"without education, we are prisoners of soundbites"

Voting can be playful — yet purposeful

Jessica Helfand, who is an artist-in-residence at Yale University, co-founder of the Design Observer blog, and author of the new book Design: The Invention of Desire, admits, “I’m obsessed with photography and, in particular, with the photographic portrait. So I often begin with actual images that tell stories and build out from there.” For her poster, she was captivated by this archival photograph of a British suffragette, saying, “I loved her spirit, her sense of purpose — and that scooter!” Helfand believes that low turnout in the U.S. is tied to a deficit in education. “Without education, we are prisoners of sound bites that introduce turnkey solutions to things we can’t access,” she says. “Maybe if every school child in America  were obliged to follow Nate Silver on FiveThirtyEight, we’ll see more citizen engagement — and better voter turnout — a generation from now.”

via {TED ideas}