The Future of Austin Is a Smart City an interview with Christine Freundl page 43
The
Futurist
Design. Start. Code.
Welcome to 2015! As we come down from the high of the holidays, a logical question becomes: “What’s next?” Most technology predictors report the same list of trends to watch out for in the year ahead. We’re told to look forward to new innovations in 3-D printing, med tech, wearable tech, transportation, digital wallets, and even greater use of our spare capacity through disruptive services. I can’t help but reflect back to a scene ten years ago when I was watching the nightly news with my grandmother (who passed only a few short months later). As the anchor wished us a good night, my grandmother turned to me and asked, “What’s Google?” I had to smile that she’d waited until the end of the program to ask me, but then it occurred to me that she’d probably been waiting for the reporter to explain. As I started to tell her what Google was, I realized that the world we were living in must have seemed beyond reach to her. Paradoxically, my grandmother was one of few women to work directly with computers during World War II. She had been a costume jewelry designer, but during the war she put her drawing skills to work as a draftswoman. My grandmother drew the blueprints for radioactive bombs for Emerson Radio in NYC. After the war, she continued as a draftswoman, but no longer designed weapons. My grandmother’s conception of a “computer” was a system the size of a large conference room. I’m sure you’ve seen photos of those early-era machines with rudimentary controls. She could never have imagined that one day a computer might sit on her desk at home. She certainly never imagined such a thing as Google. 2015 is particularly significant for me because I’m becoming a mother. My daughter arrives in a month or so and I can’t help but wonder what she’ll witness during her lifetime. Surely there will be a day when I turn to her daughter and ask about whatever replaces Google. In this issue, Velma invites you to jump into the future. Let’s go beyond 2015 and instead look into our predictions for 2025 and beyond. What will Austin look like in ten or twenty years? What types of services and technologies might we use?
Jess
Let’s go back to the future!
Jessica Lowry Founder, Velma Magazine
Meet the Velma
Staff Jessica Lowry founder
Jessica Lowry grew up in Toronto, Canada and is founder of Clave, LLC, the force behind Key to the Street, SheHacksATX, SheDesignsATX, and now, Velma Magazine. Her knack for thinking outside the box and passion for broadening the perspective of others by creating communities that help conquer fear has inspired these creations and powers Jessica’s collaborative aspirations. She has lived on three different continents but settled in Austin two years ago and can often be found unwinding at barre3, walking around Town Lake, or at Barton Springs Pool. She believes that Velma “will show women (and men) a world devoid of fear and enriched by courage,” believing in the spirit of the magazine because “everyone deserves the chance to live their best lives possible.” @jeslowry
danielle selby
Design Team & Cover Artist Danielle is a recent transplant to Austin and is originally from Abilene. She’s an artist and designer at Pasadya, where she creates illustrations, abstract fine artwork, murals, and logos; she brings these skills to Velma as well and is to credit for the staff sketches featured here. She’s also a photographer, specializing in photos of “loving families, beautiful people, and simplistic scenery.” Danielle is a proud owner of a socially awkward Boston terrier and an accomplished baker of lemon meringue pies. Danielle finds Velma a refreshing addition to her life and enjoys being surrounded “by bright, supportive individuals who are both generous and courageous to share their skills and experiences with others who are excited to learn.” @DanieSelby
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Velma Staff
virginia honig Design Team
Virginia Honig is an aspiring service designer who grew up in South Carolina and spent her summers swimming in the Texas Hill Country. Virginia recently moved back to Austin to set up shop within the greater design community, as she finishes her thesis for the graduate service design program at SCAD. She has a knack for working with her hands and listening to other people. She finds joy in conducting human-centered research, building prototypes out of ideas, and making sure user experiences are full of delight. Virginia has a weakness for fine wine, spanish olives, and a block of salty cheese. Even though she has to stick to a tight budget as a grad student, she won't deny that she will splurge, and when that happens it tends to be food related. @DesignObserve
jennifer aldoretta Design Team
Jennifer has one of the best job titles ever, and as CoGroover and CEO of Groove, she makes tools that educate and empower women to take control of their reproductive health and fertility. Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Jennifer has lived in Austin for a little more than a year and can be found riding her bike all around town, often in search of kale and/or dark chocolate. Jennifer is featured in the first issue of Velma and believes in the mission of the magazine because, in her own words, “I think it will help inspire the next generation of change-makers.� @JAldoretta
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Velma Staff
valle hansen Editorial Team
Valle is a Senior UX Researcher who asks people questions about the Internet and then tries to figure out how to make it a better experience for them. Valle grew up in New Jersey but has called Austin home for more than four years. She has a knack for controlling her face, a weakness for pretzels, and a guilty pleasure in watching Tommy Lee Jones. Valle believes in Velma because “Women in tech are few. There should be spaces for women in tech (and everywhere) to feel heard / empowered / supported / proud / nervous / scared / frustrated / humble / hilarious / awesome without having to scream too loud or look too hard. Thanks, Velma.” @ValleTown
kelly hitchcock Editorial Team
Kelly, a technical writer at CSID specializing in APIs and SDKs, hails from Kansas City but has called Austin home for more than three years. She is an accomplished writer currently working on her third fiction novel. When not wordsmithing technical documentation, short stories, and poetry, Kelly heads to the gym to stay sane. Her indulgences include watching mass amounts of football on the weekends and ordering the house wine at Winebelly. She believes in Velma because “the women in tech scene in Austin needs more light and less heat. I know too many local female developers and other tech professionals that it’s silly for them to feel alone.” @KellyHitchcock
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Velma Staff
nicholle shaver Communications Team
Nicholle is from Orange County, CA, and has called Austin home for two years. As Event Manager at Capital Factory, Austin’s entrepreneurial center of gravity, Nicholle coordinates the pre-planning and on-site execution of 40+ events a month, including hackathons, meetups, VIP receptions, and, most notably, a visit from the President and White House staff in 2013. Nicholle has a prolific sweet tooth, indulges in all things Star Wars– and Harry Potter–related, and aspires to be able to do a cartwheel someday. For Nicholle, Velma is about “breaking down barriers, providing a community to spark positive conversation, and helping make big things happen. Velma provides a platform for women to voice their opinion, offer resources that might otherwise not be available, pursue an idea, ask for tips or help, and so much more.” @NicholleJ
claire jordan dunn Editorial Team
Claire, a native Austinite who returned after spending a year in London, is a Digital Producer helping organizations build meaningful relationships with their audiences through engaging social media experiences. Claire is an academically inclined teen media junkie, having previously composed extensive research on Gossip Girl and is currently conducting a close read of Pretty Little Liars without a shred of guilt. She’s also an aspiring mixologist and the loving caretaker of a scruffy little shelter mutt. Claire’s involvement with Velma stems from her belief that “the techie female Austinite’s voice is clear and strong—it’s just needed the perfect avenue for amplification.” @ClaireJordanATX
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Are you a student looking for real-world experience? Join Velma’s internship program! Each internship runs for six months and requires a time commitment of 10–15 hours per month. If you’d like to apply, please send an email with cover letter, portfolio, and resume to staff@velmamagazine.com.
Journalism Internship
Design Internship
Communications Internship
Velma is looking for a smart, fast-thinking intern well versed in current tech trends and eager to learn the ways of Velma’s editorial team. You’ll be reporting to Velma’s lead editor, who shepherds our monthly article production strategy. Most of your time will be spent assisting the editors and following up with writers. You’ll be expected to perform at a high level with short turnarounds—and love it!
