that present themselves - learning from our mistakes, never giving up, and yes - collaboration. Oops, did I just give it away?

This is not the end of my blog today.

In the context of slow and steady... an article today in Time Magazine caught my attention about social networking platforms, and the race to critical critical mass.

While MySpace got to critical mass first and Facebook became the poster child for the social-network generation, LinkedIn has always been the tortoise in this race.

Reid Hoffman founded LinkedIn in 2003. I have not joined this network but after reading this article and given my intense interest in the Slow Movement, this platform is said to be focussed not on quantity but - quality. You mean I won't get invitations for Vampire, Werewolf, Mummy, and Lil' Green Patch applications? Great. That's not to say they won't be adding applications as they have just signed some deals with Google and Amazon, but they will be very mindful so as to not clutter the user experience - that they will actually be useful in fostering intelligent social connections between professional people.

The main point of this article is that LinkedIn continues to thrive in the midst of these unsettling economic times and it has a lot to do with Hoffmans' strategic, long term planning approach. The author of the article writes:

That's the kind of counter-conventional wisdom and smart strategy that Hoffman is known for. He was one of those guys who obsessively played military board games as a youth. (He once told me he never lost.) Over a year ago, Hoffman starting looking for funding to ensure that LinkedIn would be able to thrive during what he then described as the coming nuclear winter. (He figured a reserve of cash would help LinkedIn buy up companies during the downturn.) All in all, the company has raised $100 million, boasts a $1 billion valuation, and last week signed up its 30 millionth member. (A spokesman told me the sign-up rate has escalated of late and now includes one new member per second.)

Counter conventional wisdom... I like the sounds of that. Perhaps I will be the next new member of the second. Or perhaps I'll take my time to join into yet another. social. media. platform. After lunch.

The process of bringing people together

Sarah Hay — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:16:32 -0700

My friend Sobey introduced me to the City Repair Project a while back. I remember being blown away with optimism by the stories and videos I saw on the website. Just today, I was inspired to revisit the site because of an exciting project we are working on here. I believe more people should know about this project!

City Repair Project is almost an entirely volunteer-run social-profit (non-profit) organization based out of Portland, Oregon but has spread to other communities across the US. What they do really well is engage with people where they live. In other words, they physically go to specific neighbourhoods, bringing with them the necessary tools, equipment and enthusiasm, and invite local residents to take part in a transformation of ordinary space to meaningful place. This could be in an intersection road painting, landscaping round-a-bouts, block parties and even the construction of shaded gathering places. The very process of bringing people together, outside, induces a sense of ownership of the place and from that ensues pride and collectivity.

City Repair Project volunteers are active in their own disciplines, which adds to the diversity and collective intelligence at each event – architecture, planning, permaculture, arts, builders, musicians, etc. all take part and contribute what they can.

The other fascinating thing about this project (you can hear it in this video) is that they did not have permission originally to carry out their vision. What happened when they went ahead anyway was an actual shift in beurocratic thought around the nature of public space in neighbourhoods.

More of that, please.

A little closer to home in Vancouver, there is a group here banding together to promote cultural vibrancy – to end Vancouver’s reputation as No Fun City. Their strategy is to engage with policy makers in order to alleviate the barriers in place for cultural organizers such as performance spaces, galleries and clubs. You can read their manifesto here > www.profuncity.com. Perhaps there is something to learn from City Repair Project.

Ci client mosaic

Sarah Hay — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:54:45 -0700

Ci goes to Vegas, baby!

Sarah Hay — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:26:22 -0700

Ci traveled to the city of Las Vegas, Nevada this week to facilitate a sustainability workshop with a major live entertainment event. They are scheduled to start touring North America early next year so soon we will be able to say more and let you all know when it comes to your city! What I can say though is that everyone present learned a great deal about an expanded view of sustainability and social responsibility. More than a recycling workshop (which is what they thought they were getting), we worked with them to ensure every category and touch point was put through our filter of the 4 pillars of sustainability (personal, social, spiritual and environmental) and the 4 barriers to conscious consumption (price, time, knowledge, pressure).

After two days of solid work, we had the evening free to explore the strip and take in a show. Cirque de Soleil was truly mind blowing. I can hardly believe what human beings are capable of doing when given the opportunity. After stepping back out into the Casino floor, the experience felt entirely like a dream. Did that really happen?

We did of course laugh at the irony of why we were there, in the city of over consumption and excess. I can see though, why so many conferences and off-sites happen in Vegas. It is a city where everything seems possible, even if it is somewhat of an illusion.

