tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53394216056936192052024-02-18T19:54:26.811-08:00failure is impossibleAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.comBlogger77125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-80030302890668624882013-02-17T16:50:00.002-08:002013-05-13T10:14:39.310-07:00New Website - MakeBetterStuff.orgAs I begin a new project, I'm phasing out this blog and starting a new one. Come check out <span style="color: purple;"><b><a href="http://makebetterstuff.org/">Make Better Stuff</a> </b></span>and continue the conversation.<br />
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My best, Xanthe<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-22842398373415669042012-12-24T10:03:00.002-08:002012-12-24T10:03:57.105-08:00Toys toys toys<iframe width="400" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5SH1j1luFOw?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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I'm developing a new project called Make Better Stuff, a series of toy-making workshops in which students design and build their own toys while learning social skills like teamwork, user interaction, and empathy. I've been thinking a lot about toys--about who designs them, who builds them (not elves), who plays with them, and how the design of a toy affects people in different ways. <br />
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Toys are designed by grown ups. Many of these designers work for firms who aim for high sales and low production costs. Then there are those who assemble toys, often foreign laborers who’ve moved away from their families to make money to send home, who might take a few night classes to try to move up in their careers. Then there are the recipients of these toys: kids who play with them. Different types of toys encourage different types of play. <br />
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A ball for example encourages a shared experience. It can be a competitive experience as in basketball, in which the goal of each player is to score for their own team and prevent the other team from scoring. Or it can be a collaborative experience, as in a game of catch, in which both parties want to toss the ball back and forth just because it feels good--that experience sounds and smells good too. <br />
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There are toys that encourage strict adhesion to the rules, such as a coloring book. And there are toys that encourage exploration and creativity, such as legos. (Even though they are marketed and sold in kits, they still end up in one big bin that kids make all kinds of fabulous creations with.) <br />
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But you know what there aren’t enough of? Toys designed by kids. So I look forward to exploring toy-design with kids. I’d like to know what they think about toys: the relationships that toys promote and how kids might create toys that make their own lives better. Sounds like fun, right?<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-4487905740363320312012-11-14T09:27:00.000-08:002012-11-15T10:46:52.039-08:00Almost Perfect<br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.121019565500319" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.121019565500319" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I embark on a new laser cutting project, I’m diving deep into patterns, tessellations, and polyhedrons. These are patterns of perfection, one unit exactly like the next. But the deeper I go into this research, the more I’m drawn to the theme of “almost perfect.” It’s popping up everywhere. In nature there is pattern and variation like in kernels on an ear of corn or in leaves on a branch. They’re all the same, but they are slightly different from one another. And in music there is the concept of “theme and variation.” The theme is the perfect and variation the imperfect. Alone they are flat little pieces but, paired, theme and variation create something rich, complex, and whole. </span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.121019565500319" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Christopher Alexander’s 1977 book, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Pattern Language,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is filled with imperfect patterns that help us to design better buildings, towns, and cities. “Something Roughly in the Middle” is a pattern from that book. The pattern doesn’t discard symmetry but asks us to play with it a bit. When designing a courtyard, he says, place a sculpture or a fountain roughly in the middle. Resist the urge to place it dead center. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like I said, this theme is everywhere. I even heard super-model Tyra Banks tell one of her contestants on </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">America’s Next Top Model,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> ‘You want your photos to be perfect, but not quite perfect. Because that’s what makes a great photo, when something is slightly off.’</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So thank you, universe, for pointing out the almost perfect. And let me ask you dear readers, what are your favorite examples of “almost perfect”?</span></span></b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-74918411804716480732012-10-03T04:08:00.002-07:002012-11-15T06:15:20.662-08:00Repost: Interview with Red Hat designer, Mo Duffy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkL004LbqDXKae15vWVrLQ6Z05H1Bkjvlatqt1ARt52k8I1bBtfdj0oAWtdoBxrH0-Y_3JfqGf0O6qifAksJVxL-KuvzebRrF-1cR9WF_EgL7GrXPRTIzr-dABWVw2R5tSZhFoOrkw/s1600/mo_train.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkL004LbqDXKae15vWVrLQ6Z05H1Bkjvlatqt1ARt52k8I1bBtfdj0oAWtdoBxrH0-Y_3JfqGf0O6qifAksJVxL-KuvzebRrF-1cR9WF_EgL7GrXPRTIzr-dABWVw2R5tSZhFoOrkw/s400/mo_train.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://blog.linuxgrrl.com/" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Mo Duffy</a> is a senior interaction designer at Red Hat, a billion dollar company that is the world's leading open source and Linux provider. I met Mo this past spring when we spoke on a panel at SxSW. I was struck by her insights into her profession and how those insights relate to all design professions. Not only does she get into the nitty gritty of the politics of the workplace and the realities of usability testing, but she is a passionate advocate for open source and the democratization of design.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">To read the interview, follow this link to industrial design super site <a href="http://www.core77.com/blog/articles/exclusive_interview_with_mo_duffy_red_hat_ixdesigner_23301.asp" target="_blank">Core77</a>.</span></span><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-15713188418203065892012-09-13T04:25:00.000-07:002012-11-15T06:15:51.211-08:00Cheese, Entrepreneurship, and 3D Printing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've gotten pretty good at making cheese over the past month which makes me (and my friends) happy. I've been making bread and more recently gnocchi and I'm experimenting with alternatives to wheat for that. But really, the most exciting thing for me at the moment is that I'll be at the <i>Finger Lakes Social Entrepreneurship Institute</i> this weekend where we will use the Board of Innovation's "Business Model Canvas" to develop ideas for new businesses. I aim to explore a business based on managing volunteers or on collaborative consumption (sharing stuff). And then next week I'm speaking at the <i>Design for Manufacturing Summit</i> in NYC on how I've used rapid prototyping in the classroom. So yes, it's cheese, entrepreneurship, and 3D printing for me this month and I couldn't be happier.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-73328083206548014232012-07-29T07:10:00.000-07:002012-11-15T06:17:09.741-08:00What can you teach in an hour?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9566729567013681" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yesterday my husband and I went to a cheese-making workshop at the first Fingerlakes Cheese Festival. Our teacher, Tom Pinello, did a fantastic job demystifying the cheese-making process. His delivery was calm and casual yet thorough. And he was open to questions throughout the workshop--we had many. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The most striking thing about this workshop was that it began with a room full of folks with little-to-no-knowledge of cheese-making and yet, 40 minutes later, we had made a ball of mozzarella cheese together. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This got me on a stream of thought about what </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">could teach other people to do in an hour. I could teach people how to run effective brainstorming sessions, how to analyze the sustainability of a product, how to use the elements of graphic design, or how to grill perfect pork chops. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then I wondered what the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">people I know</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> could teach other people to do in an hour. I have friends who could teach people how to use a sewing machine, how to conduct an interview, how to design a paper-based game, and how to grow garlic. I have friends who could teach people how to use commas, how to write poems, how to self-publish books, and how to edit video. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then I started to think of creating a collection of one hour lessons. I'm aware of Freeskool and Ignite Talks and BarCamp and Khan Academy. I'm not sure if this project is different and I don't know if it has to be.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But here's the first step--what could you teach a small group of people to do in one hour?