Fat Chance DS106 Will Ever Stop

Fat Chance – The Rich Pay a Fair Share

As a New York City resident with easy access to the #OccupyWallStreet protest, I felt I’d be stupid to not go and check it out. But I wanted to also force myself to do something more than just troll the protest and take some pictures. So I committed (via tweet) to broadcasting some interviews with protestors on #ds106radio. I really enjoyed talking to the few people I did, and particularly Sharon and her grandson from Michigan. Here’s an archive of the broadcast thanks to Giulia Forsythe.

Sharon and Grandson – Occupy Wall Street

It’s going to be interesting over the coming weeks to see how #occupywallstreet evolves as a movement and/or how will we know it succeeds. It appears this protest is potentially “allowing” a long overdue conversation about the growing economic disparity between the richest 1% and the rest of us. And the fact that just by saying we’re not going to leave until we’re done talking about this issue, means the protest could possibly never end (#protest4life).

I want to thank everyone that sent in questions and listened the morning of the broadcast, but huge shout out to Guilia Forsythe for archiving and posting the audio as well as making a Storify out of the Twitter conversation. This kind of community reaction to work created in #ds106 is what excites and inspires me the most. The collective creative energy of ds106 is definitely more than the sum of its parts. Everyone is always reflecting and building together and I hadn’t previously found a community that was so generous with one another (big Twitter hug for ds106).

So I was inspired to continue the #occupywallstreet conversation by making a set of “Fat Chance” cards reinterpreting the Monopoly Chance cards. There is a set of five so far, and I’m hoping to make a few more. The cards describe issues you might find discussed by people if you spent some time at #occupywallstreet. Most of the people I spoke with were honest with themselves, recognizing that definitive change resulting from the protest might not happen. For example, the demand that big money lose it’s influence over politics seems very unlikely, or “fat chance that’s going to happen.” But the #occupywallstreet crowd answer is, “fat chance we’re stand for the status quo.”

I’m mostly using Photoshop/Illustrator to make these cards, I’ll admit I don’t have the stomach to really stick with GIMP. I’ve been an Adobe user for far to long, and struggle to use other tools. But I’ll force myself to do some more for the sake of supporting open/free tools for ds106.

 


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4 responses to “Fat Chance DS106 Will Ever Stop”

  1. Giulia Avatar

    Huge twitter #ds106 hug back at ya, MBS.

    I love how you are taking DS106 core awesomeness and adding elements of you, your students, CUNY, current events, context and new narratives.

    It is exciting to be a part of, especially now with DS106 in NYC and Tokyo!

    As @DrGarcia says, “it only gets better”

  2. […] to expand the set of tools ds106ers can draw upon in their audio production and brought #ows on air. And Jim, whose work with ds106 inspired this whole thing, has started to imagine the range of ways […]

  3. Wilton Valley Avatar

    Went to the occupation on Saturday I took a few pictures and left…now I feel horrible. Ill put some of the pics up on my blog once I develop them (took them with my dinosaur Flinstone cam)

    1. Michael Branson Smith Avatar

      What about the being there got you down? I’m interested in hearing your perspective and can’t wait to see photos.