-
-
18:16
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
My Singapore friend Ivan Chew, the blogging rambling Librarian, found the Tumaini Kids blog and was inspired to dedicate this great original song to them. The best way to get the whole story is to see the YouTube clip produced by the two women, who met at Stanford Univeristy, bummed around the world before stumbling across the Tumaini Children's Center, which houses 170 orphans and "vulnerable children in Nyeri, Kenya. The two started the Hope Runs project. They now live at Tumaini and train the kids in running. They hope the sport will connect the kids to people in more developed nations and they look for small donations and used sneakers to help their kids. There's also a social entrepreneurial thread that runs through what they are doing. The blog is amazingly articulate in the postings apparently by teenage Tumaini kids. I'm not sure if this should be considered part of the SAP Global Survey, but it certainly is a great example of how social media is impacting culture and changing the world.
-
10:03
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
[Hugo E. Martin from his personal file.] Of all the people who have been the most generous to me in this SAP Global Survey, Hugo E. Martin, is at this point #1. He has introduced me to people in Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic Ukraine, Bulgaria and Croatia, giving this survey insights that, when published, will help you understand the strategic importance to this rapidly emerging sector of the world. In this interview, he explains why social media is so much hotter in Central Europe than in Germany. Thanks again, Hugo. He has also been more generous than anyone so far in offering suggestions to SAP on how they can use social media to do a better job. Thanks again, Hugo. Hugo can best be described as an old-timer in publishing, marketing and the Internet. In 1978, he CHIP, the first German computer magazine CHIP. In 1981, he helped American tech publishing legend David Bunnell and Tony Gold start of PC Magazine in the US. From 1993 to 1998 he spearheaded the internationalization process of Vogel Media Group and helped to build, and managed publishing houses and publishing ventures in 12 countries, including China, Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Greece, Poland, Turkey, Ukraine, Vietnam.Today,he consults media, IT&C and internet companies in Europe and Asia. 1. When did you first get into blogging and social media and why? I first read about Weblogs in 1999. I started talking and writing about their use and benefits in 2002. That was when my colleagues and friends tried to push me to start blogging. But, at that time, many of my clients had ‘just learned’ about email & e-newsletters, and our CMS was serving my needs for publishing on our websites. I had no problem to solve with blogs. Whenever I wanted to, I could get something in print. I saw no reason to blog. Of course, I read, cited and pointed to blogs. My colleagues and I discussed regularly, whether the time was right to replace my regular weekly newsletter with a blog. Finally, in November 2004, we decided to go ahead and publish a regular blog while maintaining our monthly newsletter. Only this past summer, was I brave enough to drop my email newsletter and concentrate exclusively on writing my blogs, delivering new posts via feeds with a weekly summary per my newsletter. 2. What social media tools do you use? Most important for me are feed readers and tools to organize and publish feeds to websites, applications and store and retrieve them on databases. My main tool for accessing and reading is still Bloglines. I also use Google Reader, MyYahoo, Netvibes and others, but not on a regular basis. My Blogs are on Blogger. I have posted more than 2.000 times in less than three years. I’ve written some on WordPress and other platform and use Tumblr (but mostly for aggregation). I use video sites--mainly YouTube--and to a lesser extent I use Flickr for photos and I still use IM a lot. To serve international needs, I use Trillian and Skype. I have experimented with some wiki systems including MediaWiki, SocialText and Jotspot, but in my work, I use any wiki-software my clients want to use. In 2004 I started to use social networks like Linked-In and OpenBC / XING (and I still do) and checked out others. Today, I am more on Facebook and MyBloglog. I like the ‘ambient noise’ of Facebook, which gives you the feeling of being connected and I wait for the Jabber/Lluna project to become real so I can reach friends by cutting through the space-time dimension. I have used del.icio.us and digg as social bookmarks. After my favored tool for subject-oriented bookmarking ‘crispynews’ folded, I did not find a replacement, so now I worked around that with Tumblr. 3. How has social media changed your life? It has not changed my life. Both my business and personal life are very internationally oriented. Internet and Mobile communication helps me ‘entertain’ my network much more easily. My day on the net starts in the morning with Asian friends and ends late at night, or early morning, in America or Asia. On the German business sites, social media is going quite slowly. Most publishers here are not convinced about the need and benefits--or perhaps, it is anxiety and/or the hope it might soon go away. Businesses are very reluctant to use social media themselves and prefer ‘their specialized people’ to take care about that. Not all, but most if them. One Example: you hardly find comments on my blog on publishing – the standard response comes by phone or email and business people don’t want me to make their comments public. 4. Tell me about social media in Germany. When we wrote Naked Conversations we could find very few blogs (I apologize for missing yours). But have blogs evolved? What about other social media tools such as social media, wikis and online video? There are still many fewer blogs in Germany than in US, France or in Poland. There are many reasons (excuses) for that. First I think, many Germans do not like to expose and express their opinion, except when they are asked do so, and it is safe to do so. Second, the media landscape in Germany is quite diverse and in many flavors, so there is little room and need for alternative media (although some of my colleagues would disagree). Third, most of us use new things only if we know about the benefit and can easily explain it to anyone who might (or might not) ask. Of course, we also have our early adopters here, but you Americans outnumber us in that respect. There are many different figures about how many blogs there are in Germany. Between 350,000 and 1.5 Million. In May 2007, our Burda Communication Network found 1.1 million German bloggers. Is it important? Are the active? What is active? There are business and corporate blogs, but they remain small in numbers...
