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Archive for November, 2007

Nov 21

Something wonderful emerges?

I’ve just noticed an article that I think will be of much interest, and it plays on one or two themes already introduced here and here.

The theme is competition and emergence – two cornerstones of the social media environment. Any social media system whether it be flickr, youtube or twitter operate on the principle that anyone can participate so long as you accept a simple set of rules. You are welcome to upload a picture to flickr so long as the content is appropriate and not offensive to flickr users. If it is, then the the community will flag the item for removal. Flickr is a self-organising system not governed by a committee or a hierarchy.

These designs originate from a revolutionary idea. An idea that was counter-intuitive to everything we once thought, and in some parts of the world the theory is still not accepted. The book was ‘The Origin of Species’ by Charles Darwin (1859). Prior to Darwin the world saw life ordered in a pyramid like structure where God was placed at the top, below him great men, then man, then animals and dogs. The lower orders follow the ideas of the upper orders. Darwin’s theory challenged this. Life, as he stated, was not designed from something more complex than life. It began from something quite simple – ultimately dead matter. From a set of simple rules something quite wonderful emerges – life. It is structured through a web of interdependencies where there is no one important part and we cannot change the status of an entity

Social media sites follow Darwin’s model in that anyone with an Internet connection can release their own music, publish their own book, or produce their own movie. Quality is judged on the number of views, comments received, and times marked as a favourite. Quality will rise to the top. It is most likely better than what a small collection of professional photographers can produce.

This is a brilliant idea. We can all participate, and we all compete with equal resource.

What I enjoy most about these web sites is the effect they are having in the offline world, more so than the online world. It no longer seems appropriate for one individual, politician, or celebrity to preach to the many without debate or comment. We all have a voice and an equal say.

This brings me onto the article, published on the BBC website yesterday. The article describes an innovation within the Swedish Education system that allows anyone with sufficient motivation to start their own school. They must work within a set of simple rules – follow a core curriculum and promote democratic values, but success is ultimately reliant on their design. If it’s good enough, it will attract students… and ultimately the Swedish government believe that standards will rise. Something wonderful emerges? Well, that’s the theory.

Article here: Swedish model of ‘free schools’.

Nov 20

When to Switch Off?

In a recent post I was looking to queston the divide that can often exist between work and life, and more recently I was invited to speak at an event in London entitled Ask Generation Y. Ask Gen Y was an opportunity for businesses to think about the next generation of society entering the workplace – What methods will they bring? What ideas do they have? What technologies will they utilise? Even as much as will they want to work for us? Seeing as I operate on the edge of generation y I felt that my inclusion was slightly fraudulent – Am I really the best person to represent this generation? Presumably not… so I took the opportunity to invite my 12 year old cousin Olivia, a far better representative on a number of different levels.

The more I thought about it, the more it made sense to bring her along. It was a great opportunity for me to interview Olivia on her thoughts about her future, how she uses technology, and what she thinks about the world in general. This low-level research gave me the material I needed to present. But it was much more than that. It was, first and foremost, a great opportunity to spend some quality time with my cousin, and  an opportunity to show her the sights and sounds of our nations capital. From my memory a short weekend in London had a huge effect on me as a young person. It was also an opportunity to show one member of my family a glimpse of what I do, as this still remains an anomaly to many.

The gambled payed off as Olivia was, without doubt, the star of the show. Her messages about technology were profound. You can download some of her statements from my short interview with Olivia here. What stole the show however was one short video clip. It’s a video of Olivia in the Apple Store London, a must see destination for any London tourist, sitting comfortably next to the likes of Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing Street, and Trafalgar Square. The clip shows the first time Olivia has ever seen and used the Apple iPhone. I had my camera to hand so I took the opportunity to capture the moment. In the clip you will see Olivia accessing Google, finding her school website, logging-in, and downloading a homework assignment she was telling me about earlier in the day.

The startling message to the ‘Ask Generation Y’ delegates was this: “Olivia isn’t that interested in technology”. She doesn’t see a career in ICT, and doesn’t obsess greatly over the latest device. But technology is there… it has been there since the day Olivia was born. She doesn’t concern herself with what it can do, and what it does not do… she just knows it… and uses it on a regular basis. She does not worry about when to switch it on or off. It is simply on. It is, in the end, just life… like eating or sleeping

This is in contrast to the following video clip that I also prepared for ‘Ask Gen Y’. This clip captures the thoughts and opinions of a separate section of  gen y’ers. They are slightly older, but this is a tech savvy audience. The messages are classy, each profound in its own way, but what is interesting is the underlying concern for technology, in particular a concern for when to turn it off. What are the consequences of turning off your RSS feeds, email, or facebook for a minute, an hour, a day, a week? What’s the worst that can happen?

These are genuine concerns, but do they concern Olivia? There is much food for thought, especially for those who think about technology, design products, or build services.

