tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57584534316956541852024-02-07T00:58:46.949-05:00Curated, by Heidi McCullochHeidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-27374681320268785632013-06-01T06:32:00.004-04:002013-06-01T06:32:51.351-04:00In Praise of Slowing Down<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Prepared for the Canadian Marketing Association, May 2013.</i></span><br />
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I know how it is; after all, I’ve been working in the private sector since 1992. In the private sector, something is often ‘on fire’. Sales are down, the release is delayed, the launch is a mess, employees are pissed off, customers are complaining. And the chain of panic sets in. Except business fires aren’t really anything like real fires. We can’t stop, drop and roll ourselves out of it.</div>
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The Walt Disney Company has been in business since 1923. That’s a long time. And so I feel it is relevant to refer to the words of a wise Imagineer as quoted in 2003’s The Imagineering Way:</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“If you have five minutes to do a project, spend four minutes figuring out how to do it and one minute doing it.” </em></div>
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Now in this day and age, there is complexity at every point in any path, and we know that execution and craft are critical so this is not to advocate shortchanging the implementation process, but the principle referenced in the quote above is important.</div>
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WE NEED TO SLOW DOWN.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">To find the real problem:</strong> The ‘real problem’ is rarely the one that seems to be staring us in the face. The real problem is often hidden just a little behind the scenes. Further, good problem definition captures the specifics, the nuance; it is not enough to say customers are unhappy and then to begin solving. We need to understand ‘the what’ and ‘the why’ about their unhappiness, specifically, and only then can we begin thinking intelligently about how to solve for that.</div>
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WE NEED TO SLOW DOWN.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">To hear all the voices:</strong> To solve complex problems requires the input of many voices of expertise and imagination. When we rush into action, we often forget to include some of the most important voices in the mix; we race to the leadership or to consultants trying to put out the fire fast and we risk forgetting that our most valuable learning (and ultimately the fastest path to the solution) might actually come from the customer care centre, or the technician in the field or the customer herself.</div>
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WE NEED TO SLOW DOWN.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">To let the solution stew*:</strong> “Don’t try to solve a problem too early…” “we need the stew to simmer.” This is another Imagineer piece of advice. We often salute the magical idea that appears in an instant, yet we forget the form and sophistication it takes on throughout the process of its development. Sometimes the solution appears magically right away, maybe even often. But we must remember that the solution in the end is almost always an evolution of the seed of that solution that appeared in the beginning. Time is the secret ingredient that makes that growth and development happen.</div>
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* “Stew” = Language also used by a Disney Imagineer</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Heidi McCulloch</em></div>
Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-2836913240129471922012-12-16T11:34:00.002-05:002012-12-16T11:34:49.897-05:00The Personal is Political
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In the wake of a senseless Friday in North
America, a phrase repeats over and over in my head: The Personal is
Political. A phrase used decades ago to
describe the beliefs guiding the women’s movement that “…personal problems are
political problems”, that “there are no personal solutions at this time; there
is only collective action for a collective solution.” (The Personal is
Political, Carol Hanisch)<o:p></o:p></div>
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This is a powerful sentiment. Freshly traumatized by the massacre of vulnerable
children, still we try to tuck discussions of rights under a rug of
“politicizing”. We prefer to dismiss the
event as “the actions of one person”, to push to uphold rationality. Need I say
this so-called rationality is the ultimate in irrationality.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This event wasn’t about one person; it didn’t happen to just
one person and it wasn’t the cause of just one person. But it is deeply personal.<o:p></o:p></div>
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What happened on December 14, 2012 in the now permanently
wounded Newtown, Connecticut, is emotional. It is appalling, horrific and
painful, for families, for communities, for a nation, for many all over the
world. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It is deeply
personal. <o:p></o:p></div>
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And, yes, it is deeply political.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We humans, we bleed with humanity. And all that sadness and passion and love
MUST now be poured into discussions about the ways we care for each individual
and our collective of individuals, the terms under which our society is
governed, the values that we determine reign supreme. Every day we must keep
our horror and our passion alive. Every
day we must remember. We must discuss. And we must act.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-47872180714127080602012-11-15T16:51:00.002-05:002012-11-15T16:53:03.825-05:00Strategy for Today<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; color: #5a5a5a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><i>Prepared for the Canadian Marketing Association, August 2012.</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; color: #5a5a5a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; color: #5a5a5a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; color: #5a5a5a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">The role of Strategy is more important than ever.<span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>Business is bigger and more complex than ever, competition is rampant, categories blur, communications can be chaotic, audiences are dispersed globally and most of our major systems are in states of major disruption.<span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>In this environment, formal, diligent attention to Strategy is non-negotiable.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; color: #5a5a5a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;"></span><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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But ‘Strategy for Today’ is a different beast than it was even a decade ago.<span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>While strategy has always had to be smart, in the last few years there has been a noticeable shift from a desire for lengthy, convoluted strategy, and strategic documents, to a request for concisely distilled strategy.</div>
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‘Strategy for Today’ must be smart, of course, but today, it must also be <b><i>simple</i></b>.<span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>This is the biggest demand and requirement I have identified coming from all manner of clients in today’s market environment – <b><i>that smart strategy be made simple.</i></b><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></div>
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I have stated my belief that strategy is critical.<span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>And it must be smart, obviously.<span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>It must capture goals and objectives: organizational, of the business, and of specific discipline areas.<span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>What are we trying to do?<span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>What are the needs we understand intimately and will address? What is the vision that adheres us? What is our point of difference: our meaningful, compelling role to play in the market ecosystem?<span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>Why is it credible? And then how do we convey it? To whom? When? How? In what manner?</div>
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To arrive at this understanding is not an easy process. To do it well means embracing complexity, understanding broadly and deeply the factors at play, distilling, shaping and setting direction. It means having a strong handle on the data, an intuitive visionary view to future possibility and the language and emotion to capture how it can be brought to life.<span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>It is by no means an easy task.</div>
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But most importantly, when all is said and done, ‘Strategy for Today’ must wade through this complexity and be made simple.</div>
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‘Strategy for Today’ can not have the output of a 100-page, inked document, formalized, set in stone to be blindly adhered to.<span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></div>
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More and more, the demand and requirement is to capture the strategy in a phrase, in a page, in an image even.</div>
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Why? Because ‘Strategy for Today’ is a different beast, critically operating within a changed market environment.<span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">‘Strategy for Today’ must be able to be responsive, to evolve, and to be shared.</strong></em> <span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>Which is why it is so important that it be made simple.</div>
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In my practice, this requirement of ‘Strategy for Today’ made simple has very tangible implications.<span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>It means that when assigned a project, I go deep into understanding: researching, question-asking, collaborating, and ideating.<span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>I share, review, consider, re-consider and solicit feedback on a continual basis.<span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>And I make decisions, distill, shape and set direction.</div>
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But the process does not end there. <span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>‘Strategy for Today’ is not complete until it can be conveyed simply: in a 30-second elevator ride, in an at-a-glance strategy document, with the perfect representation of image and language.</div>
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Because it is with this ‘Strategy for Today’, smart AND simple, that organizations can actually respond to, evolve, share, and ultimately use strategy to guide them to success.</div>
Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-81882371155529739132012-11-06T15:06:00.003-05:002012-11-06T15:07:43.854-05:00On Collaboration: Part Two<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;"></span><br />
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<i>Prepared for the Canadian Marketing Association, February 2012.</i></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; color: #5a5a5a; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">In<a href="http://www.the-cma.org/about/blog/on-collaboration-part-one" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #fe000c; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_self"> On Collaboration: Part One</a>, I introdu</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5a5a5a; line-height: 20px;">ced some personal perspectives on the concept of Collaboration. And while I noted the infancy of our academic understanding of the concept, I mentioned my discovery of one journal article in particular that had captured my attention.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;">Authors Fiore, Rosen, Smith-Jentsch, Letsky & Warner (2010) wrote <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Toward an Understanding of Macrocognition in Teams: Predicting Processes in Complex Collaborative Contexts</em>. The authors of this article put some science around the murky concept of Collaboration. And they share some validated guidance for how to help make Collaboration happen productively.</span></div>
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They identify five keys to collaboration, keys which you might want to apply to your own collaborations:</div>
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<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Collaboration Key #1: Externalized Cognition</strong></div>
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A fancy term, yes. But externalized cognition simply refers to the degree that knowledge is made external beyond each individual within a team and hence shared amongst a team. Examples of externalized cognition could be as simple as white-board mapping of thinking for other team members, or note-taking that then is shared amongst them. The degree with which this happens - that cognition is externalized - is a contributor to productive outcomes from collaboration. So, next time you are bringing a group together, be sure to fill that white board up with the fruits of the conversation. Take notes, and share them. Consider what ways you can bring physical form to the group's cognitive work.</div>
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<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Collaboration Key #2: Team Cognition</strong></div>
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Team cognition occurs when the team has been able to establish individual roles for each member, so that unique skills can be applied to a problem in a coordinated way. In outcome, the team comes to operate like an “information processing unit”. The best example I can think of to illustrate this is the way players on a football team play. The quarterback calls the play, and is responsible to make the throw, while the defense-men work to clear the path for the forwards trying to make the catch and get across the line. The team players operate as a coordinated unit. When you build a team, are you conscious about bringing together a skill set of people, with individual and diverse strengths that together can form a unit? And is it clear that each 'player on the team' has a specific role to play as a part of that team?</div>
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<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Collaboration Key #3: Group Communication Orientation</strong></div>
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The authors note that performance improves when group communication is clearly oriented to the task-at-hand. You can all imagine the times when groups get sidelined by personal differences, opining, or even debating formatting of documents. Improved team performance outcomes come from focusing group communication on the problem to be solved. Even more specifically, improved outcomes come from a majority of time allotted to defining the problem at hand. Poor outcomes resulted when groups spent time working on solutions before giving adequate attention to problem definition. And perhaps counter-intuitively, spending time considering negative possible outcomes contributes to improved performance as well. The next time you pull a team together, remember this: ensure communication is focused on the task explicitly. Carve off diligent time to consider the problem before any consideration is given to possible solutions. And be proactive about considering all potential outcomes, including, importantly, the negative ones.</div>
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<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Collaboration Key #4: Collaborative Learning</strong></div>
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A fourth key to collaboration is collaborative learning, which refers to how well groups “share, store and retrieve” learning. This is quite straightforward to explain though not necessarily to achieve. It requires an efficient means around which learning is shared and leveraged across the team. There are many collaboration tools: think Skype, Google Groups or Google Docs and of course the ever-reliable collaboration tool of face-to-face time. And do note that there is a difference between sharing data or information or documents and sharing ‘learning’. While data, information and documents matter, it is key is to facilitate the sharing, storing and retrieval of the group's learning. When putting together your next team, seek to define the collaboration tools and the face-to-face touch points that will serve the sharing, storing and retrieving of the group's learning. And then use them diligently.</div>
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<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Collaboration Key #5: Knowledge Building</strong></div>
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The final collaboration key is knowledge building. This is a more detailed idea that requires a deeper understanding of the differences between data vs. information vs. knowledge. Very briefly, data transforms into information when it becomes contextualized and information then becomes knowledge once connections are made between pieces of information. A key to successful collaboration is in the team's ability to achieve this process of Knowledge Building: to take data, transform it into information and then to transform that information into knowledge. </div>
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My goal here was to provide some academic understanding about the science of collaboration in a way that you might be able to apply it to your immediate team-work activities. </div>
</span>Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-67998056295171232912012-09-03T13:14:00.002-04:002012-09-03T13:15:39.230-04:00Let's Make Communication Products<style><!--
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--></style> What might a “Communication Product” Be?<br />
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I’ve mentioned a few times that I’ve been thinking about
“communication products” lately. This is mainly because I’ve noticed a
hyperbole of activity in marketplaces around the world: activity centered
around “innovation” and activity directed towards making things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of these things are tech-based
products like mobile apps, and new digital platforms of myriad sorts.</div>
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And then I’ve noticed a second hyperbole of activity, around
promoting these new products, promoting them for the purposes of securing
funding to develop them, then promoting them once in beta mode to garner early
iteration and promoting them once live for revenue. </div>
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So it seems that we have a proliferation of innovative
things being made, and a consequent proliferation of promotion surrounding
these things. And this is all contributing to the already unprecedentedly (new
invented word) difficult current environment in which to stand out.</div>
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So we have “products”: made-things like an app, a digital
e-commerce platform, a film, an album, being made… “things” that might well be
of value to someone, be fun and compelling, be revenue generating positive
contributions to the market system and the makers. But the airwaves are
overwhelmed with promotional pathways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Overwhelming on Twitter, Facebook, in radio spots and TV spots, in
events, cross-promotions, and so on and so on.</div>
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<br /></div>
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And hence that thinking about I’ve been doing a lot of
lately. What if we built more “communication products”? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, what is this “communication product”?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><i>It’s an
ingoing intention, by-design, whereby the communication of a product is
completely and proactively, upfront, integrated into the development of said
product.</i></b><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So where now we build and then we promote, with a
“communication product”, these two activities come together, whereby the
communication of the product is an essential part of the product itself: the
“story” of the product is a fundamental component of the product itself. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A “communication product” would, by-design, in development,
bridge a connection between the made-thing and its potential audience,
creatively, meaningfully, in a compelling way. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How to get there? How to introduce this possibility into the
development of made-things?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-font-width: 0%;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><i><b>First
answer what you make?</b></i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Take a game; it may
be a game, but is it a way to pass time? Is it a way to build cognitive skill?
