The Reason I’m Here is to Tell You Some Stories. #42 #cong24 #legacy

Synopsis:

Telling stories allows us to create a legacy.

Total Words

1,306

Reading Time in Minutes

5

Key Takeaways:

  1. The use of stories and storytelling helps us learn and remember the past it’s the way our human ancestors handed down stories for this reason.
  2. The personalised story of each storyteller is part of their unique DNA profile and,  as such, cannot be owned by any other person or corporation.
  3. Understanding our legacy in our lifetime helps families and communities understand where they come from and helps anchor humans in society to be a useful part of a knowledge bank worthy of passing on. 
  4. When we stop ignoring critical problems that affect our society and vote as a collective community, the World will be 
    a better place.

About Geraldine O'Brien:

Interior Architect and grandmother still seeking new ways to use my experience.

Contacting Geraldine O'Brien:

You can contact Geraldine by email

By Geraldine O’Brien

Anthropology and Archeology are ways we study the earth’s inhabitants and their lives,  past and present.  We have lost the voices of past generations. Individual word-of-mouth, image stories etc.
These stories are around for a couple of generations and then they sadly disappear.  
We are losing know-how and other irretrievable human knowledge that has been discovered and lost over time. 
Our lives and how we live them are unique to each person. 
These stories make up the social history of our time. They reflect our identity, our relationships, our family history legacies and our social data.
We need a better way to capture them for the future.
Stories have to be told, or they die, and when they die, we can’t remember who we are and why we are here  Sue Monk Kidd’s Secret Life of Bees.
The work experience that stood out for me in my design life was working for Magdalene Women.
The interior job was to rehome an ageing community of Catholic Nuns and a community of Magdalene Women (girls) who were still in the care of the nuns long after the Industrial Laundry closed.
The old convent, school and laundry buildings were being sold to Dublin City Council for redevelopment as the community had no further use for them. 
A new home was to be built for both nuns and women.
I felt privileged to see first-hand how both communities lived and experienced how the new building changed their lives for the better.  
Each girl had a profound story to tell me, and my empathy for the girls made me fight for them.  The nuns had taken vows of poverty and dedicated their lives of prayer when they joined the convent. Devoting their lives to God.
Some of the girls didn’t seem to understand questions I asked of them?  Having obtained permission to talk to both nuns and girls.  
They were equally my clients and I needed to understand each client’s needs.
“You know you are moving to your new home with your “own” room? 
Was as far as I got before they replied
 “The reason I’m here”. 
Followed by how and why are they still found themselves confined to a Magdalene Laundry. 
Not fully understanding at the time,  that they had been traumatised by their laundry experience and had been ostracised from their family and communities.  I felt unable to lift their spirits. 
I reflecting long after,  why they answered in that precise way. 
What they needed most was a clarification to know that they did exist in this  World. 
That the stories they each told me were real.  
Perhaps they were afraid they might forget, if they didn’t tell their story to anyone who would listen to them. 
Many years later, a thought struck me, what the traumatised girls wanted most was a Living Legacy of each of their stories. 
These stories resonated with me perhaps because of my interest in Storytelling. 
I found each of their stories believable and memorable.
What they asked me for on that day was a way to be heard and not forgotten.
Those brave Magdalene women left their life imprint on me that day.  
Those stories stayed with me for a long time, and the feeling I had missed solving the something yet to understood. Realising they had PTSD,  remained untreated in their lifetime.
The Magadelane Women were the genesis for building a prototype and business plan for a Digital Story Archive.
My idea was to give people a simple, fun way to capture and store their stories safely for the future.
Simple but not in practice. My prolonged search for funding for a non-profit business model such as this was not to be found at the time. 
Holding out hope, that one day I can add my findings to such an archive. 
The more I look at this problem, the more it is clear to me that. 
Humans need a safe way to leave a Living Legacy to understand and live a fulfilled life.
Doing so has health and educational benefits for society.
I continue to find research to back up my theory.
I attended an open day at The National Library of Ireland for Europeana. The Digital European Archive supported by the European Union.
To have a better understanding of what prompted people to attend,  events such as this.
Europeana wanted to digitise and collect some personal stories from WW11 for the Archive. 
Six hundred people attended that day,  the largest attendance in all the British Isles. 
One lady told me a story about her brother,  who had joined the British Army. 
How when he returned home,  He found his wife had remarried. 
She had been informed, he had died on the battlefield. She had remarried and had children with her new partner.
Finding himself now homeless, with no chance of getting work in a post-war Ireland. 
Being stigmatised by his community for fighting for Britain. 
He did marry again,  his second wife was a school teacher,  and she supported and cared for him. 
He fought depression and PTSD for the rest of his life.
As She was now the only member left of that family.  Her brothers ration book was her only rememberance of his life. 
Meeting a Father and Son who came to have their Father and Grandfather remembered. 
He had been decorated,  and several books recounted his courageous feats of saving his regiment, He sadly died on the battlefield. The family had his uniform, helmet and other memorabilia,  
As His was a more provable story,  Europeana digitised their story that day.  
The many others attendees with stories that day were not so fortunate.
Dr Jonny Walker Having trained as a radiologist in Australia and worked as a Flying Doctor in the  Outback with the Aboriginal communities.  
He since moved to Ireland. and now practices in Dublin.  
He talks about his work experience with that communty and how impactful they were on his life. He mentioned in passing at a talk that I attended. 
 “The word to ostracise or to be ostracise comes from Aboriginal culture” He said.
When the elders vote to eject a person for a misdeed in their community. 
“That person was shown The Bone”. The meaning was clear that they no longer belonged to the community.  Without a community to belong to,  was a certain death sentence in the Outback.
My last story is about a homeless agency that published a coffee table book to publicise their agency and service. 
One of the stories in the book was about one of their residents.  
Who, when shown his picture next to his story,  ran away shouting, “I am real, and I am alive”.  Similarities between the Magadelane Woman and the homeless man.
Feeling they had both been ostracised from families and community and they didn’t believe they existed.

