What will change the world? Welcome to the hive mind of Twitter.

One of the things I love about Twitter is the way it enables serendipity on a grand scale.  Recently, I can’t remember how, I ran across @blogbrevity (a.k.a Angela Dunn) whose Twitter feed resonated with me and we followed each other. On June 9th she invited me to join #Ideachat – Twitter Chat & Salon for Twitter Thinkers About “Ideas”. The topic for discussion was … Continue reading What will change the world? Welcome to the hive mind of Twitter.

Connectedness – it’s not just a technology thing, it’s a people thing

For many years now my friends, colleagues and I have been talking and thinking about the hyperconnections made available to us by the growth of the internet, telecommunications devices and networks, and social platforms. For a good background on it check out Mark Pesce and Ross Dawson. But I think that we have reached a state in our evolution as human where the practices of … Continue reading Connectedness – it’s not just a technology thing, it’s a people thing

The growth of the recommendation economy

Seth Godin wrote about the the attention economy. But it seems to me that we are also seeing the evolution of an online social recommendation economy. When we all lived in villages there was a strong recommendation economy, and it was fuelled by the fact that everyone knew each other and their reputation. Word of mouth drove choices about which business to patronise and which … Continue reading The growth of the recommendation economy

2012: Not the end of the world, but perhaps the end of the world as we know it

As we come up to the year 2012 many prognosticators are predicting the end of the world. I suspect that this will not come to pass. But I do think that we are seeing the end of the world as we’ve come to know it during the latter years of the twentieth century and the early years of the twenty-first century. Many of the verities … Continue reading 2012: Not the end of the world, but perhaps the end of the world as we know it

Riots, desire, consumerism, community and values.

Want is a funny word. It can mean different things, such as: “absence or deficiency of something desirable or requisite” or “to be lacking or absent, as a part or thing necessary to completeness”, or “to feel a need or a desire for; wish for”, or “to wish, need, crave, demand, or desire” (Source Dictionary.com) The scenes in the UK of rioters and looting were … Continue reading Riots, desire, consumerism, community and values.

Inspired and delighted with people’s willingness to work for positive change #sibsyd

I’m exhausted after a busy weekend and totally inspired by the people I just spent the weekend with! We held the first Social Innovation Sydney Startup Camp this weekend. It was great to see so many people willing to work together in an open and collaborative way on developing social innovation projects. It really inspires me with hope for the future of our world to … Continue reading Inspired and delighted with people’s willingness to work for positive change #sibsyd

A lucky country indeed …

Even though it was once said ironically, it has always seemed to me that Australia really is the lucky country. Our national anthem, Advance Australia Fair, sums it up: We’ve golden soil and wealth for toil… Our land abounds in nature’s gifts… We’ve boundless plains to share… In recent times the troubles of far off places like Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and others have … Continue reading A lucky country indeed …

Sometimes a tweet is not enough

In the olden days when I was very young it was the custom, upon receipt of a kindness from someone, to write them a thank-you note. This note took the form of a missive, hand-written, on personal stationery or a note card. The note was then taken to the post office and sent via that which we now call snail-mail. Someone did me a kindness … Continue reading Sometimes a tweet is not enough