hyperconnected and hyperobsessed

This site collects links, books, stories, media and other things I consider interesting for some reason. It's neither work-focussed or personal but happily blurs the two.

I'm a professional loudmouth and iconoclast. Also comms guy, experience/service designer, social businesseer, collaborator. Open Gov and Gov 2.0 advocate. TEDizen. WoW player. Triathlete. Rugby tragic.

See http://about.me/trib/ for greater detail and links to other things.

Search

Tweets

Photos

Loading Flickr...

    More - Flickr

    Find me on...

    Posts I like

    More liked posts

    “Research strongly suggests that people are more creative when they enjoy privacy and freedom from interruption. And the most spectacularly creative people in many fields are often introverted, according to studies by the psychologists Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Gregory Feist. They’re extroverted enough to exchange and advance ideas, but see themselves as independent and individualistic. They’re not joiners by nature.”

    The Rise of the New Groupthink - NYTimes.com

    “Here’s how it works. Flexible Purpose Corporations can write one or more special missions into their articles of incorporation. They can be as ambitious as fighting climate change or as modest as maintaining a park near the company’s office. The law instructs directors to consider the special aims in their decision-making, even when it could mean lower returns for investors. To make the appeal as broad as possible, the law’s authors avoided setting a minimum standard for what a “special purpose” could be.”

    Patagonia Road Tests New Sustainability Legal Status - Bloomberg

    We need similar laws in Australia, I believe.

    Source bloomberg.com

    “This is one of the greatest misconceptions about introversion. We are not anti-social; we’re differently social. I can’t live without my family and close friends, but I also crave solitude.”

    The Power of Introverts: A Manifesto for Quiet Brilliance: Scientific American

    Source scientificamerican.com
    Link
     View high resolution
    The New Capitalist Manifesto: Building a Disruptively Better Business Umair Haque I’ve never been one to conform, and Havas Media Lab Director and HBR blogger, Umair Haque isn’t either. The radical re-imagining of economics and capitalism he proposes in The New Capitalist Manifesto is an idea for the 21st Century, rising out of the ashes of a still-burning post-Industrial economy. Illustrating his new economics through comparisons between old economics (and the companies living off it) and the new “betterness”-based economics, Haque argues extensively and convincingly that what organisations need to do in the 21st Century to continue to survive is focus on an operational model: The twenty-first century capitalist’s agenda, in a nutshell, is to rethink the “capital”—to build organizations that are less machines, and more living networks of the many different kinds of capital, whether natural, human, social, or creative. And, second, to rethink the “ism”: how, when, and where the many different kinds of capital can be most productively seeded, nurtured, allocated, utilized—and renewed. What we need, then, is a new generation of renegades, laying deeper, stronger institutional cornerstones. Haque’s argument resonates super-powerfully with me. While I certainly don’t have the chops to have written The New Capitalist Manifesto, it articulates many of the arguments I’ve put to people in the past 10 years; business today is no longer sustainable in the way it was before. It can’t go on cannibalising profits and circulating the same money (and making more and more “pretend” money that only exists in a computer somewhere. Business needs to act to add real social value and not only make money but make social goods as well, as Haque suggests, the paradigm needs a shift thus: Loss advantage: From value chains to value cycles •Responsiveness: From value propositions to value conversations •Resilience: From strategy to philosophy •Creativity: From protecting a marketplace to completing a marketplace •Difference: From goods to betters I can’t recommend The New Capitalist Manifesto strongly enough, and also highly recommend Umair Haque’s new, short ebook, Betterness, which extends his articulation of some of the themes in this book. If it was mathematically possible to give a book 6/5, I would give it here.

    The New Capitalist Manifesto: Building a Disruptively Better Business

    Umair Haque

    I’ve never been one to conform, and Havas Media Lab Director and HBR blogger, Umair Haque isn’t either. The radical re-imagining of economics and capitalism he proposes in The New Capitalist Manifesto is an idea for the 21st Century, rising out of the ashes of a still-burning post-Industrial economy. Illustrating his new economics through comparisons between old economics (and the companies living off it) and the new “betterness”-based economics, Haque argues extensively and convincingly that what organisations need to do in the 21st Century to continue to survive is focus on an operational model:

    The twenty-first century capitalist’s agenda, in a nutshell, is to rethink the “capital”—to build organizations that are less machines, and more living networks of the many different kinds of capital, whether natural, human, social, or creative. And, second, to rethink the “ism”: how, when, and where the many different kinds of capital can be most productively seeded, nurtured, allocated, utilized—and renewed. What we need, then, is a new generation of renegades, laying deeper, stronger institutional cornerstones.

