Cambridge’s VKW Co. exchanges work for donations to Philippine storm relief

Very pleased to spread the word that Leo von Wendorff, a colleague of ours at the Cambridge Innovation Center whose business is largely based in the Philippines.will, for one month, donate all proceeds from his Virtual Knowledge Worker (VKW) business to victims of Super-Typhoon Haiya.

Leo Von Wendorff, CEO, VKW

Leo writes:

Dear Friends of VKW-

Cities and Towns were destroyed.

Lives were lost.

Thousands may still be missing.

Together with you

We want to help

Recreate Communities

Let’s rebuild their Lives!

For one month, VKW will offer services in return for donations to the victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan via the Philippine Red Cross. The company will give 100 percent of the proceeds to the relief effort. “Let us take on your time-consuming and mundane tasks, knowing that your donation will help rebuild the lives of those affected by this terrible tragedy,” Wendorff says.

Projects, work orders or task requests should be submitted to Typhoon@VKWinc.com or (617) 299-1176 by December 7, 2013.

Typical tasks might include:

Data Entry, such as data entry of all your business cards
Appointment settings for your business or personal event
Execute a social media and telemarketing campaign
Lead mining
Internet research

All task and pledges are subject to review are available depending on available, according to Wendorff.

–Anita Harris
Anita M. Harris is managing director of the Harris Communications Group, an award-winning public relations and marketing firm based at the Cambridge Innovation Center, in Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA. HarrisCom specializes in media relations and content services for clients in health, science, technology, energy and education, worldwide.

Benefit featuring tech ed experts, honoring visionary Seymour Papert to be held Dec 4, in Kendall Square, Cambridge

Learning to Change the World© &
Honoring the Legacy of Seymour Papert
December 4, 2013
6 – 9 PM
Cambridge Innovation Center 5th Floor
1 Broadway Street, Cambridge, MA

Small Solutions, Big Ideas (SSBI) and One Planet Education Network (OPEN) will hold a panel discussion, demos, celebration, and fundraiser will be held at the Cambridge Innovation Center December 4th 6-9 PM 5th floor, featuring leading education experts and technology and education: innovators Brian Silverman, Artemis Papert, Gary Stager, Mitch Resnick, Walter Bender, Cynthia Solomon and others.

They’ll share their experiences and insights about the latest developments in educational games and other related technology-based learning programs.

The panel discussion will be followed by nibbles, networking and demos of the latest learning software and games by the Small Solutions, Big Ideas and One Planet Education Network. (Scroll down to view program)

The event will also honor constructivism pioneer and MIT Professor Seymour Papert for his contributions to education, including his promotion of technology use in classrooms.

The program will benefit OPEN, a leading provider of online multiplayer adventure learning games that engage and inspire kids to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills. OPEN’s mission is to transform teaching and learning by combining the power of 3D virtual video games with educationally rich storylines that challenge children and inspire a 24×7 passion for learning.

More Information: http://smallsolutionsbigideas.wordpress.comRegistration Links: http://bit.ly/19h8kOQ

Small Solutions (www.smallsolutionsbigideas.org) and OPEN (www.oneplaneteducationnetwork.com)

Panel Topics & Presenters

Legacy of Seymour Papert

Speakers: Cynthiia, Solomon: Brian Silverman, Artemis Papert, Gary Stager.
Presentation of a Tribute to Seymour Papert to Alan and Artemis Papert

Learning to Change to World

Claudia Urrea and Walter Bender, OLPC movement, its impact and lessons

The Changing World of Learning

Evolving Learning : Gary Stager, Mitch Resnick and Meredith Hamilton

The Role of Games andOnline Communities

George Newman, Danny Fain and Johnny Ronelus (One Planet Education Network) and Sandra Thaxter (Small Solutions Big Ideas)

Demos & Break Out Meetings

Small Solutions Education Program in Kenya: Sandra Thaxter and Alan Papert
One Planet Education Network Game Demos: George Newman, Danny Fain and Johnny Ronelus
BumpBump Books: Meredith Hamilton

–Anita Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group–an award-winning PR and marketing firm specializing in media relations, content marketing for clients in health, science, biotechnology, technology, education and energy, worldwide.

Photography Review: Edward Weston at the MFA

Over the weekend I paid a visit to the MFA in Boston — my first in over a year. In the hours I spent wandering through the museum’s impressive collections and newest exhibitions, nothing held my attention quite so raptly as one tiny room of black-and-white photographs by Edward Weston. Simple and luminous, many of his pictures capture the effects of American civilization on landscapes as varied as the green hills of Ohio and the white sands of New Mexico.

The collection — on loan from the Lane Collection — is titled “Leaves of Grass” after Walt Whitman’s masterwork, perhaps the greatest of American poems. In 1941, Weston was hired by the Limited Editions Club of New York to illustrate its two-volume limited edition of Leaves of Grass (of which a copy is available for display in the gallery). The photographer subsequently took off on a road trip that brought him and his wife from New England to the Southeast and back across the country to their native California.

Circling the collection, I could not look away from the image of a narrow road snaking its way through the moonlit fields of Connecticut farmlands — just as my attention was held by the picture of a Louisiana plantation house far into decline. Weston’s photographs in some way capture the thrill of being a traveler, of stumbling upon something that is at once new and ancient. It is the thrill of both discovery and recognition.

While Whitman’s poetry is often extravagant in its descriptions and range (and at times even a little rough around the edges), Weston’s photographs are controlled, subdued, and exacting. However, the subject of the collection is really no different from that of Whitman’s opus. Both these pictures and the poem are a meditation on America, in all its variety and contradictions. At the start of the exhibition, you can glimpse a quote from Weston that just about says it all: “I do believe . . . I can and will do the best work of my life. Of course I will never please everyone with my America — wouldn’t try to.”

Weston’s “Leaves of Grass” will be on view at the MFA on December 31, 2012.

Will Holt also blogs at Letters from a Bay Stater, where this entry was first posted.

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group–an award-winning PR and marketing firm based in Cambridge, MA.