Do you love creating original designs using Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign? If so, you’ll be able to assist Velma’s design team in layout and design of our magazine. Candidates must have a strong portfolio of previous layout work and must be able to prove proficiency in InDesign to do quick, accurate styles. We’re looking for talented, creative, inspiring individuals!
Support Velma’s communications team by researching inquiries and responding to comments from fans via Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, and emails, assisting with special events, and working with the Velma editorial team. Duties will also include administration for the communications team lead, in addition to maintaining contact lists and behavior analytics tracking.
RIFFing on the Future
Nancy Giordano Photos by: Danie Selby
About Nancy Giordano, Founder of Play Big, Inc. & TedxAustin Lead Curator @nancygiordano Nancy has spent her career building, shaping, and reviving many of the country’s most prestigious brands. As a brand futurist, she sees the powerful possibilities that exist at the intersection of cultural, demographic, and values trends.
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RIFFing on the Future
Written by: Nancy Giordano January is always filled with an “applied futurist’s” favorite things: blank Moleskines waiting for new mind maps, optimistic plans ready to be executed with early determination, and lots and lots of forecasts about how it’s gonna go. It all makes me unusually happy. But then, as the weeks progress, I find a new grumpiness seep in. Why aren’t we making more progress? I worry. Why can’t others see what I see? I bluster. Why are we talking more than doing?
“It’s become clear that updating one’s understanding of the future takes more than simple exposure to a new idea.”
While I’m curious to read every one of these lists and forecasts, I’m drawn these days beyond what we see and am paying more attention to how we look ahead. What are our sources of insight? Are we taking the time to synthesize all this information, and can we see how it’s all increasingly interconnected? Are we able to hold new information with both wonder and healthy doses of concern or skepticism? Most important, are we able to apply these insights and awarenesses with conviction and purpose? Most of my work as a brand futurist deals with helping execs at large enterprises and industry groups manage complexity, ambiguity, and fast-moving shifts. As such, we are always looking for ways to better share what we see and feel. We really want business and civic leaders to more readily accept the new as normal…and therefore find the motivation (read: courage) to build new, fresh, truly innovative solutions on top of these pretty clear shifts. If these folks want to survive— and thrive—they need to play bigger. That was the motivation behind the unique blog Play Big, Inc., launched last fall.
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RIFFing on the Future
Our new undertaking, CulturalAcupuncture.com, is intentionally designed to accelerate understanding. We figured if we shared what we see in daily “slow drip” observations, thematically linked each week then synthesized and shared each Sunday, we would be better able to infiltrate current resistance and the dismissal of shifts as outlier trendiness—I mean, could we have imagined that Airbnb would become valued at $10 billion and larger than Wyndham? Or that gluten-free options would end up on practically every single restaurant menu in the country? It’s become clear that updating one’s understanding of the future takes more than simple exposure to a new idea. It often requires the capacity to hold two or more (often competitive) narratives about what this all means—and an ability to see the drivers behind what’s happening. Are “flipped classrooms” and personal computing improving education? Is drinking juice good for you or bad? Will artificial intelligence help us see what we had no idea was possible or take over our choices someday? To help us wade through these kinds of broad and often conflicting debates, the team at Play Big, Inc., has started playing with a simple tool that helps us make distinctions and actively invites us to hold more than one black-versus-white feeling on an issue. We also want a way to be able to see how topics are interrelated and to help us get clearer about what we believe and where we want to put our energies. We call this a RIFF Model, and it closely parallels the classic strategic SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis. In the RIFF map, each quadrant captures how we feel when introduced to new information about the future—specifically:
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RIFFing on the Future
Nearly every audience we speak to or exec team we work with feels overwhelmed and generally concerned by the pace of change and the impact these shifts are having on their long-standing business models and strategic frameworks. They want to protect what they believe they’ve built into a success story, and are subsequently less able to see all the brand-new opportunities being presented to them. Encouragingly, most technologists and entrepreneurs feel the opposite. They are flooded with opportunities and ideas. (Small plea: please tell me someone is working on “the Pandora of restaurants”? I so want this…and more!) Can using this kind of model bridge the gap between fear and possibility? Can it help us make sense of a society in which education and poverty levels overall continue to improve while middle-class salaries and our physical health continue to erode? What are we each uniquely drawn to see…and therefore hopefully address? I haven’t spent much time with this just yet, but here are some concepts I’ve started to pay more attention to:
I’m relieved that: • poverty levels around the world are dropping • technology is becoming more and more accessible to all • the web is making education more open across boundaries • we can now easily find others any- and everywhere who share our ideas, can help us solve a problem, and join us in getting things done
I’m inspired that: • increasing amounts of data and algorithmic science will unlock all kinds of new insights and improve our understanding of how the world really works • new forms of community and collaborative support are being created each day—from co-working and cohousing to platforms that help us dine, learn, discover, and grow together • we are beginning to better see the connections between things and think “systemically” • new tools are being created that allow us each to be agents of change and creation, which will change the structures of all institutions
Nancy Giordano Photo by: Danie Selby
O
Riffing on the Future
I’m frustrated that: • we expect someone else to take care of “it” • we often think tactically and rush to solutions, as opposed to considering long-term strategy • we aren’t better at sharing what we know • we keep Kim Kardashian on magazine covers (really?!!)
I’m frightened that: • the new economy will require very new tools and approaches and that most institutions—in education, business, and government—are moving really slowly • we are depleting resources so thoughtlessly • loneliness and depression are becoming invisible epidemics among all ages in our society • most individuals don’t recognize their own potential and power to impact all around them in meaningful ways As this new year opens, I invite you to consider your own RIFF on the future. I believe it will help you see what uniquely motivates and inspires you—and hopefully help you balance optimism with a burning drive to act. The world needs us all to play as big as possible. Thank you for all you’re already doing! I wish you a bright, beautiful, and truly happy 2015!
Revved up thinking about technology and life in the not-toodistant future? It’s never too early to get excited about and start planning for ÆtherFest, Texas’ premier three-day Retro-Futurist convention held annually in San Antonio. Covering a wide range of topics, from literature to film, from steampunk to cyberpunk, the festival is jam-packed with panels, workshops, live music, and fun. Don’t miss out on the 2015 event! Visit http://www.aetherfest.org/ to learn more. Page 12
OUR DESIRED FUTURE
Sharlene Leurig Photo by: Danie Selby
About Sharlene Leurig @sleurig
Sharlene Leurig Photo by: Danie Selby
Sharlene directs the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Program at Ceres, a national nonprofit helping institutional investors to integrate sustainability into the capital markets. With Ceres, she works with water service providers to build business models that are resilient to weather extremes, climate change, and resource depletion.
Linking to the Past and Connecting with Water Written by: Sharlene Leurig It was swimming with my dad that hooked me. At eighty-two, he was finally showing me the town where he grew up, a little border town called Del Rio right on the Rio Grande. Those waters baptized my father, welcoming him to the great congregation of Texas. He came to Del Rio in 1940, packed alongside his sister and parents, with only his father’s ambitions to make something of himself.
intention of civility. It was what Texas always remained in my dad’s heart, even after years of living within its placeless suburbs: a place where bridge parties and Bible classes could easily be shed for sorties into the wild and old land. That was how my dad learned to be Texan: by climbing Mustang grapevines and searching for crawfish in the irrigation canals fed by San Felipe Springs.
