Blue Sky Points

Dormant

2011-01-10T10:02:00.000+01:00

I'm no longer updating this blog, but have a browse, there are some interesting bits and pieces ...

Hearts & Minds

2008-09-11T11:01:00.002+02:00

One of my current projects is for Learning through Landscapes - the UK's school grounds charity. Hearts & Minds has been exploring ways of working with secondary schools to engage pupils with heritage, in their own terms and throught their own ideas.It's been wonderful meeting the wide range of bright children, and taking or collating photographs of them and their projects. I've learned a

Self-education at primary ages fascinating

2008-09-05T13:27:00.001+02:00

Delicious Latest Wanderings

2008-09-03T08:50:00.002+02:00

Aromatherapy Products Tisserand Essential Oils - www.tisserand.comPrimavera | Body | All Brands | So Organic www.soorganic.comNHR Organic Essential Oils - Index www.nhrorganicoils.com/ Devon Naturals -

Delicious

2008-05-07T15:39:00.000+02:00

Institute of Hazard and Risk Research - Durham University to university research environment hazard risk natural disaster Wild Wood Theatre to environment theatre music storytelling puppets Personalised Gifts, Photo Gifts, Photo Prints, Photo Canvas, Photo Books, Bags, Anniversary, Baby Gift Ideas to photos gifts printing fabrics ... saved by 35 other people The Manival #1

Delicious

2008-05-07T15:33:00.001+02:00

Soho Sally to cartoons The Genographic Project - Human Migration, Population Genetics, Maps, DNA - National Geographic to genes genetic nationalgeographic maps research science ... saved by 7 other people cheap web hosting uk, inexpensive web hosting services and affordable solutions Web site hosting services for the business and home user. Support friendly site with

Where do they find the time?

2008-04-28T10:27:00.003+02:00

Having been living a rather 'time and space'-disrupted work-life balance kind of thing over the past few years, I'm attracted to articles like this that explore such things on a larger scale. A much larger scale. How much TV do US viewers watch each year? 200 billion hours! How much freely donated time does Wikipedia represent? 100 million hours! That's where we find the time.Here Clay Shirky

A change of IT

2008-03-14T16:35:00.002+01:00

Over the past two months various elements of my IT materiel have popped their clogs. Sometimes in dramatic hollywood style, sometimes quietly. All events have proved traumatic eventually, not to mention costly.But now, as I believe, perhaps naively, that I'm coming out of the woods, I am looking at a nifty little laptop plugged into a decent scale desk-top set up. Together with an elderly,

On the road

2008-01-13T19:02:00.000+01:00

Hitting the highways of France and the UK for the next week or so, so it'll be quieter than usual here. Stay up to date with twitter here.

How to be creative

2008-01-08T18:14:00.001+01:00

Looks like this might be published in book form at last; good luck Hugh. It really is worth a look people.How To Be Creative - Hugh MacLeod

Twitter

2008-01-07T11:27:00.000+01:00

I'm using Twitter a lot more recently. It seems more spontaneous; and it's easier to focus on 140 characters. So the blogs are for ...More thought, longer stories, more links.

Del.icio.us

2008-01-07T11:26:00.000+01:00

DLD Conference - Digital, Life, Design to conference future germany innovation ideas online science ... saved by 139 other people makezine.com: MAKE: Technology on Your Time to arts blog Blogging crafts creative creativity design free magazine online opensource ... saved by 7190 other people Tinkering School to blog children creativity Family fun Hardware howto learning school

Intel and OLPC

2008-01-04T17:09:00.000+01:00

Whether you've heard of the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) story or not, there's something fishy been going on with one of the partners - Intel. Intel finally pulled out of the project this morning when they were asked to stop marketing their own low-cost laptop in direct competition to the OLPC project. The BBC's story is here. Is there any other way to see this apart from the cynical capitalist

Catching up on delicious - an arty/photo mix

2008-01-03T16:28:00.000+01:00

justfortheloveofit.org to community economics economy food free links ... saved by 14 other people Sunshine Drumming Company to music africa drumming Flower Photography. to nature photos Photography plants flowers ... saved by 5 other people Terri Smart at Clandon Pottery to Artists art pottery Iona - Textile Artist to textiles artist scotland The Spooky

Understanding mistakes or exploring creativity?