I Secretly Read Children’s Books #5 #cong23 #reality

Synopsis:

Children seem to know the difference between reality and real life even though they spend a lot of their lives playing and living in their imagined life.

Total Words

1,068

Reading Time in Minutes

4

Key Takeaways:

  1. Not to forget to learn from the past and how can society benefit from it.
  2. Getting in touch with our inner child can still support us in many ways.
  3. How apt the lyrics for” Video Killed the Video Star” 44 years later.
  4. Not to diminish children early in their life, to help them retain skills they have already learned?

About Geraldine O'Brien:

Interior Architect and grandmother still seeking new ways to use my experience.

Contacting Geraldine O'Brien:

You can contact Geraldine by email

By Geraldine O’Brien

Children seem to know the difference between reality and real life even though they spend a lot of their lives playing and living in their imagined life.

This thought surprised me !

My inner child encouraging me to followed this tread, to see where it lead.

It reminded me of a younger self and how. I had finally learnt to read. She could transport her self away from the reality of life and into a magical world which some days was better than the realty of my situation at that time.

Many years ago I came across Mac Barnett, a children’s writer based in San Francisco.

His wonderful TedTalk “Why A Good Book Is Like A Secret Door”. It still has the ability to make me laugh out loud many years later.

I love his mischievous style and have bought many of his books as gifts for children, and secretly I read them myself.

I got to meet him in Dublin when he was here on a book tour I was delighted to find he was just as disarming in real life as he was in his TedTalk.
While visiting San Francisco some years ago. I visited some of the magical places places he recommended in his TedTalk, dragging my family along with me. They were exactly as he said zany and very imaginative.

As we can be influenced by many things around us, I don’t want to take accidental credit from Mac Barnett should I inadvertently have used his words and or ideas for framing this blog.

I knew exactly what he was talking about when he mentions “Wonder and crossing over into Narnia” and how we can relearn as adults how to visit this magical spaces in childish our minds.

If you like to watch this talk.

I have two beautiful granddaughters. Their mother and father are doing a great job parenting them, especially as the oldest was born during Covid lockdown and they all lived with us until very recently. I feel very privileged to have shared their lives from birth.

I am now able to converse with the oldest, she can now tell you what she needs or wants as she is very proudly “three”. She loves books as well as her grandmother She has twigged that books are a great source of stories and knowledge and I am her willing co conspirator.

Recently on visit she presented me with a book to read for her.

Four books later, I was getting weary and was looking for a gentle way to distract her without breaking the wonder of this time together so I asked her to tell me a story. Her eyes filled with  excitement and she asked “What story“ ?

“You decide” was all she needed to begin to tell “Her story”.

I decided I wanted to record her so I has a digital memory of her at this charming age of her life.

As she is a child of the 21 C she is already desensitised to her parents LifeCacheing or LifeStreaming her young life, in videos and photos mainly.

She happily obliged me. Starting again but this time she began illustrate her story using her voice, face and body to explain and illustrate her emotions. Which in turn greatly enhanced my experience of her story.

I should explain, her favourite music and film is ABBA and Mamma Mia. She has learned from ABBA and Mamma Mia how she can hold peers and adults attention in a very engaged way. Using these methods.

Driving home later I remembered the song by the Bumbles, Video Killed the Radio Star, thinking to myself  that she is already a video star.
Looking up the lyrics later, I realised how relevant the song still is.

I was surprised to see it still is very current despite being released in 1979. It was the first video played on the MTV music station.

The story behind  ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ Is about nostalgia referring to technological change in the 1960’s and the desire to remember the past and the disappointment that children will never be able to experience that time.

