Regular visitors to www.openaircollective.cc will have noticed some big changes to the site this time around. After about a year of threatening to completely revamp our web presence, a few months ago we finally took the leap, and this is the result.
We are thrilled!
First, some tremendous, heartfelt thank yous are in order:
This site was made possible with generous support from The Preston-Werner Foundation. Thank you Tom, Theresa, and Jae for immediately grasping what we are trying to do at OpenAir, and for so enthusiastically offering your help. It’s been huge and the collector community will not forget it.
Many collectors contributed to the making of this site and its content. Jared Hunter in Brooklyn (who also composed the OpenAir theme song) took part in initial design meetings, and his input very much helped shape the direction of the site. Greg Clark, a video specialist and editor in Atlanta, pulled together the nifty sky video backdrop on our home page on incredibly short notice (and thanks Noah Megregian for the intro). Megha Raghavan, Sue Dorward, Duncan McDowall, Matt Parker and Lauren Parker reviewed the early site design ideas and contributed both ideas and content. Sue and Lauren, along with Peter Smith, authored many of the blog posts we have launched with. Biggest of shout outs to all of you.
Bushwick Design built this site. Daniela, Cale and team – you are fast, flexible, patient, professional, and aesthetically impeccable. It was wonderful to work with you again, and thanks for being our creative partners on this. Wouldn’t have had it any other way.
The site has a lot of new, much needed features. Here are some highlights:
- The Mission Index (home page). A clear, filterable list of the different missions collectors are working on right now, from those at the early concept stage, to in progress and completed stages. Click on a mission to read a summary and related blog posts and other content, meet its moderators, and find out what roles are needed to make it successful. In the next week additional “manual” links will be added that give a much more in-depth overview of mission objectives and content. Stay tuned here in the coming weeks because mission count is likely to double.
- A way better blog: Formatted for mission news, commentary, and Collector of the Month profiles – all written by members of our community.
- A really comprehensive Resources page. Our goal to accelerate CDR at this stage is overwhelmingly a matter of education. We think our starting Resources page will equip visitors with the core information, ideas and perspectives required to really grasp and maybe even fall in love with CDR. We also included a kind of inspiration/intellectual bibliography that includes some of thinkers and writings that have most influenced the OpenAir concept and approach. With Collector input we will continue to revise and expand it.
- An About page that tells our story. It includes a bit about our origin, a FAQ, and a list of our supporters.
- Videos – We took This Is CDR and other video content we have on YouTube, organized it better, and posted it on its own page here. Going forward additional program and mission content will be posted and regularly updated.
And that’s pretty much it. We hope you enjoy and learn from the site and that it inspires you to join our growing community, and advocate for CDR whoever and wherever you may be!
