On Wednesday, Jan 18th, Modern Edge will join Wikipedia, Google, Mozilla, WordPress, and countless others in protest of SOPA and PIPA by blacking out our website for 24 hours.

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) are proposed laws in the US House of Representatives and US Senate respectively, which, if passed, will enable widespread censorship of the Internet without due process of law. Under the guise of safeguarding copyright and intellectual property rights, these bills will grant corporations and private entities nearly unlimited power to restrict the content published to the world. They will cripple social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter by requiring them to police and censor the statements of their users. They will give the US Attorney General the power to block domain names and remove them from search engines, which endangers not only American websites but also sites from anywhere in the world.

In recent years, the Internet has proved itself to be an indispensable resource for promoting human rights,  free speech, and positive change worldwide. The internet has amassed the vast  information and the knowledge of humankind and has changed the way we  share it. Twitter has been used during revolutions as a way to share the local struggle with the world beyond the control of authoritarian governments, Google search provides uncensored news sources for a truly free society and, Wikipedia holds an invaluable repository of information in dozens of languages. All of this is threatened by SOPA and PIPA.

We at Modern Edge are dedicated to the free exchange of information worldwide because we believe that open exchange drives innovation, and innovation improves the human condition. Our goal as designers and human beings is to leave the world a better place than we found it, and we cannot support legislation which restricts open communication and access to knowledge that benefits humanity. As American citizens, we value free speech and the right to legal equality. We uphold these basic rights to be true across borders and without reservation. It is clear that willingly embracing the very censorship which we have worked to remove from other countries is absurd, and we stand with the majority of innovators and citizens who believe that the human spirit is best served by a free and open society.

Please join us in our efforts to halt SOPA and PIPA.

Our site will return as normal on Thursday the 19th.

Click here for more information about SOPA and PIPA.

Christmas arrived nine days early for Austen Angell and Joel Newman of the Portland, Oregon design firm, Modern Edge.

That’s when Austen and Joel first saw photos of Austin Joel Oduori, born while they were doing design research on the HydroPack™ as part of a demonstration project Jan. 18-28, 2011 in the Western Kenya village of Mudimbia. Hydration Technology Innovations and the Kenya Water for Health Organization conducted the project, partially funded by Eastman.

Baby Austin’s mother, Judith, was interviewed in-depth by Modern Edge to better understand what is needed from a product like the HydroPack™ in a flooding situation. Angell asked questions about the Oduori family history, photographs and objects in the home, as well as Judith’s hopes and dreams. Newman videotaped the interviews.

Floods in early December 2011 ravaged the homes and livelihoods of some 25,000 people, leaving them homeless and scattered across 11 camps in the Mudimbia and Port Victoria areas.

In response to the flooding, Nathan Jones of Hydration Technology Innovations traveled to Kenya, arriving in Mudimbia around the same time as 13,000 HydroPacks™ donated through the contributions of Eastman employees. Eastman cellulose triacetate is the heart of the HydroPack™ membrane that blocks contaminants while it absorbs water and turns the flood waters into a safe and flavored drink.

Jones helped oversee the distribution of the HydroPacks™ and documented the experience of users, including the Oduori family.

The HydroPacks™ proved to be much easier to transport than bottled water.

“They were delivered to the camps by canoe, motorcycle and bicycle,” says Jones. “This is particularly significant because the camps were not receiving any other supplies due to lack of access by road.”

The HydroPacks™ are in high demand, according to John Kudombi, assistant chief of Lwanyange Village. “Everybody is asking for it and word is spreading quickly. Not only does it clean the water, it gives people energy which is very important right now.”

“Flooded latrines and dead animals mean the bacteria count is very high in the water,” Jones explains. “Those are difficult conditions for water filters. But the HydroPack™ is ideal for this situation because of its simplicity, high purity and ability to work in muddy water.

“The training is very short, and sufficient know-how quickly spread through the camps so we see a very high degree of proper use immediately.”

The Oduori family weathered the flood with Baby Austin finding security in a blanket his namesake gave him before leaving Kenya soon after he was born.

“We emphasized the importance of empathy in effective design research,” says Angell. “For Judith and Bonfale to name their son after me and Joel is the ultimate compliment and honor. We’re humbled, and I hope our work improves the chance for a healthier future for him as well as all the children and families in disaster prone areas.”

On seeing photos of Austin Joel for the first time, Newman commented: “Such a happy little guy. Spending time with the family there made a huge impression on my life, and I feel very lucky to be able to see him as he grows up. It’s great to know that our efforts will provide help in the flooding.”

Dr. Paul K. Carlton, Jr., director, Office of Innovations & Preparedness, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, was part of the demonstration project and is a big advocate of the HydroPack™, especially the logistical benefits it provides.

