Today, I am making things with cranberries. I am getting to know this strange little berry.  It gets its name from Cranes. Because it’s a berry that cranes like to eat.

Also,  it’s known as a bog berry, because it grows up ass-deep in cold water.

And yet it’s cheery and red and tart and in a word, mysterious.

Can you explain to me what a cranberry tastes like?

I can’t wrap my head around it. How can I mix it with horseradish and sugar and sour cream and onion and make the best turkey sandwich spread ever?

How can I mix this berry with ginger and cherries and more sugar and turn it into a sublime syrup.

How does this work? How is it so versatile?

Ah- this is a metaphor for Thanksgiving, my friends.

Because Thanksgiving shows up for the sour and the sweet.

You may be surrounded by people you love, having a fun time with the dominos and feeling wonderful.

You may be surrounded by people you love and really really really want to scratch their eyes out and run away.

You may be with a loved one, and think “This is the last time I’ll see them.”

You may be with a loved one and think, “I wonder when the Macy’s Day parade starts, and whether he’ll shut up during it, because oh my god if I have to hear about that fishing/army/time he met the Queen story, I will hurt somebody. “

And at each of these moments,  a good thing to ask is “What is Good?”

I had a professor in college named Hilda Raz. She is FIERCE.  She is also a brilliant writer, someone who turns a wide-open eye on the beauty and pain and quiet confusion and unanswered questions that travel with us.

In the late 80’s, she was diagnosed with cancer. The bad cancer. Not a little case. The odds were not remotely in her favor.

And I am probably telling the story wrong, because this happened over 20 years ago, and I heard about it 17 years ago, and you know how a story can twist and turn in the mind.

But, she was in a lot of pain. A LOT OF PAIN. And it seemed like the end, and she just got to the point where she needed to do something and it was the middle of the night…so she wrote a list called “What is Good.” – That’s all it really was, a list of those things that she could put a little faith in.

And she lived. And her cancer went away. And then she went on to focus on other moments of pain, transformation, wonder and joy.

Thanksgiving is here to remind us, wherever we are that we can make a list of what is good.

And with Gratitude comes deeper living. And that, as Martha Steward says, can be a good thing.

And if you want to read on…

My list- for today-

Hearing the cranberries pop in the simmering sugar syrup.

Living in a house with trees close by, so it feels like I’m in a tree house.

Having a dog that is hilarious when she is trying to sleep and we gently say, “Olive? Olive?” and she tries to lift her head and pay attention and then sleep grabs her and pulls her back under.

Having two other sweet dogs too and 3 cats and a horse named Ed.

Having boys who cleaned my yard this week, and who make me laugh. And who also remind me of the hard parts of growing up and make me so thankful that I am a grown-up even if being a grown-up is sometimes hard.

My friend Cherish who loans me books.

My friend Jill who will tell me the unmincing truth.

My friend Barb who is always telling me very interesting things and cheering me on.

My friend Caz across the ocean.

My friend Lilly who has the best finger waggle.

My friend Melissa who I thought of this morning as a pulled a piece of wet cardboard from a lid in my sink and realized I wasn’t the only one completely icked out by wet cardboard.

My mother, who is incredibly patient and honest and has taught me wonderful attention to detail.

My dad, who is funny and alive and always exploring.

My brothers, and their loved ones, who are interesting and quirky and who accept me.

The list goes on and on and there are so many people that I didn’t list, but could.

Yes. Lots to be grateful for.

It was great to get a comment from the elusive MadV after my recent post about his new video – “We’re All in This Together”. I asked if he’d do an interview and he has. He talks about the inspiration behind “The Message”, what motivates his collaborative work, and why he re-staged his 2006 YouTube hit in HD. Here it  is.

Word of mouth marketing is usually associated with building consumer advocacy, but this week’s WOM UK Espresso Briefing looked at a more inward focused use of WOM: using the groundswell of consumer knowledge and enthusiasm as a research base to develop an adaptive brand planning strategy.

Head of Social Media and Planning for Face, Francisco D’Orazio, presented Research 3.0 to a packed east London room of agencies, brands and researchers all interested in the latest developments in the WOM industry. After half an hour’s coffee and networking, Fran explained how brands can use our participatory, real time and constantly changing culture to move research onto a whole new level.

He identified three key elements in the process. Companies must first learn to immerse themselves in the real time intelligence available in social media to build a picture of the emotions, intentions and actions of consumers. They can then use this to develop an insight journey, or feedback loop, which should be as short as possible in order for them to change quickly, according to the opinions evolving in the space.

The next step is to conduct collaborative research in two ways. First, a wider crowdsourcing project connects a number of relevant individuals and communities around problem-solving tasks which prompt both hypothesis validation and ideas generation for the brand’s marketing. Then a more focused co-creation stage gathers a select few opinion leaders to test the best ideas and nail down specific proposals for activity. Both strategies have limitations by themselves – crowdsourcing can be rather messy, impersonal and limited by confidentiality constraints, while co-creation can be too rigid and retains a few-to-many philosophy – but together they combine individual and group thinking, bottom and top down structures, to provide a nuanced and effective outcome. Check out Fran’s deck below for more detail.

This was a fresh and exciting concept for many in the room and there was some animated discussion afterwards, around where the collaborators come from (a mixture of Face’s own communities and per-project targeted voices), the tricky issue of reward (different incentives and payments are offered depending on the client), and the role of brand-sponsored WOM in skewing the real time intelligence (there was a general concensus that communities would remain self-regulating and analysis could take into account the dubious value of those paid-for opinions). It was great to see so many new faces, suggesting that WOM UK events are addressing issues a broad range of people are interested in.

If you think you might be one of them, keep an eye out for our next FREE Espresso Briefing – details soon.

Getting self-referential for a minute, I’ve talked here before about the tyranny of expensive space here in Singapore for startup creatives and also about the co-working space The Change You Want To See, in Williamsburg, NYC.

I know I go on about it a bit, but it’s a pet subject of mine. I was reading something in the paper today that included the term “building a renaissance city” and I’m sure people a block away heard me screaming from my balcony “they don’t come from blueprints, dipsticks!”.

I digress. Here’s some “I wish we had this here” eye-candy.

The Shelter is a government supported co-working space, which opened this year in Dubai.

