In our long sessions scouring the internet, you come across a lot of stuff, some of it seems boring at first but in fact are significant at second glance.
There are two links here. The first one is a project by Taeyoon Choi, who used skateboarding as a common reference point to talk about electricity and the way that it moves through circuits. Science is translated via skateboarding into something relatable, something you can understand and work with. Using a common reference to translate ideas is not an uncommon practice but it is worth noting that “WE” as a culture have made it into the fabric of everyday life.
Click this link to read Taeyoon Choi’s full article.
Our second find is a lecture video about the “Emotional Attachments to the Historic Urban Environment”. An academic style lecture and Q&A session which deals with “our” attachment to skate spots like London’s Southbank (Long Live Southbank is listed as a contributor.) and the Vancouver skate plaza.
At first, this certainly feels like a “harder to watch” video, it has no entertainment value apart from some custard colored pants. But it does have a really strong educational value which can be very useful for skateboarding’s community organizers and city planners. It is a great video for those that need information and in a sense ammunition when dealing with local government or authority figures. If you are well versed in terms like the ones in this video you are more likely to get positive results when it comes to, protecting your spots from skate stoppers or getting a “good” skatepark or plaza built in your environment.
Click the link to get to the website of the SFU.
Select the video “Rebecca Madgin, Why Does the Past Matter?”
Why is it important to note these things? Because it shows us that we have moved out of our niche and into light as far as the debate around public space and learning goes. Noting those developments can open doors for us all, whether it be in school or in the public sphere.
All illustrations taken from Taeyoon Choi’s “Skating the Circuits” piece for Avant.org
Special thanks to Thomas Mader for helping us find pieces like these.