Thursday, December 18, 2008
Is Our Sense of Discovery Changing?
Here's a thought starter that has me wondering. I am a great believer in what some people in organizations call "Collective Intelligence".
People who understand this, really do put the belief further than the consultant speak it hints at. It's truly significant when placed in an open environment. And, it is the continuous seed of innovation.
Lately, I have been using a derivative term that I call "Collective Instinct". Collective Intelligence is about knowledge and experience. Collective Instinct is what people believe can help to create knowledge and develop experience.
In some ways, we still think of discovery as science defined it centuries ago. Or, as lawyers view a critical process. And now, we often think of it as a collaborative moment or series of moments that may be defined by people thought of as technically proficient.
Another way we look at discovery is shared or communal experience. We look at product forums before we buy a food processor, car or laptop.
In the early days of the Greek theater. Citizens were funded to attend performances if they could not afford to attend on their own. One could not be a true citizen without the ability to know that theater was a way of the society talking to itself about itself. You had to participate to live fully and contribute.
Today, our collaboration and sense of discovery may reflect in some way, the kinds of silos often found in business organizations. Art, music, theater provide a different kind of sharing. One that business desperately and obviously needs to understand better. Sustainability is a deeper conversation than most organizations feel comfortable with. Our economy proves that.
The ancient Greeks defined economy as the ability to sustain the life of something for as long as possible.
All the best for sustaining during a difficult time.
Sal
People who understand this, really do put the belief further than the consultant speak it hints at. It's truly significant when placed in an open environment. And, it is the continuous seed of innovation.
Lately, I have been using a derivative term that I call "Collective Instinct". Collective Intelligence is about knowledge and experience. Collective Instinct is what people believe can help to create knowledge and develop experience.
In some ways, we still think of discovery as science defined it centuries ago. Or, as lawyers view a critical process. And now, we often think of it as a collaborative moment or series of moments that may be defined by people thought of as technically proficient.
Another way we look at discovery is shared or communal experience. We look at product forums before we buy a food processor, car or laptop.
In the early days of the Greek theater. Citizens were funded to attend performances if they could not afford to attend on their own. One could not be a true citizen without the ability to know that theater was a way of the society talking to itself about itself. You had to participate to live fully and contribute.
Today, our collaboration and sense of discovery may reflect in some way, the kinds of silos often found in business organizations. Art, music, theater provide a different kind of sharing. One that business desperately and obviously needs to understand better. Sustainability is a deeper conversation than most organizations feel comfortable with. Our economy proves that.
The ancient Greeks defined economy as the ability to sustain the life of something for as long as possible.
All the best for sustaining during a difficult time.
Sal
Monday, December 8, 2008
Sounds Like the Future
http://www.smule.com/
Have you seen or heard about this application for the iPhone?
"As an instrument Ocarina has been perfectly executed... This is how an iPhone app should be done." - TechCrunch
With this iPhone app, you can actually see where people around the world are using this musical device at the time you are using it. Your musical offering, reflected in some way, around the globe.
My long time friend and colleague, Rachel Allgood, could not wait to show me this and point out that the iPhone makes you think. For instance, what does this kind of application really mean. Rachel is one of NYC's great designers and business strategists. She created Isocurve to help clients actualize their true ideas. www.isocurve.com
When I experienced the application, several things came to mind. Medical emergencies and health care services are greatly supported by communal understanding. Like the iPhone Ocarina, one can easily imagine the powerful ability to immediately share critical information around the globe for people experiencing similar emergencies. Health care, terrorist threats, and even less traumatic episodes can be affected by immediate community understanding. Certified Diabetes Educators for example, have substantive experience to share. Instant networking can be very helpful to explore what many people are going through, as they are actually living through the events, creating mass solutions and customized help.
Innovations like "the retailing of medicine" and "home medicine" are also related. People will input medical data by remote control in order to have prescriptions, nursing assignments and assisted treatments arranged. Mass customization in the terms that the originator of that phrase intended. What a customer wants, when they want it.
There is also another interesting notion that may lie underneath this ability to see how many people around the world are playing the Ocarina. True, the iPhone is providing a fun and startling visualization. This deeper value however, is something that I have written about before.
In today's world, communication and implementation are often simultaneous. This gives an entirely different understanding of value chains and integrated supply chains. With the creation of E bay, we entered the distribution of goods and services from the buyer's perspective, not the manufacturer's. This was transformation based on continuous development. In this way, collective intelligence enables collective instinct to move into action. The iPhone Ocarina begins to sound like the future to me.
When I was a young boy, I loved going to the World's Fair in Queens NY. One thing I clearly remember, was an electronic game at the AT&T pavilion. I played it over and over. My memory tells me that the participant was pushing buttons on a display to distinguish sounds. The World's Fair was full of technology and talent. At that time, and for a long time, Bell Labs was creating two pattens a day.
Eventually, (and I could be making this up, but I think not), I realized that AT&T may have been collecting data on how people would be able to transform from rotary dial sounds to digital sounds when making phone calls. It was the beginning (1964), of the move to digital phones.
What does the iPhone Smule experience mean for you? It clearly is not just about the fantastic ability to see where people around the world are using the musical tones as you are.
Years ago, I produced several video's for AT&T on subjects like the democratization of technology. Doctors in the future for example, were shown using IM or video conferencing during emergency surgeries to share expertise.
Bell Labs also had other agendas. Good ones.
They wanted legislators to understand that in the future, freedom to share critical information at critical times would be imperative and expected. Consequently, they really did not want law makers establishing rules affecting future technology without respecting the need to understand more before creating such laws.
