# data[].attributes.headline
This is an invitation to capture your memories fresh...

# data[].attributes.subject
This is an invitation to capture your memories fresh...

# data[].attributes.body
“We’re constantly going from one thing to the next to the next.” So instead of outsourcing so we can focus our attention on more important tasks, “we have this constant stream of what’s next, what’s next, what’s next and never fully embrace any of the experiences we’re having.” - Professor Linda Henkel

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
People worldwide upload more than one billion images a day, preserving their memories to enjoy them in the future. But it turns out: all our photography may be obstructing our recall, says tech podcaster Manoush Zomorodi.

When it comes to obsessional tech habits, photo-taking probably isn't the worst for relationships. If you're not gazing into someone's eyes, at least you're pointing an iPhone at them. But how does that persistent need to capture the moment - which so many of us feel - change how we actually experience the moment, both in the present and when we try to recall it down the line? The answer is quite illuminating.

One of the major reasons we take photos in the first place is to remember a moment long after it has passed: the birth of a baby, a reunion, a pristine lake. In 2015, I conducted a Bored and Brilliant Project - in which I challenged people to detach from their devices in order to jump-start their creativity - with more than 20,000 listeners of Note to Self (the podcast about technology that I host).

When I surveyed participants, many said they used photos as a "memory aid." They took pictures of things like parking spots or the label of the hot sauce at a restaurant to buy later. However, every time we snap a quick pic of something, we could in fact be harming our memory of it.

In one study, students were told to take photos of objects at a museum - and they remembered fewer of the overall objects they had photographed.

Linda Henkel, a professor of psychology at Fairfield University in Connecticut, studied how taking photos impacts experience and memory. She crafted an experiment using a group of undergraduates on a guided tour of the university's Bellarmine Museum of Art. The students were asked to take photos of objects that they looked at on the tour and to simply observe others.

The next day, she brought the students into her research lab to test their memory of all the objects they had seen on the tour. Whenever they remembered a piece of work, she asked follow-up questions about specific visual details.

The results were clear: Overall, people remembered fewer of the objects they had photographed. They also couldn't recall as many specific visual details of the photographed art, compared to the art they had merely observed.

"When you take a photo of something, you're counting on the camera to remember for you," Henkel said. "You're basically saying, 'Okay, I don't need to think about this any further. The camera's captured the experience.' You don't engage in any of the elaborative or emotional kinds of processing that really would help you remember those experiences, because you've outsourced it to your camera."

In other words, if your camera captures the moment, then your brain doesn't. Henkel came up with a frightening term for this phenomenon: the "photo-taking-impairment effect." Okay, okay. Of course you'd remember things better if you were completely in the present, hyperaware of every detail, like some supreme Zen master. But isn't that what photos are for? To refresh our fallible memories?

Who hasn't dumped photos from a trip into Dropbox and promised to make an album - only to never look at them again?

Henkel doesn't disagree that the purpose of outsourcing our memory to devices can free up our brains to do other cognitive processing. The problem is, she says, "We're constantly going from one thing to the next to the next." So instead of outsourcing so we can focus our attention on more important tasks, "we have this constant stream of what's next, what's next, what's next and never fully embrace any of the experiences we're having."

Nonetheless, Henkel and her student Katelyn Parisi ran another study to see what happens to memory when people have photos to remind them of a moment or object. Although, in the real world, Henkel rightly observes, "We're so busy capturing photos that afterwards we don't actually look at them." Who hasn't dumped a bunch of photos of a graduation or trip into Dropbox and promised to make an album only to never look at them again?

This time when people took a tour of the museum, they were asked to take two kinds of photos: those of the objects in the exhibit alone and those with them standing next to the objects. Afterward, Henkel had the subjects look at all the photos and interviewed them on their memories of what they saw.

"It turns out that it actually changes your perspective on the experience, whether you're in a photo of it or not," Henkel said. If you are in the image, you become more removed from the original moment - it is as if you are an observer watching yourself doing something outside yourself. Intriguingly, if you are not in the image, you return to the first person, reliving the experience through your own eyes, and you remember more.