Nov 19

A packet of Rolo’s and a glass of Shandy Bass

I used to love Saturday nights. Thinking back today I do not actually know why. Maybe because it was the end of the week and and I had a whole 24 hours before I had to think about school again. Maybe I just felt happy and safe being at home. Or perhaps it was because of the sweets (Rolo’s in particular) and a glass of Shandy Bass I was allowed for that one evening. In all honesty though, I think it was because I used to love that one-hour of the week when I would sit down with my Mum and we would watch ‘The Generation Game’ together. Hosted by Bruce Forsyth the programme matched two members of a family against another two members from another family. The games were probably ridiculous from what I remember, but at the time I loved the madness of it all, and probably hoped that I would one day be a participant with my Uncle or Aunty.

But I grew up. I passed my school exams, I almost failed at college (I’ll try less next time!), but did good at University. My ideas changed and I soon became the pest of my families Saturday night entertainment. Something had happened to me that made me question everything I saw on the TV. Programmes like Big Brother or Pop Idol were confusing. They seemed too simple, too contrived. They reflected a country addicted to the idea of ‘Posh and Becks’ and quick routes to fame and fortune. It just wasn’t entertaining to see a camera focus on someone’s despair at loosing out on a career in music, or for someone to be booed and jeered when leaving the Big Brother House. My poor Mum. I would sit there, and play on like an old record. “Those acts have no talent’… “Why are we watching this?”… “There must be more to life than this”. I was wrong to give her a tough time though. Of all the people I know, there are few that work harder. She puts in a tireless amount of effort to keep those around her happy and she succeeds everyday. These programmes were her escape. An hour or so where she can put her brain to one side and watch some light entertainment. Last year I told myself to break the record, give my Mum a break, and well just loosen up. So, as a result I started to watch the X-factor, and to my surprise I was entertained, particularly by the early episodes with some hilarious efforts to win the praise of Simon Cowell and co. I also thought Leona Lewis was a worthy winner, and now a potentially great talent for the British Music Industry ). And then there is ‘I’m a Celebrity Get me Out of Here’. Again, I was entertained by the comedy duo of Ant & Dec who bring a blaze of Ozzie sunshine into British homes in the lead up to Christmas.

I now realise that both these programmes, no matter how contrived, are just good family entertainment. They are the ‘Generation Game’, as I remember it, for millions of youngsters and adults up and down the land.

But, still, there is something different about today. Different from when I was chomping on my Rolo’s and drinking a small tanker of Shandy Bass. The difference is technology and more so the ability of this generation to choose. We no longer have to accept what the BBC or ITV put together and call Saturday night entertainment. We have alternative sources – YouTube, My Space, DVD’s, or previously recorded Digital Content. And choose we do. Statistics suggest so, but equally a simple ethnographic survey would point to this trend. I have seen a cousin of mine in Ireland watch episodes of Southpark through YouTube on his laptop rather than Coronation Street in the corner of the living room. I have seen my niece playing video clips to friends of her own school trip to France through her mobile phone. Most recently, my Sister was competing with my Dad. It was YouTube versus Top Gear. One room had funny clips playing on YouTube, the other Top Gear on BBC 2. People were wandering from one room to the other confused at to what they actually wanted to watch.

Let’s not get too carried away though as I think it is fair to say that society, particularly mainstream society, is only just beginning to understand what it actually means to choose. Even though the paradigm shift is earth shattering for some, it is actually subtler for others, but it is there. Just consider this video clip from one of my students (Matthew) here at Manchester Business School… I will reference his full name when I see him next week.

Matthew is right though. We have the freedom to choose, and as we begin to see it in media and entertainment, we will most likely begin to command it elsewhere. I want to be able to choose a better bank, an ethical bank. I want to choose where I procure my energy from, natural sources or nuclear? I want to choose public services? This though is slightly more difficult. Big industries such as media, banking, and energy have though recognised this trend and we can see evidence of new and emerging structures in response. Sky + is one early response from BSB. It uses digital technology so that programming can be pre-recorded at watched at a time that is convenient to you. This is a brilliant innovation, if not a great comedy line from Peter Kay – “I’ve sky plus’d it”. People get to watch more of what they like, rather than what the networks command they watch. It is brilliant because it is simple to do, and the mainstream like it. They use it without concern or pain. This doesn’t mean to say that ‘X-factor’ and “I’m a Celebrity’ don’t command big television audiences. Of course they do. This is because the nation still likes big. We like the mainstream stuff. We won’t easily navigate away from it, but again the change is subtle. It is happening. Social Media’, if it is to compete, will have to get better. It isn’t that bad now, often brilliant. But it will need to get better at drawing the mainstream away from ‘big’ production.

I am not exactly sure how social Media will do this, but I have a hunch that the closer the entertainment is to our own lives, the more likely we are to select it over and above ‘big’ production. We would probably, in some ways, prefer to watch the soap opera of our own lives, family, and friends rather than a scripted episode of Eastenders or Coronation Street. Perhaps this is Facebook? What about a son or daughter who decides to take a year from study and travel around the Far East and Australia? Surely a weekly video blog would be more exciting than Michael Palin’s latest travelogue?

Choice and Personalisation are all disruptive themes that affect public service delivery as much as they do the large television, media, and news networks. The debate is filtering through and so Local Government now faces the same questions as a Sky, CNN, or ITV. Can we always rely on ‘big’ production? ‘Big’ service delivery? Can we bring choice into the services we offer? How do Social Enterprises actually get better so that citizens feel comfortable about switching? Do we start with the individual – the family, the friends, the network and redesign 21st Century services around them.