Is it a way to bond parents and kids? Is it a journey into the imagination? Is
it a means for competition?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-font-width: 0%;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><i><b>Second
answer who you make it for?</b></i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i> </i>Is it for
older women who might be lonely? Is it for intellectuals? Is it for dads and
their daughters? Is it for creativity fanatics? Is it for competitive
extremists?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-font-width: 0%;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><i><b>Then
think about the communication bridge?</b></i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> How
can you integrate a communication bridge that conveys a story about passing
time to older women who are lonely? How can you integrate a communication
bridge that conveys a story about building cognitive skill to intellectuals?
How can you integrate a communication bridge that conveys a story about
parent-child bonding to dads and their daughters? How can you integrate a
communication bridge that conveys a story about the imagination to creativity
fanatics? How can you integrate a communication bridge that conveys a story
about competition to competitive extremists?</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>And the key thing? </b></i>Think about this in development, by-design, not after the fact. Make it an essential component of the building of the made-thing. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the possibility proposed, the made-thing takes on a
broader meaning right from inception. The story is an essential part of the
development.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So there’s no need
for the build-then-promote strategy because the made-thing already has the
pieces built into it for cultural salience; it already has the components that
will stimulate story-telling. And the made-thing comes along as the principal
rider. That’s how a made-thing becomes a “communication product”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Is it feasible? Would it work? What do you think?</div>
Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-75673292397365356232012-06-06T12:49:00.000-04:002012-06-06T12:49:14.072-04:00Item #67: T.I.M.E. for a new C.<div style="text-indent: -24px;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Today I am thinking
about Co-Working.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Is it future or is it
fad? This is the question I have considered myself and asked of others. Let me boldly conclude that I do believe it
is future. 5 constructs are shaping the emergence and the sustainable potential
that co-working presents. They come
together to suggest that it is T.I.M.E. for a new C.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">What makes it <b><i>T.I.M.E.
for a new C.</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><b><i>T: Technology</i></b> proceeds
at a warp speed pace to get better, stronger, faster, smaller, more affordable,
and easier to use. Yesterday, the lease end inspection for my car took place in
20 minutes with the inspector’s car serving as his very equipped office. He took photos, recorded data, did a
diagnostic, loaded it all into a laptop, completed a data analysis, provided me
with a lease end report including costs for multiple alternatives, printed me
out a paper report and sent a version to me by email, all from the front seat
of his car in less than 20 minutes.
That’s technology today; no office required.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><b><i>I: Innovation</i></b>
rules. It is the key to our future and
the single most important dynamic driving the public sphere right now. How will we re-imagine our broken systems and
pave new paths for our economic system, our financial system, our global
relations, our social systems, our consumer model, our politics and more? The
expectation is that only through the embracing of innovative approaches and the
audacious pursuit of innovative solutions can this be possible. Innovation
tends to emerge from smaller pods of activity, where non-like meets non-like to
produce something un-like ever before.
It is very questionable that the old organizations we have all been
working in for the last fifty years can provide this environment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><b><i>M: Mobility</i></b> is the
mantra of the millennial generation, and increasingly of the masses. Rampant air travel means many of us are able
to be much more mobile than ever before.
The smartphone means we are only tethered to our pockets or our purses whereby
powerful communication technology is merely at arm’s reach. The world is figuratively and factually our
oyster, and we are not only embracing the opportunity, but we are becoming very
quickly accustomed to the ability to be mobile. To be detached and entirely
attached at the same time is now an expectation and a need versus a desire or a
want.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><b><i>E: Entrepreneurialism</i></b> is
all the rage – it seems. Steven Harper
declared 2011 to be The Year of The Entrepreneur. I think that was just recognition of what is
rapidly becoming a commonplace job title.
Many of the dynamics discussed above are conspiring to make the
conditions ripe for entrepreneurial activity.
The notion of exercising one’s creativity and vision in an act of enterprise
is even more appealing given that the tools and the context is there to support
the desire. Technology is making it
possible. Governments are supporting the
activity financially. And the chief
product of entrepreneurs – innovation – is in demand. Entrepreneurs work different and they will
need the spaces that can meet this need.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><b><i>For a new C.</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><b><i>The Old C: Is ‘the corporation’</i></b>,
the corporation as understood in traditional conceptual terms. The place one goes in the morning and leaves
at the end of the day. The place where
hierarchical systems of managers and workers are organized to plod through fairly
repetitive orderly days. The place where
a paycheque is guaranteed and eyeglass purchases are covered. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><b><i>The New C: Is the collaborative
workspace</i></b>. A place where entrepreneurial-minded
people of multi-disciplinary interests convene. A place where inspiration,
imagination and collaboration rule.
Where technology facilitates. Where mobility is championed. A place where creativity is cultivated and
innovation emerges. A place of the
future: the new office.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Co-working. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">In the collaborative workspace. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">The office of the future.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Where we will work
differently and, yes, work better.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">That’s what I am
thinking about today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-30052510188916570142012-05-28T11:24:00.003-04:002012-05-28T11:34:38.041-04:00Item #66: Life After Social Media<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">I had
the pleasure of spending four eye-opening days in Los Angeles last weekend. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15px;">It
wasn’t the city that opened my eyes, though; it was the company. I spent four days with seven other ladies,
the least I’ve known for 15 years, and the most I’ve known for 35 years. But that’s another, separate, and glorious,
story.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">These
women rigidly extracted me from my days of face-in-a-computer, achieve-achieve-achieve
planning, anxiety inducing presentations, and interpersonal collaboration
challenges to remind me of the things that actually matter to the majority of
the world. I might have lost sight of
that a little in the myopia of my day-to-day.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">But
this is a post about Social Media, so what’s the relationship?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">Social
Media has dominated conversation, particularly amongst marketing, advertising
and communications types for at least the last five years. Zuckerberg paved the path with his arrival on
the scene via Facebook, believe it or not less than ten years ago. Since then, there’s been an animated fixation
on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, Path, Rdio, Spotify, and
the lengthy list goes on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">Without
question, there have been the monarchic players in the kingdom of social media,
namely King Facebook, Queen Twitter, Prince LinkedIn, Lord Instagram and
Duchess Pinterest, which arrived like Princess Diana with a flourish only
recently.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">But
let’s pause and take the airplane perspective here for just a moment: who
drives use, growth and success of these social media platforms?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">Many social
media platforms have thrived off the buzz created by media and niche users in
the marketing, advertising and communications fields, but I contend that the
future belongs to those platforms who can deliver impenetrable value to the
mass of users – people like those seven women I mentioned earlier.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">I have
noticed a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/robert-scoble-says-twitter-feels-a-lot-like-a-ghost-town-2012-5" target="_blank">ghost-town-ization</a> (Robert Scoble, 2012) of some social media of late. Twitter is much
quieter. In contrast, it seems Facebook
is a little bit more active. Pinterest
took off like a lightening bolt, compeling the Martha Stewart inside millions
of citizens to share loveliness.
LinkedIn retains a steady level of importance in its singularity as a
valuable professional networking tool.
And Instagram, well, we can only pontificate, but without the
acquisition by Facebook, Instagram probably would’ve run through the consumer
adoption cycle in record time and landed in the history books along with
MySpace. Can we call Path a success? Soundcloud? Google+? Foursquare? Debatable
on all counts, I think.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">So
what’s with the ghost-town-ization of some social media; is it real? I think
so, and I think it plays right back to the eye-opening four days I recently
spent in Los Angeles. What matters to the
masses of people that social media needs to work for is their lives. The health
and happiness of self and other loved ones, and the other essential part of the
masses lives, their work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">It
seems to me that the ghost-town-ization of some social media is because people
really just want to get back to life, life as characterized by Love and Work
(Freud was right).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">And so,
as people tire from too many options and too little time, and just want to get
back to life, only the social media platforms that recognize this and create a
sustainable, distinct and useful place in these people’s lives will prevail.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">The
ONLY social media platform the seven women I was with peeked in on was
Facebook, because it is there that they can check in on their ‘life’ with their
loved ones.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">LinkedIn
has its place in the future as the most useful professional networking service,
to help people be successful in that as-yet-irreplaceable part of life called
Work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">Instagram
has wisely been acquired and will now become a natural part of the already
entrenched Facebook, to bring a new level of texture to getting back to life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">I fear Twitter
is hitting a rough patch…that it needs to uncover its value in this reality of settling
priorities. It has never been the
go-to-platform to connect with those you care about; again, that’s Facebook. It
is at current quite simply trying to play too many diverse roles as: a) a
location and means for information-sharing, largely professionally related, b)
a channel for self-promotion, c) a weak social community, d) an entertainment
channel, and e) a photo posting tool. Some
of those services have the opportunity for a distinct place in the part of life
called Work; some are simply second-rate to Facebook. So what can Twitter be in this world where
people just want to get back to their lives of love and work?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">I
believe the ghost-town-ization is real, that people are exiting social media in
time spent, and in investment level.
