Some of what I said to Randy Richmond for his essay about London’s identity doesn’t quite ring true to me a month after I said it (my fault, not his), but it isn’t wrong either. [Read this if you're interested in the conversation. It's not at the finished stage of, like, "10 things you need to [...]
Tagged as:
attraction,
cities,
hipsters,
identity,
ldnont,
vision,
youth,
youth culture
Revitalizing downtown is an ever-relevant topic in London, as I’m sure it is in most cities. (There may be cities where downtown isn’t an important part of the story; those are cities I don’t want to live in.) Last night we had a bit of a thing here as part of Downtown London and the [...]
Tagged as:
cities,
downtown,
heritage,
history,
location,
mobile,
planning,
poverty,
strategy,
transit,
urban design,
urban planning
It took me most of my young life to figure this out. After growing up as a precocious political junkie I got jaded pretty early. I grew up in a rural conservative family but somehow, deep-down I’m an urban technophile who often hopes there’s no problem that walkable neighbourhoods and Twitter hashtags can’t solve. In [...]
Tagged as:
cities,
conservatism,
democracy,
design ego,
elections,
government,
ideology,
moral psychology,
motivation,
politics,
pragmatism,
progressivism,
purpose,
relevance,
values,
voting,
will to relevance
I just had a crazy thought about The Social Network. It turns on this controversial and often-repeated remark (found here) by screenwriter Aaron Sorkin: I don’t want my fidelity to be to the truth; I want it to be to storytelling. I’m #TeamInternet all the way but I appreciate where Sorkin is coming from. I’m sort [...]
Tagged as:
cultural evolution,
facebook,
fiction,
film,
generativity,
internet,
movies,
narrative,
stories,
storytelling,
truth,
web,
writing
We had an interesting exchange on Twitter the other day, about the lack of attention given by the media to lesser-known election candidates. Partially aside, it was the kind of thing I’ve been hoping to see for a while — a lively backchannel discussion about how local politics news is covered — and I hope [...]
Tagged as:
blogging,
conversation,
elections,
ideas,
journalism,
leadership,
linking,
politics,
reporting,
social media,
twitter
The gist of Connected, the excellent book about the power of social networks, is that the most important factor in whether a person will do something — e.g. donate to charity, gain weight, steal a car, or simply smile — is whether the people around them are doing it too. It isn’t true of everything, [...]
Tagged as:
apathy,
changecamp,
connected,
elections,
mobilization,
networks,
relationships,
social networks,
sociology,
voter turnout,
voting
This is my first post following ChangeCamp London (there will likely be one or two more) in which I’m suggesting points for probable improvement: mostly things I actively promoted through the planning process, and which I hope to see emphasized more in the future. This post argues for the need to be open throughout the process. [...]
Tagged as:
changecamp,
changecamp london,
crowdsourcing,
events,
groups,
motivation,
open government,
openness,
organizations,
planning,
psychology,
sociology,
strategy
A recent tweet reminded me of Clay Shirky’s excellent observation: Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution. Kevin Kelly called it The Shirky Principle, using the example of unions to illustrate: Unions were a brilliant solution to the problem of capital management which tended to exploit uncapitalized workers. But [...]
Tagged as:
change,
clay shirky,
generativity,
ideas,
institutions,
kevin kelly,
organizations,
relationships,
relevance,
theories,
trust,
will to relevance
Truth, Will & Relevance Regular blogging has taken a back seat for the past while as I finish book. I know I suggested I’d be self-publishing something months ago, but every time I get it into the shape I want it, the impression I get from ‘the whole’ inspires vast improvements — not just being [...]
Tagged as:
book,
changecamp london,
civic engagement,
events,
open data,
pclo10,
philanthropy,
podcamp london,
volunteering,
writing
How It Happened Last night a group of us got together to discuss ChangeCamp London and different opportunities for fostering a more collaborative & open culture in London. It was a great meeting and we’ll see some good things coming together in the near future. With that still fresh in my mind, I noticed a [...]
Tagged as:
collaboration,
cycling,
open,
open data,
open government,
open source,
social media,
technology