We are currently experiencing unprecedented growth in AI which may allow children of the 21C, experience the past in ways that have been unimagined before. Sometimes the reality of our lives is too much to handle and why it’s good to remember to see things through the eyes of a child.

My reality is to try to live as much as I can in the present.

As a designer whose job is to problem solve for my clients on daily basis.

I find that the ability I use everyday is my imagination.

Creatively escaping  from the reality of daily life so I can indulge in and play in my minds eye, to find a creative solutions for my problems.

It’s important not to diminish children early in life, from using these already honed and valuable skills of curity, imagination and play. These are skills that they have already learned during early childhood before they negotiate the education system of the 21C.

I can see how ChatGPT and other AI companies has helped us to explore how these skills can be used and applied for good and bad. I think it’s early days yet. I am concerned about what will be lost in the the rush to monetise this technology.

To borrow a phrase from Mac Barnett’s TED Talk “Its all about the” Art” in the Venn Diagram” Or to say it another way, to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water.

I am Just Human #22 #cong22

Synopsis:

My journey of understand Purpose reflecting on Viktor Frankl book Man’s Search For Meaning.

Total Words

656

Reading Time in Minutes

3

Key Takeaways:

  1. Purpose.
  2. Shedding the skins of our past live.
  3. Freeing ourselves to do so.

About Geraldine O'Brien

Interior Architect seeking new ways to use my experience. To find my purpose.

Contacting Geraldine O'Brien

You can reach Geraldine by email

By Geraldine O’Brien

I Am Just Human.
Purpose.

We do certain things or act in certain ways as a result of the ups and downs we have lived through.

These lived experiences can change the direction of our lives.

I found myself rereading the book Man’s Search For Meaning by Dr.Viktor Frankl, not realising how intimately personal I would find Viktor Frankl’s words. The book is about a tribute to hope from the Holcaust.

The journey of how Frankl had to come to terms with life after the camps and how he found a way to continue living and in doing so he understood his life’s purpose. Dr Frankl was both a practising neurologist and psychiatrist before the war. His background allowed him to review his camp experiences. Studying the behaviours and reactions of the camp commanders and guards gave him the courage, humility and forgiveness to consider them through a different lens. This understanding gave him a sense of purpose and peace for the remaining years of his life choosing to learn from this inhuman experience for the benefit of others. His occupational experience helped him come to terms with what happened to him during the Holocaust. It gave him tools to continue to live and understand his patients better, rather than allow his bitter death camp scars dictate his world. He lost his family and his whole world during World War II. He saw the full implications of what human nature is capable of in extreme circumstances, yet he used his suffering in developing Institutes of Logotherapy around the World.

Shedding the skins of past of our past live.

In trying to view my own life through the lens of Dr. Frankl’s words, I find commonalities and understanding of my own bitter scars. Writing about this is like starting to shed a protective layer of myself. Each piece I write is like shedding an old skin, adding to the discovery of a new layer of self understanding. This process of skin shedding seems to demand that I make peace with the many old skins I have carried with me for protection.
It’s better to hold on to something you understand than take a risk, jumping off the cliff or taking the leap. There are still many cliffs I need to face and mountains to climb.

Believing I could write a piece for Cong, was a huge revelation for me. As to do so it involved shedding old, mainly primary and secondary school beliefs and developing a new protective layer of skills.

A Liberation.

Finding my voice again to speak in public, which entailed finding the right coach at the right time and enabling me to jump off another cliff.

Freeing ourselves to do so.

I seem aware of having a vague control over my life, having developed personal values with the help of a good therapist when I was young. These values have sustained me throughout my life, in both good and bad times. An understanding of all things will pass in time, perhaps has been my lens to view my life. A feeling of if I were to die before I expected to, I could be at peace.

Being able to fight for another day. A feeling of having done it before.

Dr. Frankl liked to quote Nietzche; “He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how”.

If you are looking for direction in your life start here, it is impossible not to find something worthwhile in his words.

Leadership Legacies

Can we Create Lasting Legacies #12 #cong21

Synopsis:

A leader is a dealer in hope Napoleon.
Made me question some of quality a leader needs to stay relevant.

Total Words

787

Reading Time in Minutes

3

Key Takeaways:

  1. A leader is a dealer in hope.
  2. Valued customers and will stay loyal.
  3. Someday, whistleblowers will be rewarded for their public service.
  4. Leaders in all parts of society need to be accountable.

About Geraldine O'Brien:

Curious and very chatty in person.

Contacting Geraldine O'Brien

You can follow Geraldine on on Twitter or reach her via email.

Leadership Legacies

By Geraldine O’Brien

“A leader is a dealer in hope”

The most optimistic from all my searches about leadership returns this quote from Napoleon Bonapart.
I was surprised to note it still felt apt in the current world. I am lucky to be optimistic by nature. I try to make the best out of a bad situation.
Having hope helps you deal with life in uncomfortable times.