They are getting back to life, to love and to work. Its role is moving from faddish growth to converged
value. The social media platforms that
survive will need to define and deliver meaningful value in people’s lives, by
either supporting that which they love or their work. And only a few will win.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">Hopefully
the title of this post wasn’t misunderstood. There is life after social media; it
looks a whole lot like the life we’ve always known.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-30880641861540348472012-05-09T12:17:00.001-04:002012-05-09T12:17:32.528-04:00Item #65: The Big D's<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Today is dedicated to
the letter D: a critical component of the words "Dynamic" and "Discuss".<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">These aren’t just D
words, these are Big D words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s
why.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">There are many ‘Big D’s’
being actively discussed and debated in media, boardrooms, and classrooms these
days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These Big D’s are Big Dynamics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I won’t spend a ton of
time on each of the Big D’s; that’s not the purpose of the post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But here’s some of what’s floating about in
the physical and digital conversation spaces these days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/may/07/france-greece-election-financial-markets" target="_blank">The European Union Political and Economic Instability</a>. European countries and their fiscal austerity
policies, are enraging their citizenship, particularly their grossly
underemployed youth citizenship, and leading to political mayhem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Said political overhaul is illuminating the
old-as-the-hills left vs. right political divide and igniting global debate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Employment as well as
the organizations that employ is upside down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Youth the world over are suffering from <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/daily-mix/as-jobless-levels-surge-a-lost-generation/article1889998/" target="_blank">gross underemployment</a> in many
parts of the world, including right here in Canada.
Many wonder if entrepreneurialism will rise to unprecedented levels, if
start-ups are the key to a new economy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
the meantime, big organizations struggle to determine how to organize, or
should I say re-organize.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What should
leadership look like in a collaborative economy? Is ‘strategy’ the new bad
word, replaced by ‘do and iterate’? How to set vision? Build culture? Does it
even matter? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Education as the possible
panacea to all ills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/09/opinion/as-elite-universities-embrace-online-learning.html" target="_blank">Stanford, Harvard and MIT</a> now offer free courses over the Internet,
and hundreds of thousands sign up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://www.codecademy.com/#!/exercises/0" target="_blank">Code Academy</a> wages a mainly-social-media-based campaign whereby thousands sign up to learn
to code.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘New Education’ is all the
talk: Design Schools, with their emphasis on Design Thinking, Business Schools now graduating policy-makers, <a href="http://www.theschooloflife.com/" target="_blank">Schools of Life</a>,
<a href="http://boldacademy.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Bold Academies</a>, <a href="http://www.newschool.edu/" target="_blank">The New School</a>,
even <a href="http://www.thegridto.com/life/parenting/tiny-school-big-ideas/" target="_blank">schools that don’t grade</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Education is all the rage these days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">On the topic of
social-media-based campaigns, another Big D regards whether <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/is-facebook-making-us-lonely/8930/" target="_blank">social media is making us lonely</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is really a subset of a deeper
discussion about the impacts of technology on our humanity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we bury our heads in screens for the vast
majority of our days, are we losing the art of face-to-face communication? Are
we so amazed and impressed by the ‘story told’ social media lives we bear
witness to that we suffer personal insignificance? As machines come to permeate
our lives, do our human experiences of love, tears and laughter weaken in
consequence?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">And entirely related, we
could very likely have a growing <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/Media-Mentions/2012/Why-one-in-five-US-adults-doesnt-use-the-Internet.aspx" target="_blank">Technology Divide</a>. There are those who can multi-task
with multiple media devices like they are switching between a fork and a spoon
and there are others who simply don’t have the luxury of 6 costly Apple devices
in their hands and their homes.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If access to information as critical as
your health record, or your wallet continues to evolve without choice towards
technological provision, many may be lost, and consequently end up the new disadvantaged.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Finally, and certainly
not least importantly, we have women’s rights on the public agenda again like I
haven’t seen since the early 90’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>International development discourse places focus on the women and the
girls of communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Access to
reproductive control, always an issue in developing countries, is back on the
table right here in North America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
women are coming out from behind their desks, or their stoves, to take stands,
led and inspired perhaps by <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/05/06/melinda-gates-new-crusade-investing-billions-in-women-s-health.html" target="_blank">Melinda Gates</a>, Oprah Winfrey or even Angie Jolie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We may see another feminist revolution yet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">There’s lots going on; there are lots of Big D Dynamics today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lots to
talk about, think about, and debate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">And here’s where the
second Big D comes in: Big D Discuss.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">With so much to talk
about, are we really talking enough?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Have we gotten out from behind The Voice, Game of Thrones, or the new comic
adventure flick to talk about these things? As we sit down with a friend and a
coffee, do we get past the new Stella line at the Gap?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the commercial break of the big game, do
we move past the disappointment of the team’s unending losing streak?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Are we Big D Discussing?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I toyed with writing a
post that begged for more ‘Doing of Something’ (another important D by the
way), but I decided Discussing is actually what we need.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That with the discussing might come the
meaningful Doing of Something. But that the Doing of Something in absence of the
Discussing might be a recipe for disaster.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I realized that while
the Doing of Something is a noble pursuit, what’s actually most important is
that we NOT continue on with the Doing of Nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This Doing of Nothing is in fact the greatest
travesty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While many countries of the
world suffer times of strife, as youth sit under-used and unhappy, as women and
girls the world over just want the opportunity to be able to contribute to
change, and as people, communities, organizations and countries look desperately
for paths through difficulty, there is no room to put one’s head in the sand
and Do Nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are lots of Big D
Dynamics active in the world today, and they involve every one of us humans,
lucky enough to inhabit this planet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">My hope is to see the
conversations that are being had in the media, in the boardrooms and in the
classrooms of the world take root in the coffee shops, the kitchens and the street
corners of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">My hope is to see
everyone start Big D Discussing, discussing the big D Dynamics, over coffee and
a bagel, while the kids play on the monkey bars at the park, during the
commercial breaks of the big game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">My hope is that we not
Do Nothing, that we acknowledge the Big D Dynamics and pursue the Big D of
Discuss, and let that be the Doing of Something.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">That’s what I’d love to
see, brought to you by the letter D.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-82827998251743192892012-04-07T15:03:00.003-04:002012-04-12T08:11:10.278-04:00Item #64: The Zen Master & The Boy<style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Times New Roman"; panose-1:0 2 2 6 3 5 4 5 2 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:50331648 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-parent:""; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> <p class="MsoNormal">Ever heard the story about the boy and the Zen master?</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">“There's a little boy and on his 14th birthday he gets a horse... and everybody in the village says, "how wonderful. The boy got a horse" And the Zen master says, "we'll see." Two years later, the boy falls off the horse, breaks his leg, and everyone in the village says, "How terrible." And the Zen master says, "We'll see." Then, a war breaks out and all the young men have to go off and fight... except the boy can't cause his legs are all messed up. And everybody in the village says, "How wonderful."….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And again the Zen master says, "We'll see."”</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Full disclosure that parable is sourced from the movie Charlie Wilson’s War.</p>Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-13247735770572731462012-03-11T16:11:00.009-04:002012-03-11T16:22:13.820-04:00Item # 63: Advocating for Naïveté.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> 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priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:16.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span>Recently I discovered I might be naïve.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:16.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:arial;">I had asked a group of 20-somethings to introduce themselves by sharing a story about something which they were proud of and which they believed to be unique to them personally. One told of how he had climbed Everest, another about having lived in 17 different cities, another of having recorded an original song he wrote and yet another who told us of his near-death encounter with a bear in a forest. I listened to these stories, wide-eyed and attentive, interested and enthralled. Such amazing stories. Or so I thought.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:16.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span>It turned out that one of the stories was simply not true. It was shared in jest, and was supposed to be so obviously absurd that I would recognize this, and chuckle. I did not.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:16.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span>Because I am naïve.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:16.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span>I realized it at that moment. See, when someone tells me a story, proposes an idea, suggests an opinion, I take what they are saying to be a sincere truth. I accept any thought, idea or opinion to be worthy of my serious attention and my open-minded consideration. To be clear, I may (and often do) disagree with what is being stated; I may question or critique what I am hearing, but I trust that whatever is being stated, is being stated with authenticity, with honest intention.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:16.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span>Some time ago I recognized that I was an Idealist. I even added it to my Twitter profile: <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/heidimcculloch">“Located at: A Land of Ideals & Toronto.” </a>While others often tossed the ‘idealist’ moniker in my direction in a disparaging way, I came to realize that others labeled me ‘idealist’ due to my interminable solution seeking. Rarely accepting ‘no’ as an answer, always believing there was a way, those qualities led colleagues (and boyfriends) to send barbs of ‘be realistic!’ in my direction, and to shake in frustration at the sky-high ambitions and expectations I just couldn’t release. Even if others could not, I came to terms with my Idealism.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:16.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span>But naïve, well, this represented a new discovery.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:16.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span><a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/naive">na·ive </a></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:16.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"></p><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(29, 29, 29); font-family:arial;">having or showing unaffected simplicity of nature or absence of artificiality; unsophisticated; ingenuous.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(29, 29, 29); font-family:arial;">having or showing a lack of experience, judgment, or information; credulous.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(29, 29, 29); font-family:arial;">having or marked by a simple, unaffectedly direct style reflecting little or no formal training or technique.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(29, 29, 29); font-family:arial;">simple, unaffected, unsuspecting, artless, guileless, candid, open, plain.</span></li></ul> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:arial;">The initial investigation did not look promising. I certainly did not want to be “unsophisticated”, “artless” or “plain”.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span>But upon deeper investigation, in stripping away the negative, emotionally loaded terms, I noticed others: “unaffected”; “candid”; “open”; “having a lack of judgment”; “absence of artificiality”. Upon deeper investigation I saw associations I could get behind, things I would like to be.</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ">Then I came across a quote from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Schiller">Friedrich Schiller</a>:</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><i>Every true genius is bound to be naïve.</i></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ">Poet, Philosopher-Partner to Goethe and the second most influential playwright in Europe, Schiller seemed to have some thoughts on being naïve. Schiller wrote about how the sacrifice for conceptual ideals is about the drive for self-preservation and ultimately human freedom.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ">And then I came across another quote by Pulitzer Prize winner, Academy Award winner, Speechwriter for Franklin D. Roosevelt and one-time screenwriter for Alfred Hitchcock, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Sherwood">Robert E. Sherwood</a>:</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;"><i>To be able to write a play a man must be sensitive, imaginative, naïve, gullible, passionate; he must be something of an imbecile, something of a poet, something of a liar, something of a damn fool.</i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ">So...where am I going with this? Where do I mean to end up? I bring this full circle in order to Advocate for Naïveté. These men quoted above were Advocates for Naïveté. In advocating for naïveté, I think I conclude that it is a good thing to be open, candid, to have a lack of judgment…to be naïve.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:11.0pt 36.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;">And on that note, I have to update my Twitter profile. Located At: “A Land of Ideals. Populated by the Perpetually Naïve.