For around $80 per month you get:

• ergonomic, flexible workspaces (with provided secretarial services)
• a cinema/auditorium for lectures and screenings
• a library housing over a thousand books on cultural and creative topics (including up to date reference texts)
• a small shop offering tools of the trade as well as design objects
• a brasserie offering affordable and healthful fare
• a garden, for much needed breaks from work

Imagine how valuable this is to small businesses trying to get started in creative industries, not to mention the kind of networking opportunities it must offer them.

pics (and facts) from Core 77

I am a little bit embarrassed about my love of reality TV but I have to be honest … I DO LOVE IT.

The more I watch, the more links I discover between reality tv culture and the work that we do at here Uscreates.

Reality Television happens when real people are given the opportunity to create great entertainment. In the same way, at Uscreates, we try and give people the opportunity to create great improvements and changes in their lives. For example, we have worked with community volunteers to co-create a cancer awareness campaign, we have worked with smokers to redesign stop smoking services and we have worked with young graffiti offenders to help write a graffiti policy.

What I love about user participation AND reality TV is that they are

• Surprising
• Emotional
• Inspiring

and

• Everyone learns along the way

And its not just me who thinks this. There are a number of organisations who are borrowing formats from reality tv to create opportunities to interact and create with people. Here are some examples I have come across:

X Factor for Inclusive Design Talent

Product designer Mike Woods conducted his own X Factor search for inclusive design talent. He defined the X-factor in product design as ‘I love it, I lust after it, I covet it, I would kill for it.’ Not surprisingly two of the three finalists in a design pitch to a panel of judges were inclusive sex toys. ‘Nothing quite prepared me for what I am learning at this workshop,’ remarked Include co-chair John Clarkson. However the workshop winner was a Reinclude swipe card, which redresses the balance between consumer and vendor by verifying the identity of the retailer.

RCA Include Newsletter 2009

Dragons Den and Journeys To Health

Timbank’s Journeys To Health initiative has adopted a Dragon’s Den style pitching format to identify and support innovative health, wellbeing and fitness projects which involve volunteers.

Big Brother and RANT BOX

Uscreates’ very own RANT BOX create a ‘Diary Room’ style space to provide audiences with the opportunity to share their thoughts, opinions and ideas on film. The RANT BOX has been used to speak to young people about graffiti, teenage pregnancy and healthy weight.

Who wants to be

The People Speak have created a fantastic democratic game show called Who wants to be. the The audience pay £10 each for a ticket, and then collectively decide what to spend the money on.

(Please contribute more examples that you know over by clicking on the comments link at the top of this post.)

BUT we must remember that there is a darker side to reality tv. The questions around exploiting contestants and participants are plenty and were brought to a head when 10 year old Hollie Steel broke down in tears in front of millions during her performance on Britain’s Got Talent. Whats more, the now internationally famous Susan Boyles ended up in rehab after her final appearance on the show.

If we are to borrow and learn from reality tv to engage and involve audiences we must also learn from, and improve on, its mistakes to ensure we positively support citizens in bringing about change, rather than using citizens to fulfil our change agendas.

On Wednesday I was lucky to be at a Paris screening of the seminal documentary – “Chronique d’un Ete” (“Chronicle of a Summer”) which was being shown, almost fifty years after it was made in 1960, to a gathering including the co-producer Edgar Morin and two of the original participants – Marceline Loridan-Ivens and Nadine Ballot.

I was in Paris for a conference, Le Projet Jean Rouch? (The Jean Rouch Project?) which looked at the legacy of the pioneering French anthropological film maker Jean Rouch, who died in 2004. (The conference papers I refer to later in this piece are available as pdfs on the conference website).  Rouch is a figure I’ve been interested in since the ’80s when I was alerted to his work by Michael Eaton who wrote the first English language Rouch study . I interviewed Rouch in ‘91 for a BBC Late Show special about documentary, and his ideas have influenced the way I’ve thought about work I’ve produced since – in particular BBC 2’s Video Nation.

Rouch started making anthropological films in West Africa after the Second World War, having gone there before the war as an engineer, and embarked on a body of work which, while it drew on the past – Rouch sited film makers Vertov and Flaherty in particular as influences – was highly innovative and still feels fresh today. Imagine a film in which two young men from rural Niger enact their own story of trying to survive in the unfamiliar modern urban surroundings of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, narrated by one of them – in the persona of Edward G Robinson. That’s “Moi un Noir” – 1958. Or picture an African on the streets of Paris conducting an anthropological study –  persuading passers-by to let him measure their heads and inspect their mouths. Not “Meet the Natives” – 2007, but Rouch’s “Petit a Petit” – 1969, featuring Rouch’s long-time friend and collaborator Damoure Zika.

Rouch is interesting for a number of reasons. In terms of content, he took anthropology into the African city, pointed to the contemporary content of ritual, and to the growing influence of American culture in everyday life and fantasy in post-war West Africa. But he saw filming not as some kind of documentation but as a form of engagement in which the camera is a catalyst, a player. He wanted to get right inside the world he was filming – “to get rid of one’s own systems of thought, to better understand other peoples’ thoughts” – and this is expressed in his films through first person, subjective narration. Film-making for Rouch was a collaborative process in which film-maker and participants jointly create meaning, a project he called ‘shared anthropology’. I was in Paris because I’m interested in how this idea of shared anthropology might be deployed in the development of collaborative documentary practice today. I was also there because I’m taking Jean Rouch’s 1960 film “Chronicle of a Summer” as the starting point for a collaborative piece I’m going to be producing half a century later in 2010.

At the screening on Wednesday, Edgar Morin described how “Chronicle of a Summer” came about after a conversation in which he proposed that Rouch turn his anthropological eye on the people of Paris. (Morin’s account brought to mind the genesis of the British Mass Observation project which similarly arose out of a dialogue about ‘bringing anthropology home’ – in that case between anthropologist Tom Harrisson, filmmaker Humphrey Jennings and journalist Charles Madge. This parallel was explored in a conference presentation by Elena von Kassel Siambini the morning after the screening.)