2007-12-14T09:04:00.000+01:00

This post from 'reckon' that I'm following on twitter is fascinating in itself. Does the creative use of language generate different changes in brain activity in the reader or listener? Can the creative use of language casue measurable, physical and profound effects in the human brain? The subject for this experiment is Shakespeare, who had a habit of using nouns as verbs or adjectives for

Del.icio.us

2007-12-13T11:59:00.000+01:00

QDOS identify and manage your digital online presence - currently in beta testing to data technology digital identity ... saved by 32 other people SEER Centre home of ROCKDUST to environment farming ... saved by 4 other people GoodURLBadURL.com to blog branding marketing URL "web address" ... saved by 93 other people The Whale Hunt / A storytelling experiment / by Jonathan

Drawing for planning and collaboration

2007-12-13T10:20:00.000+01:00

If you're not familiar with 'Change This', I recommend a look through the manifestos; there are some real gems. Today I came across this one, which is proving interesting. Have look. What do you think?

How long does it take?

2007-12-13T09:48:00.000+01:00

This is one generation later than I first came across the idea at school in 1975. And it still only includes environmental agencies. An ecosystems approach without economic and social agencies? How long until the whole picture is seen and understood, before we see the world in its full and glorious interdependence, and before we are able to say with any confidence that we will not destroy

The story of stuff

2007-12-12T17:15:00.001+01:00

There are many interesting and challenging ways to look at our shocking consumer society. This is one of them. I was particularly struck by the statement of intent by the US in the 1950s to establish consuming as the ultimate purpose of their country. Well, they succeeded; it's a shame they didn't choose something else more ... more humane, as their ultimate purpose. Maybe it's not too late,

Pilot projects and real "failures"

2007-12-07T14:45:00.000+01:00

(From yourte.com)I've been mentoring someone over the past few weeks as they start to put together a project plan. The sort of work I take particular delight in, since each project is different, and it's always a two-way exchange of skills, experience and inspiration.The project has evolved from a successful one she ran over three years; one that turned sour for a number of reasons that I can't

Del.icio.us links - a cool eclectic selection - "that's easy for you to say"

2007-11-30T11:33:00.000+01:00

Stuff Your Rucksack A smart idea to get simple stuff to places that need it while you're on your travels to ideas tourism Travel voyage aid donations smart ... saved by 46 other people VoiceThread - Group conversations around images, docs and videos. to art audio collaboration drawing elearning flickr images language literature media online photos podcasting publishing record

Del.icio.us

2007-11-29T20:14:00.000+01:00

Some more eclectic treats from the web recently YANN ARTHUS-BERTRAND.ORG to art environment images landscape nature people photos ... saved by 494 other people National Geographic - Inspiring People to Care About the Planet to art Astronomy maps nature biology magazine photos reference science ecology education elearning encyclopedia wildlife environment geography learning ... saved

Natural

2007-11-16T08:54:00.000+01:00

There's a fascinating debate running on the VINE Project Forum covering definitions of words like biodiversity, wilderness and, particularly, natural.My view this morning is that the differences in understanding communicated by words, especially words such as these, can't be resolved by debating and agreeing definitive definitions. The points and research raised about perceptions (understanding)

Del.icio.us

2007-11-15T19:06:00.000+01:00

Only two at the moment, but the link to the mind life institute has sparked off a little wander through the ether following Mathieu Ricard. It's been compelling and worth having a look around yourselves if you have the time and inclination. Below the links is his TED talk from 2004 (I think). Mind & Life Institute to brain conferences health Research science spirituality buddhism ... saved

Del.icio.us

2007-11-09T14:35:00.000+01:00

Another sample of sites I've bookmarked recently ...Patagonia - The Footprint Chronicles: Tracking the Environmental and Social Impact of Patagonia Clothing and Apparel to shopping tracability environment sustainability ... saved by 1 other perso The Megalithic Portal and Megalith Map: to history archaeology megalithic ... saved by 9 other people The Dakini Project - Le Projet

Rewilding projects

2007-11-08T15:36:00.000+01:00

There are some interesting discussions going on about rewilding on the VINE project forum, refering to one or two current projects like this one at Thorenc in the Côte d'Azur. Here's an article about it in the UK Independent.

