A Week in the Life

Melinda Weekes-Laidlow

Board Vice-Chair

Its been a week of provocative, profound and promising experiences on behalf of IISC. I’ve been on the road — learning, training, networking and promoting our work.  Here’s a rundown of some of the great ideas, people and organizations I’ve had the honor of connecting with these last few days:

• Interaction Design 10 Conference, held in Savannah, GA, February 7 – 10, 2010:Interaction design is defined as “the art of facilitating or instigating interactions between humans mediated by products. ”  Check out my twitter posts from these dates for in the moment impressions and ideas shared at the Conference.

• Jon Kolko, a Conference  organizer and thought leader in interaction design, is also the founder of the amazing, and newly launched, Austin Center for Design. According to its website, the Center “exists to transform society through design and design education…and through the development of design knowledge directed towards all forms of social and humanitarian problems.”The Center will offer a certificate in Interaction Design and Social Entrepreneurship. Jon is obviously singing our song, and we hope to collaborate in the near future.

• My colleague  Curtis and I had the high honor of co-training  Facilitative Leadership to the 17 change agents who are fellows of the Gulf Coast Fellowship for Community Transformation —  at the historic Penn Center in St. Helena’s Island, SC no less!  The wisdom, flavor, knowledge and passion of this group was unlike any other group of participants I’ve encountered.

• A storehouse of cultural knowledge – Mr. Robert Middleton – graced me with a tour of St. Helena’s Island. In him, I know I’ve encountered an American legend.

• Today, I had an amazing day of meetings with professors and graduate students from the Savannah College of Art and Design. These are folks  interested in utilizing design thinking and disciplines for the benefit of social change and transformation.  The talent and commitment of these students and practitioners has left an indelible mark.

• I ended the day dining with two women who are undoubtedly a tour de force in the City of Savannah – DaVena Jordan of All Walks of Life (a youth development organization utilizing hip hop, poetry and technology) and Michelle Hunter, Cultural Affairs Coordinator for the City of Savannah. We talked of all things art, social change, knowledge based economy as drivers for economic and community development, post-Civil Rights community building and  all the best eats in Savannah.

The richness of these experiences is still sinking in. I’m certain that tangible good will come from this string of amazing encounters.  I leave this week stronger in my affinity for the Georgia Sea Coast region and for design as a discipline of study and praxis for social change.  It was entirely worth my missing out on Snowmaggedon! 😉