Professor Linda Henkel is sure: cameras, as amazing as they are, can't compare to what the brain is capable of with input from the eyes and the ears.

How taking photos affects our understanding of ourselves and of the things we are photographing is still a big question mark. But as a result of her experiments, there is one thing Henkel is sure of. "Cameras, as amazing as they are, can't compare to what the brain is capable of with input from the eyes and the ears," she said. "Cameras are a lesser version of the human information-processing system."

However, there was one way in which taking pictures did not erode people's memories in Henkel's experiments. In the art museum study, "when participants zoomed in to photograph a specific part of the object, their subsequent recognition and detail memory were not impaired, and, in fact, memory for features that were not zoomed in on was just as strong as memory for features that were zoomed in on," the professor wrote. "This suggests that the additional attention and cognitive processes engaged by this focused activity can eliminate the photo-taking-impairment effect."

Why not challenge yourself to a photo-free day? For 24 hours, see the world through your eyes, not your screen. Take absolutely no pictures - not of your lunch, your children, your cubicle mate, or that beautiful sunset. No photo messages. No cat pics. Instagrammers, it's gonna get rocky. Snapchatsters? Hang in there. Everyone is going to be okay. I promise.

Those of you who take one picture a month - like my mother - will find this challenge a breeze. But before you get too smug, know that this might be harder than you think. Many people reported they took pictures way more, and way more mindlessly, than they had previously imagined. But you will experience rewards for your sacrifice. "Sure, the world does want to see my adorable grandchildren and gorgeous children," Beth in Indiana wrote us. "However, it's been a liberating twenty-four hours!"

If a participant in my Bored and Brilliant photo-free challenge were given a prize for the day, it might have to be Vanessa Jean Herald, whose green Subaru skidded off the highway and into a snowy ditch during her one-hour commute between the southern Wisconsin farm where she lives and her job in Madison. Although she had to wait more than two hours in frigid temperatures for a tow truck to arrive, Herald did not lose her resolve!

"I placed my necessary emergency calls, sent some texts to let folks know I was okay, and then just sat," she wrote. "Sure, my gut reaction was to snap a picture of the car sitting in the ditch and covered with thrown snow for Instagram. Or, to snap a photo of the cool way the red and blue lights of the sheriff's car blinked in my rearview mirror and lit up the roadway as the day turned to night through my two-hour mandatory break from life. But thanks to today's challenge, instead I chilled out, took it all in, and then pulled out my writing notebook to jot down a story about how the best-laid plans sometimes end you up in a ditch on the side of the road." [Place imaginary photo of green Subaru in a snowy ditch on the side of the road here.]

Don't worry if your photo-free inspiration doesn't spill out in a well-formed story like Herald's. And it's okay to be uncomfortable, hostile or bored without photos to fill your day. Just use your brain instead of your phone. No one is going to "heart" or "like" whatever goes on up there, except for you.

And if you want a deeper detox from digital images, avoid all photo proliferation for the day - meaning you can check out images on social media, but don't "like" or retweet them. Just take a good look, and maybe a (mental) picture.

Excerpted with permission from the new book Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self by Manoush Zomorodi. Published by St. Martin's Press. Copyright © 2017 by New York Public Radio.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
If you really want to remember a moment, try not to take a photo

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When it comes to obsessional tech habits, photo-taking probably isn't the worst for relationships. If you're not gazing into someone's eyes, at least you're pointing an iPhone at them. But how does that persistent need to capture the moment - which so many of us feel - change how we actually experience the moment, both in the present and when we try to recall it down the line?

# data[].attributes.headline
We're inviting you to respond to the following questions using Matarasso's 4  suggested prompts

# data[].attributes.subject
We're inviting you to respond to the following questions using Matarasso's 4  suggested prompts

# data[].attributes.body
These are taken from his book A Restless Art (page 99) which you can access for free by clicking on the link below

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Why free?