Del.icio.us

2007-11-08T09:49:00.000+01:00

Main Page - GlobalMotion to projects Wiki places geography googlemaps ... saved by 31 other people 1001 Inventions: 1001 Inventions to architecture culture education history images muslim reference ... saved by 223 other people MuslimHeritage.com - Discover 1000 Years of Missing History to art culture history reference Research muslim ... saved by 154 other people :: more

Del.icio.us

2007-11-06T11:07:00.000+01:00

ONLINE BUSINESS TOOLBOX: 230+ Tools for Running a Business Online to blog collaboration business innovation online mashable ... saved by 1172 other people Dreamlines create a unique dreamy moving picture to creativity art visualization drawing ideas images ... saved by 442 other people Teachers TV | Thousands of education programmes on TV and online to education Schools

quotation

2007-11-06T11:03:00.000+01:00

Li Po (701-762)the birds have vanished into the sky and now the last cloud drains away we sit together the mountain and me until only the mountain remains

Geo-4 UN Environmental Report

2007-10-26T08:59:00.000+02:00

This kind of thing has a direct bearing on my thinking and decision-making as I write. Here's the BBC's graphic article on the report, and here's their link to the pdf of the report.I think we need to revisit the definition of sustainable development. The current one (used in this report and in many other places), is "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future

Quote of the day

2007-10-25T10:20:00.000+02:00

All action is premature until it’s too late.From David Bernstein via Jack Martin Leith.(drawing by li'l lamb)

Thinking (maybe) but not doing

2007-10-24T17:52:00.000+02:00

The other day I was thinking through the different choices I have to make soon about what to do from the next month or so onwards; I think I mentioned it here. One of the things that crossed my mind was whether it was possible to estimate the number of people in the UK or France, or maybe across Europe who are in 'nature conservation or environment' type jobs, but are not directly involved in

Children's space

2007-10-24T17:25:00.001+02:00

Over many years I've come across incidents and experiences that have made me think about children and young people's experience of public space. I'm talking about both rural and urban space. In fact I did my undergraduate dissertation on young people in rural spaces. Later I was occupied with young people's behaviour in urban space and prepared an unimplemented research project to explore that

Quotes

2007-10-23T09:19:00.000+02:00

I'm following quotations book on Twitter to get regular quotes like these. They have a site here.Happiness is activity - Aristotle. This has sparked off a few thoughts in my head about nature conservation, land management, 'saving the planet' (aaaggh!) and so on. If I go against this advice and think through the sparks, I may get a post about it up here sometime. See everything, overlook a

Del.icio.us

2007-10-16T13:53:00.001+02:00

Some sites from following up two conferences over the past couple of weeks - Europarc in the Czech Republic and the Pathfinder southeast regional conference in Reading... film music | mobygratis.com hats off to moby to audio film free Music sound stock video ... saved by 67 other people CCLP Home to university environment landscape people Research education Welcome to

Del.icio.us

2007-10-12T10:13:00.000+02:00

More discovered sites from the past couple of weeks. I've also added a couple of 'artistic' items to francerant too. worldclock world stats as they change, births, diseases etc etc etc to clock creative data visualization news Research ... saved by 2494 other people I want a Firefox Extension to ... 200+ common problems solved : eConsultant to firefox directory software tools ...

Del.icio.us this week

2007-09-18T11:57:00.001+02:00

Welcome English site about Cesky Krumlof Cesky Krumlof Czech tourism 24 fps - a photoset on Flickr film flickr movies images endings ... saved by 43 other people predpoved_en For the weather in teh Czech Republic weather forecast czech Share applications with Unyte collaboration conference Skype technology tools web ... saved by 23 other people Panraven - Live Your

Pangea day

2007-09-14T09:10:00.001+02:00

This looks like a greta idea - spread it around!

Del.icio.us

2007-09-12T11:28:00.000+02:00

Tasty Data Goodies - Swivel to collaboration community development data sharing statistics ... saved by 4045 other people Kirix Strata: Access and Manipulate Data from the Web to development information statistics visualization web ... saved by 139 other people PicoCool to blog design inspiration socialnetworking ... saved by 14 other people Where The Hell Is Matt?

More stimulating educational models in practice

2007-09-06T11:10:00.000+02:00

Here's another great post from Ewan, with a link to the MET school here. The models are out there to show the way our childrens' experiences of growing up, learning, growing etc. could be.