Oldham In Control have made significant strides on both choice and personalisation.

They have put in place a radical innovation that awards care money in response to an individuals needs or wishes, rather than the local authority aggregating demand and delivering a large, standardised service to the many. This innovation, of placing cash and choice in the hands of the care recipient begins to drive the theoretical components put forward. The care recipient can now choose what services they wish to procure – choice. They might well wish for a neighbour or relative to wash and dress them each day – personalisation. In fact, some of the most moveable impacts of these innovations are told by the recipients of the service themselves. Outcomes that extend beyond service improvement, monies saved, or technology adopted. It is, in the end, a human story.

This blog entry itself was, at times, a human story. What it does hope to achieve though is more tales of the unexpected. Entertainment and Media does not immediately marry with Local Government, but perhaps there are more opportunities and challenges shared than what we might first think. Both seek to influence the societies in which we live. Both sectors are marked with large organisations and complex systems. They have, to date, maintained a privileged position of access and control to services. Can this realistically continue? They will both be affected by Social Media technologies, and this in itself will fundamentally change the way local government is presented to the outside world, and also how media engages with local issues.

Nov 18

Work Life Balance – Why draw the line?

The interplay, or perhaps separation, between life and work is often debated in the popular press. We strive for more time with our families, time to travel, and time to enjoy the cultures we live in. Organisations publish work-life balance policies, and technology promises to make us more efficient so that we might create more time, but as the days grow shorter, and the nights grow longer we ask ‘where is it’, ‘I want more’, ‘I need more’?

Time is often our enemy, but perhaps our biggest mistake is to draw a boundary between work and life. We should not see them as two separate entities in competition for resource. I recently delivered a lecture to a class of 20 something’s and I asked each of them one simple question – ‘What do you hope to achieve in your work and life’? The responses were well thought out, classy actually, but the most common response was to eliminate a boundary between the two. Life and work should be as one.

This seems like an ideal position, a philosophical one even, but there are examples of where this has been put to good effect. I recently attended a conference in Copenhagen, and I was inspired by a talented speaker  Jyri Engeström who spoke on the subject of ‘Why Some Social Networking Services Work and Others Fail’. Most notably Jyri cited how he and his colleagues attended ‘reboot 06′ and was sufficiently inspired to start a web company that concerns itself with status updates across mobile and social networks. The next time they attended ‘reboot’ in 2007 they were the primary sponsors and Jyri was a keynote speaker. This is an outstanding success story and it continues today with the recent announcement that Jaiku has been acquired by Google. Jyri’s story presumably took much effort and work, but what struck most about Jyri was the inclusion of his family at ‘reboot 07′. Both his wife and new born baby were in attendance, and he was often seen chatting to colleagues and contacts with baby in arms. Is this life or work? Why distinguish… It is just life.

Nov 12

Generation Y on media, society and life

Today marked a turning point in my teaching career. I was caught on the hop. 10 minutes to go before a three hour lecture, and what did I have? Nothing.

As I plugged in my laptop, setup the mic and watched over a hundred students pour into the lecture hall, I still had little clue as to what I was going to say or achieve within the alloted time. It then came to me. Silence drew and anticipation built. The three hour grueling examination to determine whether I met the mark of lecturer and whether all those tuition fees were really worth it. Time to turn the table, I thought, and so I played this.

This is ‘A Vision of Students Today’ produced Michael Wesch: Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University.

After much laughter, wincing, and applause the silence soon came back around. This was my moment. “So” I said, “Seeing as you aren’t listening to me … what do you want to do?”. “How do you want to make the most of the three hours we have alloted?”. “You tell me!!”.

There was silence at first. I could see some students were questioning my sanity, but then it broke. “Tell us about our assignments Sir … How will they be marked?”. Classic response, I thought, but I was determined to make them the centre. “Well, you tell me, I said”. I had set the students into groups. They were responsible for blogging on themes of disruptive technology and so I asked them - “How do you think your assignments should be marked?”. It started slowly, but soon students were chipping in from all sides of the lecture hall. “Quality of writing”, “use of media”, “hits and site stats”, “presentation”, “design fit to the audience”, “creativity”, “number of posts”. On an on they went. We actually opened a collaborative google doc there and then. The responses kept coming.

I asked the question again – “How will your assignments be marked?”. I answered - “refer to the google documents page we have just created”. This felt like a tipping point in teaching. I was no longer the disseminator of knowledge and wisdom. I was the facilitator. The students were awake. They were learning. I was too. I had a great paper on ‘What to look for in a blog’.

I then took this a step further. I was preparing a keynote presentation for Ask Generation Y at the Vinopolis, London. I felt uncomfortable with this though as I am falling off the edges of Generation Y, if I was ever there. Another opportunity struck me. Let’s ask those who are. And so the second-half of the lecture proceeded in the same fashion. Four questions and responses given to each. I captured these responses in the following clip – Ask Generation Y.

Note: The camera work is shoddy as I was using my macbook to record the responses.

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