The film that emerged from Rouch and Morin’s discussion involved one of the first uses of 16mm handheld camera and sync sound. This technology was by no means off-the-shelf. The filming was very experimental technically and it took a development process across the shooting period to achieve reliable sync, as Vincent Bouchard and Severine Graff explained in their conference papers. Rouch’s ’50s films were shot silent with narration added afterwards. What he was striving for was a handheld set-up flexible enough to film spontaneous speech in real-life settings. As subject matter Rouch and Morin settled on the everyday life of “the tribe of people living in Paris”, their brief; “What is your life? Are you happy?” Their film unfolds as a disparate group of people consider those questions from different perspectives during the course of the summer of 1960. The film reveals French society in a process of change – divided over the repression of the independence movement in Algeria, living with the legacy of the Occupation, with class, race and identity in debate. At the same time the film is an investigation into this new spontaneous filming method, a reflection on the ethics and aesthetics of documentary still  relevant today.

I didn’t understand much of the Q & A at the Paris screening as my French is rudimentary, and there wasn’t any translation, but I did make out Edgar Morin relating that a young man who’d recently seen “Chronicle of a Summer” had summarised it as;“…a reality show, with a critical dimension.” It was an apt observation. The unfolding of events and feelings on camera, the “pro-filmic event” as Rouch called it, that was key to his film-making, is these days a crucial ingredient  in reality TV, with Big Brother acting as the catalyst to ensure that something does happen. You can see Rouch as the provocateur in this clip from “Chronicle of a Summer”. It’s not my favourite sequence – Rouch’s interventions seem heavy-handed out of context and without the “critical dimension” that is crucial to the film. But the sequence does give a flavour of “Chronicle of a Summer”, and it’s the only clip available on You Tube. So here it is.

In 2010, on the fiftieth anniversary of  ”Chronicle of a Summer”, I’m planning to revisit the questions that Rouch and Morin posed in their film, to try and start a conversation about contemporary life and values. I’ll use the web as the platform, and want to involve diverse participants from around the world, bringing together distributed responses – in video and stills, combined perhaps with some form of data visualisation. While Rouch and Morin’s 1960 film investigated the potential of the new handheld sync sound filming, “The Happiness Project” (working title) will investigate the potential for participatory online documentary. There are lots of challenges, and issues to work through regarding how to go about. At the heart of my investigation is the question of how to combine peoples’ recordings to tell a larger story – in a form that works on the web, and is editorially satisfying.

I’m not the first person to be experimenting with collaborative documentary by any means – there have been some really interesting creative responses already in this space – including work by Kutiman and MadV on You Tube, and Brett Gaylor’s “RiP! A Remix Manifesto” - an important, entertaining feature documentary that’s currently winning lots of prizes at Film Festivals (and will be the subject of my next post). In producing “The Happiness Project” as practice-based research, I get to build on what others have done, experiment, and share my findings. I’ll be posting here about the project as it develops, inviting people to get involved, and and reflecting on what works and what doesn’t.

Rouch didn’t see the explosion of non-professional video content that has happened on You Tube – he died just a few months before the service launched. But he did anticipate the age of participatory media. Back in 1973 he wrote; “Tomorrow will be the time of completely portable colour video, video editing, and instant replay… and of a camera that can so totally participate that it will automatically pass into the hands of those who, until now, have always been in front of the lens.” I hope that “The Happiness Project” might contribute a new dimension to shared anthropology, by developing ways for those who have “always been in front of the lens” to tell their collective stories.

Postscript ~ Rouch is a contested, at times contradictory figure and if you’re curious about him I’d urge you to read beyond this brief introduction. As a brief overview Michael Eaton’s terrific obituary piece is a must. The diverse perspectives of “Building Bridges” open up the complexity of Rouch’s work.  Rouch’s relationship to Africa has been subject to critique by, among others, Manthia Diawara in  “Rouch in Reverse” . Steven Feld’s  “Cine-Ethnography” which I’ve drawn on here, is a rich resource of Rouch’s own writing.  A new book - “The Adventure of the Real; Jean Rouch and the Craft of Ethnographic Cinema” by Paul Henley sounds promising.

Back from the wonderful ESOMAR Qualitative 2009 conference in Marrakech I would like to share our presentation with everybody interested in “Human-Centred Innovation” and “interdisciplinary Innovation”.

This presentation provides insight into the open innovation and co-creation idea and describes a human-centred innovation approach with respect to the changing roles of market research and product design outlining the potentials of merging different techniques and competencies of the two disciplines “Market Research” and “Product Design” in order to align products and services along consumers’ wants and needs. The increased importance of strong interdisciplinary (internal) collaboration of researchers and designers for being successful in open innovation is emphasized. Only the combination of external co-creation and internal collaboration make open innovation programs successful.

We also show how interdisciplinary innovation research projects can be supported with adequate research methods (like Netnography, Lead User Method, Crowdsourcing and Co-Creation toolkits) that create actionable results for all involved stakeholders. The importance of this close collaboration of market research and product design is shown by means of a selected case study. The presented diggit backpack case is closely connected with the foundation of HYVE and our concept of an innovation agency.

More detailed information as well as another more methodological-oriented case can be found here in the related ESOMAR paper.

Despite the fact that the literature on strategic planning has diminished considerably in the last fifteen years or so, still most organisations do it. So argues a recent article in the Journal of Management Studies by Jarzabkowski and Balogun. It has become what GH Mead would term a social object, and in terms of the social game of organisational practice lots of people do it because lots of people do it. Strategic planning still has its academic adherents, but probably the scholar who has done most to drive a stake through its heart is the Canadian academic Henry Mintzberg. With his two books The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning and  Strategy Safari the second written with two colleagues, he has done more than most to call the practice into question.

Equally Ralph Stacey, from a complexity perspective, has argued that strategic planning must serve some other purpose than being a means of predicting and controlling since they so signally fail to do so in an unpredictable world.  Most organisations seem to get by despite their strategic plans rather than because of them. At his most laconic Stacey has considered strategic plans to be like an organisational rain dance.

So what is going on in organisations when people are trying to plan strategically and what kind of thinking do they get caught up in?

Firstly, and perhaps most notably post economic crisis, it seems to have caught on that the future is unpredictable. So managers in an organisation that I was working with recently realised that to attempt a ten year plan as they had done, meant that they could only indulge in the most general of intentions and predictions. Intentionality is important if staff are to feel that together they can act in the world and not just be acted upon. As Hannah Arendt has noted, to dispose of the future as though it were the present does bring an enlarged sense of purpose. But to be too precise about these predictions and intentions is to tempt fate, or to appear overbearing, particularly if those intentions involve the well-being of other people. So the document itself  was described as a kind of organisational lodestone, or North star. It had to be convincing enough, but not prescriptive. So strategic planning is partly about the group’s ‘we’ identity and people’s sense of their collective ability to act with purpose.

