“International Peace Organizations, Past, Present, and Future,” Free Lecture on 6/23

U.N. 101 –International Peace Organizations, Past, Present, and Future

by Dr. James D. Moore, Pacific University Political Science Professor, Director of the Tom McCall Center for Policy Innovation, Media Political Analyst

Sunday, June 23, 2013
3:30 to 5:00 PM
First United Methodist Church
1838 SW Jefferson Ave, Portland
(Fireside Room)

Event is free and open to the public 

Sponsored by
United Nations Association of Portland
Website:  www.UNA-Portland.org 

Co-sponsored by
Veterans for Peace, Chapter 72, Portland

Marine Debris presentation at OMSI tomorrow

This is World Ocean Day at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) located at 1945 SE Water Ave, Portland.  This event will include a presentation on marine debris by Emilia Deforce of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and a showing of the film “Ocean Frontiers.”  

OMSI
1945 SE Water Ave
Sun, June 2, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
OMSI admission is only $2 per person the first Sunday of every month.

RSVP for East Portland Multicultural Center Design Presentation tomorrow

Students from PSU’s School of Architecture will be holding a schematic design presentation for an East Portland Multicultural Center. They will present initial design schemes, based on impressive research addressing: programming, cultural center precedents internationally, vernacular precedents, community identified goals, and potential East Portland properties/sites. These documents are available for review at the East Portland Neighborhood Office, 1017 NE 117^th.

Students have done a lot of work and are eager to have feedback, since they will continue developing these designs in the Fall term and want the final product to be of use to the East Portland community in our quest to bring a Multicultural Center into being.

Friday, May 31
1:30 – 4:00pm (poster session, like an Open House, come as you can)
Portland State University, Shattuck Hall, Third Floor
(Shattuck Hall is a red brick building located on SW South Park Blocks in between SW Hall and SW College Streets; a short walk from TriMet stops: PSU Urban Center & PSU South or the street car stops on South Park Blocks & Mill or Market)

Please RSVP if you can attend: B.D. Wortham-Galvin, Ph.D., School of Architecture: b.d.worthamgalvin@pdx.edu or ph.503.725.2337

Mark Tercek, CEO of The Nature Conservancy, visits Powell’s tomorrow

Mark Tercek will visit Powell’s tomorrow evening to promote his new book, Nature’s Fortune.

What is nature worth? The answer to this question — which traditionally has been framed in environmental terms — is revolutionizing the way we do business. In Nature’s Fortune (Basic Books), Mark Tercek, CEO of The Nature Conservancy, argues that nature is not only the foundation of human well-being but also the smartest commercial investment any business or government can make. This event is sponsored by The Nature Conservancy.

Friday, May 31st @ 7:30pm
Powell’s City of Books on Burnside 1005 W Burnside
(800) 878-7323

William Stelle visits Collaborative Design on May 13th

William Stelle, Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries NW Region, will be joined by several other NOAA administration and communication specialists to encage faculty and students in ways artistic practices can support their science and better inform the public of pressing ecological concerns. Students and faculty will present work at the juncture of science and art.

A Conversation with Economic Provocateur Catherine Austin Fitts

Catherine Austin Fitts has been to the halls of power and has the battle scars to prove it. After a withering battle with the federal government, Catherine emerged with a new goal, to add transparency to the World’s financial wheelings and dealings and create a method to help individuals invest and take wealth back.

From her personal wealth site at Solari.com Catherine helps people understand how to build real wealth that’s healthy for investors, companies and the World.

We had a chance to talk to her about community wealth, GIS and her thoughts on how terrible B-corps. are. … Continue Reading

Emerging Technology: World’s Smallest Film

Scientist are creative too. Check out this stop animation film created by scientists at IBM using individual atoms to form the picture.
Read more at R&D Magazine.

Summer Intensive 2013 at the Oregon Coast

Join Collaborative Design August 5th – 9th in a field course on the Oregon coast. Check back with PNCA’s Continuing Ed for details and registration. This time around, it’s going to be a lot sunnier :)

Graphic Facilitation Techniques

In Collaborative Design, we use a lot of facilitation techniques for running meetings and brainstorming sessions. It comes with the territory of being a collaborative group. We have learned a lot of visual thinking techniques from mentors at the local design consultancy, XPLANE, and this book, Gamestorming.

Interested in visual thinking? Learn how to get started with this great video on graphic facilitation:

Knowledge vs. Ignorance

In the Cognitive Bias & Design Thinking course, students have been examining cognitive biases and how they are involved in the design process.

One discussion raised the point of knowledge versus ignorance. What biases is someone susceptible to when designing in a subject arena they know nothing about? On the other hand, what biases arise when you are so immersed in a field that it’s hard to break out of the box? Is there a sweet spot in between?

The Big Think posted a related article called Is Too Much Familiarity Bad For Creativity?

Read it and judge for yourself. Although you may want to see what else is out there before your anchoring bias kicks in :)