Del.icio.us

2007-09-06T10:57:00.001+02:00

A couple of environmental places and three geeky things ... Jott.com - Mobile Note Taking and Hands-Free Messaging to audio blog Blogging socialsoftware ... saved by 674 other people ... just posted Alastair McIntosh's Home Page to alternative community politics spirituality sustainability ... saved by 8 other people ... 22 hours ago Gaia Coach Institute to alternative nature

Moo from Flickr

2007-09-05T10:17:00.000+02:00

I ordered a set of Moo cards from my Flickr photos recently, and they arrived a day or two ago. I'm pretty chuffed, but I think they're just that bit too small somehow. They look cool, and I'll be using them over the next couple of months. We'll see if people like them enough to keep them and use them ...

Amateur or professional?

2007-09-05T09:44:00.000+02:00

Great debates are had about these terms. Rugby. Cycling. Medicine and Alternative Medicine. Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia. This article by Ewan McIntosh gives another perspective on it in education, and some good links. I'm more and more convicned that the traditional definitions of professionalism are definitely getting wobbly. but also convinced that we mustn't throw the baby out

Birds of a feather

2007-09-05T09:21:00.000+02:00

I came across an old book of Harry Hargreaves cartoons yesterday, and fancy using one or two in a presentation I'm preparing. (Harry was born in 1922 and died in 2004.) It's proving hard to identify who holds the copyright to the ones I want to use, and to find out how I can get permission to use them. It hardly seems criminal showing them once at a one-off presentation with full credit, but it

Communication ≠ Words

2007-09-03T12:23:00.000+02:00

One of my blog sources wrote recently, what we need is more clarity, not more communication. I felt at the time there was something in this, but that it was based on a widespread misuse of the word communication, particularly in organisations. Organisational communication is often one-way; getting the message across, pushing the message out, using all the media. etc. etc. Nothing two-way about

Professional networking saves a life

2007-09-02T14:12:00.000+02:00

This Wall Street Journal article shows the real life-saving impact of professionals working together on-line. There are lessons for one of my current public sector projects.

Up to date del.icio.us

2007-09-01T19:23:00.000+02:00

BBC Wales - Education - Welsh at home to language wales learning welsh ... saved by 8 other people ... just posted Green Therapy Global to alternative health green ... saved by 1 other person ... 1 day ago Mahalo.com: Human-powered Search to community collaboration Search ... saved by 1681 other people ... 2 days ago Bernie DeKoven, funsmith: Adventure playgrounds, again

Del.icio.us this week

2007-08-31T14:15:00.000+02:00

one red paperclip to creativity cool ideas trading ... saved by 1226 other people ... 6 days ago Sullr : France to phone_number people_finder ... saved by 23 other people ... on aug 19 A N I M O T O: the end of slideshows to design flash media Music online collaboration sharing ... saved by 1002 other people ... on aug 17 Tangler to groupware social_networking software

Another approach to education from the US

2007-08-31T09:26:00.000+02:00

This site, edu 2.0, brought to me by Emily Chang at the superb e-hub, brings another choice in my education debate.

To school or not to school

2007-08-30T14:20:00.001+02:00

On the day our li'l lamb goes back to school, my ongoing debate with myself, and occasionally others, about whether she would be better off elsewhere has resurfaced. By elsewhere, I don't mean another school, well, perhaps. Steiner etc. alternatives exist within 3 hours of here, but don't really offer a choice for us. Home-schooling? Maybe. What about starting something locally that could

Marketing, The Web and the Public Sector

2007-08-30T12:19:00.000+02:00

hugh macleod - www.gapingvoid.com This is a bit of a short post after a title like that; it should be an essay of some sort. Lots of people working in this area; some that I follow, like Demos. My point is that in the entrepreneurial world there is marketing stuff of great interest to

Another cracker from Evelyn

2007-08-30T11:43:00.000+02:00

"You can't expect to wield supreme power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!" - Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Thanks Evelyn

More deli.cio.us - catching up

2007-08-30T11:39:00.000+02:00

Leafletter to Blogging collaboration marketing web ... saved by 421 other people ... on july 30 spigit: innovationto business community Funding ideas innovation testing ... saved by 239 other people ... on july 27 Lumosity - Brain Games and Memoryto game games education lifelonglearning learning brain ... saved by 63 other people ... on july 26 Footprint Consultingto ecology