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-68606760088897124062012-02-20T09:49:00.005-05:002012-02-20T09:54:11.978-05:00Item #62: On This Family Day<style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Times New Roman"; panose-1:0 2 2 6 3 5 4 5 2 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:50331648 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-parent:""; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> <p class="MsoNormal">On this Family Day, may we consider collectively a wider definition for the term we hold dear: “family”. While many loving families are gathered today, cradling infants, playing cars on the floor, skiing, skating, or kicking a ball around on a field, cuddled up with a movie, or sharing a meal, this isn’t the reality for all.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Just this last week, a 12-year-old child was found in California, naked and eating out of trash cans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Her mother apparently kept her naked so she wouldn’t run away; I’m not sure why she kept her hungry as well.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">This child is spending this family day in protective services.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">As are the approximately 67,000 children in Canadian protective care services*.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Family Day is an important day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>A day that celebrates the importance of family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>A day that carves out the time and space to appreciate and enjoy one another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>A day to talk, to play, to laugh, to cuddle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>An important day to consider how concerned, watchful and protective we are of our family members.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Let no one harm them, hurt them; let no injury come to them. An important day perhaps to wonder where “family” was for that little girl in California. Or, for the 67,000 children living in care here in Canada.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">But in addition and more importantly, an important day to remember that the family we are each responsible to is broader than our immediate DNA class, and extends to the class of all our fellow humans. To remember that the family we are each responsible to goes beyond those humans living under the one same roof, to those living under the one same sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>On this family day, remember the family we are all members of, the family of each other, and remember we all have a responsibility. To be a watchful eye. To care. For that 12 year old living in protective services in California today. For the 67,000 children living in Canadian protective services today. For each other.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">* 2007 figure via The Canadian Child Welfare Portal: <a href="http://www.cecw-cepb.ca/faqs">http://www.cecw-cepb.ca/faqs</a></p>Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-84802411690022841182012-01-08T09:47:00.005-05:002012-01-08T10:03:15.935-05:00Item #61: Counter-Point. 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unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="32" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="33" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Book Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="37" name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;">I write this in the name of <b><i>The Counter-Point</i></b>.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;">Years ago, a wise colleague alerted me to the dynamic of what she called “Point. Counter-Point.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The premise is that when there is extensive talk, adherence, or belief in ‘A Point’, there can be found an existing ‘Counter-Point’.</span></p> <span style="font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-bidi-mso-ansi-language: EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SAfont-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;">Of late, my information sources have been bombarded with ‘The Point’ side of the equation. These last few weeks in particular two papers championing ‘The Point’ caught my eye. First was <i>The Future of Work 2020</i> issued by <a href="http://www.iftf.org/">The Institute for the Future</a> whereby 4 of their 6 identified drivers of change are technology-related: smart machines, a computational world, new media ecology, superstructed organizations powered by social technologies. </span> <!--EndFragment--><div><br /></div><div> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> 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mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-bidi- mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SAfont-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;">And the second was the popular <a href="http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/ibm_predictions_for_future/ideas/index.html"><i>Next 5 in 5</i> released by IBM Corporation</a>.<span style="color:#343434;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The headline captures it: “Science fiction becomes reality. Worlds collide. The future is ‘now’...or within five years, at least.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span><span style="color:#262626;">In this report, “IBM predicts that over the next five years technology innovations will change the way we work, live and play”.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family:Arial;font-size:15px;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-bidi- mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SAfont-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;"><span style="color:#262626;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-mso-bidi-font-weight:boldfont-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;">Here is <b><i>The Point</i></b>, loud and clear.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-mso-bidi-font-weight:boldfont-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;">‘The Point’ is: Technology. ‘The Point’ is that Technology is singularly the biggest force shaping our worlds, changing our days, altering our minds and bodies even.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-mso-bidi-font-weight:boldfont-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;">I am pro-technology. Very. But I want to talk about The Counter-Point.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-mso-bidi-font-weight:boldfont-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;">In the 1960s there was a counterculture movement, a lifestyle of peace, love and drugs, blossoming in California and co-existing with the birth of Silicon Valley. According to author <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roszak_(scholar)">Theodore Roszak</a> in his book <i>The Making of a Counter Culture</i>, this movement was largely fueled by the divergent opinions of the Technophiles and the Reversionaries.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The technophiles in general were driving powerful technological growth and development while the Reversionaries were dreaming of the days of the farm and the village. That’s an over-simplification but generally accurate for illustration purposes.<o:p></o:p></span></p> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family:Arial;font-size:15px;">Low and behold, look at where we are today.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family:Arial;font-size:15px;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family:Arial;font-size:15px;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family:Arial;font-size:15px;"><b><i>In one corner we have The Point: Technology</i></b></span><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-bidi- mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SAfont-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><span 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mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-bidi- mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SAfont-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;">In 1992, technophile <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernor_Vinge">Vernor Vinge</a>, Professor of Mathematics, Computer Scientist and Science Fiction Writer wrote The Technological Singularity, and originated the term “The Singularity”. 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{mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;">In 1992, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Postman">Neil Postman</a> wrote <i>Technopoly</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In it he defined technopoly as “a society in which technology is deified”.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>”Technology in a time of Technopoly actively eliminates all other ‘thought-worlds’. 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font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;">And then there is the man who most stimulates my own personal perspective on ‘The Counter-Point’: Mark Slouka.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Slouka characterizes high tech as "an attack on reality as human beings have always known it."<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Most eloquently perhaps in his essay <span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="text-decoration:none; text-underline:nonecolor:windowtext;"><i><a href="http://harpers.org/archive/2009/09/0082640">Dehumanized: When math and science rule the school.</a></i> (Sept 2009), </span></span>Slouka challenges “the victory of whatever can be quantified over everything that can’t.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Noting that: “in a horizontal world of “information” readily convertible to product, the verticality of wisdom<span style="color:#1A1A1A;"> has no place.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> </span><p></p><p></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(26, 26, 26); font-family:Arial;font-size:15px;"><b><i>And here Slouka lays the foundation for The Counter-Point: Humanity.</i></b></span><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-bidi- mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SAfont-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=" ;font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;"><span style=" ;font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;"></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=" ;font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><span style="font-family:Arial; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;color:#343434;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family:Arial; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;color:#343434;">“</span><span style=" font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;color:#1A1A1A;">The humanities, done right, teach us, incrementally, endlessly, not what to do but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">how to be</i>.” “… they complicate our vision, pull our most cherished notions out by the roots, flay our pieties. Because they grow uncertainty. Because they expand the reach of our understanding (and therefore our compassion), even as they force us to draw and redraw the borders of tolerance.”</span></blockquote><span style=" font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;color:#1A1A1A;"></span><p></p> </span><p></p><p></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family:Arial;font-size:15px;">The Year is 2012.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">The ground is ripe for a new emergent counterculture.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>A Counter Point.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>One that encourages lively discussion and celebration of the things that make us human, the things that shape our humanity.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-bidi- mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SAfont-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=" ;font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;"><span style=" ;font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;"></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=" ;font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-mso-bidi-font-weight:boldfont-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;">Things like thinking, feeling and relating. Things like art, aesthetics, poetry, philosophy, literature, film, and music.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The things that make us touchable and soft as humans and the things that make our world beautiful and loving.<o:p></o:p></span></p> </span><p></p><p></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family:Arial;font-size:15px;">While these are just words on a page right now, I hope with focus and attention, they will grow into an idea.</span><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-bidi- mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SAfont-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family:Arial;font-size:15px;"> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family:Arial;font-size:15px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-bidi- mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SAfont-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family:Arial;font-size:15px;"><b>Point: Technology. Counter-Point: Humanity.</b></span><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-bidi- mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SAfont-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=" ;font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;"><span style=" ;font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;"></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=" ;font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-mso-bidi-font-weight:boldfont-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="color: rgb(38, 38, 38); "><span style="font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;font-size:11.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment--><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#262626;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p> <!--EndFragment--><p></p> <!--EndFragment--></div>Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-13323995987098915422011-12-11T11:38:00.005-05:002011-12-11T11:43:10.672-05:00Item #60: The Weight of Doing Something<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> 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mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;"><i>“She rises in the morning, and her first thoughts go to the disasters that may have befallen during the dark hours of the night.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>She checks all known sources for assurance and re-assurance, feeling the panic rise in her throat in catastrophic anticipation, as she combs through all the unlikely possibilities.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>As her pupils register the daylight, so her mind registers some rationality. As an emerging list of things-to-do, reality comes into focus.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>She runs through the expectations of the day, anxiety regulating minute by minute, though never to a baseline level.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Task: consider, write, review, reconsider, rewrite, re-review.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Pause, close, walk away, distract.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Sit down again.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Consider, write, review, reconsider, rewrite, re-review.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>And so on.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>All while the beating of the heart continues its race, the formulation and prediction of possible alternative outcomes in overdrive.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>And then, eventually, exhaustion.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>No more ‘consider’ left in the cognitive pathways, no more writing left in the fingertips, no more optical reserve to channel into reviewing.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>And so she presses Send.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:15px;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:15px;">Feel familiar to anyone?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:15px;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:15px;">I call it <b><i>The Weight of Doing Something.</i></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:15px;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:15px;">It goes by common everyday names like procrastination, perfection, and sometimes amongst the more aware and honest of us, it is named fear or anxiety.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:15px;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:15px;">It is that feeling of wanting to ‘do something’ followed up right behind by that feeling of ‘oh no’.