Several people have asked why A Restless Art is available as a free download. At one level, it's just to make it as accessible as possible. I hope that my work is useful to people involved in community art (including students) and putting it online helps get past financial and other barriers. As a PDF, the book can be freely shared. The cost of the print version (£10) is enough to cover production costs (given that perhaps half the run will go to people who've contributed in one way or another). There are no royalties involved.

But there is another reason. Part of community art's radicalism was its rejection of art markets and the commodification of culture. In the age of the 'creative industries and the cultural economy', I have to admit that project hasn't gone too well, but the principles remain valid. Actually, it's even more important to defend non-commercial and uneconomic cultural practices today than it was then. Although I work freelance, my income derives mainly from public or charitable sources, so I regard my work as belonging to everyone, A Creative Commons licence makes it possible to share it freely while keeping it in the public domain.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Click here to download A Restless Art, How participation won, and why it matters Clique aqui para descarregar Uma Arte Irrequieta, Reflexões sobre o triunfo e importância da prática participativa Why free? Several people have asked why A Restless Art is available as a free download.

# data[].attributes.body
What was your sense of this whilst you were delivering your project? What evidence do you have from participants? (how they behaved/ verbal feedback/ info from co-facilitators/partners?)

# data[].attributes.headline
I loved how people of all ages seemed to know almost straight away how to engage with the work, both in terms of the workshop and the exhibition. During the workshop people genuinely had to work together to make the experimenting possible and there was real joy in this process. This collaboration was between people of all ages. It was also great to see the different approaches that people took to the workshop, ranging from very young participants exploring the different materials and enjoying tipping the seesaws, to the excitement of adding LOADS of materials in to the tubes, to a more methodical approach. We were really surprised at how long people stayed and I think that they would have stayed longer if possible. Each group had their own approach both in in terms of tube contents and decoration, but there was also a real sense of being part of the bigger event due to the circular configuration of the seesaws. On the exhibition day I was again surprised at how long some people wanted to stay and play. People instantly knew what to do and seemed to enjoy exploring the different weights, sounds and decorations of the seesaws. Again this interaction varied from 'let's tip them all as fast as we can' though to more careful listening and exploring different ways/speeds of tipping. It was lovely to overhear some of the ways people described the sounds that they heard. "It's like the rain on the tent last weekend!" I also loved that a sizeable number of people who took part in the workshop came back on the Sunday with their friends to see their work on display and share it. We had lots of visitors who were coming because of the Art Trail but we also had loads of people coming along who were just out in the park and had no idea that we would be there. This was great! There was just a real sense of playfulness and discovery and surprise which was wonderful!

# data[].attributes.subject
I loved how people of all ages seemed to know almost straight away how to engage with the work, both in terms of the workshop and the exhibition. During the workshop people genuinely had to work together to make the experimenting possible and there was real joy in this process. This collaboration was between people of all ages. It was also great to see the different approaches that people took to the workshop, ranging from very young participants exploring the different materials and enjoying tipping the seesaws, to the excitement of adding LOADS of materials in to the tubes, to a more methodical approach. We were really surprised at how long people stayed and I think that they would have stayed longer if possible. Each group had their own approach both in in terms of tube contents and decoration, but there was also a real sense of being part of the bigger event due to the circular configuration of the seesaws. On the exhibition day I was again surprised at how long some people wanted to stay and play. People instantly knew what to do and seemed to enjoy exploring the different weights, sounds and decorations of the seesaws. Again this interaction varied from 'let's tip them all as fast as we can' though to more careful listening and exploring different ways/speeds of tipping. It was lovely to overhear some of the ways people described the sounds that they heard. "It's like the rain on the tent last weekend!" I also loved that a sizeable number of people who took part in the workshop came back on the Sunday with their friends to see their work on display and share it. We had lots of visitors who were coming because of the Art Trail but we also had loads of people coming along who were just out in the park and had no idea that we would be there. This was great! There was just a real sense of playfulness and discovery and surprise which was wonderful!

# data[].attributes.headline
There was lots I wanted to explore! How would Ruth and I work together? 

# data[].attributes.subject
There was lots I wanted to explore! How would Ruth and I work together? 

# data[].attributes.headline
How could an environment be created that allows for different paces of and approaches to play and interaction?