</span></span></b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-25823570475144876612012-06-22T04:47:00.000-07:002012-11-15T06:16:27.809-08:00Black, White, and Walnut<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just a short post from the road -</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We visited the Edward Gorey House in Yarmouth, MA yesterday. It was a small, unassuming home with Gorey-like scenes staged throughout: paper bats on the bathroom mirror, a fallen doll on the stairway, a miniature deathbed next to the telephone, and a big ole bear sitting on the sofa. White surfaces and antique walnut furniture provided the perfect "ground" for the black & white "figures" throughout.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-77046336279239913712012-05-23T15:02:00.000-07:002012-11-15T06:17:46.187-08:00Some Things Change<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A lot of changes on the immediate horizon. A change in career, a change in location. I'm excited and I'm scared.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Luckily, however, my friends and family haven't changed. I can count on them for love and support and these past 24 hours I've felt extreme gratitude for their love.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll write with more detail after the first of the month when I'll be doing a bit of traveling, visiting my people, and some camping, crafting, and music making (my "new" accordion pictured above). To the future! May we all be happy and healthy. May we love and be loved.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-73107394178165004482012-04-22T03:58:00.001-07:002012-11-15T06:18:23.687-08:00This earth day, forget about future generations<br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3599205643404275" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3599205643404275" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3599205643404275" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One credo of the environmental movement is “protect the earth for future generations.” This sentiment comes from the Iroquois who, in their wisdom, thought about the future consequences of decisions that they made in the present. This is a lovely idea, but we need to do more. </span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3599205643404275" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We need to think about the real time consequences of our decisions. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If we really want to love the earth, we need to love the people on it. All of them. And we need to do more than buy low impact dish soap or hemp clothing for our own families to help them out. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Almost half of the people in the world live on less than $2 a day. That’s $730 a year. I can’t even imagine what that is like. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And that unimaginable feeling is why we in the west focus on eco-friendly chairs and lamps and other such distractions that lead us to believe we love the earth. Because thinking about so many people living on $730 a year is overwhelming, and heartbreaking. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What to do about it? There’s a lot of debate around this issue. Some give charity, some critique charity. Some buy free trade, others critique it. Some invest in micro-loans to create jobs for the poor, others critique the work that micro-loans create. It’s hard to help a sister out in the 21st century.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All I can offer is this - search deep in your soul and find a way that you can help people that is meaningful to you and meaningful to the person you are helping. How do you know if it’s meaningful to them? Ask. In this age of communication technology, there has got to be a way to reach out even if through a telegraph. Talk to people. And love. That’s what we need here on earth. If we do more to care about the people living on earth now, then we enable more people to care for future generations. </span></span></b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-38034379624789819012012-03-25T07:26:00.001-07:002012-03-25T07:27:21.183-07:00Repost: Are leaders born or made?<br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They are made.</span></b></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MY MOTIVATION</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve made it my mission to teach creativity to students from academic disciplines that aren’t traditionally described as creative disciplines. On the first day of each new quarter, I ask the new students, “Who in this room is creative?” Rarely do more than half of the students raise their hands. I tell them that those who didn’t raise their hands are wrong and that all of them, in fact, have the potential to be creative. I tell them that throughout the next ten weeks, I will prove this to them.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There have been many definitions of creativity throughout history, but the one I use is probably most aligned with a post-modern sensibility: “the ability to frame and view problems from multiple perspectives simultaneously.” It requires the ability to empathize with people who aren’t like ourselves and it requires agility in order to shift from one perspective to another. I teach creativity outside of the art and design college because I believe that creativity is a necessary leadership skill for the 21st century and it shouldn’t be the sole property of artists. And because this is my mission, I must believe that people can not only be taught to be creative, but be taught to lead.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">THE ‘GREAT LEADER’ MYTH</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is no denying that some people display a seemingly “natural” ability for leadership. Some people seem to “breathe” qualities like confidence, assertiveness, and gregariousness, qualities we normally associate with leaders. However, it’s difficult to prove that by the time a person shows “natural” leadership potential as early as age two to four, that they have not already been nurtured to develop leadership qualities. Of course, some leaders are born in to positions of power, like George W., but that’s another issue entirely.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But more important than whether or not we can prove if leaders are born, I worry about the message that is implied by the notion that leaders are born, especially to folks who don’t yet consider themselves leaders. I fear that that stance sends a message that “you’re either born with leadership skills or you are not - it can’t be learned,” thus perpetuating the myth by discouraging less natural leaders from even trying to lead. I believe almost any person who wants to be a leader can learn how to with enough practice.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PRACTICE</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many artists ironically interpret the praise “you are so talented” as an insult, because they feel that, relative to effort and hard work, talent has little to do with the quality of their art. Artists become great at what they do as a result of working hard at their craft, and often with no guarantee of a monetary reward. I extend this “hard work with no guarantee” mindset of artists to leaders who work hard with no guarantee of success. Great leaders, like great artists, have grand visions about seemingly “impossible” things. Then they roll up their sleeves and work hard to try to make their dreams come true.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But unlike an artist who is afforded the option of working alone, a leader cannot lead without followers. And for this reason, being a great leader is perhaps more difficult than being a great artist because it requires cooperation from other people. And since creativity is a skill that helps people lead, it frustrates me when my business students, especially management students, tell me that they aren’t creative.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">THE UNLIKELY LEADER</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m very interested in something I call “The Unlikely Leader” and will probably pursue this theme throughout the quarter, as opportunities allow. As I argue above, we often associate qualities like confidence, assertiveness, and gregariousness with the qualities necessary to be a great leader. But I’ve found throughout my teaching that it is often the more quiet and shy students that have the greatest capacity to think and reflect and thus they have much richer ideas than their more outgoing classmates. But since their outgoing classmates have more aggressive communication skills than they do, it is they, the outgoing students, whose ideas are more often implemented. This privileging of the ideas of a certain personality type is a problem. And I would guess that it’s not only a problem in college classrooms, but also in the world at large. Often, bullies rule.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One approach to solving this problem is to teach quiet students to be more aggressive. In an controversial blog post from media scholar Clay Shirky, entitled “A Rant About Women,” Shirky proposes that his female students, whom he says tend to be shy, could be more successful if only they would be more arrogant. Certainly an assumed arrogance is one approach. It’s not uncommon to hear a successful leader say that they are at heart introverted but have trained themselves to be outgoing and, at least in appearance, confident when the situation calls for it. This is certainly one method for teaching people to be leaders.