    Haque’s argument resonates super-powerfully with me. While I certainly don’t have the chops to have written The New Capitalist Manifesto, it articulates many of the arguments I’ve put to people in the past 10 years; business today is no longer sustainable in the way it was before. It can’t go on cannibalising profits and circulating the same money (and making more and more “pretend” money that only exists in a computer somewhere. Business needs to act to add real social value and not only make money but make social goods as well, as Haque suggests, the paradigm needs a shift thus:

    • Loss advantage: From value chains to value cycles
    • •Responsiveness: From value propositions to value conversations
    • •Resilience: From strategy to philosophy
    • •Creativity: From protecting a marketplace to completing a marketplace
    • •Difference: From goods to betters

    I can’t recommend The New Capitalist Manifesto strongly enough, and also highly recommend Umair Haque’s new, short ebook, Betterness, which extends his articulation of some of the themes in this book. If it was mathematically possible to give a book 6/5, I would give it here.

    Link
     View high resolution
    The Swerve: How the World Became Modern Stephen Greenblatt Everything about The Swerve hits the right places for me - mysterious documents, Renaissance treasure hunters, the humanist movement - and it’s a real pleasure to read. Inspired into reading this book by attending the fantastic Renaissance exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia and it’s little cousin Handwritten at the National Library nearby, I was not disappointed. More than anything, reading The Swerve evoked memories of reading Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, minus the murderous activity, but with no less intrigue, church suppression and attempt to control the intellectual agenda. I’m now more than tempted to track down a good translation of Lucretius’ De rerum natura and read it, just to see what all the fuss is about. You’d have to imagine a professor of English literature can turn a word, and in Stephen Greenblatt we have someone who can do just that. He tells a rollicking tale, exploring not only the search and emergence of Lucretius’ epic, but also of the intrigue and harshness of the Papal curia and those in orbit about it. If the Renaissance, history, literature or humanism are at all your bag, I commend The Swerve to you unequivocally. It’s worth noting that there are extensive notes in the book, referenced back to the text. However, my copy had no forward referencing or footnotes, so they stand somewhat isolated in the physical book. The Kindle edition, however, uses extensive hyperlinking throughout; both forward to notes and back to the text. Oh, and if you are in Canberra, I cannot recommend highly enough that you visit both Renaissance at the National Gallery of Australia and Handwritten at the National Library. I can’t recommend it highly enough. 5/5.

    The Swerve: How the World Became Modern

    Stephen Greenblatt

    Everything about The Swerve hits the right places for me - mysterious documents, Renaissance treasure hunters, the humanist movement - and it’s a real pleasure to read. Inspired into reading this book by attending the fantastic Renaissance exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia and it’s little cousin Handwritten at the National Library nearby, I was not disappointed.

    More than anything, reading The Swerve evoked memories of reading Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, minus the murderous activity, but with no less intrigue, church suppression and attempt to control the intellectual agenda. I’m now more than tempted to track down a good translation of Lucretius’ De rerum natura and read it, just to see what all the fuss is about.

    You’d have to imagine a professor of English literature can turn a word, and in Stephen Greenblatt we have someone who can do just that. He tells a rollicking tale, exploring not only the search and emergence of Lucretius’ epic, but also of the intrigue and harshness of the Papal curia and those in orbit about it.

    If the Renaissance, history, literature or humanism are at all your bag, I commend The Swerve to you unequivocally.

    It’s worth noting that there are extensive notes in the book, referenced back to the text. However, my copy had no forward referencing or footnotes, so they stand somewhat isolated in the physical book. The Kindle edition, however, uses extensive hyperlinking throughout; both forward to notes and back to the text.

    Oh, and if you are in Canberra, I cannot recommend highly enough that you visit both Renaissance at the National Gallery of Australia and Handwritten at the National Library.

    I can’t recommend it highly enough. 5/5.

