I've been playing around with the idea of creating Peace Tiles "mosaics" as the number of tiles on file grows - via flickr, documentation, etc. the concept is to be able to assemble any and all images of peace tiles into large mosaics that, when squinted at, actually compose a single "whole" image. this would be especially compelling for groups - like one upcoming Peace Tiles marathon here in Vermont - that will produce significant numbers of tiles ie 400 or more. Here is a sample - what do you think?

Source image and mosaic

What is especially cool about this I think is the possibility of "modeling" actual murals ie use the technology to compile a digital mock-up of the final mural, thus generating a map (or "paint by numbers"?) for how to assemble the mural. Exciting I think!

I think it looks real groovy. Would love to see the mosaic up close. I find myself squinting, trying to recognize some of the individual tiles.

A great idea Lars.

>>I think it looks real groovy. Would love to see the mosaic up close. I find myself squinting, trying to recognize some of the individual tiles.<<

I'd be great if they kind of popped up one at a time with a mouseover.

yeah, would be great... will see if there is some kind of app that does that. right now, just a static 'snapshot.' hm... let me know if you come across something like that!

Mark Grimes said:

A great idea Lars.

>>I think it looks real groovy. Would love to see the mosaic up close. I find myself squinting, trying to recognize some of the individual tiles.<<

I'd be great if they kind of popped up one at a time with a mouseover.

Yep, that's why you need a listening designer.

Mark: Have a brainstorm what you want <Ned> to be!?!? and i'm sure i'll be able to help you> (Become a Chandigo Man and i become a dedicated designer to you)

Speak soon

Dom.

Sorry,

Listed that in the wrong tread.

I think this is really cool. When Mark mentioned the idea of the tile popping up with a mouse over I was reminded of this assemblage of book covers Jim Bumgardner is the guy who made it and I think he coined the term coverpop for what he does. He's made some really cool versions of coverpop pages. In his blog krazydad recently he tells about a Flickr group called Faces in Places and made a really cool interactive coverpop from those pictures. Really check out a bunch of the coverpops he's made; they're so cool.

I realize that a coverpop isn't exactly what you have in mind, nonetheless a coverpop of PeaceTiles would be really cool. Maybe I'm not thinking right about this--Bumgardner tells how he made the SF Book Cover coverpop on that link and makes it sound not so difficult, so maybe someone more technically adept could figure it out easily--but my thinking was (for you) to contact Bumgardner to see if he'd like to construct a coverpop of Peacetiles. It seems that some of the coverpops use the Flickr feeds so maybe there's he can make the coverpop capable of generating multiple mosaics from the stream.

In some way, it's actually nice dealing with a far smaller audience as we had on Onet.

Dom ... you're a prince. (that was code for expect a call in the next 12 months :)

Lars ... as a PR guru, you make a great artist!!! (oh stop pouting - you're a prince too!!)

If I'm wrong (wouldn't be the first time!!), apologies in advance for casting aspersions on the promotion thing BUT I can't seem to find Tom's grand effort on Ned.

So for anyone not on the Peacetiles mailing list and/or all those who haven't had the chance to learn about Peacetiles .............

Lars talking with Tom Munnecke about Peace Tiles Project on Blip.TV

heya gayle - we had a great time together in dublin, and bent an elbow to you dear, you...you..you dear!

john, i got in touch with bumgardner and he's going to build out a mosaic for peace tiles - cool! thanks for the lead, sir. so stay tuned for your mouse-over feature thingy meron ;)

Lars Hasselblad Torres said:

heya gayle - we had a great time together in dublin, and bent an elbow to you dear, you...you..you dear!

Thank you, Lars - that's super lovely :)

PS: I'm so glad that you all had the chance to link up and have such a great time ... I love Dublin! (and have run feral there once or twice myself!)

SO .... who ended up wearing the mantle of "Accountant"? :)

Here's Jim Bumgarder's Peace Tiles "Cover Pop"! Thanks again, John (meron, your wish is my command :)

http://mixedmedia.us/peacetiles/ index.php?option=com_wrapper& ;Itemid=79

Hi Lars,

Congratulations on the growth of Peace Tiles. I've continued to promote this idea and one of the people learning from your work is an art teacher in Park Ridge, Il, who is close to launching a project in this area. I'll keep you posted.