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But I’m skeptical of this approach. I fear that it may diminish some of the reflective qualities that unlikely leaders have to offer. So I’m in search of another approach to teaching leadership to more quiet, thoughtful, and reflective people. If we can find the right tools to teach leadership to a broader range of personality types, to not only prop up leaders who exhibit seemingly natural abilities for one type of leadership, then we may be able to “make” more leaders who are thoughtful, reflective, and capable of deep, integrative thinking and problem-solving. Looking at the world around us and the problems we face, I think this latter type of leader is the one we really need to learn how to nurture. </span></b></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>This essay was originally written for Mary-Beth Cooper's course: "Power, Influence, and Negotiation"</i></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></b></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-63852246762905127092012-03-10T19:22:00.010-08:002012-03-11T08:39:55.035-07:00Simple steps for encouraging participation<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6Y43wVqrckA" width="420"></iframe><br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.24258690746501088" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>NOTE: If you are able to read and listen to music at the same time -- I cannot -- then I suggest playing this video while you read. The music is quite good.</i></span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We gave our SxSW panel on women in open source today. It was fun. I’ve really enjoyed talking with Red Hat designer, </span><a href="http://blog.linuxgrrl.com/category/women-in-technology/" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mo Duffy</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, these past few days and <a href="http://www.rit.edu/cla/communication/faculty.php?user=aahgpt" target="_blank">Andrea Hickerson</a> is always a pleasure to work with. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our panel was about encouraging women to participate in open source and open collaboration projects. By ‘open collaboration’ I mean any project that isn’t directly regulated by the market or government but instead relies on a group of self-organized volunteers. <a href="http://benkler.org/" target="_blank">Yochai Benkler</a> writes about this at a very high level, but I’m looking for something a little simpler. Also I’m not as interested in how the work is arranged, which is what Benkler articulates well, but how the entry experience for a newbie is designed.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">During the discussion, I think we all agreed that when a host of an open source or open collaboration project extends an invitation for newbies to join, that invitation isn’t enough to encourage a diverse group of people to participate. We articulated that problem well, I think, and the audience nodded their heads in agreement. But solutions are hard to come by. Several audience members scratched their heads and asked, “Why is this still an issue?” To which I humbly replied, “I don’t know. That’s what I’m here to find out.” (I know panelists aren’t supposed to say that, but I’m on a “show your </span><a href="http://www.brenebrown.com/" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">vulnerability</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” kick these days. But that’s another story).</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One answer I thought of during the panel comes from what I'm learning in my grad strategy course. In strategy, we learn that it’s common for an organization to articulate a grand vision yet not clarify an execution plan to achieve that vision. “Why is that so common?” you may ask. Again, I don’t know but I suspect it’s because executing a vision is freaking hard to do. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So in trying to figure out how to add some walk to our talk, how to offer some actionable steps toward getting closer to the vision of more women participating in open collaboration, I called on my first love, music. In music, we engage in something called “Call and response.” The caller can be thought of, in this instance, as the host of a collaborative project. And the responders are potential participants. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here are the steps for engaging people in a “call and response” collaboration. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. Offer them an invitation to collaborate (good start, but not enough)</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. Show them how to participate (sing a simple line of a song)</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. Practice the line with them (until they feel comfortable)</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4. Take a leap of faith together and sing the song</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, I know the skeptics out there have been burned by engaging in a process like this. More than once I’ve heard a host of a project say, “I spent 10 hours training that person and they just abandoned the project.” This is a valid concern. That’s why it’s so important to find an easy task for the newbie to learn that won’t take too much of your time. Now, the other skeptics are saying, “Well, if I spend that much time with a newbie, won’t I just be training them to depend on me to lead them? That’s not what open source is about.” This too is a valid concern. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To come back to music, a newbie starts off with an instructor, but eventually learns how to play on her own. She may even outgrow her instructor and will have to find a new one that is more challenging. Finally, she goes on to perform solo and in ensembles and may even become an instructor herself. This is how you scale participation in open collaborative projects. Extend an invitation to a newbie; model for them how to participate; practice with the newbie until she feels comfortable; then, most importantly, take a leap of faith together and sing that song. And when you get really good at this process, you may end up as good as Miles.</span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.24258690746501088" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.24258690746501088" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">video via </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4LlKG035Eg" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chris Azzara</span></a></b></span></b></div>
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</span></b></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-35154260395390536522012-02-26T09:54:00.010-08:002012-02-27T15:19:14.924-08:00Synthesizing Design-thinking and Sustainability<br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3757574453484267" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3757574453484267" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3757574453484267" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve long been </span><a href="http://www.core77.com/reactor/11.06_enlightened.asp" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">interested</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in the similarities and differences of two venn diagrams used in analyzing products, services, and systems. One diagram is used to visualize innovation values and the other is used to visualize sustainability values. </span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3757574453484267"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Innovation Diagram</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first--the innovation venn diagram--holds that when we develop new products, services, or systems, there is a sweet spot at the overlap of the three perspectives of Design, Business, and Technology (1). The Design perspective is defined as a customer perspective or a human-centered perspective; the Business perspective is defined by the ability of the market to support a new product, service or system; and the Technology perspective is defined by the feasibility of technical function, that is, can we build a new product, service, or system that won’t break when we use it? </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Sustainability Diagram</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The other venn diagram, visualizing sustainability values--is comprised of what is referred to as the “triple bottom line.” This trio isn’t always expressed as a venn*, but humor me for a minute. The three circles in this </span><a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=triple+bottom+line&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=imvnsb&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=m2FKT4T-MMj40gG8m4y7Bw&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CCEQ_AUoAQ&biw=1332&bih=727" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">diagram</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> consist of the following criteria: People, Planet, and Profit. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Synthesizing “Design” (from the Innovation Diagram) and “People” (from Sustainability Diagram)</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s easy to synthesize the Design circle from the Innovation diagram and the People circle from the Sustainability diagram: the Design circle is made of customers and the people circle includes customers but also includes anyone affected by a new product, service, or system. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b><br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3757574453484267"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.3825561257544905" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Synthesizing “Business” (from the Innovation Diagram) and “Profit,” (from the Sustainability Diagram)</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s easy to synthesize the Business circle from the Innovation diagram and the Profit circle from the Sustainability diagram: the Business circle is made of a particular type of profit, one that maximizes shareholder wealth, and in a for-profit firm wealth is most often defined as monetary wealth, so making a lot of money is the goal. However, in a non-profit organization, the definition of wealth is broader. Certainly a non-profit needs to make more money than what it costs to operate the organization, but its shareholders are taxpayers who, in theory, define wealth-generation as delivering value to society. </span></b></b></div>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3757574453484267"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Synthesizing “Technology” (from the Innovation Diagram) and “Planet” (from the Sustainability Diagram)</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Technology circle on the Innovation diagram and the Planet circle in the Sustainability diagram are trickier to resolve. They seem too different to synthesize. But William McDounnough (2) offers a useful scheme. When he talks about products, services, and systems, he distinguishes between industrial systems and biological ones. He claims that as long as we can keep those systems separate, then we should be okay. So in my synthesized diagram, I’m resolving the Technology circle and the Planet circle with the term “Systems,” both man-made (technological) and natural. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The “Enlightened Innovation” <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ar3EBMXKTqeJdE1sOVByeFQ5MU5fUWJ4RWpVS0hkakE" target="_blank">diagram</a>: Culture, Value, & Systems</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So this is my “Enlightened Innovation” diagram. I claim that the sweet spot is where Culture, Value, and Systems meet. Culture (3) is defined by <a href="http://failure-is-impossible.blogspot.com/2010/10/beyond-consumer-centered-design.html" target="_blank">all people affected</a> by a new product, service, or system. Value is defined by economic viability, but also by other definitions of wealth, such as health or happiness. And Systems is defined by the functionality of technological and natural systems. Of course, all of this looks good on paper. If you’re in the trenches, you know how difficult it is to resolve these perspectives, to find the sweet spot. But no one said it would be easy.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-------------------</span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; white-space: pre-wrap;">* In a triple bottom line diagram, some argue that the people and profit circle lie within the planet circle. </span></span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(1) Tim Brown and Scott Berkun are great resources for this innovation diagram. </span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(2) William McDounnough’s </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cradle to Cradle </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is a great resource on navigating industrial and biological systems</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(3) AIGA put forth a quadruple bottom line that includes “culture” in addition to society, planet, and profit</span></b></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-18775070506209263292012-02-21T07:02:00.001-08:002012-02-23T18:17:51.572-08:00TEDx Talk: Make Better Stuff<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back in November I had the privilege of speaking at TEDx Rochester about the convergence of two of my favorite topics: social business and rapid prototyping. Here's the video with transcript below. Enjoy!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TRANSCRIPT</span><br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5640083595644683" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Hi, I’m a designer, and I want to talk to you about making better stuff. When designers make stuff, we don’t just make one thing; we make thousands of copies of it. Often these things are manufactured abroad, using poor labor practices under substandard environmental regulations. </i></span></span></b><br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5640083595644683" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then the stuff gets shipped to big box stores all around the world where we buy it cheap. To top it off, this stuff that we make and then buy isn’t even making us happy. Research shows that once we reach middle class status, the stuff we buy doesn’t add much to our happiness (Gilbert). There has got to be a better way. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a designer and a want-to-be anthropologist, I believe that objects & products--that STUFF--mediates human relationships in both negative and positive ways. So when I say MAKE BETTER STUFF I mean stuff that strengthens our relationships with people in our communities and stuff that creates local jobs. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s NOT easy to do. But it IS getting easier. So I want to point out to you two encouraging trends. One is about meaning. The other is about means. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First, MEANING. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Businesses increasingly want to offer meaningful products for two reasons: </span></i></span></b><br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5640083595644683" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>1. more customers want them</i></span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5640083595644683" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>2. creating them is rewarding for employees </i></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tom’s Shoes, Method Soap, and Patagonia are large firms that make meaningful stuff. But I want to illustrate this phenomenon of meaning closer to home using one of my favorite examples: the local food sector. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The number of farmers markets in this country has doubled in the past five years. Not because the food is cheap or convenient, but because more customers now want relationships, both personal and economic, with the people making their food and their stuff. And the farmers and makers? They aren’t getting into these businesses to become millionaires. They do it because they want to do work that is meaningful. Now, the business model of the farmers market is not fully evolved, but it’s a good start to building an economy around better stuff that builds meaningful relationships. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Which brings me to my second point: THE MEANS.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I cite the local food sector as a venue for better stuff, but meaningful markets can be hi-tech too. Engineers here are probably familiar with rapid prototyping tools like “3D printers” and “laser cutters.” Having these tools is like a having a mini-manufacturing plant on your own desktop or garage. Engineers have used them for years to make and test prototypes of their designs.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What’s new about this technology is that it’s becoming remarkably accessible. Just as music production software is readily available now, anyone with an internet connection and a camera phone can now upload a drawing of a product to a manufacturer in the location of their choosing that will manufacture that product on demand.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And then of course the internet is an effective tool for marketing, selling, and distributing product. Ponoko is one of several platforms where we can already do this. When I want to buy a gift for my friend in California, I no longer have to go to the big box store and buy her something that was made halfway across the world. Instead, I can get online, design something of my own or pick something out, and that thing can be “printed” by a small manufacturer in her neighborhood and delivered a short distance to her home. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The product is meaningful because it’s made just for her, by a small manufacturer and business owner who lives in her community who has the means to make and deliver product. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now that’s a simple example but the last industrial revolution started in a simple way too, with textiles. So I’m here to ask of you, when this technology becomes ubiquitous, let’s not mess it up. Let’s not repeat the 20th century mistake of manufacturing ourselves out of jobs. Instead, let’s make stuff that creates jobs and strengthens the relationships between makers and customers in our own towns and cities.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We live in a time when there’s an increasing demand for meaningful products. And we live in a time when more and more of us have the technological means to create and distribute these products. So please, MAKE BETTER STUFF. </span></span></i><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><img height="31px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/roHlqcTyrACK-yiJEeczFskhCWhXGOsPKpWKtDXV6trKAHBAPKDbzeQOpdzRiE3ZtCdSWXORymxUXBFnUGhQNb-SFZr07k5-mYMYlkK26lD037FMjl8" width="88px;" /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: grey; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MAKE BETTER STUFF by Xanthe Matychak is licensed under a </span><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #4374b7; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: grey; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: grey; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">NOTE: I used a photo by Ed Burtynsky in the slide presentation for this talk. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: grey; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-41585199918179132362012-02-11T04:38:00.000-08:002012-02-11T16:15:18.558-08:00Pitching to the Crowd vs VCs<br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It used to be that if you wanted to start a business, you had to write a detailed business plan and pitch it to Venture Capitalists. It’s not uncommon to ask a VC to invest $100k for start up costs. What would she want in return? Well, only 40% of your company. So the pitch you make to a VC has to have a certain level of granularity and probably a lot of spreadsheets. Great ideas and passion are important, but you have to be pretty confident about every one’s Return On Investment for two reasons: 1. $100k is a lot of money and 2. That VC now owns 40% of your business. </span></b></div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But more and more we’re seeing entrepreneurs raise money on crowd-funding sites like Kickstarter or Indie GoGo. On these sites, you aren’t looking for one dude to invest $100k. Instead you are asking 100s or 1000s of people for small contributions of $10, $50, or $100. These people won’t own a percentage of your business. They’re just helping you get started because it’s a fun thing to do. And if you doubt that people can raise start-up money this way, just go to the “best funded” link on Kickstarter. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My question is this: What does this shift from pitching to VCs to pitching to the crowd mean for how we pitch or teach students to pitch? If crowd-funders don't care about your spreadsheets or ROI, what do they care about? What makes them sign in to their paypal accounts to make a contribution?</span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.4061424389947206" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.4061424389947206" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">image: where George Eastman's mansion (left) connects with The Eastman Museum (right)</span></b></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-90511481966374700042012-01-22T19:12:00.000-08:002012-01-22T19:12:50.100-08:00Three Local Food Projects<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_UyPiS9vHp-Met0iHuPG776D66utlEUZIXjj2iu0AgHsItwHym4zzWBr27U5Miem6q5WOQ2TxfQXDyb24k2xbenoNq7qmyc0v5LBOAEUd6llSB71EZp1Z3bweiDC68iXASPhe3-gg/s1600/IMG_3171.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_UyPiS9vHp-Met0iHuPG776D66utlEUZIXjj2iu0AgHsItwHym4zzWBr27U5Miem6q5WOQ2TxfQXDyb24k2xbenoNq7qmyc0v5LBOAEUd6llSB71EZp1Z3bweiDC68iXASPhe3-gg/s400/IMG_3171.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.40504154982045293" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My students have finally articulated what they will work on for the rest of the quarter, and I'm loving each project. Their original task was "to enhance the Western NY food economy in the winter months." But as they dove deep into their research, they made some discoveries that required them to fine-tune their original goal. Now their goal is "to make local food more appealing to main-stream customers," and with that in mind they've got some pretty cool offerings.. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Team 1, Top Chef Local</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This team decided to host a series of events based on the popular television show Top Chef. They want to create experiences in which newbies to local food could learn about cooking it together. Top Chef is a contest in which three chefs are given only a few ingredients with which to make an elegant meal, a format plays well with local produce and will be even more challenging in the winter. We recently had a winter potluck and man were there a lot of potatoes on the table. So, yes, great challenge. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Team 2, Cracker Barrel Bodega</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wanting to bring local food to the heart of the city, this team took inspiration from Cracker Barrel. I'd never heard of this place before, but apparently it's one part restaurant and one part retail food store. The hook is that if you like something that you eat in the restaurant side, you may go next door and buy it to take home. Put that model into an urban corner store with a deli counter or something, stocked with dishes made from local ingredients, and BAM! I'm there. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Team 3, Flash Frozen Packaged Food</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wanting to make local food easier to prepare than whole food, this team wants to lightly process and package the food and sell it frozen. Not only does this team include two packaging science students, but they've got an electrical engineer on board who says he can design a flash freezer, normally starting at 10k, for a fraction of the cost. Should be fun. I'm super excited about this one. Well, who am I kidding, I'm excited about them all. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Want to come to our final presentation? Pop me a comment and I'll let you know the deets. </span></b></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-40889180425740959192012-01-15T17:14:00.000-08:002012-01-22T18:38:35.830-08:00Thinking outside of the brain<br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.780724432086572" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.780724432086572" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Designers are kind of addicted to putting themselves into unfamiliar situations. Why? Well, as Allan Chochinov says in a recent </span><a href="http://dowser.org/allan-chochinov-on-negotiating-problem-spaces-through-design/" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">interview</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> with Rachel Singer, “It helps you to be fresh.” Staying true the behaviors of my clan, I'm immersed in several unfamiliar scenarios at present and, collectivity, they’re really keeping me on my toes. They are: </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. Designing local food products & systems for main-stream customers</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. Going for an Executive MBA </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. Preparing to speak at SxSW about Open Source Communities</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">LOCAL FOOD FOR THE MAIN STREAM. I've been an early adopter of local food systems for years now, shopping at farmers markets and joining CSAs. And while these systems have been growing in popularity as I've been a part of them, there seems to be a steady divide between those who eat local and those who don't. So I'm stepping out of my brain, my perspective, and leaving it to my students, who don't shop or eat local, to figure out what will make local food interesting or delightful to them and thus, we hope, to mainstream customers? Why? Because adoption by main-stream customers will give the local food movement wings. Current food systems the students are borrowing from are </span><a href="http://www.crackerbarrel.com/" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">CrackerBarrel</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Birdseye" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">BirdsEye</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and </span><a href="http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Top Chef</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Love these ideas. Love them all. I especially enjoy how the students are deconstructing these known models to figure out what parts make sense for a local food application and what parts don’t. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">EXECUTIVE MBA. I am blessed to be in the EMBA program at RIT's <a href="http://saunders.rit.edu/programs/executive/" target="_blank">Saunders College</a>. As I've mentioned before, the math part is a real challenge for me, so challenging that sometimes I wonder if I'll make it through. But I'm in love with the conceptual stuff. As a designer interested in sustainability, I love learning about how firms make their make/buy decisions, the decisions to either make their own products or buy ready-made from a supplier. Most of the time these are strictly financial decisions though we've already studied one case in which, even though it made financial sense to transition to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">making</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> a product, the firm found later that it did not make sense from a personnel perspective. My larger point here is that it's so great to get out of my design brain and into a business brain to look at supply chain issues. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another gem is this one from my accounting class: "The Role of the Firm is to Generate Owner Wealth." Fact. The flexible part of this definition, however, is in how the owners define wealth. A very useful piece of information for me. As much as I complain about the math, learning how key concepts are defined is just priceless. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And one more insight is from the many management cases we have to analyze. In case after case, the issue isn’t that management doesn’t understand the problem or doesn’t know the solution. The issue is that they don’t know how to implement an effective plan of action. Fascinating. This is a problem space that designers can offer a lot of value, I think, with their attention to human behavior and reactions to props and prompts. This is probably why behavioral economics is so appealing to designers. (I’ll write another post about his last point, me thinks). </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SXSW INTERACTIVE. OMG, just a few months ago my friends and I were sitting around bitching about how "boys club" Open Source Communities are and now we're headed to <a href="http://sxsw.com/" target="_blank">SxSW</a> to talk about it in front of a bunch of people. Like I said, I'm addicted to stepping out of my comfort zone. I believe that that's when we learn the most. So if by going there I learn how to be a better participant in Open Source Communities, and if I can model that vulnerability and learning process for other women in my situation, well then, I've done some good. If nothing else, I get to work with my super bright colleague in the RIT's Journalism Department, Andrea Hickerson. And Andrea just recruited <a href="http://blog.linuxgrrl.com/" target="_blank">Mo Duffy</a> (!) as another panelist, in addition to Sara Brown. It should be super fun and if you're in Austin and if you're willing to think outside of your brain, then you should come. You are more than welcome to our club. </span></b></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-70981591277062224342011-12-21T05:11:00.000-08:002011-12-21T07:30:07.211-08:00Local food for well-meaning skeptics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s winter break at RIT so I finally have a chance to write a post on what my design-thinking students are up to. This quarter, which began just after Thanksgiving, we started with a broad question: “How do we enhance the local food economy in the winter months?” There are many stakeholders to consider with this question. So we went out into the field and observed some of them, specifically farmers and customers at winter markets. </span></div>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.25848358194343746"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For a lot of the students, this was their first experience at a winter market, which is not surprising because there <a href="http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2011/12/0516.xml&contentidonly=true" target="_blank">aren’t many of them </a>to go to. And while the students can articulate many of the economic and social benefits of buying from local producers, the observations they made tell me that they aren’t quite convinced: “The market feels cliquey,” “The carrots were dirty,” “Maple syrup is way more expensive than syrup from the store,” were some of the sentiments they expressed. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now, a foodie like me could easily feel disheartened by these comments and, in fact, if I had heard them a few years ago they would have depressed me. But today they inspire me. They inspire me to ask a new question: “How do we make local food more appealing to well-meaning skeptics?” Well-meaning skeptics. That’s who these students are and I suspect that there are many more out there in the population. They want to buy local, but they’re not too excited about shopping at obscure winter markets held in secret locations. Make it a little more familiar, they cry--make it a little easier for me and I’ll bite.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations" target="_blank">Diffusion of Innovation </a>curve, the people who willingly go to the farmers markets are called “early adopters.” They are on the cutting edge, willing to bend over backwards to get their local food. The well-meaning skeptics, on the other hand, are called the “early majority.” And it’s the early majority we’re after here. If we can design for and with them, then perhaps local food sales will reach a tipping point and flow freely into the main stream. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Got an idea on how to appeal to the early majority? Come and share it at our <a href="http://innovation-srv.rit.edu/csi2/main/node/PLSM" target="_blank">local food potluck</a> on 1/17. Cheers! </span></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-70249543567792186872011-11-15T07:42:00.000-08:002011-11-27T04:41:21.445-08:00Is efficiency effective?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A week ago I gave a talk at <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyslam/sets/72157628020827703/" target="_blank">TEDx Rochester</a> about a phenomenon I'm researching: the rise of social business and distributed manufacturing. Social business models adhere to a triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit. And distributed manufacturing, a shift powered by increased access to rapid prototyping tools, is a shift away from our current centralized manufacturing.<br />
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I was happy to receive a range of feedback. The geeks beamed: "Now I have an excuse to buy a 3D printer!" A travel agent told me how my thesis applied to her work, as did a community art-space organizer. And the skeptics? I know they were out there, but for the most part they were silent. One of them, one of my fellow speakers, pulled me aside and asked, "How can this be efficient?"<br />
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I'm not quick on my feet so I stumbled in my response to him. When he asked, "How can this be efficient?" I dodged his concern and answered with something snippy and defensive, like "Efficiency isn't the issue. I just want an alternative to foreign children making our products."<br />
In part I stand by that snippy response. It captures the passion I feel about this shift. But now that I've had a week to think about it, a better response comes to mind; I think I would have brought it back to his own talk, in which he and a team of puppeteers made a case for transitioning from lecture teaching to guided inquiry. They based their argument not on efficiency but on effectiveness.<br />
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Efficiency is about doing things faster and cheaper, and lecturing is efficient. But effectiveness is about doing things that are rich and meaningful. What he was arguing is that guided inquiry is effective, but he didn’t compare the effectiveness against its efficiency. I want to question whether they have to be mutually exclusive. While it would be easy for me to claim that efficiency and effectiveness are opposed, I've got Roger Martin's voice in my head telling me to resolve them, to find the space where they meet, or at least complement each other. Because both of them have staying power.<br />
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I want to now address concerns about efficiency. I see three choices before us:<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1. We drop efficiency as a value (not likely)<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. We make these new distributed models adhere to our current definition of efficiency<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3. We redefine efficiency, factoring in externalities<br />
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We need to answer these questions not only about distributed manufacturing, but about other distributed models that are on the rise. The local food sector faces similar challenges about efficiency, as does the alternative energy sector.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-80666927915770602332011-10-16T09:25:00.000-07:002011-11-15T07:45:46.380-08:00Up to Some Things<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Every once in a while I like to write a little list of the stuff I'm involved with. Somehow it helps me to put it all down in one place so I can try to find a pattern or thread that runs through it all. Here we go:
A STUDENT AGAIN. I'm enrolled in the Executive MBA program at RIT and I'm taking three courses at present: Leadership, Accounting, and Statistics. As you can imagine, I love my Leadership course. We have a lot of great readings and discussions about how to be more effective at work. I've been trying out the techniques as they are introduced in class and I find it really interesting. Accounting class has probably taken me the farthest from my comfort zone than I’ve ever been, but I'm okay with that. While the content is interesting on a conceptual level, like why certain firms make certain accounting decisions, I find it difficult to grasp the basics. So I've had to combine the text book with other sources and force myself to talk about accounting with experts. I think it's getting better. Statistics class is a challenge with all of those formulas, but with the help of my study group and minitab software, I'm doing all right. I look forward to integrating my design skills with our group project, in which we have to visualize some data.
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">STILL TEACHING. I'm in the third year of teaching Design-thinking and it continues to change and grow as we work with different clients. This quarter (which is over in four weeks!) we've got three clients: 1. Good Food Collective, 2. Mud Creek Farms/Small World Bakery and 3. FreshWise Farm-to-School Program. The students are doing relatively well. I've given them a lot of freedom to find design problems that interest them. They go out and tested their first prototypes this week and I'm sure they will learn a lot from that. Next quarter, however, I think we'll work with only one client so I can keep a closer eye on all the teams.
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">FOOD-SYSTEM INNOVATION. My interest in our local food system continues to grow. I've been focused on the producer side of things and will continue to follow that path as I think consumer demand for this stuff is reaching a tipping point, so much of a tipping point, in fact, that I worry about the farmers keeping up with the demand without running themselves ragged. From my field research so far, I'm finding that the farmers could use better farm tools, more opportunities for food processing, and more opportunities for sales. Additionally, I've met a few administrators at RIT who are very interested in this project, not only the business side of it, but in those aspects of it that promote food justice and that promote farming as an educational tool. So I plan to meet every few weeks with these administrators and I hope something comes from those meetings. If nothing else, we’ll exchange some knowledge.