Valued customers stay loyal
Knowing I am currently at a low ebb in my views about inappropriate leadership around the world and both seeing and reading about others who are equally disheartened I have come full circle on an insight I had a few years ago.

How could I develop trust in a business?

The realisation is that customers put their ”trust” in those with an unquestioned understanding that their needs and expectations will be met.

Some of the ways like the B Corp movement (1) and the Edelman Trust Barometer (1a) since 2013 usually align with what I see happening around.

As a student I worked at John Lewis in London and it was my first experience of being a stakeholder. It made me work harder as it gave me a reason to be part of something bigger. It inspired me that If ever I had my own business it would be truthful and inclusive and yes I would become a B Corp.

To build this trust the company should show transparency in their dealings and in order for customers to trust a company it’s up to leaders in business to find ways of helping them to stay loyal.

Elected politicians have become mired in underhand dealings. They too could adopt transparent measures to help show they are open and trustworthy.

Leaders in all parts of society need to be accountable
Courageous whistleblowers and journalists working together have exposed world stories that might not otherwise reach public awareness. The Facebook Files is a collaboration from Jeff Horwitz of The Wall Street Journal and Frances Haugen in which she highlights inconsistencies she dealt with while working at Facebook and reveals how powerful companies find it difficult to maintain the original ethos of the company vision.

“There were conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook,” she said during the interview. “And Facebook over and over again chose to optimise for its own interests like making more money.”(2)
Mark Zuckerberg wants to create something visionary, but perhaps the pressures of having to be The Facebook does not sit well with being a for profit company constantly having to add more countries to its network. It is hard to live up to a big vision. Facebook is not the only company to adapt its original vision faced with scaling a public company and satisfying shareholders.

Other anonymous whistleblowers gave the world the Panama Papers, the Princess Papers and the Pandora Papers all revealing the offshore and other unethical practices of many of the biggest Leaders in Politics and Business around the world.

Leaders in all parts of society need to be accountable and begin to show citizens and customers that trust matters. Perhaps that will go some way to giving citizens hope for a better future. I was excited and pleased to hear the news that journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia had won the Nobel Peace Prize (3)

Someday whistleblowers will be rewarded for their public service.

In this age of disinformation and lack of transparency it is breathtaking how close countries are to losing or have already lost hard fought democratic rights.

Leaders of governments and businesses are being asked to step up to the plate to solve big societal problems, the most urgent is climate change.

Being signatures of the 17 UN sustainable goals (4.) help to give business, politicians and citizens a north star to work towards a fairer society for all.

These are some of my seeds of hope I see on the horizon and some emerging leaders who are happy to show their true selves.

1.https://hbr.org/2016/06/why-companies-are-becoming-b-corporations
from.bthechange@bcorporation.net newsletter available
1a.https://www.edelman.com/trust
2. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-facebook-files-11631713039
3.https://www.nobelprize.org/
4.https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/about-us/sustainable-development-goals-sdgs-and-disability.html

Food For Pandemic Thought #4 #cong20

Synopsis:

Our lock down experiences have given us time to think.
These reflections can sustain us in the future..

Total Words

1,461

Reading Time in Minutes

6

Key Takeaways:

  1. No matter what age we are we are capable of change.
  2. No man or women is an island, we are all on this planet together and need to act for each other.
  3. Pandemic data is a treasure map for the future.
  4. I value and love my family friends more.

About Geraldine O'Brien

 I qualified from DIT in 1977 with a Dip I.D. I worked in New York and London using my design skills Then returning to Ireland in the 1980s worked with Kilkenny Design for six years before starting my own practice Geraldine O’Brien Design (1986-2009). My experience at Kilkenny Design influenced my freelance work considerably both as a designer and educator.

I have always sought variety in my interior/exhibition work and welcome the challenge and the opportunity for personal development. Projects have ranged from rehousing of Magdalen women to purpose built accommodation, refurbishment of a five storey Fitzwilliam Square Georgian house and mews, sheltered accommodation, nursing homes, general residential interiors and exhibitions for the craft industry.

I was commissioned by The Crafts Council of Ireland to deliver a training programme to benefit emerging crafts people across the country and developed a format incorporating lectures, mentoring and provision of workshops between 1986-1998.

Since 2009 I have been in practice with my husband in our firm McCarthy O’Brien Architects and Designers. MCOB in Dublin. We have two adult children in professional careers.

What is fundamental to the way I work, whether designing an interior, an exhibition or a craft display, is listening to the client or craft maker, getting to know their style and their story so as to create a space and ambience that preserves their individuality and help them create something special.

Contacting Geraldine O'Brien:

 You can contact Geraldine by email or connect with her on LinkedIn

By Geraldine O’Brien.