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>That ‘it isn’t right’, ‘maybe I should talk to someone else first’, ‘I just need a little more time with it’ or yikes, ‘it’s just not good enough yet’ feeling.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:15px;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:15px;">This is the language of <b><i>The Weight of Doing Something.</i></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:15px;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:15px;">It exists for good reason.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>It keeps us careful.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>It pushes us in the direction of excellence.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Maybe it forces us to stop and think a little harder at the right times.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:15px;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:15px;">But like much of life, it has a dark side. <b><i>The Weight of Doing Something</i></b> can make us never do anything. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Too scared to try.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Too paralyzed to risk.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Too flooded with fight or flight hormones rushing through the system to act.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:15px;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:15px;">So how to carry <b><i>The Weight of Doing Something</i></b>?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Well it means acknowledging its angel side resting on one of your shoulders, and its devil side perching comfortably on the other.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>It means heeding the cautions, the questions, the pushing for excellence that the devil side advocates, and then garnering courage from the angel side to move forward: to try, to take those calculated risks, to act.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:15px;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:15px;">It means telling oneself regularly how important it is that <b><i>The Weight of Doing Something</i></b> doesn’t become <b><i>The Iron Ball of Doing Nothing</i></b>.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-72626207618507720272011-12-03T10:32:00.002-05:002011-12-03T10:37:59.371-05:00Item #59: Team Macrocognition - A Visual Depiction<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyLnfY8EJHMgb0c3X7ib-zjCm-Bn127KwWfL3pYPMME-yajURFDGyhCYqh5xYicxW2_f42ZwLLSiGautoEMUYtO5SLudVcdl0benV0g8gai0znzKiB4ojQeUJS4xqL9HkaR0LvYcZ8azil/s1600/Team+Macrocognition+Visual+Depiction.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 239px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyLnfY8EJHMgb0c3X7ib-zjCm-Bn127KwWfL3pYPMME-yajURFDGyhCYqh5xYicxW2_f42ZwLLSiGautoEMUYtO5SLudVcdl0benV0g8gai0znzKiB4ojQeUJS4xqL9HkaR0LvYcZ8azil/s320/Team+Macrocognition+Visual+Depiction.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5681926759043128706" /></a>Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-62419914210975707892011-10-23T11:20:00.010-04:002011-10-23T11:37:26.664-04:00Item #58: Making, Makers and Maker-Dom<style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Times New Roman"; panose-1:0 2 2 6 3 5 4 5 2 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:50331648 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Verdana; panose-1:0 2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:50331648 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-parent:""; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">There is an amazing move</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">ment sprouting up:</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"> A Maker Movement</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">. Where p</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">eople in sp</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">ac</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">es</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"> and pla</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">c</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">es all ov</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">er the world, come toge</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">ther to make things. Productive things like 3D printers made from scratch, with human hands, in sm</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">all rooms, by tiny teams. Or fun, imaginative things like go karts that look like cupcakes. Depending on </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">the persons involved or the viewpoints of one, the printer might be fun and imaginative and the </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">cupcake go karts productive. But that’s the essence of the whole thing right there. Making, Makers, </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">Maker Spaces and The Maker Movement is at the same time </span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">fascinating and captivating, indefinable and non-capturable. You can’t</span><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"> pin it down to reasons for being, or the potential it holds.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">It is The Maker-Dom, a kingdom unto it’s own.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">It’s tentacled still in terms of it’s ideologies. ‘Making’ could be a counter-point to traditional education models. ‘Making’ could be anti-consumerist, or anti-corporate: an alternative to buying. ‘Making’ could be evolutionary and natural, meaning with ‘making’, we are just getting back to our inborn instincts and abilities. ‘Making’ could be an outcropping facilitated by the access that technology provides. Or ‘Making’ could be a cry of individualism to see ‘self’ imprinted on ‘things’.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">The Maker Movement has its characters – a cast of thousands in all corners of the globe. Kids, Parents, Nerds, Artists, Scientists, Businesspeople and Billionaires. Perhaps that’s why it enthralls me so. Let me introduce you to three of these characters I came across in my investigative travels.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">MAKER 1: Gail Folsom of The League of S.T.E.A.M.</span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2vbmC7LV4lhllDHzQVo9gdp3hLMUo5yLvR_8cPyr_kiozjfo8sAO6IjNs6m-lGeUbYrzx4aVehabZMBdqDKsatmRvAKece9lSheOFvrjxj_0VMKq523uNml-KCyCmCa2I_tRcFJsT4nf2/s1600/Gail+Folson+Comic+Con"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 142px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2vbmC7LV4lhllDHzQVo9gdp3hLMUo5yLvR_8cPyr_kiozjfo8sAO6IjNs6m-lGeUbYrzx4aVehabZMBdqDKsatmRvAKece9lSheOFvrjxj_0VMKq523uNml-KCyCmCa2I_tRcFJsT4nf2/s200/Gail+Folson+Comic+Con" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666709532870724002" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=" ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:10pt;" > </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style=" ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:10pt;" ></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">Here she is, the gorgeous lady that first caught my eye. The League of S.T.E.A.M. was birthed when years ago Gail Folsom wanted a costume for a party that glowed, functionally, and so, she collaborated with her husband, an accomplished prop designer to make it so. Acclaim came, the idea grew, others came on board and now The League of S.T.E.A.M. is a veritable indie Cirque du Soleil of entertainment. A traveling theatre troupe, music partnerships, a podcast and web series, plus merchandise for sale has made this Maker’s Maker-Dom.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">For fear of mis-representing the glory of this being, the League of S.T.E.A.M. self-describes as:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p> <p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">“We are monster hunters from the Victorian era. From up on the stage to mingling with the crowd, our members engage the audience with proton packs capable of firing blasts of “steam,” zombie man-servants on chain-leads, net guns and titillating electro-shock packs and ethereal glowing ghosts. Every piece of machinery is meticulously designed, detailed, and fully functional, from the steam cannon to the extendable “Punchy Fist”. The League of S.T.E.A.M. is one of the fastest-growing entertainment groups of its kind, and our series of filmed exploits has ensured us a popularity that fills our events to capacity.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">MAKER 2: Lindsay Lawlor and Russell, The Electric Giraffe</span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4TM-nDirtOiBtVpxCnUzh6sXCNAfUeqP5cDkjCB2XsKBYliaIPLpphnKflLM5SDh7BKqhZIHVPAO5v0-RQ6UCGztCj_uQGFi1_8zmXyMkVm9V8iegEkazFflD8Ebp-TQpVzAssbTPeYh/s1600/electric+giraffe"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 125px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4TM-nDirtOiBtVpxCnUzh6sXCNAfUeqP5cDkjCB2XsKBYliaIPLpphnKflLM5SDh7BKqhZIHVPAO5v0-RQ6UCGztCj_uQGFi1_8zmXyMkVm9V8iegEkazFflD8Ebp-TQpVzAssbTPeYh/s200/electric+giraffe" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666710281665262994" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">Inspired by trips to Burning Man, and a want to create a device that would get him up high, carry a few people and pump out “some bitchin’ sound”, Russell was born. Russell is a maze of wires and components and a product of thousands of lines of code yet looks like a ferris wheel come to life. Dotted with glowing lights and outfitted with ‘eyes’ that seem to convey emotion, Russell always ‘gets the mike’ so he can speak for himself. Russell narrates his ongoing upgrades via blog-stream at Lindsay and Russell’s Maker-Dom destination at electricgiraffe.com:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p> <p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">“Ouch! That plasma torch hurts!!! HELP, he's gone nuts!!! Help! Eeek! My owner went crazy and tore me to pieces! He’s assured me I’ll look better than ever, but for now I’m very nervous about my future and wondering what’s going to become of me!”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">MAKER 3: Michael Smith, The Inn Chef</span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfWhtjdLycAYAmQyBBWpdKxRALc_8CFNPEVxfRx_O9m6QpOJ00Rc0djb6dT0EH3HDm4fuyRlbdd7EglcTtPqNd8BM6ZzfbUV10X8dyCerccyir739I4cNMIniJC2rfVYKiGW7kZn2_vQgL/s1600/michael+smith"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfWhtjdLycAYAmQyBBWpdKxRALc_8CFNPEVxfRx_O9m6QpOJ00Rc0djb6dT0EH3HDm4fuyRlbdd7EglcTtPqNd8BM6ZzfbUV10X8dyCerccyir739I4cNMIniJC2rfVYKiGW7kZn2_vQgL/s200/michael+smith" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5666710545014047186" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">Many know Michael Smith as popular TV food personality, published author, professional chef and food ambassador.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">But Michael is also a Maker.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">Says Michael: <span style="font-style: italic;">“I think one of the neatest things about cooking and recipes in particular is how easy it is to make them your own, and stir your own personality into them…the essence of a recipe is that it’s just a starting point…a good well-written recipe is the kind of thing where you can free-style and riff off of it…to be successful with a recipe, you don’t have to do it exactly the way the person who wrote the recipe does it, but you find a way to stir your own ideas into it…there is an interesting trend called open-source recipe sharing…let’s see what we can do when we collaborate on what a perfect recipe can be…”</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">You can see the full interview with Michael Smith and Maker Culture on Youtube.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">This is only a tiny little sampling of the Maker-Dom cast. And there is even more fascination to find when you begin exploring Maker Spaces, like Maker Faires and NYC Resistor Lab, or Maker Media via Make Magazine or Make Online.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Verdana;font-size:10pt;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=" ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:10pt;" >If this interests you, start exploring…better yet, start Making!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style=" ;font-family:Verdana;font-size:10pt;" ></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"> </span></p> <p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:10.0pt;">Picture sources: http://campusprogress.org/, http://igargoyle.com/, http://seaandbescene.com/2011/</span></span></p>Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-91833350177005844182011-10-08T09:32:00.004-04:002011-10-08T10:54:41.993-04:00Item #57: Words: Communication, Art and Science.<style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Times New Roman"; panose-1:0 2 2 6 3 5 4 5 2 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:50331648 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-parent:""; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> <p class="MsoNormal">I have always been fascinated by words: short pretty words, long meaningful words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>At one point, I started writing down words that just all by themselves looked beautiful: clairvoyant, elixir, labyrinth, serendipity, love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I always chalked my attraction up to interest: I like Italian coffee, Tori Amos, red boots and words.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">But wow, there is so much to words.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">Words as Communication</p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Words are a primary means of communication of course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>With words, we get through the basic requirements of our days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We can share a pleasantry, offering a “good morning” greeting to a neighbour, we can secure something we need, “excuse me, where are the washrooms?” and we can signal danger, “Call 9-1-1”.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">We can take words up a level and use them to foster interpersonal emotional understanding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>“You seem upset, what’s wrong?” “So it sounds like the teacher said you did something wrong but you don’t know what she meant, so now you are confused.” And words are exchanged until the emotional experience is shared and clearly understood.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Words are critical to learning. I know we say people learn by doing, but I would have a very difficult time explaining the theory of distributed cognition if I was unable to use words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I can’t <b><i>show</i></b><span style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal;"> you distributed cognition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I can’t show you ‘austerity economics’, or ‘a progressive political platform’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Those are concepts that require words to explain.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight:normal; font-style:normal"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">Words as Art</p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">And then words can be art: storytelling takes communication to a more creative, more imaginative place, where words are not only to convey productively, though they often do as well: just think of fables and fairy tales which teach important life lessons in beautiful packaging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Storytelling elevated to art form is to create an experience of enjoyment, to convey for pleasure.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">But the word art forms I love most are poetry and lyrics, in particular, where words aren’t required to communicate with clarity, but instead to paint a visual picture in your mind, or elicit an emotional reaction.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">She railed at the doctor:</p> <p class="MsoNormal">"He cannot be mine.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">He smells of the ocean, of seaweed and brine."</p> <p class="MsoNormal">"You should count yourself lucky, for only last week,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I treated a girl with three ears and a beak.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">That your son is half oyster</p> <p class="MsoNormal">you cannot blame me.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">... have you ever considered, by chance,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">a small home by the sea?"