Service Design Books
This is a newly launched and excellent service design community-built library: http://www.servicedesignbooks.org As the creators describe ‘Service Design Books is a co-created library of recommended reading for service designers. Formal books on service design are few and far between but many of the skills and values can be found elsewhere, scattered across disciplines. You just … Continue reading
Not so juicy reward
Customers, visitors, audiences, participants are weary of a pitch. When does participation turn from a worthwhile exchange and start to feel more like a ploy? I recently felt that itchy sense of suspicion while eating breakfast and saw an excellent opportunity to observe – This is my container of orange juice. It’s offering Juicy Rewards … Continue reading
Banff Interactive Screen Conference – Beautiful Lives
I’m off to Banff! I’ll be speaking and giving a workshop about some of our latest projects. If you don’t yet have plans from the 16th – 20th August, how about a quick trip up to Canada for this year’s 2010 Banff Interactive Screen Conference – Beautiful Lives? It’s a chance to be around some … Continue reading
mass scale content generation = serious issues
When we first started talking to other professionals about their experience with participatory practice, we asked a lot of exploratory questions and ended up getting a lot of advice. One piece of advice which has rung true again and again is that participation necessitates curation. That is – if you openly ask people to contribute … Continue reading
Rocket ride to heaven
This is just fantastic. Heavens Above Fireworks (see link here) offers funeral arrangements, cremation services and ashes scattering services. Ultimately the company offers what they call “A happier way to say goodbye.” Heavens Above will create spectacular firework displays and also offer to create smaller, self fired fireworks rockets or other celebration fireworks with ashes … Continue reading
What a journey map can do
When creating experiences for others, we’re often asking participants to take a leap of faith – with the promise that a little mystery or effort will lead to a worthwhile reward. How do you create a sense of confidence in the user journey? That sense of confidence is a key tool in keeping all parties … Continue reading
Learning To Love You More
Started in 2002, Harrell Fletcher & Miranda July’s online project, Learning to Love You More, reaffirms the notion that rules are a good thing. As they explain it: “Sometimes it is a relief to be told what to do… our most joyful and even profound experiences often come when we are following other people’s instructions. … Continue reading
Thank You
I recently bought a book online from Assembly New York. I didn’t come into contact with anyone personally through my transaction – it was completely automatic. However when I received my shipment, the first kind of physical contact I had with the company, I found a hand written thank you. It was my receipt – … Continue reading
Experiments with Fireworks
In Autumn of 2005, around the same time as the nation-wide celebration of Guy Fawkes day, we set out to experiment with fireworks – thinking about the basic components to turn an individual or passive event into a community one. We thought about how to make rules for that to happen, what the setting would … Continue reading
People and Participation
This site, http://www.peopleandparticipation.net outlines ways to plan for and evaluate participatory practice for people who work in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors and who need to involve a wider group of people in their work. It includes a ‘process planner’ which helps to choose participatory methods that are suitable to your situation. They’ve got … Continue reading
Good Participation – work in progress 