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Thoughts of Time and Space - Central Texas Chapter of the World Future Society

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:49:34 -0800

CTWFS Monthly Meeting - Central Texas Chapter of the World Future Society

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:56:14 -0800

The Wave of the Future: Understanding Marshall McLuhan - Insights Intelligence Innovation

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:57:38 -0700

NOVA | scienceNOW | Emergence | PBS

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 11:30:48 -0700

Simplexity - Insights Intelligence Innovation

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:55:19 -0700

Complexity: A Guided Tour - Insights Intelligence Innovation

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:36:06 -0700

The Tao of Chaos: Merging East and West - Insights Intelligence Innovation

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:41:19 -0700

Future Positive " 2004 " January " 12

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 12:48:58 -0700

Aboriginal kids count without numbers | COSMOS magazine

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 07:25:25 -0700

Brain is on the "edge of chaos"

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 07:30:15 -0700

The Cost Conundrum in Health Care - Insights Intelligence Innovation

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:57:47 -0700

Lawyers and the Rise and Decline of Nations - Central Texas Chapter of the World Future Society

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:11:51 -0700

Social Forms - Insights Intelligence Innovation

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:56:01 -0700

The Tuft of Flowers - Insights Intelligence Innovation

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:01:36 -0700

Coase's Penguin, or Linux and the Nature of the Firm - Insights Intelligence Innovation

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:07:38 -0700

10 innovation experts to whom you should be listening

(author unknown) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 08:41:05 -0800

Why Google's Best New Feature Is Evil

(author unknown) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:30:42 -0800

Building Trust with Transparency

(author unknown) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:44:27 -0800

Economists: Innovation Opportunities Arising in Healthcare, Energy

Tim Huse — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:47:20 -0800

Yesterday’s panel discussion at MIT offered what moderator Jim Poterba, former head of the MIT Economics Department and current NBER president and CEO termed “a real treat.”

Bob Solow (MIT) and Greg Mankiw (Harvard), two world-renowned economists who also hold opposing political philosophies, met to offer and discuss their perspectives on the most pressing economic topics the 44th president of the United States has to consider.

The numerous topics included the current state of the U.S. economy, income inequality, healthcare, foreign trade, energy, unions, and immigration. Yet despite pronounced differences in their political views, Solow and Mankiw were aligned in two major points.

First, they agreed that the grievous financial situation needs concerted action right now. The good news is that the U.S. is not experiencing a productivity shock; i.e., no part of our industrial base is destroyed physically. Recovery will thus happen with almost perfect certainty, even if the time horizon is unclear at this point.

Second, both researchers agreed that two sectors of the economy are of much more long-term importance: healthcare and energy. These two fields demand dedicated attention, since they directly affect the U.S. social safety net and national security. These two sectors also show enormous potential for growth.

Even the more conservative-leaning Mankiw recognized that President-elect Obama not only has access to a pool of highly-regarded economic advisors, but that he is in fact very likely to actually listen to these economists – which both Solow and Mankiw can also agree is a good thing.

So, if you are an innovator coping today with the imponderability of the current state of the economy, don’t get entirely caught up in it. Focus on healthcare and energy as two spaces where tremendous opportunities lie ahead.

Connectivism Taxonomy

(author unknown) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:57:36 -0800

Introducing the Orb: Nick Sears on TED.com

(author unknown) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:00:00 -0800

Inventor Nick Sears demos the first generation of the Orb, a rotating persistence-of-vision display that creates glowing 3D images. A short, cool tale of invention. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 3:46.)

Watch Nick Sears' talk on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 300+ TEDTalks -- including more demos.

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7 Years of Moodle Development from Dan Poltawski

Geoffroi Garon — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 07:59:51 -0800

Second Life, where anything is possible: Philip Rosedale on TED.com

(author unknown) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 07:00:00 -0800

Why build a virtual world? At this year's Serious Play conference, Philip Rosedale talks about the virtual society he founded, Second Life, and its underpinnings in human creativity. It's a place so different that anything could happen. (Recorded May 2008 in Pasadena, California. Duration: 28:31.)

Watch Philip Rosedale's talk from Serious Play on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 300+ TEDTalks -- including more talks about community.

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New Found Love Interest

Ellen — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:04:02 -0800

YEAH! Comics.com

Ellen — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 18:51:45 -0800

Drawn to DoInk

Ellen — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 09:02:49 -0800

Social Computing

gsiemens — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:40:17 -0800

Dave Snowden is well-known in the knowledge management field. He has been kind enough in the past to present to online conferences that we have hosted at University of Manitoba (most recently, our Future of Education conference). Over the last few years, his writings/presentations have taken a turn that very much fits in with concepts presented in this forum and in CCK08. Dave started blogging about two years ago, but I’ve been following his work through his publications and contributions to ACT-KM. I could be imagining things, but his shift to blogging seems to coincide with his increased attention to the fragmentary nature of information. Distributed conversations, not packaged as they have been in the past through frameworks such as articles and books, in blogs provide an interesting experience in personal sensemaking. In a recent presentation (.pdf of slides - why not slideshare?…podcast is here), Dave details seven principles of KM, including: “Tolerated failure imprints learning better than success.”

