Collaboration
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/clay_shirky_on_institutions_versus_collaboration.html
This talk is almost hafl a decode old by now, and yet few of us are actively responding to it in our approach to problem solving.
Or aren't we? There very fact that there are millions of people using Facebook, flickr, Twitter, online forums, mailing lists, and other collaborative tools -- almost entirely OUTSIDE the requirements of our working life -- indicates we are living the reality described, but our key engines of prosperity are missing out.
Think for a moment about how that might be changing, and how we might change it. On the one hand, there is the age-old notion of career planning, where one says "If I won the lottery, how would I spend my time?" and that answer is actually pointing at what one's career should be, even without winning the lottery. So maybe we could take a look at the activities and shared interests of these affinity groups and their tools, and say "Wow, I spend all my time talking about restoring antiques automobiles [or baking pastries, or critiquing wine, or etc], maybe I should be doing that, instead of answering telephones at a call center."
Or there is the other answer/question, which is: How can I corral this power and harness for the good of the conventional institutional space I am in?
This talk is almost hafl a decode old by now, and yet few of us are actively responding to it in our approach to problem solving.
Or aren't we? There very fact that there are millions of people using Facebook, flickr, Twitter, online forums, mailing lists, and other collaborative tools -- almost entirely OUTSIDE the requirements of our working life -- indicates we are living the reality described, but our key engines of prosperity are missing out.
Think for a moment about how that might be changing, and how we might change it. On the one hand, there is the age-old notion of career planning, where one says "If I won the lottery, how would I spend my time?" and that answer is actually pointing at what one's career should be, even without winning the lottery. So maybe we could take a look at the activities and shared interests of these affinity groups and their tools, and say "Wow, I spend all my time talking about restoring antiques automobiles [or baking pastries, or critiquing wine, or etc], maybe I should be doing that, instead of answering telephones at a call center."
Or there is the other answer/question, which is: How can I corral this power and harness for the good of the conventional institutional space I am in?