Work & Technology
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Poor countries have access to world markets, off-the-shelf technologies developed by others, and rich countries’ savings. So in principle, they should develop rapidly – more rapidly than advanced economies, which are already at the technological frontier.
Manufacturing is special
Artificial intelligence: Difference Engine: Luddite legacy
AN APOCRYPHAL tale is told about Henry Ford II showing Walter Reuther, the veteran leader of the United Automobile Workers, around a newly automated car plant. “Walter, how are you going to get those robots to pay your union dues,” gibed the boss of Ford Motor Company. Without skipping a beat, Reuther replied, “Henry, how are you going to get them to buy your cars?” Whether the exchange was true or not is irrelevant.
A common characteristic of Next generation organisations ( as opposed to traditional ) is their focus on ecosystems and the provision of platforms to support their growth. The purpose of such ecosystems is not simply some form of marketing exercise but instead a mechanism for managing the innovation paradox ( i.e. the need to be efficient to compete today but also to be creative in order to compete tomorrow ). Consider the provision through an online API of a software system whether it’s SalesForce, Amazon’s AWS or PayPal’s x.commerce platform. These services are core utilities that the organisation is providing with the express aim of others consuming i.e. an ecosystem of consumers developing around the service. The consumption of the service may represent general use or even novel and more creative uses e.g. the early provision of big data Hadoop systems on AWS.
Bits or pieces?: Ecosystem & Porter
An introductory series on “peer to peer” urbanism (bio-urbanism)
I’ve asked Øyvind Holmstad to introduce a new series of essays on bio-urbanism which are appearing in Metropolis magazine. They are all to be found here . And Øyvind Holmstad’s introduction is here . The essays in chronological order: * The Radical Technology of Christopher Alexander * The Sustainable Technology of Christopher Alexander * The Pattern Technology of Christopher Alexander * The Living Technology of Christopher Alexander * The “Wholeness-Generating” Technology of Christopher Alexander Introduction by Øyvind Holmstad:
Many changes have taken place in the financial sector over the last couple of decades.
The myth of financial innovation and the Great Moderation
The maker movement's potential for education, jobs and innovation is growing
<img src="http://s.radar.oreilly.com/2011/11/04/1111-dale-dougherty-white-house.jpg" border="0" alt="Dale Dougherty" style="float: right; margin: 3px 0 10px 10px;" /> Dale Dougherty ( @dalepd ), one of the co-founders of O’Reilly Media, was honored at the White House yesterday as a “ Champion of Change .” This White House initiative profiles Americans who are helping their fellow citizens “meet the challenges of the 21st century.” The recognition came as part of what the White House is calling “Make it in America,” which convenes people from around the country to discuss American manufacturing and jobs.
Innovation, education and Makers
On the Monday following Maker Faire New York , the National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored a workshop titled “Innovation, Education and the Maker Movement.” It was organized by Margaret Honey of the New York Hall of Science , Thomas Kalil of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy , and myself. I asked Tom if we could publish his talk, which opened the workshop. New York Hall of Science, September 29, 2010
Three game characteristics that can be applied to education
In a related post , I talked about what the notion of gamification as applied to education might mean on three levels. In particular, I described the lessons that might be learned by the field of education from the different types of gaming encountered in World of Warcraft and Minecraft — two very different online multiplayer games. In this post, I look at the technology roadmap that can support these three levels of application in real schools. Level 1: Leveling up and questing The first level is one where leveling, questing, and leaderboards can help motivate students to engage more with their schoolwork. Like a gamer who chooses his or her own path and pace to “level up,” a student will choose his or her own path and pace to learn a standard curriculum and be able to prove advancement to that next level through performance on tests.Chart: One Year of Prison Costs More Than One Year at Princeton - Brian Resnick - National
One year at Princeton University: $37,000. One year at a New Jersey state prison: $44,000. Prison and college "are the two most divergent paths one can take in life," Joseph Staten, an info-graphic researcher with Public Administration , says. Whereas one is a positive experience that increases lifetime earning potential, the other is a near dead end, which is why Staten found it striking that the lion's share of government funding goes toward incarceration. The comparison between higher education spending and correction spending highlighted in the following chart is not perfect.
Home is where not only the heart is these days — but also the elderly parents, the boomerang kids and the aging-in-place Boomer homeowners. To accommodate the new generations-stacked-upon-generations lifestyle spawned by one of the most severe economic downturns in decades, builder Lennar Corp. on Saturday will unveil a house with something few others on the block can boast about: another house. The company has built two San Bernardino County models of its so-called NextGen designs for its master-planned Rosena Ranch community.