Secondly there is a tension around clarity versus complexity, which is often expressed in visual or spatial metaphors. On the one hand staff will need to feel that they ‘know where the organisation is going’ can see ‘the big picture’, or ‘how the organisations is positioned”. Clarity will often involve leaving out a lot of the detail, abstracting and generalising, which can only be done drawing on a rich and complex hinterland. On the other hand, once staff read the document they will want to recognise themselves in it. This will often evoke the kinds of strong feelings around identity and values that the practice of leadership also provokes. So some staff will sometimes argue for putting some of the complexity back in – where am I and my department in this? Many strategy documents get caught up in these contradictory processes: there will be clear simplifications which once achieved will then call out strong calls for recomplexification. So strategic planning is partly about knowing how, or even if you belong, about recognition and mutual recognition. Who gets included and excluded from this document, and on what basis?

If staff in an organisation have intentions to bring about change for the good, yet have to express these intentions very broadly for reasons that they have framed them over a ten year period, then how will they know that they have made the changes they aspire to? There is a temptation here to get drawn into talking about outcomes, even ‘measuring outcomes’. But how would you then measure an outcome, which implies precision, if your intentions are rather general? Again, managers can get caught up in what feel like contradictory pressures to measure general intentions specifically. There is a temptation to borrow from scientific vocabulary to shore up the concept and to talk of baselines, indicators, qualitative and quantitative data. Stakeholders would need to be convinced that the organisation meant what it said. Strategic planning, then is partly about credibility and about being able to demonstrate seriousness of purpose.

As an experiment we tried to abandon the spatial and visual metaphors and tried out the idea of thinking of the strategy as a narrative. A good narrative is one which is convincing, pleasing, interesting and you can broadly anticipate what will happen next. You can recognise it as a good narrative. At the same time as wanting to predict what will happen, we may also want to be surprised, so there is room for novelty and innovation. A narrative can be a moral tale, tailored to specific audiences and improved with the telling.

Perhaps that one of the reasons that organisations continue to undertake strategic planning is as a form of organisational narrative. It is a social and collective practice which provides a means of describing intention and articulating identity. Staff have the opportunity to recognise themselves as actors in the story, which they will have contributed to, and which is often one of high moral purpose and heroic ambition.

At the same time, the narrative is likely to evoke strong feelings in both the narrators and the listeners who will try to influence each other in the creation of the story and how it is to be played out. Rivalries and conflicts will arise as people struggle to co-operate. There is a lot at stake in this bid to dispose of the future as though it were the present in a narrative that we continue to co-create.

Sapient Interactive is the largest independent interactive agency in the world.

Sapient Interactive is the type of agency that inspires individuals to keep pressing forward.  They purposefully activate engagement between brands and people on a global scale.  By optimizing the digital space, Sapient drives co-creation and ROI on the web.  In other words, their fingerprints linger around the globe.

This type of progressive behavior is exactly the environment where humans, art and advertising thrive.  One would be miserable working for a business focused solely on their own interests – never offering any real solutions for the world’s problems.  Our world is diverse and our advertising has the power and influence to directly affect many people.  Sapient provides their clients with intelligent solutions to their problems. They work with large brands that change history.

Laura McFarlane, VP/strategy at Sapient

Their willingness to step into the digital space and try new things is noteworthy.  Laura McFarlane, a global strategist for Sapient, said, “If brands show real transparency and authenticity [in the digital space], then consumers are forgiving.”  This company isn’t scared to fail.  With this approach comes immense respect.

Can you imagine McFarlane’s day-to-day?  She’s holds powerful data in her hands with the ability to predict patterns and trends years in advance.  She travels around the world to meet with prominent figures in other countries like an ambassador.  What a thrilling job!

Just like The Long Tail suggests Sapient focuses on co-creation.  Strategy teams find ways for brand enthusiasts to connect with the brands they love through the technologies they’re already using.  McFarlane’s use of “sentiment mapping” is particularly interesting.  She is able to look geographically at social media outlets to map emotions of towns and even entire countries.  Based on a town’s level of happiness brands can interact accordingly.  For example, 57 percent of the town has tweeted that it’s been “a hard day at work.”  Applebee’s digital media can now respond effectively in real time – “We know it’s been a hard day at work, so we’re offering you a $5 savings for dinner tonight.”  This kind of interaction for brands is revolutionary.

The Internet has a powerful and profound effect on the way we live.  Sapient is harnessing that power to provide their clients with real benefits.  They are searching and researching paths that lead to human connection.  They may be doing the unheard-of, but you can bet Sapient will impact your life in the days to come.

Verschillende Co-creatie vragen kunnen verschillende co-creatie strategieën betekenen. Om de kansen van open innovatie goed te benutten kan er per tijdstip, fase ontwikkeling en benodigde kennis uit waardeketen verschillende acties en middelen worden ingezet.

Een onderverdeling in Co-creatie is te maken door de grootte van de benodigde crowd en de tijdsduur van interesse. Zo wil je dat op Wikipedia een grote groep mensen informatie vastlegt. En dat een bezoeker binnen enkele minuten een antwoord weet op zijn vraag. Bij innocentive zijn de deelnemers wetenschappers, een veel kleinere groep. Bij sommige vragen zal het vinden van de oplossing uren of langer duren.
De grootte van de benodigde crowd is onder te verdelen in:

• Macrocrowd; een anonieme crowd zonder een gemene deler. Deze crowd is ongrijpbaar en zeer organisch in omvang en samenstelling. Voorbeelden zijn Facebook, linkedin deelnemers en bijdragers Wikipedia. Deze corwd heeft met vooral indirect belang bij het deelnemen aan de crowd.
• Mesocrowd. Deze crowd heeft zeker één gemene deler waarmee ze eenvoudig gekenmerkt kunnen worden. De groep is nog wel te groot om in één keer en tegelijkertijd gemobiliseerd te kunnen worden. Wel zijn er momenten of plekken waar deze mesocrowd aantoonbaar aanwezig is. Bijvoorbeeld industrial designers zijn aanwezig op de Dutch design week of studenten die zich verzamelen als crowd op Battle of Concepts.
• Microcrowd; deze crowd kan relatief eenvoudig aangewezen worden doordat ze verschillende kenmerken delen. Bijvoorbeeld de deelnemers aan een linkedingroep of de crowd dat een nieuwe wijk gaat ontwerpen. Deze deelnemers hebben veel meer een direct belang bij het deelnemen aan.