-
10:03
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
I didn't know David Boschmans, the Belgian blogger who died unexpectedly at age 32. But he had been Scoble's host in Brussels. Scoble write elegantly about the meaning of life and the differences between "real" and online friendships, a subject on which Scoble and I continue to disagree. But that makes me no less sorry for his loss and for the loss of david Boschmans' two-year-old daughter and wife..
-
10:03
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
I have completed sending out interview questions to people in Central Europe for the SAP Global Survey and I expect to be posting a batch of responses from that area starting next week. While, I continue to to welcome people with knowledge of any country, I am next going to focus on Latin America, where I have only three respondents so far and would like many more. If you know something about social media in any Western Hemisphere country south of the US, please let me know. If you can recommend someone who is knowledgeable, please make an intro by email for me. My new email is shelisrael1@gmail.com. I am phasing out of itseemstome.net. After Central America, I plan to look at Asia and the Pacific where I have a few contacts but need a great many more. China has been difficult for me. I have only two leads there, which seems a bit small for a country of 1.4 billion. This SAP Global Survey has been a remarkable experience for me. I have learned a bit about how culture shapes the use of technology, while simultaneously, seeing how very much people everywhere remains the same. With SAP's permission, I am going to start talking about the findings in public. The first time will be next week at Office 2.0 in SF, where I am moderating a panel of experts on social computing. Then, on Sept. 27-9, I'll be using the SAP Global Survey as the subject of a keynote at BlogOrlando.
-
10:03
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
My Facebook Friend Wheel. The above illustration is not some recently discovered volcanic planet as viewed by Hubble somewhere in outer space. It is much closer to me. You could say it is close to my heart.Friendwheel is a neat Facebook application that lets you see how your friends connect, not just with you, but with each other. I have almost 400 friends and I am pretty certain not one of them connects just with me. This is a social network. I have been building it for a good number of years and it is comprised almost completely of people I trust, or who are trusted by people I know in real life. The exceptions are people I've chatted with on Facebook who have persuaded me that I would trust them if I knew them better.There are people at Facebook who want to be among the most popular. A good friend of mine has nearly 5000 friends. If you look at his Friends Wheel, you will discover that the center f it is all white space. In short, people tend to just connect with him and not with each other.Both approaches have merit. There is power and influence in popularity and anyone who claims to have 5000 friends is certainly popular. Hell, maybe my friend could run for public office.But that's not I want. i want a network, where all the people can help each other. I believe in the power of the network and that for it to really be a network, the nodes need to interconnect. We are the nodes of social networking. I am amazed at the power of this network. it is more useful to me than my Outlook Contacts list. There are people who found me on Facebook who knew me in elementary school and from every other phase I've been through since.I have never laid eyes on many of them, but that does not mean I connect. It means that I will meet each of them when I can, and it will be like meeting old friends for the first time. In the last few weeks, I have had conversations that started on Facebook that have led to new business relationships, once by playing online Scrabble. Facebook friends have helped me found people for the SAP Global Survey that I would never have found otherwise.I think some people get one important part of this confused. The virtual part is the space where we meet people online. The real part is the people we meet. I believe that other than the tangible part, online friendship s absolutely identical to the terrestrial kind. The difference is the Internet lets you build a larger,stronger and more valuable network faster.In both cases, friendship seems to me to be like an old fashioned bank account. You have to put something into them, and when you do, you get back more than you invested.