“What a gift Eastman has given the people of Mudimbia – the gift of life! Little did we know that less than one year after our trip to Mudimbia, the people would receive such a blessing as the gift of life. We, who went on the trip, now can realize how important our work was to these wonderful people.”

Article via Eastman

He is going strong and his new show PROGRESSIONS opens on January 26th, 2012 at the Forest Lawn Museum in Glendale CA. It will feature 50 original works by Syd Mead including an all new piece, “SHOULDER OF ORION”, created specifically for the show.

We’ve previewed the the new piece he’s working on and it’s terrific; Fans of the movie Blade Runner (like everyone here) may recognize the reference from the movie — you’re in for a treat!

More details: www.forestlawn.com
www.sydmead.com

The HydroPack™ story has inspired so many people that we’re celebrating the 2011 holiday season with a special director’s cut of Bringing Water Back to Life, the video that kicked off the compelling series.

The 15-minute director’s cut delves a little deeper into the HydroPack™ demonstration project conducted January 2011 in the flood-prone Budalangi area of Western Kenya.

Charles Andiega Odhiambo has lived in the area his entire life. “Living in this place, it needs perseverance,” he says. “It is very vulnerable for kids. The moment it starts flooding, the kids normally are infected with the diseases that come along with these waters.”

“The key to good design research is to have a lot of empathy for the community you”re with, to really listen and be affected,” said Charles Austen Angell of Modern Edge, Inc. ”This community has a lot of heart, but… there’s been a lot of pain.”

“One of the main causes of flooding in Budalangi is due to dykes that were made a long time ago and their life spans have elapsed,” explains Thomas Mango, of the Busia Community Development Organization. “This leads to a lot of spill over to the homesteads. And when it spills over, a lot of devastating effects is done, particularly to the crops, the houses and even to the human life.”

Chairman-Elect:
Charles Austen Angell, IDSA
Founder & President, Modern Edge
Twitter: @austenangell @modernedge

 Education VP:
Sooshin Choi, IDSA
Director School of Design, University of Cincinnati

 At-Large Director:
John Barratt, IDSA
President & CEO, Teague

 Section VP:
Megan Stanton, IDSA
Senior researcher & Strategist, Samsung Design America

 Northeast District VP:
Stephan Clambaneva, IDSA
Director, Global PLM Industry Consultant,
Industrial Equipment Worldwide BT Sales

 Mideast District VP:
Jeevak Badve, IDSA
Director, Business Development, American Specialty Cars

A special thanks from Modern Edge to Eric Anderson FIDSA for his efforts as nominations committee chair, the entire staff of IDSA, and to all of the candidates.

http://www.idsa.org/election-results-2012-idsa-board

Presumably the models were photographed for use by a company that sells stock photography. This practice of using stock photography is so foundational to the advertising industry that no one seeks to question or care whether or Brand X is consumed by the generic figures shown in the advertisement. Taken a step further, no one even cares if Bill Cosby has a kitchen pantry full of Jello and Coca Cola, or that somewhere in America a little old lady is questioning the location of the beef patty in a generic burger only to later find satisfaction at her local Wendy’s. The ads, images and actors are understood to be props serving the larger idea of the story. And it is the story that matters.

However, when images are used on the behalf of the brand of a real individual the issue becomes trickier. For example, if there was a picture of Justin Bieber in front of a crowd of teenagers and it later turned out to be a crowd from a Rhianna concert which was photoshopped with Bieber’s image, there would be an understandable embarrassment. No one doubts that Bieber could command an audience of the same size, but people would question the authenticity of his personal brand. Newt Gingrich ran into this issue when his website featured a picture of himself and his wife, Callista, standing in front of a crowd of cheering flag-waving voters, who later turned out to be the same crowd seen in stock photography first used on the late Senator Ted Kennedy’s website with the slogan “We are the democratic majority.” Awkward.

This development may be nothing more than a phenomena specific to the world of politics; a field that prizes the resourcefulness of political adversaries ability to spin minutia and manufacture the mudpies that feed an insatiable appetite by a particular segment of the voting public. However, we need to consider the broader implications for storytelling around brand versus brand in the larger commercial context.  Image, voice and musical recognition software are on the verge of providing instantaneous identification for every segment of any composite piece. Ultimately this means, as a profession, we must resolve the issues of alignment between brand, intellectual property, and authorship in a world where the ontology of any artifact is completely transparent to the public.

Apple has just announced that Steve Jobs has passed away, and we’re all a little bit in shock right now. Joe Nocera of the New York Times called him ”one of the great innovators in the history of modern capitalism”, and that barely scratches the surface of his legacy. Over the span of his career he was a pioneer, a visionary, and influenced the world of design in more ways than can possibly be counted. His work and success have been an inspiration to us all.

Sitting in our offices surrounded by a multitude of Apple devices, we can’t help but remember the old image of the Sad Mac. RIP, Steve… you will be missed.