</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">(Tim Burton)</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">“if I look</p> <p class="MsoNormal">at the crystal moon, at the red branch</p> <p class="MsoNormal">of the slow autumn at my window,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">if I touch</p> <p class="MsoNormal">near the fire</p> <p class="MsoNormal">the impalpable ash</p> <p class="MsoNormal">or the wrinkled body of the log,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">everything carries me to you,”</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">(Pablo Neruda)</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">Words as Science</p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">And finally, I have just been reminded that words are also an important scientific tool, things we can analyze and through which we can comprehend meaning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Precisely the same words we use as people living in different cities, different nations, and different continents all over the world can have entirely different meanings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And the words we use in one context can have one meaning, when used in another context, can mean something very different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And the study of these different uses, in these different spaces, in different contexts, is a scientific tool that teaches us about people, and about the cultures they live in.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">A simple example:<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">In most family environments, saying “I think I’ll have a beer” might serve to signal a relaxing mood, a time of social gathering, a celebratory event.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">In an alcoholic family environment, saying “I think I’ll have a beer” might signal danger.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Referencing God has radically different associations depending on where you are in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The meaning associated with the word ‘woman’ differs radically, signaling hierarchy, power or influence in some cultures and the opposite in others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We can observe these differences using words as a scientific tool to help us understand the significance behind these differences.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I love how important words are, how multi-faceted, how magical they can be. I’m not sure I recognized all that before capturing this here. Words indeed are Communications, are Art, are even Science.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Maybe they are more too.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I was inspired however when I noticed an advertisement for an event happening next week, one which I suspect will be attended by fellow word-lovers. If this sounds like you, you might be interested too. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Words By Design: An Evening With Bruce Mau is opening the International Festival of Authors, speaking in the Fleck Theatre at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto on October 19 at 8pm. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p>Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-20658337762713825602011-09-24T10:27:00.005-04:002011-09-24T10:36:27.254-04:00Item #56: 'Elementary' Distributed Cognition<style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Times New Roman"; panose-1:0 2 2 6 3 5 4 5 2 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:50331648 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-parent:""; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" >Distributed Cognition. Fancy words. It’s a fancy concept. But in true ‘me’ form, I’ll strive to share it in simplicity.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" ><br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" >Distributed cognition can be summarized and understood as 'a series of distributed elements in an environment whereby there is some social component, in that the components have various and different properties but come together to work as a system of memory primarily, but also of knowledge and understanding’ – in order to achieve a cognitive function’.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" ><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" >Even more basically, distributed cognition is a process of thinking, computing and organizing that makes <b><i>a system</i></b></span><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11pt;color:black;" > work to accomplish a cognitive task.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And embedded is the notion that an effective system of distributed cognition makes a system smarter.<span style=""><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><br /></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" >It can get very intricate; there are lots of moving ‘factors’: engineered usage of the environment; socially accessible information; physical representations of information or memory; adaptable or flexible forms of information i.e.: visual, kinetic or auditory; symbolic physical elements i.e.: altars, activity centers and artifacts.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" >But here instead I’ll provide a real-world example in hopes that tangibility explains better than any theory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: bold;"><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: bold;"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" >THE HOME-SCHOOL COMMUNICATION SYSTEM A.K.A. ‘ELEMENTARY’ DISTRIBUTED COGNITION (PARDON THE PUN)</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" >My daughter’s school has a system of distributed cognition to manage communication between the school/ teacher and home/ parent. This home-school communication system works to ensure that my daughter is in control of and responsible for communication between home and school, however it is a system that supports her in that process, providing information to teacher and to parent without relying exclusively on her as the sole conveyor or the sole memory source. There are three key components of this system: <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Red Folder, The Schoolbag</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Lunchbox</span>.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Red Folder</span> is a plastic coated folder with two interior pockets, one on the left and another on the right. This Red Folder has spatial references that indicate the role of different kinds of information: the left side of the folder holds documents routing from school to home, while the right side of the folder holds documents routing from home to school. Because of this spatial reference, without having to rely on reading skills, my daughter is able to immediately discern whether there is an action she needs to take i.e.: provide information to parent or teacher, simply by noting whether a side of the folder holds documents. This spatial component of the system also allows parent and teacher to immediately be able to determine whether documents that were intended to be routed were successfully routed. If a document remains in the Red Folder for longer than a day, it becomes an alert to the routing party that communication has not been successful and that investigation is needed. This Red Folder provides social access to information, which accommodates family systems that are varied. In my daughter’s case, she spends half her time with me (mother) and half her time with my ex-husband (father) and his new family (step-mom); she also has a day-time caregiver. The Red Folder serves to make all parties aware of information being transmitted without interrupting its primary role to route information between home and school.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" >With the Red Folder, my daughter is unequivocally the center of the communication system; while it’s protocols create awareness for the larger group and ensure communication flows across many parties, her involvement is central. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" >The Red Folder interacts well with another important component of the Home-School Communication System: <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Schoolbag</span>. The Schoolbag serves as an important component of this Home-School Communication system. The Schoolbag also carries information between School and Home, by transporting the Red Folder as outlined above, but also because it transports The Lunchbox. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Lunchbox</span> conveys messages to the student each day when it is accessed, whether that be via a loving note from Mum or the implicit message conveyed by providing a fruit snack instead of cookies. It also conveys information to the lunch room monitors; the level to which it might be considered a healthy or well- packed lunch informs the monitors regarding the level of care being delivered by the home environment and an observed change in the standard of lunch by the monitors might prompt a need to investigate. For the parent in the home environment, The Lunchbox contains artifacts to be viewed at end of day which provide information to the parent: is she eating well, is she eating all components packed, are quantities being packed sufficient.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" >There are more factors in this system of distributed cognition (but I don’t want to bore any further if that’s a risk factor): there is an activity center in the school environment as well as the home environment and an altar in the home environment, all which bring spatial and time-oriented cues to the system, meaning they indicate spaces and cue to times where and when activities occur and transfers of information happen. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" >I suspect the school is unaware of the factors they have built into this system or the degree to which they have, perhaps unintentionally, created a system of distributed cognition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But it’s a great system: functional for all parties and supportive of the central user.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Some individual teachers at the school have started employing technology to facilitate Home-School Communication – and, while there are clear benefits, I already see risks that may end up degrading the strengths of the ‘low tech’ system that is currently functioning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" > </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" >This is the potential value of this understanding for you, reader: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">awareness of these systems functioning in your everyday. </span>What distributed cognition systems are currently functioning in your life? In your workplace? What is driving their effectiveness? Where is the room for improvement? And what risks might be at play with the integration of technology?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Awareness is the first step to understanding, change, growth…most of anything good that happens in life.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=" ;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:11.0pt;color:black;" > </span></p>Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-62596928780072056832011-09-18T17:10:00.006-04:002011-09-26T08:18:59.256-04:00Item #55: Ode to the Imagination<style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Times New Roman"; panose-1:0 2 2 6 3 5 4 5 2 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:50331648 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-parent:""; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> <p class="MsoNormal">Oh morning minutes,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">When the eyes peek open,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">And shut again as quick.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">For the time is not yet,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">For the day to begin.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Not yet to wash the night away,<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Not yet to mask the markings, </p><p class="MsoNormal">Or taste the drops of starting.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">No return to slumber,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The unconscious wasteful place.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Here to rest in respite,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">In empty random space.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Here to rest in white land,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Where the mind becomes the canvas,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The sky has different colours,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The stars come out in day.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The leaves have blades between them,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Reflections that can sing.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">The drapes blow words in poet form,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">And church bells signal wonder,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">His bark says hi, good morning,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Her smile says I am gold.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>Her sighting is the first one, <p class="MsoNormal">His glance in 40 degrees,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Cars cease in clearing.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Situation mere detail,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Alteration a welcome demise,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Future is dotted with daisies,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Time is to arise.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p>Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-72837068276145182852011-09-06T06:41:00.003-04:002011-09-06T06:44:43.175-04:00Item #54: Recalibrating Perspective<style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Times New Roman"; panose-1:0 2 2 6 3 5 4 5 2 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:50331648 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-parent:""; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> <p class="MsoNormal">When I go away on vacation, I look for a reset experience: to relax, to down-gear, to chill-out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>My most recent vacation was none of those things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It was hectic, unfamiliar and stimulating, even over-stimulating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I visited about 19 places in 14 days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I jockeyed between English, French and Italian, drove a rented manual shift car up steep hillsides and on extended suspended Italian coastal highways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I ate new foods, saw new places, drove new streets and swam new waters every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I loved every minute of it, but a reset was not my experience.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">My experience was a recalibration of perspective.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Universally Human</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">What became very apparent to me amidst all the unfamiliarity was the clear similarity of the worlds we humans have built for ourselves in almost every corner of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The same key cornerstones of daily life define us all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Interactions with people: talking, smiling, laughing, yelling, hellos and good-byes, pleases and thank yous, regardless of the language.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Eating and drinking: sometimes a cheeseburger and a Coke, sometimes a pizza and a beer, sometimes baguette with cheese and a glass of white wine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Sleeping: whether it be perched on a hillside with windows the size of doors, or looking over a town square where blinds are drawn to protect against the harsh sun, or in an expansive brick construction inside a gated community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Driving: tiny cars up steep terrain, roaring sports cars on sweeping mountainous highways, or sports utility vehicles along spacious suburban streetlight-laden roads.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">This is the daily life that defines us all: people, food, shelter, transport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And there’s more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But this is universal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And in the hierarchy of life, these indicate the deepest, most fundamental, most authentic, most important needs of humans.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">Creators of 'Work'</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Somewhere along the way, we must remember that we – humans – created something that we believed would improve the experience of this daily life I’ve just outlined.