-
10:03
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
There's nothing I know that is as exciting as a startup launch--well almost nothing. Earlier today, my client, YourTrumanShow announced it would be launching something at DEMOfall. The video blogging site has already been announced and is live in early beta. At DEMOfall, they will be announcing something new and it furthers my concept of global neighborhoods where the people matter more than the URL. I guess it's time for me to start video blogging. In any case, I'm proud to be part of the team. It's going to be a very busy month.
-
-
6:28
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
I got home from Chicago at about 10 pm last night. I head out for a few days at ICE 07Third Tuesday will be meeting on Wednesday Toronto on Tuesday. To accommodate my schedule, Joe Thornley and the good folk...
-
6:28
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Phil Gomes the first PR Blogger, an Edelman VP is on the podium here at the Bulldog PR University in Chicago. Research shows that people trust people like themselves. He refers to Trust Barometer has for three years showed people...
-
6:28
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
[NOTE: I tweaked this after posting it and have just changed the text from the original throughout the post.] The following are my draft talking points for my talk Thursday in Chicago at the Bulldog reporter PR University. I am...
-
-
22:15
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
My friend and newest client Austin Hill is going to be in Calgary Thursday night and is putting together a blogger dinner. I'd love to go, but I'll be in Chicago. In any case, if you are in te Calgary...
-
22:15
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
I'm the after-lunch keynoter Friday at the Bulldog Reporter PR University in Chicago. I'm speaking, of course, about blogs and social media. But I want to give some fresh advice to PR folk, both on a tactical and on a...
-
22:15
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Uber clicker Thomas Hawk talks about why Yahoo, who owns the wildly popular Flickr is losing popularity when you would think it is gaining. Why does this matter? According to Thomas, this is all about social search and social search...
-
22:15
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Through church elder Ben McConnell, I was treated to this quote from the always quotable Craig Newmark, founder of Craig's List:The more you think about business as being a community service, the more successful you become. What I've told newspapers...
-
22:15
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
It had to happen.Viacom is suing Google for about $1 billion for unauthorized uses of its film properties on YouTube where the parent company has profited from advertising.Back when Google announced it would buy YouTube for $1.65 billion last October,...
-
-
8:26
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Sami Viitamaki emailed me this model for crowdsourcing. He calls it the FLIRT model. I like this -- it offers a useful way of viewing many crowdsourcing efforts.
I think what would be fascinating would be some kind of meta-view of crowdsourcing in general. In the main it's not new. And some of the "old" methods have their places, still. And some of the old methods have undergone and will continue to undergo change. For example, marketing research is an "old" method that is scoffed at by many today, but it has its uses even in the crowdsourced world.
And crowdsourcing brokers, as Sami quite rightly calls Innocentive, are serving yet another purpose. I don't think there's any one way that's best for companies to open themselves to customer communities, but discovering all the ways to do this and all the ways Web 2.0 is changing this landscape is immensely helpful.
-
-
7:35
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Yes, I know, New Year's was a couple of months ago, and even the dawn of the Year of the Pig has passed us by. But this is the first time I've posted this year, so I owe you a New Year's greeting!
I should be back with posts several times weekly, focusing on book reviews and author interviews. Not all of these will be reviews of books specifically about innovation and creativity, but in each book I will look for insights that would be helpful for innovators.
I'm also still quite interested in the blooming of customer co-creation and crowdsourcing (or whatever the new buzz term is for this these days). So expect to see more on that in posts to come.
-
7:35
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Think you know what a Chief Innovation Officer is supposed to do? The folks at BMG -- Breakthrough Management Group -- do. They are offering a two-day Chief Innovation Officer course at the end of April in Denver. Topics to be covered -- "The Emerging Role of the CIO," "Fostering An Innovative Company Culture," "Establishing A Systematic Innovation Process," and "Accelerating Innovation In Your Organization."
Speakers include some heavy hitters -- David Silverstein of BMG, who is also author of Insourcing Innovation; Robert Tucker of The Innovation Resource, who is also author of Driving Growth Through Innovation, Dr. Phil Samuel of BMG, and Cheryl Perkins, President of Innovation Edge, LLC, and former CIO of Kimberly Clark.
