Design Notes + Photos

"Quick," starts Bill Moyers, "recall the last time you heard a celebrity journalist... grill a politician on what campaign contributors get for their generosity." So starts Bill Moyers's foreword of Amy Goodman's new book, Breaking the Sound Barrier, a distinct set of essays on government transparency (and the willingness to stand up for truth), the transformation of corporate media (and the challenges facing "nonprofit journalism"), and a discussion of our "Organizer in Chief" (and how our actions as groups can provoke change).

I'm pleased to see that Amy will be stopping by a true community space tomorrow to discuss her book. She will be at Busboys and Poets (14th & V St. NW) starting at 7 p.m.

To quote Bill Moyers once again:

Amy knows the critical question for journalists is how close they are to the truth, not how close they are to power.

To me, this is what distinguishes Amy from other book-touring figures right now. Amy has "gone rogue" for the right reasons: for truth, not power, and she's been at it for a while. Come see her tomorrow!

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Follow Amy Melrose! She's got a great blog about all things free (and close to free) in DC.

An arts, culture and consciousness resource blog dedicated to all the cool, free, and super cheap things to do in Washington, DC... proving that you needn't go broke to enjoy what this city has to offer... and it's a lot! Get the scoop from a DC insider who knows how to get around without a car and is plugged in to the local scene!

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First installed at Curator's Office in the summer of 2007, Alberto Gaitan's Remembrancer left a lot of excitement in DC for web geeks and art lovers. We've read reviews by Jessica Dawson (The Post), Kristron Capps (The City Paper) and Sarah Tanguy [PDF Link] (Sculpture Mazine). Some of us read the tech blogs. We've also heard from Curator's Office Andrea Pollan and the artist himself.

Which is why I am super excited to see Remembrancer, version 2.0, open this Saturday at Taubman Art Museum's MediaLab in Roanoke, VA. See Taubman's website for exhibition info and directions. In the photo: Curator Andrea Pollan with Alberto Gaitan at the opening reception of Remembrancer in May 2007.

Machines are freaks, like us. They are a reflection of our infallible memory and perception. Gaitan's setup takes cues from the world we see, yes. But it also takes cues from something deeper and magical: the "black boxes" that control our mediation with the world.

We like to see perfection in machines. Remembrancer is a chilling reminder that we are losing something large and important in that reliance.

Consider MIT social sciences professor Sherry Turkle's book "Simulation and Its Discontents" (2009). Turkle, like Gaitan, notice the impact of technology in traditional fields of architecture, engineering and design. The worry is this: Every day, we play with exciting creators of models and designs. These tools render our ideas so perfectly that they look finished. Yet they are opaque, because we do not truly understand what goes on inside these "black boxes" we call tools (maybe the students of 1980s MIT did, but we don't). In the process, we've become too reliant on seemingly perfect memory banks. We quickly forget, then, that these banks, while necessarily precise, are not necessarily correct.

Howard Ramsen talks about "the authority of the printout," for instance--and here I am reminded of Gaitan's "old media" output of new media input. Ramsen is intimidated by the preciseness of the printout; the authority of the machine-made model. Why? Because things can go wrong when we rely too heavily; when we forget. He tells, for instance, about a design project gone wrong: "everything looked so finished," he comments, that he does not bother to check for input error. When things go wrong, we draw a blank.

Check out Curator's Office for more information about the show. Enjoy--I still am.

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Sent from my iPhone

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I'm a big fan of Philippa Hughes's Weekly Arty Picks. She never fails to make me think, laugh, or consider a new DC space. Her non-profit--The Pink Line Project--constantly finds creative ways to bridge interdisciplinary themes and personalities in the area, centered around art events and design happenings.

The Pink Line's website redesign is one of the best examples of an interactive calendar I've seen for art-related events, from a design and technology standpoint.

The Design

Content first: the best way to get to an idea. The overall look/feel: clean, playful, professional, flexible. Plenty of white space lets the event content and images take center stage.

Philippa's web team definitely took time to think about what we may want from an arts calendar. You can browse events by date, neighborhood and event type. This is great! I've always wanted a way to filter events by neighborhood, for instance--something conventional blog posts cannot do easily.

You will notice that there is hardly any pink on the site, an intentional design choice that I applaud. The subtle, crisp color palette serves a valuable purpose: to showcase photos and art without the clashing of colors, the overuse of widgets, and other busyness the eye doesn't need.

The Technology

The new site is built using one of the best open-source Content Management Systems on the web: Drupal. The CMS will allow Philippa and her staff to easily add content to the calendar and blog sections. We are also able to browse through events without having to wait for page reloads. The website follows current best practices in web development: it degrades super nicely (as a Drupal site should), and the AJAX scripting motivates user interaction while remaining unobtrusive.

Sharing

The Pink Line gets social with sharing features: send an event to a friend, or share via social networks like Facebook and StumbleUpon. Being able to tweet about an event from the event details pane would be a nice addition for a future release.

Pink Line Recommends

While the site focuses on highlighting DC art events and creative venues, it never loses its identity as a key player in the community. From upcoming Pink Line projects, to recommended Pink Line picks, we will not feel out of the loop. 

What You Should Do Next

You can still keep up with Philippa's personal blog, but definitely add The Pink Line's website to your bookmarks for the ultimate fix. Sign up to receive her e-mails. Submit an upcoming art event. Smile at the fact that you no longer have to look very far to see what's hot in the DC art and creative worlds.

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The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Free For All is a much-loved Washington tradition, offering free performances of a Shakespearean classic to the general public. This year the Free For All moves to STC's new state-of-the-art theatre Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW; Metro Stop: Gallery Place-Chinatown).

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