Del Rio was still a new city, the stonework of the church and the courthouse still a declared
By the time he took me there, the cantinas were long closed, and the Rio Grande announced
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Our Desired Future
itself with the green and white blockades of the Border Patrol. But the waters of San Felipe Springs were still there, 40 million gallons a day flowing out from the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert. Like all springs and all rivers in Texas, their source is the water belowground, replenished by rain that may have fallen anytime from a few days ago to thousands of years ago. Most of the water in Texas is hidden belowground—some 400 times the amount that flows through our rivers and lakes. In an era of drought and population explosion, that groundwater has become the next big commodity. Texas, like most states west of the Mississippi, pumps water faster than nature can replenish it. Yes, oil tycoons like T. Boone Pickens have accelerated this through big water export deals designed to bring water from rural well fields to Texas cities. How-
ever, the planned depletion of our aquifers ticks along, driven by thousands of new wells drilled each year for homes, ranches, and farms. With the exception of the Edwards Aquifer (the source of the springs in Austin, San Marcos, and New Braunfels), every major aquifer in Texas faces long-term depletion. We mine our aquifers in the way a wealthy family might mine its trust fund, thinking only of today and nothing of the future. The end result is that the rivers of Texas, which for thousands of years have been fed by the accumulated rains of millennia, may stop flowing altogether. The horror of it is that this outcome of degraded rivers and depleted aquifers is what we Texans say we want, in the form of bottom-up water management targets called “Desired Future Conditions.”
Sharlene Leurig Photo by: Danie Selby
“We mine our aquifers in the way a wealthy family might mine its trust fund, thinking only of today and nothing of the future.”
Our Desired Future
As I swam in San Felipe Springs with my dad, I thought of the waters that have stopped flowing since my dad was a child, and of the small Texas farming towns that have already turned to dust bowls. How many people know these stories? How many of us understand the future we are designing? Since that swim, I’ve been fixated on the idea of becoming a “ghost of Christmas future” for Texans. I want to help them see the dry holes in the ground where water once flowed, and understand that the water belowground is the same as the water above, that the more straws we stick into the ground to suck out the water below, the less there will be for tubing and midnight swims, power generation, plastic manufacturing, orange crops, cattle ranching, fishing, kayaking, drinking—all the things flowing rivers give us. What grew from that fixation is Our Desired Future, a multimedia project meant to inspire Texans to keep water flowing for future generations. The series tells the stories of Texans and their experiences with water through essays, photography, audio clips, and videos. I wanted this project to be democratic and truly representative of Texans. It was critical that it be web-based, so it could be immediately accessible by anyone with a web connection, something that a kid in a border town finds on her school’s computer as easily as a rancher in West Texas finds on his iPad. The story carries people through the beauty of the imagery, but is totally rooted in science and policy. I’ve been fortunate to work with Sarah Wilson (an unbelievably talented photographer), female hackers at SheHacksATX, hydrogeology students at UT Austin, professional hydrologists, water lawyers, groundwa-
Photo by: Danie Selby
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Water renewal is just one of the ways futurists consider long-term environmental change. Jae Rhim Lee’s remarkable work in sustainable burial is nothing short of innovative.
Check out her TED talk on the future of sustainable burial.
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Our Desired Future
ter regulators, animators, and editors to construct a multidimensional story. As a result, our narrative is wonderfully diverse—we’ve talked to farmers who are pumping 35 million gallons of water a day to grow crops in West Texas, people living on only the rainwater they can catch on their roof, sport fishers and shrimpers in the Gulf, a guy traveling the entire 1,900-mile course of the Rio Grande. There are so many people whose lives are connected by water. Our Desired Future is just one of the media projects on water in Texas that have emerged in the past few years. Last year South by Southwest premiered Yakona, an impressionistic feature-length film about San Marcos Springs. Written on Water: An Ogallala Chronicle, a short documentary on the impending demise of the Ogallala Aquifer in the Texas Panhandle, will be released next year. I’m inspired by the people I’ve met who are able to look beyond their projects and their brands to collaborate in the name of the waters that remain, and the people who depend on them.
If I’ve learned anything in the last two years of working on this project, it’s that if there is any way for us to solve this, it is through people realizing how much we depend on one another for our water. Some of the water we use here in Austin starts hundreds of miles west on ranches near San Angelo—for Texans to have sustainable water, we have to reward sustainable practices across entire groundwater basins and watersheds, literally thousands of square miles. It’s an overwhelming proposition, and one that many people think is impossible. The people who don’t believe we can work on this together would say that we don’t need rivers, that we can just build desalination plants and pipelines to bring water to where it’s needed. But I know after swimming with my dad that there are some things that only a flowing river can give us—a deep connection to one another, to our past, and to our future.
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The Internet of Things: The Future of Wearable Tech
Jen Quinlan Photo by: Danie Selby
About Jen Quinlan, Vice President of Marketing at Rithmio, Inc. @QuirkyInsider Jen brings a decade of interactive and software experience serving Fortune 500 brands across startup and agency roles. Prior to working at Rithmio, Jen served as the Vice President of Marketing and Innovation at Mutual Mobile, an emerging tech agency, where she was responsible for marketing, innovation, and new business programs. Jen is passionate about wearable technology and strives to facilitate dialogue about building better wearable tech products that are useful and usable for people.
The Internet of Things
Written by: Jen Quinlan I have a confession to make. Despite my specialization in wearable technology, I haven’t worn my FitBit in months. I’m not the only one. Many people found the first wave of wearables came up short. Entry-level price points were high, form factors were clunky, and accuracy left a lot to be desired. It’s no
Jen Quinlan Photo by: Danie Selby
wonder there was a 30 percent return rate and high product abandonment after six months. Companies have found that getting wearables right is a tall order. To be truly useful, usable, and desirable for people, wearable tech products will see vast improvements in the coming years. Here are a few ways they’ll get better:
“Between conductive fabrics and sensor-clad smart garments, wearables will intertwine so closely with fashion we won’t be able to distinguish them.”
The Internet of Things
Invisible Moore’s Law contends that as components get smaller, products gain efficiency and become more powerful. In other words, you can think of current wearables as a boombox on your wrist. Between conductive fabrics and sensor-clad smart garments, wearables will intertwine so closely with fashion we won’t be able to distinguish them. Companies like AiQ Clothing and Hexoskin are already paving the way with biometric garments that measure your body’s vitals. Future wearables could be more hidden by adding a thin film inside your favorite jewelry to measure vitals and activity levels, and even let you know when you’ve been typing at a keyboard too long.
Personalized From wedding bands to Invisalign, objects worn on the body 24/7 are highly personal. Unless the product addresses a critical medical need—like using a hearing aid for hearing problems—it is unlikely that a single wearable will be desirable enough to be worn all the time.
or Misfit that employ a personalized approach to wearable tech. Their technology nestles inside an array of jewelry you can choose from and wear each day. Wearables are now a part of the jewelry legacy, and should be thought of as both tech gadget and fashion statement.
Efficient Alternative forms of energy to power wearables are on the rise. In December 2014, Tommy Hilfiger launched clothing with solar cells to charge devices. We’ve seen kinetic energy–powered gadgets from AMPY to Austin’s own Everywhere Energy. A personal favorite is the Peltier Ring by Sean Hodgins, which leverages body heat to power small LED lights on a ring. While energy advancements require more polish to achieve commercial viability, they’ll be on your wrist sooner than you think.
