5 Questions With Elena Parker

What will you be doing at DIY DAYS?

This year at DIYDays, I’ll be showing a project called “Constellation of Stories,” as part of the new Open Design Experiences section. I’m also excited to hear about what other people are working on and to learn new techniques or approaches to storytelling from the panels and participants.

What is your background?

I come from a hybrid documentary film/’new media’ background. I studied film as an undergrad and then worked on the HBO Documentary “Youth Knows No Pain.” After that I worked for the New York Public Library and helped create their first iPad app – Biblion: the Boundless Library. The app plotted hundreds of stories from the 1939-1940 World’s Fair collection in a spatial environment and combined source documents and images with video, sound and scholarly writing. Now I am currently in grad school at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, working on figuring out how to incorporate emerging technologies into art and narrative.

What do you see as the most exciting development in storytelling today?

I think universal access to media is probably the most important… the fact that people essentially carry their computers in their pockets. Being able to reach people any time, any place is a really exciting idea, particularly in regards to creating participatory narratives. Personally, I’m also secretly obsessed with the idea of cameras as sensors and in the development of eye tracking software/devices. I think that the subtleties that cameras can detect when used as sensors can really impact our ability to weave subconscious interaction into stories.

What’s your wish for the future?

Cookies. For all! Also… easier and cheaper ways for everyone to have access to local, organic and sustainable food choices. So, I suppose… organic, locally made, still-delicious cookies for all!

If you could share a book, film, album, and experience with the future what would each be?

Book: Michael Pollan’s The Botany of Desire. 

Important to note that we’re expanding the popular “What are you working on and what do you need” open sessions. Attendees of DIY DAYS are handed a mic and given 60 seconds to share what they are passionate about. There will be 35 to 40 slots available on a first come first serve basis. “What are you working on and what do you need” will be held in front of the full DIY DAYS audience in Tischman Auditorium.

Saturday March 3rd @ the New School in NYC

The New School
66 W 12th St.
NY, NY 10011

DESIGN QUESTION OF THE DAY

“How do we make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological damage or disadvantage to anyone?” – Buckminster Fuller

*The schedule is subject to change

9:30 to 10:15
REGISTRATION

Once registered, head to TISHMAN AUDITORIUM

KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS – TISHMAN AUDITORIUM

10:15 to 10:25
WELCOME & HOW THE DAY WILL WORK

10:25 to 10:35

A VOICE FROM THE FUTURE
Elementary school students open the event with a performance. This sets the stage for the day.

10:40 to 11:10
SUSTAINABILITY BY DESIGN
Speaker – Michael Ben-Eli

11:10 to 11:20
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON AND WHAT DO YOU NEED?
***Open Mic – each person is given 60 seconds. Slots are available on a first come first serve basis. SIGN UP when you arrive.

11:20 to 11:40
PLAY – UNLOCKING THE IMAGINATION OF MANY
Speaker – Nicholas Fortugno

11:40 to 11:50
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON AND WHAT DO YOU NEED?
***Open Mic – each person is given 60 seconds. Slots are available on a first come first serve basis. SIGN UP when you arrive.

11:50 to 12:10
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING – role of tech, creativity & collaboration within education
Speaker – Benjamin Salka

12:10 to 12:30
LISTEN AS YOUR STORY TALKS TO THE INTERNET
Speaker – Lance Weiler

12:30 to 12:40
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON AND WHAT DO YOU NEED?
***Open Mic – each person is given 60 seconds. Slots are available on a first come first serve basis. SIGN UP when you arrive.

12:40 to 12:50
THE WORLD OF BUCKMINSTER FULLER
Speaker – Kurt Przybilla

12:50 to 1:40
BREAK FOR LUNCH

OPEN DESIGN EXPERIENCES – Ongoing 1:40 to 4:45
LET YOUR “MAP TO THE FUTURE” BE YOUR GUIDE – attendees will be given a special map that turns the day into an experience design exercise.

