Followers of this will have noticed a blip with a slightly bizzare comment, that no doubt will end up in a flame war of some kind with “Tina Bell”.
Whatever the bizzare reason for trying to deal with how I operate and damage that in some way I am not really overly bothered.
However, the things I say and do outside for my company are genuine. Am I always happy…. No.
My post that leaked out was more about the concept of the enterprise and it not being an entity that you can deal with.
So I deleted the comment (something only usually reserved for viagra adverts) I am sure it will get posted again elsewhere, after all its out there. I hope as much attention is given to things when they get sorted out and I write how happy I feel. For the record this was my personal post on how I feel at the moment I just chose not to use eightbar (a group blog and a virtual world blog about innovation) as the place to express this.
Interestingly Tina Bell took exception to some of my thoughts over on terra nova. Quite odd really but it take all sorts and I appreciate the conversation. Maybe just not on eightbar 🙂
**Update This is the link to my latest personal post should the conversation need to continue
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 🙂
You make me feel like dancing
Well we did know that a lot of the metaverse is held together by music and dancing. This is a very short snippet of some of that across some popular ones. It more a proof of concept for a longer film later 🙂
Watch Roo in action on IET.tv
You can now see Roo do his thing on the IET TV webcast, slides and video of the Mountbatten lecture. from last Thursday.
Update: the video has moved.
Lest we forget
The poppy sims have been created, not for PR but out of respect. Wearing a poppy in SL is as important as in RL. We owe the fallen a great deal.
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.