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.

№ 110 | ‘Havens, Hubs & Hangouts’, “Infrastructure for Thinking”, Fractal Gridding + the Hadara Method (for Goal Setting), Bootstrapping Computing, Catalyst Game, Four Corners Reflection, A Visual Archive of the Jan 6 Capitol Attack, and the Size of Life

Did you miss me? 🤪 Stephen P. Anderson here, back again with your regular roundup of ‘playful things to think with… and think about’ (wow, that came out sounding like a cheesy DJ announcer!) One of the great things about taking time off between issues is the bounty of amazing finds

№ 109 | Algodeck, Alternatives to Arrows, Comic Lettering, Equations Explained Colorfully, Chemistry Advent Calendar, A Framework for Making Decisions, TikTok’s System Map, Learner Engagement Checklist, and Closing Prompts

Let’s close out the year with an XL-sized roundup of ‘playful things to think with’ and think about. 🗓️NOTE: This will be the last newsletter until next year. I normally publish Thinking Things every two weeks. But, I do like to take a bit of time off during the

№ 108 | Paid Attention, Algorithms to Serve People, Algorithms That Don’t Serve People, the Meaning Matrix, Historical Problem Space Framework, Games as Information Systems, Four Video Games to Change How We Think, and the Circularity Deck

I’m back again with even more playful things to think with, and think about! Chances are, this edition of the Thinking Things newsletter gets lost in the FLOOD of “best deal of the year” emails. Anyway… I’m busy. You’re busy. This will be the “straight to the

№ 107 | Reimagining the Now, Surfacing Worldviews of Change, Characteristics of SenseMaking (Illustrated), The Authoritarian Stack, Wheels of Privilege / Power—Remixed!, Four Leadership Modes

Back again, with even more playful things to think with, and think about. Last issue, I promised more card decks in this edition of Thinking Things. So, more card decks it is! Reimaging the Now card deck The Reimagining the Now card deck was created “to highlight how existing technological