WOLLMAN HALL (also known as EXPERIENCE HALL)

1:40 to 4:45

- OCCUPY – conflict resolution role-playing and mobilization game design
Guide – Errol King & members of OWS

- DESIGN SCIENCE – a look at the world of Buckminster Fuller
Guide – Kurt Przybilla and Sophie Nichols

- ROBOT HEART STORIES – help a robot make her way back home
a Reboot Stories participatory project

- POCKET STORIES – storytelling through common objects
Guide – Katie Baker

- PROTOTYPING THE FUTURE
with Makerbots and the Parsons School of Design

- WISH BOOTH & TIME MACHINES – participatory storytelling
a Story Pirates & Reboot Stories participatory project

- A CONSTELLATION OF STORIES – a kinect hack turns your motions into stars
Guide – Elena Parker

ROOM 510

1:40 to 4:45
OPEN DESIGN TRACK
- DIY Healthcare Reform – how storytelling and gameplay can improve health care
Guide – Noah Pivnick

ROOM 518

1:40 to 4:45
OPEN DESIGN TRACK
- Building a sustainable creative industry
This room is open to whoever wishes to participate in a think tank on creative sustainability

Led by Arin Crumley from 1:40-3:15; and Zeke Zelker from 3:15-4:30

ROOM 406
1:40 to 4:00
OPEN TALKS
- 10 minute slot spaces are open on a first come first serve basis. Sign up when you register on the morning of the event. These open slots are NOT for sales pitches. They are for interesting projects, people looking for collaborators, and for sharing of creative ideas and ways in which we can build a better future. *PLEASE NOTE the room only has VGA projection so come with the proper connections and your laptop. This room will be supported by the community – meaning it will be totally DIY. In the past these open slots have been awesome! Leave room in your day to swing by and check it out.

TISHMAN AUDITORIUM
1:40 to 4:00
WRITERS IMPROV – FINDING AN EMOPTIONAL CORE IN STORYTELLING
A collaborative exercise in the creation of an open storyworld influenced by attendees of DIY DAYS.
Lead by Writers Improv founder Christina Kallas

WORKSHOP TRACK A – NARRATIVE DESIGN. Begins at 1:30pm

ROOM 407

1:40 to 2:20
PRIMER ON BUILDING STORIES THAT LIVE BEYOND ONE SCREEN
Speakers – Aina Abiodun,  Jen Begeal,  Mike Knowlton, and Rachel Fairbanks

2:20 to 2:50 
WHAT THE HECK IS A CREATIVE TECHNOLOGIST
Speakers – Mark Harris & Heidi Hysell

2:55 to 3:40
THE TRANSMEDIA BALANCING ACT
Speaker – Andrea Phillips

3:45 to 4:15 
MEASURING SUCCESS – new methods for funding, engaging and creating
Speakers – Sparrow Hall, Ele Jansen, Nick Braccia, and Ryan Aynes

4:20 to 4:50
BUILDING A VALUABLE RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR AUDIENCE
Speaker – Ryan Koo

WORKSHOP TRACK B – STORYTELLING AS AN AGENT OF CHANGE. Begins at 2:00pm

ROOM 404

2:00 to 2:45
MOBILIZING THROUGH STORYTELLING
Speaker – Lina Srivastava

3:00 to 3:45
EXTEND YOUR PROJECT’S REACH: DEVELOP EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS
Speaker – Felicia Pride

4:00 to 4:45
WORLDS OF LEARNING: TRANSMEDIA FOR CHILDREN & EDUCATION
Speakers – Laura Fleming, Lucas J.W. Johnson, KarenWehner

THE BUILDING OF A TIME CAPSULE
TISCHMAN AUDITORIUM

5:00 to 5:30 
SPECIAL SURPRISE GUESTS
An exciting close to the day – you won’t believe who you’ll get to meet.

AFTER PARTY / SOCIAL MIXER
5:45 to 7:30
DRINKS AND FOOD @ BAR13

If you have children or know of someone who does – let them know that they should bring them to the DIY DAYS Experience Hall which runs from 1:30pm to 4:30pm. It’s totally FREE. There will be 8 different experience stations to participate in. Plus children and adults will be about to co-create…

PROTOTYPE THE FUTURE WITH STUDENTS
Tomorrow we’ll have prototyping sessions for the future. The goal is that the sessions will be open to participants who want to  rapidly prototype the future with elementary school students. It’s about building a collective “Wish for the Future.”


Megan’s (age 11) Energy Efficient Jet

From imagination to reality – participants will be able to prototype and watch as their concepts are turned into objects via MakerBot 3D printers.

