Have a wonderful Holiday Season and a best wishes for a wonderful New Year. View card. p.s. our season’s greetings card was created using Processing Language, a wonderful tool for interactive visualizations. Enjoy.

Appeared in Pittsburgh Post Gazette on October 18, 2009. Pittsburgh and me My life story, and that of my adopted hometown, reflect a new world order in which answers to problems can come from anywhere and anyone, writes ABU NOAMAN When I was 11 years old in Pakistan, I dreamed of coming to the United States. My chances were slim, as I was the youngest of 11 in a family without wealth or connections. Our family lived near the hotbed of today’s Taliban insurgency. My parents left the village because they didn’t have good options to educate my sisters, which remains difficult there. My Dad passed away when I was 6, leaving behind a household filled with love, a thirst for education, a passion for hard work and no income. A Catholic school gave me a chance where the fathers inspired me to dream big dreams — one of which was to come to America. My older brother and sister … Continue reading →

Many of you have asked us to go public with the real reasons for prematurely shutting down our intriguing HeyG20 Morse Code Project. By the end of this note, you will understand why Elliance hesitated in disclosing the real story behind this drama. If you recall, the project was dreamt up as a creative forum that would allow concerned citizens of the world to voice their thoughts and opinions to the Leaders of the G20 Summit. We felt that the project would demonstrate Pittsburgh’s innovative spirit and create an endearing memory in the minds and hearts of the G-20 delegates, whom we knew would be under tight security in the Convention Center. As we created the project, we became increasingly worried that the US Secret Service would force us to shut down the project, an eventuality for which we were prepared but wished to avoid. To prevent a premature shutdown, we imagined all the ways the project could potentially be … Continue reading →

Regretfully, we had to prematurely stop our HeyG20 Morse Code Art Project. Stay tuned to find out why. The answer may surprise you.

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Pittsburgh, instead of being a host town to G-20, is a ghost town. No dignitaries, no protesters, no movement, no nada. I am beginning to think that people colluded with media to take two days off and create a 4-day weekend.

The G-20 Morse Code Project went live this evening. Took this picture from the convention center, where even the security guard was amused and mesmerized by the light show taking place across the street. He said “the pulsing lights were beautiful”.

Not unless the region can shed the top-down thinking of its industrial past. By choosing Pittsburgh to host the next G-20 summit, President Barack Obama has anointed the city with a powerful status. But as someone who has lived in Pittsburgh for almost 25 years and forged an entrepreneurial life here, often against great odds, I question whether this momentary fame will translate into meaningful long-term change. The Pittsburgh “story” has become archetypal. A scruffy American city rises to its apex producing metals, glass and chemicals for the world, its growth fueled by plentiful natural resources, inexpensive commercial transportation thanks to three deep rivers and ample labor provided by members of some 90 different ethnic groups. But the rise of global competition — over which the G-20 countries now preside — devastated this city and others like it. During my time in Pittsburgh, I have learned to separate truth from hype in the “Pittsburgh rises from the ashes” epilogue. Blessed … Continue reading →

My colleague, Geoff Barnes, an artist and die-hard supporter of Elliance art projects, has created a video to highlight the creation and use of G-20 Morse Code Project. Enjoy it. Hey G20! from Geoff Barnes on Vimeo.

Usually, we spend our days helping clients reach their business goals online. But we also believe the Web can also be used to provoke intelligent, thoughtful dialog. Over the years, we’ve created a few grass-roots public art experiments for people to share their hopes and dreams. It started when the city of Pittsburgh celebrated its 250 anniversary. In addition to remembering the city’s past, we thought it would be more interesting to look forward. Pittsburgh2050.com was created to give every individual a place to share their ideas about the city’s enormous potential – What could the city be like in the year 2050? At the beginning of the year, instead of sending an holiday greetings card just to our clients and friends, we launched www.2009hopes.com as a place for people to share their wishes for the new year. Recently we conceptualized a new interesting project to empower ordinary citizens to send their thoughts to the G-20 leaders. Here is the … Continue reading →