Visit me at Google+
Yes, I’m not posting very much on my blog for now. I will come back, I promise.
In the meanwhile, if you want to stay in touch visit my profile on Google+ (Not on Google+? Go to Google+ Welcome page to learn more).
The coolest kitchen in the world
Alan Cooper , one of my user-centered design gurus, was the first to teach me that often, products that have been inspired by a specific need of a specific group of people end up being broadly successful (the rolling suitcase is a famous example). I’ve always loved this concept.
I love it even more when the niche product that becomes broadly successful was initially designed for people with special needs. (If you have such universal-design-is-good-for-you examples, please send them my way)
A nice example, Snaidero’s Skylab kitchen, is described in a book called Design-driven innovation: Changing the rules of competition by radically innovating what things mean, by Roberto Verganti (this is an interesting and provocative book, and it comes recommended by Don Norman)
This kitchen was created to make it easier for people in wheelchair to move around and access stuff in cabinets and on countertops. The team working on this project spent hours observing wheelchair users using traditional kitchens and thinking about ways to adapt the design to their needs.
For example, they created round countertops that allowed people in wheelchair to move around more easily, and carousel countertop to reach objects on counters and in cabinets (more pictures of Skylab)
It turned out that all sorts of people loved Skylab. The countertop carousel made easier and more convenient for everybody to reach objects. The curvy surfaces were beautiful and made moving around the kitchen easier. The rounded edges, notes Verganti, made also possible for people to cook without turning their back to others and made it easier and more pleasant to interact with family and friends.
“Although Snaidero had assumed that Skyline_lab’s features would prove meaningful for many users, the firm did not anticipate that the biggest demand would come from traditional users. In response, the company released a version of the kitchen addressed to a broader market. This version became the firm’s best-selling product after only two months and today accounts for more than 20% of Snaidero’s revenues. Many customers do not know about the product’s origin.”
[Originally posted on Google+]
Meb Keflezighi wins the NYC Marathon
Meb Keflezighi (right) around the 8th mile on Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn (Photo by Antonella Pavese)
This was my first time watching the NYC Marathon. It was an amazing experience. The entire neighborhood was in the street, cheering, making noise, dancing, and having fun, welcoming with the same enthusiastic support the first runners and the last runners, the fast and the slow, as people of all races and ages streamed through.
Go, John!
More picture of the NYC Marathon seen from Brooklyn »
Sponsor me, as I sit still.
Sit Down, Rise Up!
You might know that I am part of the Interdependence Project (IDP), a non-profit organization based in Manhattan blending meditation, art, and activism. On November 7, I will meditate for 4 hours as part of a 24-hour meditation marathon organized to support IDP’s annual fundraising.
Donations collected for the 24-hour marathon will be used to fund classes on Buddhist meditation and philosophy, to take actions on social issues, and to sponsor art projects. The IDP practices integral activism, an approach to progressive social transformation that connects personal experience with political work and our efforts to transform society.
Why am I asking you to give money to the Interdependence Project?
Because I care deeply about the IDP and I want this organization to thrive. I also want you to learn about IDP’s unique approach to personal and social activism. The IDP project survives Manhattan’s high rents (we are on the Bowery in the LES) and program expenses through donations and low-fee classes. Among the many IDP programs: college tutoring for people getting out of prison, a project to eliminate plastic bags from New York through a combination of public events, awareness raising, and legislative action; art workshops.
All this, combined with the informal, non-cultish, and smart community, makes the ID project one the best place to be mindful in NYC. Your donations will help a great cause and will be tax deductible.
How can you help?
I will be sitting for 4 hours during a 24 relay meditation event, and I’m asking to sponsor my effort with an hourly donation to our non-stop, group meditation marathon. For example, a $2/hour donation offers the IDP $48, but you can donate as much or little as you want.
I will be sitting between 11AM and 3PM on November 7th, in a window at the ABC Carpet and Home at the corner between Broadway and 19th street. Pass by to take a picture and make faces as I try to sit still. As you may expect, I will be sitting there no matter what. But 4 hours of meditation are hard stuff, and your donation will keep me motivated and warm and fuzzy.
To donate, please visit this page, select, your amount, and add my name in the “Name of sitter” field.
With gratitude,
Antonella
Well-behaved women seldom make history
I’ve been tagged by Nick Barrowman at Log base 2, with the historical figure meme. My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to pick a historical figure and list 5 random/weird things about this person.
I had to think really hard to pick my favorite historical figure. I don’t think I can name my favorite ice-cream flavor, let alone a favorite historical figure. I thought about William James, because when he was at Harvard he was a buddy of Charles Pierce, which is the historical figure chosen by Nick.
But–sorry Bill–it ought to be a woman. A crowd of bad-behaved women came to mind:
- Emmeline Pankhurst (“Be militant each in your own way. I incite this meeting to rebellion.”)
- Rosa Parks (“When they stood up and I stayed where I was, he asked me if I was going to stand and I told him that ‘no, I wasn’t,’ and he told me if I did not stand up he was going to have me arrested. And I told him to go on and have me arrested.”)
- Anaïs Nin (“I disregard the proportions, the measures, the tempo of the ordinary world. I refuse to live in the ordinary world as ordinary women. To enter ordinary relationships. I want ecstasy.”)
- Josephine Baker (“I wasn’t really naked. I simply didn’t have any clothes on.”), and
- Rachel Carson (“The ‘control of nature’ is a phrase conceived in arrogance, born of the Neanderthal age of biology and the convenience of man.”)
I wonder why I thought of them. I suspect that it’s because women need to be good to the point of sanctitude or quite bad to become historically famous. And bad girls tend to be more interesting.
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So I picked the baddest woman on the block, Mary Jane West, know to the world as Mae West. I’m pretty sure she counts as an historical figure. She was born two centuries ago–exactly on August 17, 1893. And everybody who is still famous after so many years deserves her place in History, wouldn’t you say? [or shall I say Herstory?].
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