Tag Archives: consumption

The gift of repair

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stuff-breaks-final

Why not give the gift of a simple promise to help a friend or loved one repair something in 2013? You could either include this in a Christmas card, or present it with a gift as a “personal warranty” for the gift, or you could fold up and drop in a stocking.

We’ll be handing these out at our Christmas parties this weekend, Saturday in Belsize and Sunday in Brixton.

Please share, print and use, or get inspired to make your own version. (We’re licensing this Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike)

Download the high-resolution colour version here
Download a high-res version optimised for black & white printing here
Download a high-res version optimised for printing in grey scale here

If you need help finding a repair clinic or café near you, consult our growing global map – “Community (of) Repair”.

#Mozfest pt 1: The politics of making the future

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We attended Mozfest this weekend – and as we still do not even have anything web-related to show (hopefully next year) – we were there to gain inspiration and really push our thinking forward.

The Mozilla Festival is a radically “open” geek paradise, where hundreds of people from around the world came to co-create and share ideas and tools, including online media, gaming, educational tools.

Photo of Joi Ito by Flickr user Paul_Clarke used on a CC license

We left really challenged to build a truly open community (which we will get to in our second post), but we also left with some lingering disquiet with blindspots in the “politics” of the community.

This post is intended to be a contribution to the “writeable” society and intended to start a conversation, so please read on and let us know what you think. Continue reading →

The Power of We, consumers of e-stuff

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We have started to notice what we call an increasing ‘disquiet’ with the way we consume technology. The iPhone is the most common trigger for this feeling, but it is symbolic of greater unease with short lifecycle of e-stuff, sandwiched by concerns about production, supply chains and then disposal.

You know it’s serious when one of the US’ biggest sketch comedy TV shows goes after the frivolity of tech journalism and reminds us of the human costs of our gadgets.

We are tired of feeling powerless – in some sleepwalking state of mindless consumption. Of course we want innovation, we want progress, but at a pace that makes sense to us as humans.

We decide, not some marketing and manufacturing behemoth. Continue reading →

“Permanent Error”

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We don’t tend to like to use guilt as a driver for behaviour change. But there is something so powerful about South African photographer Pieter Hugo’s work on e-waste recyclers in Ghana, that we could not resist sharing.

Hugo will be speaking on Friday at Photographer’s Gallery in London – a talk which is already sold out. The exhibition of his work lasts until September 9. Continue reading →

The fixing continues

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We had great fun at our second event on Thursday at the inspiring KK Outlet store, beautifully curated by Technology Will Save Us. In addition to tinkering, dispensing repair advice and marveling over the Sugru dinosaur, we fixed another HP printer and switched out the fan on this 2006 Macbook – now silent and cool. (May it last another six years!)

Continue reading →

Documentary: The Light Bulb Conspiracy

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UPDATE: The film will screen again on September, Thursday 13, 6:30pm at UCL – it is a free event.

Tonight the documentary “The Light Bulb Conspiracy” debuts in London at the Open City Documentary Festival. Watch the trailer here and join us at 6:45pm for the screening, plus discussion with Social Innovation Camp afterwards about combating obsolescence.

The Light Bulb Conspiracy (Trailer) from Hans Fleischer on Vimeo.