Finds

№ 52 | Speculative Cartography, A Better Catastrophe, Tasting of Tomorrow Cards, The Art of Gathering… Canvas?, and A Playful Explanation of the link Between Physical and Mental Health

Stephen P. Anderson

01 Sep 2023 — 2 min read

Speculative cartography

Ok. Here's an odd (and clever!) kind of ‘thing to think with’—speculative cartography. Specifically, maps of a future earth, after sea levels rise. Pictured below is the “famous 1748 Nolli map of Rome, with 66m of sea level rise.” See dozens more similar prints at Conspiracy of Cartographers.

A Better Catastrophe

“I Want a Better Catastrophe” is a new (?) kind of flowchart for navigating our climate predicament. Explore on your own, or push play and be guided through with a voiceover. Now I'm thinking about other kinds of flowcharts we could create using this format… Also, a nice bit of systems thinking going on here!

Tasting of Tomorrow Cards

More cards! IDEO's Tasting of Tomorrow Cards ask “human-centered questions about the future when designing intelligent products, services, systems, and visions.”

The Art of Gathering… Canvas?

So, one of my many back burner projects has been to turn ideas from Priya Parker's book The Art of Gathering into a toolkit of sorts, for planning my own gatherings. Along these lines, the folks at Griffith University's Centre for Systems Innovation created a playbook and canvas

Inspired by Priya Parker’s The Art of Gathering online course, which a team of us completed in March 2023, we have created this playbook. While it’s no replacement for the detail and insight from the course or reading the book of the same name, it combines ideas we learnt with the way we be in our Centre.

Playful Explanations

I love this playful explanation of the link between physical and mental health…using toys!

**BONUS: Check out this reimagined UNO deck from Shantell Martin, the latest installment of the UNO Artiste series.

№ 115 | Copyright: The Card Game, Design Thinking Canvas, The Learning Matrix, “Moving From SWOT to SO WHAT? Analysis”, Prosocial Design Network, Lenny’s World… Remixed!, and Violence as a Contagious Disease

I'm back again, with your regular roundup of ‘playful things to think with’ and think about! (Two days later than usual, but… other priorities!) Copyright: The Card Game Now this is how you design a learning card game! Take a confusing topic (in this case copyright law). Create

№ 114 | Platform Thinking Journey Cards, The Dictionary of Radical Alternatives, Learning Theory Map, “Let Them Have Your Way” Zine, a Framework Mashup!, “There is No System 2”, Go for Goals, and Gutenberg Revisited

Welcome to another curious roundup of ‘playful things to think with’ and think about! Platform Thinking Journey Cards Here’s a shout out to my friend Werner Puchert, who just dropped another one of his extensive card deck video reviews. This time, he’s looking at the Platform Thinking Journey

№ 113 | Axbom’s Playing Cards, Creativity Tarot, The 2030 SDGs Game, Adding Confidence Levels to the BMC, Anchoring & Vigilance with AI, Yes and No, Energym, and The Alpha Generation

Wait, what?! The last issue of Thinking Things went out with ne’er a mention of card decks? How can this be. “The horror! The horror!” Let’s set things right again with this issue… Axbom’s Playing Cards My friend Per Axbom has made 2 3 card decks “for

№ 112 | Teaching One Pagers, Sliderule Simulator, Board Game Icons, “Making, Hacking and Jamming”, FLARE, Relooted, Choosing a UX Research Method, and Deep Musings on our Human Relationship with AI

Welcome to another edition of the Thinking Things newsletter, your regular dose of playful things to think with, and think about. 🫵A couple of things: 1/ ♥️ ♠️ ♦️ ♣️ I’m exploring a special edition of thinking things focused on… 🥁 playing cards. Specifically, any activity that uses a standard deck of playing cards