Graham & Thrift Out of Order

In the article put forward by Graham & Thrift, he strive to put  forward that repair and maintenance is the central component of the development of economies. and a basis of our survival

there is different way the article canbe quite useful within the thesis.

First, in indicating that repair provide an opportunity for the being to actually learn and develop oneself through a process of innovation, indicating there and then that repair is the premist of innovation, it is when soemthing break that theindividual tend to develop himself by trying to find way to repair the item
Second, that repair processes that happen in citieiss and in everyday life tend to be hidden from mot people who cannot see it happenign by reading report or hearing report when they are actually happening. people can only foresee the item as well when the alter is broken, when it works they cannot actualyy xsee the item but only focus on its function.
there is all the chapter about e-waste at the end that shows the extent to which the lack of engagement of repair create a number of negative externalities.
thereis also the way repairer are perceived by society as low class people.
then we have the all chapter about E-waste

Ackerman design for product care

In the paper by ackerman,  the main intention is to delineate the research project. She decided to look at product care and define the motivation to take care of a range of products. She set her research within the content of the xircular ecinomic since it is put forward that we shall actually they to repair the items first and she put forward that by understand g the user we will be able to actually develop design interventions between the user and the product.

There is a few thing that i can take from it first the way she presented the liner ecinomic in my introduction.
Then the way she actually put forward the definition of product care. It will Help me to define appropriately how i differentiate my research from her.
I will definitely have to put her research within repair as a strategy as well as design interventions to repair.
There is also an elements within my discussion that i need to put forward in relation to design for sustainable behaviour that we shall not only look at the interaction between the user and the product bit also consider within the development of our solution, the interaction within a set community.

Le Grand Continental Dance - Day 2 - Part 1

Leicester Fixers focuses on feeling successful and invite others to do the same - A wink to Eric Barker Book - Barking up The Wrong Tree.

Recently, I was on BBC Radio Leicester on behalf of Leicester Fixers to make a call out to communities across Leicestershire. We have plans to support them with setting up their own repair events and be as successful as we. Thanks to Ben Jackson and its team for inviting us on the show to share our voice. You can catch me on iPlayer at this link from 1hr42mins to 1hr50mins into the programme.  

With 26 events under our belt and our successes in changing people perspectives,
a supporter asks me after listening to the show,
why we are not getting paid for what we do?

Yes, the return on investment in monetary term is currently elusive. Hopefully, there are other ways to measure success.

I came across Eric Barker book - Barking up The Wrong Tree - where he goes through tonnes of social sciences articles and books to identify measures of success.

He suggests focussing on the feelings of being successful because it could take a while, a long time before one reaches the financial goals he set for himself.

One study of a group of researchers who conducted 60 interviews with high-achieving professionals and surveyed 90 high-level executives support his argument on why we shall focus on to feel successful.

Through the study, the researchers tried to identify what prevented them to be successful. After combining the data, they identified four areas of focus to feel successful.

Achievement

Legacy

Significance 

Happiness

Let me illustrate how Leicester Fixers feel successful every single day.

Achievement - We feel like we WINNING. 

At every event, we repair an item that would otherwise end up in a landfill. We give people a new experience. We get wonder in their eyes and we always succeed to make them smile. The Restart Project provides us with a tool to record all our repair and this generates some stats as evidence of our achievements. We have many pictures as testimonies of our successes too.

Legacy - We feel like we are INFLUENCING others in a positive way. 

Trough conversations at events, on the radio, at a stall in the Riverside Festival in Leicester, we share why we repair. We repair for connection and education - the basis of a healthy social and economic system - not solely for environmental reasons. When people get it, it feels good!  Also, our volunteers improve their repair skills overtime because they keep on coming to our events. It feels good too.

Significance - We feel like we NEEDED. 

Waste is an issue. Every year, 1 million tonnes of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment in England alone find their way in landfills. The impacts of electrical and electronic equipment are tremendous both environmentally and on humans quality of life here and elsewhere. 

Social isolation is also an issue. If people do not feel like they can turn to other humans when they have a problem and prefer buying something new to quickly fix their despair. It is not a sustainable solution in the long run. Waste will come to haunt them eventually. When someone sends us a message on Facebook for help and advice, it feels good to be needed and to be connected.

Happiness - We feel like we are ENJOYING life. 

Our repair events are a party. We have people. We have cake, fruit and juice. We have the tools to play with and broken items. We have pictures taken to remind us we had a good time. Time flies, we cannot feel it. When the sun comes down and we go back home after the event, we smile inside - it was a good day. We are happy to have filled it and to feel it wholeheartedly.

Can you see how successful we are? 

Coming back to money answering the question of our supporter; we will achieve financial returns eventually. 