Accurate From your kids’ GPA to your own body’s BMI, our culture is getting more data-oriented across many aspects of life. Approximations of how many steps you walked will no longer suffice as people demand accurate data from their devices—including wearables.
Take a note from companies like Cuff
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The Internet of Things
We have yet to see industry standards emerge to set wearable tech manufacturer guidelines and advocate on consumers’ behalf. I anticipate advocacy boards will be formed to evaluate devices and require brands to deliver accuracy percentage guarantees. Imagine a label on a Jawbone UP24 box with a “99.5% accurate gesture tracking” guarantee.
push notifications from only your partner, child’s school, and mother between nine to five Monday through Friday.
Secure
Sentient
Marketers salivate at the prospect of pushing wearables that advertise to you around the clock. As ad revenues dwindle in traditional media formats, next-generation devices offer brands a new opportunity to target people like we’ve never seen before.
In Spike Jonze’s movie Her, Samantha explains how she works as: “Intuition...What makes me me is my ability to grow through my experiences. Basically, in every moment I’m evolving, just like you.”
Savvy consumers will demand the ability to set specific permission settings on their devices to structure who, what, where, and when they can be found and disturbed. Picture smartwatch settings that configure
Consumers will also need to play an active role in keeping their body’s data private. Optimal experiences for wearables will be contingent consumers being well-informed and demanding certain settings or privacy.
Even Furbies back in 1998 could learn new things, so why is it that $150 activity trackers can’t currently learn new activities like jumping rope, lifting a kettlebell, or salsa dancing? Our interests evolve. Our wearables need to be able to evolve, too. The single-feature pe-
Jen Quinlan Photo by: Danie Selby
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The Internet of Things
dometers of today’s activity-tracking market won’t sustain for much longer.
Multipoint The wearable tech conversation will quickly shift from discussion of your one, sole wearable to the intricate system of sensors on your body at any point in time. Already we are wearing an activity tracker and have a smartphone in our purses; both of these devices are gathering motion-sensing data through the accelerometer and gyroscope inside. Technologists are working on ways to derive meaning from multiple sensors on the body at one time, to give us a holistic view of how our bodies are moving or performing across multiple devices and sensors.
Seamless I’m excited to see what happens when wearables converge with connected homes to drive efficiencies without having to tap a button on a screen. Imagine approaching your home’s door with groceries in hand, and the heartbeat
signature via your wearable signals the door’s smart lock to unlock. Then, while crossing your living room, a sensor in your wrist wearable notices your core body temperature is above average and automatically interacts with your Nest thermostat to trigger the air-conditioning. Your wearable might also include a sensor to detect hydration levels, and trigger your smart refrigerator to pour a glass of water for you as you enter the kitchen to unload your groceries. While it is premature to predict specific features or form factors that will prevail in the future, wearable tech presents a fascinating field to study. Opportunities abound not only for highly personalized wearable experiences but also for breakthrough medical advancements and—unfortunately—unsurmounted marketing nuisances. One thing’s for sure: Innovations like these are only in their infancy, and like the technologies before them, they’ll evolve with user adoption to make products that are useful, usable, and desirable for everyone.
Want to watch the future of wearable tech unfold? Check out some of these leading edge companies making wearable tech fashionable and useful: AiQ Clothing
Hexoskin
Cuff
Misfit
And don’t miss out on the Central Texas World Future Society meetups on the third Tuesday of every month! Page 24
ASK VELMA Arduino Wearables: Customize Your Clothing with Colored Lights!
Photos courtesy of Kassandra Perch
About Kassandra Perch @nodebotanist Kassandra is a developer, crafter, and gamer living in Austin, TX. Her days are spent at RetailMeNot, where she slings JavaScript and tries to make developer processes easier. Her nights and weekends are spent slinging more JavaScript, teaching for Girl Develop It!, and re-learning how to roller skate. She’s an unrepentant JS addict, and is especially interested in JS robotics/hardware. Page 25
Arduino Wearables
Written by: Kassandra Perch Everyone has their own personal fashion style—colors they like, their favorite cloth, and so on. Thanks to the Maker movement and the availability and ease-of-use of microcontrollers today, we can now sew electronics into clothing that we can change at will. In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to sew individually addressable RGB (Red, Green, Blue) LEDs into cloth and teach you the basics of programming them. You can use this skill in many ways. For instance, I have a skirt, shoes, and a beanie that contain RGB LEDs that react to both environmental data, such as light and movement, and Internet data, such as favorites from Twitter.
Supplies You’ll Need You’ll need a few things to get started. You can get all of these items online at Adafruit or SparkFun. Individually addressable RGB LEDs:
These aren’t just normal RGB LEDs. Unlike their regular RGB counterparts, individually addressable LEDs only use three pins for as many LEDs as you would like to use. Normal RGB LEDs use three analog pins and one ground or power pin for each individual LED. Adafruit has their own brand of these called the NeoPixel. My favorite kind to use for sewing are the Flora RGB Smart NeoPixel version 2. I’ll use four in this project, and if you’re going to use more than that, you’re going to need to take power into consideration. Arduino board: I’m going to use the Arduino Micro, but almost any Arduino-compatible board should do. However, be careful when picking a board: While size is definitely a consideration, some small Arduinos do not possess the processing speed or RAM needed to control multiple NeoPixels. With a quick Google search, you can usually find out more about using individually addressable LEDs with any specific Arduino model. If you can get a board without headers, we can sew into the pins and not have to worry about soldering onto headers or incorporating a breadboard into our design.
“Thanks to the Maker movement and the availability and easeof-use of microcontrollers today, we can now sew electronics into clothing that we can change at will.”
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Arduino Wearables
Conductive thread: This special thread conducts electricity and is a great way to incorporate circuits into fabric. I like two-ply (I find three-ply stiffer and more difficult to sew with) but use what’s right for you. One bobbin of thread should be more than enough for a small wearables project like this. 3.7V Coin Cell battery holder with on/off switch: This is my preferred way to power my wearables projects: It’s small and fairly cheap, and works well. You could also invest in a rechargeable lithium polymer battery if you’re willing to spend a little more. Sewing needle: One with a long eye is nice, as conductive thread is a little thicker than normal sewing thread. Garment to enhance with LEDs: I like skirts for these because movement makes the lights look amazing, but work with what suits you. Just be thoughtful: If you pick something like shoes, you’ll need to consider additional aspects like waterproofing. You don’t necessarily need to use a garment of clothing, either. Backpacks, purses, and scarves work well, or you could even make yourself a pin or bracelet. Small piece of fabric and regular thread: This is to sew a pocket for the battery pack. If you’re using an Arduino board with headers on a breadboard, make sure the pocket is large enough for that, too.
Skills You’ll Need Very basic sewing: The basic through
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stitch works just fine for this project. No need to get too fancy, as conductive thread can be fragile. Through-hole soldering: We’ll attach the battery pack to the Arduino by soldering. However, if your Arduino has headers, a barrel connector, or even a JST connector, you could use these instead to avoid soldering. Just be sure to buy a battery holder with your connector on it. Some C programming: Arduinos are programmed in C, a very low-level language. If you’ve programmed before, you should be able to grasp the programming we’ll use in this project by following along.