[Deleted by author on 19 Nov 2007 04:57 PST: Duplicate]

The idea of Coverpop is different from your mosaic idea, but I'm so happy that Jim Bumgarder created one for PeaceTiles!

I'm a Flickr addict, but somehow being able to discover the tiles in the Coverpop mimics the way we discover them in person. Sometimes the message in the tile makes me go "Whoa!" and I get that viewing the images in Coverpop more so than seeing them at Flickr.

Hey Dan - nice to hear from you! I feel bad that I haven't been able to be more involved in TutorMentor - you have been such a Peace Tiles champion! Thanks for continuing to share the resource, and I look forward to being on tap for anyone who would like more information. Cheers Dan,

lars

Hi Lars,

The Feedjournal.com Now has a widget.

You can print the Peach Tile Feed as a Newspaper:

http://www.feedjournal.com/basic papers/nedgroupdevartsnews6atom. xml.pdf

Think about how we could use this here at Ned?

Also we could publish each of our logs here in an RSS Feed. Others could subscribe to it in their RSS reader and follow along.

~Joel

Funky - That's cool Joel. Some formatting issues with things like comments, but a great way to produce a weekly or monthly digest for ma and pa. Thanks - and will put my thinking cap on!

A couple of observations that are really kind of off the wall.

The first is the care with which the decision was made to provide a CC license on the pictures at Flickr. Flickr is an amazing tool. Eric Hersman made a great interactive chart using logos of African Web 2.0 sites simply using the note feature to provide the URLs. Also at Flickr CC it's easy to put Peacetiles in the box and get a nice page representing them.

The second thing is I think that Chumby is going to be big--maybe a little like i-Pods. Anyway the content for Chumbies is going to get tweeked. Peacetiles will likely be a popular content for Chumbies via Flickr, and there may be ways to make that easier and better to encourage use.

Dear All,

Wonderful to see both new (to me) and familiar "faces" here, and below is my first posting to Ned, hopefully one in a million (or at least of a million :)).

Here's a small update on what ActALIVE members did for World AIDS Day 2007, including Dennis Kimambo (REPACTED) who is familiar to some of you.

Some possible activities in 2008 may include the International AIDS Conference (Meron did us the great honor of installing ActALIVE member tiles, among others, for the last conference, in Toronto, 2006); work with the anti-trafficking nonprofit, FAIR Fund; collaboration with the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS (http://www.youthaidscoalition.or g); and more.

We look forward to interacting with everyone and hopefully working together more closely! With artistic admirations and creative kudos always, Janet

ActALIVE Members Doing Peace Tiles related activities for WAD 2007:

1. REPACTED (Kenya): Peace Tiles were made, in addition to a fashion show and dance event. http://www.repacted.org

2. St. Egidio (Kenya): Tile-making in October, with performances of a play about the Peace Tiles done for World AIDS Day (written and performed by Ron Odhiambo). http://www.santegidio.org/en/

3. CBO Nyando District Youth Initiative (Kenya): The event involved tile-making workshops at five locations, with tiles which were displayed at the District celebrations of World AIDS Day.

   http://www.youthaidscoalition.or g/pages.html?page=wad

4. CAPEC (Cameroon): Peace Tiles were made for WAD, as part of the events of that day. http://www.capec.org

5. Girl Child Art Foundation (Nigeria): Peace Tiles were made as part of a larger conference event on youth and the Millennium Development Goals. http://www.gcafy.org

6. Gram Bharati Samiti (India): Peace Tiles were made as part of a roster of activities during that day (a picture is available). http://www.gbsjp.org

7. Bill Clinton Care (India): Peace Tiles were made by school students of the Sujatha School, Hyderabad. They will also be made during stops on the AIDS Ride 2008 (organized by B'Care), a bicycle trip being planned from Canada (site of IAC 2006) to Mexico (site of the International AIDS Conference in 2008).

   http://www.bcareindia.org and http://www.aidsride2008.org

December 9, 2007

December is on us - 2007 has, as the years are wont to do, flown past... It has been a real gift in my life - and my family's as well - to work with so many of you on the Global Peace Tiles Project. I hope for those of you who have been able to experience Peace Tiles directly that you have found it to be a gift as well. It is the many contributions of all of us that keep this modest yet vibrant little process going around the word. For that I thank you heartily!