It is a matter of making YOU in Leicester and across the UK believe FIRST that repair matters and that what we do matters too. Money and its exchange are based on a social agreement between two parties. Believe that we matter and reward us accordingly with your time, money or other resources  > We will grow and support more people across Leicestershire. Don't believe in us, we will remain an ephemeral phenomenon in the memories of humankind. 

So what can you do to support Leicester Fixers ! Get in touch NOW, donate, volunteer.

Use the tool too to identify your own success ;) and listen to Eric Barker here

The call out - leicester fixers

Leicester Fixers - The plan 2018-2019

The plan.

I ordered a smoothie machine for my hubby after watching fat sick and nearly dead

I have watched fat sick and nearly did a joe cross movie.

I was well inspired.

I bought a smoothie machine for hubby.

it is arriving for valentine's day!

Tim Minchin - No sense, all is meaningless

Tim Minchin (Thanks Simon) - Click here
His advice to graduates on how "to be" is funny, inspiring, beautiful and real. To sum it up very very simply, he says:
1. You don't have to have a dream.
2. Don't seek happiness.
3. Remember, it's all luck.
4. Exercise.
5. Be hard on your opinions.
6. Be a teacher.
7. Define yourself by what you love.
8. Respect people with less power than you.
9. Don't rush.
Listen to these words of wisdom, and you might just get through life perfectly...Or at least, kind of unscathed.

Snowball, non-violent civil disobedience campaign in the UK

It was at first difficult to get into 'Snowball, the story of an non-violent civil disobedience campaign in the UK'. The first few chapters highlight the purpose of the campaign (nuclear disarmement) and provide information on the spreading of american military operation in the UK. I was uplifted though by the campaigners' sense of responsibility in breaking the law for the protection of our planet and residents. The book was written in the 80's but as the war still strive in our world, I cannot stop hearing some echoes.

Some Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angie_Zelter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Snowball-non-violent-disobedience-Campaign-Britain/dp/B0000EENUH

Mobile Phone, Joy & Pain

Relying on one single device AKA phone to do multiple tasks is at first appealing:

Calling texting, messaging, twitting, facebooking, youtubing, whatsapping, deezering...

But it can be also a real source of frustation and suffering AKA Pain

First, your phone cannot stop fidgeting and tweeting like a bird...
It is not in a tree doing so.
It is on your lap and all it wants is to be soothed.
What a great source of distraction to be all the time connected to this devil child.

The other thing, it bugs and freezes when it decides to reject your attention. What a chocolate?
I found myself starting an application, the latter closed as if my phone did not want to speak to me.

One day, I decided to remove Facebook. My phone started to misbehave.

I decided to remove it because I do not like the idea that they can log what I am browsing online through my device  (read carefully details when updating the app on your phone, you will be surprised).

When disablong the app, a message appeared  saying that some applications will misbehave if I disable facebook as it is an inbuilt app of my phone.

I felt trapped by facebook and android as a whole.

So to avoid any such pain, sing for yourself, connect with people for real and get a phone that just call and text, it will reduce the suffering :p

RADIO : Zero waste week

Recorded at BBC Radio Leicester

It is Zero Waste Week between 4-8 September 2017. Today, Tuesday it is trashless tuesday an opportunity for everyone to re-think their relationships with waste and packaging products. Ultimately it is about refusing packaged items, reducing our dependence on them, reusing what we have.

When tools are not functioning

Frustration, annoyance, anxiety.
A wish that you did not have them in the first place.
Off they go, I'll be happy if they go in the bin...
And the other voices saying, you can repair them, you know you can. Argh...

Product retention - the seed of innovativeness

They do not like to throw things away they say. They'd rather keep it even if it is not working, Transform it to give it a new lease of life. 

They can see in the object form something unspoken, a gift of the present moment. 

True materialist they are. 

They do not accumulate for the sake of it, we could not call them hoarders. 

They are retainers, protectors of the instant whilst everything else keep changing, they stand still. Here lay the seed of innovativeness, remaining still and grounded, using creativity to shield the world whilst everything else seems to be in turmoil

Slow Repair

Can the slow movement happens in manufacturing?
Could it be the answer for supporting repair?
I am wondering as I discuss with my colleagues 'SLOW'
The slow movement advocates a cultural shift toward slowing down life's pace.
You have probably heard of the slow food movement, slow fashion, slow design etc.
It asked us to slow down and stop trying to reach the speed of light.
As consumers struggle to repair ever changing small electrical products, may be it is time for manufacturers to slow down at least at the same rate or a bit faster than human development.
The role of technology can aid to make human capabilities leap forward, yet become counterproductive when it loses behind the many people who are unable to learn to fix and manage their environment.

So what is it to reckon?

Is the Slow Good Movement possible?