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We created a tool that we believed would contribute to a betterment of this daily life: we created ‘Work’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘Work’ provided a number of outcomes: something to occupy our time, the creation of products and services that we believed would improve the experience of our daily lives, and ultimately through the development of this ‘Work’ into a structured system of activity, an economy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>With the creation of Work, we believed we would create greater prosperity for ourselves, a more prosperous daily life.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Prosperous = Success or Economic Well-Being (Mirriam-Webster)</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Let’s stay connected to the hierarchy I am clarifying here: we – humans – created Work i.e.: the manufacturing of products and the provision of services – and the consequent system of an economy - in order to occupy ourselves, provide the things we wanted or needed to improve our daily experience of life, in order to achieve greater prosperity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>A human creation, Work and The Economy was intended to be a tool in our service, in service of improvement of our daily life experience.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal">The Recalibration</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">And that was the recalibration of perspective experience of my vacation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It struck me that we have lost sight of a) the original role and purpose of Work and The Economy in service of our human daily life experience and b) the hierarchical place that Work and The Economy were originally intended to play in this experience of our daily lives.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">We – humans – the creators of this tool - need to raise our awareness around both of these things in order to recapture, reframe and recreate the original intentions of Work: manufacturing, services and The Economy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">We – humans – the creators of this tool – need to recall that Work was created to be a tool to serve us, not the other way around.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We have let the machine (The Economy) enslave us, to take on a life of it’s own, removed from its role and its purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We have let the machine (The Economy) separate us further from the things it was originally intended to bring us closer to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We have let the machine (The Economy) be taken away from it’s real master – everyday people – and be controlled by elites who want to abuse and manipulate it for means that are excessive and unnecessary.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">We are all essentially and universally human.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We talk, love, yell, eat, sleep, drink, travel and more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Work and The Economy is our creation, and we must be it’s master, not vice versa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Its role is to occupy us, to manufacture products and provide services that will improve our daily life experience so that our lives are more prosperous i.e.: successful defined by well-being. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">I recalibrated my perspective over the last two weeks. And determined that this is what our economic system requires as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>A recalibration of perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p>Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-47183691044406139272011-08-10T13:52:00.012-04:002011-08-10T17:48:14.358-04:00Item #53: Human Life<p style="FONT-STYLE: italic" class="MsoNormal">Just a few weeks ago now, the third weekend in July 2011 was a weekend of loss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>92 people corralled and executed in Norway, many under the age of 25 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Talented British musician Amy Winehouse died, at the age of 27.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And the tragic daily deaths continued to mount due to an unprecedented drought in Africa.</p>
<br /><p style="FONT-STYLE: italic" class="MsoNormal">The loss of life fed discussions, debate, and even disdain from people across the corners of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Many expressed belief that it was an inevitable outcome for Amy, that she should’ve gone to rehab, even that it was her own choice and her own weak doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Others were appalled that Amy Winehouse would receive more attention than the Norway deaths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And a few railed at the lack of attention being paid to the lives being lost daily in Africa.</p>
<br /><p style="FONT-STYLE: italic" class="MsoNormal">In the midst of this, I came across an unrelated article.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It’s a theoretical opinion piece whereby the author observes a growing discourse about humanity and the value of human life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><b>To the statement that ‘every human life is valuable’, he questions, is that true?</b><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-WEIGHT: normal"> And based on what tenets?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Is it a religious reduction?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He wonders if it bears its roots in the biblical belief that every human life is sacred and that by definition, it is a spiritual concept, versus a scientific one.</span></p>
<br /><p style="FONT-STYLE: italic" class="MsoNormal">Is every human life valuable?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Equally?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And if so, why?</p>
<br /><p style="FONT-STYLE: italic" class="MsoNormal">The heart of every one of us should break equally at each of the losses that weekend in July, for Amy Winehouse, for each of the 92 killed in Norway and for every single death in Africa. And for every loss to come today and tomorrow, with whatever inevitable crisis erupts in this societal chaos we are living in the midst of.</p>
<br /><p style="FONT-STYLE: italic" class="MsoNormal">Because yes, every human life is valuable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
<br /><p style="FONT-STYLE: italic" class="MsoNormal">Because <b>every human life is in part our own human life</b><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-WEIGHT: normal">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Because every one of us is valuable and a death of any one of us is in some way a death in all of us. Because the degree to which we each, every human, tap into, and feel the importance of every human life, and the impact of the loss of every human life, is the degree to which we will each independently and collectively be fully human.</span></p>
<br /><p style="FONT-STYLE: italic" class="MsoNormal">Every single human life has <b>equal potential</b><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-WEIGHT: normal">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We are all the same: genetic material brought together inside a womb, a heart, a soul, a spirit; altogether a being of potential.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We are each born into immensely varied situations in many different parts of the world, and we live days and lives of radically different experiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Of hurt and loss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Hopefully of joy and laughter too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But none of us humans choose what we are born into.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></span></p>
<br /><p style="FONT-STYLE: italic" class="MsoNormal">Because <b>no single human life ever ‘chooses’ death</b><span style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-WEIGHT: normal">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Those living in Africa would rather have lived; were the land they live on capable of keeping them alive, life is what they have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Those youth in Norway would rather have lived; had the hateful person not shot them each with a bullet, life is what they would have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Amy would rather have lived; had her heart and her spirit not been eating her from inside, life is what she would have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We humans are all the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></span><b>We all, we humans, want to live.</b></p>
<br /><p style="FONT-STYLE: italic" class="MsoNormal">And that’s what makes us human.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>That’s why every human life is valuable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We are all each born of the same parts, with hearts, souls, spirits and equal potential.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And we all, each of us, want to live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This is not religious belief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This is biological reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We are all humans, built of the same components.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Not one human living a productive, happy, healthy, safe life would rather die.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And if every human had the opportunity to be productive, happy, safe and healthy, every single human would choose life every time.</p>
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<br /><p class="MsoNormal"></p>Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-75138441317204930472011-08-03T09:47:00.035-04:002011-08-03T15:46:08.307-04:00Item #52: Follow the Yellow Brick Road GUEST POST<strong>Follow the yellow brick road?</strong><br /><br />As a child my parents bought me my very own pair of ruby red slippers. I would put them on every night and click my heels. I would click and click and click, but after all that clicking, I would still be standing clutching my blankie in the hallway with the blue carpet. Really, I think my main problem was that I was already home – dummy – I hadn’t yet started down my yellow brick road (YBR), I couldn’t even cross the street. I was 6 with an overactive imagination.<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVNe74JL_KiymCoqKtv8iUGTN09ugIP6nMRSF1vpPYYg29_7BxWMGdR_n2IlXYl-c5m68gnGycxrQAfulwsGJVvD78TGfyUhtKw1lKJRbl59pvq4DdwdpLyq_yrUbhVgc1W__a6BFPpgpn/s1600/pic1+jw.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636627385585028770" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVNe74JL_KiymCoqKtv8iUGTN09ugIP6nMRSF1vpPYYg29_7BxWMGdR_n2IlXYl-c5m68gnGycxrQAfulwsGJVvD78TGfyUhtKw1lKJRbl59pvq4DdwdpLyq_yrUbhVgc1W__a6BFPpgpn/s320/pic1+jw.jpg" /></a></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In high school, I had an aptitude towards creative writing, but I never really thought anything of it. I’d day dream about writing a book though - that and becoming a <strong>world famous figure skating pop star</strong> that EVERYONE in the entire world admired. Britney and Christina had nothin’ on me!<br /><br />Reality checked in around 17 and I applied for university in Hotel and Food Administration.<br /><br />After 6-ish years of post secondary education (4 years Uni + a 1 year victory lap, 1 year off working and then 1 more year of college), I was ready to begin my professional life as a big city Ad Girl. I was going to make it and I was going to make it big!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrv9-ZU74nbTqxyFu8jujrrxbJ5JkdeJ_uXV_lerZoOvCQSKTscMypbLrY3dml0dEEgmOF5KOuLverupgd0EYmPETlMDi5LQTjf2VDQbycV88WT0C0ZFal_uOceAwLzxK8c83a-yWdQwGA/s1600/pic2+jw.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 248px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636627663994095330" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrv9-ZU74nbTqxyFu8jujrrxbJ5JkdeJ_uXV_lerZoOvCQSKTscMypbLrY3dml0dEEgmOF5KOuLverupgd0EYmPETlMDi5LQTjf2VDQbycV88WT0C0ZFal_uOceAwLzxK8c83a-yWdQwGA/s320/pic2+jw.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />While busting my butt off working insane hours in the fast paced, intense industry of Advertising, I decided that I should take on more hours and work on a side project. With inspiration from a former colleague (Max Sawka), I decided that the world needed (yes, I said needed) me to write down my ridiculous scenarios and unnecessary opinions.<br /><br />Jenerally Speaking (aka. www.jentalkstoomuch.com) was born and the internets (all three of them* ) became filled with my incessant ramblings and wild and/or mild adventures.<br /><br />What’s next?<br /><br />Where is my YBR headed? Well, to write that book (obviously). I’m currently working with the talented illustrator from Windsor, Jen Huggins, who has turned me into a cartoon:<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.jentalkstoomuch.com"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 247px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636627996803589010" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi41DIsnHnTap_0TrJPlMfBNJUxJBqLBMF5j8koA6gxm0c8ihfAdlWBMrAEjEmwgk9hKRJ_QuDfV0Zgbn0m9x4gtk0JZ4-L91zuDaUWS0EkPjuBCffJk-pMNEUWvqtDx_XNknK3k1u5KhKw/s320/pic3+jw.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />She also is beautifully and creatively taking the words from my stories, and visualizing them in imaginative, hilarious ways.<br /><br /><a href="http://jentalkstoomuch.com/2011/07/dont-press-send/"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 254px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636628429918571490" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdnMGbklawgGQcWdw-Ez0_RRImBGWi-xLJuWCs9YWhrqXoNUsenkcKe1_i-d8V-2sMuzSfe3iuZyX_OrKq1MI2LwunzPcx0ynn9dnl9iffBnJEiTUL8Sq1xtCaFp4V3m6Y8HZwWjFlbiVM/s320/pic4+jw.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />To successfully accomplish this new goal, I now have a series of next steps to go though:<br />- Continue to work hard and love advertising/ marketing.<br />- Write, write, write.<br />- Determine printing costs. To do this I need to determine page count.<br />- Determine page count.<br />- Find money. (I hear there’s a money tree planted in Trinity Bellwoods – DIBS - if it’s not there when I get home tonight, I’ll come after you. I know where you live.)<br />- Find an editor. Just because I love to write, doesn’t mean I don’t make tons of grammar mistakes.<br />- Determine if I’m to work with a real publisher, or publish it on my own. Yikes.<br />- Get training again so I can be that <strong>world famous figure skating pop star</strong>. Twenty-nine’s not too old to be a teenage pop star right?<br /><br />So, with some zigzagging and jigjagging, I now know what I’m supposed to do. No matter where I am in my life (professionally or unprofessionally), I need to write. It’s what I’m supposed to do. I feel it, writing is my YBR!<br /><br />If you’ve managed to read this far and are interested in this new endeavour of mine or just feel like contacting me, my info is below:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.jentalkstoomuch.com/">http://www.jentalkstoomuch.com/</a><br />@jennyus<br /><a href="http://ca.linkedin.com/in/jenlwoodall">http://ca.linkedin.com/in/jenlwoodall</a><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/jentalkstoomuch">http://www.facebook.com/jentalkstoomuch</a><br />jenlwoodall@hotmail.com<br /><br />*Max gets joke cred on that one!Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-33997788003909803062011-07-23T15:39:00.005-04:002011-07-23T17:44:18.707-04:00Item #51: In Pursuit of SimplicityI am inspired to deconstruct what is an often used and potential widely mis-used word: Simplicity.<br /><br />I hear colleagues give voice to varied expressions of the concept: “let’s stay focused on simplicity; let’s keep things simple” in different iterations, from different mouths, many times a week. In isolation, I applaud and encourage the pursuit, but then I end up hearing the following as identifier: “because we over-think things, we over-complicate.”<br /><br />My alarm antennae go up and start buzzing when I hear this, because instead of pursuit of simplicity for the sake of smart, creative, and effective work, I start to hear the pursuit of simplicity being used as a proxy for ‘short-cut’. <br /><br />I say this because I know for certain that ‘over-thinking’, and ‘over-complicating’ is NOT a problem plaguing most modern day advertising agencies. Au contraire, I’d suggest there’s a whole lot of under-thinking and under-complicating going on. While I know the pursuit of simplicity is intended to be a good thing, I am wary of its misguided pursuit ending up as the dictionary defines it i.e.: “artlessness of mind”, “weakness of intellect”.<br /><br />So let’s not go there. Let’s discuss the somewhat oxymoronic path I believe is required to achieve simplicity and harness the wonderfulness within its pursuit.