The Thought Menu

The Thought Menu is a London based DIY nomadic talk series

[thoughtmenu]

Thought Menu #11

:: Thought Menu #11 - Making Uncovered!! ::

:: 6-7pm Saturday, September 13, 2014 ::

@ Six Brixton. 6 Somerleyton Road SW9 8ND @

:: www.thoughtmenu.com ::

:: 007 :: The Last Days of Summer 2014 ::

Hello Everyone!

:: STOP PRESS! ::

We are delighted to announce (somewhat at the last minute) that we have partnered with Makerhood.com again, and will be running a Thought Menu as part of their Making Uncovered festival this weekend.

We had a great time last year, and this year looks like it will be better than ever!

:: WHERE!? ::

Thought Menu #11 - Making Uncovered!! will be held from 6-7pm  on Saturday September 13th

Six Brixton. 6 Somerleyton Road SW9 8ND.

The full conference, ‘Making Uncovered’, runs from 11am with various demonstrations and workshops running throughout the day. Thought Menu #11 begins at 6pm sharp. There will be live music and a party afterwards from 7pm. Come have a drink, we certainly had a few last year!

Book your free ticket here :: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/making-uncovered-2014-tickets-12498111187

If you’d like to come along (for all or part of the day) please do register as it really helps the Makerhood team :)

:: OUR SPEAKERS ::

Meg Jayanth - How to Ruin Videogames

@betterthemask

Meg Jayanth is a freelance writer and game-maker living in London. Her work includes the recently released 80 Days: a steampunk, anti-colonial, interactive retelling of Jules Verne's classic, for iOS; and Samsara, a richly fantastical tale of dream walking and courtly intrigue set in 18th Century Bengal.

Selina Nwulu  - 'What Makes a Poem'

@selinanwulu

Selina Nwulu is writer, poet and educationalist, often inspired by global justice, protest and politics.  Part of the writer’s collective, Malika’s Kitchen, she has been published in a variety of magazines and anthologies, including In Protest: 150 Poems for Human Rights’ (Institute of Commonwealth Studies et al. 2013), Home and Exile (Emma Press Forthcoming), Bad Brains (Antlers press 2013), New Left Project and The Guardian. She has performed at a number of festivals - most recently the WOW festival at the Southbank Centre and Leefest, and has toured nationally and internationally. Her first collection is due to be published by Burning Eye in Spring 2015.

Maya Bonkowski -'The Story of the KittenGroomer'

Maya is the Tech Visionary at maker-space Machines Room. She is a maker, hacker and coder: here’s the blog about the programme she developed. The KittenGroomer has been to a number of cryptofests, Raspberry Jams and the like, and has generally been well received. A number of seminars for journalists have been held and there are now KittenGroomer-equipped journalists out there. What is KittenGroomer, you ask? Come along to find out!

Mike Vanis -

@techwillsaveus @mikevanis

Mike is an interaction designer, technologist and sporadic climber. He is Head of Kit Design at Technology Will Save Us and will be talking to us about what they do.

http://www.techwillsaveus.com/

Sign up here // http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/making-uncovered-2014-tickets-12498111187 :: (free!)

#TTM11 is the hashtag for the event.

:: THOUGHT MENU CRUMBS ::

Feedback - We would welcome any feedback (constructive criticism or glowing praise) you might have for us, you can do so either by replying directly to this newsletter OR by emailing us directly - [email protected]

What else should we do? - We are always looking to expand our collective, if you would like help out or be involved please get in touch!!

Email us: [email protected]

Tweet us at: @thoughtmenu

News Letter:   https://tinyletter.com/thoughtmenu

Alternatively you can catch any of us here:

Ben @benvickers_

Gaia @la_gaia

Jay @thejaymo

Susannah @SusannahWalden

[thoughtmenu]

Steve Wheeler is a writer, therapist and recovering academic currently living in the pathless atopias of nonlinear modernity.”

Twitter :: @steel_weaver Blog :: about.me/steve.wheeler

TTM #9 #metanomadism Saturday 12 October 2013 Lime Wharf #bigpicturedays #bpd4 #bigpix

The Thought Menu is a London based DIY nomadic talk series Follow us on twitter :: twitter.com/thoughtmenu Stay in touch, subscribe to our newsletter :: tinyletter.com/thoughtmenu/

[thoughtmenu]

Currently Curator of Digital at the Serpentine Gallery, co-runs LIMAZULU Project Space and facilitates the development of unMonastery, a new civically minded social space set to open in 2014.

