I finally finished my book of the week from last week (August 31-September 6). Last week curtailed many of my regular activities during the week. As a result, it took me a bit longer to finish this book.
The book in question is Design is Storytelling by Ellen Lupton. According to her bio Ms. Lupton is a senior curator at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City. So, the first thing I learned from this book is that there is a Smithsonian Design Museum.
I learned some other things as well. The book offers numerous lessons about design. The point of it, I think, is to craft your designs in a way that tells a story to your audience. Using examples in art, architecture, writing, psychology, among others; Lupton offer ideas about how to use storytelling as a device in any imaginable endeavor.
I decided to read this book (it is a more recent acquisition) now because I am currently interested in narrative and communications; specifically, constitutive communication as a framing device communication and narrative as a tool for effective communication. Since this blog is my main vehicle for communicating to the wider world I figure it does not hurt to have an understanding of design and communication theory. It is also a decent follow up to the ideas in Presentation Zen, which I read about a month ago.
These books about design and communication will lead somewhere. The blog is part of it, but I am working on bigger, more academic projects as well. Of course, my main interests: conflict resolution, social capital, structural violence, and other stuff will figure in as well.
My next book is going to be a much larger project than can be accomplished in 1 week. I will be reading various articles from The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice. This is because I am writing a short introduction to conflict resolution and I want to make sure my bases are covered. There will be more information about that project as it evolves.
The Conflict Authority 