Daintree Tea and location based marketing

This is what you see when driving to Cape Tribulation.

It really is at the tea plantation.


They have an honesty box where you can buy the Daintree Tea (and yes, I bought some here).


They also let you know they are on facebook (at the tea plantation)
 Supermarkets (south of the Daintree River) were also letting you know it was local tea
and
 
I am including all the photographs of tea and promotion, to show that it does not have to be fancy. I really liked the way the tea was promoted at the tea plantation. I was thrilled there was an honesty box (I had never bought tea this way before). They were taking advantage of the location, and it was in a smart and professional way. It is lovely tea too.

My review of Good guys wear black - and there is a library connection here

Good Guys Wear Black by Lizbeth Selvig
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As you can tell from my reading on Goodreads, I don't read much romance. I investigated this one because I was interested to see how a librarian would be depicted in current romance. A short way into this book I was wondering if it had an endorsement from the American Library Association (like the NASCAR/Harliquin connection) as there was very detailed information provided about the freedom to read and Banned books week. Various characters gave very clear and detailed explanations about the importance of the freedom to read, and of how Banned books week could be used to heighten awareness of previously banned titles. There was also a good description of how communities can register a complaint about a book. This was of interest as we have a very different approach in Australia, with much less banning. I felt these descriptions dominated the story for a long time, but they may have been needed for some character and story development.

The main man in the story was called Dewey, and I did not feel nearly enough was made of his name when he started getting to know the new librarian in town (trust me, this is not a spoiler).

I had a few concerns about how the library was depicted. Much attention was given to the children's area (and the new librarian was described as a specialist in this area), however, signage seemed to be handmade, and there was no mention of current technology in the library.

A few asides, the cover is not an accurate representation of the main man, Dewey. This book came to my attention via an rss feed.

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My review of Knitting for good

Knitting for Good!: A Guide to Creating Personal, Social, and Political Change Stitch by Stitch by Betsy Greer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I first read Betsy Greer's work in the anthology she complied called Craftivism. This earlier work show the origins of her later one. This book is her personal story of coming to knitting and discovering the connections which can be made with it, connections to many people, including a previously difficult to speak with relative, connections to strangers who see her knitting in public, and connections to activism, or craftivism. This personal story shapes the narrative, but does not overwhelm it. The author has been very proactive in using her knitting to connect to others, and made me think that I should make a few changes around how publicly I knit.

Interspersed within this work are the stories of others, told in their own words about how crafting has connected them more deeply to their community either nearby or to be able to help strangers who they may not meet. There are also knitting patterns which can be used for different works of craftivism/charity knitting. When reading this, I kept thinking about the many knitting groups in public libraries across Australia who knit for Wrap with love and other charities, and the powerful act of craftivism these many people are continuing to do. It was great that this was brought to mind by reading this work.

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Reading inspired making

This latest blog post from Patrick Rothfuss shows some examples of what people have been inspired to make after reading his books.  It starts with photographs, but goes on to other made things.  It is lovely to see how different people were inspired to make.  There are ideas for readers advisory and library programming.  Think about the possibilities in the book2art reading group too.

My review of Making is connecting

Making Is Connecting by David Gauntlett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The title sums up the book, but it is still a really good idea to read the book and explore the way the ideas are presented.

A key quote is:
"Why is everyday creativity important? Because I feel that it's incredibly important - important for society - and therefore political...But it is the fact the people have to make a choice - to make something themselves rather than just consume what's given by the big suppliers - that is significant. Amplified slightly, it leads to a whole new way of looking at things, and potentially to a real political shift in how we deal with the world."

The author brings together many examples of making, using examples from social media (including Flickr and Youtube) but also using some offline examples of making as well. Gauntlett has a very interesting discussion about art/craft encouraging people to rethink how they think about them, and his discussion is very interesting.

He also looks at Ruskin and the work of William Morris, and this adds a very helpful viewpoint to the discussion. It also highlights the need to explore examples of good practice. Making is very much about making yourself as part of making things, and about our place as citizens. To quote from Ruskin, and this book 'do what you can'. It is also about thinking about consequences for our actions, including the environmental consequences. "Crafting can be a reclamation of the power of life".

I enjoyed reading this book and it is adding to the ideas which I am exploring in this area. It was an entertaining and interesting read where stories were used effectively to illustrate points.

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My review of DIY Citizenship: critical making and social media

DIY Citizenship: Critical Making and Social Media by Matt Ratto


This is a really interesting read. The rating of three indicates the varying interest of the chapters. Some were amazing, and for others, I was not the right reader for them, or the time was not right.

One quote from the book is:
"Online knitting community sites such as Ravelry, have also facilitated and energised new and existing offline "stitch n bitch" groups, pub knitting circles, fibre festivals, and knit meets providing a range of virtual and physical sites for participating in knitting as a shared, collaborative, and public activity. At both ends of this spectrum of leisure and activist knitting, technology use goes hand in hand with craft. Knitting, alongside online articulations and representation so knitting, are seen as recursive digital/social practices, connecting material and physical activities with social networking, microblogging, and face-to-face interaction".

This quote highlights some key themes shown in several chapters which are the key use of social media and online interactions with offline activities. There is the exploration of "digitally mediated maker identity" which uses digital spaces and interactions "extending the boundaries of their physical artifacts into digital realm as a conscious, reflexive activity".

GLobal connections are explored, as a very local initiatives. Some chapters report on existing practices and analysis of them, others describe one off projects designed to explore ideas in this area. Gardens, zines, electronics and much more are explored in this work.


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