Frameworks for activity?

VRM as a quest for happiness

Minimal exchange of relevant data improves transaction quality; less of the bad stuff, more of the best

Components of a commute

On ‘Nudge’

スクランブル交差点

Toronto discovers diagonal pedestrian crossings

I’ll be speaking at Disruptive Media

Freeing government data: some progress in the UK

The Show Us a Better Way competition is progress even in its name

About Peter Parkes

I’m an entrepreneurial twenty three year old, part of the team at we are social, a conversation agency based in London.

On this site, I blog mainly about communication, design, technology and the arts, and their impact on society. I also write the Skype blog.

Feeds
Updates by email
My Photos
Search
Distractions from the web
  • iPhoto '09 and Domain Language · “Keep this in mind the next time you’re designing an app or a feature. There is a strong tendency to use the same words that you see other software using. Be cautious about copying domain language, because copying language is copying a whole approach. Think through the domain yourself. What are people trying to do? What do they care about? Find your own language to cut closer to the bone and touch your customers’ real interests. Your software will be all the better for it.” #
  • the last first world problem · “Like all modern hard drives, the Sony SR1’s hard drive has a drop-detection system. When it thinks it’s falling, the hard drive heads park themselves to prevent damage upon impact. Unfortunately, in zero gravity, the camcorder always thinks it’s falling.” Mental note. Buy less sophisticated cameras for zero gravity flights in future. #
  • House of Bendie: Birthday Bespoke · House of Bendie makes made-to-measure hoodies with British fabrics, including this bespoke coat: “Welcome to House of Bendie - a UK clothing line that takes classic, British suiting fabrics and creates unsuit-like clothes for men and women. We specialise in bespoke hoodies: hand-made, made-to-measure, hooded jackets crafted from exquisite suit materials.” #
  • Ofsted's new mission - to get rid of boring teachers · “Chris Keates, the general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, said: ‘…With comments like that, the chief inspector fuels the view that every lesson of every day for every minute has got to be packed with excitement.’” – it sounds like NASUWT has mediocrity as a goal. Great. #
  • Travel time to major cities: A global map of Accessibility · A fascinating map showing the Earth’s most isolated places: only 10% of the Earth’s land area is more than 48 hours from a large city over land and/or navigable waterway #
  • Culture Trumps ROI · “Those types of organizations are very likely to demand a detailed business case demonstrating ROI on social software, or any other collaboration technology. It’s one of the ways they can maintain status quo and kill grassroots efforts to improve collaboration.” I wouldn’t go this far, but there are plenty of scaredycats around. #
  • Social software ROI · “You don't know what benefits could be realised if Joe in Finance talked to Sarah in HR. It might be absolutely nothing. On the other hand it might fundamentally change the company for the better. Social software is a serendipity lubricant that increases the chances of valuable interactions occurring - but it makes no guarantee on their frequency or their value.” Because the ‘I’ is small, the ‘R’ needn’t be very large to demonstrate impact #
  • Kinetic typography used to present The Girl Effect · A good example of kinetic typography in action #
  • Radiolaria creator, pt. 1 · Pseudo-organic shapes drawn with Processing #
  • Real Weddings: Lori + Lee 8.16.08 - Elizabeth Anne Designs · I’ve actually no idea how I came across this, but it was kicking around my bookmarks untagged and unloved. Beautiful colours, and nice wellies too. #