WE NEED 3D MODELERS
We need two to three more 3D modelers to work with simple and accessible solutions like http://tinkercad.com If you’re already coming to DIY DAYS and you are into 3D modeling we’re thinking we’ll just need people for an hour or two. If you’re interested please email work@workbookproject.com

5 Questions for Karen Bellinger Wehner

What will you be doing at DIY DAYS?

Together with Laura Fleming and Lucas JW Johnson, I’m presenting a workshop on educational transmedia content creation for and with children, both in traditional classroom settings and beyond.

What is your background?

My background is pretty mixed. I have an undergraduate degree in literature, a PhD in anthropology, and have spent the past 15 years as an educator and researcher in historical archaeology. I’ve also done stints in strategic consulting, branding, and media communications for a variety of creative industries.

My current focus pulls all these strands together in a really satisfying way, as I’m directing development of a transmedia time travel adventure I created for tween age kids (ages 8–13), based on real history and archaeology. The core platform is a point-and-click adventure game embedded in a virtual world environment, complemented by digital comics, mobile apps and real world toys and exploration. The whole experience is underpinned by a serialized epic storyline.

What do you see as the most exciting development in education today?

It’s really exciting to see proliferating calls – and strategies – for breaking out of the confines of traditional didactic approaches to education. The ability to sit quietly while listening to a teacher ‘’deliver’’ knowledge simply isn’t going to prepare today’s kids to think critically and to find solutions to the increasingly complex global problems they will inherit.

Technology has had so much to do with this evolution, but I think for the first time, rather than merely slapping new ways of presenting information over familiar teaching formats, we’re beginning to view new technologies as foundations for wholly new learning paradigms.

Personally, I’m most excited by the slow but sure embrace of the idea that technology-based play can deliver engaging, effective, and above all natural paths to learning.

What’s your wish for the future?

If we’re going to inspire young people to become active and responsible global citizens, cross-cultural education, tolerance and empathy need to become as standard in school curricula as reading, writing and arithmetic. That’s going to require a seismic shift from current standards, but I believe the ever-expanding world our children will inhabit demands it.

If you could share a book, film, album, and experience with the future what would each be? Meaning what work would you like to send into the future in hopes that it would enrich it.

Book: Aside from being a great read, The Hunger Games trilogy neatly conflates two of the most defining features of present-day America,with its increasingly pervasive media presence and general fin de siècle malaise, as we grapple with economic crisis and growing unease at the rift between haves and have-nots. It’s a cautionary tale from which any age would benefit.

Film: I’ve got to go with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Beautiful and weird, with a unique and powerful twist on the fundamental truths of human existence: life, love, loss.

Album: Neil Young’s Harvest. After all these years, it’s simple, sweet and yet haunting. Young really conveys a sense of one man’s life, stripped down to the bone.

Experience: Standing in the awe-inspiring Inca ruins at Macchu Picchu, Peru – at sunrise,before all the tourist hordes pour in.  As with so many other heritage sites, however, we have a lot of work ahead of usif we are to preserve this wonder for the benefit of future generations.

5 Questions With Lauren Packard

What is your background?

Studied Art History and Religion at Barnard and Columbia, taught art for over 8 years, love swimming

What’s your wish for the future?

My wish for the future is positive change and to hear voices that have predominantly been unheard.

If you could share a book, film, album, and experience with the future what would each be? Meaning what work would you liketo send into the future in hopes that it would enrich it.

I would send this quote because I keep coming back to them everyday in my teaching and living. The Margaret Mead quote is really what inspired my class to write to Scott Stringer about the benefits of having a green roof- both environmentally and nutritionally. I would want to share all of the positive, challenging, exciting work that kids are doing all over the world and outside of all kinds of preconceived boxes. I would want them to follow dreams. I would also want to share some of the amazing street art that is happening all over the city and world- work that grabs their attention and makes them think and then do something!

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead

Lauren Packard is a 4th/5th grade teacher at The Neighborhood School on the lower east side. She has been teaching in NYC public schools for over 12 years. Her career started as an art teacher, which is still a strong passion of hers. She loves exploring questions and ideas with children in order to help them construct their own understanding of the world around them, especially around issues of social justice and activism. Her class has been involved in starting a grass roots campaign for a school green roof, which already has the borough President’s commitment. She enjoys making and creating things that push other’s thinking. She is always looking for new ways to engage children and teaching. She is a native Californian who moved to NY to attend Barnard and never left! She lives in Brooklyn with her partner Leslie and their 2 cats, Scrappy and Mancha. They are happy to call Brooklyn home.

