February and March have been a bit of a blur so this is just a little taking stock.
Discussion group. I started one! Its aim is to get past headlines and generate some real conversations about environmental and social justice issues. I was worried it might be a bit dry but speakers get 15mins and it’s a lot of fun seeing the diversity of subjects people take to the table
Paper. A pub is no place for a flip chart so for discussion group topics I put flip chart paper flat in the middle of the table; turns out that’s really useful for people to draw on to explain some of their points – designs, maps, calculations, or just notes to self
InDesign. I’ve always thought there’s a book or website to explain how to do everything but with Adobe CS4 there is a real shortage of easy access quick reference, not written in graphic design software jargon
Layout. Turns out my Higher Art skills have atrophied through lack of use so I asked a designer that I work with how to avoid making really ugly documents. Answer: practice by copying the designs of documents you like. It works
Photos. Tasked with getting photos of people doing things and receiving photos of people having meetings I asked a film and photography guy if there’s any way to make a bunch of people round a table look interesting. Answer: No, but look at band photos – no matter how natural they look, they always have an art director
Corporate v political comms. When I saw a group I support being (good-naturedly) attacked on a blog, I drafted a reply in the style corporate communications people do. It addressed and countered each point with clickable evidence, in a friendly, matter-of-fact style, neatly resolving the misunderstanding. Then I saw what my friend who regularly stands as a candidate in local elections had written. He embraced the challenge with gusto, challenged the premise of the attack and pointed out an alternative line of investigation to follow. My approach would’ve ended the debate but his approach sparked a whole new debate on his terms. It hadn’t occurred to me quite so starkly before that a lot of corporate comms is about shutting down conversations – we write specifically to eliminate questions. It is conservatism with a keyboard, irrespective of our claims of interactivity. In using communication for social change techniques, I focus on getting marginalised voices into the debate and arguing for their formats or frames of reference but I only use the challenging of premises in academic areas. In political and social change it’s clearly fundamental and it’s a lot more engaging than playing safe.
Griftopia. I got this on audiobook as I’ve had little time to read but I stopped using it as a bedtime story as it’s not the kind of thing that leads to a good night’s sleep. I have paused at and need to re-listen to how Taibbi attributes the oil price rises and spikes to investor speculation
Bookmarking. In the last six weeks or so I’ve bookmarked over 50 things on Delicious and marked 98 as favourites on twitter, all for reading later. I’d like to decide to read two or three a day till I catch up with myself but that’s never going to happen
I’m sure there’s more but that’ll do for now.
