PDX

Guide to a Tech Community: ePDX

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

Portland’s tech community is incredible.  Each week there are tons of events, meetups, and coffee-shop hanging out between people who are thinking up great ideas.  Since moving to Boston, I always think about what went into building such a great, open, excited community in PDX, and how that could be applied here.

There are tons of factors that go into it, but recently, PDX techies put up a website in Portland, highlighting the tech community there:

I’m thinking about other cities which would like to grow their tech community.  Having a resource like this guide can allow people to know what projects are brewing, what events are going on, where people are talking (IRC channels), and people who you’re likely to meet when you go out to one of the events. Having the guide be community edited (I can add someone, or a project) is a fantastic way to keep it relevant.  And the user interface + design is wonderful.

While a community may be healthy due to the actions of a few individuals, having a guide like this opens up the community boundaries, and relieves ‘hub’ individuals with many connections of being he only information conduits.  With higher information flows in the community, members have a better idea of the social capital around them- who to go to for advice on Android Dev, Mapping, UX design, etc.

This sort of information ecosystem builds a community that is conducive to collaboration, adaptation, and growth.

Posted on March 31st, 2011 under Blog. Tags: , , , , , ,

PDX I Love You

Friday, December 18th, 2009

cover

Imagine the city covered in hearts on Valentine’s Day.  So many people love this city, and here is a way to express that love.   On Valentine’s Day, anyone walking alone in the city may see a heart poking out from a corner, and perhaps a smile will creep on their lips.  A heart that is not commercial, a heart placed not for a single person, but for anyone who walks by.  We want to give a medium for people, to encourage them to freely express their affection through this simple symbol, and re-conceive the purpose of Valentine’s Day, as not a huge commercial endeavor, but a chance to just show anyone- maybe even a city- you love them.

This was a collaborative project organized with Jason Edward Davis in Portland, OR.  We organized a booth in the Love show to spread the idea and materials, and on the night of February 13th, 2009 we placed hearts around the city with dozens of Portlanders.  The following are the notes preceding the project, and documentation of its progress.

Concepts

Ephemeral art is essential in this project because the intention does not involve littering or graffiti.  Creating hearts that are biodegradable, or will come out in the rain is essential.  Possible mediums include chalk, newspaper, construction paper, powder, and natural materials like sticks, dirt, or stones.

While exploring East Berlin, one can’t help but notice the wealth of street art.  Its all around, and after wandering a few days in that city I felt the dialogue the artists had with the city dwellers.  Walking in the city, daydreaming, thinking about different things, and these artists’ works would penetrate my thoughts.  The street art is for the public, and its free to view.  Its a similar dialogue and notion of art free for all that PDX I Love you seeks.

The intention is to cover as much of the city as possible with hearts.  This is a large scale project, and in order to meet that scale we take into account the concepts of networks and how information and action flows through them.  In order to scale to the size of the city, the execution is from the bottom up.  We offer simple guidelines, without any core structure, to allow groups to grow organically.  There is the option to meet at the love show, or to message us to find groups.  With groups forming anywhere, and without reinforcing certain locations, it becomes possible to have hearts emerge all around the city without having a single individual put each one up.

Documentation

The messages sent out and development of the project was maintained on pdxiloveyou.blogspot.com

Soon after spreading the word of the project began, the curator of the Portland Love Show, Ben Pink, welcomed PDX I Love you into the show.  We set up a booth there where we spread the message and also materials to heart the city.

On Valentine’s Day and for weeks after it was fun to look out for hearts and hear about hearts that were seen around town.  For the most part the project was incredibly fulfilling because of its general uplifting outlook and giving nature.  People became inspired about the idea, and we were excited by enthusiastic responses.


Posted on December 18th, 2009 under Projects. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Interview with a Sacred Geometrist

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

Sacred_Geometry

A film by Shawn Patrick Higgins, Andrew Kurtz and myself created initially for the Deep Leap microcinema night of films relating to sacred geometry.  Soon after Shawn approached me about the topic I met Rachel Zuses, a sacred geometrist.  She was excited about the interview and we were excited to further explore the topic for the film with someone who passionately studies and teaches sacred geometry.

We are curious about how far sacred geometry extends beyond the platonic solids and euclidean forms, how it is conceived of as the architecture of the universe, how sacred geometrists see sacred geometry influencing their lives, and to what extent sacred geometry affects people who are unaware of it.

What initially sparked my interest in this topic was attending the masks showing at Launchpad Gallery and talking to Jeff Betz about his masks and their relationship with the ideas of Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung.  Many of the masks evoked a sense of facets of the self as represented in the unconscious; one gets a feeling that each could be an image of an intense emotional state or  developmental event within.  One of the feelings that struck me upon going to India was the spirituality and meaning which pervaded the environment, with spiritual symbols everywhere, and meaning attached to details all around: a garland on a tree branch, candles, patterns, images of gods and goddesses.  You walk into a store, or up to a food stand, and you will see a statue of a deity, you will see an altar.

Symbolic meaning and becoming shone through vividly in Betz’ masks and we discussed how that degree of meaning and connection to the unconscious isn’t as present within our culture.  Jung mentions in Man and his Symbols that this detachment separates our culture from our unconscious since the symbols which express the bubbling unconscious of a society and thus produce meaning are repressed.

However, just because the images of gods or other spiritual symbols are not as present in our society does not mean that our unconscious is not expressed in our culture.  Through what framework could the collective unconscious be expressed?  It became apparent upon learning more of sacred geometry that it could to some extent fulfill such a role.   The “gods” in our culture could be platonic ideals and a focus on rationality and meaning in that dimension expressed through the geometry of our architecture.  Such geometry laden with meaning could be a subtle expression of our collective unconscious.

interview with a sacred geometrist. from Shawn Patrick Higgins on Vimeo.

The film “Interview with a Sacred Geometrist” will be shown on December 15th as part of the Deep Leap Microcinema Sacred Geometries screening starting at 7:30 pm at the Waypost, 3120 North Williams Avenue, Portland, OR.


Posted on December 12th, 2009 under Interview with a Sacred Geometrist. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,