Solve Anything! Building Ideas through Design - Mar 2010

Encourage the critical consumption of information.
WHY
This seems to be a common denominator among ideas in our brain storming session, pertaining to ideas around environmental sustainability, health information, social, economic, political, and religious information and concepts.
HOW
I propose a fairly innovative but simple approach drawing on the book “The Tipping Point” as well as similar concepts from community development, social advocacy and justice, and health promotion.
It would be great to make thinking , consuming information – critically, an epidemic.

Discover strategies that identify sticky points – when a message sticks and becomes a point for action, to also discover who are likely to be good communicators, champions of the message and those who will actively promote good consumption., across a variety of audiences.
How about a multi-layered, simple, inexpensive campaign that everyone and anyone could take part in?
What if we prepared and distributed a variety of catchy messages around thinking in a variety of forms and places, that include posters but also book marks, post cards, and flyers, maybe blog postings, tweets. The goal is to do something that includes the somewhat traditional, but also use unique and unusual modes and places for dissemination. In a way it is representative of the information spectrum we experience and the need to take a path through to get some meaning from it. All print items would have a website, blog or utube site which the material encourages individuals to visit. That site is designed to encourage further online and off-line exploration with some type of reward system in place for that investigation and discovery.

The challenge is to design messages well to appeal to various audiences and to be integrated effectively to a larger scheme in which social media has a role. Ultimately the goals are: 1/ get people thinking and interacting
2/ encouraging new maybe different ways of thinking, understanding
3/ encourage new ways of learning
4/ promote the investigation of an issue critically
5/ link various media as a means of learning, investigating and even meeting others doing the same.
6/ demonstrate that time spent investigating is a good investment
7/ the process can be fun maybe even rewarding
8/ that trying is good, important, a good risk - can be ‘sweet’

Example of Messages: - they need work!

If I read it, see it, hear it - humm - it must be right?

Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed. (Bertrand Russell Nobel Prize Literature, 1950)
No, no. You are not thinking, you are only being logical. (Niels Bobr Nobel Prize Physics, 1922)
Many people would rather die than think. In fact they do. (Bertrand Russell Nobel Prize Literature, 1950)
Some subjects are so serious that one can only joke about them. . (Niels Bobr Nobel Prize Physics, 1922)
If the earth warms up we a/ head to higher ground -b/ pay more for air conditioning, c/ pay less for heating, d/ alter what food we have available to eat e/ none of the above f/ all the above?
Turning the light out will make a difference to ______ a/ me, b/ you, c/everyone, d/ noone ?
Not driving to the shop will make a difference to _____ a/me, b/ you, c/ everone, d/ noone ?
Where is the life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? (T.S. Eliot Nobel Prize Literature, 1948)
Governments never learn. Only people learn (Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize Economics, 1976)
If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing (Anatole France Nobel Prize Literature, 1921)
Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not yet completely sure about the universe. (Albert Einstein, Nobel Prize Physics, 1921)

Nothing in this world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. (Martin Luther King Nobel Prize Peace 1964)