Blackbeltjones/Work “The cosmos is a deeply dangerous thing to think about - into it, vacant minds expand” - Dr. Jonathan Miller

A fantastic picture from Porthcawl, the town that I grew up in – taken earlier this evening by Will.

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My domain was trapped in The Phantom Zone for a few days.

Apologies for magical bouncing email and the like.

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I wish I’d made it to Geneva in time for the ‘objects that blog’ workshop – this looks to be some of the output: Blog-e-mon.



This sort of kiddie-crack spimeplay-fun will be coming sooner rather than later I imagine…

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Woke up to a report on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme about research in Finland into the use of play and playgrounds as life-extension technology (RealAudio clip -will disappear unless someone ahem archives it…)

It was also featured (in a more fluffy way) in today’s Guardian:

“...a study by a team from the University of Lapland found that a group of elderly Finns between the ages of 65 and 81 saw significant improvement in their balance and coordination after three months of swings and roundabouts. Many of the subjects also said they felt empowered by using the playground equipment, although one can claim to be empowered by just about anything these days. The Finns are now planning to redesign their playgrounds to suit grannies as well as toddlers.”

When we started our work on Play in Nokia, I remember Janne remarking that the verb for ‘play’ – Leiki – in Finnish was associated with ‘childishness’ in a negative way.

This research is heartening.

Reclaiming ‘play’ as something that enriches us all throughout our lives (cf. ‘The Play Ethic’ which also features Finland prominently), and creating places that encourage both that and ahem intergenerational play (don’t be dirty…) can only be a good thing.

Or at least, swings and roundabouts.

Ok.

Hippy moment over.

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If you wanted to catch up on what happened at Lift06 in Geneva last week, you could go and listen/watch the audio and video from this site – or you could click through this set of incredible stream-of-consciousness notes by Aram on one of the free pads placed on every seat in the conference hall by a local newspaper.



They might not capture all the content, but the spirit of the event is reflected well…



Fantastic.

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Gave my talk this morning at Lift06. Felt horrible from the stage – rushed through interesting stuff and dwelt on the wrong things. Luckily people still wanted to talk afterwards and got a lot of what I was trying to say about play and mobility.



Whether they thought it was right is another thing of course.

Personal highlight was being heckled by Bruce Sterling, after forgetting Olafur Eliasson’s name.

Timo took a picture a slide that I put in at the last minute, which looking back on it, basically sums up and communicates everything I’m interested in, or ever been interested in or think is important at the moment – my own personal aleph.



So I guess I’m done!

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Foe and myself are headed to LIFT06 in Geneva, where having just finished the excellent ‘Shaping Things’, I’m particularly looking forward to Bruce Sterling’s talk.

I’m going to be talking about play, mobility and digital mobile toys…

Hopefully see you there.

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On bus. 137.

Chikka/Chikka/Chikka/Chikka

Depersonalised stereo dominates the space with its tiny, tinny drums.

Chikka/Chikka/Chikka/Chikka

As much of a challenge as an occupation – the player not really listening, not really enjoying, just waiting to be asked, just wanting to spit defiance.

Chikka/Chikka/Chikka/Chikka

Turn around to see two girls holding a neon-yellow beetle, rubbing its legs together.

Chikka/Chikka/Chikka/Chikka

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