Well, Rachel is right as usual. The iPhone makes me think. And it makes me think about things I care about.
My imagination may be based on reality or not. But as one great philosopher said: "Reality, not the real is dependant upon care".
Sal
Have you seen or heard about this application for the iPhone?
"As an instrument Ocarina has been perfectly executed... This is how an iPhone app should be done." - TechCrunch
With this iPhone app, you can actually see where people around the world are using this musical device at the time you are using it. Your musical offering, reflected in some way, around the globe.
My long time friend and colleague, Rachel Allgood, could not wait to show me this and point out that the iPhone makes you think. For instance, what does this kind of application really mean. Rachel is one of NYC's great designers and business strategists. She created Isocurve to help clients actualize their true ideas. www.isocurve.com
When I experienced the application, several things came to mind. Medical emergencies and health care services are greatly supported by communal understanding. Like the iPhone Ocarina, one can easily imagine the powerful ability to immediately share critical information around the globe for people experiencing similar emergencies. Health care, terrorist threats, and even less traumatic episodes can be affected by immediate community understanding. Certified Diabetes Educators for example, have substantive experience to share. Instant networking can be very helpful to explore what many people are going through, as they are actually living through the events, creating mass solutions and customized help.
Innovations like "the retailing of medicine" and "home medicine" are also related. People will input medical data by remote control in order to have prescriptions, nursing assignments and assisted treatments arranged. Mass customization in the terms that the originator of that phrase intended. What a customer wants, when they want it.
There is also another interesting notion that may lie underneath this ability to see how many people around the world are playing the Ocarina. True, the iPhone is providing a fun and startling visualization. This deeper value however, is something that I have written about before.
In today's world, communication and implementation are often simultaneous. This gives an entirely different understanding of value chains and integrated supply chains. With the creation of E bay, we entered the distribution of goods and services from the buyer's perspective, not the manufacturer's. This was transformation based on continuous development. In this way, collective intelligence enables collective instinct to move into action. The iPhone Ocarina begins to sound like the future to me.
When I was a young boy, I loved going to the World's Fair in Queens NY. One thing I clearly remember, was an electronic game at the AT&T pavilion. I played it over and over. My memory tells me that the participant was pushing buttons on a display to distinguish sounds. The World's Fair was full of technology and talent. At that time, and for a long time, Bell Labs was creating two pattens a day.
Eventually, (and I could be making this up, but I think not), I realized that AT&T may have been collecting data on how people would be able to transform from rotary dial sounds to digital sounds when making phone calls. It was the beginning (1964), of the move to digital phones.
What does the iPhone Smule experience mean for you? It clearly is not just about the fantastic ability to see where people around the world are using the musical tones as you are.
Years ago, I produced several video's for AT&T on subjects like the democratization of technology. Doctors in the future for example, were shown using IM or video conferencing during emergency surgeries to share expertise.
Bell Labs also had other agendas. Good ones.
They wanted legislators to understand that in the future, freedom to share critical information at critical times would be imperative and expected. Consequently, they really did not want law makers establishing rules affecting future technology without respecting the need to understand more before creating such laws.
Well, Rachel is right as usual. The iPhone makes me think. And it makes me think about things I care about.
My imagination may be based on reality or not. But as one great philosopher said: "Reality, not the real is dependant upon care".
Sal
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Interesting Conversation about Brands
I placed this comment a few minutes ago responding to a good conversation on the memetic brand site. www.memeticbrand.com
Good discussion.
If we can assume that brand is about loyalty (traditional thought) and loyalty is about logic, then it is possible to consider collective intelligence as rationale for brand building.
In a networked economy (good and bad), decisions are often a collection of influences. Social Capital is deeply connected to trust. Trust is indeed measurable, but more important are the consequences when a lack of trust exists.
One great philosopher said: "Reality, not the real is dependent upon care".
Through social networking, it is possible to build a sense of trust and reality. One can begin to tell the difference between valuable interaction and hype.
Sometimes, I am reminded while networking, of my old neighborhood in Brooklyn New York where I grew up.
When a family had a trauma, meals would suddenly show up at their door. Somehow, the neighbors instinctively took up caring for the routines that the traumatized family could not pay attention to. It was collective instinct and implementation for the neighbors to react and be supportive.
I see much of this kind of supportive collective instinct and intelligence in collaborative spaces today.
What I don't see, is the acknowledgment to understand that brands are often very personal selections between millions of people.
Just think about the power of connecting that reality to sustainable and continuous improvement. And, to what that could mean to our worlds.
Sal Rasa
Good discussion.
If we can assume that brand is about loyalty (traditional thought) and loyalty is about logic, then it is possible to consider collective intelligence as rationale for brand building.
In a networked economy (good and bad), decisions are often a collection of influences. Social Capital is deeply connected to trust. Trust is indeed measurable, but more important are the consequences when a lack of trust exists.
One great philosopher said: "Reality, not the real is dependent upon care".
Through social networking, it is possible to build a sense of trust and reality. One can begin to tell the difference between valuable interaction and hype.
Sometimes, I am reminded while networking, of my old neighborhood in Brooklyn New York where I grew up.
When a family had a trauma, meals would suddenly show up at their door. Somehow, the neighbors instinctively took up caring for the routines that the traumatized family could not pay attention to. It was collective instinct and implementation for the neighbors to react and be supportive.
I see much of this kind of supportive collective instinct and intelligence in collaborative spaces today.
What I don't see, is the acknowledgment to understand that brands are often very personal selections between millions of people.
Just think about the power of connecting that reality to sustainable and continuous improvement. And, to what that could mean to our worlds.
Sal Rasa
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