“Open, participative cities: how design knowledge can support public services in the development of open, participative human environment”.

+ DESIS Forum will be organized back-to-back with the Cumulus Conference. - Deadline for abstracts: 15 November 2011
The Cumulus conference, interlinked in the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012, is organized in the premises of Aalto University, in the School of Art and Design, Helsinki, Finland and in the neighboring city of Espoo. The conference program has the opportunity to include pre-conferences and site events.read more on http://cumulushelsinki2012.org>>

In conjunction with our next Amplify Exhibition and workshop series we'll promote in November in partnership with Shareable Magazine SHARE NY an event about sharing economy. For more information and to register: http://www.shareable.net/blog/announcing-share-new-york

DESIS India is organizing this symposium at the NID (National Institute of Design) on 27, 28 January 2012.  The symposium is organized as a concluding event of the two-week long international open electives at NID.

Every year NID offers two-week duration open electives across its all the disciplines. Visiting faculty members along with students from its various partner design institutes from across the world participate in these international open elective workshops.

Around 25 - 28 such open elective course modules are offered to the students.  This year these electives will be offered around the overall theme 'Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability'.

Organizers invite design students, faculty members and design professionals  to share the outcome and the process of their recently completed project in this domain of Social Innovation and Sustainability.

For more information please contact Professor Shashank Metha:
shashank@nid.edu

Driven by social, economic and environmental motivations, public services are already changing. But, given the problems we are facing, this transformation can (and must) be better directed and accelerated. Social innovation and, in particular, the emerging people’s active and collaborative attitude can be one of the most challenging and promising drivers of change. They offer in fact the opportunity to radically re-think public services based on the notion that users can be (also) active and collaborative partners. The bridge between bottom-up social innovation and top-down public services can be built thanks to an appropriate use of design (Ezio Manzini, 2011). So how does design respond to these transformation, challenges and opportunities?
Endorsed by DESIS network, As collaboration between 3 universities in Wuxi, Shanghai and Milano, 2011 DESIS symposium offers a platform to share related design thinking, methods, experiences and cases to inquire the question.

More information at: www.desis-china.org

As an active member of DESIS China, the DESIGN Harvest project keeps on exploring new ways of developments, considering the rural and the urban as a complementary yin yang relationship to maintain identity but promote exchange of resources.

In this line, students from China, Chile, Hong Kong and Finland got together in Shanghai and the Chongming islands to conduct field and desk research under the motto: Design For the Rural and Urban Connection to Promote Social Innovation.

A short video on their work can be seen here:
http://vimeo.com/28568064

Final exhibition of the works will be organized and exhibited (in 2011 at the Shanghai international creative industry week; in 2012 during the Helsinki Cumulus conference in May and in 2012 Santiago Cumulus conference in November 2012, Spain).

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT:
http://www.designharvest.com

DESIS-USA
In the context of the first Cumulus Conference held in the United States at the Rocky Mountain Art + Design College (27 September-2 October 2011), the DESIS-USA Chapter presented a light exhibition about research and design projects focused on design for social innovation and sustainability culled from the Paris DESIS Forum convened in May 2011 at Strate College.

The exhibition curated by Mariana Amatullo and Eduardo Staszowski will now travel to Beijing, Seoul, Pasadena and New York.

This year, in its 4th edition, the international Communitarian Film and Video Festival, Ojo Al Sancocho, based in Bogotá, kindly opened a space for DESIS to share visions and enable dialogue regarding the role of representing active communities using the tools of communication design. read more>>

For more information please visit:
http://festivalojoalsancocho.wordpress.com/english/
http://www.youtube.com/user/filmscolombianews

Scott Boylston from SCAD is organizing another edition of this event which aim is bringing together design educators and practitioners to discuss a new ethos that can effectively address matters of global equity, true sustainability, etc. 
DESIS USA looks forward to your participation.

_Are you a student and interested in the power of images / multimedia?
_Are you concerned about sustainability and responsible lifestyles, and how your own behaviour could have consequences for now and the future?
Then take action NOW by creating a 60-second VIDEO for
the web!

Key Information
This VIDEO competition is opened to full or part time students of all ages who are attending Secondary, Further or Higher Education at the time of submitting their entry
Videos should focus on an aspect of sustainable / responsible living aimed at one of the
following age groups:
_3-6 years old
_7-12 years old
_13-16 years old
_17 + years old

Videos should be 60 seconds maximum – no more
Its ok to have sound and music but no talk/dialogue
The competition is opened from 25th October 2011 to 15th February 2012.

Videos will be posted on DESIS Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/DESISNETWORK

read more>>