Imagining Society 3.0

Food for pandemic thought.

I find it fascinating how Covid19 has pushed and shaped us to adapt or be left behind.
What does this mean for society 3.0. Could we draw some parallels?

Covid19 has shown us how quickly and adaptable a society can be to retrain, no matter what age people are in order to survive. Masks, zoom, working from home, plastic money, staying home for the greater good, etc. are now the accepted norms.

I never expected to live through a plague or pandemic in my lifetime.

At various times I’ve thought about what it might be like to live during a World War as my parents and grandparents did, even if their accounts were more removed as they lived in neutral Eire. As a child I remember vividly how petrified I was when the papers had headlines like “The World is Going to End in Two Days!”.

Many of my story books back then gave accounts from a children’s perspective of what it was like and how they coped. These accounts shaped my takeaways.

Headlines that provoked fearful thinking about death was in a funny way something I found helped me face uncomfortable things, arming me in many ways.

A self taught lesson from my childhood reflections was to be prepared as much as I could. Talking about dying is still a taboo subject in today’s society. If we were to begin to talk more openly about it, we might find it less fearful. Would it help us to value our lives?

Covid19 has challenged us in many ways including making us realise that anybody can become infected and die sometimes through no fault of their own. It is frightening but that’s not a reason to talk more openly about it. My reflections have made me value what’s around me. I can’t control when I will die, but it allows me to make the best of what I have, without hurting others.

But what can you do when the enemy is invisible? Trying to inform ourselves seems to be driving the increased book sales for plague books during the pandemic.

People just like me want to understand and be prepared.

I prepared what I could as I waited for the Government to direct us. Thankfully, after a few dodgy weeks the Government did what was needed. Yes, in parts the advice seemed nuts at times and we will have to wait to see how we will all recover and how best to reinvent ourselves. Could we be more aware of the self learning knowledge our Covid19 experiences give us?

This collective social knowledge is a valuable resource that can help us measure all of our experiences and record them for future research. Having this data will help us prepare and hopefully be a force for good. A treasure map of sorts for the future leading to a better world?

One current project shows a way we can use our knowledge beneficially.

DCU is archiving the Irish lived social experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is inspired by the Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) COVID-19 Oral History project adapted for Irish requirements including GDPR compliance.

Anyone can leave an account of their Covid experience for the future, I can now leave an account for my first grandchild who was born during Covid. She will be able to access this archive and see accounts of what happened around the time she was born. Like living history from the real people who lived through a pandemic and are unlikely to be challanged by conspiracy theorists later.

Recently my sister texted me to sign a petition to stop the Sandymount Beach Road in Dublin being reconfigured to reduce traffic and install cycle lanes.

A number of County Councils have also taken over more road space for ‘temporary’ new cycle lanes, a brave decision on their part using the lockdown to test reactions. I like the idea of installing more cycling lanes and making it more people friendly.

I’ve had conversations with a couple of Sandymount friends, whose main reason to object to the cycle lanes is a buildup of traffic in the Village of Sandymount.

While I can see their point It seems to me that commuters will make changes themselves finding better faster routes and modes of travel once traffic systems are changed, aided in future by computers with real time data which will also prompt people into more radical changes. A move into the city has changed my thinking and methods of transport and the car is the last form of transport I consider when not too long ago it was the first.

Feeling rebel like I didn’t sign the cycle lane petition. I am viewing it as an indication that my behaviour is more open, changing and am embracing it. Wondering and hoping that others are up for change now that we have an enforced reflection time imposed on us?

Knowing I can change I am open to the possibility of experiences I never imagined.
If we don’t encourage people to engage, we stay static as a society. I now see this initiative as the start of the beginnings of better towns and cities for the future?

Yes, I see how unfairly Covid has dealt it’s bitter cards. The daily crushingly cruel numbers that are still rising and falling and many people suffering long term health effects. I am feeling grateful that my family and friends are well. A good friend lost her lovely dad before his time, her mum is coping well and is an inspiration to me and others.

Keeping your friends and family close in new ways. Thinking of them, reflecting how much you value and care about them and keeping in touch virtually.

Has Covid made us gentler humans, helped us to begin to realise less is more?

Maybe the future is learning to expect the unexpected, finding out that we can live through uncertain times. Revisiting and re-evaluating will help society improve as more data becomes available allowing for little changes to be made that can make lives better. I am hopeful that if I can change I am not alone in my thinking?
We are a species that do better in herds. Isolation and being cooped up does not allow us to act in everybody’s best interest.

Acceptance that we still can evolve even though it’s hard for us to imagine that as we age. Knowing we recently did gives us hope that we can mould our new experiences in the future to suit, without it being totally about ourselves. Perhaps we can bend society to accept that doing something for the greater good is superior than doing everything just for ourselves.