On to the update for December:

1 :: World AIDS Day --- Individuals and organizations around the world found inspiring ways to use the Peace Tiles process to contribute to the global campaign against AIDS. Here is a sample:

• Peace Tiles partner Gram Bharati Samiti hosted a vibrant workshop, exhibition and award ceremony for youth in Rajasthan, India:

http://mixedmedia.us/peacetiles/ index.php?option=com_content& ;task=view&id=127&Itemid =85

• Champions Auni Husted, Maura Roth-Gormley and Laura Langberg - all students at Goucher College - hosted a dynamic campus workshop, creating tiles that will make their way to South Africa in 2008:

http://mixedmedia.us/peacetiles/ index.php?option=com_content& ;task=view&id=126&Itemid =85

• Other workshops took place in Washington, DC, Georgia, Nigeria, Kenya and Cameroon. I'll share more as soon as reports come in.
• Finally, a huge thanks to Art for Development Network (http://art4development.net/) for making Peace Tiles a part of how they recognized World AIDS Day. I think it is really important that the works produced by children and youth around the world continue to inform how others understand the pandemic.

2 :: Boston International School Workshop --- I had a wonderful time with Katie Moncton and her after-school students at the Boston International School for a real Peace Tiles melée! After a brief presentation about the intersection of art, craft and ecology at a municipal dump in West Africa, the children - most of whom were in 2nd and 3rd grade - dove into their activities. The session before they'd been asked to collect recycled (or "reclaimed") materials from the house, and they used much of this content in their final works, which numbered almost 60 by the end of the 1.5hr session. Thank you Katie and BIS for such an inspiring time!

3 :: 2008 Preview --- While 2008 will likely see some changes in my attention to the Peace Tiles project (gotta get a job!), there are still a number of exciting initiatives on the horizon including:

• Summer Workshop 2008! Yes, I think it'll happen again: 3 days of creativity and sharing among the Green Hills of Vermont. Interested? Just drop me a line at peacetiles@gmail.com. More information in the New Year.
• "Memory tiles" will continue, with a workshop of senior citizens in Central Vermont and the Northeast Kingdom who will share vignettes of their rich lives using collage in March.
• Green Art in April. Peace Tiles has been invited as a guest speaker and community workshop presenter in Ithaca, New York as part of their Earth Week celebrations. This will be a great opportunity to really develop some curricular modules around the environment, much of which can build upon the work begun with Katie at BIS.
• Georgia in '08? Peace Tiles champion Cynthia Gentry has offered a tentative invitation to be a part of a city-wide Peace Tiles activity tied to the "Playful City" campaign taking place in Atlanta. As part of an effort to create more access to play areas for children, Cynthia has bitten off a real leadership role as "Professor of Play" - go Cyn! Check out their great video (and vote for it too) at:http://kaboom.shycast.com/contestant/27/
• And of course my ongoing commitment to support groups looking to integrate visual arts and exchange into their World AIDS Day 2008 efforts.

4 :: Peace Tiles Kits --- Their popularity is growing - but still limited by production capacity (or lack thereof!). December saw the production and sale of 30 kits, including a new distributor in downtown Montpelier, Woodbury Mountain Toys. So somehow I'll need to get a better table saw (ie more powerful with a larger table) to support faster cutting, as well as possibly hiring someone to put together the paper kits. An exciting area to explore for 2008 - along with the possibility of distributing at least one "themed" kit, around an issue like HIV/AIDS or children in conflict.

Also, kits are available again for sale online using Paypal. Check 'em out at: http://mixedmedia.us/peacetiles/ index.php?option=com_wrapper& ;Itemid=90

5 :: Facebook Rocks! --- I've been having alot of fun developing Peace Tiles' facebook presence - its a fun social utility that enables anyone conducting a Peace Tiles activity to share information within the growing network. At the same time, anyone who joins can create their own personal profile and connect directly with others. Come join the fray! http://www.facebook.com/group.ph p?gid=4819594719

So as 2007 winds down, that's about it - with deepest thanks for the contributions so many of you have made to help the Peace Tiles project flourish in the hands of our grassroots partners.

lars
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www.peacetiles.net + www.mixedmedia.us
802-563-2757