Regular IdeaFlow readers may remember that this post that mentioned David Silverstein when he was quoted in Business Week last year.
-
-
5:04
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
The raid and take-down of Bittorrent tracker site The Pirate Bay led to a veritable shower of press, and a substantial backlash from the Swedish people. During the course of Pirate Bay events, several sites and news organizations have cited pressure from the U.S. as a contributing reason for the raid.
Reports of U.S. involvement stem from
a report by SVT.se, a respected Swedish news organization,
who reported that the MPAA and the US government pressured the Swedish Minister of Justice to take enforcement action. Now,
P2P fanboy site Slyck has details of the U.S. government and the RIAA's involvement with the raid.
It seems the U.S. government may have threatened sanctions under the WTO to force Sweden's hand in the matter. The WTO allows sanctions against member countries that fail to enforce the WPO's strict stance on copyright.
"I know that the USA has opinions on the effectiveness in our system when it comes to copyright and that if Sweden and other countries aren't following their international agreements there are sanction mechanisms in the USA, which have been pointed out from their side." said State Secretary Dan Eliasson.
This is a severe blow to public relations efforts surrounding the raid in Sweden. the public has raised serious concerns over the Justice Ministry's involvement with a specific criminal/civil case. Under the Swedish constitution, the government or ministry cannot become involved with a local police action or prosecution.
It's nice to see there is a population somewhere in the world that will figuratively stand in front of the RIAA's tanks as they try to storm through town.
We reported the other day that things were heating up on the political front in Sweden, adding in these additional variables could make for an interesting Swedish election.
Permalink |
Email this |
Linking Blogs |
Comments
-
5:04
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Former White House security advisor Howard Schmidt, turned private-sector president of R&H Security Consulting warned corporations they need to address a "new generation" of security weaknesses enabled by peer-to-peer (P2P) networks on the systems of third-party contractors and business partners.
"It's a very important and emerging issue," Schmidt said. "We [talk a lot] about intrusion detection and antivirus...but one thing we're not paying enough attention to is P2P file sharing networks and how much data we're really exposing inadvertently, which we have no control over."
Shenanigans. Yes, you heard me, shenanigans. This is an excellent example of a security "expert" using the spooky acronym P2P to sell security audits. This is the equivalent of telling you how dangerous your neighborhood is while trying to sell you an alarm system. Schmidt didn't stop there, he went on to expose exactly what this enormous P2P threat is:
"Schmidt said IT managers typically control the use of file sharing networks within their own networks but contractors or agents working for their organisation can often keep or access corporate data on their laptops or home PCs, alongside P2P clients. He added that these users may then look for music or movie downloads on P2P applications, and inadvertently expose the entire contents of the hard drive."
I'm not buying it. Sure, theoretically someone could make several mistakes in setting up eDonkey or a similar file-sharing app, and potentially expose some data. However, from a risk management point of view the threat of spyware/malware or keylogging applications is a much larger blip on the radar.
It seems villainizing P2P as a concept hasn't gone out of style. Sometimes I wonder if it ever will.
[via
IT Week]
Permalink |
Email this |
Linking Blogs |
Comments
-
5:04
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
It looks like The Pirate Bay raid may have done more harm than good, at least if you're on the side of the content owners. Swedish politicians are looking towards a September election, and 5 of the 7 major political parties have agreed to look at Swedish copyright law reform, even in the face of an EU directive that prohibits "unauthorized downloading or uploading of copyright-protected files"
"The fallout from the May 31 raid on The Pirate Bay has made clear just how widespread and deeply entrenched file-sharing has become in Sweden. On-line forums have been filled with protests against the raid, and a pro-piracy demonstration in early June drew close to 1,000 people. A poll published in early June showed that three out of four Swedes between 18 and 21 supported file-sharing, even if it was illegal."
With 1 million potential votes hanging in the balance, Swedish politicians are salivating at this huge swing vote.
"As a country at the forefront of information technology, we also have to be at the forefront of how we legislate the issue. Above all, we have to say yes to technological development, and encourage people to use computers and to download." said justice minister, Thomas Bodstrom.
[via International Herald Tribune]
Permalink |
Email this |
Linking Blogs |
Comments
-
-
22:35
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
There's nothing like the feel of waking up at 4:30 a.m. to catch a flight only to arrive at the airport to learn your flight will be an hour late. Of course, as a Californian, spending 48 hours in Miami,...