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Path to Simplicity:</span> <br /><br />This won’t take me long, because it’s really quite ‘simple’. Millions of dollars are spent every year by advertisers against initiatives that don’t perform. Thousands of product innovations are introduced every year of which the vast majority fail. Hundreds of new businesses are launched every year of which the vast majority fail. I’m not against failure, I embrace it, but not when it happens because of ‘short-cutting’. Every business category today is packed with competitors, packed with dynamics. Every ‘consumer’ out there is motivated by different drives, different needs, different loves, many changed from even yesterday. The world in general needs radically different things: economies are struggling, people are starving, and violence is an ever-present issue. Communications today are so complex that we literally are in an embryonic stage of understanding how to effectively and meaningfully interact with people today. Today is COMPLEX. There is very little danger of over-thinking, or over-complicating in this environment. There is plenty of opportunity to ask more questions, consider more ‘considerately’, take a pause, and yes, also check in with our gut instincts. Under-thinking and under-complicating is not the path to simplicity; that is the path to artlessness of mind and weakness of intellect. Embracing complexity, wading into it bravely and thoughtfully, and applying artfulness and intellect to it, that is in fact the path to simplicity.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Outcome of Simplicity:</span> <br /><br />I propose that the outcome of simplicity is the arrival at three things: <span style="font-weight:bold;">focus, clarity, and elegance</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Focus:</span> Per above, let’s call it as it is. The world today is COMPLEX. Business today is COMPLEX. People are COMPLEX (always have been). Communications today is COMPLEX. Have you wrapped it all up neatly and uncovered something that is real, true, meaningful and important within this inherently complex environment? If so, you have achieved focus.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Clarity:</span> Have you managed to capture the heart and the essence of that thing you are trying to convey or to do in a succinct, easily understandable way. Can you wrap up the story you want to tell in 30 seconds, in the length of an elevator ride, in such a way that your mother would understand it immediately? If yes, then you’ve achieved clarity.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Elegance:</span> Elegance is where the magic opportunity lies in the pursuit of simplicity. If you’ve found your focus, if you can convey it in an elevator to your mother and have her understanding immediately, you are still only part-way there. Elegance happens when the way you convey it, the how you convey it, brings it to life. When someone hears what you have to say, or sees what you want to do, do their eyes light up? Do they ask how they can be involved? Do they instantly have a million suggestions or ideas to share with you? If so, you have achieved elegance. [If you like the idea of ‘elegance’, I direct you to author Matthew E. May.]<br /><br />This is a challenge to steer clear of short-cutting, to embrace complexity, to wade into the waters of thoughtfulness.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFWUWfB-yHWddgIpYqSOSTBtSDk4YwhubHY1bCcq610I8cE4groDR1YP3D8HSHtL2BW6_kQBa5jSoD7cWeg6H_cuXsS1W5ynYcB4daRws4zEbft8Qpxlk8sJ6DkU38kNd8Mzf5UMGgxPL8/s1600/simplicity+pic.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 241px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFWUWfB-yHWddgIpYqSOSTBtSDk4YwhubHY1bCcq610I8cE4groDR1YP3D8HSHtL2BW6_kQBa5jSoD7cWeg6H_cuXsS1W5ynYcB4daRws4zEbft8Qpxlk8sJ6DkU38kNd8Mzf5UMGgxPL8/s320/simplicity+pic.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5632635135695401890" /></a>Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-76970283270785711382011-07-09T07:05:00.002-04:002011-07-09T07:07:02.767-04:00Item #50: Leadership is ResponsibilityWhen you think about leadership, what comes to mind for you? A corner office? Higher pay? Power? Influence? Privilege? Be honest.<br /><br />I’ve looked into it and definitions for what leadership means are mostly unclear. I’ve also seen varying versions of leadership firsthand in my years. Most of the time, it involves the leader feeling some sense of importance in having been granted the position of leader. But let me plant an alternative thought on the topic.<br /><br />Paramount to successful leadership, in my opinion, is a sense of <span style="font-weight:bold;">responsibility</span>.<br /><br />Successful leadership, to me, requires understanding that <span style="font-weight:bold;">business strength depends on people</span>. And also then, interdependently, and equally importantly, that <span style="font-weight:bold;">people depend on business strength</span>. Successful leadership requires understanding the delicacy of that inter-relationship. Successful leadership ‘lives’ the understanding that <span style="font-weight:bold;">the best way to be responsible to people is by ensuring the business that employs them is strong. And the best way to build a strong business is to be responsible to the people that fuel it.</span> <br /><br />Leadership is therefore very little about ‘self’ and very much about ‘other’. Leadership means you’ve been trusted – to bear the responsibility - to do what is best for the business, and thereby for the people, and hence vice versa. Strong businesses will be best able to care for their people. And strong people will be best able to create business strength. <br /><br />It’s very little about the corner office; it’s about being in the trenches. It’s very little about higher pay; it’s about heightened accountability. It’s very little about power or influence or privilege; leadership, in my opinion, is about responsibility.Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-39174346944644016372011-06-30T08:25:00.002-04:002011-06-30T08:28:07.774-04:00Item #49: Katy Perry. Modern Marketing Wonder.I took my 7 year old to see Katy Perry last night. Holy Moly. The whole thing was like a walk through a 3-dimensional version of the Candyland board game from my youth – but even way better because it’s done with 21st century technology!<br /><br />The woman is a modern marketing wonder. The music is pure bubblegum teenage pop, the costumes deserve their own Tim Burton film and the stage design appears like a modern pinball machine that ate a ‘grow-humungous’ pill.<br /><br />But what stood out for me was the permeation of social platforms like Twitter, Youtube and Facebook in her show production. And the degree to which she attaches to pop culture, embracing those platforms to build connection with her audience.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Here’s what Katy Perry Did:</span><br /><br />She started out with the typical format of ‘the opening act’. Marina and the Diamonds, who I happen to love, put on a mediocre show at best, which disappointed me. But that’s for another post.<br /><br />But that’s where ‘typical' ended and Katy started to mix it up. <span style="font-weight:bold;">Opening Act 2 was DJ Skeet Skeet</span>, helming a 30 or so minute dance party with a set list that included Dragonette, LMFAO, Kesha and more. Clearly a mix board master, he had the 14,000 odd fans on their feet, shaking their bodies fueled by their cotton candied sugar rush. DJ Skeet Skeet closed his set by directing us all to his Facebook page where we could download for free (“cause who doesn’t like free music!” he yelled) his debut remix of John Legend doing Adele’s Rolling in the Deep. I have not been able to locate said free download as yet, but that’s not my point. My point is that Katy Perry had a DJ for an opening act!<br /><br />Then here’s what Katy Perry did. She posted the <span style="font-weight:bold;">Twitter hashtag #TorontoDreams</span> on the big screens. Within seconds, profile pictures and twitter posts started appearing on the big screens. Yes, I sent a post with the hashtag and watched to see my profile picture with my twitter post appear on the big screens at the Air Canada Centre for 14,000 odd people to see! Very cool. And there’s more. So many people were sending posts with the hashtag #TorontoDreams, that it started trending. Random Torontonians, having no awareness that it was the concert hashtag began tweeting about how they want world peace, a huge home, a lot full of fancy cars, or (apparently) to move to Vancouver. The power of Katy Perry.<br /><br />And here’s the last thing that Katy Perry did. She had a little sojourn mid-concert, which she called her <span style="font-weight:bold;">‘Karaoke Break’</span>, whereby she sang a few covers. And covers of what, you might ask? Well Rihanna’s Only Girl in the World, which was lovely, but then… oh yes, after a prefacing discussion about her favourite videos on Youtube (many of which involve cats it seems), she sang, to my dismay, the infamous Rebecca Black’s Friday, to which my 7 year old knew all the words, to my even greater dismay.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Katy Perry in Summary? Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Popular Culture Tie-Ins, Entertainment Production Goddess. Modern Marketing Wonder. And yes, I loved it all.</span>Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758453431695654185.post-71158806231770370252011-06-21T07:21:00.002-04:002011-06-21T07:24:45.855-04:00Item #48: The Inflection Point Upon Us<span style="font-style:italic;">Prepared for the Canadian Marketing Association, June 2011</span><br /><br />I, like many of you readers, work for a communication agency. Formerly known as an advertising agency. I was ruminating recently about the mountainous inflection point I felt we were in the midst of as communicators. Here is the story:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">Once Upon A Time</span></span><br /><br />Once upon a time there was advertising. ‘Advertising’ agencies created television ads, ads for newspapers and magazines and ads to run on the radio. Structured advertising agencies had different departments producing these advertisements, presenting them to a client and ‘putting them on the air’.<br /><br />Around twenty years ago came the internet and hence ‘the digital space’. It lingered in its formative stage, mainly driving the emergence of e-commerce, for about a decade. Only about ten years ago, ‘advertising’ agencies decided that the internet could be a canvas for advertising. So advertising agencies started developing web sites and digital banner ads. They’d build these websites and banner ads and then ‘put them up’.<br /><br />Maybe around five years ago, social media came to be. Suddenly all kinds of conversations were being had in the ‘digital space’; shared information was circulating among people without advertising agencies or their clients having anything to do with it.<br /><br />And then mobile devices came to be which sped up all this communicating and commerce-related activity in the digital space to a lightning fast pace.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">A Reality Check</span></span><br /><br />Today, people everywhere - colleagues and friends, moms and dads, students, artists, technology gurus, teachers, policemen, investment bankers and academics – ‘live’ the internet. They access Google dozens of time every day and get their daily news updates online. Photos are shared and commented on via Facebook, Flickr or Instagram. Vacations are researched, planned and paid for online. Moms right now are circulating blog postings about some new organic pasta on the market. Grandparents are Skyping with their grandkids from continent to continent every day. Youtube is an entertainment channel for just about every single person I know, including my 67 year old father. New bands are born every day on MySpace. My mom lives by her iPhone as does my Dad; my niece and my daughter both carry their Nintendo DSi in one hand and their iPads in the other. This is not a minority report tech future; this is today, everyday, for more and more people as part of daily life.<br /><br />When we step away from the language in communication circles about ‘the digital space’, ‘the social space’, ‘the mobile space’, this is the reality.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">And so, The Inflection Point:</span></span><br /><br />For all the decades past, we communication agencies and clients have considered traditional media to be king and digital media to be secondary, not even at queen status, but more so a court jester. I could go on separately about why: it’s cheaper to produce digital media so it doesn’t get as much attention as traditional media which is incredibly expensive still. And we don’t have good impact metrics yet around digital media to PROVE how much it is contributing to communications and brand health in the minds of our audiences.<br /><br />But this has changed. Now, today, traditional media and digital media sit at the same table. They have rapidly come to be equals. And we communications agencies and clients are waking up to that reality. Brands are being built exclusively in the digital space in many cases. And among the new generation of consumers, traditional media may indeed be falling by the wayside.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Insert panic here.</span><br /><br />If you accept that the above is true, because it is - now, today, traditional media and digital media sit at the same table - then what? Communications that happen in the digital, social and mobile space do not function like traditional media. You do not ‘put them on the air’ or ‘put them up’. They are ongoing, immediate and dynamic by their very nature. And this simple reality radically impacts everything.<br /><br />We have to think about communications today as an eco-system: interconnected, always-on, living, and constantly evolving.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">Impact 1:</span></span> We can no longer think of communications development as projects that follow a straight path, each one in a separate lane, being developed in parallel. We need new ways of working: fluid, connected, nurturing. We need to ‘carry’ communications, constantly. This has radical implications for the mindset and consequently the processes of developing communications, evaluating communications, and maintaining communications.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">Impact 2:</span></span> This acknowledgement that communications is now an eco-system, requires by definition that the people charged with managing those communications understand ‘systems’ and this is not a common capability. Understanding systems means having an incredible ability to see the big picture – how everything is working together – productively, seamlessly, responsively. And yet it also means having an ability to go deep into any singular ‘node’ within the system to maximize its individual role in the system. This is complex thinking.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">Impact 3:</span></span> Communications producers – writers, art directors, technologists, etc… – need to truly work together to create. Which means they need to understand each other’s craft, in order to truly be able to integrate and build off of each other. This is not a skillset that has been nurtured or taught either through the education system or inside agencies historically.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">Journey through the Inflection Point:</span></span><br /><br />There is a mountain to climb to be able to really traverse this inflection point. It may seem straightforward, but it is anything but. It requires:<br /><br />a) The acceptance that the digital space is seated at the table right next to the traditional media space and that the need to adjust to it is urgent.<br />b) The acknowledgement that communications today are not about ‘putting it on the air’ or ‘putting it up’; communications today are about creating and managing eco-systems of activity.<br />c) A change in communications agency processes and client review, ‘purchase’ and maintain processes.<br />d) An upgrading of communication producers skill sets – to foster a better cross-discipline understanding.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Insert easy button.</span><br /><br />I, for one, believe that if brands want to continue to have a place in people’s lives in the future, traversing this inflection point is a must-do. Adjust or be left behind seems to me to be the harsh reality. But more optimistically, this required shift in communications could get us to a much better place on so many levels. This shift will get us communications that matter to people; by default that means brands that are engaging in ways that matter to people. And ladder that further to a place where communications (and brands) can be positive contributing forces in the world. This is free market dynamics at work. Best to acknowledge and understand what people want, and deliver it, because it’s those who will survive.Heidi McCulloch, Curatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06164898514181294929noreply@blogger.com0