Naast de verdeling in grootte kan er onderscheid gemaakt worden in de tijd die men een bijdrage wil leveren aan een vraagstuk. Deze tijd is onder te verdelen in uren, minuten en dagen:

• Uren; om een bijdrage te kunnen leveren dient de vraag goed begrepen te worden en is het antwoord niet vanzelfsprekend.
• Minuten; er is enige tijd nodig om het antwoord goed te formuleren, visualiseren. Ook kan het zijn dat er een vragenreeks beantwoord dient te worden.
• Seconden; antwoord wordt intuïtief gegeven en soms is er geeneens een antwoord nodig. Het eenvoudig laten langskomen van een beeld/zin/fragment is voldoende om te prikkelen.

Per fase in het ontwikkeltraject en samenwerking in de waardeketen kunnen verschillende middelen worden ingezet.

Co-Creation von Produkten ist aufgrund aktuell verfuegbarer Technologien inzwischen ein Phaenomen, das immer weitere Kreise zieht, insbesondere unter Einbindung sozialer Netzwerke, wie sie in der “brand community”-Forschung beschrieben werden … mit entsprechenden Folgen in der Aussenwirkung.

“Relationship is the ultimate spiritual path, because it constantly presents us with the challenge to love and embrace in the very situations in which we’re most prone to shun and reject. For that reason, above all, relationship is the place where our spirituality most visibly comes to light.” ~ Gay Hendricks, The Big Leap

Isn’t that so true? I love it… J

I was struck by something as I read Dr. Hendricks’ great book, though. It is one thing to consider our relationships with our partners and other adults as “spiritual paths”, but what about our relationships with our kids. Have you ever considered parenting to be a spiritual practice?  (This is not a trick question! Please don`t feel `bad` if you haven`t!)

For all the mountains of expert parenting advice out there, this isn’t something that many people talk about it. (Although a couple lovely books do spring to mind ~ Motherhood as a Spiritual Practice by Patti Sinclair and Everyday Blessings by Jon and Myla Kabat-Zinn.) Intuitively, I feel that this is something in need of change. The time has come…  

I know I`ve said it before, but becoming a mom and making the commitment to approach my role in an intentional and open way really kick-started my spiritual evolution. From the first moment I held my wee daughter, I have felt, deep within my heart, that motherhood is a sacred profession. 

As mamas, we have the awesome ability to shape the future through the way we relate to our children. I don`t mean this in terms of simply bestowing knowledge or values upon our children. Rather, parenting can become a co-creative process where both parents and children are engaged in learning and evolving in love. When we can admit that we haven`t got all the answers and commit to working on our own stuff (healing the past, addressing limiting beliefs, not repeating unhealthy patterns etc…), we take the first step.

Kids give us the opportunity to embody the spiritual teachings of all wisdom traditions. Regardless of personal spiritual beliefs, as mamas we have the chance to practice: patience, forgiveness, unconditional love, trust, compassion, faith, charity, beginner mind, creativity, right speech etc…etc… 24/7.  When you really let that sink in, it is pretty darn cool. 

So, the next time your 2 year old is melting down in the grocery line rather than shunning the experience, embrace it as a spiritual `gift`.  Or whenever you are tempted to blurt out a less than compassionate phrase breathe and think, “right speech“. And, whenever you are not being your `best parent` be gentle to yourself and consider the art of self-love and compassion…. It is all spiritual practice.

Namaste.

Shannon

Aller on Pohjoismaiden suurin aikakauslehtikustantaja ja 7 päivää on Pohjoismaiden suurin viikkolehti. Silti bisneksemme ei ole lehtien myyminen. Emme myy tuotteita vaan palveluita. Emme myy lukijoille lehteä, vaan tarjoamme ihmisten elämään lisää arvoa, yhdessä lukijoiden kanssa.

Tärkeintä on ymmärtää asiakkaan käyttäytyminen ja tarpeet.  Kun pystymme tarjoamaan jotain arvokasta ihmisten elämään, menestymme. Tämä ei ole mahdollista, jollemme kuuntele asiakkaitamme. Normaalit markkinatutkimukset eivät enää riitä, vaan yrityksen tulee olla oikeasti aktiivinen kuuntelija ja keskustelija. Vuorovaikutus tuleekin olemaan yhtä tärkeä osa tarjontaamme kuin lehtemme ja palvelumme. Annamme yrityksemme resurssit asiakkaidemme haltuun, jotta heidän elämänsä olisi entistä rikkaampi.

Sosiaalinen media on mullistanut maailmaa ja se mullistaa myös yritysten käyttäytymistä. Sosiaalisessa mediassa ei pädekään enää samat pelisäännöt kuin toimistolla. Jos sosiaalinen media nähdään uhkana, se on sama kuin kääntäisi asiakkailleen selkänsä.  Sen takia yritysten tulee mennä sinne missä asiakkaat ovat, sitoutua kestävään vuorovaikutussuhteeseen ja luoda yhdessä uutta.

Wiki: Co-creation
Google Books: The service-dominant logic of marketing: dialog, debate, and directions
Hanken: Grönroos (Marketing of services)

Second step into the Master Mind Consciousness

Last week, I talked about what a Master Mind Group is and the first step into Master Mind consciousness. The first step is surrender. The second step is to Believe.

I believe in cooperation and co-creation with the Master Mind, a power greater than any other aspect of my self, my life can be changed.

In my case, I have a willingness to allow help and guidance from the Master Mind. I believe that my success is a cooperative effort and allowing the energy greater than myself to work for me and through me is essential to my life. As I move through this world more elegantly it’s in joint connection with the Master Mind.

Co-creation is also a belief that I create no alone but with the influence of the Master Mind. My part in the creation is in my thoughts, feelings and actions. The Master Mind brings the opportunities to fulfill my desires and goals.

Creating a relationship with the Master Mind is about connection with that source energy that holds everything. Some people call it God, source, all that is and the Universe. The energy is cooperative and works through me to create whatever I desire.