-
22:35
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
I am Scott Baradell's guest at 6 pm Pacific tomorrow night on Media Orchard's BlogTalkRadio. This is a neat podcast-like approach that does two things I like. First, it's live and second, listeners can call in. This is about as...
-
22:35
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
[Edinburgh Skyline--Photo by Shel Israel] I will spotlight Scotland in Global Neighborhoods because Edublog's Ewan McIntosh introduced me to so many people passionately involved in education in that small UK country. It was in Scotland, where the idea for Global...
-
22:35
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Amanda Chapel, aka Strumpette and one can only guess who else, has commented on my earlier post, saying that she really was in a car accident. She has not posted on her own site for over a week now, but...
-
22:35
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Sorry, Jeremiah, but I'm sure you'll survive the call. This site will be called Global Neighbourhoods. The goto URL will be globalneighbourhoods.com. It was time to make the call and I feel that using the Anglicized spelling illustrates a key...
-
-
22:06
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Had a great dinner in the city last night with the three agents of Citizen Agency and my friend and imminent neighbor, Jeremiah. We had decided to get together to discuss communities a subject where we share a good deal...
-
22:06
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
My friend Pete Dawson, just back from a few weeks in India and the Middle East, sent me this photo of Naked Conversations on the shelf of a Bangalore Crossroads. Crossroads is India's only national bookseller chain. Two things are...
-
22:06
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
I have previously written in glowing terms of how pleased I am with my Lenovo Typepad and remarkably high quality of support I received when I needed it. Apparently, this is not the experience of all users as someone named...
-
22:06
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
As many of you have begun to gather, I am not a one-draft wonder. What follows is a significant rewrite of the Table of Contents. I look forward to your comments, which will let me know if I am primarily...
-
22:06
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
I've decided to listen to the persistent kvetching of my customers. It seemed there would be no end to it, if I did not cave on the issue of how to spell the name of the book. I'll let the...
-
6:21
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Chuck Frey of Innovation Tools fame, also author of the Mind Mapping Software Weblog and the ebook Power Tips & Strategies for Mind Mapping Software, has a new ebook out on mindmapping software. This one's about choosing mindmapping software, called Mind Mapping Software: How to Select the Perfect Program for Your Needs. I have not read the book, but as someone who has tried to choose mindmapping software in the past, I wouldl welcome a guide as experienced as Chuck to point out the way.
-
6:21
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Last summer I got involved in a big discussion at the Corante Innovative Marketing Conference about exactly where the responsibility should lie at companies for involving customers in innovation. Our consensus was in the marketing department. We are not the only ones – a new Forrester report on Customer-Driven Innovation concurs: “CMOs need to use their expertise in connecting with customers to lead the way in building bridges between customers and key parts of the organization.”
Customer-Driven Design and Development was prepared exclusively for the CMO Group at Forrester Research, so if you want the whole report, you’ll have to join the CMO group to buy it – however, you can get a free summary brief at this link.
The report includes six case studies of customer-driven design and development initiatives at various companies, as well as:
--Best practices
--Information on common objections CMOs may run into at their companies and how to overcome these
--Specific advice from 25 experts in this space, including both Gwen Ishmael and myself from Decision Analyst, who were interviewed as sources for the report.
--Information on a variety of tactics such as ethnography. online communities and consumer brainstorming (which is, of course, one of the things we do)
--An overview of 18 different vendors (including us!) who can help CMOs with customer-driven innovation initiatives
I have to offer kudoes to author Cindy Commander on this report. She's presented a wealth of information and some thoughtful analysis, including a Customer-Driven Design Maturity Model. Essentially, this is an illustration of how organization progress in their engagement with customers in the co-creation process, from minimal customer engagement through continuous customer engagement. The four stages start at a company-centric orientation and moving toward a customer-centric orientation:
--Stage 1: Customer-tested design and development
--Stage 2: Customer-involved design and development
--Stage 3: Customer-focused design and development
--Stage 4: Customer-driven design and development
If you looked at your company with just this one analytic in mind, what would you find? How far is your company from Stage 4? How close would your company like to be to Stage 4?
If you're serious about customer co-creation, this report would be a worthwhile read. Of course, I've already disclosed that we were sources, but even if we weren't, I would at least take a peek at the free brief!