Tribal or Google Rules #23 #cong19

Synopsis:

Our society is based on values developed by tribes and communities based in the past. Technology has blasted itself into our lives, making us question how we should act in society now. We are unprepared for this pace and how it affects our online and offline communities. How can we begin to lay down human values that can help, nurture, respect and care for future human society?

4 Key Takeaways:

  1. Tribal collective knowledge, We can learn from the past not to continually shoot ourselves in the foot.
  2. Because you can build something doesn’t mean you should.
  3. We are losing more than our identity, we are losing our sense of self.
  4. Respect is as important as empathy to survive in this coming robotic age.

About Geraldine O'Brien:

I qualified from DIT in 1977 with a Dip I.D. I worked in New York and London using my design skills Then returning to Ireland in the 1980s worked with Kilkenny Design for six years before starting my own practice Geraldine O’Brien Design (1986-2009). My experience at Kilkenny Design influenced my freelance work considerably both as a designer and educator.

I have always sought variety in my interior/exhibition work and welcome the challenge and the opportunity for personal development. Projects have ranged from rehousing of Magdalen women to purpose built accommodation, refurbishment of a five storey Fitzwilliam Square Georgian house and mews, sheltered accommodation, nursing homes, general residential interiors and exhibitions for the craft industry.

I was commissioned by The Crafts Council of Ireland to deliver a training programme to benefit emerging crafts people across the country and developed a format incorporating lectures, mentoring and provision of workshops between 1986-1998.

Since 2009 I have been in practice with my husband in our firm McCarthy O’Brien Architects and Designers. MCOB in Dublin. We have two adult children in professional careers.

What is fundamental to the way I work, whether designing an interior, an exhibition or a craft display, is listening to the client or craft maker, getting to know their style and their story so as to create a space and ambience that preserves their individuality and help them create something special.

Contacting Geraldine O'Brien:

You can contact Geraldine by email or connect with her on LinkedIn.

By Geraldine O’Brien

The african tribal saying “it takes a tribe to raise a child” speaks of the collective knowledge in society and the importance of passing the knowledge down to younger generations. In Nigeria, where this saying is said to have originated, tribal elders were the keepers of this knowledge and it took the work of the tribe as a whole for the collective to survive. 

The internet has enabled us to communicate across borders engaging with humans and robots alike expanding the world-community in an unprecedented way. Google is now the keeper of much of the world’s collective knowledge, it is no longer hand-picked by the tribe or community elders to align with the traditional social values and customs accepted by our communities. Instead technology companies are deciding what is acceptable, based on free business models driven by profits for shareholders. This is done through terms and conditions which are primarily built to protect the platform and less-so the user. What about human values, customs and traditions ? It seems this responsibility is delegated to state regulation. 

The saying “build it and they will come” doesn’t mean just because you can build it you should, which is often the way with tech-startup culture.

Edelman’s annual trust barometer indicates that it’s incredibly hard to restore trust once it’s lost or damaged and more recently many technology companies have begun to experience the unintended circumstances of their actions.

A recent example of broken trust in a company was Theranos, a now defunct US technology company. The company convinced investors to invest $724 million in their business which sought to deliver a finger prick blood technology to detect several diseases. The company was excessively secretive and they fooled their investors for some time. Internal whistleblowers exposed the companies shortcomings and it is now under investigation for fraud. One such whistleblower employee Erika Cheung, learned from her bad experiences with Theranos, and went on to found a nonprofit called Ethics in Entrepreneurship  their mission is to educate startups and businesses in ethical challenges and build tools to support them. It’s encouraging to see companies empowering technology for good.

Facebook regularly turned their customers into test beds, experimenting on live users without their knowledge or consent and using that personal information for their sole gain.  Surrendering your date of birth, contact information and image rights essentially our biometric data has become par for the course when signing up to big platforms and once given is not easily retrieved. 

I am someone who hates having my picture taken and I was recently told that I shared this affliction with South Sea Islanders, however, the reasons why may differ. The Islanders are said to believe that having your photograph captured could take your soul or your spirit. Images are now big business and are monetised in many ways, some of which take advantage of our personal identity data. This includes our memories, thoughts and knowledge, vital parts of our identity. To preserve who we are, it’s important for humanity to protect our personal identity including our DNA. Our identity comes in many forms; our biometrics but also our less tangible self, our presence on this planet. They are part of our stamp on life and tell the story of the imprint of our time.

We the customers seem to have become the product yet we are paying with our personal identity data. Companies that continually test products and services and put trust at the cornerstone of business recognise the importance of looking after their community. Is it time that we as a society implement rules that mandate the protection of customers over products or services ? Perhaps this so called “free” advertising model could evolve into a “we pay you for your data” model as users now understand the value of their data.

There are many recent examples of a customers personal identity being left compromised by online businesses.The minimal recent fines that have been ordered in response to such incidents in the technology industry are only a slap on the wrist. In many of these cases often it is only in the future that the extent of human damage caused comes to light.

