This talk by Clay Shirky is a basicly the first bit of his book performed live. He cut from the book the suggestion that the phase transition we are going thru is going to lead to chaos. I don’t recall hearing before the delightful idea that Institution rely of carrots and sticks, but that if [...]
This is a long, interesting, carefully written article by Alex Kotlowitz about a program to change community behaviors in service of decreasing violence. It is nice to see a discussion of how to reduce polarization. There is so much entertainment value in polarization that the media revel in it. It is further to the article’s [...]
I like to talk about leveraging the talent on the other side of the Internet, or talent scraping. That talent is only just recently discovered. We are in a kind of gold rush to figure out how to mine it. I’ve called that mining industry talent-scrapping, in part to suggest how it’s like a whale [...]
Over at 43 things, a site where people can clot together around random common goals, I see that two thousand people have revealed thier desire to “become better at small-talk.” The “learn to make polite empty chit chat” group has only 59 people. I’m a bit distressed that only one person wants to learn how [...]
Delightful: The term “controversy” amuses me. It seems like it’s a holdout from the pre-internet era when there might actually have been something that no one felt strongly about. – Floppy, Hoppy Bunnies
Craftsmen always love their tools. Further most of them love their problem. And curiously the policeman must sympathize with the criminal; otherwise how will he be able to model his thinking. Negotiators advise you to walk in the other guy’s shoes. Success in complementing the other function plays out best if understand the other function, [...]
Clay Shirky has written a book. Oh joy! Here Comes Everybody is a wise and insightful look into what’s happening as the costs of group forming evaporates. The book is in your bookstore starting today, so run out and get it! The big question Clay takes on here runs as follows: Given that we are [...]
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
The Irish decided to impose a 33 cents tax on those plastic bags that retailers use. I presume this was in part a sin tax, in part an attempt to tax the externalities created by the bags, and in part a bit of stunt. The end of the story is that it’s wiped out the [...]
Thursday, January 3, 2008
“A picture showing a pair of eyes attached to a cafeteria collection box significantly raises the donated amount compared to a flower symbol…” Teehee. Presumably the eyes trigger a reframing; the contributors situate their choice in a different context. A more social one? That effect what ever it actually is might be a portion of [...]
I’m enjoying reading the last Harry Potter in part because so many other people on the train are reading it. Last summer there were banners on the Libraries in Cambridge announcing that Cambridge was reading some book and they got me to imagining what that would be like. Stepping onto the bus, chatting with the [...]
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