San Francisco tech companies embrace office graffiti

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Graffiti is a major problem in most cities, but for some people in San Francisco, it's becoming quite the opposite. It's an unlikely marriage of spray paint and high tech.

They've spray painted everything from back alleys to subway trains, but there's nothing quite so bold as doing graffiti in an office while people are working there.

It's the brazen sort of stuff that could get you arrested. But these guys were invited.

"I think they did a fantastic job just capturing the essence of Nitro," Nitro Chief operating Officer Gina O'Reilly said.

Nitro Software is a company with a beer tap at the front desk, and a wombat for a mascot.

"This is completely unique, doesn't exist anywhere else, and I suppose that's somewhat reflective of our culture," O'Reilly said.

The mural is one-of-a-kind, but the idea isn't. It turns out office graffiti is becoming a thing in the tech world.

"We've done venture capital firms, we've done tech firms, we've done design firms," 1AM Gallery founder Daniel Pan said

1AM stands for First Amendment. They've become sort of a referral service for companies looking to hire graffiti artists.

"I think a lot of the loose abstractness of street art is attractive to them and they can kind of incorporate that with their company name and some imagery that they have," Pan said.

Imagery like the mountains that wrap around every wall of Liftopia's offices.

"Liftopia is a tech company in the ski space, certainly has an outdoor influence, and so having that kind of that indoor outdoor vibe is great for the feel of the office," Liftopia Finance Vice President Matt Cohen said.

It goes great with the couches and picnic tables, kind of like a winter wonderland living room you never want to leave.

Now, some companies are taking the connection a step further, not just bringing street art into the office, but taking the whole office out to make art in the street.

Nathan Tan goes by "Nate 1" in the street. He's a former tagger turned mural maker and he's teaching the tricks of his trade to the employees of a local design firm.

"Our goal is to educate people on what graffiti art is and what it can be, and how it can be a really positive thing," Tan said.

In this case, it's a team building exercise. They are painting their firm's name on the 1AM Gallery's blank outside wall.

"Normally we're on the computer so we're just pushing keys and that sort of thing, but, so it's fun to get our hands dirty," Vehicle SF President Dennis Crowe said.

The classes are becoming so popular, the wall gets repainted almost weekly, except for the part advertising 1AM's new mobile app for browsing graffiti all over the world.

(Copyright ©2013 KGO-TV/DT.

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Fostering global discourse: it's time to embrace distance learning

Is it time traditional higher education welcomed and developed distance learning courses? Photograph: Frank Baron for the Guardian

Many people in higher education think of distance learning the same way one would a distant cousin: aware of its existence, perhaps even thinks well of them, but reluctant to pick up the phone and find out how they are doing. And like the cousin you don't know well, the justification for your lack of interest is that distance learning is just a little bit awkward.

Distance learning is reputedly characterised by clunky online interfaces, isolation and generally conspiring to make students – and staff – miss out on so many of the things that make university life so attractive: daily interaction with people who think like we do. We imagine it to be just a depleted version of the 'real thing'.

But in the same way that reconnecting with a distant relative can teach you things about yourself that daily interaction with your closest friends can't, distance learning has things to offer that are difficult to find in a traditional university course. An good example of this is its capacity to instantly connect to people from all over the world. At the Centre for Alternative Technology, we run a range of specialist renewable energy and sustainable architecture masters degrees. Our distance learning course has enabled us to create a course that gives sustainability a global perspective.

A distance learning course puts students into a classroom that spans the whole world. It means the range of perspectives that are brought into that classroom are more diverse than any other method of learning. For a course based on sustainability this is crucial. Sustainability shouldn't be taught as an abstract theory amongst a group of people that all basically come from the same background, it should be taught as a discourse amongst people with diverse experiences of its practical application. Many other fields would benefit from similar thinking.

Of course, all university courses will have some international dimension to their intake. But the barriers of increasingly restrictive visa regulations and high cost mean that, in reality, physically attending a course in the UK is becoming increasingly difficult for many overseas students. Academic discourse will suffer if we can't find alternative models, such as distance learning, for bringing students together.

Without a doubt there are features of attending university that distance learning courses will never be able to emulate. I've spoken to students on residential degrees at the Centre for Alternative Technology who say they learn as much from chatting to lecturers or other students in the tea breaks as they do from the lectures. Earl Wilson's quip: "Science may never come up with a better office communication system than the coffee break", rings true. Still, there are also unique benefits to joining the online classroom that can never be found in a traditional university course.

If the benefits of higher education rest on the personal connections that students aspire to make, then we must ask what experiences are of value – if students just want to meet other people their own age to go out drinking with on a Friday night then sure, that is not what a distance learning course offers. If, however, students are looking to be part of seminars with people with a genuine plethora of life experiences, this is the extra element that a distance learning course can offer.

Distance learning doesn't create distances between people, it bridges the distances that already exist and connects diverse people. And the tools are improving to help universities do this better. So rather than simply acknowledge that distance learning exists in a universe far removed from the traditional university campus, it might be time to get to know this 'distant cousin' and learn what it has to add to the strength, and diversity, of UK HE.

Kit Jones is media officer at the Centre for Alternative Technology

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