Flowerpoint: Step by step

Typed into Arcturus

If you’re going to San Francisco,

Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.

I have been at #scifoo (more later, hopefully much more) and have met Fabiana Kubke, an ardent contributor to OKF. She has taken to the Flowerpoint and has offered to create a web resource. So here’s the basis:

Flowerpoint is a natural language and there are relatively few rules other than it should symbolize Openness. It’s a vehicle where concepts can be carried on the petals. You can have any number of petals but I have eight, partly because that’s what I needed and what there was space for and partly because there is a lovely alpine flower called Dryas Octapetala (also grows in UK on limestone terraces). I have a spare petal if I need it.

If you want to make one, here’s my parts list: any number of petals, in my case cardboard but many plastics or thin plywood would do. Drill a hole and make them a nice set of colours (I stuck on coloured paper, but you could plaint them or use coloured card board). The card should be reasonably rigid. There’s then two hubs, one fixed (wood) and one removable. Both should have the OKF logo. I drew it in pen and then stuck it on but if you are brave you can write/paint directly.

The petals can carry OKF activities, concepts or other suitable material. I have chosen ones I am actively engaged with. If you want to “collect badges” and only create petals when you have made a significant contribution, fine, but this is not a “I’ve got more badges than you” activity.

You can write the concepts if you are brave but I often run out of positive or negative space so I write on Post-it notes and stick them on (use some transparent library tape to hold them down.) This means you can pull the concept off and add a new one without damaging the petal.

My flowerpoint is double sided and carries my mantra “Reclaim our scholarship”. Make sure that when people read it it makes sense. My talk got it garbled.

The petals are assembled in whatever order you like but it should be in order of fanning out. They are held in by an OKF boss and then a wingnut. By tightening or loosening this you can rotate or fix the petals. This is a critical design feature. You can, for example, fold them all down and release them one by one or group them together.

I reserved one petal for my notes (since I can’t see the other side of the flower). See bottom petal. (the green stuff in the picture is real grass – it’s what many flowers grow in, but you don’t have to take it with you).

Many thanks for the design and construction of the spindle and hubs by Ralph Bradshaw. This design is CC-BY. The petals are also CC-BY PM-R.

The flower has a effective power measured as [ED50]10, meaning that at a range of about 10 metres (better lettering makes it more effective) it will open 50% of closed minds. It has a lower power against corporate groupthink but we are worker on large versions with parabolic petals to focus the power.

Fabiana will be creating a web version. This should allow you to author your own flowers (she has ideas on tools) and to create PNGs or whatever to embed in your pages. Watch the OKF lists. I guess there will be a Flowerpoint page and that the flowers will hyperlink back there.

Oh, Deep in my heart,

I do believe,

We shall overcome some day.