A Catalogue Of Sustainable Achievements
SuperForest likes Christoph Niemann. It comes as no surprise that his new collection of images, all of which are playful utilizations of the Google Maps theme, are great too. Less is more, no? You can view all of the images HERE.
I hope you have a great day,
Chris
It’s a relatively new field, the study of human choices regarding news and multi-format media. That said, a new University of Pennsylvania study, compiled with data from The New York Times, attempts to draw conclusions about just that.
To make sense of these trends in “virality,” the Penn researchers tracked more than 7,500 articles published from August 2008 to February 2009. They assessed each article’s popularity after controlling for factors like the time of day it was published online, the section in which it appeared and how much promotion it received on the Web home page.
A random sample of 3,000 of these articles was rated by independent readers for qualities like providing practical value or being surprising. The researchers also used computer algorithms to track the ratio of emotional words in an article and to assess the relative positivity or negativity.
The computer textual analysis could identify “affect-laden” articles like “Redefining Depression as Mere Sadness” or “When All Else Fails, Blaming the Patient Often Comes Next.” It distinguished positive articles like “Wide-Eyed New Arrivals Falling in Love With the City” from downers like “Germany: Baby Polar Bear’s Feeder Dies.”
More emotional stories were more likely to be e-mailed, the researchers found, and positive articles were shared more than negative ones.
Duh? Maybe, but who cares! Positivity win. It’s nice to see that positivity knows no political boundaries – the article, which you can read HERE, goes on to explain that “awe-inspiring” articles fared much better than articles that might be construed as “anxiety-causing”.
Super,
Chris
Good Morning, SuperForest!
A couple days ago, I saw this gnarly infographic on the New York Times website describing how different groups above the age of 15 spend their time. The percentage of time was labeled on one axis and on the other was the 24 hour progression of time itself. The day is then split up into categories like “Traveling”, “Sleeping”, “Working”, etc. and by the click of a button, you can see the graph adjust to a different demographic. It’s pretty fascinating stuff (Grandma and Grandpa watch a lot of TV and movies).
(click on the graph to visit the site and explore it for yourself!)
But as it so often happens with stuff found on the web, this graph got me thinking. Looking at our days in a way that is so structured and uniform ironically makes it seem like it is lacking a human element. Where is the time spent performing actions out of love or gratitude? Where is the time spent encouraging self-worth?
So, SuperForesters, this prompts the question: How do you categorize or measure your days on this life journey? How do you value your time? In other words, would your personal graph look like the one pictured above? How would it be different?
Tell us what you think!
Here’s an awesome set of photo-creations from the artist Cristoph Niemann:
Interesting concept, no? I can see this sparking a whole new field of humorous bio-manipulation. I mean…. think about it: it wouldn’t be as cool if it was construction paper! You can see the whole set HERE.
Have a great weekend,
Chris
A while ago I wrote about NY Times blogger Christoph Niemann, a Berlin located art blogger who pixelated his bathroom.
Last Sunday he wrote a fascinating piece on the Abstract City blog how New York translates into Lego for him. The pictures featuring Lego shouldn’t be taken seriously all the time, so you better laugh about it.
You might need a bit of imagination in order to see Manhattan in three Lego bricks (or a MetroCard in a few more) but in the end it will probably make you laugh.
Here’s another one, featuring New York’s sushi culture.
Well, at least that’s a wholly different way to look at Lego.
I LEGO N.Y. at the Abstract City Blog
Great news from the Times. New Jersey is all set to join sister cities Rhode Island and Delaware in the installation of some serious wind turbines! Go East Coast! Get down with your green self!
Read on:
“The proposal by Garden State Offshore Energy includes installing 96 turbines to produce as much as 346 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about tens of thousands of houses. The turbines would be arranged in a rectangle about a half-mile long by one-third of a mile wide.
The selection, which includes access of up to $19 million in state grants, is part of New Jersey’s Energy Master Plan, which calls for 20 percent of the state’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2020.”
We love seeing wind farms sprouting up all over the place like wonderful clean-energy producing mushrooms of goodness.
Congratulations to New Jersey, to Garden State Offshore Energy, and to all the lucky families who will get their power sustainably once the farm is pumping that juice.
Seriously great news.
SuperForest is a positivity blog.
SuperForesters are all over planet Earth, all united in exploring how to redefine "environmentalism" and "sustainability" to encompass every aspect of our lives. Everything you find on this website has been personally created to uplift and inspire you.
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