“I started gathering little, iconesque web images for myself so that I could compare, contrast, and study the techniques used by other graphic artists on the web. My initial pool of images looked so interesting that I decided to continue methodically hunting and capturing the icons for a public display piece.”

“Creative people have a lot of ideas. Whether it is for a current project, a piece of software, the spread for an upcoming dinner party, or electing Ralph Nader as President of the United States. Whichever the case may be, pen and paper is the method most creatives use to outline and sketch their inital course of action ó a brain dump if you will. With the advent of OS X and the ubiquitous laptop ó even ones that act as writing tablets ó there are a host of applications geared toward getting your idea digital as quick and as organized as possible, without cutting down trees.”

Well, it took long enough, but I finally grabbed the book closest to me, opened to page 23, typed out the fifth sentence and posted it here on xBlog: “It means cultivating a sense of the inadequacy of words ó†imagine, for instance, trying to write what (23A) shows us ó and then enthusing the photographer.” From Pictures On A Page by Harold Evans. Now it’s your turn.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

“The correct perception of movement has been an important routine of everyday life since the beginning of humanity. It is also an important resource in visualisation.”

“Alexander et. al. (1977) proposed patterns as a method for capturing the knowledge underlying successful solutions to recurring architectural design problems. There have been various pattern definitions but each of these shares a common theme, which is that patterns describe a proven solution to a recurring problem in a given context. The software community adopted the idea of patterns as a means of documenting and sharing solutions to recurring software design problems. More recently the HCI community has also adopted the idea of patterns as a method of capturing user interface design knowledge. Patterns consist of a number of attributes that Borchers (2000) defines as…”

“The cartoon with its sheer endless humoristic allegories is among the oldest of trades, and a creative one at that. We want to breathe new life into all those used and out-laughed witnesses of human tragedy ó but how? We have asked our friend algorithmic random generator to give us a hand. We split the image from the text and shove the gag into a new interpretation (with an element of sadism, one might add).”

“The ways of organizing information are finite. It can only be organized by location, alphabet, time, category, or hierarchy. These modes are applicable to almost any endeavorófrom your personal file cabinets to multinational corporations. They are the framework upon which annual reports, books, conversations, exhibitions, directories, conventions, and even warehouses are arranged.” (Thanks Elegant Hack

“PictureEditor.com is intended to be an online resource for photographers and photo editors, to provide a forum for diverse photographic work as well as promote the interests of photographers and journalists worldwide.”

“I would argue that the magnification of nonsense still demands scrutiny and understanding and, for lack of a better word, taste. Long before agile camerapeople trailed the corridors of NBCís fictitious West Wing, Robert Redford made movie history in Alan Pakulaís 1976 film All The Presidentís Men playing Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward: here, Redford raises the on-hold button to a new art form as he deftly volleys between two telephone calls in a single shot. He is on-screen for more than six minutes, and all of them are spent talking on the phone. Whereís the drama in that? This turns out to be one of the critical moments in the entire film…”

“…Breeze helps your organization communicate, collaborate and train online with ease… [It’s] a rich Web communications system that enables efficient meetings without travel, compelling presentations without meetings and efficient training without delays.

“There are hundreds of techniques for generating ideas, and many variations of these as well. We have taken a few techniques, and classified them according to the dominant Innovation Style strategy they embody.”

“IDFuel is the daily weblog for Industrial Designers looking to keep current on the latest materials, processes, products, technologies, design contests, and inspiration.”

“But what’s really interesting is that as more and more artists use Creative Commons to tell the world that it’s OK to copy, distribute, and build on their work, the first glimpses emerge of an economy based on the free exchange of digital content. The ’sharing economy’ is built on a supply-and-demand equation wholly alien to traditional media companies”

“‘…some time before 2000 we expected the web to take over with animated graphics and all,’ [Graphics editor Gert Nielsen] told dotJournalism. ‘But when it turned out it was next to impossible to earn money on the net, the editorial interest for the flashy infographics faded quickly because they’re quite expensive to produce.’ Infographics are often used to illustrate complex issues, such as the recent Mars landings, but fine detail is often better presented in print than on screen.”

“Quite often I receive emails inquiring about various Flash pieces Iíve created, and the one that has attracted the most attention (and requests for source code) is the dynamic, cross-fading image loader used on The 2003 PGA Championship. After recently revisiting the source, and completely overhauling it for a probono project I was asked to contribute to, I thought now would be a good time to distribute the source as a free download.”