How much do I love Jacques Barzun? The exemplary historian and teacher, proponent of the Great Books tradition, Dean of Faculties and Provost at Columbia University for over a decade, who also graced the cover of Time magazine for a feature on American intellectuals, etc, etc, etc… wrote this about amateurs: A world of professionals [...]
Tagged as:
amateurs,
expertise,
higher education,
history,
jacques barzun,
learning,
professionalism,
professions,
universities
No I haven’t forgot about the little endeavour I launched in May: I started thinking we need someplace to just try stuff. If it works, then great: we can replicate it on our own sites or even develop something more permanent, public, and professional. If it doesn’t work, then that’s ok too: without actually losing [...]
Tagged as:
community organizing,
creativity,
development,
enterprise modelling,
initiatives,
institutions,
ldnbeta,
learning,
open democracy,
professionalism,
progress,
projects,
rapid prototyping,
relationships,
signalling,
social capital,
social media,
web
Some time last week I realized I’ve made a turn towards a more “professional” mindset in my writing. They say “amateurs write for themselves, professionals write for others,” and until very recently I was doing it mostly for myself — which I unabashedly admitted. For me writing has mainly been simply the best way to think clearly. [...]
Tagged as:
blogging,
careers,
narcissism,
personal development,
professionalism,
writing
