Yet more 3d printing – getting cheaper

Fellow eightbar member and Creative Director Brian Peaston pinged me today with some fantastic links.
The first is to Desktop factory which by its very name shoudl give the game away. Desktop rapid fabrication with a 3d printer. A 3d printer for $5000 thats quite a significant price point. Maybe I should sell my Second Life islands, as we now have plenty, and buy one of these now. Its getting very close ot being normal. At this price its looking veyr promising.
The other is very related and a good looking service in principle. Ponoko is a service that lets you build things and get them made, and then sell patterns to others. Now this is sort of local to this site, but it is veyr very long tail. I will be signing up and having a go. Who knows I may build all the xmas present this year 🙂

The future of management?

A colleague recently blogged on our internal blogging system about a book call “The Future of Management” by Gary Hamel. Much of what Gary writes about (and there is a video on the UK amazon site too) is veyr much the spirit of what we have been explaining as eightbar. Very often in talking a bout how we came to be in virtual worlds we are also explaining the story of how a small seed of innovative thinking flowed through t omany other people by sharing and openess. The fact that we have ended up where we are is a testament to the pattern. Management as a concept, is as much a part of this as the thought leadership (as it gets called).
It all fits with the move from the information age to the conceptual age, which was also a theme at the architecture conference I spoke on a panel at yesterday.
This is not pie in the sky wishful thinking, this works.
“There isn’t any law that prevents large organizations from being engaging, innovative, and adaptive – and mostly bureaucracy free. Even better, it really is possible to set the human spirit free at work. So no more excuses. It’s time for you to buckle down and start inventing the future of management…My goal in writing this book was not to predict the future of management but to help you invent it…From the first time since the dawning of the industrial age, the only way to build a company that’s fit for the future is to build one that is fit for human beings as well.”

Visions of the Future BBC 4

This BBC programme from a few days ago proved very interesting. Visions of the Future looked into the future, some near some far in a very well out together show.
” In this century, we are going to make the historic transition from the ‘Age of Discovery’ to the ‘Age of Mastery’, a period in which we will move from being passive observers of nature to its active choreographers”
“Dr Michio Kaku explains how artificial intelligence will revolutionise homes, workplaces and lifestyles, and how virtual worlds will become so realistic that they will rival the physical world”
I was watching becuase I am part futurist and its always good to see a perspective. Much of it was a “yes thats what i say” kind of thing but there were some twists. I was surprised to see Second Life as that is already here, but the examples were showing that we had the ability to explore the virtual or enhance the real. There were whole parts on robots (a youtube link os Asimo is on the BBC site) too.
If you get a chance to watch it, which clearly is not as easy as it should be due to BBC licence fees and UK barriers, then take a look.

Workplace Design – Panel time

Whilst tomorrow is Roo’s big day with the IET conference I am also speaking in London on a panel for Architectual Review around Workplace design.

THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW WORKPLACE DESIGN conference provides an inspirational forum exploring how interior designers can create the modern office. The workforce of the new millenium is becoming more flexible, mobile and diverse; discover how the interior designer can fulfil the needs of this transient workforce and produce a workplace that promotes collaboration and productivity. Hear from global leaders in interior design and workplace consultancy and discover the future of the modern office.
KEY DISCUSSION POINTS INCLUDE:

* Exploring workforce behaviours and the impact design has on productivity
* Creating a digital workplace: future-proofing the office
* Reflecting the culture and brand of a company through design
* The workplace strategy of the global client
* Taking a sustainable approach to office design
* Catering for a diverse and transient workforce

As expected we have a great deal of cross discipline merging occuring, brought on by metaverses, web2.0 and entering the conceptual age where design really becomes key to success, not just function.
So for me it will be interesting to mix and mingle with a different audience, who knows where that will lead.

"Oh, it has losers…"

The US version of The Office (which does an excellent job of being almost as funny as the BBC version) is no stranger to life online. It’s fun to spot Kevin, Meredith, Creed, Roy, Pam all on MySpace, and Dwight has a blog. This week they dipped into Second Life. The very same week as CSI:NY; It’s all getting very mainstream.

Of course, the Office’s treatment of SL was as tongue-in-cheek as you’d expect…

Dwight: “Second Life is not a game. It is a Multi User Virtual Environment. It doesn’t have points or scores  or winners or losers.”

Jim: “Oh, it has losers.”

Steve Nelson at Clear Ink, the team behind bringing the office into SL for the episode, has written about the project and carefully lists the locations and clothing used.

Update: Aleister Kronos has been blogging and engaging in very interesting discussion about the nicely viral SL stuff the Office (through Clear Ink) have been doing in Second Life. Here are some links: part 1, part 2, part 3.

Walking the Digital Dog – Work, Learn and Play in Digital Worlds

Next week, on Thursday 8th November Roo is giving the The IET 30th Mountbatten Memorial Lecture with the subject Walking the Digital Dog – Work, Learn and Play in Digital Worlds.
This is a very exciting part to the whole lecture circuit. So, if you are in London, or near and want to see Roo do his thing (and he is very good but dont tell him I said that) then pop along. Its also on upcoming.org
It is a free event, but you have to register.

More VWF Europe coverage from Ugotrade

Tish over at Ugotrade has written a mammoth post covering all sorts of things including an interview with yours truly, though thats not why I am posting this. It is so that many of you can see this coming together of like minded people helping to take us way beyond where we are right now. The initial part of the post is some insight from the great Cory Doctorow.
I often end up getting asked is anyone doing anything about . Stock answer is usually yes, but with so much going on out there in the world and in our own little groups like eightbar it is clear to see that this is a lot deeper set of social and technical changes. When Tish has put it all together like this, remembering this is one area of focus (there are a whole lot more) it has got my mind racing and I do this all the time.
Enjoy the future happening in front of your very eyes 🙂