Patternicity: Finding Meaningful Patterns in Meaningless Noise

(author unknown) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:00:00 -0800

Can America Invent Its Way Back?

Bill Ross — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:11:11 -0800

A recent article in BusinessWeek by Michael Mandel asks this highly relevant question, noting that while the U.S. has spent almost $5 trillion on research and development and on higher education, "employment in most technologically advanced industries has stagnated or even fallen."

Mandel's focus is on the new field of "innovation economics," which studies what forms of funding drive successful innovation.

Collecting new data on American R&D initiatives is also part of this movement, to understand what's working and what's not, with the desired end result of making effective proposals.

"Will 2009 be the year of innovation economics?
"Economists and business leaders across the political spectrum are slowly coming to an agreement: Innovation is the best, and maybe only, way the U.S. can get out of its economic hole. New products, services, and ways of doing business can create enough growth to enable Americans to prosper over the long run.

"In January, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will launch an annual survey of 40,000 companies asking how much they spend on R&D in the U.S. and overseas, broken out by type of business and country. "'For the first time, we'll have a clear picture of what kind of research companies are doing globally and what benefits they are getting from their spending,' says Lynda Carlson of the NSF.
"Multifactor productivity -- a category that includes technological change and other improvements in business processes -- accounted for 45% of productivity gains between 1987 and 2007. 'Ninety five percent of economists agree that innovation is the most important thing for long-run growth,' says MIT economist Daron Acemoglu.

"Economists are also suggesting how to use new tools to boost innovation.

"They're studying when prizes for technological advances make sense. They're proposing ways state and local governments can best encourage innovation-based economic development. And they're exploring how to make optimal use of the billions of dollars' worth of research conducted in government-funded national labs."

Not addressed in the article is the irony of the National Science Foundation's acronym, which is also used by the banking world as the abbreviation for "Not Sufficient Funds."

Let's hope the science foundation fares better with their economics.

===
"Can America Invent Its Way Back?"
"'Innovation economics' shows how smart ideas can turn into jobs and growth -- and keep the U.S. competitive."

by Michael Mandel
September 22, 2008 issue

1958 Erector Set ad uploaded
to Flickr by Maproom Systems

Stand up at Slungle

courtenay — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:00:13 -0800

What issues are on your mind? Whether you are dieing to discuss politics, entertainment or anything in between, Slungle, a socially liberating jungle, is the place to speak up.

Slungle is described by its Network Creators as “a real-time, interactive, authentic social community of meaningful ideas.” Members are encouraged stand up and be heard. As you might expect, the Network’s groups are a great place to share your opinions and ideas with like-minded people. Topics vary from business to fashion, education to faith.

For some real-time discussion, Slungle takes the forum to the next level and offers Slungle Brew, a weekly broadcast that involves engaging and informative issues. Every Wednesday night, host Joanna Repsold brings up topics from the news and forum that affect your life. The rest is up to you!

Slungle Brew was created to “impact this generation for a significant tomorrow”. Join Slungle today to participate in the interactive discussion!

How Unconscious Mechanisms Affect Thought

(author unknown) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:00:00 -0800

The Clock of the Long Now, and where to put it: Stewart Brand on TED.com

(author unknown) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 07:00:00 -0800

Futurist Stewart Brand works on the Clock of the Long Now, a timepiece that counts down the next 10,000 years. It's a beautiful project that asks us to think about the far, far future. Here, he discusses a tricky side problem with the Clock: Where can we put it? (Recorded February 2004 in Monterey, California. Duration: 23:23.)

Watch Stewart Brand's talk about the Clock of the Long Now on TED.com, where you can download this TEDTalk, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 300+ TEDTalks -- including more talks about the future.

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Subscribe to the TEDTalks video podcast via RSS >>
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Web 2.0 What’s next?

jen — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:36:31 -0800

The Future of Learning: Ten Years On

gsiemens — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 16:10:53 -0800

Stephen Downes has written an important paper: The Future of Learning: Ten Years On. I need to spend more time reviewing the specifics of future learning, but after an initial read, Stephen has created a valuable document that should serve as a discussion piece for detailing the direction of our field. I suspect this document will be prominent in this week’s CCK08 dicussion on systemic change in education. I’d recommend Stephen arrange a few elluminate sessions in the near future to flesh out his predictions and engage with the online community for feedback (I’d like to see an exploration of data visualization and sensemaking techniques).

Google and video conferencing?

gsiemens — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:26:57 -0800

While it’s not video conferencing, Google has added video functionality to Gmail. Many tools (notably skype) already offer similar (but superior) functionality. I’m interested in where Google will go with this. It would be exciting to have video conferencing options available for educators who are already using Google Docs, gmail, and other services.