This group has now been running for four weeks and I must say--I am impressed. Not only with the results. But by the idea that everyone I speak to about this group is excited about it. My friends, my family, the person sitting next to me on the airplane.
But what has shocked me the most is that....I am excited about it. I am thinking about it all the time. Thoughts and ideas are flowing through my head for this project constantly....there is so much more that I could do to really launch it! There is so much potential for this idea to go bigger. My big plan to create a simple, easy to use curriculum for teachers to use in schools all over the planet is still out there. And I think I'm going to go for it. Something about this has given ME hope for my own life...to create something beautiful. A digital point of connection for the planet. There is so much potential here, it is hard for me to sit still.
It is also possible that if this idea can fly on its own --without a curriculum---using the power of web technology only. Already, it has! I have done very little and invested ZERO dollars and the 52words group is going strong!
The hard part is...so many people love this idea. And there are almost 500 fans on facebook...but --it still requires thought and time and effort. The project needs to be so much fun that everyone is going to want to do it --share the results, comment on others photos. If it hits a nerve - if it becomes popular enough. Then, the goal of this project will be achieved and ultimately create a global, interactive network of real people from anywhere and everywhere participating in this project. That we can--through 52words-- learn about our differences in who we are and where we come from. And it is the interaction among the participants...the comments...where the deeper connections among us and deeper meaning of the project is revealed. And the sense that we are all inter-connected.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Week 4: WORK
This group is gathering momentum. Starting to get very excited about this! Flickr is an interesting thing--it has so many flaws, yet it seems to be an easy way to start this crazy movement--which has only been alive for 3.5 weeks!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
New word for week 3: DIFFERENT
What do you consider different? Post it! Onto the 52words flickr page (click left).
I am amazed at all of the photos this week. This was an incredibly difficult word. Lots of people wrote in and said they didn't know what to submit, that it was too hard. That they were stumped. All of this, in and of itself, I find interesting. Despite the hardship---ALL of these people who told me they were having difficulties submitted a photo. Then there is my dad who decided to submit 3 photos instead of the alloted ONE. Hilarious! You couldn't decide, could you?
There is still so much I can do with this concept. And the idea of creating a curriculum for non-profits to use all over the world still hangs high on my list of 52words priorities. This could really localize it. Some random examples that could be interesting in the 52words effort: 16 year olds at 1 school in Nepal, a regular Brazilian highschool, a battered women's shelter in south Florida. This project could teach them not only about photography, but about themselves, their classmates, their peers, their lives. I could work with an educator and photography teacher to create the curriculum into 52 modules. Short and easy to use. Anyone could upload these modules off the internet and use them easily in a classroom or with any non-profit group of beneficiaries. A teacher, a volunteer, a caseworker could work with the class (or group). From that year's worth of work together---surely one or two exemplary students or group members would latch onto the concept. Develop a love for photography and for going out into the world and conducting the 52words project on their own. Train the trainers! If anyone out there is reading this blog. Let me know your thoughts on this!!
I am amazed at all of the photos this week. This was an incredibly difficult word. Lots of people wrote in and said they didn't know what to submit, that it was too hard. That they were stumped. All of this, in and of itself, I find interesting. Despite the hardship---ALL of these people who told me they were having difficulties submitted a photo. Then there is my dad who decided to submit 3 photos instead of the alloted ONE. Hilarious! You couldn't decide, could you?
There is still so much I can do with this concept. And the idea of creating a curriculum for non-profits to use all over the world still hangs high on my list of 52words priorities. This could really localize it. Some random examples that could be interesting in the 52words effort: 16 year olds at 1 school in Nepal, a regular Brazilian highschool, a battered women's shelter in south Florida. This project could teach them not only about photography, but about themselves, their classmates, their peers, their lives. I could work with an educator and photography teacher to create the curriculum into 52 modules. Short and easy to use. Anyone could upload these modules off the internet and use them easily in a classroom or with any non-profit group of beneficiaries. A teacher, a volunteer, a caseworker could work with the class (or group). From that year's worth of work together---surely one or two exemplary students or group members would latch onto the concept. Develop a love for photography and for going out into the world and conducting the 52words project on their own. Train the trainers! If anyone out there is reading this blog. Let me know your thoughts on this!!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
New word for Week 2: BELIEF
My heart is skipping some beats on this one. This week's word may be a bit controversial and difficult. But here it is. If we don't take some risks in life, then where are we? Each word has to encompass what this project is about --identity. About who we are and the places where we come from.
There are so many crazy things tied up in belief. It can be secular or religious. Or outside those two categories all-together. I believe in the power of chocolate - but maybe I don't believe in that the MOST. But this isn't necessarily about what we believe in the most. It's just about belief.
I am hoping participants can use the comment function on flickr and facebook a lot more. I don't know if anyone else feels it. But - I think if we do interact more, this could become a tight knit community of people. It is an incredible feeling, more incredible than I thought --than to have complete strangers submitting photos onto 52words. It's like I know one small piece of who they are. I am humbled. And excited.
There are so many crazy things tied up in belief. It can be secular or religious. Or outside those two categories all-together. I believe in the power of chocolate - but maybe I don't believe in that the MOST. But this isn't necessarily about what we believe in the most. It's just about belief.
I am hoping participants can use the comment function on flickr and facebook a lot more. I don't know if anyone else feels it. But - I think if we do interact more, this could become a tight knit community of people. It is an incredible feeling, more incredible than I thought --than to have complete strangers submitting photos onto 52words. It's like I know one small piece of who they are. I am humbled. And excited.
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