Apple

Very cliche, a picture of my amazing macbook. When I read all the news and heard the speech Steve Jobs gave in Stanford I had to think about something that made me aware of what I want to do in my life:

More than a year ago I went to a refugee camp to research the aspirations of adolescents there. One of my research tools was the use of Participatory Video. The adolescents made movies about their aspiration in life and their opportunities and constraints to reach those aspirations. It was a great experience, both for them and for me. And it was a macbook that a friend of mine sold me for a minor price that made it possible. I could suddenly edit movies without any prior knowledge.

It gave me a great experience and very valuable research data, and it gave the adolescents a medium to show their aspirations to their community.

I found that stimulating introspection and articulation of aspirations increased these adolescents' agency, and this is what motivates me most for participatory projects, showing people how much they can do themselves. Everybody can be a genius, as long as we don't have to measure it in schools (I think this is loosely what Einstein said once)

Their full movies are on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wXEZYOOL90&feature=channel_video_title