coming soon
coming soon
How we want to die – represents the most important and costly conversation America isn’t having. We have gathered dozens of thought leaders, engineers, and designers to cast an unflinching eye at end of life – and to create an uplifting interactive adventure that transforms this seemingly difficult conversation into one of deep engagement, insight and empowerment. Welcome to the inner workings of our design effort, we invite you to expore the work we have already completed.
Please stay tuned for a launch of our full site in Summer 2013 – when you will be invited to bring the people you care about to the table.
Photo By Wayne Price
Class
University of Washington // Master of Communication in Digital Media
COM 592: Design Studio // Lets Have Dinner and Talk About Death
Fall 2012 // Instructors: Hebb and Macklin
Inspired by the harrowing statistic: over 70% of Americans say they would prefer to die at home yet only 25% have this wish fulfilled; COM 592 engaged in the exploration and design and of a digital platform for eating together and considering how we want to die and conversely – how we want to live. Doctors, artists, spiritual leaders, designers, engineers, historians and scientist joined our class sessions as we began to build our interactive platform to recast the U.S. conversation regarding death.
Technology
Rethinking the Table: One of the tools we developed during COM 592.
Before the internet, film, the phonograph, newspaper, clay tablets – the table stood as the original nexus of culture. eating together while thinking together holds a long history of shaping civilization. In collaboration with the MCDM, Michael Hebb has launched a complete rethink of the age old table – the table of truth. What would the table look like if it artfully incorporated audio visual capture? What if the table could once again collect and broadcast human story? Renowned design firm Olson Kundig designed and built our third table of truth, it is where we held our weekly sessions, it is where we ate and shared our most personal stories – it is where this discovery of end of life began.
Press Kit
On March 20th 2013 we launched this inaugural microsite, to capture the work done in and outside our classroom. This is only the beginning – we will work tirelessly through the spring months – launching the full version of Death over Dinner in the early summer. Feel free to download our first announcement and media kit.
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Let’s Have Dinner and Talk About Death – @ TEDMED 2013 / Main Stage
TEDMED 2013 Just Announced that deathoverdinner.org Founder Michael Hebb will take the mainstage this year in DC to announce and give the audience a participatory sneak preview of our forthcoming platform. http://blog.tedmed.com/?p=2867
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Deogratias “Deo” Niyizonkiza
Deo is the co-founder and executive director of Village Health Works, a grassroots non-profit organization providing comprehensive health care—everything from clinical prevention and treatment to agricultural development to education—in rural Burundi. Deo is the protagonist of…
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Dr. Shauna Shapiro
Shauna L. Shapiro, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology at Santa Clara University, licensed clinical psychologist, and internationally recognized expert in mindfulness. Dr. Shapiro has conducted extensive research investigating the effects of mindfulness and has published over 70…
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Christian McGuigan
McGuigan is currently Director of Social Action Film Campaigns at Participant Media, a Los Angeles-based global entertainment company specializing in socially-relevant documentary and narrative feature films, television, publishing and digital media. At Participant, Christian is responsible for developing and…
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