-
6:21
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
My favorite trendspotting source, trendwatching.com, reports on what they see as the latest facet in the consumer-generated content trend: Generation C (for content) turns to Generation C (for cash):
If consumers produce the content, if they are the content, and that content brings in money for aggregating brands, then revenue and profit-sharing is going to be one of 2007’s main themes in the online space. It’s not like brands will have a choice: talented consumers are going to be too sought after to remain satisfied with thank you notes. Get ready for an avalanche of revenue sharing deals, reward schemes and sumptuous gifts aimed at luring creative consumers."
Of course this makes perfect sense. We offer incentives to our Imaginators(tm) panelists, and in marketing research offering an incentive for surveys is considered the most ethical and successful way to build and keep a panel from which to recruit respondents.
While you're at the trendwatching.com site, it's worth your while to check out 2007 Trend Report. You can buy it for $500, or the download the .PDF "peek" here.
-
6:21
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Embracing the Six Core Values of Innovation is a thesis for a ChangeThis manifesto proposed by Principled Innovation blogger Jeff De Cagna. Thesis of the thesis: 'The core values of innovation are: 1) capability, 2) inclusivity, 3) possibility, 4) opportunity, 5) sustainability and 6) responsibility, and they can live within the DNA of any organization of any size or scope." The thesis for this manifesto is up for vote right now on the ChangeThis site. Go here to vote on it before Nov. 2.
-
6:21
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
A good metaphor is hard to resist, but a bad one is hard to forgive. We’ve all read those metaphor-based business books before and been burned when the metaphor breaks down after three chapters. So I did not want to like Andy Cohen’s Follow The Other Hand – the “innovation as magic” metaphor seemed just too good to hold up.
Fortunately, the “innovation as magic” metaphor underlying Follow the Other Hand: A Remarkable Fable That Will Energize Your Business, Profits, and Life
by Andy Cohen turned out to be of the irresistible sort.
The metaphor comes directly out of Cohen’s experience as a young boy hanging around his magician great-uncle and the uncle’s circle of magician friends. Yet when I spoke with him recently, Cohen recalled that he was uncertain that the “magic as innovation” metaphor would hold up if he tried to apply it in a book.
“I was concerned that people would have to get over the obstacle of negative connotations…[of] magic as something that misrepresents, that shifts.”
He worked on the metaphor for a year before writing the book, and it “kept surprising me along the way….because the metaphor is different and unique in its own way, and I make it pay out.”
The way it pays out is that Cohen equates “follow the other hand” with the not-uncommon innovation advice that one should challenge assumptions. And he offers magic as a concrete way readers can test the value of challenging assumptions.
The irresistible part of the metaphor is the part where he also talks about both magic and innovation as processes that make possible something that is seemingly impossible.
In showing the reader a little of how magic makes possible the seemingly impossible, Cohen lays out a structure for not just doing magic, but figuring out how to do it.
There’s an important distinction there. Think of it as accepting that innovation doesn’t just happen, but is a process. That’s what Cohen is saying about magic -- it doesn’t just happen, it’s a deliberate process. He goes one step further and lays out exactly what that process is:
1. The first thing to do in creating an illusion is to identify an effect that you want to achieve.
2. Next, challenge assumptions – the main assumption being challenged, of course, is that the effect can’t be done. In the process of challenging that assumption, you are forced to look at the possibilities.
3. Then you figure out a method.
4. And then, at the very last, you figure out the performance – that’s the part where it *looks* like magic.
Cohen said his next project involves “exploring a straitjacket routine” which of course leads to an exploration of how we restrain ourselves. Now that I know Andy Cohen knows his way around a metaphor, I can’t wait for that one!
-
-
13:25
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
I spent several exhilarating days last week at the Business Innovation Factory’s Collaborative Innovation conference (known as BIF-2). You’ve already heard about the blogjam we did from there – eight bloggers all posting real-time on the same blog! For the record, besides myself the bloggers were Allan Tear, Steve Hardy, Jeff De Cagna, Jeffrey Phillips, Lois Kelly, Boris Pluskowski, and Chris Flanagan. And thanks to Jeff De Cagna, there are also podcasts with Tim Westergren (Pandora.com), Larry Keeley (Doblin), Jane Fulton Suri (Ideo), Jeannene Rae (Peer Insight), Frans Johansson (author, The Medici Effect), Jim Lavoie (RITE-Solution), and Alph Bingham (InnoCentive).