Learning to repair - the pointless and wonderful

Receiving the appropriate support from friends, family, mentors is an important requirement to learn a new skill.
Yet some skills can be simultaneously respected and looked down by our social circle.
Knowing how to repair is the aggregation of many skills for which two conflicting messages are sent by those around us

• Why would you learn to repair when you can buy new?
• Isn't it wonderful to be able to repair any object coming your way?

It is to ask what traits and characteristics someone has to pursue a passion/interests when the rest of the world appear at first to not be interested.
It is to ask the type of environment that will nurture the inquisitive mind we all have to pursue against the odds something that appear pointless.

Acquiring the skills to repair - both pointless and wonderful

Find your fixers, care for them and they will care for you.

Leicester Fixers and its Restart parties are gaining popularity. 

We are getting busier at each event, more people are bringing their broken bits. 

We are asked to organised events in other venues across Leicestershire.

We are invited to spread repair through education and media.

We would like to do it all.

Yet, our strengths - skills and knowledge - are also our limitations.

We rely on our fixers to share with us all their gifts. 

We are very lucky to have them, time after time coming to the Restart Party.

We are, I am so grateful for them for coming to the restart party, one, twice, all the  time. 

I value the time, effort and energy they all bring in.

Their care is valuable.

Without it, none could be possible.

Items will be thrown away, no new skills would be learnt, 

Our fixers tie with their know-how a community together.

Yet, each community is bound to space and time.

We care, I care about giving space and time to all those involved with Leicester Fixers.

Hence, very careful about expanding our reach, no one need burn out.

It is why we need other repair communities to emerge where people want to.

Luckily, Loughborough repair cafes have been running for a while now.

Melton space is opening in Melton Mowbray, 

We want more of this to happened all over Leicestershire.

For it to happen, we need those inspired to create know how communities to knock on doors, 

ask for help directly in the areas where they live. 

Find your fixers, care for them and they will care for you.

We, as Leicester Fixers, we will support as best as we can in the time and space available to us.

Demain The movie - Tomorrow, J'irais au Cinema

This friend gives you a call. It has been a long time you have not spoken to him. It is nice. 

He asks you how is the writing. You ask him how is the acting. He said everything is well, to each his role. He tells you that he enjoys his spare time going to the cinema 3-5 times a week. You are thinking he has time to do so. 

He tells you there is this movie you need to watch, you environmentalist.

You think, I am not sure I can contribute to this industry in any ways and you'd rather watch Netflix at home. 

Before you can answer he said 'No seriously, you have to go and watch this movie, it is great'. It really uplifted me. We went to watch 'This changes everything' by Naomi Klein together, it was good, Demain - I truly loved it'.

Tomorrow - a film by Cyril Dion and Melanie Laurent - Showing in Derby 5/5/2017

Press the publish button

Did you have many thoughts going through your head today and yet no idea what you could possibly write. You had the thought to possibly draft something and publish tomorrow. NO,
there is always something worth sharing.

This is what in my dry-spell, I came up with:

[ - Living in Leicester? , learn the violin with Suzuki Violin instructor Zina Zelter, my main Footpaths partner in reducing carbon footprint. - Mindfulness in the making. ]

[ - Transition Leicester is still alive - Ask me, I'll tell you ]

[- OnlyWorn and Leicester Fixers discussing T-shirts, do you want to know more? ]

[ - There will be some sewing repair at the next restart party in Leicester - 6th May - check facebook page]

[ I dreamt of being a business/academic/fashion/laissez faire/actress - somewhere in my heart, there is a thirst to be on the stage somewhere in Broadway]

Why help makes the best glue

Published on Thoughful

I am five years old. I’m in my bedroom with my coloured pencils and colouring book. Opening the book, I grab a pencil and start colouring. And then, it happens—the thing that always happens to kids my age. I simply cannot stay inside the lines. I am frustrated. It is SO FRUSTRATING!

Crying out for my mum to save me from this colouring disaster, she opens the door. “What’s wrong?”

“Help!”

CropClub Magic Dust ready

I am working with the CropClub - a social enterprise - which have for mission to spread the joy of growing across communities on top of Leicester Fixers, a venture encouraging people to repair and my Ph.D.

With the CropClub, we have just launched a new product - the Magic Dust - it is to feed the bees - a mix of wildflower seeds and biodegradable glitter in an hessian bags.

I love the product - it has a magical side to it. You spread it on a ground, a bit of sunshine and it sprouts! All you have to do is to get it on their website, receive it and spread it!

I have my own bag of Magic Dust, The MarleFeed Magic Dust, a bag full of opportunities for new ventures and adventures with existing partners. It is just waiting to be spread and yet I am not ready. I have to find the ground, the space and time, take a deep breath and finally spread the joy of growing for all those seedling ideas with the gushing uncertainty that they may never grow... or they will, won't they?

It will come. Watch this space