In order to get into the energy of the Master Mind, first surrender and second believe. You are on your way to accessing the most powerful creative force in the Universe. Next week, I will talk about the third and fourth steps.

For nothing is more important than your alignment
nothing is more important than your focus on thoughts and feeling of love
and nothing is more important than your focusing on bringing out the light within you
letting it expand from your heart center throughout your body and releasing that vibrational love into everything you do
into your surroundings
into that which you put thought into
for there is nothing more important than your alignment
there is nothing more important than you focus on thoughts and feelings of love
know that you are on this journey to completely immerse yourself in becoming love
feeling love
giving love
being that which inspires
being inspired
enjoying every breath
every moment
this life is possible for you
if you would let go and recognize that you must give into the vibrational energy of love at all times
it is in you at all times
around you at all times
but you have to align with it at all times in order to fully experience it
do not let you mind by misguided by distracting thoughts
and feelings that tell you things are not OK
that take you into a state of discomfort
disease
and uncertainty
know that in every moment you have access to joy and peace
that fulfills
you have access to every good thing
and you are always provided with what is best and highest in any given moment
due to cause and effect
if you choose actions
there must be balance in return
your choices are important to the degree that you choose that which is aligned with what is best and highest for all CONCERNED
IN ORDER TO RECEIVE THE FULL JOY AND BLISS AVAILABLE TO YOU
DO NOT SECOND GUESS THIS
DO NOT SECOND GUESS YOU CONNECTION
DO NOT SECOND GUESS WHETHER YO ARE TRULY AN EXTENSION OF SOURCE
FOR THIS IS TRUTH
THIS IS SO
THIS IS SOMETHING YOU ARE ABLE TO EXPERIENCE ON EVERY LEVEL
IF YOU WOULD BUT LET GO OF YOUR CONDITIONED THINKING
OPEN YOUR MIND AND HEART TO RECEIVE THE GUIDANCE WHICH ABOUNDS ALL AROUND YOU AT EVERY MOMENT
KNOW THAT THIS LOVE IS SO STRONG AND POTENT
IT WOULD NEVER LEAVE YOU WITHOUT THE SOLUTIONS YOU SEEK
KNOW THAT THIS LOVE IS SO POTENT and strong
that it created you to experience all good
created you to learn the valuable lessons of WHAT CO-CREATION CAN MEAN
IN HUMAN FORM
EXPLORING AND EXPANDING YOUR DIVINE NATURE
LETTING GO OF LIMITS AND BECOMING THAT WHICH YOU MOST DESIRE
TO BE
THAT WHICH YOUR HIGHEST SELF IS
YES
NOW UNDERSTAND THAT YOU HEAR ALL SORTS OF THINGS
TO DESCRIBE THE NATURE OF YOUR LIFE
BUT ALL THAT TRULY MATTERS IS YOU ALIGNING TO EXPERIENCE YOUR UNFOLDMENT
THE IDEAS ABOUT YOUR UNFOLDMENT
ARE SIMPLY NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO ASSIST YOU IN BECOMING YOUR TRUE AUTHENTICATE SELF
YOU MUST EMBODY THROUGH EXPERIENCE
YOU MUST UNFOLD THROUGH BEING
YOU MUST TAKE WHAT IS SAID WHAT IS LEARNED
WHAT IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY SOURCE THROUGH SO MANY DIFFERENT CHANNELS
AND YOU MUST PRACTICE ALIGNING WITH THE TRUTH OF YOUR LIFE
DISCOVER EVEN MORE TRUTH BY GOING WITHIN AND BECOMING THAT WHICH YOU MOST DESIRE TO BE
THE MOST FULFILLING THING YOU CAN DO WITH YOUR LIFE IS ALIGN AND ALLOW YOUR LIFE TO UNFOLD AS SOURCE CREATED IT TO
YOU ARE A CO-CREATION AS AN EXTENSION OF SOURCE
YES
AND A CO-CREATOR
YOU ARE HERE TO DO ALL THAT IS DEEPEST IN YOUR HEART
TAKE THE TIME TO DISCOVER WHAT IS DEEPEST IN YOUR HEART
YOUR HEART’S DESIRES ARE NOT JUST THE DESIRES YOU TYPICALLY THINK ABOUT IN YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS
THOSE MATERIAL DESIRES, ETC.
YOUR HEART’S DESIRES ARE DEEPER
MORE VISCERAL
MORE FUNDAMENTAL TO THE NATURE OF LIFE
KNOW THAT YOU WILL BENEFIT GREATLY ALIGNING AND DECIDING TO UNDERSTAND THOSE DESIRE MORE EACH DAY
TAKE TIME OUT OF YOUR DAY TO BE STILL
GO WITHIN
AND DETERMINE WHAT YOUR HEART DESIRES MOST NOW
LET NOTHING STOP YOU FROM BEING WHO YOU ARE HERE TO BE
KNOW THAT THIS IS MORE THAN JUST A TEST
THIS IS MORE THAN JUST A JOURNEY
THIS IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO EXPERIENCE EVERYTHING YOU DESIRE
TO EXPERIENCE THE MOST INCREDIBLE UNFOLDING YOU COULD IMAGINE
ALLOW IT TO HAPPEN AND ENJOY EVERY MOMENT AS BEST YOU CAN
PRACTICE WILL MAKE IT BETTER AND BETTER
YES

- Morning stream of consciousness writing from John Stringer

Sign up to get these messages delivered to your email athttp://snipurl.com/myrn

Why a TAO Metaversity?  Because there is a re-evolution going on – now.  The world is presently moving through a major shift and all aspects of life are changing with it.   The work people do, the way they live together, how they relate to one another and how they see their role in society and place in the universe is changing.  Humanity cannot continue to resolve twenty-first century dilemmas with first-century guidelines.

Providing answers for you at the TAO Metaversity Meeting,

One World Cafe, 4 pm, on the 19th of November.

Until then Expect a Miracle, Wendy

TAO Metaversity Site your invited to learn more~

The Age of Information

Hi!

I am now writing as a co-ordinator for Sweden as a part of a Global Youth Panel with 1000 youths from 100 countries. It is a project organized by debatewise.org, and by the British Council is purpose of involving more youths in the questions that arises from the COP15, the UN:s global Climate Summit in Copenhagen in december this year. We will discuss one or two topics each day and every country have a co-ordinator and 10-20 people to represent their country’s stance for the COP15.