Twitter :: @benvickers_ Blog :: benvickers.net/

TTM #9 #metanomadism  Saturday 12 October 2013 Lime Wharf #bigpicturedays #bpd4 #bigpix

The Thought Menu is a London based DIY nomadic talk series Follow us on twitter :: twitter.com/thoughtmenu Stay in touch, subscribe to our newsletter :: tinyletter.com/thoughtmenu/

[thoughtmenu]

Paul is the lead on refugee litigation at Amnesty International UK and a former immigration and refugee law practitioner and advocat

Twitter :: @Paul_Dillane

TTM #10 #HumanRightsWrongs Saturday 7 Dec 2013 Lime Wharf #bigpicturedays #bpd5 #bigpix

The Thought Menu is a London based DIY nomadic talk series

Follow us on twitter :: twitter.com/thoughtmenu Stay in touch, subscribe to our newsletter :: tinyletter.com/thoughtmenu/

[thoughtmenu]

Brett Scott is a financial campaigner and author of The Heretic’s Guide to Global Finance

Twitter :: @Suitpossum Blog :: suitpossum.blogspot.co.uk/p/the-heretics-guide.html

TTM #9 #metanomadism Saturday 12 October 2013 Lime Wharf #bigpicturedays #bpd4 #bigpix

The Thought Menu is a London based DIY nomadic talk series

Follow us on twitter :: twitter.com/thoughtmenu Stay in touch, subscribe to our newsletter :: tinyletter.com/thoughtmenu/

[thoughtmenu]

Thought Menu #10 - Human Rights & Wrongs - 7th Dec

you can subscribe to the e-mail newsletter :: here ::

[thoughtmenu]

#TTM10 :: HUMAN RIGHTS & WRONGS: Challenges & Opportunities in a Networked World - DEC 7th

The next Big Picture Day is on HUMAN RIGHTS & WRONGS on Saturday December 7th at Lime Wharf Annex.

:: DETAILS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS & WRONGS: Challenges & Opportunities in a Networked World 7th :: (check back for updates!)

Sign up here :: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/big-picture-day-5-tickets-9401922403 (free!)

What do human rights mean to you? Is social justice achievable? What is the interplay between social justice and advances in technology and global connectivity? This big picture day will focus on the topics of social justice and human rights, with a view to examining their role in an increasingly interconnected and on-line world. We will welcome speakers and workshops that seek to re-articulate and challenge notions of what human rights and social justice mean. We also want to hear from people who can speak about practical projects that confront these issues in a real way.

Key Challenges

1. What are human rights anyway? Are they still fit for purpose?

2. Both human rights and many social justice movements are misinterpreted and misrepresented in the popular press. How do we translate and communicate human rights and social justice for the new century?

3. Does Web 2.0 expand the opportunities for true, meritocratic participation. Are we seeing new groups rise to prominence in new ways, or are the same people being heard? And what implications does this have for the most vulnerable and disenfranchised groups?

4. Is ‘clicktivism’ – on-line activism and its associated petitions - a way of bringing activism to the more silent majorities? Or does it break down the culture of solidarity and horizontal cooperation in traditional social movements, reinforcing the vertical relationship between citizen and state?

5. Is respecting and protecting the rights of others a peer-to-peer responsibility? If so, how and by whom should the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of citizenship be communicated and defined?

6. Has the nature and role of the individual been coopted and distorted through new trends, particularly in institution led campaigns?

:: WHAT WILL THE DAY LOOK LIKE? ::

11:00- 13:00 - THE THOUGHT MENU We will hear from a variety of speakers covering the topic over a series of 20 min sessions.

14:00-16:00 - WORKING SESSIONS We will re-group and practically build on what has emerged so far. This will include sessions that either workshop projects or problem-solve existing issues.

:: SPEAKERS ::

More speakers will be updated once they dot their 'i' and cross their 't's!

Paul Dillane - Save Justice?

@Paul_Dillane

Paul is the lead on refugee litigation at Amnesty International UK and a former immigration and refugee law practitioner and advocate

Kim Evans- Bridging the justice gap

@lifeincustody

Kim Evans spent 30 years observing first hand how the criminal justice system treats the most disadvantaged and vulnerable members of society. She assisted Jon Robins in launching the award winning online access to justice magazine 'The Justice Gap' which attempts to explain the law and people's rights in everyday language.

Etienne Abelin - El Sistema - Playing Music as a Human Right?  

