How to debunk the myth to provide the ground for a change of thought. A critical and useful handbook free to download: http://www.skepticalscience.com/docs/Debunking_Handbook.pdf

“Although there is a great deal of psychological research on misinformation, there’s no summary of the literature that offers practical guidelines on the most effective ways of reducing the influence of myths. The Debunking Handbook boils the research down into a short, simple summary, intended as a guide for communicators in all areas (not just climate) who encounter misinformation.”

More insight and information here: http://www.skepticalscience.com/Debunking-Handbook-now-freely-available-download.html

7:32 am  •  8 October 2012  •  1 note

change starts with a party. and epic changes start with epic house parties.

The epic house party crew pimps your party on demand, provides you with top notch party gear and clientele. The crew will record the party and edit the footage into a crisp, breath taking and mystifying party extravaganza to make sure you and your party will go down in online history. In the future parties will be epic on demand!

The final assignment realized by Sho.

4:36 pm  •  1 October 2012

Farmer’s Roof is Matthias’ proposal for the future.

For our last assignment he investigated current roof top farm initiatives around Europe and looked into concepts of garden coops. He then decided to merge http://www.wg-gesucht.de/ with http://www.gruene-daecher.de/daecher.htm to create a relaxed way to get in touch with friends and nature in attractive locations overlooking Berlin.

You can rent a parcel of one of the roof top gardens and become an instant farmer. The website will help you find your perfect match and inform you how to take care of things and when related events take place. This site is also a perfect way to share interests and questions with your fellow farmers. You can even buy crafty supplies for your little eden under the sky.

1:17 pm  •  30 September 2012  •  1 note

This is Anika’s proposal for the future. For her research she participated in a few workshops at the temporary BMW Guggenheim Lab in Berlin this summer. Then she found a network called Mundraub (Theft of Food) that lists all the public fruit trees, berry bushes and nuts. On this site you can find the exact location and what is in season around your block - for free. 

For her proposal she wanted to promote education in ideal places and imagined an online platform that would provide free spaces and niches for advanced study and better learning: Study Garden. This site lives for and by its users. Taken Berlin as her pilot location she proposed to list spots that proofed to be very good for all kinds of study.

For example, if you needed to work with a group, or had to have access to internet or electricity. If you wanted to study indoors or join a guided tour. Anything would be possible and the different assets would be listed on the site.

One of the goals was to activate the numerous places in Berlin and change perspective every now and then, because a change in perspective might help you focus on what matters most.

Seasonal learning spaces for all your study needs! 

In German - - - - -

Lernen kann man immer und überall - man muss sich seinen „Lernort“ nur schaffen.

Dafür soll es eine Plattform geben, die wie mundraub aufgebaut ist, wo User die Möglichkeit haben, für andere User den besten Lernort in der Stadt zu markieren. *

Man kann markieren, wo gibt es Cafés mit kostenlosem WLAN bzw. wo in der Stadt sind Hotspots (z.B. von WALL in Bahnhöfen), wo sind gute öffentliche Plätze zum lernen? Ist es dort eher belebt oder ganz still?

Kann ich mit mehreren Leuten dort sitzen und arbeiten oder reicht der Ort nur für eine Person, max. 3?

Ein weiterer Menüpunkt sollte sein, wie man sich mit einfachen Mitteln Lernorte schaffen kann. (Wie im Workshop vom GUGGENHEIM LAB) Das kann die Decke auf der Wiese hintem Haus sein oder das Strandzelt im Park. Eine „DIY-Lernort“ Bauanleitungen.

12:52 pm  •  30 September 2012

Throughout this semester Mareike focussed on charity and creative work by nuns around the globe. She researched the motives and the connections across religious persuasions. What did they have in common besides obedience, poverty & abstinence?

For the last assignment she imagined a global network of nuns called spirited nuns. The network would have an online platformadapting the concept of Etsy to support charity work around the globe. One project would be supported at a time. Every participating convent could propose a project and they would be supported in turns. The nuns would commit to producing hand-made goods a la Etsy and sell them through an online shop. The revenue would go straight to the project that the nuns wanted to support. There is a bit of kickstarter attitude in there. And there is nothing wrong with entrepreneurial nuns who collaborate across persuasions for a greater good. 

Divine Hand-made goods come now right to your doorstep - perhaps not for instant revelation but certainly for good karma. Spirit away!

