Keyvan Minoukadeh |

John Thackara on Design Schools

By Keyvan | Published: 8 June 2010

From an interview with John Thackara on Wodcast (via Guilhem):

I don’t think that one should abolish design education, I think one needs skills, we definitely need places and times to reflect and to stand back from reality. It’s just that the way that schools have evolved in the last period is that they tend to be a silo rather than a cauldron of interesting activity.

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UID Design Talks

By Keyvan | Published: 8 June 2010

I spent most of last week in Umeå listening to the design talks and seeing the student exhibition at the Umeå Institute of Design. The students presenting and showcasing their work were from four different programmes: Industrial Design (BA), Advanced Product Design (MA), Transportation Design (MA) and Interaction Design (MA). The invited speakers, Chris Bangle and Alex Padwa, were from the car world and not very interesting.

The Interaction Design students presenting were:

Tae-yeol Lim with a tangible device and medical doll to help patients overcome the language barrier when communicating with doctors.
Chao Wang with a system to help the local Red Cross group get its events publicised and encourage more volunteering.
Linda Bresäter with an interactive tree to help large organisations share their ideas and gather feedback.
Ruedee Sarawutpaiboon with a playful system to allow people to share their feelings and emotions anonymously.
Sisirnath Sangireddy with a digital toolkit for teachers.

The Interaction Design students at UID also maintain a blog at interactiondesign.se.

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Vanunu to Face Jail

By Keyvan | Published: 15 May 2010

Amnesty (via Craig Murray):

Amnesty International is urging the Israeli government not to imprison nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu, who is facing a return to jail within days.

The Israeli Supreme Court ruled on 11 May that Vanunu, who served 18 years in prison for revealing information about Israel’s nuclear programme, must serve a further three months for meeting a foreign national, a violation of the restrictions imposed on him by the military since his release.

Vanunu, a former technician at Israel’s nuclear plant near the southern town of Dimona, revealed details of the country’s nuclear arsenal to the Sunday Times in 1986.

Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East, said: “If Mordechai Vanunu is imprisoned again, Amnesty International will declare him to be a prisoner of conscience and call for his immediate and unconditional release.”

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David Cameron: The New Prime Minister

By Keyvan | Published: 12 May 2010

From The Tory press and “democracy”:

That Labour is widely detested is beyond question. It deservedly received its worst vote share since 1983… What stands out above all from the results is the alienation of the majority of the population from the official parties.

From Voting in Britain for war. Take your pick by John Pilger:

All three party leaders are warmongers. Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrats leader and darling of former Blair lovers, says that as prime minister he will “participate” in another invasion of a “failed state” provided there is “the right equipment, the right resources”. His one condition is the standard genuflection towards a military now scandalised by a colonial cruelty of which the Baha Mousa case is but one of many.

From Culture and Nationalism by Rudolf Rocker (quoted by Medialens):

We speak of national interests, national capital, national spheres of interest, national honour, and national spirit; but we forget that behind all this there are hidden merely the selfish interests of powerloving politicians and money loving business men for whom the nation is a convenient cover to hide their personal greed and their schemes for political power from the eyes of the world.

From The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial – The 2010 UK General Election:

Why +do+ voters consistently have no option in choosing parties opposed to waging war on “failed states” at the behest of the United States? Why are we restricted to such an obviously pre-filtered set of choices despite the equally obvious dissatisfaction of the overwhelming majority of the population? How do powerful elites manage to ensure that they retain control no matter who wins? What is the role of the corporate media in preventing the public from interfering with corporate control of society?