Deepa Mehta

The Year of Learning the Art of Storytelling

Deepa — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:35:35 +0000

I never realized how important stories are. In fact, anything that we do, any data that we collect or concept that we want to convey depends largely upon our ability to develop a compelling narrative arc. I’ve spent a large part of the past year understanding and honing the art of storytelling at the Institute for the Future. About a year ago, I also began to study Bharat Natyam. For that reason, I absolutely loved this post on storytelling and design. Whether it is writing, speaking, interaction design, researching, or thinking – it is important to think about the story.

But I think the grand challenge in getting really good at this is waking up everyday, creating, sharing, and being prolific. No matter what.

Here is a humble shot of inspiration by the brilliant Ira Glass:

Threat vs. Risk

Deepa — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 19:20:51 +0000

This Big City nicely summarizes the three biggest threats to urban heritage in Asia: natural disasters, (loss of) intangible heritage, and rapid urbanization.

Instead of “threats”, I want to think about risks. What do we risk losing?

New Patterns

Deepa — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 16:05:18 +0000

Reading the social spaces of a city has been high on my mind lately. The last few weeks have yielded gorgeous weather, and I have been venturing through the neighborhoods more often than usual.

When we look at maps and think about places, we are often used to seeing the same patterns – age, income, neighborhood. Rebecca Solnit applies an imaginative view towards San Francisco in Infinite City with the leading question “What makes a place?” By interweaving whimsy with history, attentively curated set of authors provide a series of vantage points for seeing the city. A history of immigration in the city is told by a captive narrative and a map about Shipyard and Sounds. Then there is the seminal map of the City’s Coffee Economies and Ecologies – a contemporary snapshot of seminal coffee outposts in San Francisco circa 2010. But my favorite journey is the one through “Phrenological San Francisco”, where Solnit “reads” to us the attributes to each of the city’s 14 major neighborhoods.

I also just came across a conversation that UrbanOmnibus had with author Suketu Mehta amidst the streets of Jackson Heights, Queens. Mehta draws our attention to the all-but-apparent Invisible City in front of us via unreported incomes and resulting informal (alternative?) economies. Neither Solnit or Mehta are designers or policymakers. But both provide provocation and sensitivity to the way in which circumstance shapes stories and, in turn, history shapes everyday life.

A Word About Maps

Deepa — Thu, 26 May 2011 05:07:44 +0000

As many of us who work with data in its different forms, I am fascinated by the possibilities of stellar, crystal clear data visualization. I took my first data visualization class in graduate school where, for the first time, I learned how to communicate with data, numbers, maps, colors, and graphics. Sarah Williams was an incredible teacher, and someone whose portfolio continues to inspire me. It has become evident that while good research depends on the tried-and-true rigor of asking pertinent questions, quality data, and methodology, it is equally important how we communicate the information we eventually uncover. After all, we are being paid to make sense of information. What does it mean for our client or our community?

I came across this simple, but poignant interview with data visualization designer Salvatore Iaconesi at Visualizing.org. Iaconesi talks about the existing and future possibilities of visualization:

“The most interesting thing that happened this year is probably that we’ve almost gotten to the point at which we will be able to abandon statistics in favor of anthropology. This year more than ever we saw more and more systems avoiding simplification of the data: people, after all, are not percentages. It is progressively more true that the organic, systemic, complex features of the visualizations we can create now are so powerful and expressive that we can often place incredibly granular data side by side with overall percentages, generating entire new visions of the realities which we are analyzing.

This possibility is a game-changer, specifically important for the issues of marginality, multi-cultural societies, markets, social networks, and politics, which are completely changing … Something policy makers should really learn how to leverage.”

For example, a team of researchers at MIT, Harvard and Northeastern University gathered static multi-year spreadsheets of Human Development Index numbers and developed an interactive tool that allows the reader to compare basic stats between two countries.

Charts via UNDP website

Social + Culture Factors in Planning

Deepa — Thu, 05 May 2011 05:03:37 +0000

Spent the weekend at Berkeley. Listened to and connected with researchers and practitioners on the impacts of social + cultural research in design.

