Making of the Story Bazaar! Where do they come, where do they go?!

Ever since my grand declaration in the last post on my return to blogging, social networks and the other worlds, the 'real' world has kept me quite positively engaged. I have been on a consumption spree trying to materially realize my bank statement. And I am frightfully successful. So much so that I have slammed the breaks and returned to the cushion of an ever present virtual world. (Of-course I discount the internet, power bills and loss of 'productive time'?)

But to be fair to myself it has not been mindless retail therapy. There has been a fair share of productive loafing along the way, which I hope to cover in future posts. What prompted me to burst out with a post was this brilliant idea that I wanted to share.

As I pour through the ideas and goods and organize them, I realized that every object has a story and I so wish I could tell my own stories of them. But that is just self indulgence. The objects in themselves have a story - where they come from, what they have gone through - the people and regions - their plight and passion and politics. And having arrived in my sphere, my own stories with them. That's a hell a lot of stories to tell for one watch, razor or duster. But as I was reading the label on the white-board duster I realized it says a whole lot about itself, its journey and history.

It reminded me of the talk by this artist in Bangalore last year and her project - surplus rising -
Here is an abstract:

Julia Christensen is currently mapping dynamic visualizations of the movement of  global industrial equipment: where  it comes from, what it is, and where it goes.   Throughout this process, she is also documenting industrial infrastructure:   the buildings, roads, trains, ships, and seas that make up the global industrial  engine.  By tracing the movement of  abandoned factory machines while examining  the shells of vacated industrial infrastructure, we are able to track compelling   narratives about the roles of geography, industry, and politics in our industrial  complex.  This work will premiere at the Banvard  Gallery at the Knowlton School  of Architcture, Ohio State University, in Columbus, Ohio in March of 2010.    Funded in part by the Powers International Travel Grant.

Making of the Story telling Bazaar
It struck me that closer home, we have a microcosm of the industrial world with its stories carried on its labels. Now what if we had a collection of them? We could have a story bazaar!

One that tells the stories of its objects and patrons - their histories, politics and journeys.

So how do we create this story telling bazaar?
Well with a simple spreadsheet linked to map and some visualization tools.

To start with columns categorization would be along such lines:
product name
" category :

" product feature details:
" production details :
" distribution details :
" retail details :
and finally your story :

The next couple of days I will put out a shared document of the goods and categories that interest me. Broadly it would be food, electronics, personal care... Let us see what stories it tells .

My favorite story so far has been of this casio digital watch that I had for my tenth grade. It had all kinds of features including a glowing light! It was designed in Japan, manufactured in Singapore I think, distributed by some Dubai firm, bought in Saudi and used and lost by me in Bangalore.

Apart from memorable stories that become verbose, what I am hoping to achieve are visual stories of groups of consumer categories their geographies which should give a visual representation on globalization and also throw light upon our carbon footprint.

If it really succeeds we should hopefully have social network games that have people showing off their goods from across the world and gaining points for being the most globalized or the least - depending on their sensibilities . This group should be a dip stick for story tellers (researchers) and bored people that need an afternoon of entertainment!

What next?
I will draw up and fill out a spreadsheet of my loot. But would appreciate some template suggestions by you if this sounds fun or useful. Lets get down to some Object Coding shall we? :)

Treasure Troves

In the past week or so I find myself waking up to a blank. What have I been up to and what am I to do? Yesterday was busy, tense and exhilarating. The future seemed full of boundless possibilities. But today it’s just a faint memory. I then re-collect in spurts the potential excitement round the corner at venturing on to one of the myriad areas of interest of mine and the past body of work that provides me with sufficient leads to plan a day of exploits. But it is just that - spurts - sporadic - spontaneous - exploration drives. It has super worked for me to explore vast new territories. But not exploit them to their tilt or my potential. Which is also great (rather interpreted for convenience) for it provides an easy pace that lets me roam around the current area of interest as I engage with it.

All this has been great, but for my bank balance statement. Which again never really bothered me given the strong real world social safety network in India, I was doing fine. But the independence in spirit and actions is also dictated by independence in financial and material possessions? At-least by some cultural practices it does and it certainly has its benefits. But I would still argue it is just shifting from one umbrella to the other ( from social family institutions to state & organizational ones) Hence at the end of the day its still the same, if the pursuit is freedom. I doubt there is anything absolute about it, in any context. Not that I would really want it absolute either for it would mean that I shift to moon or some other dimension (not that it will help t cut all the umbilical chords would exist! Memories being the strongest)

