Videoblogging at the 15th Annual International Forum of Visual Practitioners

via flickr.com

LIVE from the Bay Area in California, and armed with a spanking new Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera, I have had a blast being both participant and videoblogger for this tribal gathering of scribes. 

Check out the results on http://www.graphicfacilitation.com!

Interested in learning more about IFVP... not to mention the 2011 conference in Hawaii(!)... then visit ifvp.org.

(Thanks CoBrandit, for tips on videoblogging conferences!) 

Awesome PopTech Acceleration Goodness

Like the crazy Rube Goldberg machine in this OK GO video, PopTech is a wonderful, eclectic mash-up of disperate moving part performing in orchestrated chaos to bring something wonderful to the world.

Was that a stretch?

Irregardless, the PopTech team and vast network of volunteers, sponsors and partners have pulled together amazing gatherings, projects, conversations and programs that extend throughout the year.

Alphachimp Studio is proud to play a small part at these many gatherings, big and small. Most recently, we participated in the Ecomaterials Lab Innovation Lab at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

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The Electric Scribe

The Electric Scribe from Alphachimp Studio Inc. on Vimeo.

Alphachimp Studio collaborated with a team of adventuresome creative partners to pull off live, electric scribing -- plus a trippy light show -- for 300 guests. This behind-the-scenes look at the show is set to wicked peppy music by Kevin O'Donnell's Quality Six.

FULL DISCLOSURE: We can't take credit for any of the incredible staging or brilliant technology... just showed up with a trusty MacBookPro, a Wacom tablet and a belly full of butterflies!

Designers Respond to Crisis

 This month, has been one of witnessing communities respond to catastrophe through information, art, and action.

Local artists, including our own Alicia Diane Durand, submitted designs for posters and t-shirts to benefit flood victims

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Social Crisis, Social Mapping & Social Change

Updated on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 8:25PM by Alphachimp

Updated on Monday, August 8, 2011 at 12:42PM by Alphachimp

Social Mapping for Social Change from Alphachimp Studio Inc. on Vimeo.

This week at at the Graham Foundation in Chicago, PopTech brought together three speakers (and a smart audience in this city of news aggregators and social good organizations) for a special salon event on the current and future impact of social mapping tools.

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WARNING: Designers Tend to Fall Prey to Ideas!

"Designer vs. Dinosaur" by Lillian (6) and Peter (40)

Robert "Fabi G" Fabricant is inspiring jealousy (in me) by being in East Africa, blogging, and hobnobbing with the globally challenged superheroes and villains at the World Economic Forum.

His observations in his Fast Company post examine the long shadow cast by the rise of Design Thinking.

Specifically, Fabricant calls out the dirty little secret that designers--while clever, innovative and unafraid of funky footwear--don't actually know how to get stuff done within complex systems.

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Diane Durand Illustrates A New Children's Book: My Brother, Autism, and Me

My brother has autism. My mother told me so.
In case you’re not sure what that means, I’ll tell you what I know…

So begins My Brother – Autism – And Me, written by Aisha Pope and illustrated by Diane Durand.

This book for children tells one little boy’s story about the good (and some not-so-good) times of life in his family with his brother who has autism.

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Sketchbook Paintings of D.Fullerton

Great illustrations and paintings by David Fullerton (thanks Bruno!)http://bit.ly/9ivF4u

Remote Graphic Capture for Vanderbilt Center for Teaching

Mind map created remotely from Dallas and projected live in Nashville during the workshop.

This workshop for university faculty and staff featured many tools for physical and virtual facilitators and educators, including remote graphic capture and presentation on group  facilitation and graphic recording by Alphachimp Studio Inc.

From the Vanderbilt Center for Teaching (CFT):

Our brains are wired to rapidly make sense of and remember visual input. Visualizations in the form of diagrams, charts, drawings, pictures, and a variety of other ways can help students understand complex information. A well-designed visual image can yield a much more powerful and memorable learning experience than a mere verbal or textual description.

On Wednesday, March 17th the CFT hosted  Show and Tell: Integrating Visual Thinking in Your Teaching in order to begin dialogue about how we might tap into our students’ ability to think visually when teaching.

To see the results and access the list of visual methods, tools, books and resources from the workshop, visit: http://bit.ly/viz-teach

Alphachimp @ TEDx Nashville

See more graphic recording from the event on Flickr: images | slideshow

While our visual compatriots Sunni Brown, Austin Kleon and David Gray were cavorting with the SXSW Interactive crowd, we had the honor of providing visual capture for this inaugural TEDx Nashville event focused on the future of health care.

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