A study comparing the proportions of people rushing through train stations as a measure of stress or busyness. Train stations are fascinating places. I reckon it'd be fascinating to do a longitudinal study of the amount of people rushing through trainstations and/or the pace at which they are moving. Over time this could perhpas provide a measure of how life is speeding up.
A study of how personality types (eg Myers Briggs) are portrayed in movies. Ie. Are the emotional types portrayed negatively or positively? What about introverts vs extroverts, etc. Movies are obviously a great refelction of our culture and values. During the last century we've developed several models of personality types. Studies already tell us that certain personality types are more common than others. But what do we know about how different personalities are valued and how this might affect young people and their developing personalities as they grow up. I think it'd be fascinating to know how different personalities are portrayed in films, which ones are portrayed positively? which negatively? does this vary between genre's. Has it changed over time. What about the appearance of unlikely heroes such as those played by Adam Sandler and Jim Carey?
Do some research on the role/participation/involvement of women in the NGO/community sector or the lack of involvement/participation of men, particularly younger ones. Men and particularly younger ones are much under represented in the community sector, why? What does this say about the way our society values the sector, perceptions about gender roles etc.
A study on uses and forms of consensus decision making worldwide. Consensus is an emerging decision making system as an alternative to auotcratic and antagonistic systems. It's already used in a range of different ways and contexts, but awareness of this is quite low. A study which examined the uses and forms of consensus across the globe would be a great tool for assisting people and groups to take it up and use it more effectively.
Sunday, 4 January 2009
Language and movies
Here's a couple we can all do - changing the way we use language:
Disposable income should be re-termed savable income to promote saving rather than spending.
Don’t ask people ‘so, what do you do?’
but perhaps ‘what are you interested in?’
or ‘what did you learn today?’
or ‘what do you want to learn today?’
or better yet ‘who are you becoming?’
This would help move us away from being such a work or task-based society, to being people or learning focused.
Make a movie with a plot similar to that of Erin brokovich but with the gender roles reversed. A movie about a man who:
Lost his wife and has to raise four kids
Inherited millions from his deeased parents lost them and had no skills of his own.
Grew up working for his dad in a small shop, dad passed away aged 18 and then a new local supermarket forces the small shop to close.
How did Erin Brokovich start? Is there any explanation for how she ended up alone with 3 or 4 kids? Why did she need the job at Masreys?
Is it a true story? It strikes me that a similar story about a man in that position would be viewed very differently and this could provoke some interesting questions about the way we value and perceive gender differences.
Or Make a movie about a sexually irresistible man.
Both ideas are designed to challenge our notions and assumptions of gender and the differences between what is and is not acceptable for men and women.
Disposable income should be re-termed savable income to promote saving rather than spending.
Don’t ask people ‘so, what do you do?’
but perhaps ‘what are you interested in?’
or ‘what did you learn today?’
or ‘what do you want to learn today?’
or better yet ‘who are you becoming?’
This would help move us away from being such a work or task-based society, to being people or learning focused.
Make a movie with a plot similar to that of Erin brokovich but with the gender roles reversed. A movie about a man who:
Lost his wife and has to raise four kids
Inherited millions from his deeased parents lost them and had no skills of his own.
Grew up working for his dad in a small shop, dad passed away aged 18 and then a new local supermarket forces the small shop to close.
How did Erin Brokovich start? Is there any explanation for how she ended up alone with 3 or 4 kids? Why did she need the job at Masreys?
Is it a true story? It strikes me that a similar story about a man in that position would be viewed very differently and this could provoke some interesting questions about the way we value and perceive gender differences.
Or Make a movie about a sexually irresistible man.
Both ideas are designed to challenge our notions and assumptions of gender and the differences between what is and is not acceptable for men and women.
Inventions and energy adaptations
Water proof Dictaphone for the shower. I have some of my best ideas in the shower but no way of recording them - so either a water proof dictaphone or water proof writing equipment would be great.
Walkman with adjustable body strap, they probably have these but it'd be great if you could get adjustable straps for your ipod etc so you could easily strap them to your, waist, thigh wrist etc.
Piano with no black keys, all notes white with labels for the numbers 1-12. - just novelty value I guess.
Would it be possible to produce electricity from excess sound energy,
ie waves on a beach, wind in the trees, people talking in a bar, dogs barking, traffic, disco/rock concerts. we have a surplus or sound energy and a deficit of electric energy, it'd just be nice to redress the balance. They do it in telephones why not for other things?
And what about wind energy using wind created by moving vehicles, ie cars and trains. Could we place small wind turbines on top of these vehicle to generate electricity while they move, or along the side of road and train tracks to avoid increasing the air resistance in order to move the vehicles in the first place.
What about a desk fan with a wind turbine directly in front of it? Would you still feel the wind coming out the other side? Could it be a self powering fan, with only a simply charge needed to start it?
A friend of mine had the thought that maybe the pressure from home brewed Ginger Beer could power a small engine? this would be a form of bio-power.
Walkman with adjustable body strap, they probably have these but it'd be great if you could get adjustable straps for your ipod etc so you could easily strap them to your, waist, thigh wrist etc.
Piano with no black keys, all notes white with labels for the numbers 1-12. - just novelty value I guess.
Would it be possible to produce electricity from excess sound energy,
ie waves on a beach, wind in the trees, people talking in a bar, dogs barking, traffic, disco/rock concerts. we have a surplus or sound energy and a deficit of electric energy, it'd just be nice to redress the balance. They do it in telephones why not for other things?
And what about wind energy using wind created by moving vehicles, ie cars and trains. Could we place small wind turbines on top of these vehicle to generate electricity while they move, or along the side of road and train tracks to avoid increasing the air resistance in order to move the vehicles in the first place.
What about a desk fan with a wind turbine directly in front of it? Would you still feel the wind coming out the other side? Could it be a self powering fan, with only a simply charge needed to start it?
A friend of mine had the thought that maybe the pressure from home brewed Ginger Beer could power a small engine? this would be a form of bio-power.
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