Very nice! Especially great music on the video... I really like the professional look - very legit!

thanks haney!

It looks wonderful Lars!!!

On another note, I keep getting an email to the 2007 Summer Workshop mailing list (which is apparently waiting for my approval) on the Open Plans site but when I get there I can't find anything?

I am going to kill Open Plans - has been buggy since the get go - thanks for the heads up - and the good word on the new peacetiles.net - hope it can be a place people want to share their activities! Some of the groovy things:

• A nice "profile" page where people can add contact details
• "Connections" feature through which users can "make friends" and follow what they are doing
• A customizable private message system that enables users to communicate with others, by email and PM
• Ability to post announcements about work to the front page

All is moderated of course. Discussion and collaboration is pushed out to Razoo and Ned respectively.

Very swank Lars. Looks and feels robust.

Looking forward to getting under the hood and kicking the tires a little. Just gave it a quick once over my first visit.

Have something exciting coming up with Peace Tiles! Will clue you in as plans come together.

Cheers!

Great nice looking clean site, really like the interface a lot. The video was very well done, pan and zooms kept it moving along nicely with the music. (any future videos you might want to consider adding a "for more information visit peacetiles.net" tag in the closing credits)

Nice, nice, nice.

Thanks for all the support gus 'n jill. to really get at the tires, create an account (hint ;)

I'm waiting for my account to be approved :-]

~ Lars said: Thanks for all the support gus 'n jill. to really get at the tires, create an account (hint ;) ~

Done!!! Back to you Sam ...

Your account requires approval by a moderator. You will receive an email with the outcome of the review.

okay yer in "snack shack" (my 5 points if you guess the source of that little cultural gem ;)

I look forward to working with you at peacetiles.net to create a vibrant global movement to build bonds between people and communities through the arts. Please don't hesitate to drop me line at lars@mixedmedia.us if you ever have questions.

Again, welcome to Peace Tiles - I hope you will enjoy the network.

Peace, and stay strong!

Lars --- Founder, Peace Tiles

---

That reads like a form letter to me, not a review!

:D

Wow. Cool inside. Pretty intuitive. On the personal connection box the red X at the top of connection almost looks like you should click it to close it (and instead unwinds a connection). Something more subtle perhaps instead of the red X?

First time here? A quickie guide to what a new user/member could do on the site.

There's loads of information on the site in many direction, a quickie guide, 10-25 slides could be a great introduction to Peace Tiles and what members can do.

One more navigation element I would strongly recommend at the top

Home | About | Contact | Links | Discuss

Contact image is broken on the contact page:

http://mixedmedia.us/peacetiles/ index.php?option=com_contact& ;Itemid=3

About US/FAQ could use some information about you Lars.

To me, the blue links with the dotted lines underneath look like broken links. (the dotted lines is what makes it look broken for me)

The other navigation/site index in the bottom right seems a little hidden to me. Matter of fact the entire right column seems like it should be on the left to me.

The cross fading "Latest headlines" is fantastic

The site is lean and clean. Great colors, UI, and overall site architecture.

Now, that's! a review!!! ; )

edit: fixin' the "ei" thing.

~Mark said: The other navigation/site index in the bottom right seems a little hidden to me. Matter of fact the entire right column seems like it should be on the left to me.~

Maybe we've been conditioned by O'net/<ned> but I agree with 'ya on that one.

I got caught up in re-watching the videos from the SaltSpring/Lesotho exchange. They look good there.

This is Andrea's written account of the experience. Just putting it here so it doesn't get lost.

Our first stop was to meet Sister Juliette, the school principal. The conversation was a bit one sided because she had lost her voice and had to whisper. Nonetheless we managed to explain that we had come from Canada to present a Peace Tiles mural that students from GISS had made for Pitseng High, and that we intended to make a mural with the Pitseng students for GISS. This art exchange idea, in which children decorate 8x8 pieces of wood with collage, drawings and found objects, has been happening in countries all over the world, and was introduced to Salt Spring by SOLID member Meron Moroz. Sister Juliette looked over the beautiful Peace Tiles that the GISS students sent with us, covered with words of solidarity and encouragement, and nodded with understanding. Peter and Peggy arrived, and we were all ushered into the assembly hall. As Kina and Marly made their way through the packed hall to the front, the students erupted in laughter and applause. Little white people are apparently never seen around here, just us wrinkly old ones.

