A simple but powerful story about Zack Matere from Kenya who uses the internet to disseminate knowledge throughout his community via a simple wooden noticeboard. The democratization of knowledge is changing everything, but I like to reflect sometimes on the simple yet radical impact this is having on poorer developed countries. I’m left inspired by his closing remarks:
“So many people have access to information but there is no follow up to that. I think that follow up is knowledge. So many people have access to information but it is how we use it that will define us.”
When I heard Tony Fadell – the chief visionary behind the iPod- was working on a new project I was justifiably excited. When I heard he was working on a thermostat – my excitement grew even further.
Tony has produced a complete product – beautiful industrial design, software layer, web access, mobile integration and artificial learning (sort of). This is a space which is rife for innovation. The inefficiencies that result from incorrectly configured thermostats compound into huge costs – both financially and environmentally.
Today I’m launching a new blog called StrategyVein.com. It became clear that the scope of ThinkVein was fragmenting between an appreciation of creativity and a deep interest in business strategy and technology. For this reason, I will use StrategyVein to focus solely on business strategy and it’s application to industries of interest.
To begin, I’m publishing two articles on platform strategy entitled ‘Dynamics of Standards Wars‘ and ‘Platform leadership strategies‘. You can expect future articles to include ‘Market entry via intermediation’, ‘Open source strategy’ and ‘Social drivers within open source communities’.
A side purpose of the blog is to incentivize myself to read more and to synthesize my cognitive ideas into written and articulated thoughts. As always, I’m super keen to engage in discussion with others and learn of new perspectives – so do jump into the comments section over on StrategyVein.
If you haven’t come across Stebs form Paper Fortress yet, you have got to check out some of his amazing work. He works with some really creative people and aims to capture nuances of their passion and skill through video. The above video is a reflection of the past year and a half of work – taking footage from multiple projects culminating in a single message.
A beautifully captured and edited interview with Josh Vogel – a wood craftsman with a deep and insightful appreciation of wood. His perspective extends beyond beauty and reflection of time gone by – through a connection of absolute commitment and care.
It is the ultimate achievement to have found your passion and worked on it throughout your life – I believe it is the greatest challenge. Everything else will follow.
Lego’s recent advertising campaign called “Word Puzzle” is playfully elegant but touches on something I feel quite strongly about. I subscribe to the belief that our experiences shape how our brains develop. The classic nature vs nurture debate – on a fundamental level there is a large component of nurture that develops personality and reason.
It is for that very reason that I believe the youth of today are wired different than our grand parents. This is not to say we are smarter or more stupid – just that the cognitive reasoning, multi-taking and decision making engine in our head works differently.
Lets take an extreme example of my grand parents and a young teenager growing up. My grandfather is in his late 80s and walked to school everyday. He recounts history class as being so exciting because the teacher would tell drum beating stories of war and conflict. TV of course was not on offer. Teenagers of today expect engagement on a level of magnitude higher than that of what my grandfather would have experienced. TV, Internet, Gaming and Mobile Communications define entertainment inputs for this generation. And I believe the difference is causing a fundamental rewiring of their brains – opinions that are shared by Tapscott and Carr amongst others.
But I thought the above campaign cleverly touched on the topic of lateral thinking and perspective. Upon looking at the graphic I’m reminded of the simple and basic nature of word puzzles – but I’m bothered by my inability to identify other additional “lego groups”. Perhaps I’m out of practice? Am I the only one who can’t see it? It leaves me an awareness of the value children derived from Lego and how quickly we’ve left it behind for 3D games and touch screen phones.
Shortly after the Fukushima disaster an opening came up in work to travel to the Google office in Tokyo for 3 months. Although I would absolutely love to visit Tokyo and it was 100km+ away from the disaster – nuclear radiation scares the hell out of me.
This video by Yukihiro Shoda flirts between a fictional environment and a very real reality. The constant denial of the Japanese government about the level of radiation leaked does nothing to inspire confidence in their honesty. Nor the delays and refusal to force people to move outside the declared unsafe zone. Such decisions will be carried forward for generations.
However, out of disaster came some of the most humbling stories. In particular, the selfless sacrifice of the elderly people who offered to help clean up the nuclear waste around Fukushima provided a chilling reflection of our own priorities and values. Their reasoning was that cancer may take 10 to 15 years to develop – at which point they may already be dead.
Designed by London based and award winning designer, Genis Carreras – Philographics attempts to explain complex philosophical concepts using minimal shapes and colours. They’re available to be purchased on society6.com for $20 a piece.
This is your life. Do what you love, and do it often. If you don’t like something, change it. If you don’t like your job, quit. If you don’t have enough time, stop watching TV. If you are looking for the love of your life, stop, they will be waiting for you when you start doing things you love. Stop over analyzing, life is simple. All emotions are beautiful. When you eat, appreciate every last bite. Open your mind, arms and heart to new things and people, we are united in our differences. Ask the next person you see what their passion is, and share your inspiring dream with them. Travel often; getting lost will help you find yourself. Some opportunities only come once, seize them. Life is about the people you meet, and the things you create with them. So go out and start creating. Life is short. Live your dream and share your passion.
As was covered previously by thinkvein contributor, Paddy Walsh, Sal Khan has made an enormous contribution to the education space in the form of educational YouTube videos. Sal has since made significant progress in this space by creating a educational platform for students, teachers, parents and tutors to consume information, monitor their pupils and engage with other pupils around the world. Essentially, Sal wants to create a global education platform.
In moving to a self paced eLearning model, interesting dynamics occur. Teachers have begun turning the traditional learning model on it’s head, assigning students Khan lessons at night and using class room time to work on homework. This simple adjustment has enabled teachers to create a more interactive and engaging class room experience. By working on homework during class room hours, stronger students are now empowered to assist weaker students – further adding to class room dynamics through peer monitorship.
The Khan Academy learning platform is also providing schools with highly granular business intelligence on their students. This data enables the teacher to proactively reach out to students who are struggling or assign a peer to mentor the student through a particular learning module. As Sir Ken Robinson said, ‘collaboration is the stuff of learning’ and I truly believe the learning experience is amplified for all parties involved. You can be confident you have a firm grasp of a topic when you can explain it to a struggling peer.
What I’m most excited by is the enormous opportunity this presents for developing countries. Not only will students be able to avail or high value free learning resources, but will have the opportunity to engage with other students in nearby villages or in far away countries. Furthermore, the traditional custom of sending a child to school for the entire day may not be practical for children who live far from school or who may need to assist their parents working during the day. The Khan Academy model will enable educational institutions to break down the traditional structure of learning and innovate training programs to cater to their needs.
