The Rural Design Collective (RDC) often participates in extra-curricular activities to keep our creative juices flowing and our technical skills sharp. Many of these “Extra Credit” projects were collaborations with Aaron Swartz (1986-2013), Friend of the RDC, which provided exceptional material to learn web design, coding and graphic design skills during our program. We want to thank him for his encouragement of and enthusiasm for The RDC from Day One.

Select projects are below ↓ … You can view our current Project Pool by clicking here →

BPMakesMeSick.com – http://BPMakesMeSick.com/The RDC created the look for BPMakesMeSick.com, an online campaign demanding that clean-up workers be allowed to wear respiratory protective equipment in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. An animation was created for the site using leading-edge media technologies, including HTML5 Canvas and web font embedding – you can view that animation here.

Demand Progress – http://demandprogress.org/ RDC Founder Rebecca Malamud created the logo and look for Demand Progress when it first launched its historic campaign that stopped the SOPA/PIPA bill from destroying the free and open Internet. The RDC also created a the “Stop The Internet Blacklist” downloadable flyer that was used in the grassroots campaign and the “Censored Laptop” badge (at right) that was seen across the web and in the mainstream media.

FixCNBC When Jon Stewart took CNBC to task on national television for irresponsible journalism, RDC Founder Rebecca Malamud worked with other concerned citizens to create an online petition that generated over 22,000 signatures demanding action. A letter was delivered to CNBC headquarters in New York City and videotaped for posterity. (The site, which is no longer online, is archived in the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.)

WeWantThePublicOption.Com The RDC worked with a team on the East Coast to build this site calling attention to an important issue. The site was fully integrated with a donation management system and organized remotely through email in a matter of days. Upon launch, it was linked by many high profile media blogs and praised for its effective marketing and clean design – a direct result of the collaboration between the two groups. (The site, which is no longer online, is archived in the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. The video can be viewed on YouTube)

Open Library Great Books Collection – The RDC gave a production assist to Open Library, adding high-resolution imagery and markup to a collection of public domain books deemed great by those in the know. Their contributions were part of a web demonstration created by two developers at the UC Berkeley School of Information, visualizing what an online bookshelf might look like. This collection is available for everyone to download and enjoy at Open Library.

Change Congress The RDC provided design assistance throughout 2009 to Change Congress, an organization that believes that politicians should work for the people, not special interests. The core site and logo, which was key to organizing volunteers and grass-root campaigns, was designed by RDC Founder Rebecca Malamud. (The site, which is no longer online, is archived in the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.)

Internet Archive Bookmobile – Tour Photos: Set 1 – Set 2 – Set 3 – Set 4
RDC Founder Rebecca Malamud enjoyed a stint in 2007 as an Internet Archive Bookmobilist. She made appearances in the area, including the Port Orford Library, Head Start (a program for preschool children), and a local arts & crafts fair. During her tenure, she also published two public domain books for kids: The Amazing Sixes Solar-Powered Pumpkin People and the Head Start Critter Construction Book.

In addition to these mentoring projects with The Rural Design Collective, Rebecca Malamud and Aaron Swartz collaborated on other projects such as Open Library (Beta), Watchdog.Net, AVAAZ Daily Briefing, Fight For The Future and PCCC.