A few other highlights of the trip were conversations we had with people living in Vegas – taxi drivers and neighbors at the restaurant table talking about changes they are seeing and have seen recently – things like how the economic situation in the states has been effecting the city and also what kinds of sustainability initiatives they are seeing spurt up. To sum it up, what goes up must eventually come down, and then back up again.

May we live in interesting times.

Plastic pool party

Sarah Hay — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:55:04 -0700

Bathtub garden

Sarah Hay — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:31:18 -0700

Perfectly good stuff

Sarah Hay — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:24:34 -0700

This morning, Kierstin and I went to the Vancouver South Transfer Station, Recycling Depot & Yard Trimmings Drop-off also known as 'the dump' located at 377 West Kent Avenue North in Vancouver. Let me first say that I am a big fan of field trips. Even the bus trip down Cambie was enjoyable because the bus driver really liked his job. He said it was a piece of paradise compared to the 15 years he spent at a plastics recycling plant. We met quite a few people along the way who were more than helpful to share their deep knowledge of the city's industrial metabolism with us. Not only that, they carried so many ideas for improvement, and recognized that these things take time to implement. Patience.

These 2 chairs were on their way to the landfill but someone scooped them up recognizing that they don't yet belong there. Perfectly good stuff. If you ever get a chance, take a 1/2 day field trip to your city dump and recycling centre and just take a look at the stuff people are throwing away, and what is being recycled / reused / repurposed.

It's mind boggling!

I can't stop here. Over in the recycling depot, it was a little more optimistic and future friendly. But still an enormous amount of perfectly good stuff being sent to the shredders.

Definitely though, the highlight was when our gracious tour guide showed us they're garden made entirely of refuse. This image makes me think how hopeful I am when I see plants growing out of old objects.

Danger

Sarah Hay — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:23:00 -0700

Two perfectly good chairs

Sarah Hay — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:13:57 -0700

Matt is a Vocal Globalist

Sarah Hay — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:31:09 -0700

Where the hell is Matt? And what is his carbon footprint?!

If you haven’t met Matt online or in your country, Google “Matt” and this one individual will show up at the top of your query. Very impressive. Matt, born in Norwalk, Connecticut in 1976, spends his time traveling the world and dancing with local people – a moving post card if you will. He then uploads the videos to YouTube where millions of people watch and wonder.

The FAQ’s on the website share a lot about his process and motivations for his documented adventures and also answer a few broader questions – like ‘why is the world so screwed up?’ This leads me to believe that Matt is a vocal globalist from our Sustainability Passion Index findings.

On the one hand, the videos are hilarious and offer a psycho-geographic break from our personal worlds. On the other, I have to ask how much energy is this one person using in his global quest to own the name ‘Matt’ and to show the world his… sweet dance moves, and to show us... the world. A vocal globalist, with a gift of connecting cultures, who happens to carry with him a very large carbon footprint. C'mon Matt, offset that!

SPI banner

Sarah Hay — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:09:30 -0700

Thinking about beauty (in the rain)

Sarah Hay — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:16:21 -0700

“Every design is, in essence, a critique of the context in which it has been produced. Every day I struggle with this thought: do we really need more? Because I am an optimist, the answer is yes. What we need is beauty, original thought, creativity, and awareness.”

I wrote this almost 5 years ago for my 'design philosophy' statement that was mounted beside my grad project on display in Carleton University's Art Gallery. For whatever reason today I am reminded of this statement, while also feeling quite weighed down by my 'latest news headlines' RSS feed, and compounded by the noise of traffic in the rain. What is it that makes something beautiful? As the cliché goes ~ beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Considering how many eyes there are out there - about 13 billion and counting... that's a lot of potential for beauty. Of course beauty has many different definitions and dimensions. It's appropriation by it's own commercialization and fantasization in the media is not so desirable. But beauty is also one of those mindset shifters. A very powerful thing to experience, especially when shared.

We have come so far in the last 5 years in terms of sustainable design, development and communication. And this is still the beginning of a (hopefully) long road. Sustainable Minds is a relatively new company who recently bought the rights to Okala Ecological Design Curriculum which was written in part by my thesis supervisor Louise St. Pierre. This course was my starting point into the world of sustainable design and is now available to designers everywhere, not just in schools. Whether you choose to dive into Sustainable Minds, or simply go outside and witness the slow transition of summer to fall, turn on your beauty filter and things may start feel a bit lighter and brighter, even in the rain.