Getting Started Gather all your supplies and think about your design, taking the following into consideration: Can I sew in my microcontroller, or does it need a breadboard or soldering? Where will the batteries go? Can I put a pocket there? Can I access the battery pack easily from the pocket, so I can turn this project off and on? Will the LEDs on the outside be visible? Where do I want my LEDs? This is important because while conductive thread can conduct electricity, it doesn’t work so great over large distances. If you have large distances (more than a few inches) between your LEDs, consider doubling up on thread. When placing your LEDs, you want to arrange them in a specific way; you want the OUT pin of the first to point toward the
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Arduino Wearables
IN pin of the next. You should also put the + and - pins on the same side of each LED relative to each other. This is crucial to allowing you to sew your circuits without crossing threads.
absolutely must not cross. Keep this in mind while positioning your components. The diagram below shows what our circuit will look like to a degree to assist in your planning.
Once I’ve decided on a design, what I like to do next is assemble a “rough draft”: I pin the microcontroller, battery pack pocket, and LEDs to the garment, then pick it up and move it around. Does it stretch a bunch? That might be an issue for the not-so-stretchy thread. Does it fail to move like you think it should? Try adjusting your arrangement early on, as it will be much harder to do so later.
Start Sewing
Another consideration is your thread sewing paths. You’ll need to provide power, ground, and signal to the LEDs, and they
There are usually large holes on microcontrollers intended to be used to mount the microcontroller to a surface. I like to take normal sewing thread and use these to place my microcontroller before sewing my circuit. If your controller doesn’t have these holes, you can use a piece of double-sided tape on the back to hold it in place while you sew your circuit. Next we’ll sew the ground. I usually tie a knot through the GND pinhole of the microcontroller, then sew it the fabric three
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Arduino Wearables
to four times. Make sure your stitches are tight, as contact is important. Then start working your way through the fabric to the pinhole of the first addressable LED in the chain. Loop through the pinhole three to four times, making sure it’ll stay in contact. Then, without tying off, start working toward the GND pin in the next LED in the chain. Repeat these steps until you reach the end, then tie off and cut your thread. I like to use clear nail polish on the knot, as you need to cut the tail as short as possible in order to prevent it from wandering and touching another thread, and nail polish works kind of like glue. The 5V/power side is done the same way, starting at the 5V pin of your Arduino (3.3v is fine if you lack a 5V pin) and working toward the + pin of each RGB LED in the chain. Just like the GND side, do not tie off and cut the thread between each LED; they should be connected by one continuous chain of thread. The signal is done slightly differently— you’ll notice the last two pins on each LED are marked IN and OUT. Start by sewing into any digital or analog output pin on your Arduino (I use pin 3 in this example), then sew to the IN pin of the first LED. Loop through these three to four times as usual, then tie off and cut the thread. Next, restart at the OUT pin of the first
LED, and work your way to the IN pin of the next LED. Repeat to the end of the chain, leaving the OUT pin of the last LED unsewn.
Programming Your LEDs First, if you haven’t already, download and install the Arduino IDE from http://www. arduino.cc/en/Main/Software. You’ll also want to check out the FastLED library at fastled.io. It’s a great way to get started with addressable RGB LEDs. Download the library using their link, and place the folder in your Arduino Libraries folder. On OS X, this is in your home folder under Documents / Arduino / Libraries; on Windows it’s under “My Documents” in Arduino / Libraries. Then, if Arduino is open, close it out and and reopen. When you go to the file menu in the IDE, click on “Examples” and a submenu should pop up. In it will be an option for “FastLED.” Click there, and under the many examples that pop up, select “Cylon.” We’re going to need to make a few changes to this to work with our LEDs. First, on line 4, change NUM_LEDS to reflect the number of LEDs you have sewn in. Then,
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Arduino Wearables
on line 9, change the DATA_PIN from 6 to 3. Next open the “Tools” menu, choose “Board,” and make sure you’ve chosen your model of Arduino. Then, under “Tools,” choose “Serial Port.” Look at the list, and remember what’s in it. Close the menu and use a USB connection to connect your Arduino to the computer. Now go back to the Serial Port list and you’ll see a new entry. Go ahead and select it. (If there are two, one starting with cu. and one starting with tty., select either.) Hit “Upload,” and your lights should start animating!
What’s Next? There are lots of great examples and documentation for FastLED—your next steps will be to start digging around and trying out new functions! You can also try making new garments with other microcontrollers: The Spark Core/Photon and Electric Imp are particularly interesting, WiFi-connected choices you can explore. And finally—enjoy your new wardrobe!
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Want to dive deeper into the world of wearable LEDs that you can build yourself? Visit Adafruit’s NeoPixel Uberguide to learn more about the products and process outlined in Kassandra’s tutorial. Also be sure to check out local Maker groups to learn more about the Maker movement in Austin and get inspired! (We’ve got a list of ones Velma recommends on page 56.)
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Imagine Designing the Future of Austin Streets Using Your Phone
Jessica Lowry Photo by: Michael Mallard
About Jessica Lowry, CEO & founder of Clave, LLC @jeslowry Founder & CEO of Clave, LLC Jess has worked in software for over ten years and specialises in UX design and research. Her passion for service design and civic tech led her to start her own company in 2012.
The Future of Austin Streets
Written by: Jessica Lowry Every summer when I was a kid, my dad packed us into the car and drove my older sister and me from Toronto, Canada, to Long Island, New York. Our 542-mile road trip was the highlight of my entire year. My sister always wanted the front seat, and I was blissful in the back taking up the entire row with my pillows, Game Boy, Walkman, and easy access to the cooler stored behind my dad in the driver’s seat. It was heaven. I think what I liked the most about our annual road trip was observing what was new and what remained untouched. Small towns throughout southern Ontario and New York State were these quaint places of permanence. Every year we stopped in Elmira, NY, which was roughly our halfway point. We’d eat at the same Pizza Hut and get ice cream at the same mom-and-pop shop. But once we neared New York City, everything
Image courtesy of: CLAVE, LLC
changed. As a really small kid I knew we were entering the city limits because my dad made a point of checking that the car doors were locked. In Queens we’d pass abandoned cars that had been stripped for parts and set on fire. It was like witnessing scenes from an apocalyptic movie as we rolled through each borough. And then, like the sky clearing from a storm, we’d enter Long Island and all of its sprawling suburbs. Everything lacked charm and character. There was so much space and so little imagination. And then, finally, we’d make it all the way to the end of Long Island where we’d stay at the beach and every day I’d imagine myself in a Calvin Klein perfume commercial. Leaving Toronto was almost as fun as returning to it. I was your typical city kid, knowing each and every street in my neighborhood. My friends and I rode our bikes like warriors hunting for new places to explore. By the time we were teenagers we ran out of new plac-
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The Future of Austin Streets
es and headed downtown. In my career working in software and online services I have been able to use these early honed anthropological skills. I fell into user experience (UX) like you might stumble upon a good book. I’d been working in a supportive role on software projects for nearly five years when I found myself asking questions about why certain design decisions were being made and how design affects the users’ ability to enjoy an experience. These days I observe people just like way back when I watched the world unfold in the backseat of my dad’s car, but now I’m no longer satisfied being a bystander.
stuck on terminology, technology, or financial constraints. We use pictures to guide us to a shared understanding. And it’s at that point I can start to conceptualize a software solution that matches my client’s needs and expectations. I used this technique as the inspiration for Key to the Street, a service that capitalizes on the power of images to collect city planning research data. My theory is that if you can get over language and focus instead on imagining an ideal future for city streets, it’s possible to implement change in the right way. When I moved to Austin in 2012, I experienced a culture shock. I’ve never lived in a place where I needed a car; I’ve always explored on foot. Walking gives me a tactile relationship to a place. I’m
One of my favorite UX research tools is rapid paper-prototyping. When I first start working with clients, I like to form a mental model of their expectations. Before we get into technology, I need to understand what image they imagine. Sketching allows us to collaborate on ideas without getting
Jessica Lowry Page 35 Photo by: Michael Mallard
The Future of Austin Streets
able to develop connections and form a map in my head. It’s how I learn to navigate on instinct and make sense of my surroundings. For me, the places I live become characters with distinct personalities. Highways are not places, but rather routes that connect places. A highway cutting through a city is like a moat encircling a castle. The barriers created by car-centric urban design interrupt the natural flow of daily life. Highways within cities create more congestion than they solve because the purpose of a highway is to connect vast distances (not short commutes). Public transportation, on the other hand, provides
“My theory is that if you can get over language and focus instead on imagining an ideal future for city streets, it’s possible to implement change in the right way. “ Jessica Lowry Photo by: Michael Mallard
Want to help Jess bring the streets of Austin back to the people?