@etienneabelin

Etienne Abelin is a professional musician and is the founder of classYcal, a start-up dedicated to promoting innovations in classical music, for example by bringing classical music to clubs. A member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and a principal second violin of the Orchestra Mozart Bologna, he was the Artist-in-Residence and music curator at the Festspielhaus St.Pölten in Austria. Etienne initiated ((superar)) suisse, a start-up that brings music to socially disadvantaged children, has helped build the "Sistema Europe" network and is a founding member of the Hub Zurich.

www.etienneabelin.com

Ruth Taylor - The Orchid Project

@OrchidProject

Following two History degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate level, Londoner Ruth Taylor began her working life in fundraising and direct marketing before moving into communications. In October 2010 she joined Orchid Project as a volunteer, becoming the first paid staff member at this start-up non-profit in January 2011. Now one of a team of 4.5 people, she is an expert on female genital cutting and the context surrounding it – human rights, social norms and change. 

Gaia Marcus - P2P Rights and Justice?

@la_gaia

Gaia Marcus is an Edgeryder and an UnMonk advisor, a Senior Researcher at the RSA, founded the Social Mirror project and is ¼ of the ThoughtMenu. As a relapsed yet trained human right-ist who works with communities across Europe, she will introduce the day, ensure everyone is speaking about the same things when the say ‘human rights’ and social justice, and outline her vision as human rights as a person-to-person responsibility.

:: THE WORKSHOPS ::

Normally, workshop themes emerge in the course of the day. Two potential workshops we would like to see happen are:

i. how do we tell a story of human rights that rescues it from the media?

ii. the brainstorming and organising of a seminar series that asks “what is the world we are currently creating through changes to the legal aid system”; that digs into philosophy of law and the values systems we create through our action and inaction.

:: Outputs :: Along with participant shaped focus, one of the questions we hope to address through discussion and workshops is how to tell a story of human rights that rescues them from the media. This and other themes will be captured and collated through blogs, popplets and a mash up of activist and techie collaboration on project ideas.

:: Who would you like to attend? ::

You! Human rights activists, human rights sceptics, the apathetic, the busy, the technologists… everyone is welcome, and everyone will have a role to play. Sign up here :: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/big-picture-day-5-tickets-9401922403 :: (free!)

#BigPix & #TTM10 are the hashtags for the event.

[thoughtmenu]

Katee is a Left footed, right handed, half-Chinese Canuck who lives in London. Her days are spent @pentagram, and evenings with @hackneylaces. She is an RSA fellow.

Twitter :: @kahui Blog :: hackneylaces.co.uk/ & http://katee.org/

TTM #1 Friday 27th July 2012 Lima Zulu #TTM1 #MindGames

The Thought Menu is a London based DIY nomadic talk series  Follow us on twitter :: twitter.com/thoughtmenu Stay in touch, subscribe to our newsletter :: tinyletter.com/thoughtmenu/

[thoughtmenu]

As a designer, architect and systems thinker, Vinay is working on large scale sustainability and global resilience.

He interacts with both activist groups and central government to bring a more acute awareness of environmental limits, social justice and the ever-present role of infrastructure and technology in shaping our lives.

Twitter :: @leashless Blog :: vinay.howtolivewiki.com

TTM #7 #stacktivism unconference Saturday 13 July 2013 Lime Wharf #bigpicturedays #bpd1 #bigpix

The Thought Menu is a London based DIY nomadic talk series Follow us on twitter :: twitter.com/thoughtmenu Stay in touch, subscribe to our newsletter :: tinyletter.com/thoughtmenu/

[thoughtmenu]

Priya is founder of Design for Social Change, a social impact business marrying realtime citizen data with grassroots action to affect change in neighbourhoods through Changify its mobile crowdfunding platform.

Blog :: changify.org/ Twitter :: @priyascape

TTM #7 #stacktivism unconference Saturday 13 July 2013 Lime Wharf #bigpicturedays #bpd1 #bigpix

The Thought Menu is a London based DIY nomadic talk series Follow us on twitter :: twitter.com/thoughtmenu Stay in touch, subscribe to our newsletter :: tinyletter.com/thoughtmenu/

[thoughtmenu]

Do The Green Thing is a not-for-profit public service that inspires people to lead a greener life. With the help of brilliant videos and inspiring stories from creative people and community members around the world, Green Thing focuses on seven things you can do - and enjoy doing.