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">TEDx ROCHESTER. I'll be a speaker at the third annual TEDx Rochester, which is an independently run TED event. The title of my talk is "Make Better Stuff: the rise of social business and distributed manufacturing." This title is also the title of a book I'm researching, so this event is a great opportunity for me to get some feedback on the topic. I'll post the transcript online once it's over, so you can chime in too. And I’ll post the video too, if it comes out okay (I'm a little nervous about it).
SXSW. Andrea Hickerson and I submitted a proposal for SXSW Interactive (South by Southwest). I have NO idea if our proposal will be accepted, but if it is you'll be hearing more about that soon. If we do get in, I feel that my participation in SXSW combined with my TEDx talk and 2010 MakerFaire exhibit will comprise my geeked-out version of an EGOT.
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">EDITING AND PUBLISHING. I haven't been editing and publishing, well not much at least, but I did work with an editing and publishing course at Ithaca College last week, Professor Catherine Taylor’s course. In it, the students are writing book proposals and manifestos (so great) and, in teams, starting their own magazines. I worked with the teams on how to think of their magazines as tools for starting movements. Luckily I had a copy of MAKE with me, which is a fine example of a quarterly magazine that is just one piece of a very important maker movement. The workshop was a lot of fun and I look forward to tracking these new publications. What an empowering exercise, starting a magazine. Great.
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">LOCAL FOOD POTLUCKS. We had a local food potluck in the RIT Innovation Center this quarter and it went so well we've decided to host one every quarter. The next one will be on Jan. 17, 2012 from 12-2 p.m. Details are still being worked out, but we know that Nabil Nasr will be our guest speaker. Bringing a dish-to-pass will be more of an option this time and less of a requirement, and we're still thinking about how to add another "sharing-economy" activity such as a clothing swap or wisdom swap. Not sure yet.
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">FELTING. This one is purely for fun. I went to AmVets the other day and picked up as many wool sweaters as I could find. I've thrown them in the wash to shrink them and am now working on re-purposing them. So far I've made a hat that I really like and several neck wraps. In addition to these, I plan to make mittens, coffee cup cozies, and perhaps some toys. I don't know what it is about wool, but it's *my* material. It really speaks to me.
Well that’s all for now. Still looking for that common thread. It’s probably made from wool. </span><br />
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The photo above was taken on Comfort Road just outside of Ithaca, NY. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-66338567615119349342011-10-03T04:20:00.000-07:002011-10-04T13:12:01.697-07:00RIT Locavore Potluck<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMt0lPwA7gK2gtxdEsdKfE1VOm0by4xDJ3vrJb-e2SJSfKRnSWRQB3MqCBlFfBoPfuA74PzIpZTdHIRKKOVvorh3WsKFurEsQCML6dpxGN-sCOFiVsIQ8ikK1W8Onx-nQ2INjqcX-W/s1600/flowers_carrots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMt0lPwA7gK2gtxdEsdKfE1VOm0by4xDJ3vrJb-e2SJSfKRnSWRQB3MqCBlFfBoPfuA74PzIpZTdHIRKKOVvorh3WsKFurEsQCML6dpxGN-sCOFiVsIQ8ikK1W8Onx-nQ2INjqcX-W/s400/flowers_carrots.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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In September, the Northeast Organic Farming Association (<a href="http://www.nofany.org/">NOFA</a>) issued a call for "Locavore Potlucks" across New York State. Since my students and I are working with organic farmers this quarter, we rose to that challenge and hosted a local-food potluck in <a href="http://www.rit.edu/innovationcenter/">RIT Innovation Center</a> on 9/29. We had a great turn out, about 30 people, and enjoyed some <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/47209842@N06/sets/72157627665534693/">incredible dishes</a> made from locally grown ingredients. We also had some great conversation with folks from the RIT community and the Rochester food economy about how best to support the people at the heart of the local food movement, our small-to-mid size organic farmers. Support them not only with consumer dollars, but with innovations like developing affordable tools for tillage and food processing and better channels for sales and distribution of their products.<br />
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The potluck turned out to be a great venue for knowledge sharing and it was also a lot of fun. We're planning to do it again on January 17 from 12-2 so save the date and keep your eye on the <a href="https://events.rit.edu/">RIT events </a>calendar for details. (Worried that you won't be able to find local food in January? Never fear, just sign up for a <a href="http://thegoodfoodcollective.com/winter-csa/membership/">winter share</a> from the Good Food Collective).<br />
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The photos above were taken by one of my very talented students, Blayke Morrow. To see more of her work, go to this link: <a href="http://www.blaykemorrow.com/galleries/">http://www.blaykemorrow.com/galleries/</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-68210036328310557982011-09-24T10:46:00.000-07:002011-09-26T08:18:43.973-07:00Local Food Economy: A Call for Innovation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsmn_3lNtvGvfKHgOikJYDaSo_kN7s_HAsi2II3DRPFLVHmEla9HJv52_fGkYIgfulFFQns2zJ3vD16gwgEKYZsOeQfp2FjapaFbf2b7zAtBPH2XRWk4P77D5L3H_NcNugQ9tPbVoc/s1600/erin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsmn_3lNtvGvfKHgOikJYDaSo_kN7s_HAsi2II3DRPFLVHmEla9HJv52_fGkYIgfulFFQns2zJ3vD16gwgEKYZsOeQfp2FjapaFbf2b7zAtBPH2XRWk4P77D5L3H_NcNugQ9tPbVoc/s400/erin.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; white-space: pre-wrap;">The number of farmers markets in this country has almost doubled in the last <a href="http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/ams.fetchTemplateData.do?template=TemplateS&leftNav=WholesaleandFarmersMarkets&page=WFMFarmersMarketGrowth&description=Farmers%20Market%20Growth&acct=frmrdirmkt">five years</a>. From a customer's point of view, this increased access to locally produced food is fantastic. And from the producer side, the increased demand for their products feels like a good thing. However, the “tools" that these farmers depend on to grow, process, and sell their food are in dire need of a makeover. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;">While small scale farmers are definitely not in their business for the money, make no mistake about it, if they don't have enough money to operate and pay themselves, the small scale farm won't survive.
Here are some areas in which I’ve observed that a lack of proper tools seems to be causing problems: While the farmers find the vintage tools they use charming, they are frustrated by the lack of new tools available that fit the scale of their operations. And while farmers enjoy meeting their customers at the farmers market, the farmers market as a tool-for-sales is a drain on their time.