I am very excited because I think this is a step towards the future where more young people is having their say in political and environmental questions.I think many of the youths participating in this Panel will be the leaders of tomorrow.

Why Global Youth Panel?
– It’s about to care about the nature and to expand your relationship to the human being through this Age of Information!

I know that a general problem among youths today is that we are sitting too much in front of screens. Hopefully, this will lead to a greater view and a way of getting to know more people on our planet. Hopefully this will raise the awareness among Youths to be more conscious of what problems and walls our politicians is facing in these times of crisis. Hopefully we will start to question this old system and to create our own reality.

HOPEFULLY WE WILL MOVE TOWARDS A SHARED REALITY WHERE YOUTHS FEEL JOY AND RESPONSIBILITY  TO CO-CREATE THE NEW WORLD.
A NEW WORLD CHARACTERIZED BY COLLABORATION, PEACE AND UNDERSTANDING.
Links:

DEBATEWISE: http://debatewise.com/

GLOBAL YOUTH PANEL: http://www.debatewise.info/index.php/polling/cop15

Check out our Co-Creation presentation on the Swarovski Case, my colleague Volker gave at the ESOMAR Online Research Conference in Chicago. Still one of my favorite projects.

You can pray
Or be the prayer

Sing
Or be the song

Ask the searching questions
Or live the unmistakable answers in every moment

You were placed here for a purpose beyond all purpose
A hope beyond all hope
You are the very breath of Creation
And the unfolding of Eternity

Nothing is about you
And everything is

Nothing is certain
Save the unequivocal certainty of the here and now

You own nothing because you are the All
Need nothing because within you lies the completeness of never-ending Love
And the promise of humanity’s everlasting freedom

You can talk the talk and walk the talk
Until that unmissable moment that you become the talk

You are the message, the prophecy,
 The incantations and the psalms
The ritual is your beating heart
The absolution, the blood coursing through your veins
Your eyes speak the benediction with every blink

No longer must you see yourself
a lowly pawn in the grand game

No longer need you wait, candle in hand,
For the apparition made manifest

The temple lies within you!
Through your holy mouth enter the willing
And return the newly born.

This morning, I was talking with God, and he said, “So, what’s the deal with you?”

Remember, every question from God is rhetorical. Every last one.

And I said, “Oh, you know, writer’s block from working on that damn accounting project.”

I’ve been spending the last year removing myself from marketing gigs, making my job as a pet psychic / intuitive guidance counselor / teacher / writer / etc.  pay for the mortgage and such.

And it’s going pretty well, but not so well that I am dropping my last big client.

So God said, “I thought you were going to drop that.”

And I whined, “I can’t. I can’t. I gave my word that I’d write this paper.”

So God and I came to an agreement. He would help me write this stuff, or at least get the situation to change so that I didn’t feel compelled to write this stuff, and I would send a message out to the world on his behalf.

Here’s God’s Guest Blog:

God loves you.  Deeply.  More than you can imagine.

You take things too seriously.

You’re here to learn about compassion and love.

That includes loving yourself.

So do it.

Sometimes I wonder where I get the big ovaries to strike bargains with God.  The Dude could squish me like a bug.  He likes me though, and I’m mostly willing to listen, and in this world, I guess that’s pretty good.

Gotta Go- Me and God are writing about investment management tonight.

Nous avons eu le plaisir de recevoir le dernier livre d’Eric Seulliet co-auteur, avec Pierre Musso et Laurent Ponthou, de “Fabriquer le Futur 2, l’imaginaire au service de l’innovation “.

Le postulat de cette bible de 300 pages sur l’innovation est simple : l’imaginaire permet de renouveler la question de l’innovation car la R&D traditionnelle commencer à toucher ses limites en matière d’innovation de rupture.

Les débuts du livre restent très scolaires, avec les différentes définitions de l’innovation.
Tout d’abord selon Schumpeter :
- La fabrication d’un nouveau produit
- La mise en place d’une nouvelle méthode
- La découverte d’un nouveau débouché
- L’utilisation de nouvelles matières premières
- …
Puis son évolution selon l’impulsion de Norbert Alter :
- Innovation ordinaire
- Innovation de tous les jours (les astuces des employés)
- Innovation incrémentale de la R & D
- Innovation stratégique ou de rupture, proche de l’invention.

L’ouvrage se divise ensuite en 3 parties, écrites par chacun des 3 co-auteurs :
- Partie 1 : L’imaginaire & l’innovation, avec la théorie de l’innovation et de l’imaginaire.
- Partie 2 : Comment débrider son imaginaire, avec des méthodes pour être créatif.
- Partie 3 : Les acteurs de l’imaginaire dans l’entreprise, avec des exemples concrets d’innovation et des méthodes appliquées.

Partie 1 : Imaginaire et Innovation

Cette partie du livre tente de définir l’imaginaire et l’innovation en général, puis plus particulièrement dans le cadre de l’entreprise, avec de nombreux exemples illustrés.
Pierre Musso indique que dans l’entreprise l’imaginaire et l’innovation peuvent être influencés par les rapports d’études (internes & externes), les articles des journalistes et autres écrivains (romanciers, cinéastes…), la publicité sur d’autres produits…

Pour innover il faut sortir du cadre, en oubliant et en remettant en cause la nature des choses comme Magritte le fait avec ses œuvres comme le tableau “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” .

Il est nécessaire de décloisonner la pensée et voir l’innovation partout où elle se trouve et non pas uniquement dans son secteur d’activité.

Partie 2 : Comment débrider son imaginaire ?

Laurent Ponthou présente différents outils et méthodes pour débrider son imaginaire pour utiliser “l’angle mort” et les extrapolations des utilisations d’un produit.

Laurent insiste néanmoins sur le fait que l’innovation n’est pas sans risque car selon la Revue Française du Marketing 95% des nouveaux produits sont des échecs commerciaux.

Un des secrets pour réussir son innovation étant de pousser les tests et les interactions avec les clients au plus tôt du processus de création du produit avant que les coûts et les contraintes de production ne soient trop importants pour faire évoluer le concept.