Check out this product demo of Jess’s app, Key to the Street, to find out how to come up with new ideas to redesign our streets!
The Future of Austin Streets
adequate speed and service for local commuting. When I look around Austin, all I see are opportunities for better flow. A more human-centered approach will transform Austin into a place to explore and know intimately. When you travel on I-35, you could be anywhere, but when you’re walking on 6th Street, you know you’re in Austin. I designed Key to the Street as a tool for unlocking Austin’s distinct personality. As a web-based prototyping service, it provides everyone with the ability to sketch and share their improvement ideas. The reporting and data collected by Key to the Street allows city planners to make incremental decisions that they can validate in real time. This is a radical departure from the traditional model that takes six months or more and costs tens of thousand of dollars to execute. Anyone can participate at any stage of the idea generation process. Users take photos of a street or
Jessica Lowry Photos by: Michael Mallard
space they think needs to be redesigned and collaborate online in order to build upon ideas. The ability to collaborate is one of the major differences between a service like Key to the Street and 311. Text-based services require all users to use the same language to participate; however, too often, industry lingo and acronyms confuse non-specialists and create a barrier for participation. Currently, if you want to share your ideas for the future of Austin, you need to look up a meeting time with an appropriate group at the City of Austin and hope for an opportunity to address the room. Or perhaps you’re given Post-it notes to share feedback of proposed solutions presented on a bristol board. But what about all the people outside that room? How can ideas flourish if they’re restricted to a particular community planning meeting? What about all the people who can’t afford the luxury of attending an Imagine Austin workshop because they have to work, take care of their families, or both? For me, the future of Austin is a walkable place that is continually striving to improve and innovate every street to welcome everybody. And I think tools like Key to the Street are the way we’ll collaborate on the future of Austin together.
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Try barre3 barre3, a global network of studios and the innovative leader of the white-hot, ballet barre fitness movement, is taking over central Texas! Early fall 2014, the Circle C location joins thriving Downtown and Hill Country Galleria studios, providing Austinites with even more options for accessing the company’s beloved combination of yoga, Pilates, and ballet barre work that famously builds muscle, burns fat, and creates long, lean lines in the body. Clearly barre3’s bright, bold, and boundless workout style and whole-health approach to fitness are a great match for Austin’s creative energy! Based on the importance of a balanced lifestyle, barre3 classes are designed to be accessible and transform the body through a focus on strength, grace, and whole-body wellness. Founded by renowned fitness and wellness expert Sadie Lincoln in 2008, barre3 signature workouts balance strength training through isometric holds and small, one-inch movements with seamless recovery stretches. Unlike other barre-inspired workouts, barre3 incorporates larger, functional movements with low-impact cardio to jump-start the metabolism and re-oxygenate the body. Also unique to the brand, an array of modifications is offered for every posture, allowing all fitness levels to maximize the workout while remaining injury free. As both a fitness system and whole-health philosophy, barre3 helps clients to realize amazing, lasting results—a strong, lean physique and a happy, balanced mind-set.
The new Circle C location is conveniently located in South Austin (5700 W. Slaughter Lane). barre3 Austin Downtown is located in the heart of the city steps from the infamous Hike and Bike trail. For those living in west Austin, the barre3 Hill Country Galleria studio is across from Iron Cactus in the outdoor shopping center. The three Austin studios are locally owned by passionate health and wellness advocates, striving to make fitness accessible to all. barre3 clients can take classes at any of the three Austin locations using a single account. Each location proudly offers an on-site play lounge for little ones of all ages to enjoy while their parents attend class.
Try a barre3 class for free! Velma readers are invited to try a barre3 class ($20 value) for FREE! Enter promo code upon checkout: VELMA For a sneak peek into barre3, visit: blog.barre3.com/barre3-overview-video-3/
barre3 Austin Locations: Austin Downtown
Austin Circle C
115 Sandra Muraida Way Suite 103 Austin, Texas USA 78703 (at Lady Bird Lake)
5700 W Slaughter Lane Suite 330
phone: 512-391-6200
Austin, Texas 78749
Austin Hill Country Galleria 12800 Hill Country BLVD Suite G-100 Bee Cave, Texas 78738 phone: 512-243-5233
Rebecca Ryan Part futurist, part economist, and always engaging, Rebecca is one of America’s most influential thought leaders, helping cities and companies think around the corner to what’s next. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Ryan
@ngcrebecca
Spring Awakening: Emerging from America’s Winter with Smart City Planning Page 39
Spring Awakening
“Americans alive during this winter have a noble task: to think and work and act not for ourselves...”
Written by: Rebecca Ryan As we look to our own futures and those of the coming generations, we’ve got to keep in mind that our actions and decisions now shape the course our community takes down the road. To gain some insight into what lies ahead for us, and to understand more behind the concept of the “smart city” (see Velma’s feature interview with city planner Christine Freundl), Velma spoke with economist and futurist Rebecca Ryan, founder of Next Generation Consulting and author of some truly insightful books on the future of our country and our communities. Rebecca describes America as seasonal; we go through cycles of winters, springs, summers, and falls each with their own unique and consistent qualities. Each season lasts about twenty years, and winter is the hardest part of the cycle. In her latest book, ReGENERATION: A Manifesto for America’s Next Leaders, she writes, “Seasons are nature’s cycle of regeneration, a reminder that
there’s an order to things, there are things that are larger than me. Larger than you.” Rebecca says, not surprisingly, that even though technology advancements have exceeded anyone’s expectations, America has been suffering through a period of winter— one of survival and a bit of fear—for more than ten years now. And in order to get to spring—a period of promise and hope—we as a community need to confront some harsh realities and make decisions for the future. “Americans alive during this winter have a noble task: to think and work and act not for ourselves (because many of us may not be alive when spring comes again). We must act with the wisdom and grace to do our best for our children, and theirs.” While this sentiment rings true, it’s often difficult to look beyond our own circumstances and situations and put future generations’ welfare before our own comfort and consistency. Rebecca, though, is confident that with we have what it takes to make it to
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Spring Awakening
a spring filled with warmth, promise, and community. One of the most important ways we can begin to emerge from this dark, cold winter, Rebecca suggests, starts at the city level: by electing local leaders and policymakers who will work for the future, leverage new technologies to help with problem solving, and make our cities smarter and more adaptable. So what makes a smart city? According to Rebecca, there are three key components to successful urban planning of the future.