Del.icio.us

2007-08-30T11:36:00.000+02:00

Google Mars to Astronomy Mars google geography maps science space SolarSystem ... saved by 1770 other people ... on july 24 NASA - JPL Solar System Simulator to Astronomy NASA SolarSystem space science technology ... saved by 401 other people ... on july 24 LIVE REAL TIME SATELLITE AND SPACE SHUTTLE TRACKING to NASA satellite science space technology ... saved by 852 other

Quotes via Evelyne Rodriguez

2007-08-28T16:51:00.000+02:00

"When in doubt, share." - as seen on bumper sticker, car ahead (actually a Sun Microsystems ad, yet good counsel anyhow) - Evelyne's Twitter stream 8/23/07"An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all." - Oscar Wilde

SOMCATADO percussão

2007-08-25T17:04:00.001+02:00

What can I say? Jaw-dropping.

More deli.cio.us

2007-08-24T17:09:00.000+02:00

Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Home to NASA space Mars rovers ... saved by 13 other people ... on july 24 Festival Celte en Gévaudan - Saugues - Haute-Loire (43) to celtic music france haute-loire auvergne festival ... on july 23 The Co-operative Bank - Climate Change Tracker to marketing Conservation climatechange ... saved by 2 other people ... on july 23 Mother to

Recent del.icio.us

2007-08-20T16:59:00.000+02:00

Antic Earthworks to alternative music didjeridu ... on july 03 Cae Mabon to architecture retreat uk wales nature environment ... saved by 12 other people ... on july 03 MFLE - for modern languages information, news, resources and ICT in Scotland to community education language Scotland learning teaching ... saved by 27 other people ... on july 02 caveman lunch with taleb -

Wabi Sabi Work

2007-08-20T13:00:00.000+02:00

Wabi Sabi words ...Focused on nature, authentic, allowed to age, subtle, intuitive, personal, unique, now, whole, open, unresolved, appreciation, seasonal, flexible, ambiguous, tolerant, paradoxical, unrefined, elegant, fractal, organic, living, handmade, soft-edged, patina, stone, listening, seeing, receptive, slow, humble, plain, reflective, mindful, heart, warm.What are these words?Focused on

Recent del.icio.us links

2007-07-24T15:40:00.000+02:00

Scitalks: Smart people on cool topics Free science videos and lectures online to education science video lifelonglearning ... saved by 104 other people ... on june 28 Current Sunflower World Records to sunflower record height ... on june 26 Historic Tale Construction Kit to creativity children art history storytelling ... saved by 517 other people ... on june 26

Latest Del.icio.us

2007-06-26T13:25:00.000+02:00

NASA World Wind ... saved by 2469 other people Reinventing Project-Based Learning ... saved by 11 other people ... 4 days ago

Delicious Links for 18th June

2007-06-18T15:31:00.001+02:00

Livelook.com - Organizing your favorite webcams Mindquarry for Collaboration, Teamwork, Productivity | Mindquarry, the Open Source Collaborative Software Scrapblog // Create a world for your pictures. SketchUp Home This Ain’t No Disco

Sarkozy G8

2007-06-15T14:35:00.001+02:00

Getting your hands on your data

2007-06-15T13:57:00.001+02:00

The most interesting project I've worked on in a while has recently come to a conclusion. Looking back over the past year or so to write the final reports, I've been very conscious of the way ownership and management of information has bubbled up to the surface so often.First a bit of background...The project is one of the programme of around 20 under the Hampshire Rural Pathfinder banner. This

Breaking down the walls in schools

2007-05-28T18:00:00.000+02:00

There's a lot of physical rebuilding going on in schools at the moment. This post from Euan McIntosh describes one experience of rebuilding the way a school works. I've been taking photographs for an LTL project called Hearts and Minds to encourage secondary school pupils to discover their heritage in school, and to encourage teachers to find creative ways to link heritage to many different

The work life balance

2007-05-18T09:44:00.000+02:00

Balance is a cunning term when you get in close.You've got balance in the sense of scales - scales of justice, weighing scales;you've got those sort of mathematical summary balances, like the balance of payments;and you've got the balance of power type balances - you know half a dozen powers pulling in different directions, and the balance of power being where they end up. Maybe this last one is

Perspective

2007-03-12T16:18:00.000+01:00

It's been another hard lesson in communication.What you meant to say, what you think you said, what you actually said, what they appear to have heard, and what they actually heard, and what they understood about what they heard ... (draws deep breath) are not the same thing. I know it seems blatantly obvious, but it's worse. In fact the degree of overlap between any of the above is seriously

Perspective

2007-03-12T16:05:00.000+01:00

Ah the creative muse

2007-02-27T16:45:00.000+01:00

How fragile and uncertain she is ...There is the debate about creativity and innovation that considers whether they just happen spontaneously, or whether they can, or should, be cultivated, managed or otherwise addressed.I find it's a delicate distinction; I have to focus on creating without looking.Ca se peut.