8:57 am  •  30 September 2012

Lisa decided for the last assignment to unite the concept of couchsurfing and apartment search and to make it relevant for students, urban nomads and for the ones who would like to explore alternatives and stay flexible with a less flexible budget.

She developed RoomXchange: Live somewhere else - live different. It’s a platform that brings together rooms and various living concepts. You might live on your own but would like to know how it’s like to share an apartment with people you would normally not get in touch with, or you have been living the carefree and sordid student live for way too long and would like to get a glimpse of what it’s like to not be annoyed by everyone else’s dirty dishes.

Lisa also highlighted the fact that your very own city can become fresh and enticing if you changed your barrio/kiez/hood every once in a while. Stays can last from a few weeks to longer term swaps. 

If her concept catches on the future would look like this: anyone who has a room can also live in any other room around the globe. The network will help you to mix and match and reinvent your life. Becoming a global nomad one room at a time.

I wonder if one could sign up for a room flat rate.

In German ————————————-

„Roomxchange“ ist eine Plattform, welche die Konzepte des Couchsurfing/Homeexchange/WG-gesucht vereint. Zielgruppe sind Studenten, Experimentierfreudige, Reisende, Geringverdiener.

Die User legen einen kostenlosen Account an, in welchem sie ihr WG-Zimmer, ihre Wohnung und etwaige Mitbewohner, und ihren Wohnort und die Umgebung (/Straße/Kiez) beschreiben.

Anschließend können sie ihren Wohnraum mit anderen Usern tauschen. Intention hierfür könnte sein, dass man z.B. gerne mal in einer großen WG wohnen wollen würde für eine gewisse Zeit, oder andersherum mal von der WG eine Auszeit braucht und erleben möchte wie es ist, allein zu wohnen. Oder man möchte in einer anderen Stadt/Ausland Urlaub machen, oder ein Praktikum für ein paar Monate.

8:37 am  •  30 September 2012

Hungry, anybody? let’s become Mealmates!

A concept idea by Jule. The applied the principle of couchsurfing to the social act of cooking and eating together.

She developed a concept for a website where hungry students in Berlin can open an account stating the favorite foods what they can cook and what they would like to cook.

Once opened an account you can invite to dinner or ask to join proposed one.

Each dinner invite would state the amount of potential eaters, what would be cooked with respect to allergies and certain food preferences or intolerances.

As main chef you can decide if you want to buy the ingredients yourself and ask for a small donation or if you ask the others to bring along some ingredients.

Anyone can apply for a spot at a table but the one who invited gets to pick whom he wants to have dinner with.

Only when the invitation is confirmed then the address and time is provided.

To make the mealmate site a reliable resource their is a rating system allowing the attendees to comment on the dinner and the quality of food and conversation.

In addition their will be a dish of the week section to inspire others to get out the pans and cook away.

3:52 pm  •  29 September 2012

Erandhi - our gift specialist - chose for the last assignment to partner up with Etsy and a global network of orphanages. 

She decided to make creators and consumers collaborators for a greater good. In her mind Etsy would launch an initiative called little prince and little princess for a day with the goal to provide any orphan within the greater network with a gift on their birthday.This initiative would invite creators to donate one or more of their products suited for children to charity. These products would be hosted on a separate site compiling to the little prince and little princess for a day gift pool. When a consumer would purchase a product from a contributing designer they would be invited to double-up their shipping cost to secure that the donated product would be delivered on time.

On time to celebrate the birthday of one orphan with a proper hand-made gift.

3:37 pm  •  29 September 2012

For the final assignment Chanti decided to put the spotlight on Berlin’s senior citizens.

Her motto was: Man lernt nie aus. / You never stop learning. And to promote a contagious learning and sharing environment old people must not be excluded from creative production. She invented a initiative that would bridge the offline world of older citizens and the online Etsy community. every second week This initiative would invite seniors to take part in creative workshops. The transportation would be provided for by this initiative. Seniors could either propose to share a skill they knew and teach it with support from that initiative to others or to sign up for a workshop themselves. The products of each workshop were of course property of the creator they did have the option however to sell their products via the initiative’s online shop to gain a little extra money or just to rejoice in the fact that someone, somewhere appreciated the work the effort. Part of the revenue would go back to the creators and the other part would cover the initiative’s expenses.

3:08 pm  •  29 September 2012  •  1 note

Lisa proposed as her one-month routine to keep paper and crayons by her bed side and the moment she shifted from wake to dream she would draw a drawing in the dark. One every night for a month.

http://www.lisazimmermann.com/

2:33 pm  •  29 September 2012