# data[].attributes.subject
How could an environment be created that allows for different paces of and approaches to play and interaction?

# data[].attributes.body
How could decision making become something that participants take more responsibility for in terms of creating an exhibition/installation?

# data[].attributes.headline
That I like to be really well organised when preparing workshops/exhibitions! That sometimes you have to let go of things due to time/money/energy constraints!

# data[].attributes.subject
That I like to be really well organised when preparing workshops/exhibitions! That sometimes you have to let go of things due to time/money/energy constraints!

# data[].attributes.headline
That a much wider audience that I initially expected was really engaged, interested and so sincere. 

# data[].attributes.subject
That a much wider audience that I initially expected was really engaged, interested and so sincere. 

# data[].attributes.body
There was such a positive, grateful and sincere comments from all of the participants. People of all ages, some as young as 5 and some well into retirement surprised me with how well they were able to contribute. Their responses to prompts were moving and their physical manifestations from making were some of the best. I was also really surprised by the gratitude that everyone expressed after the workshops, participants lingered after the sessions ended, sharing their like-minded perspectives

# data[].attributes.body
I wanted to find out about delivering an event, not a workshop but a performative collective act.

I also wanted to explore what would happen when people made their creative work at home and brought everything together on the day.

# data[].attributes.body
How much I need other people's help! The other person who was going to run the day with me was ill, and I really felt out of my depth.

It would have been good to have a meeting with everyone involved before the day. It was too sketchy and didn't flow as well as I wanted it too. Having said that, everything still happened and it was wonderful.

I discovered some people are uncomfortable with destroying things. I think of it as a vital part of the creative process, and a useful tool. But it was genuinely distressing for some adults. I'm still trying to work out how to integrate that.

# data[].attributes.body
It was actually difficult to make even basic assumptions. I didn't assume that they'd turn up - that was nerve-wracking. But they did. I wasn't sure that they'd all have costumes, but they did. They had some wonderful costumes! And they all stayed til the end, in the unbearable heat.
I think I assumed the participants would come with their own stories about the trees they'd made, but that didn't come out in the activities.
I did make the assumption that the participants would be mostly white, and they were. I'd really like to change that but am not sure how.

# data[].attributes.body
Honestly, I think they were somewhat bemused, although they enjoyed the activities and engaged with everything. There wasn't the opportunity to talk much about the costumes as people arrived, and the photographer turned up later so there wasn't a sense of a beginning, or of a celebration of the trees people had created.
When we were imagining what it was like to be a forest, people were excited about that. If I get the chance to do this again that is the part I would build out from. And the procession at the end was great.

# data[].attributes.body
I feel very strongly that I wouldn't do something like this on my own again. I thought I had planned very well, but actually it was difficult to keep track of on the day.
One of the ways that I think about my artistic practise is that it is always progressing into a partially unknown space. I try to embrace that in the work I do with groups too, but this event would have been better if there was more sense of a narrative.

# data[].attributes.headline
Develop ideas that incorporate music/sound into my participatory projects.

# data[].attributes.subject
Develop ideas that incorporate music/sound into my participatory projects.

# data[].attributes.body
I would like to work more with music/sound in the local community and am starting to explore how this can be done in simple and engaging ways.

# data[].attributes.headline
Due to the restrictions and having to make the workshops pre-book only, my main assumption was that the workshops participants would fit a demographic most likely to engage with an art trail. The free-flow of the Sunday event attracted a more diverse mix of people.

# data[].attributes.subject
Due to the restrictions and having to make the workshops pre-book only, my main assumption was that the workshops participants would fit a demographic most likely to engage with an art trail. The free-flow of the Sunday event attracted a more diverse mix of people.

