There’s something really magical about this; jump to a random eye-level view of almost any street in the world: Globe Genie – Joe McMichael.

Fascinating article in the NY Times that explores how language shapes the way we think about the world. Different languages, different ways of experiencing it.

When your language routinely obliges you to specify certain types of information, it forces you to be attentive to certain details in the world and to certain aspects of experience that speakers of other languages may not be required to think about all the time. And since such habits of speech are cultivated from the earliest age, it is only natural that they can settle into habits of mind that go beyond language itself, affecting your experiences, perceptions, associations, feelings, memories and orientation in the world.

Similar to my observations about how language affects meaning from years ago.

The Global Lives project is an effort “to collaboratively build a video library of human life experience that reshapes how we as both producers and viewers conceive of cultures, nations and people outside of our own communities.”

They started with an exhibit of 10 people at the Yerba Buena Center. I missed that unfortunately but they’ve put some of the video online. You can even view the raw 24 hours of footage for each person, linked at the bottom.

It’s interesting to think about this as a resource for virtual ethnography–just dial up 24 hours in the life of someone in your target market and observe them on demand…

Love padlocks are attached to fences or other public fixtures as a symbol of permanent love. Popular mostly in Russia/Ukraine and Asia.

This series of photos shows the progression of N Seoul Tower’s lock collection over the past 2 years.