1. Interdisciplinary The best cities are going to be those that don’t consider city-planning departments to be discrete units operating separately in the same building. Rather, they’ll be the ones who take a multifaceted, interdisciplinary approach to solving repetitive problems. Combining the resources, brains, and perspectives of a multitude of departments and skill sets will prevent narrow-focused, one-sided patterns and decisions.
2. Data-Driven Smart cities will take the planning out of the hands of interest groups and opinion-based propositions, and instead look to Big Data and new technologies for real answers to solve the real problems. Using facts and statistics to make decisions rath-
er than the interests of a small but loud and powerful subset means a smarter, more sustainable city.
3. Collective (Impact) Complex social problems need to be solved, and the way they’re being approached by our leaders has historically been much too isolated and fragmented to make any real progress. By combining resources in government, business, and community, and leveraging technological advancements, lasting change to social problems is possible. When asked where our own Austin stands within this concept of a “smart city” working toward interdisciplinary, data-driven, collective problem solving, Rebecca is eager to praise some of our community’s leaders for their forward-thinking, innovative practices and processes—leaders like Christine Freundl, who, rather than being caught in a cycle of making the same wrong decisions for the same wrong reasons, look to new ways of solving complex problems leveraging technological and human resources. While there’s still room for improvement, with time, Austin will likely emerge as a leader in smart cities and help America thaw into the hopefulness and promise of our next spring.
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Want to hear more from Rebecca? Pick up her latest book, ReGENERATION: A Manifesto for America’s Next Leaders (2013), and find out what’s next for America.
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The Future of Austin Is a Smart City
Christine Freundl Photo by: Danie Selby
Smart City
Christine Freundl, Project Coordinator at City of Austin Specialties: Architecture, Urban Design, Community Planning, Community Workshops Connect on LinkedIn
Technology providers aren’t the only ones thinking about the future; cities have to constantly think about future growth and how human interactions with the city will evolve. Velma sat down with city planner Christine Freundl to chat about Austin’s future as a smart city.
VELMA: Tell us a little about what you’ve done throughout your career to bring cities into the future. CHRISTINE: I got out of architecture school and I ran down my really awesome unpaid internship for as long [as] I could be there because I was doing awesome stuff. I took a job at a firm where the principal was a developer and [then] an architect, so he really pushed the developer side of it. So we were making some really inferior buildings—7-Elevens, Starbucks (which are not necessarily always bad buildings, but we were doing it in the worst way possible)— land jumping, leapfrogging, just perpetuating sprawl. I would go in and try to have conversations with him about how [we] could be more conservative about what we were doing, with more conservation and sustainability, and I would just hit a brick wall every time. I ended up quitting
that job, and that experience pushed me into urban design as opposed to architecture because I knew whatever we were doing, we could be doing it a lot better. I went back to graduate school and really enjoyed urban design; I was in this really cool graduate program in downtown Detroit. Our senior year we worked directly with underserved communities in Detroit to provide urban design services, and my thesis project was on this really underserved poor community in Detroit that was trying to create a tourist economy through crafts and urban gardening and urban farming. We worked with them to create a master plan for how we could take all these handmade crafts—this dying
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Smart City
industry, something that people could do and [already] had in Detroit—and turn it into an economy full of craft-natured tourism for their community so it could help teach people skills and at the same time bring some revenue into the community. Shortly after that, I decided
that I didn’t want to work in Detroit anymore because I didn’t think people were really on track yet for doing what needed to get done, so I started looking around the United States, and Austin was one of the few places that was actually doing urban design and had resources dedicated to it.
VELMA: How did you get your start with the city? CHRISTINE: I came to work for the city in the urban design division, which Austin is very lucky to have. There are very few cities in the United States that even have a division like this that is design professionals devoted to just city building. I took over the transit-oriented develop-
ment program, so I helped oversee all of the development that was going in along the Red Line stations for Capital Metro. Once I finished there, I— actually recently—moved over to the economic development department and I’m now a project coordinator on the Mueller redevelopment.
Christine Freundl Photo by Danie Selby
“Smart cities are smart because they realize that there isn’t just one discipline that goes into building a city and that there has to be a conversation between all of them.” Page 45
Smart City
VELMA: What are you doing in your current role in the Austin city government? CHRISTINE: As project coordinator for Mueller, we have a public-private partnership between the city of Austin and Catellus. The city owns the land and they hold it for Catellus, and as the market allows, Catellus takes the land down, and then the city builds it for them tax free. As the land develops out, we collect the increased revenue off of the land so it comes back to the city. Long story short, there’s an entire master-plan design guidebook that makes Mueller different from the rest of the city. In that design book, we had to make almost 120 deviations from city code because you just couldn’t build that type of development per what’s existing in the city right now. So the city has its own design book and it essentially has its own code. Departmentally, we work directly with Catellus, the private development community...to implement that plan.
VELMA: What do you mean when you say “smart city”? What does that term mean to you? CHRISTINE: Smart cities are smart because they realize that there isn’t just one discipline that goes into building a city and that there has to be a conversation between all of them. For instance, Mueller can’t exist unless there is some sort of coordination and discussion going on interdepartmentally by the development community. If it was just one department—our department—trying to implement this, it would never work. Smart cities understand that it’s [a] multidisciplinary effort.
Austin was one of
the few
places that was actually
doing urban
design and had resources
dedicated
to it.
Smart City
VELMA: Where does Austin fall short of that “smart city” mark, in your opinion? CHRISTINE: Austin has made leaps and bounds forward, but I think it’s still a fact that cities move slow. They’re big. They’re large. They’re not nimble or quick. In being big and large it takes a long time for change because it’s the difference between trying to get a squirrel to move in a different direction and an elephant; the elephant takes a lot more effort to move but when it does, it’s usually a very big change. I think Austin’s still suffering a little bit from the mistakes we made twenty to thirty years ago, and it takes a long time to make those changes for the future. We’re just now benefiting from changes that happened ten years ago. Mueller’s design book and master plan was written twelve years ago, so…
VELMA: What types of existing technology will transform Austin into a smart city? CHRISTINE: One of the projects that I used to work on for the city was the Downtown Wayfinding project. It hasn’t been implemented yet, but it’s a really fascinating project, and one of the things that I discovered is that there are vast amounts of information out there being collected on all these different things, but there’s not a good way to share them. You have the county collecting information on crime, ped[estrian] crashes, bicycle crashes. You have the city collecting data on how many people are using an intersection, but when it comes down to the county getting with the city to improve the intersection, there’s not a good way for them to share that information because it’s all being collected by different sources. I think a smart city of the future will understand, will try and figure out a way to make that more accessible, not just interagency but also to the public.
VELMA: What technology do we need that doesn’t exist yet to become a smart city? CHRISTINE: People are so fascinated with city building now, not like they used to be. I think it really has moved into the tech age with apps that you can start looking [at] a street differently and start collecting information. There are concierge apps, so when you get to a city, you don’t need to have a tour guide to get around. There are historical tours. What would be great in the future is more of the consolidation of information I talked about before. If there’s a comprehensive way to explore the city that brings all these different resources together, I think that would be fascinating.
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Like Christine, Velma’s readers also dream of Austin’s future as a smart,sustainable, forward-thinking city that leads the West in long-term, strategic urban planning.
Stop dreaming and start acting! Make getting involved your New Year’s resolution. Look into Imagine Austin’s events and programs, so you can help our community build toward a more connected, more sustainable, more creative, and more affordable Austin.