# data[].attributes.headline
Del has really nicely summarised the experience we witnessed over the weekend. This will be a re-telling of the same experience but here are my main observations: 

# data[].attributes.subject
Del has really nicely summarised the experience we witnessed over the weekend. This will be a re-telling of the same experience but here are my main observations: 

# data[].attributes.body
The groups/families that came to the pre-booked workshop on Saturday were immediately engaged with the tubes. Uniformly they instinctively knew what they were going to be asked to do and were visibly excited to get started immediately (most did just that). They really loved the colourful crates of materials. The eagerness to get started allowed for a lovely sequence of engagement between Del, me and the participants...instead of doing long-winded opening gambits (we had intended to speak to all groups in a oner!) we dotted between each group have lovely conversations about the project and what we were asking them to do in the workshop. It created a very free-flowing, easy-going, workshop. As we were telling them the other tasks they needed to fulfil (decorate tube, name artwork) they relished having more and more to do. It was lush to see how engaged everyone was in the activity - I believe because it was such an innately simple and joyful task.

Each group worked very well together. They enjoyed experimenting together and easily reached a happy medium of how they wanted their tubes to sound and look.

The members of the public that came on the Sunday were a more diverse group. Because of our location and the (gorgeous neon!) aesthetic of the tubes, we could see park visitors spot us and make a beeline over to investigate the tubes. Again, the response was instinctive. People asked interested questions about who we were and what we were doing there in the park, but there was never any question as to how one should engage with the tubes and everyone instinctively knew they were 'rain makers'.

There was something really lovely about the simplicity of the tubes, little requirement to explain what (or why!) you were were supposed to do and the free-flow nature of the installation on the Sunday attracting participants in an outdoor public setting.

Engagement times were as expected but we were unsure about whether people would go around looking/listening to each tube. A huge percentage of visitors went round all the tubes and many went round the tubes multiple times. All ages engaged with the tubes and (as anticipated) the vast majority of participants were in a family group. As the weather dried off and the sun shone a lot of families started to hang out by the tubes after play.

# data[].attributes.headline
Del and I worked very well together, it made me feel very confident that every aspect of the event was being covered (prep, engagement, h&s, etc). I learnt that there's a joy to innate understanding of music and sound that can be further explored. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Del and I worked very well together, it made me feel very confident that every aspect of the event was being covered (prep, engagement, h&s, etc). I learnt that there's a joy to innate understanding of music and sound that can be further explored. 

# data[].attributes.headline
How to share my research and enable a a thought provoking experience in a participatory way.

# data[].attributes.subject
How to share my research and enable a a thought provoking experience in a participatory way.

# data[].attributes.body
I really wanted to be able to engage the local community and make sustainable material development accessible to people and also to learn from them.

# data[].attributes.headline
I expected a certain type of participant and also kind of planned for a worst case scenario

# data[].attributes.subject
I expected a certain type of participant and also kind of planned for a worst case scenario

# data[].attributes.body
I assumed that most people who would attend would be a similar demographic to those who follow Fibre Lab (my business/research), recent grads, students, local makers and artists. This was true for about half the participants, and the other half were passerby's, young mums and their children or the retired people who congregate at The Mill. I also (sadly) prepared for the worst mentally... disruptive, loud and chaotic participants or people who were bored and left, walked away after I started the sessions, rolled their eyes or complained it took so long. Thankfully I received the complete opposite. People were so patient and compassionate and wanted to stay even longer!

# data[].attributes.body
Of course I was a bit nervous for the very first session but everyone was so patient, kind and reassuring. The participants responses to the prompts were beyond my exceptions and everyone engaged with the making process very well. A few people needed a bit more hands on guidance but it was all very manageable. Afterwards, everyone was so pleased and grateful, saying they've never done anything like this before and found it so interesting and also an important topic. Really powerful conversations took place afterwards and there was a fun, lightheartedness in the conversations that took place during the workshops.

# data[].attributes.body
I know now that I CAN do these types of workshops (something that I've been wanting to explore for the last 2 years but never had the space or support to do it). I know now that people are actually really interested in it and would show up again. I know now how to prepare, what to think about and how to go about experimenting with creating other participatory workshops. Overall just really grateful to have done it because I am so much more confident in doing it again.

# data[].attributes.body
this is incredible