Peggy Frank kicked off the presentation with an incredibly moving talk about her personal journey with AIDS; her bravery and honesty in standing up and speaking openly about her status and her struggle to survive against all odds was chilling, and received with solemnity and respect by the students and staff. In a country where everybody knows about AIDS, but only the rare person is willing to speak personally about it, hearing a strong woman tell her story is an amazing affirmation for people who endure AIDS in silence and isolation. Her courage to stand up and, in the face of stigma and taboos about discussing sex, frankly tell her story, astounded her listeners. Hopefully her example will lead these youth to speak out themselves. It was so lovely to see her and Peter embracing on stage in front of all these kids; to show that AIDS cannot be passed by hugs and kisses, their public displays of affection were sweetly radical. Peter spoke about the horrible reality that up to 41% of Basotho are infected with HIV, and entreated the kids to "stay negative" and protect themselves. Later, when they broke the kids into smaller groups, Peter said they were able to answer the kids' intimate questions about sexuality that this thoroughly Christianized culture just doesn't talk about.

We presented the school with the Peace Tiles Mural, and laid the tiles out for them all to look at. Then a group of kids who are in the schools HIV-AIDS awareness club participated in a Peace Tiles workshop, where students teamed up to share 30 8x8 pieces of wood, painted with the map of Lesotho as a background. Each little group made a collage on their tile, using materials we had gathered. Some had to do with AIDS in particular, but we also had lots of resource materials about sustainable agriculture, ecology, tree planting, and some odd sock stuff like the Sowetan tabloid newspaper and some South African "country lifestyle" magazines. The workshop was a total mob scene; imagine 60 kids who may never have been allowed to muck around with art supplies in their lives, all sharing 4 pairs of scissors, 3 pots of glue and some very coveted sticks of gold and silver glitter glue. Kina and Marly were also mobbed; Kina predictably responded happily and chatted with the teenagers, while Marly hid behind his mum.

Things were going very smoothly until we got out the paint. let's hope that there will be some leniency towards students whose school uniforms ended up rainbow coloured. At the end of the workshop we had the kids all pose with their finished tiles. While some were serious and portrayed their country and their knowledge of AIDS, some, like teenagers anywhere, made collages featuring soccer stars, fast cars, and pretty girls. There was a nice theme running through them all, this brown and white striped border that many kids used, and the colours (coral, turquoise) happened to match the school's walls perfectly.

A second group of older students came in afterwards, and were disappointed to see that there were no blank tiles left for them to paint. Not to mention that their formerly orderly classroom was a mess of paper scraps, paint smears, glue gobs and glitter, glitter everywhere. Because these students were older, some in their 20's, we had them write about why they chose to become members of the schools' AIDS club. The responses were very moving;

• "I joined because it's about time the youth fought against AIDS not the infected people"
• "I wanted to give people with AIDS support so that they can be able to see that we still love them"
• " I want to counsel people who are HIV positive, and encourage those who are HIV negative to be also careful and protected"
• "I want to show people that they should let refining and improving of their life keep them so busy that they have little time to criticize others"
• "I want to raise funds to help HIV orphans because I love my country"

... And much more. We want to put these words and all of the words that the kids of Pitseng shared with us up at GISS when we install the Peace Tiles mural there.

[...]

This morning we shellacked the Peace tiles and will pack them up tonight to take with us to Johannesburg in the morning, where we'll put them on a plane and send them off to you, dear Salt Springers! The Peace Tiles were a great way to introduce ourselves to a school community, and are hopeful these good feelings seed our future projects with Pitseng.

And I don't want to lose, what I think is, the best part of the whole story.

A couple of days after Peggy and Peter gave their presentation and the Peace Tiles were made, a number of the teachers at the school gained the courage and became comfortable enough to come out about their HIV status and formed a support group.

mark, great stuff - i am going to create a checklist! is there the project/task list module in <ned>? that would help me keep track of feedback...

hey meron - would you be willing to copy those stories to peacetiles? i'd be happy to make you an editor if so ;)

i know the moderation touch is a bit heavy at peacetiles.net ie images - i got SO MUCH spam at the old site that i've tightened the reins...

ps - meron, now did i really have to review you ?!

~Lars asked: hey meron - would you be willing to copy those stories to peacetiles? i'd be happy to make you an editor if so ;)~

Okay, but the deal is I just have to cut and paste and the 'editor' thing is for just this one time only. Editing stuff and me don't mix well. I stick to calculators and paint brushes.

>>mark, great stuff - i am going to create a checklist! is there the project/task list module in <ned>? that would help me keep track of feedback...<<

There is (kinda), but it's hidden until Jim makes it a tab for groups: http://www.ned.com/group/devarts /issues/

grazi - will get to it tomorrow. meron, really...?! pleeease? you'll soon see how easy it is - just click the "submit news" time that shows up. write about 75 words in the "introduction" box, paste the rest into the "body" box beneath it, then click on the disk button to save the article. if anything goes wrong, i can double check :)