    “According to everything we know about the technology of the time, it shouldn’t exist. Nothing close to its sophistication appears again for well over a millennium, with the development of elaborate astronomical clocks in Renaissance Europe.”

    The Antikythera Mechanism: The Story of Humanity’s Oldest Analog Computer, circa 150 B.C. | Brain Pickings

    Source brainpickings.org

    Alain de Botton’s perspective on Atheism - accepting, connecting, transcendent - in a talk at TEDGlobal 2011, offers a perspective that resonates strongly with me. It offers a more easily embraced counterpoint to New Atheism, the often strident nature of which can grate.

    Source ted.com

    “What if, instead, we practiced consciously, deliberately, and became good at the things we really want to be good at? What if you first, above all skills, learned to be more aware of what you are practicing? What if constant conscious action is the skill you became good at? If you could learn to take conscious action, you could learn to practice other things you want to be good at, rather than the ones you don’t.”

    » Life as a Conscious Practice :zenhabits

    Source zenhabits.net

    Our Internet (by m ss ng p eces)

    Source vimeo.com

    Now, here’s a song (and an artist, in the form of Adele) that’s grabbed the popular imagination, as this mashup video attests.

    Imagine what happens to videos like this if SOPA/PIPA get up?

    Source freedomtodither

    “Without great solitude, no serious work is possible.”

    Pablo Picasso

    Source underpaidgenius
    Link
     View high resolution
    Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon’s Army & Other Diabolical Insects Amy Stewart I have no recollection of why I bought this. It must have been one of those “people who bought X also bought Y” things on Amazon. Nonetheless, a good fun read which touches on a little of the science (Amy Stewart freely professes she’s no scientist early on), a lot of the crawling, flying and slimy things that make human life a little more challenging, and does it with a touch of good humor and a strong intent to inform. I’ve no idea whether Stewart has a great editor or whether she’s something of a comic genius, but the section/chapter names are fantastic - “She’s Just Not That Into You” for the beasties with weird and often horrifying reproductive lives, “Fear No Weevils” for those infesting our food, and “Have No Fear” for those that are the subject of some human phobias. As a kid (and still subconsciously as an adult) I was fascinated by all the things that creep and crawl. It’s astounding I didn’t end up bitten, stung, infested or otherwise damaged. I still enjoy learning about these things and Amy Stewart’s book does a good job of being informative while providing some good storytelling and recounting interesting anecdotes along the way. Oh, and the illustrations are weird and beautiful. If you’re at all into creepy-crawlies, I’d say give it a read. But don’t come looking for hard science. I’m giving it a 4/5.

    Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon’s Army & Other Diabolical Insects

    Amy Stewart

    I have no recollection of why I bought this. It must have been one of those “people who bought X also bought Y” things on Amazon. Nonetheless, a good fun read which touches on a little of the science (Amy Stewart freely professes she’s no scientist early on), a lot of the crawling, flying and slimy things that make human life a little more challenging, and does it with a touch of good humor and a strong intent to inform.

    I’ve no idea whether Stewart has a great editor or whether she’s something of a comic genius, but the section/chapter names are fantastic - “She’s Just Not That Into You” for the beasties with weird and often horrifying reproductive lives, “Fear No Weevils” for those infesting our food, and “Have No Fear” for those that are the subject of some human phobias.

    As a kid (and still subconsciously as an adult) I was fascinated by all the things that creep and crawl. It’s astounding I didn’t end up bitten, stung, infested or otherwise damaged. I still enjoy learning about these things and Amy Stewart’s book does a good job of being informative while providing some good storytelling and recounting interesting anecdotes along the way.

    Oh, and the illustrations are weird and beautiful.

    If you’re at all into creepy-crawlies, I’d say give it a read. But don’t come looking for hard science.

    I’m giving it a 4/5.

    WHERE WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO VISIT ON YOUR PLANET?

    tumblrbot

    The Middle East. So much history, so much I don’t understand. Luckily enough, I’m getting a taste in April.

    “Knowledge is now the property of the network. The smartest person in the room is the room itself.”

    David Weinberger, Too Big To Know 

    Source underpaidgenius

    The writer who made millions by self-publishing online

    There will be more and more authors like Amanda Hocking in the next few years. The publishing houses don’t realise yet that they are corpses waiting to happen.

    Loading posts...