5 Questions for Ryan Aynes

What will you be doing at DIY DAYS?

Speaking on ”Measuring Success – new methods for funding, engaging and creating”  I’ll also touch on brand storytelling and what we’re doing at Ogilvy to move forward on this.  But really, starting something from nothing, I’ve made an art out of it.

What is your background?

I spent 8 years in technology, creating an array of different digital social media start-up’s, I now work as Vice President of Social@Ogilvy, managing mostly the financial sector.

What do you see as the most exciting development in storytelling today?

What Facebook is doing right now is boldly changing how brands advertise digitally and through social media.

What’s your wish for the future?

For big business to think like small business = better business models from the larger companies in the world.

If you could share a book, film, album, and experience with the future what would each be? Meaning what work would you like to send into the future in hopes that it would enrich it.

Crush It – Gary V (Don’t hate, I love that book)

Ryan Aynes is a Vice President in Ogilvy’s Social@Ogilvy group in New York where he oversees the development and implementation of their social media initiatives.  Prior to working at OGILVY, Ryan was the Director of Social Media at the Brooklyn “search” agency THE JAR GROUP.  Before working at The JAR Group, Ryan spent several years as an entrepreneur, launching his first company in 2003, where he created and distributed commercial ads digitally for clients.  His early adopter experience in social media led him to create one of the first social media networks for nonprofits.  Following his technical work, he created United For Good, a social media consulting firm for nonprofits.

5 Questions For Michael Dinerstein

What will you be doing at WS WP?

I’m not exactly sure. I hope to offer some ideas for narratives and also program a bit if necessary.

What is your background?

I am an entrepreneur and programmer who comes from a film studies background. I have experience working on student films, organizing social media campaigns, programming for the web, iPhone, and OpenGL, and am in the beginning stages of starting my own company. I am interested in bringing narrative storytelling to smartphones.

What’s your wish for the future?

I sincerely hope that we allow the Internet to grow into the great open garden of human expertise, experience, and understanding it has the potential to become. The trick is to prevent it from becoming just another way to make money – it needs to remain a place for experimentation and healthy discourse.

If you could share a book, film, album, and experience with the future what would each be? Meaning what work would you like to send into the future in hopes that it would enrich it?

Book: The Crying of Lot 49. I figure people in the future have even less time than we do now and would appreciate this short novel that touches upon religion and the genesis of the modern world.
Film: Watching Carl Sagan’s Cosmos (yes, a mini-series, I know) out in the country with all the lights out. It’s a great reminder of our place in the universe.
Album: This is a tough one, but I think I’ll go with Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Although the album is a personal favorite, I think the future would benefit from it because it’s a heavily-produced album that has an extremely organic feel to it – I think the future will need a reminder of this.
Experience: Going to a local store, restaurant, or bar and knowing the person behind the counter well enough to be friends. We will most likely become more isolated as time progresses, and this is a good reminder of our shared humanity.

5 Questions With Tesia Kosmalski

What’s your background?

My background is in both the practice of artistic expression as well as User Experience design.

I began fashioning seamless user experiences online when the profession was initially defining itself. And arguably, it still is! But what never ceases to amaze me, is that the practice continues to apply creative tactics to help integrate technology and…us.

In tandem, I also have this artistic practice that also incorporates technology. Electronics, sound, programming, are the vehicles I use for expression. But conversely, I generally use it as a method for projection versus integration.

Regardless, the two educate and inspire each other. The expression fuels my design problem solving process. The design keeps my art real. And they both are equally as driven by empathy, the hope to communicate and the desire creating things that can be, either more abstractly or practically, useful.

What are are you working on and what do you need?

Currently, I’m continuing work on this wearable sound project, called ‘The Echo Coats.’ (Please see Tesia Kolmalski).

“The “Echo Coats” are sound-driven, nostalgically designed garments that provide a means for women to playfully and sonically intervene in public spaces. The Andante Coat teases the world around its wearer by uttering sensual cosmetic titles, originally meant to tempt her own purchasing power. And at the attack of a boot heel on the pavement, the Staccato Coat releases machine sounds from its shoulders to urge people to get out of her way.