Even monkeys fall out of trees

2007-02-16T10:22:00.000+01:00

This Japanese proverb is quoted in 'The Zen of Creativity: Cultivating your artistic life' by John Daido Loori. I found much inspiration in the book, partly related to the fact that John is a photogrpaher. He also writes about a turning point in his life at a workshop by one of my favourite photographers Minor White.I've been turning over a lot of books recently, reading them and then giving

Out of Our Minds

2007-02-15T10:56:00.000+01:00

Out of Our Minds is a book by Sir Ken Robinson. A couple of quotes to whet your appetite."As knowledge expands, greater specialisation is inevitable. The risk is that we lose sight of the larger picture, of how ideas connect and can inform each other. In these circumstances we need more than access to information and ideas: we need ways of engaging with them, of making connections, of seeing

So many books, so little time

2007-02-14T16:03:00.000+01:00

Here's a short selection of my recent acquisitions and reads:Out of our Minds Ken RobinsonThe Wisdom of Crowds James SurowieckiA Whole New Mind Daniel H. PinkThe Naked Brain Richard RestakWill in the World (as in William Shakespeare) Stephen GreenblattThe Language Instinct Stephen Pinker...And there are many more. What with a bit of work from time to time, no posts! I should be sharing my

Getting it over

2006-11-20T11:28:00.000+01:00

I got the Europarc evaluation report recently, (thanks Sindy).One of the things it picks up is Speakers' Thursday, (a la Black Wednesday for those of you who remember the ERM fisaco in Britain).I've been preparing a couple of presentations recently, and so I've been scouting round the web for tips and examples. Thanks (again) to Kathy Sierra I've found this site which has some sparkling ideas ..

Another cracker from Kathy Sierra

2006-11-18T20:08:00.000+01:00

This is a great video and gets over so much in such an entertaining way, that beats the way I've been seething and ranting on about our education systems for so many years. Good on yer Ken. And thanks again to Kathy for another great link.

Well it's got conference in the name!

2006-10-26T18:38:00.000+02:00

Here's a bizarre idea, but it shows that there are VERY different ways of doing conferences! I could do without the headgear I think. Maybe there's a market for cool or funky headgear instead of this? You know, safe but not so uncool.

Better presentations

2006-10-26T18:03:00.000+02:00

Here's another example of somone who has loads of excellent tips on improving presentations, Cathy Sierra, someone who's blog I read regularly.A little taster ...Nobody knows more about the importance of beginnings than novelists and screenwriters, but too often we think their advice doesn't apply to us. After all, we give technical presentations. Lectures. Sermons. We cover professional

Democratisation of government: success and failure

2006-10-11T17:51:00.000+02:00

I've been mulling over ideas as they have come to my attention over the past year roughly related to the question 'how can the public and third sectors and those they serve benefit from new web things, especially social networking developments?' Examples include blogs, wikis, search engines, podcasting, tagging and so on.Thanks to a Demos post for this link to a recent (probably pretty miserable

Attention span

2006-10-11T12:17:00.000+02:00

"Formal speeches usually involve delivery of a written text to a passive audience. The speech is usually prepared ahead of time and focuses on what the speaker wants to say." Christine Loh 2003That sounds familiar. So if we have to have formal speeches, what can we do about making them better?Well one conference I attended on heritage interpretation in Aberdeen was notable for a few things, in

Hierarchy of needs

2006-10-08T11:50:00.000+02:00

One small observation on the last night of the conference led me to another whole line of thought. Not for the first time, but it seems relevant.Loved the band, the caller did a fine job, and there was a good mix of experienced dancers, beginners, and what I call 'lumpy' dancers like myself. I've got a vague idea of what I'm doing, but lack any sense of refinement and grace in delivery. I

Learning from mistakes

2006-10-07T12:48:00.000+02:00

I once heard a (probably famous) business expert saying that he had more faith in the business judgement of someone who has had a business failure or gone bankrupt at least once. Something like that anyway. The point being that you learn so much more when things go wrong.If you have a healthy approach to 'failure'. There's a whole story in itself about how we, people and cultures, view, deal

Making or doing?

