Fulcra

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Design Kit Jul 30, 2015 social, innovation & design

Social Innovation Lab Guide - The Rockefeller Foundation Jul 30, 2015 social, innovation, systems & design

Innovating a Canadian innovation ecosystem Jul 29, 2015 innovation

How Exceptionally Productive People End The Workday Jul 29, 2015

Making Transcripts More Than ‘a Record of Everything the Student Has Forgotten’ Jul 28, 2015 education

Using Social Incubation to Drive Local Innovation (SSIR) Jul 28, 2015 social & innovation

→ Organisations are essentially factories for making decisions Jul 27, 2015 highlights Organisations are essentially factories for making decisions. — Daniel Kahneman, interview in The Guardian.

→ “No one ever gave me a reason why they didn’t want the hologram to appear,” said Craze Fest promoter Malcolm Jones. Jul 27, 2015 highlights I know nothing about Chief Keef,” Hammond mayor Thomas McDermott told the Times. “All I’d heard was he has a lot of songs about gangs and shooting people — a history that’s anti-cop, pro-gang and pro-drug use. He’s been basically outlawed in Chicago, and we’re not going to let you circumvent Mayor Emanuel by going next door. —

“No one ever gave me a reason why they didn’t want the hologram to appear,” said Craze Fest promoter Malcolm Jones. “They didn’t have a real reason. They believed that it would start trouble, but the first thing Chief Keef said via hologram was: ’Chicago, we need to stop the violence. Let our kids live.’”

Why is an authority making decisions based on what he’d “heard” about someone, especially when he “knows nothing” about the person? Isn’t that essentially stereotyping, if not racism?

From Police shut down show by Chief Keef’s hologram by Sam Byford on The Verge.

Police shut down show by Chief Keef’s hologram Jul 27, 2015 tech

→ Paul Saffo’s approach to forecasting. Jul 26, 2015 futures & highlights [M]y mantra for this process is "strong opinions, weakly held." Allow your intuition to guide you to a conclusion, no matter how imperfect — this is the "strong opinion" part. Then –and this is the "weakly held" part– prove yourself wrong. Engage in creative doubt. Look for information that doesn't fit, or indicators that pointing in an entirely different direction. Eventually your intuition will kick in and a new hypothesis will emerge out of the rubble, ready to be ruthlessly torn apart once again. —

Paul Saffo’s approach to forecasting.

Also, reading about Paul Saffo brought me to the Long Now Foundation — so neat!

There are stories that are true, in which each individual’s tale is unique and tragic, and the worst of the tragedy is that we have heard it before, and we cannot allow ourselves to feel it too deeply. Jul 26, 2015 There are stories that are true, in which each individual’s tale is unique and tragic, and the worst of the tragedy is that we have heard it before, ▵ →

→ Mike Monteiro, “Why you need design”. Jul 25, 2015 design & highlights I once worked with a designer who bought frames with photos of strangers at thrift stores. She stashed the photos in a box under her desk. When she started a project, she flipped through them until she found people she felt matched the users we were designing for. She kept those frames on her desk for the project's duration to remind her that she wasn't designing for herself. She was designing for them. —

Mike Monteiro, “Why you need design”. (https://medium.com/@monteiro/why-you-need-design-77dce41e0e0c)

A little weird and very clever.

→ Mike Monteiro, “Why you need design”. Jul 25, 2015 design & highlights Designers aren't artists. Design isn't self-expression. —

Mike Monteiro, “Why you need design”. (Again: https://medium.com/@monteiro/why-you-need-design-77dce41e0e0c)

I’m really interested in this “dichotomy”. I like Mike’s emphasis on the non-art of design: to him, it is a practice.

“A good designer behaves like a skilled professional with analytical, persuasive, creative, and social skills. You can count on them to solve problems, present good work in a timely manner, be accountable, and argue from an informed point of view.” - Mike Monteiro

And I agree with him wholeheartedly. Yet, working with artists and contemporary art at Eastern Edge over the last few weeks has led me to a great appreciation of contemporary art, and the capacity of art to do… well… something.

I guess that’s sometimes the point: art doesn’t necessarily achieve an intentional goal. Design does. Or rather, it should.

[Contemporary] Art can be designed.

However, art can be designed. But can design be contemporary art? What would that mean?

Off-the-cuff, it would mean that the design pushes contemporary boundaries. It would make you think about something you hadn’t thought you’d think about. Or, it would make you feel something you hadn’t felt before. Or that you feel a lot.

However, design still can’t be self-expression. By definition, it is intentionally the expression of something else—the expression of a solution to a problem, perhaps. Design can be art, but it shouldn’t necessarily try to be.

(Aside: I’m reminded of instantiation validity. A design is a version of a solution to a problem, but if it fails, we should remember that a design is distinct from the theoretical solution, and that the design can fail separate from the solution itself. This is convoluted, but it means we can try the same solution with a different design.)

→ Calling someone a creative doesn’t elevate Jul 25, 2015 design & highlights Calling someone a creative doesn’t elevate. It marginalizes. The label excludes designers from conversations about strategy, product definition, business goals, and metrics. It sets them apart from other employees as people who aren’t bound by the same expectations and requirements. It diminishes their opportunity to be seen as people capable of analytical, rigorous thought. — Mike Monteiro, “Why you need design”. (https://medium.com/@monteiro/why-you-need-design-77dce41e0e0c)

→ positive error messages Jul 24, 2015 highlights

→ Visualizing city densities Jul 24, 2015 highlights

→ Demographic changes, exponential technology, and scarce resources are all beautiful opportunities for public innovation labs @MindLabDK — @tprehn (http://twitter.com/tprehn/status/622068427700764672). Jul 24, 2015 highlights

→ Comparing a node in a neural network to a neuron, though, is at best like comparing a toaster to the space shuttle Jul 23, 2015 highlights Comparing a node in a neural network to a neuron, though, is at best like comparing a toaster to the space shuttle. — @clarecorthell (http://twitter.com/clarecorthell/status/620846935503548416).

The End of Leadership Jul 23, 2015 leadership, systems & futures

How the world sees itself Jul 23, 2015 Articles & design

This is absurd. With everything that’s happening in the world (see the list with a bluish background from Wikipedia), why are half of Facebook’s ▵ →