The technology of the coats integrates mini-speakers, headset microphones and iPods. The iPods run RjDj, a reactive music application that combines live environmental sound through the headset microphone and sound programming within the iPod. The coats then employ these mikes as touch sensors and sound detectors to inspire playback. Also here, mini-speakers embedded in the exterior of the coats have replaced the headphones to make this previously personal now public.”

I’ve been working on the coats for almost two years now. At this point, I think I need a few things to move forward: to isolate the concepts within the coats that can really have a long shelf life and to figure out if there is a technology (since I found RjDj) that can function the same way, except better (both from an interaction perspective and scalable perspective).

What are do you hope to get out of DIY DAYS?

I’d hope some connections to other people who appreciate the same types of thinking that I do. I’d also like to get some ideas on how to move forward on some better technological processes for live, interactive, mobile sound.

What’s your wish for the future?

Flying Cars. Clean Air & Water.

If you could share a book, film, album, and experience with the future what would each be?

I think this ‘Be Nice to Me’ video from Pippilotti Rist would do it:
http://youtu.be/nYDh_D1G0hU

Tesia Kolmalski

5 Questions With Sophie Nichols

What will you be doing at DIY DAYS?

I’ll be representing The Buckminster Fuller Institute, working with Kurt Przybilla on Saturday to help bring Bucky’s ideas to life with the bamboo dome and some toys and artifacts that help explain his work!

What is your background?

I’m always excited to see the kinds of augmented reality work is coming out now. Apps that can teach you about the history of the area you’re in, create an ideal soundtrack for your mood, or point out something you wouldn’t have noticed. Projects like that open up a lot of new kinds of spatial interactions.

What’s your wish for the future?

My wish for the future is that we find out that all the continents are slowly moving back toward each other to reform Pangaea.

If you could share a book, film, album, and experience with the future what would each be? Meaning what work would you like to send into the future in hopes that it would enrich it.

I think it’s important for everyone to be able to listen to Iggy Pop, and he’s doing a good job of preserving his music for future generations.

Sophie Nichols has been working with the Buckminster Fuller Institute since September. Her academic background is in architecture, at both Sarah Lawrence College and Columbia University. She’s worked on several farm+garden development projects around the country and in her home in Brooklyn, apprenticed and worked as a tattoo artist, participated in several large scale art installations and worked in the office of Diller Scofidio and Renfro before starting at the BFI.

5 Questions for Lee Overtree

What will you be doing at DIY DAYS?

Story Pirates is helping to curate the collaboration between kids and adults at DIY Days NYC. We’ll be guiding the kids through prototyping their own ideas for the future, side by side with the adult participants at WS WP.

What is your background?

I studied theater at Northwestern University. I had the idea to start Story Pirates while toiling as a legal temp in law firms after I first moved to NYC, and I’ve been doing it ever since.

What’s your wish for the future?

My wish is that technology will enable kids to have the power to tell their own stories and share their ideas on a unprecedented scale, and that a reliance on storytelling will change the face of education.

If you could share a book, film, album, and experience with the future what would each be? Meaning what work would you like to send into the future in hopes that it would enrich it

I would send a record player, some great speakers and some vinyl. People in the future need to know that there are better ways to listen to music then from your iphone or laptop.

LEE OVERTREE  has served as artistic director of Story Pirates since he co-founded the group in 2003 and oversees performances and media in New York City, Los Angeles and on national tours. His productions have been presented at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, Solid Sound Festival (curated by the band Wilco), Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival in Seattle, and at dozens of theaters in New York, including at Symphony Space, Ars Nova, Galapagos and the Upright Citizen’s Brigade. Other directing credits include Brilliance! (Geffen Playhouse), John Grisham’s Theodore Boone and the Thrill of Rights (Penguin Books Natl. Tour), Found (Actor’s Playhouse and Ars Nova), a monthly appearance on the Sirius/XM radio show Absolutely Mindy and productions integrating storytelling and science with the The American Museum of Natural History. Lee is a creative consultant for Voca People, currently playing Off-Broadway. He is an alumnus of Northwestern University.
www.storypirates.org
@storypirates
Sound Cloud: Story Pirates