Here's a little background on the Business Innovation Factory. It’s a nonprofit started by Saul Kaplan, as a way to “leverage Rhode Island's size and densely connected networks to create a real world laboratory for testing new ideas.” The model is collaborative, as part of Kaplan’s vision is to use Rhode Island as “the perfect breeding ground for innovation.” In particular, Kaplan saw a unique opportunity for Rhode Island to serve as a laboratory for collaborative innovation projects that encourage public/private sector partnership.
Kaplan set the tone at the beginning of BIF-2 by saying “Innovation is about delivering value – it’s not about invention.” BIF, said Kaplan, “is about experimentation, collaboration, getting outside of silos.” So it makes sense that the conference it itself was remarkably un-siloed. The goal was to bring before the audience at Trinity Repertory Theater in Providence a set of storytellers you might want at your dinner party, and then give them each just 15 minutes to tell their story. After each set of four storytellers, there was a 45-minute break for networking, further conversation, and collaboration.
It’s different, but it worked. The selection of speakers was so excellent that the lack of structure was actually OK. The audience, which included a number of people who went to the first BIF conference last year, seemed up to the challenge of using their brains to connect the dots, as opposed to being force-fed with power-bullet-points.
And there was a lot of – for lack of a better word, let me say “intellectual heft” to this conference. (Even though I missed some of the stories due to work deadlines and a lost-luggage crisis!) I tried to write one succinct IdeaFlow post that captured the conference, but succinctness failed me (or I failed it!), so I’m posting a series arranged by the themes I heard the storytellers converge around: Idea, Community, Passion and Intent, and Value.
-
13:25
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Saul Kaplan of BIF started the first day off with this comment: “Innovation is about value, not about invention.” Several storytellers echoed this theme.
Ivy Ross of Old Navy, formerly Mattel, talked of having to live in two worlds – in the creative world and the corporate world. “You must get results, but how you get the job done can be creative.” After she self-financed an unusual way to improve creativity in her designers, she measured that their creativity increased 18% – and then she requested a reimbursement for her personal expense. “You have to prove yourself,” she said.
Peter Durand of Alphachimp was the last speaker of the last day. He had spent most of the conference doing graphic facilitation of the sessions, offered the story of his own innovation, which he unveiled right then. This innovation is a website on which he can place his graphic facilitations of events so they can be searched, thus adding value to events. http://alphachimp.missinglink.biz/business-innovation-factory/bif-2
-
13:25
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Passion was the focus of many BIF-2 storytellers. Mark Hellendrung of Narragansett Beer: “Innovate around something you are passionate about,” which he did by resurrecting the old Narragansett Beer brand.
Liz Lerman of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange: “Desperation is an innovation driver…” And of course, desperation is a form of passion.
Mary Pat Ryan of Sirius Radio: “What helps track into the passion for satellite radio is peoples’ passion for music.”
Robert Ballard of the Mystic Aquarium spoke of his passion for the bottom of the ocean. He also talked of the idea-intersection -- Creativity comes out of the difficulty of leaving your native area. You are a land creature trying to explore the sea. How to make that workable? Recreate it as an out-of-body experience by creating a way to explore it electronically.
Along the same lines of turning a problem about which you are passionate into an opportunity, Randy Antik of SWAT Team Partners spoke about aiming high and keeping your focus on your passions because “innovation is the offensive team” (which prompted the observation that perhaps the defensive team the lawyers! ). In focusing on your passions, Antik said you should “keep track of what the actual problems is, and change approaches if one doesn’t work. Use your skills and experience to bring your passions alive.”
Peter Durand of Alphachimp: “Most innovation happens when you’re really, really irritated, and you’re bitching and moaning to your friends.”
Larry Keeley of Doblin told a story of innovating with intent, perhaps even a point of view, which to me can be a focused passion. He talked of innovation in Helsinki around outdoor lighting, critical in a city that’s in the dark so much of the time. “Point of view connects things,” he said. What’s required is not just a general interest in innovation, but actual preferences and intent.
He also said, “We always overestimate the amount of change that will happen in the short run and underestimate the amount of change that will happen in the long run.” I have heard a similar saying before – “Nothing changes everything.” The relation of this quote to the notion of intent seems to be that intent and purpose carries us through the short run, when it doesn’t look like enough is changing, and keeps us focused in the long run, when things change more than we ever envisioned they could.
