13 Words: Lemony Snicket + Maira Kalman

A despondent dog, a busy bird, and what iconic illustration has to do with the iPad.

We love iconic illustrator Maira Kalman and have a soft spot for the writings of Daniel Handler, better-known under his legal pen name, Lemony Snicket. Not to mention we’re all over a good trailer for a book. Naturally, we’re head over heels with 13 Words, the new book by Lemony Snicket with an illustrated trailer by Maira Kalman, who also illustrated the book itself.

13 Words is essentially a word book, but it’s no ordinary wordbook. Like those brilliantly reimagined alphabet books we featured some time ago, Snicket’s latest gem takes a children’s literature staple, simultaneously honoring it and flipping it on its head.

Snicket curates 13 of the most essential words of all time — OK, we know you’re dying to know: Bird, Despondent, Cake, Dog, Busy, Convertible, Goat, Hat, Haberdashery, Scarlet, Baby, Panache and Mezzo-Soprano — and pairs each with original illustrations in Kalman’s signature simple-loveliness style.

Quirky and irreverent, the book is as much an educational tool for kids as it is a work of cross-disciplinary art for grown-ups. But to take it one step further, we’d actually love to see it as an iPad app that really brings Kalman’s wonderful artwork to life at the fingertips of today’s digital-swazi kids.

13 Words is officially out on October 5, but is available for pre-order this week. And we have one word for it: Unungettable.

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News21: Next-Gen Storytelling for the Multimedia Age

From frontlines to bylines, or what the future of journalism has to do with a countryside ranch.

A few weeks ago, Neil Burgess, former head of Magnum Photos, caused quite a stir by declaring photojournalism dead. While his argument had a handful of strong points reagarding the economics of photographic storytelling, it was held together by a rather narrow and traditional definition of photojournalism as a genre within print and news media. Today, we look at an inspired project that holds promise for the future of photojournalism in a way that makes Burgess’ argument crumble.

News21 is national education initiative pushing for new forms of investigative reporting and multimedia storytelling. Led by a dozen of America’s leading research universities and backed by the Carnegie-Knight Task Force, the project aims to approach journalism education from all angles — curriculum, policymaking, hands-on experience, cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Since 2006, News21 has been initiating annual projects grouped under umbrella themes that change every year — Liberty vs. Security in 2006, Faces of Faith in America in 2007, What’s at Stake around the 2008 Election and Changing America in 2009. This year, the project tackles a complex, multifaceted and highly controversial issue: War.

In late May, 10 journalism students spanning the entire spectrum of print-online, broadcast, graphics and photography staked out in a bunkhouse ranch in northeastern Washington state, where for six weeks they tasked themselves with getting to know the area’s thriving community of war veterans. The team set out to explore the consequences of war — from PTSD, to divorce to criminal activity to suicide — through the rich human stories of the veterans.

From an infographic map of veteran population to an interactive gallery bespeaking the diversity of a group so often addressed as a lump-sum monolith, the results are brimming with beautifully crafted photojournalism, meticulously edited multimedia storytelling, and thoughtful art direction.

One hidden yet priceless piece of the project we’d like to point you to is the Innovation Lessons section, culled from News21’s experience-gleaned insights. From the dynamics of team reporting to the importance of visual thinking to the intricacies of non-linear storytelling, the section is a deluge of invaluable practical guidance applicable to any loosely defined journalist, from the professional magazine editor to the blogger to the photojournalist.

Follow @news21 on Twitter for updates on the project and an altogether excellent feed of next-gen journalism.

via NPR

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Robin Moore’s String Math Portraits

String theory for the rest of us, or what vintage photography has to do with gaming for good.

In the early 1980s, James R. Murphy began teaching mathematics using string figures in an effort to engage students who didn’t “like” math. Kids found the activity enormously fun and, almost without realizing it, learned to the kind of focus and dedication necessary for solving a problem by completing a series of complex steps — a fundamental skill in math and science. Essentially, it was an early successful experiment in using gaming for education — something on the minds of many of today’s social-good innovators.

One day, Murphy asked Robin Moore, a student of his and a budding photographer, to take some pictures of the string figures, initially intended purely as a visual record. But Moore produced a series of remarkable black-and-white portraits of these kids and their strings.

Taken in La Guardia, often against the backdrop of bathroom walls and decaying hallways, these portraits exude the palpable pride the kids take in their string creations, at once delighted with and enthralled by these logic-driven tangles.

More about the project, including papers about Murphy’s original methodology for teaching via string figures, can be found in Murphy’s String Figures: Teaching Math With String Figures.

And what became of Robin Moore? We, after enlisting the help of Sergey and Larry, couldn’t answer. To be filed in our would-love-to-do-a-story-one-day box: A Portrait of Robin Moore.

via Coudal

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Waiting for “Superman”: Education by the Numbers

Why 26 seconds are enough to end up in prison, or what Superman has to do with the economy.

A couple of months ago, we raved about Waiting for “Superman” — an ambitious new documentary about the state of public education from filmmaker Davis Guggenheim of An Inconvenient Truth fame.

The film explores the human side of education statistics, following five promising, talented, intelligent kids through a system that inhibits rather than inspires academic and intellectual growth. While very much a curtain-peeler for a broken system, with all its “academic sinkholes” and “drop-out factories,” the film is also a hopeful manifesto for the transformational power of great educators, whom Guggenheim casts as the only true ushers of education reform.

This week, the film released an infographic-driven teaser in addition to standard trailer, offering a compelling visual narrative around some eye-opening education statistics.

In America right now, a kid drops out of high school every 26 seconds. These drop-outs are 8 times more likely to go to prison, 50% less likely to vote, more likely to need social welfare assistance, not eligible for 90% of jobs, are being paid 40 cents to the dollar of earned by a college graduate, and continuing the cycle of poverty.”

The film ultimately asks the most critical question: How do we ensure that talented teachers help their students succeed?

We highly, highly encourage you to see Waiting for “Superman” when it hits theaters this fall — you can even pledge to do so right now. Meanwhile, the site offers a handful of ways to take action and lend a hand in fixing a broken system from the ground up.

via

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