The End of Sitting
Ronald Rietveld, Erik Rietveld, Arna Mackic, RAAAF [Rietveld Architecture-Art-Affordances], 2014/12/22

As we get away from classrooms we begin to look at new ways of creating environments for working together. The modern design - offices with desks, tables and chairs - is no real improvement on the classroom. This research project looks at alternatives, designing various shapes based on the different ways we can lean or stand when working with each other. I'm not sure I like it - it probably has the acoustical problems inherent in open-concept workspaces, and there's no place to put down my coffee or to grow a plant. But I like the thinking behind it. More from Wired, Science Alert, Fast Company, etc.

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The secret to the Uber economy is wealth inequality
Leo Mirani, Quartz, 2014/12/22

We need to be careful about which part of the new technology-enabled on-demand economy we are cheering for. Uber, for example, or AirBNB appear to be tech-enabled, but they're not, really. " In my hometown of Mumbai," writes Leo Mirani, "we have had many of these conveniences for at least as long as we have had landlines -- and some even earlier than that. It did not take technology to spur the on-demand economy. It took masses of poor people." This isn't exactly what we're trying to achieve in education. Via Kottke.

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