Talking Points

Deepa — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 05:01:26 +0000

I had a lot of fun speaking with Shagun Singh who runs the brilliant Designwala about some of my work and interests.

Craft Industries in India

Deepa — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 04:59:53 +0000

I just returned from India, where I found out about the new Stone Artisan Park in Gujarat. With two separate locations, the government-funded park creates premises for stone artisans to work on their craft while also providing training and other r+d measures. It is exciting to see this initiative in a state where craft provides a regular source of income for many.

Image via Stone Artisan Park website

In India, the handicraft industry provides employment to approximately 13 million people, and that number is four times higher when taking into account the various supply chain providers and intermediaries. Handicrafts include wood, metal, earthen, and stone work as well as textiles, natural fibers, and leather and paper goods. The newest program has been actively managed by SFURTI (Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries) since 2005. The project supports small and medium artisan enterprises via industrial and regional clusters.

The 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage includes protection and safeguarding for traditional craft skills and knowledge. I am particularly interested in very old, traditional industries that have increased potential to provide other social uses – specifically textiles (clothing) and construction forms (housing).

Sericulture: India is the world’s largest consumer of silk and the second largest producer after China.

Architecture and Housing: Indian artisans and architects utilize traditional architectural knowledge to construct mandirs, or temples, across the globe. Artisans and craftsmen regularly build and rebuild dwellings and housing in vernacular styles across India.

Is the craft sector a relevant job sector? What are some aspects of technological change found here (for example, AutoCAD drafting for temple architecture, updated methods in the silk industry)?

The Arc of Wayfinding

Deepa — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 04:57:50 +0000

What would a walk through a trail in your favorite national park be without the typical signage about that specific tree or that iconic waterfall? Over the past half century or so, we have become accustomed to visitor centers, maps, signs, and road markers guide us through our natural experiences. Where campers once relied solely on compasses (and the seasoned ones probably still do), many of us have traded them in for more information: more maps, schedules, and guides to navigate the unknown forests and natural wonders of our world.

Increasingly over the past year, we have more and more chances to trade in all of those bulky paper-based systems for location-based apps. The likes of Big Escapes, National Goegraphic, Cartosoft, and other similar companies and academic teams are in the process of covering terra incognita with new products that link mobile mapping and way-finding with interpretive programming.

This is an emerging product and service industry that is just warming up – especially for places that benefit from maximizing natural authenticity and minimizing structural interventions. However, successful mobile technology will depend on stellar ICT infrastructure and sustained connectivity. Yosemite is among US national parks that are committed to improving park-wide communications technology.

Image via Apple

Engaging people + planners

Deepa — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 04:56:50 +0000

This week I attended an APA forum called Public Engagement in the 21st Century. I was on the organizational steering committee to make this event happen. Specifically, I had to talk to planners about blogging. So I invited someone who blogs professionally: Matthew Roth of Streetsblog. It was really great having him there and explaining the ins and outs of running a planning and policy-oriented blog as well as blogging how-to’s.

Mostly I was interested to see what other planners are talking about when it comes to social media and where they stand on the topic at this time. Planners have a lot of potential in terms of understanding and working with social media tools as a means of community engagement.

A Cultural District in the Bayview

Deepa — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:54:17 +0000

In some regards Bayview/Hunter’s Point is to San Francisco what Red Hook was to Brooklyn over 10 years ago. SF Redevelopment Agency has set into motion a long-range plan to bring change to this community. The Bayview is also home to one of largest artist colonies in the US. The neighborhood is also home to the pioneering Public Glass among other galleries as well as arts-based businesses and community organizations. I have been invited to do some work with Shipyard Community Artists, a non-profit organization that is committed to bringing arts-based programming and development to the Bayview/Hunters Point resident community.

The area reminds me of artists based throughout the five boroughs in New York. In 2006, as part of a broader project under the direction of Robin Keegan, I studied industrial artists in NYC and how they opted to locate near and within their supply chain. Over the next year, I will be involved with strategic planning, mapping, and programming for this nascent non-profit start-up in San Francisco.

Photo via of Hunters Point Shipyard Artists