2006-10-04T11:47:00.000+02:00

I took this at a small gallery a couple of weeks ago. I agree as far as it goes, but it seems to exclude so much doing that I would happily call history and heritage too. Music, dance, stories and conversations - the ephemeral things that nontheless persist and live if we keep doing them. And then there's the stuff in between and including 'made' and 'ephemeral'. Which is where I think

All those brilliant minds!

2006-10-02T18:56:00.000+02:00

While I was out cutting the grass my mind was wandering over a few things as it does. [In fact I often use my garden as a place to reflect, the hands are occupied, the mind thinks it's occupied, and so the amazing capacities of the human mind are freer to roam and explore.]Anyway, I was thinking over the conference again, and I thought about the incredible range of experience and knowledge that

Now the show is over

2006-10-02T10:32:00.000+02:00

Once the show is over, and the formal speakers have done their bit, we get workshops, field trips and side meetings. Mine were great. The Workshop B3 was broadly on maintaining skills. I enjoyed meeting Bernard from Briere and Didier from the Cevennes, we had good material to work on and had some excellent discussions. I learned a lot. That's what it's about isn't it?Maybe all the workshops

Stand up and be counted!

2006-09-29T15:11:00.000+02:00

What challenge could we face that forces a decision like that? Revolution? Liberation? Mathematician?None of the above. Last week the Europarc folks met at Europarc 2006 met in Oxford and I had a great time. No, really. I've been to all sorts of conferences for Creative Problem-Solving, Astrophysics, Youth Crime, Social Entrepreneurship and so on. And there are some striking similarities .

Breaking the mould

2006-09-04T20:05:00.000+02:00

I like 'mould' there. It has the 'forming' meaning, but also the 'decaying' sense. Quite appropriate. Although breaking small spores seems to be taking the idea too far. Anyway...Sig who has this Thingamy software out there has this nifty little reminder of the great 3G revolution. Vodafone paid 34 billion on 3G licenses. Last quarter, 3.8% of their business is 3G. Only 5.4% of mobile

Spring?

2006-03-09T09:37:00.000+01:00

I hope so, I got back from the Med far more tired than I would have expected after a week's holiday. It's one of those things isn't it? You need a holiday to recover from the holiday. I slept for 13 hours last Saturday night! That kind of fatigue is usually resreved for jet lag after a trip to the US! Since I'm not involved in that project any more, I thought those days were over. Not

Travelling

2006-02-24T11:07:00.000+01:00

Not one but two trips away; one with only cybercafe Internet access. I've been back here for less than a week and we're all off for a week now down to the Med to visit family for a week. Short of buying biographies of all the saints, sinners and those that suffered in their science, I'm kind of stuffed unless I can sort out some good Internet access for the week. Unlikely I think. So we'll

Oooh its going to be hard ...

2006-01-23T11:44:00.000+01:00

So far, the wikipedia biographies I've looked at are pretty glowing accolades. the tendency based on scientists is to conclude that bein a b$£&*rd is not necessary in order to succeed. But I have a bit further to go yet. So the first sinners I'm considering are:Sir Isaac NewtonEdward TellerGuglielmo MarconiRobert HookThomas EdisonSigmund Freud is too tough to call, the debate is still hotThere

The 20th Century

2006-01-20T08:46:00.000+01:00

So here are the final greats from my source list, again with their wikipedia links. It's a longer list than the others, which poses its own questions.Nikola TeslaJ.J.ThompsonSigmund FreudHeinrich HertzMax PlanckLeo BaekelandThomas MorganMarie CurieEarnest RutherfordWilbur and Orville WrightGuglielmo MarconiFrederick SoddyAlbert EinsteinAlexander FlemingRobert GoddardNiels BohrErwin

Making judgements

2006-01-19T09:46:00.000+01:00

Having just about about posted all the scientists selected from Jon Balchin's book, Quantum Leaps, I have started trying to make my quick and dirty distinction between sinner or saint to try and answer my question. Not surprisingly this is not straightforward. So what are the sticky bits?1. The wikipedia entries rarely have any information about their personal or interpersonal lives.2. Where