Twitter :: twitter.com/projectpatchwrk Blog :: dothegreenthing.com

TTM #1 Friday 27th July 2012 Lima Zulu #TTM1 #MindGames

The Thought Menu is a London based DIY nomadic talk series Follow us on twitter :: twitter.com/thoughtmenu Stay in touch, subscribe to our newsletter :: tinyletter.com/thoughtmenu/

[thoughtmenu]

Dr. Russell works with individuals and organizations advising on how to use mindfulness techniques to optimise performance and improve mental and physical well-being. She is the Director of the (currently virtual) Mindfulness Centre of Excellence, London, which has as its aim the evoluation of creative yet authentic mindfulness applications for all spheres of life.

Blog :: mindbodymot.com/

TTM #1 Friday 27th July 2012 Lima Zulu #TTM1 #MindGames

The Thought Menu is a London based DIY nomadic talk series Follow us on twitter :: twitter.com/thoughtmenu Stay in touch, subscribe to our newsletter :: tinyletter.com/thoughtmenu/

[thoughtmenu]

Katee is a Left footed, right handed, half-Chinese Canuck who lives in London. Her days are spent @pentagram, and evenings with @hackneylaces. She is an RSA fellow.

Twitter :: @kahui Blog :: hackneylaces.co.uk/

TTM #1 Friday 27th July 2012 Lima Zulu #TTM1 #MindGames

The Thought Menu is a London based DIY nomadic talk series  Follow us on twitter :: twitter.com/thoughtmenu Stay in touch, subscribe to our newsletter :: tinyletter.com/thoughtmenu/

[thoughtmenu]

#TTM9 :: META-NOMADISM AND THE LIFESTYLE HACKERS OCT 12-13th

The next Big Picture Day is on #NewNomadism and the Lifestyle Hackers on Saturday + Sunday October 12-13th at Lime Wharf Annex. The Schedule so far can be found below. The next event will be run as  part of the Transeuropafestival organised by European Alternatives. European Alternatives is a transnational organisation promoting democracy, equality and culture beyond the nation state.

:: PROVISIONAL DETAILS FOR NEW-NOMADISM AND THE LIFESTYLE HACKERS OCT 12-13th :: (check back for updates!)

Sign up here :: https://lifestylehackers.eventbrite.co.uk/

The ground is shifting, the landscape is changing and new migratory patterns are on the rise. As the first effects of austerity are felt, the necessity to dramatically rethink the social and geo-spatial infrastructure that underpins our everyday existence has never been so vital.

Lifestyle hackers are facilitating the birth of the New-Nomad and the emergence of these new nomadic classes may propose more than a coping mechanism for economic reactionaries – the hacking and protocolization of ones lifestyle could in fact point to an entirely new way of existing in the world. As new services such as AirBnB, Bitcoin and Task Rabbit are introduced into the built environment of the mainstream , our options for how the game is played expand – right now they’re expanding exponentially.

This event’s primary focus will be on those who are choosing to live differently, examining the culture that is being built, the facilities created and how we might collectively advance its development.

This is our chance to reset the narrative about what is happening, and perhaps emerge with some new ideas about what to do next.

“…increase the chaos. In terms of probability enhancement, it’s now considerably less likely that you will achieve economic success via internal promotion and hard work than it is through serendipitous encounters with people who need your skills. If you do not live somewhere with sufficient economic dynamism to provide an appropriate level of chaos, then move. End of. Economic nomadism has been the story of mankind for all but a tiny fraction of the last million years. And lastly…

Obey the law, ignore the rules. “ - Gordon White :: There Is The Rescue Mission And The Salvage Mission

#BigPix & #TTM9 are the hashtags for the event.

#NEWNOMADISM Sat 12th

Vinay Gupta introduce’s Big Picture Days & Introduction to Limewarf for Thomas Ermacora in absentia.

11:00 - TALKS START. Speakers will each talk between 10-15 minutes, with 5 minutes for Q&A.

Elf Pavlik

Living #Moneyless and #Stateless

@elfpavlik

#hacker / #elf - living strictly #moneyless and #stateless already for over 4 years! ☮ #WorldPeaceGame #proplayer ☮ @hackers4peace

Ben Vickers

Bad Nomadism: What I’ve learnt from my incompetencies.

@benvickers_

Currently Curator of Digital at the Serpentine Gallery, co-runs LIMAZULU Project Space and facilitates the development of unMonastery, a new civically minded social space set to open in 2014.

