Nature.
Biomass.
Diversity.
And Life.
A natural integration.
An ecosystem.
Parts working in harmony as a whole.
Parts supporting parts.
Natural flows.
Contrast that with the efforts of man.
Who seek to build and control.
Who seek a resilience that is already there.
Who seek a security that already exists.
But we hide it from ourselves.
And tell ourselves stories built on a logic from a constructed system.
The logic acts as interface.
A medium through which to experience the world.
How thin an interface is possible.
A transparency and permeability.
To deconstruct artifice.
To return to a natural state.
A healthy vitality.
Make art not artifice.
Art that resonates with our nature.

Music reaches just a little further ahead in time.
And pulls us along to come join it.
It exists simultaneous.
In the future and present.
Expectations and memories blur into one.
We seek to follow its line.
To discern its rhythm.
To know its tempo.
A picture painted with melody.

Life happening in pockets.
Overlapping.
The non-linearity of life unfolding in the city.
Many stories.
In parallel and intertwined.
Of proximity and pacing.
Next to each other.
Separate and alone.
Both discordant and orchestral.
Chance and hesitation.
The cement holds their stories.

A good book, like any good tool, provides both utility and inspiration for those who use it.
In the initial design sprint for Learning, Freedom and the Web we challenged ourselves to achieve this balance.
We set out to capture the energy of a movement and share practical tools for people working at the intersection of learning and the open web.

We all know the web is changing how we learn. This book seeks to provide leverage at this inflection point, building upon and supporting the momentum of those working on solutions.

At first it may seem counter intuitive to use a traditional medium to explore these emerging technologies – but books have a staying power and persistence; they are useful for planting and sharing seeds of an idea.

While we were aware of the form this project would take, we wanted to explore the function it would provide. How could this book pattern itself after decentralized models built upon transparency and openness?

We want readers of this book to enjoy a user-friendly experience. We’re using wayfinding elements, multiple entry points and strong typography to deliver this experience.

We want to capture the DIY ethic of people who are hacking, making and building things. By providing useful how-to sections, with practical takeaways, we hope to share this ethic. As we continue to iterate on prototypes, this spirit informs our process and we hope it shows through.

We want to reflect the dynamic energy of networks, connections and emergence. We’re aiming to visualize the relationships between the parts, to better understand the emerging forces shaping the whole.

We also want to invite participation, sharing responsibility with the reader, and hopefully leaving room for imagination and dialogue within the work itself.

We want to involve the people who will get value out of this book in the process of creating it, and we want your feedback to inform our process.

Thanks for taking the time to review our process, your feedback will help this book provide both the utility and inspiration it set out to achieve.

Download a preview of the work-in-progress here.

All the best,

-Chris

click to watch video –> rain-boots
Rain boots are the kind of things that turn puddles into playgrounds.
For children and adults alike.
Splash along the wet, grey pavement.
The perfect blend of utility and inspiration.
They’re the kind of things that transform the experience of other things.
Where some people see a dreary day to spend indoors – others see a day to be lived.
Fully, and with no cares in the world.
Simple and ordinary.
While making a world of difference.

Ideas are things.
They have mass and take up space.
They are a natural resource.
Both renewable and finite.
When you concentrate your focus on some ideas you inherently exclude others.
What ideas are you focused on?
What ideas concentrate your energy?
Are these the right ideas for you?
For what you want to build?

To afford the time to be able to go deep.
To spend time in chaos.
And to pull quickly through to order.
With reliable processes.
That have been proven before.

To be both lean and open to possibility.
A strengthened resolve.
A durable core.
To be agile while moving between states.
A shifting mindset.
To quickly combat inherent confusion.
That will always accompany transition.
Reflected here.

To return to the desired state.
That was found here before.
How time mingles with mindset.
The many people we are throughout our lives.
Iterations of ourselves.

Finding patterns that work.
And constantly testing ourselves against the environment.
Sometimes you need the wilderness.
The simplicity of self.
To learn about it there.
Natural and unobstructed.

And to bring what you learn.
Back to your civilized self.
To integrate back into the group.
And to contribute your full self.
To all those you connect to and engage with.

To see potential everywhere.
To burn with inspiration.
To get the necessary rest.
And to maintain a healthy system.
Our health connected directly to our environment.

Real places that make this world.
And mental models that navigate it.
A vitality of spirit.
In a networked world.

The challenge of bringing spirit to an invisible line.
To be reminded of all the invisible lines we’re bound to.
Lines of our choosing.
Define the contours of our environment.
Our experienced landscape.

Its about making decisions.
To draw our own lines.
To separate signal from noise.

To fight against the instinct that others know best.
When advice is printed and bound and available in beautiful books.
That teach us how to live.

But our truths are inside us.
To listen to your electrons, cells, tissues, organs, muscles, blood, bones and breath.
We function with an incomprehensible complexity of knowledge.
We coordinate the efforts of an infinite many.

The beating of our heart.
The breath in our lungs.
An orchestral rhythm.

Our bodies do not get lost in contemplation.
They do not pause in hesitation.

When we rely on the instincts of others,
When we doubt ourselves,
We blind ourselves to truths within.
When we favour mind over body,
Instinct is lost.

The different shape of houses across the world.
It’s about how people build their life.
The architecture of letters.
To see them as worlds where lives exist.
A word as a city.
The shape of it’s walls.
How we move through a space.
To move through these worlds as if these worlds were our own.
How we understand it’s geography.
A three dimensional experience.
Experienced at the scale of a pedestrian.

Run through their walls and experience the life it offers.
Our imagination is strengthened with our senses.
The spirit of the people.
Their passions and joy.
Listen to their accents.
Listen for their personalities.

Take time to articulate.
For it’s with our words we make our worlds.
The streets and the catacombs.
Imagination is more powerful than the image.
What it is and what it can be.

When we see the world and our place within it differently.
A city in a shoebox, we all share the space.
How it looks from above.
How its lived in below.
What it is and what it can be.

Actively shape what it can be.
How we paint our memories
How we shape our futures.
The word as a city the city as a world.
We understand how we articulate the world differently.
How we see the same.
What it is and what it can be.

I want to feel the people.
To feel the land.
To feel the air.
How it hangs in a space.
How it sits in your lungs.
To know what it means.
Of lives spent in letters.
How we wish to feel.
What it is and what it can be.

Mission Bicycle from Karen Abad loves Dinosaurs. on Vimeo.

Interesting how bicycles are portrayed now as an expression of aesthetic. Tools for exploring the types of worlds we wish to create. Interesting how people are now transitioning online experiences to real life.