Dr Jonny Walker an Australian radiologist and serial health entrepreneur who has worked with aboriginals in the outback spoke about their traditions, cultures and beliefs. Walker has spoken of how a tribal member “being shown the bone”  by their tribe, specifically the tribal elders, resulted in a sentence of ostracisation the most severe sentence that could be administered leading to extreme isolation. Humans are social animals and the loss of human touch and interaction can cause us to lose our physical sense of self and identity.

Experiencing isolation or alienation is not an unusual occurrence in online communities, although to survive humans need to be nurtured. Cultivating a sense of belonging, connection, and respect is vital for the health of the tribe. To me these values are the essential ingredients for the human cause in the fight against a cyborg society.

It’s no longer strange to see people walking down the street talking to themselves, and not taking in their surroundings. Technology allows us to connect with family and friends world-wide all the time, however, an occasional emergence from our tech bubble to reconnect with humanity is beneficial for our emotional health. I am fighting back in my own ways, acknowledging people as I pass them on the street with a smile, a nod, a wave, or a comment.  Asking after the person who is serving me in shops restaurants, trying to make a point to say thank you especially on buses. I sometimes find myself apologising to my dogs, spiders, flowers etc. when I unintentionally hurt things, I have kept this secret to myself until recently as it makes me sound more nutty than I already appear. I look at it as fighting for my own humanity in the struggle against the cyborgs. Maybe in the future we will speak to IOS devices, chat bots, etc. with the same respect, as its about values. 

The Irish State is currently gathering sensitive citizens data in defiance of its own data regulator Helen Dixon, within the remit of the Personal Services Card it will be breathtaking to see how this works out. European Court of Justice previously ruled in favour on a case brought by Digital Rights Ireland.

That data gathering must have a clear legal purpose and be transparent and proportionate is the basis for data protection laws.

It’s a dangerous time when our Government takes its own regulator to court. Especially when Ireland is home to so many large data gathering companies. We need to be sending a clear message to technology and other business that it is our humanity that is at stake.

To me it’s clear; if we are to survive the robotic age we need to remember to respect, nurture and consider others in our community regardless if we find ourselves online or off.

 

They are my customers and so I walk in their paw prints or building client relationships #13 #cong18

Synopsis:

My life has been shaped by my experiences, some good, some not so good.
These experiences are what has made me, and have been added to my emotional knowledge data bank. This store of memories I regularly revisit, a bit like having my own Google search brain on board, one of the many dyslexic skills I was gifted with. Being dyslexic also gives me an ability to reverse engineer problems along with quick thinking.
Thoughts and ideas consume my brain most of the day.

4 Key Takeaways:

  1. Storytelling helps us to understand concepts quickly and makes them more memorable.
  2. Our brains have 50,000 thoughts a day according to the National Science Foundation of America, 95% which are repeated.
  3. The quieter voices of society are not always heard.
  4. Learning to walk in other people shoes also teaches empathy and makes us better people.
  5. I find storytelling a useful testing format to help me explain, to myself and others the many ideas that go through my head on a daily basis and where and why they originate

About Geraldine O'Brien:

I qualified from DIT in 1977 with a Dip I.D. I worked in New York and London using my design skills Then returning to Ireland in the 1980s worked with Kilkenny Design for six years before starting my own practice Geraldine O’Brien Design (1986-2009). My experience at Kilkenny Design influenced my freelance work considerably both as a designer and educator.

I have always sought variety in my interior/exhibition work and welcome the challenge and the opportunity for personal development. Projects have ranged from rehousing of Magdalen women to purpose built accommodation, refurbishment of a five storey Fitzwilliam Square Georgian house and mews, sheltered accommodation, nursing homes, general residential interiors and exhibitions for the craft industry.

I was commissioned by The Crafts Council of Ireland to deliver a training programme to benefit emerging crafts people across the country and developed a format incorporating lectures, mentoring and provision of workshops between 1986-1998.

Since 2009 I have been in practice with my husband in our firm McCarthy O’Brien Architects and Designers. MCOB in Dublin. We have two adult children in professional careers.

What is fundamental to the way I work, whether designing an interior, an exhibition or a craft display, is listening to the client or craft maker, getting to know their style and their story so as to create a space and ambience that preserves their individuality and help them create something special.

Contacting Geraldine O'Brien:

You can contact Geraldine by email or connect with her on LinkedIn.

By Geraldine O’Brien

Our dogs need to be walked at least once on a daily basis.
On one of these recent daily adventures into the unknown, Grizz our border terrier, came to a full stop at the fork in the road. Pulling or dragging the lead made absolutely no difference. I was impatient as I was in a hurry to get back home to do more important ‘things’.