-
-
1:52
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Quickly jumping in to Renee's space to point readers to coverage of the many "stories of innovation" being shared at BIF-2 by the likes of Dean Kamen, Bob Ballard and a few dozen others. With reporting and analysis from Renee, Allen Tear, Jeff De Cagna, Steve Hardy, Chris Flanagan, and Jeffrey Phillips.
Also be sure to catch Jeff's podcast interviews with four of the speakers: Tim Westergren of Pandora.com; Larry Keeley of Doblin Group; Jane Fulton Suri of Ideo nd Jeneanne Rae of Peer Insight.
-
-
19:52
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Jane Genova, this is a most personal posting. So, you should skip this and come back on Tuesday. I will not be posting tonight or tomorrow in respect for Yom Kippur. I am a most unorthodox Jew and I have...
-
19:52
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Bloggers helped me a great deal in selecting my new washer and dryer a few months back, I thought I'd try one a bit closer to home: sending and receiving international email. Last week, when I was in Canada, I...
-
19:52
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Pat Phelan captured my dog Brewster in action and spirit today as we bopped around at Bean Hollow Beach south of Half Moon Bay. This was Pat's first visit to Silicon Valley and I wanted to see why some of...
-
-
1:19
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Innovation Convergence, whose theme this year is Innovation Immersion, is in just two weeks! And it's a new day for this conference -- for the last several years it has been in Minneapolis in September. This year, San Diego during October 16 to 18.
As usual, Innovation Network founder Joyce Wycoff has pulled together an impressive list of events, including the usual pre-conference symposia and workshops, there are 4 Innovation Labs, a 2-part Innovation FastStart workshop, and two deep conversations around Innovating Innovation. Says Joyce, "These sessions provide an opportunity for you to vary your conference experience and take a deep dive into one or more areas of interest."
Conference speakers include author Dan Pink, Fast Company founder Alan Webber, and Jeneanne M. Rae, as well as innovators from Best Buy, Cargill, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Honeywell, Genentech, Wells Fargo, Wachovia, Fed Ex, Gucci, Pitney Bowes, Chevron, Kimberley-Clark, and General Motors.
I am not speaking this year, but I will be attending the conference and hope to be blogging, if not real-time, then daily. Hope to see you there!
Joyce has set up a conference blog, and the official registration site is here. There are podcasts with some of the speakers available (after signup) on the IIR site for this event.
-
-
19:42
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Pat Phelan me Originally uploaded by shelisrael1. Pat Phelan is in from Ireland for a couple of days to meet some people and talk about business strategy for his Roam4Free, next generation strategy. He has retty much figured out his...
-
19:42
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Nordstrom Originally uploaded by JaBB. The guy sitting next to me on the flight from Toronto to SFO and I got into gabbing while gulping down our carry-on lunches. It turned out that he’s in the business of producing franchise...
-
19:42
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Dell Computer, in my opinion is doing a good job of turning around public perceptions essentially by turning around its own behavior with real actions, rather than multi-million dollar ad campaigns. I think their blog http://www.direct2dell.com/default.aspx is an essential component...
-
19:42
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Joe Thornley Originally uploaded by shelisrael1. Joe Thornley and Terry Fallis are two guys with a PR agency, mostly serving Toronto and Ottawa. They have personal roots in government communications and big agencies and it seems like most of the...
-
19:42
»
KMBlog :: Knowledge Management Blog
Blogger
(2012 unread)
CNBlog: Blog on Blog (311 unread)
未完成 - Incomplete
(16 unread)Signal vs. Noise (415 unread)
Joel on Software (34 unread)
槽边往事---《比特海日志》 (664 unread)
张五常作品 (102 unread)
Livid (79 unread)
车东[Blog^2] (135 unread)
Web 2.0 Explorer (3 unread)
Jeremy Zawodny's blog (115 unread)
Blog on 27th Floor (94 unread)
Joi Ito's Web (117 unread)
del.icio.us (11 unread)
Official Google Blog (236 unread)
Meng Yan ( 孟岩 ) (8 unread)
Microsoft Team RSS Blog (1 unread)
Burn This! - The FeedBurner Weblog (15 unread)
DBA notes (197 unread)
AnySQL's Blog (137 unread)
Google Blog Search: link:dbanotes.net (114 unread)
Slashdot (1784 unread)
TechCrunch (1988 unread)
太阳的指纹 (37 unread)