There’s a great opportunity here for entrepreneurs, especially those interested in local economic development, to create the tools that small farmers need. Here in Upstate New York, we’ve already seen some entrepreneurial efforts in local distribution and sales beyond farmers markets. Both <a href="http://thegoodfoodcollective.com/about/">Good Food Collective</a> in Rochester and <a href="http://www.gardengatedelivery.com/about.html">Garden Gate Food</a> in Ithaca have started businesses that connect local producers with customers providing locally grown produce, dairy, meats, bread, and even soap. These entrepreneurs don’t have brick and mortar stores but have instead retro-fitted refrigerated trucks that function as mobile “pop-up shops.” </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;">
As for farm tools and processing tools, I’ve seen many great inventions on the farms I’ve visited. But moving these inventions (technologies that work) to innovations (technologies that scale) is the challenge that I’m hoping entrepreneurs will rise to. And rather than offshore production, I hope we take advantage of local, manufacture-on-demand technology and local talent.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">photo: on the left, <a href="http://farmererin.blogspot.com/">Farmer Erin</a> with a home made tool for marking seed beds and on the right, a </span></i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">spring-tooth-harrow, made by Leroy Plows, that she pulled out from the woods surrounding Mud Creek Farms.</span></i></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-15795266113602196292011-09-14T16:47:00.000-07:002011-09-18T13:56:48.020-07:00Design-thinking with Local Food Entrepreneurs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrpWIL2MR_VMZg0MUzLqhfeXERCPwbz-terprAxkCpiVgTb1hgu5kUMK8h_iyIdRrvz8LPvRNG5yAOpDYnmVSTHkxpON8j9jp3THhZsZfuy7Ia5sK-WUIaTlwOErWt1VHsYtm2tsdg/s1600/september.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrpWIL2MR_VMZg0MUzLqhfeXERCPwbz-terprAxkCpiVgTb1hgu5kUMK8h_iyIdRrvz8LPvRNG5yAOpDYnmVSTHkxpON8j9jp3THhZsZfuy7Ia5sK-WUIaTlwOErWt1VHsYtm2tsdg/s400/september.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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There's a movement in the Rochester metro area to transform our local food economy. Transforming the local food economy presents three major questions: 1. How do we help small and mid size farmers do what they do best - grow delicious food using sustainable farming techniques, 2. How do we help customers get that food, 3. How do we keep food dollars in our region and create food-related jobs.<br />
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This fall my design-thinking class at RIT is working with three different stakeholders in this transformation: 1. The <a href="http://thegoodfoodcollective.com/">Good Food Collective</a> which handles sales and distribution from 8 farms to 500 members, 2. <a href="http://www.freshwise.org/">FreshWise Farms</a>, a social enterprise of <a href="http://www.foodlinkny.org/">Foodlink</a> that delivers food education and healthy locally grown food to underserved populations, and 3. <a href="http://www.mudcreekfarm.com/">Mud Creek Farm</a>/Small World Bakery, a medium sized farm that offers CSAs and makes some great processed food like <a href="http://www.smallworldfood.com/category/vegetable-ferments/">KimChi</a>!<br />
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We're super excited about the diversity of food entrepreneurs we get to work with. Each enterprise has different problems for us to explore. For example, Good Food has an awesome distribution truck, the Green Bean Machine, but winter's coming so they need to fit it with accessories that stand up to our Western New York winters. Mud Creek Farm has a great problem too - lack of access to tools that fit their mid-sized farm. It turns out that there are many tools for serious gardeners but they're too small. And there are many tools for industrial farms but they're too big (insert Goldielocks joke here). And then FreshWise is trying to think up innovative ways to engage K-12 students with the healthy locally grown food that's finding its way into their after school meals.<br />
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The list of problems here illuminates the complexities we navigate when trying shift from a well established model to an alternative model. And it's in these kinds of spaces, working with these kinds of problems, that innovation happens. It's dirty and gritty and messy and fun.<br />
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So three cheers for our new adventure. I'll be reporting on our process as we dig deeper into the projects. Its bound to be full of surprises.<br />
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PS - Please come to our Local Food Potluck on 9/29. Details here: <a href="https://nofany.org/events/regional-events/rit-potluck">https://nofany.org/</a><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-50841106519954223292011-08-22T05:13:00.000-07:002011-08-22T05:13:45.131-07:00Summer ends, EMBA begins<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgvyb4Ezojvqyb3X2Q0iFlFeGwSWvFJ4B40jmNLrAvY9e2PeGWOnxI-65xUTXxI8f_t-t14-Hc037TmFZnPXg0rghTYcGCp2k6FTd8lG9u-sIuJwRThRiTPzF-ZhGSOtA8MojtaJ7Y/s1600/summer_2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgvyb4Ezojvqyb3X2Q0iFlFeGwSWvFJ4B40jmNLrAvY9e2PeGWOnxI-65xUTXxI8f_t-t14-Hc037TmFZnPXg0rghTYcGCp2k6FTd8lG9u-sIuJwRThRiTPzF-ZhGSOtA8MojtaJ7Y/s400/summer_2011.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Back in June I wrote that I'd try to post a few pictures over the summer. Well, that didn't really happen. Though the summer had many lovely moments, though we picked a lot of fruit and made over a dozen cases of jam, though we got to see and spend time with our dear friends and family, there were too many difficult moments this summer. I'm happy to see the season come to an end.<br />
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This week I begin the orientation process for the Executive MBA (EMBA) program at RIT -- as a student! I'll continue to teach the design thinking course (sign up #0102-421-01) in Saunders College of Business and work on my research about rapid prototyping and local food economy, but this time with super EMBA knowledge informing it all. I'm excited. I expect to have many insights as I learn this new language and look forward to sharing them with you here.<br />
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pictured above: Ludlowville Falls in Lansing, NY on the left and an urban gardening scene in Ithaca, NY on the rightAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-72725792321700087222011-07-01T04:40:00.000-07:002011-07-01T05:48:19.888-07:00Printable, Readable Declaration of Independence<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Every summer I make the journey back to my home town on Long Island to celebrate the Fourth of July with my dearest friends. I go back to participate in a wonderful tradition in which they gather friends and family on their lawn to read <i><a href="https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=1RvvAiZYGZc4Rnj8bK-AvPJlbPLka-847VZLcXc8zdTBRfidePo8pbqeaj_xT&hl=en_US">The Declaration of Independence</a></i> aloud. It is a spirited reading with hoots and hollers for the patriots and boos and hisses for King George, all facilitated by lots of free-flowing American beer.<br />
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If you'd like to host your own reading, just print this <a href="https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=1RvvAiZYGZc4Rnj8bK-AvPJlbPLka-847VZLcXc8zdTBRfidePo8pbqeaj_xT&hl=en_US">document</a>, hand out the parts to your friends (the parts are clearly marked), and read with pride.<br />
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Let freedom ring!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5339421605693619205.post-76124105951999730022011-06-15T13:39:00.001-07:002011-06-15T13:42:10.539-07:00First Garlic of the Year<div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0;">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/16138172@N00/5837368736/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Garlic!!"><img alt="Garlic!! by @xanthm" height="300" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3032/5837368736_a5e4b7655c.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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from Monroe Ave Farmers' Market. And mint and peas and berries and flowers. Joy!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16099501326367897949noreply@blogger.com0