Month / March 2012

by Roger Dennis

Govt policy – faith, new ideas and paradigms

A quick link to David Skilling’s excellent post today about the tensions in introducing new ideas to Governments, and the importance of doing so:

After years of observing governments, I have come to the view that one of the most costly features of policy-making is ‘faith-based policy’ in which certain policies become articles of faith and are not subject to serious scrutiny. This can lead to poor outcomes at any time, but particularly in times of disruptive change when new ideas are needed to enable governments to adapt to a changing world. It is the governments that respond flexibly to a changing world that are more likely to sustain strong performance.

via Landfall  ✧  On faith-based policy.

by Roger Dennis

Movements and change – watch Russia

There’s something to watch here: a young, rich and glamourus woman spurns her roots and becomes a poster child for change.  She knows how to cross both the digital and real worlds for impact, and clearly understands the system she exists within.

The pampered “it girl” of Putin’s Russia, author of “Philosophy in the Boudoir” and “How to Marry a Millionaire,” has restyled herself as a leader of the opposition. Last week, Ms. Sobchak hosted protest leaders on her new political talk show, which was canceled by Russia’s MTV after just one episode and is now broadcast on a Web site.

(via Kseniya Sobchak, Russia’s ‘It Girl,’ Dons Opposition Cloak – NYTimes.com.)

I’m increasingly interested in how social movements and social media will intersect, and the implications for power brokers (both government and non-government).  I think there’s something here in social movements getting digital smarts and becoming digital movements (think rapid scale, emergence ‘from nowhere” and clear actions). Watch this space…

by Roger Dennis

How TED Makes Ideas Smaller

This is a great article about what’s good – and what’s bad – about the TED conference.  The paragraph that resonated with me the most is also the reason why I will never turn down an invitation to a Foo Camp but inevitably turn down many invitations to conferences:

We live in a world of increasingly networked knowledge. And it’s a world that allows us to appreciate what has always been true: that new ideas are never sprung, fully formed, from the heads of the inventors who articulate them, but are always — always — the result of discourse and interaction and, in the broadest sense, conversation.

via How TED Makes Ideas Smaller – Megan Garber – Technology – The Atlantic.