Money : :
[j] brought up a Japanese money project. I heard more about it yesterday - well about one of the money projects going on in Tokyo.
The idea is that you can buy this new money, which is accepted in certain places and in those places the newmoney is worth real money (and a discount). You buy the money using yens, which go to charity. It's a bit like Hunger site and similar charity services. In this case the companies don't pay the charities, but they offer you, the person giving away the cash, their services. Like coffee. The cause in this case was some environmental project.
posted by [jm.] at 11:14

[d] + rest of toronto : : any thoughts on or inspiration from the booklet?
I agree with much that you write [d] : experimenting with communication tools seems a theme we enjoy investigating and it suits our bipolar approach really nicely as it is a means of connecting two physically distant places. It is also important to get toronto involved in a closer way - as you said you missed out on the parties and perhaps we should've figured if there was any way for you to present in some virtual way. I especially this was a significant point: "we should use and experiment with methods of keeping ourselfs informed, interested and connected in the _project". That is key, you're right.
Groove Networks? I'll have a look at it...

Ok, toward a second project...
posted by [jm.] at 11:10

: : past
the summer _project, i consider it to be a very sucessful colaboration. and now we need to find a new project. when we decide to take on it - i would like to have outlined a clear method of colaboration. sending material back and forth between Toronto and Helsinki is not expensive - and it's always like christmas to get a brown bag with who knows what inside. any ideeas for the next project ? should we collaborate on an actual product that will be mass produced in the end ? or should we gather more intelligence and practice in communication before that ?

: : future
i find useful to experiment with communication tools that allow exchange of ideas and process. i found with the past project that reaction time and momentum were very important in gathering all the necesarry material. positive and timely feedback is important to keep one or more interested and working. and parties. we really missed out on the gatherings for post card writing. good communication is key into making future projects happen. we have established a "base camp" as it would be - but we need to get the scouts working. now the idgrid base is working well into providing us with a reference point... slowly idrid is growing - and thanks to everyone involved - good things are happening. jeremiah suggested to me a tool from Groove Networks that we can use to collaborate and share material. we are experimenting with it - and I invite all members of idgrid - to download the client. hard evidence - phisical contact with material is also important - and we should use and experiment with methods of keeping ourselfs informed, interested and connected in the _project.

[j] and [jm] thouched a very important subject: freelancing. it would be good to have other idgrid.org members expressing their oppinions on the subject. i encourage everyone to participate in this _project discussion.

[jm], it is always a pleasure to read your writings.
posted by [d] at 00:13

To continue from [j]'s post...
Re: New Projects : :
Yup, I’m eager to start something which would emphasise the international nature of our collaboration. In the summer_project we took advantage of the two-cityness and made initial research on various online tools for overseas collaboration, now we must figure a way to take it one step further. To make the interaction more immediate perhaps? [j] writes of scale – perhaps we want our Helsinki-Toronto collaboration to have a bigger impact on our surroundings, since postcards were a project about the personal. It was an introduction between us collaborators at the same time as it investigated postcards and aimed for a new look at that medium.

"What might be interesting now is to hand off pieces of a project to members in cities," [j] wrote. It would be interesting, yes.

Existing : :
The larger scale we could be looking for is included in some of the ideas we’ve initiated or discussed since the previous project. These still lack the international aspect.

Messaged Helsinki/Toronto : :
We lacked volume for this. For this to have impact we would need more people to chalk down the messages. Or a set place for chalking which would condense the message. Toronto was left out since SMS doesn’t yet travel as well as email.

What I like about this project-idea was the new approach to graffiti. Chalk lent the form a kindness, whereas traditional spray painting is often (too often) considered hostile since graffiti often is a violation. Chalk, however, is a familiar tool, familiar from scools and playgrounds, thus friendly and playful by nature. I also liked the intent to chalk down messages. After all, chalk is used in schools for teaching by writing meaningful messages on the blackboard. Our blackboard was asphalt.

Office Parks : :
Lets not forget this either. It’s food for thought. I’d be interested – at some point, in some context – to research this further. Maybe we could develop a Office Park Utopia including examples of other similar projects and sketches of the possibilities and the aim of the idea. This could even be an article to collaborate on for a publication…

Ok, setting my sights ahead now, in the search for a brand-new project.
posted by [jm.] at 05:57

Exisiting projects

[jm] and I were sitting around over the weekend at Aula discussing a little about new projects. One thing we saw was a publication from Japanese Kohoku: one of their projects is a new currency which is used in the Shibuya area. We were also there to see a presentation from Underfund "world's first direct democratic real-time cultural funding system" from Sweden. Members contribute money to projects monthly, the most popular one's get the financing.

New projects

One thing we discussed was the scale of the next project.
I'd like to take it to the next step, making more use of idgrid's established international group. I liked the last
posting project since it was interesting to see the different variations from toronto/helsinki on a similar theme. What might be interesting now is to hand off pieces of a project to members in cities.

The price of peanut butter in Helsinki is slowly decreasing. I'm not a regular buyer, but I noticed it was really expensive last year and has dropped down a bit since. hmm...

posted by [j] at 06:35