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Kitestring

designing for strong ties

Ryan

I believe in social change that blends heart with rigor.
 
I started thinking a lot about friendship after years of moving. I was raised in the Appalachian mountains in rural Kentucky, moved down Alabama, over to Tennessee, up to Boston (with a short sojourn in Rome), across to London, back to Washington DC, across to Austin, and most recently down (under) to Adelaide, Australia. I've had a variety of experiences of community and friendship in these different places, some close and abundant, others less so.
 
Professionally, I started in engineering and internet startups before leaving to work in social change for Ashoka and The Australian Centre for Social Innovation. Most of my work has been around the pointy-end of things, with projects combatting homelessness, carer stress, domestic violence, and child abuse.
 
More and more, though, we’re learning that the health of your close relationships, your strong connections, has a huge impact on issues like these and others like depression, addiction, and even heart disease.
 
I’ve started Kitestring to search for new ways to work not at the pointy end but further up the track. Ways to build resilience in people and communities by strengthening close groups of friends.
 
We don’t yet know where it will go, but I imagine it can only be good places. Thanks for looking us up, and I hope you’ll stick around for the journey.
 
All the best,
Ryan
 

--
ryanhubbard.org

  • Rowan says you should re-pot your friendships

    March 20, 2017March 29, 20173 minute readby Ryan
    In Process, Stories

    If it was down to me, it might never have happened

    November 26, 2016March 29, 20175 minute readby Ryan
    In Stories

    How important is being on the same level?

    June 15, 2016March 29, 20172 minute readby Ryan
    In Stories

    Know someone with a big story around friendship?

    January 15, 2016March 29, 20171 minute readby Ryan
    In Process

    Collaborative planning: post-it note gantt charts

    May 10, 2015May 27, 20152 minute readby Ryan
    In Process

    This feeling that there is an abundance of people. The hats.

    May 10, 2015May 27, 20151 minute readby Ryan
    In Inspiration, Stories
    Share this profile on Twitter

    About

    friends-drawing-350 Kitestring is a design research project exploring the challenges of building close friendships in the modern era. Want to help out? Learn how to do that here.

    Process

    We're taking a design research approach that starts off fuzzy and gets clearer over time. Follow our process here.

    Creative Commons BY 2015 — Kitestring.org
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