Steve Wheeler

Songlines and Sheeptracks: Nomadism as Navigation

@SteelWeaver

Steve Wheeler is a writer, therapist and recovering academic currently living in the pathless atopias of nonlinear modernity.”

Alex Fradera

Lifestyle Improvising

@alexfradera

Alex is a scientist and artist, immersed in psychology and improvisation; most of my time is spent playing with, writing about, and teaching in these fields.

Brett Scott

Open Source Finance Hacking

@Suitpossum

Brett Scott, financial campaigner and author of The Heretic’s Guide to Global Finance

Williow Brugh (Video + Skype QA)

Title TBC

@willowbl00

willowbl00 battles the tyranny of structuralessness through intentional memetics and action.

12:00 - SESSION PITCHES We’ll take half an hour to figure out together what we want to do in the next two sessions, and what concrete deliverables we can make in the workshop period. Expect a grid with a number of work spaces & a lot of post-it notes as we try and schedule what’s going on.

12:30 - LUNCH Eat, drink, maybe take a walk in the park, flesh out some ideas, and get ready.

13:00 - WORKING SESSIONS Topics may include:

These are just some seed ideas, the event will be structured around those who attend on the day!

Potential formats if we don’t want to improvise (will have prepared in advance of the day but our preference is always improvisation):

-Context Orientation / “What’s the situation of those in the room?” On a slide scale, (physical line on the floor) - we will assess the mentality and socio-economic conditions of the group, Asking questions: “do you have a 9-5 day job?”, “How secure is your home, in terms of longevity of stay?”, “How many material possessions do you have; a backpacks worth or a warehouse full of books and furniture?”.  

-Repurposing Existing Services and Place  / “What are our existing resources?” Taking specific services, locations or companies that already exist, map out how it might be re-orientated or repurposed to support new forms of nomadism or create a hack for ones existing lifestyle. e.g BigBox storage as shared library with multiple keyholders, Gym membership as surrogate bathroom/shower room, Using DropBox as the infrastructure for a distributed physical art collection, using Grindr to give away your washing machine to people in your area etc.

Methodologies we might use: SCIM, Methodkit, 

-More sessions to be framed in advance of the event online

13:30 FIRST SESSION Four to six breakout groups, some led by the speakers from the morning, to deep dive on specific areas of interest. Last 15 minutes will be for session reporting to the whole group.

14:30 SECOND SESSION Another set of breakout groups, heading towards some conclusions we hope! Last 15 minutes will be for session reporting to the whole group.

3:30PM REFRESHMENTS Possibly coffee, probably beer (there’s a nice pub just outside!)

4:00PM MAKE SOMETHING A two hour block to sit down in teams or on your own to deliver something concrete from the workshop. Things you might consider: doing a deep dive on a particular question and writing a blog post on what you have learned together, editing your pictures and notes from the day then uploading them, documenting the sessions you were part of from your notes, writing a specification for some software that expresses an important idea, or writing to people on projects you are involved in with insights you had today. Do some of the things you’d like to do later now while everybody is still here! If you need a break to think about things, the park is just around the corner - take a stroll, walk with friends, but do please try and write up something before the end of the day.

6:00PM CONCLUSIONS Plenary session. A chance to discuss the day with the group as a whole, and talk about next steps, subsequent projects, and canvas for support for any projects that have come out of our day.

Sign up here :: https://lifestylehackers.eventbrite.co.uk/

#NEWNOMADISM Sun 13th

11:00am Meetup catch up with thoes you met the day before, 

11:30am Session Pitches 

12:00pm Unconfrence Begins

[thoughtmenu]

The Transeuropa Festival ::

Our Contribution This Weekend!

#TTM9 :: Meta-Nomadism And The Lifestyle Hackers :: Oct 12-13Th

[thoughtmenu]

Did you know we have a newsletter? Stay informed, Subscribe here !! :: http://t.co/yVfJ2bPFJI— the thought menu (@thoughtmenu) October 9, 2013

[thoughtmenu]

As a designer, architect and systems thinker, Vinay is working on large scale sustainability and global resilience.

He interacts with both activist groups and central government to bring a more acute awareness of environmental limits, social justice and the ever-present role of infrastructure and technology in shaping our lives.

Twitter :: @leashless Blog :: vinay.howtolivewiki.com

TTM #8  Tuesday 20 Aug 2013  Lime Wharf #Cyberinsecurity #bigpicturedays #bigpix The Thought Menu is a London based DIY nomadic talk series Follow us on twitter :: twitter.com/thoughtmenu