For Aging 2.0 - thoughts on the movie Battleship and what the military can teach us about ageism.
Again, business and critical thinking collide!
Monday evening I had the honor of granting two people the authority to be addressed as Doctor. I have sat on 10 or so dissertation defense committees for the European Graduate School, and each one is fascinating and inspiring. Monday’s was no different. Congratulations to new PhDs Lorella Di Cintio and Micah White!
White’s dissertation particularly stayed with me. (Now) Dr. White, Senior Editor at Ad Busters Magazine, and one of the founders of the Occupy Wall Street movement, chose the topic of information distribution and the future of the library . Among his poignant observations was one in which he categorizes information into the types: the one that we search for (i.e. libraries, Google) and the kind that is pushed at us (Twitter, mobile) got my attention.
“Push and Pull” marketing strategies, “inbound” and “outbound” type buzzwords, etc., etc. whizzed through my head as he spoke, and I had flashbacks to the past week’s activities of research where I was swimming in the teen Twitter stream. This onslaught of fragmented information and real time expression becoming part of the record of humanity was something that I was trying not to dwell on all week long in the business world, but was now sitting right in front of me. Are we what we tweet? Is what we pick and choose to absorb in the info stream what shapes our understanding of culture?
It is no surprise in this ocean of information that aggregators, collectors, and curators are fast emerging right on trend, but in the face of “push information” what has happened to the librarian? I could no longer contain myself…
“Is this the death of the librarian?” I asked Micah. And right on cue, Prof. Dr. Fredrich Ulfers piped in referencing Roland Bathes’ Death of the Author. Eventually Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schirmacher brought out a dialog from Heidegger on searching. And so the conversation continued in good theoretical form, concluding somewhere nearer to cultural authenticity but with more questions than answers and with all of us hungry. We congratulated the new PhD and went to eat.
An idea is not a design,
but it is an invitation to a journey.A design is not a prototype,
but it is a plan for moving forward.A prototype is not a program,
but it is a test for your assumptions.A program is not a product,
but it is a milestone towards progress.A product is not a…
Piece at Salon Zucher by @dshpungin - the Mother Theresa of the art world (and they share a birthday) (Taken with instagram)
Happy President’s Day!
Jasper Johns, White Flag
1955, Image in the collection of the artist.
In keeping with the eccentric OpenInvo spirit, we have decided to celebrate President’s Day. Instead of hustling out shopping to take advantage of the sales that are most commonly associated with this US holiday, we are revisiting some ideas of the former presidents.
At the top of our list is George Washington, since it’s his birthday that the holiday was first created to honor. Washington, a visionary leader, knew that the biggest part of great leadership is in empowering others around you. He saw the value of the ideas of others and came up with the concept of the Presidential Cabinet.
Abraham Lincoln, the other US President whose birthday is celebrated on this holiday, is best know for his ideas about equality. And his actions around these ideas had a tremendous influence on the future of world. Lincoln himself was skeptical that there would ever be racial equality, but he held fast to his convictions. It was 200 years after his birth that the US elected an African American president into office.
On this President’s Day, we’ve been thinking of these visionaries. Ideas to aspire to indeed.
We may not all be in presidential positions, or have ideas to change the world in such monumental ways, but we are not without power. We create the world with the choices we make.
One thing that’s been floating around the office here these days, is the thought that the “social value” of an idea is something that we often forget when it comes to consumer product innovation. The following question spontaneously popped out in conversation just the other day, “if you produce that thing, and it exists, is that the world you want to live in?”
(this post is reblogged from the Invo - www.theinvo.com)
Top five regrets of the dying
- I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
- I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
- I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
- I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
- I wish that I had let myself be happier.
Also, read The Life Reports.
Granny Canal Street Acid Test
By the time a product gets to the vendors on Canal Street in NYC, you can be sure there’s a proven market for it. The knock-off bag and perfume and gift makers don’t go into production without a big demand. It’s safe to say that anything that appears for sale in the shops known for cheap imitations is ”on trend,” but I might even be able to say that it’s about to be last year’s trend. That’s why I was surprised to see the latest in onesie fashion. Boldly printed on new babe’s belly was the following, “Don’t You Wish Your Grandma Was Hot Like Mine?”
Riffing on the 2005 Pussycat Dolls hit Don’t Cha, this gift item makes us think twice about the attractiveness of grandmothers…. read more on the Aging 2.0 blog
http://aging2.com/2012/01/25/granny-canal-street-acid-test/