Une innovation réussie c’est aussi utiliser les bonnes technologies, et pour cela il faut se fonder sur la diffusion des technologies, comme le présente par exemple le Gartner Group :

L’ouvrage donne ensuite quelques exemples d’innovations et des succès et échecs qu’elles ont rencontrées (Post It, Bétamax…).

Au niveau de l’innovation, une étude a montré que les consommateurs sont convaincus part :
1 – La production d’un avantage.
2 – La supériorité ou l’unicité.
3 – La réponse à un besoin latent non résolu.

Pour sortir un produit innovant il est nécessaire de mettre un Marketing Pull, c’est-à-dire qui répond aux demandes des clients.

L’auteur explique ensuite quelques méthodes pour stimuler la créativité :
- Etudes prospectives.
- Démarches combinatoires (décomposer un usage).
- Démarches associatives pour glisser d’une idée à l’autre.
- Démarches analogiques pour reprendre les idées d’ailleurs et les transposer à son secteur.
- L’enrichissement en partant d’une idée pour aller au concept
- L’observation des clients.

Au niveau des process créatifs la démarche de réflexion peut se faire via des groupes, des tasks forces, des laboratoires, faire appel à des externes (artistes…)…

En plus de la démarche de réflexion en elle-même, Laurent indique qu’il est très important de prendre en compte la prospective, c’est-à-dire anticiper l’évolution des mentalités.

Par exemple l’évolution actuelle des consommateurs qui sont plus anxieux vis-à-vis du futur, avec une baisse de l’attrait de la performance technique, et au contraire le besoin d’être rassuré.

Le livre comprend ensuite une analyse des innovations qui vont influencer notre futur :
- La maison intelligente
- Les objets technologiques nomades
- La robotique
- L’information émotionnelle
- …

Partie 3 : Les acteurs de l’imaginaires dans l’entreprise

Cette partie écrite par Eric Seulliet présente des exemples concrets de processus d’innovation dans des entreprises françaises.

Le développement durable est d’ailleurs abordé dans le cadre de l’évolution des technologies au travers de l’éco-conception, mais également la co-création où cette fois c’est la communauté qui participer à la réflexion sur l’innovation.

L’évolution des départements R&D est également largement introduite, via l’adaptation aux demandes et attentes des clients. Des interviews de spécialistes de l’innovation permettent de donner un caractère concret aux différentes solutions d’innovation mises en place dans les entreprises.

L’importance du design est particulièrement soulignée, via de nombreuses pages et exemples :

L’ouvrage se termine avec une présentation des nouvelles voies pour l’innovation :
- Le numérique (3D, simulations…) qui viennent bouleverser les habitudes des R&D et les processus d’innovation (test via des maquettes, mises en situation…).
- La diversification des profils pour bénéficier de différentes visions et idées.
- Les nouveaux formats d’innovation moins structurés comme par exemples les Barcamps.

Le livre se conclue en affirmant que les départements R&D doivent se remettre en question et évoluer vers les RAID (Recherche Anticipation Innovation et Développement) qui répondent mieux aux enjeux futurs de l’innovation.

Au final le livre “Fabriquer le Futur 2″ est un bon ouvrage à consulter pour ceux qui veulent donner une nouvelle impulsion à leur R&D. Les exemples concrets et les très nombreuses interviews vont à coup sûr donner des données particulièrement innovantes aux lecteurs pour optimiser leur processus créatifs.

L’écriture à 6 mains est une bonne idée, car le livre peut très bien se lire d’une traite, ou uniquement selon un des 3 chapitres, sachant que la première partie reste très théorique avec les concepts d’innovation et d’imaginaire.

On aurait certes apprécié un peu plus de structure dans l’ouvrage, mais le foisonnement d’idées permet justement de donner libre cours à sa propre imagination.

Le livre “Fabriquer le Futur 2″ est disponible au prix de 24,70 € au lieu de 26 € sur Amazon.

This provided some welcome (yet unproductive) distraction from working through the presentation layup.

What will those kids think up next…

How we can evolve Co-Creation

For me, co-creation is how we need to work in the future to co-exist in a sustainable way. Before I can find my place in this process of mind shift that will happen in the next few years, I need to go back and see why I was born. According to the Gregorian calendar I was born the 25^th of April 1990. What does that tell me? Why do I need to know this?

According to the Mayan calendar, I am born at 9^th Kan. There are 13 sacred day tones and 20 sacred day signs. The 9^th day tone is ruled by Aztec, the god of light. The day represents patience, perseverance and completion. Persons born at those days tones have the ability to see the whole picture of things, in all aspects in life. With this energy they will have easier to undertake projects and complete them as completion is crucial for these people. If completion is not attained, suffering and pain will be present for them.

Kan means Seed and it carries a sensual Southern energy. Sensuality, family, sexual activity and the magic germination are the characteristics of this sign. The Seed was, considered by the Maya,  the sign that controls the sexual force of the body. Seeds are natural networkers and public defenders that easily find their place in communities. They work toward uniting individuals and communities by uncovering hidden deceptions and secret influences of others. They strive to liberate themselves and others from regularly operate through patterns of the past. That is how they plant new seeds or become seeds themselves. In the lack of gratefulness and the courage to face oneself, Seed finds itself in less fertile environments. To create true prosperity, the Seed must learn to appreciate all the gifts and lessons it receives to direct this learning deep into oneself. There he will be able to find the purpose of the unknown which often causes pain and suffering.

He will create the unknown that we intend to trust upon in the future. It will be a social space in which people will gather to co-create the future characterized by peace, justice and joy.

The space I intend to create is only based on assumptions from the future, not through past experience. The guide I will follow is the one of Pleiadeans – the name given to what are said to be a group of extraterrestrials from the Pleiades star cluster in the constellation Taurus, approximately 400 light years from Earth. Some refer to them as Nordic aliens. Their home planet is said to be called Erra, and various descriptions of their appearance have been given by those who claim to have been in contact with them. [Wikipedia]

Ik, in common Mayan usage, means air, wind. Its energy brings the qualities of presence, truth, connection and co-creation with spirit, and the integration of polarity.

Tone 10 holds the purpose and intent for manifestation. It is the foundation of the essence self expressing its full identity.

White is the color of the North. Its element is air. Its vehicle of expression is the mind.

So, the message for today is:

You are whole, complete, and perfect. Go be you in the world and enjoy co-creating with Spirit.