19th century greats

2006-01-17T10:45:00.000+01:00

So onto the 19th century ... this time with links to their Wikipedia entries. I've also updated the two previous posts to give the Wikipedia links.Amedeo AvogadroJoseph Gay-LussacCharles BabbageMichael FaradayCharles DarwinJames JouleLouis PasteurJohann MendelJean-Joseph Lenoir (no wikipedia entry) (yet)Lord KelvinJames MaxwellAlfred NobelWilhelm Gottlieb DaimlerDmitri MendeleevWilhelm Conrad

Fast Forward

2006-01-16T10:16:00.000+01:00

The 15th and 16th centuries are up, so here's the 17th and 18th centuries' greatest scientists:17th centuryBlaise PascalRobert BoyleChrsitaan HuygensAnton van LeewenhoekRobert Hooke18th centurySir Isaac NewtonEdmund HalleyThomas NewcomenDaniel FarenheitBenjamin FranklinJoseph BlackHenry CavendishJoseph PriestlyJames WattCharles de CoulombJoseph MontgolfierKarl Wilhelm ScheeleAntoine

Do you have to be a b%$&*rd to succeed?

2006-01-15T11:16:00.000+01:00

This is an idea I had a while back, that has been ramped up to the front of my mind through a recent post on Slow Leadership. The idea is to take some assessed list of the top 100 in a number of fields, such as scientists, composers, artists, political or business leaders or whatever and roughly drop them into one of two categories, b%$&*rd or saint. The next step is to go deeper into their

New Answers New Credibility Questions

2006-01-13T12:16:00.000+01:00

Some of the ways that universities maybe nudged into adaptation or death are possibly already out there. Wikipedia has demonstrated some of the potential of Internet developments in knowledge and credibility. Mike Love at Smart Mobs notes two other examples; Yahoo answers and an earlier experiment in South Korea. Mike raises questions about Yahoo answers on the basis of some of the Questions

Virtual conflict resolution

2006-01-10T18:04:00.000+01:00

My interest in virtual teams is firmly rooted in my recent professional work and my lifestyle ambitions. I've been thinking through aspects of living in the two geographies of the virtual and real world for some while, and keeping an eye on web stories of interest. I plan to share more of them with you.This one on automated arbitration is interesting, but I'm not sure about it. If we retreat

A New Breed of Researcher

2006-01-10T14:05:00.000+01:00

This post by John Craig at Demos Greenhouse about his Guardian article got me thinking again about how the Internet will change universities. The first comment by 'wim' is also worth a read. His point is that universities themeselves are ignoring issues and implications, or are unable to respond to them as institutions. A new breed of researchers is emerging behind the facades that is embracing

Voyage into recent 'isms'

2006-01-08T18:14:00.000+01:00

A recent essay on Islam online resonated with my recent two geographies, decluttering and home and away thoughts and posts. This is an insightful easy to read essay that intorduced me to the idea of transmodernism. This idea offers a way of looking at traditional societies that does not limit them to the past or identify them as static and obsolete. To me it started to make some sense of the

Cans of Worms Cans of Ideas Ideas Ideas

2006-01-06T09:21:00.000+01:00

You've heard of some of these no doubt, or versions of them..."The only way to recan a can of worms is to use a bigger can.""Activity grows to fill the time available.""Clutter grows to fill the available space."A little while back I was having a professional declutter, and that has been moderately successful, but there's a new (to me) phenomenon that is posing an interesting question or two ...

Barriers to change in organisations

2006-01-05T15:05:00.000+01:00

There are many! And many ways of looking at them. I've been considering a few in a recent piece of research into public service delivery in the environmental field, (no pun intended). Amongst the recently mentioned are: inflexibility in organisations to move resources around; fear of getting into trouble - otherwise labelled here by Seth Godin as the 'Technically Beyond Reproach' attitude; and

Two geographies

2006-01-04T09:49:00.000+01:00

I have been working on a funding proposal for about a year now to study the two geographies, real and virtual, that many project teams find themselves involved in. The research project includes two other important elements: a focus on the early creative stages of collaboration between people, and a desire to apply (at least) two different sociology methodologies to 'cross-reference' the findings