VELMA: What technology excites you most as a city planner? CHRISTINE: It’s been around forever, but GIS (geographic information system) is so fascinating with what it can do now and the breadth of the many people who are using it. When it first came out, you could do topography, have some political boundaries and rivers, and that was all great geodata. But now, in that Downtown Wayfinding program we were figur-
ing out that transportation could actually use geospatial data to pinpoint where the [street] signs are, and that connects with 311, and 311 could tell them to send a crew out, just from the geospatial data of someone looking at a pole and seeing that the light on the pole is out. It just makes the city more usable for people.
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Smart City
VELMA: When you envision Austin twenty years from now, what does it look like to you? CHRISTINE: Hopefully a lot denser and with a lot better transportation—I mean public transit. I hope [for] that for Austin. It’s only going to keep growing and in twenty years I hope to see a city that grew responsibly and understood where it was going early on, accepted that change, and tried to steer it in a good direction.
“I think Austin’s still suffering a little bit from the mistakes we made twenty to thirty years ago, and it takes a long time to make those changes for the future.” Christine Freundl Photo by Danie Selby
Velma’s Featured Contributor Michael Mallard, Photographer
Being a storyteller at heart, I think one of the greatest things about photography is the way it freezes a single moment in time that will never occur again. I seek to capture the beauty that lies just beneath the surface of those distinctive moments in life. Live life to the fullest, let the moments happen, and the stories will tell themselves. Michael Mallard – www.mallardshots.com
Velma’s Back Pages Velma features stories about women in Austin working within the tech/startup industry. Velma embodies smart, talented women who aren’t afraid of saying the wrong thing, and our readers are too busy getting things done to notice they’re breaking through barriers. Since our readers are so busy, Velma provides resources for the following activities:
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Resources - Connect
Velma Jobs Board Velma Magazine helps students on the professional track practice techniques, broaden skills, and advance their job qualifications as a part of the required coursework. Each internship runs for six months and requires a time commitment of ten to fifteen hours per month. If you’d like to apply, please send an email with cover letter, portfolio, and resume to staff@ velmamagazine.com
Journalism Internship Velma is looking for a smart, fast-thinking intern well versed in current tech trends and eager to learn the ways of Velma’s editorial team. You’ll be reporting to Velma’s lead editor, who shepherds our monthly article production strategy. Most of your time will be spent assisting the editors and following up with writers. You’ll be expected to perform at a high level with short turnarounds—and love it!
Design Internship Do you love creating original designs using Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign? If so, you’ll be able to assist Velma’s design team in layout and design of our magazine. Candidates must have a strong portfolio of previous layout work and must be able to prove proficiency in InDesign to do quick, accurate styles. We’re looking for talented, creative, inspiring individuals!
Communications Internship Support Velma’s communications team by researching inquiries and responding to comments from fans via Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, and emails; assisting with special events; and working with the Velma editorial team. Duties will also include administration for the communications team lead, in addition to maintaining contact lists and behavior analytics tracking.
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Resources - Discover
Imagine Austin Meetup Imagine living in a complete community. Imagine Austin envisions that for all Austinites. This comprehensive plan helps address Austin’s most pressing issues and guides how our city transforms in the future. The plan, adopted in 2012, was co-created to reflect Austin’s values and aspirations. Today, Imagine Austin is being “co-implemented” with contributions throughout the city.
More info: http://www.meetup.com/Imagine-Austin/
The Maker Co-Op A group of Austin Artists and Makers who find it much more helpful (and fun) when we team up. Collectively, we craft our high-quality handmade goods from paintbrushes, pencils, silk screens, sewing machines, hand tools, and lasers—yes, lasers. Mostly, we’re passionate about our work and we’re delighted to be sharing it with you.
More info: http://themakercoop.com/
Austin Futurist Meetup The next three to forty years will undoubtedly bring unprecedented changes to all aspects of humanity. This group seeks to engage in serious analysis of what the future might hold.
More info: http://www.meetup.com/Austin-Futurists/
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Resources - Discover
Central Texas World Future Society The Central Texas World Future Society is a nonprofit educational and networking organization. Our members come from all walks of life, professions, ages, and experiences. We are drawn together by a common desire to learn how emerging issues, disruptive technologies, ongoing trends, and current events interact to shape our collective future.
More info: http://www.meetup.com/CentralTexasWorldFutureSociety/
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Resources - Eat & Drink
The Silo on 7th A perfect spot to spend a Sunday afternoon or an evening after work, Silo on 7th is a relaxed, friendly local spot with a massive bar that can accommodate any drink order. Plus, they have the best burgers on the East Side.
Where: 1300 East 7th Street, Austin, TX More info: http://www.siloonseventh.com/
School House Pub “The theme is carried out from start to finish creating a really great environment!”—Yelp Reviewer
Where: 2207 Manor Road, Austin, TX More info: http://www.schoolhousepub.com/
Nomad Bar Geeks Who Drink Trivia every Thursday night!
Where: 1213 Corona Drive, Austin, TX More info: http://nomadbar.com/
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Resources - Spend
Golden Bones Boutique and Salon Owners Bijou Finney and Kassi have known each other since high school and started Golden Bones Boutique and Salon in 2012. The shop is your one-stop for wardrobe styling, hair, and makeup.
Where: 1601 W. Koenig Lane More info: http://www.goldenbonesatx.com/
Support Velma! Velma is raising funds to cover the cost of producing monthly issues of the magazine for distribution via the Apple Store and Google Play. Every dollar helps us reach our goal of engaging readers on any type of device. Visit http://www.gofundme.com/velmamagapp to make a donation.
Reading Recommendation Thinking: The New Science of Decision-Making, Problem-Solving, and Prediction by John Brockman (Paperback Price: $11.12) Do you believe you’re a good forecaster? This fine compilation of essays written by some of today’s leading thinkers will cause you to reflect upon—and improve—some of your flawed assumptions. Buy it on Amazon
Soma Vida Get the mind-body connection where you work. Our coworking community has been designed to meet the needs of entrepreneurs and organizations, offering the best opportunity for workspace, wellness, community, and business support. We provide the space you need to do what you love!
More info: http://www.somavida.net/workspace/ Cost: $20 drop-in, $25–$65/month Page 61
Resources - Spend
Reading Recommendation ReGENERATION: A Manifesto for America’s Future Leaders by Rebecca Ryan (Kindle price: $9.95) “I wrote ReGeneration because I felt an obligation to explore America’s previous winters, to draw lessons forward to today, and to lay out some ideas on how we—Gen Xers and Boomers, Millennials, and Traditionalists—can work together to make sure that America comes through this winter better, stronger.”—Rebecca Ryan Buy it on Amazon
Maker Square Start a new career in 2015! We focus on teaching proper software development. As a result, graduates have found jobs writing JavaScript using Angular, Backbone, and Ember, PHP, Java, Python and Django, as well as Ruby on Rails. In the first few weeks, you’ll practice test-driven development and learn how to structure an app. We also teach a heavy algorithms component and how programming languages work under the hood.
More info: http://www.makersquare.com/ Cost: $13,880
Falling for Money: 6 Weeks 2 Financial Freedom A good life means freedom to enjoy little luxuries, freedom from debt, and the freedom to enjoy retirement. Do you have the wealth you need to live your good life? In only 6 weeks, Krisstina Wise can teach you a proven system for achieving financial freedom. Save big when you use promo code VELMA.
More info: www.krisstina.com/fallingformoneycourse/
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