Nevertheless, more the umbrella's the merrier. The notion of freedom to move between them depending on conditions is freedom in itself. With this in mind I have taken on to being professional with my loafing and do the "evil" deed of monetizing it? Why evil? Well it is something that I would have paid to do myself. But if its of value to someone else and they pay me for it, I think it is the most evil brilliant idea. I suppose that is the idea of mutual exchange with a negotiated price valuation with no material goods traded - but with material goods that can be consumed as an outcome! That is the ingenious magic of service and innovations industry. The guilt factor perhaps comes in with the not so secret knowledge that this is building on the knowledge of others (like Newton's comment on standing on the shoulder of giants). But the consolation to accepting this scheme perhaps is my risk appetite to put my limbs and life on the line (of-course its a bit of a dramatization which we call adding masala to the story, for I have hardly moved beyond 500 miles from home base in the past ten years! How risky can it get. James Bond is still a fantasy). Nevertheless to go out there and mount these giants and to peep into the vast horizons and apply the explorations and exploits to hopefully the benefit of the ones that are willing to employ my services is the aim (the latter is only in the instances when I intend to be 'professional' but more so intend to be productive. )

Fortunately many a nice (smart?) people and organizations have believed in me in the past eight years and have taken on my risks (not always conscious of it up-front) and hopefully they have enjoyed certain rewards (more on it in emergingforms.blogspot.com). In exchange they have given me enough terrains to explore and provided sufficient funds and materials in return to venture into new terrains as I hit the plateaus of the present. My mental note has always been to return back with the new found treasures and enrich those that have believed and supported me in the past and see the potential of it in the future.

This blog is dedicated to all those that believed in me but more so for those that questioned and critiqued me. The latter is the one that pushed me to the limits of imagination and sometimes action. It is the resurrection of an old blog that was started during a similar phase in the past when I was to choose a path. This time around given my avataar as a self-employed management and technology consultant, I think I can thread many a paths and hope to bring many a worlds from the past, present and future under many a umbrellas together to a boundless future.

This starts with exploring the treasure trove of materials and memories in my room. More on it in the next blog. Also will be starting another blog (emergingforms.blogspot.com to focus more on 'professional serious' talk on 'adult' things relating to work and the world)

For now leaving behind a peek hole into my home base command post. Will cover the stories in the upcoming blogs. Stay tuned. :)

Whats your direction?

If you take the right, I take the left,

For many a rights of yours, are my wrongs.

But thats the difference between us.

This is me and thats you,

And none can change that order.

But this much I know my dear,

Our paths are at the cost of our warmth,

And that for sure is not the right direction,

In any frame of life.

Nature's Transgressions

We are hard at work, ironing out the glitches of nature. For, has it not wasted its resources and tipped its own fine balance by gifting us with a free spirit? Transgressions by nature, in its otherwise illustrious track record borne out by its impeccable evolutionary track record, need to be set straight. We shall collectively act before nature takes charge again as in the past, burying the once all mighty giants. Another one of nature's wonders that left its discreet foot-prints on this planet.

Giants that we are too, in our own right. For have we not left foot-prints,and far less discreet ones in that. Foot-prints that would not be too demanding on the intellectual faculties of the future intelligent forms, to discover, decipher and marvel at our might...plight? we still have some time to keep that question open. But this giant shall not give up without a fight, for we believe in shaping our own fate. Our foot-print is the price nature must pay for letting us with the power of free spirit.

But who pays the ultimate price? Who shall have the last laugh? Going by past record, the mightier the giant's footprint the sooner is its demise. Clearing the ground for nature to start afresh, a new stage, a new play with new characters. Nature seems to prefer it this way. How entertaining it is, when characters get so full of themselves, that they start to rot and this very virtue helps seal their fate. Reaching the zenith has inevitably meant the beginning of the end. And this cycle repeats itself, new characters help add different flavors and twists to the tale. A few are more successful at hogging the stage at the expense of others, a few whimper out at the temporary might of others but it's the same cycle, same fate for all.

Interestingly, its the the murky little characters in this stage, those that shy away from the limelight that have long been silent witnesses to the many acts of heroism by the glamorous yet short lived roles of their counterparts. Sure, they might not make it to any hall of fame, for they have left no foot-prints worthy of mention. Perhaps they are content occupying themselves with their household needs, rather than making a mark. But nature for sure is not amused with this bland state of harmony. Why else would it drastically increase the physical dimensions with its next generation characters? And when even that ceased to entertain, it changed tact and promoted grey matter that has exponentially grown in mass and complexity ever since. But alas, even this has limited possibilities. For how far can mere computing power take one? The final frontier nature realized was to let loose, a free spirit that can self introspect. A simple scheme of nature relinquishing its own hold, has produced results far more awe inspiring than its previous great masterpieces that pushed the limits of the physical world.

We humans as a society, at the receiving end of this powerful gift have come to realize its potent capacity and are hard at work to keep a tab on it. Of-course for the larger good of our kind.