Problem:
Stuck Dog Syndrome.
The Grizz enforced stop is what we now call his ‘stuck dog syndrome’ forced me to find a solution and as I bent down to lift him wriggling into my arms it struck me “Ah he wants to go to the beach”. One fork in the road was more concrete and similar to more ‘lead of torture’ he remembered from previous walks and the other was much more inviting as it led to the beach, soft sand and no lead and oh so much more interesting smells.
I empathised with him and I gave in.

Enjoying and seeing him revelling in his excitement in his new found freedom, made me ponder. How could I give him that enjoyment more regularly?

It was a beautiful day anyway and so off we went to the beach and I joined him pulling off my shoes allowing myself to follow in the soft sand of his paw tracks.
I recalled the endless pacing of Spunky, Dublin Zoo’s famous female polar bear who was constantly depressed and I wondered was I responsible for making our dogs lives miserable as I was the one who ruled their lives and decided when they got their dinner and walks. They had to be endlessly patient. I felt horrible and until now never realised I was their jailor in effect.

Idea:
“Wouldn’t it be good if we had robots for dog walking ? You could programme his favorite routes and other fun activities. Robots are more patient than humans, won’t mind the wet etc”.

I soon realised it would take some time before that would happen and finding a patient fun dog walker was a better option for now.

I still like that idea and have hung on to it just in case.

Fast forward a couple of years we have now been joined by Grizz’s twin sister Meg. They are both very cute and clever in their own ways. I find it fascinating to see how they have different forms of intelligence a bit like observing the differences between my son and my daughter.

Grizz is much much bigger than Meg, He is much softer and gentler but still can’t open doors like she can. Meg on the other hand spent her early years on a farm and as the baby of the litter had to fight for her place. Grizz should be the Alpha Dog but it’s little Meg who calls the shots.

Our recent walks to the park have been unusually peppered by “stuck dog syndrome” so finding an empathic way to stop it was on my mind, recalling my idea of robot walkers.
Just as I went to let them off the ‘lead of torture’ I spied another dog in close proximity and had learned by now that this might not be such a good idea. Grizz and Meg had told me on many previous occasions they did not like boxers.

“That big fellow bit me when I was a puppy” Grizz.
“He scares me and sniffs me without asking my permission” Meg.

My daughter taught me ‘dog speak’ when she was young. She now walks in her customers shoes as she is a vet.

I decided to go the other way around the park and so as not to meet the boxer full on and hopefully have a less stressful walk for all of us, I released them. Off they danced delighted to be free, both in different directions. Grizz was more leisurely and Meg hared off into the undergrowth, I followed her as she is the more unpredictable. Thankfully Grizz followed me and when the initial excitement calmed I saw happy excited dogs and resolved to try and make their walks more exciting in future.

I was beginning to feel good about myself as we walked home. Then passing a building site a builder dropped a very noisy metal canister on the road which turned them into two very quaking dogs straining on the ‘lead of torture’ desperately trying to run away into what was the path of a fast oncoming car. Thankfully I was able to hang on to them.
The disgruntled car owner drove away shaking his head. It took a little while for all of us to calm down including the driver. Aware of all the sounds around us – cars, lorries, jackhammers, drilling, screeching, door slamming, etc. it was no wonder we all were trembling.

It took a while to reach home as they ran away from all manner of distractions, passing runners, baby buggies and other dogs. I felt sorry for them. Could this be a possible form of posttraumatic stress disorder developing ? For weeks afterwards there was lots of ‘stuck dog syndrome. We now vary our routes to the park on a daily basis to help their PTSD. We are learning to understand what they are thinking and so better able to give them a better life. I like to try and tune in to my Grizz and Meg as I am their human robot for now.
They are my customers and so I walk in their paw prints.

Lessons to self for everyday negotiated living and survival.

Our human lives are not too dissimilar to Grizz and Megs. We are all trying to negotiate the ups and downs of our daily lives, finding new ways and ideas to make our paths easier.
I am a daily disrupter of anything that in my opinion is broken. Size doesn’t matter I’ll give it a go with my busy mind.I am mindful that the development of ideas often are not fully worked out can be harmful or user unfriendly. For me ideas come from knowledge and understanding and being open to how ‘the idea’ will be used.

I discovered my own “I have a dream” idea to give anyone a simple way to tell their life story. LifeStor is about building a Digital Story Archive.
It is not an easy project to develop and is teaching me the virtue of patience. As part of the learning curve, I pursued a HDip. in Entrepreneurship in AIT in 2014.

Lesson to self:
Our lives are not too dissimilar to Grizz and Megs, we are all trying to negotiate our daily lives finding new ways and ideas to make our paths easier.

Dogs helping us humans with tasks is not far off. Perhaps robots for dog walking may become a possibility. I know some very clever dogs that would be happy to test it.
However, whether footprints or paw prints, walking in them builds relationships.