Stepping Stones

I can not get enough of Stephen Downes. Here is his latest slideshare titled Applications of Social and Collaborative Technologies in Education.

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I stumbled upon this video of Pink Floyd reading the Abject Learning - Brian Lamb blog. The video brought back a flood of very nostalgic and great feelings I have about music of the 60’s and 70’s. The quality is a bit on the rough side but you can see just what genius is at play here. I know I sound like a whiner but where are the bands today that can be this creative and innovative.

I am unapologetically a dyed in the wool, heat seeking, nirvana searcher. Evelyn Rodriguez at her Crossroads Dispatches blog feeds me interesting and inspiring posts about her life journey. A few days ago, I read “enlightenment, not just for prisoners and reggae musicians anymore”. Its a remix of her original post on this topic, written in June of 2006. That post was called “Lightening Up, Coming Out of the Closet“. Not surprisingly, her writing about enlightenment as an everyday possibility and natural right was inspiring. She writes with a blend of humour, lightheartedness and deep sincerity. I enjoy reading about her adventures as it encourages me to enjoy and revel in following my own path. Here’s the introduction to her post.

enlightenment, not just for prisoners and reggae musicians anymore

“Because of the extremely rare, golden opportunities of April, we need to make ourselves very visible as who we really are. We need to dress as who we really are, move through all our activities as who we really are, and speak our truth at all times. Otherwise, if we are still disguised, we may not connect with those whom we are meant to meet. Listen for the numerous hints, clues and signposts that are coming our way. We need to be wide open and totally available, as well as ready to change direction in an instant.” - Solara, April 2008 Surf Report

Reading that paragraph above, I thought maybe it’d be right timing to re-post a June 26, 2006 post titled “Lightening Up! Coming Out of the Closet” below. This is definitely, if ever I doubted, the time to be true to ourselves.

The easiest way to be truly true to our self is to wake up to our Self.

Since that writing, I’ve come across a wide variety of bodhisattvas along my travels. Sometimes, as my former teacher Adyashanti said they wear guises of prisoners (he’d visited and taught at prisons - and met two awakened Buddhas - solitary confinement can do that), or grocery store clerks counting change in wayward towns.

Myself, I’ve encountered them guerilla gardening wheatgrass in the urban cracks of the sidewalk and dancing in purple dresses they salvaged off the streets of the Mission District, San Francisco. Or, sometimes they are a reggae musician I know. Or other times, a single mom and artist. Or, my faun friend last seen picking apples at an organic farm. Or, the barista that handed me the Om Tazo tea at this coffee shop where I type this crossed road dispatch this very moment.

I know, I know, you were looking for white-robed saints with crusty beards and hefty halos.

In case you’re thoroughly confused, I’m talking about awakening. Just the tip of iceberg, and really the so-called start of enlightenment. (As if beginnings and endings existed.) I’ve finally seen it’s not doing any bit of good to pretend to be otherwise than awake.

Awakening to Self is going to be quite common now that the earth’s shifted to 4D. So, you might as well get used to it. You will be next.

Again, this post was written 6/26/06, and the “awakening” such as it was “happened” somewhere in a nondescript Peet’s coffee shop in a nondescript strip mall in San Jose, CA precisely two years ago today, April 7, 2006.

The post below is an excerpt from a longer post about Dr. Randy Pausch and his “Last Lecture” presentation. I initially was attracted to the picture and quote by Martha Graham and then I went to read the whole post which featured “The Last Lecture”. I was very moved by the video’s and wanted to keep a record of the article on my blog. The Art of Possibility by Ben and Rosamund Zander is one of my favourite books. I used it last year in my Project Streetjibe - addressing youth poverty in York Region.

Randy, a professor at the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University in the USA, was diagnosed with terminal cancer of the pancreas in the summer of 2006. In August of 2007, Randy was told by the doctors that he had 3-6 months of healthy living left. A month after Randy was given just 3-6 months to live, he delivered an inspiring presentation at his university, a presentation that has touched millions of people around the world. His presentation is a remarkable contribution.To get some background on Randy’s story and lecture watch this short video promo below from an ABC special on the “Last Lecture.”

Presentation Zen

Keeping the channel open
We are our stories — though thanks in large part to our education and habits — we have learned to doubt our stories and edit them; we have learned to doubt ourselves. This is the greatest shame of all. Randy reminds us that we can choose to live the life —and tell the story — that is truly within us. Randy’s life story is perhaps a reminder to you: What’s holding you back? We may each just be a blip on the continuum, but we matter while we’re here, so why not make a difference? Why not make a big difference? This is my takeaway from Randy’s amazing presentations. And this reminds me of a wonderful Martha Graham quote that was featured in The Art of Possibility:Transforming Professional and Personal Life by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander. I made the Keynote slide below with the quote and use it occasionally; in hangs on my wall next to my desk as a reminder to “keep the channel open.” (Click for the full size.)

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.”

— Martha Graham

Kathy Sierra in her blog Creating Passionate Users,  has written a long but very insightful post on the workings of the brain and how individuals are affected by people who are very angry or happy. It’s a facinating read on neuroscience research and its helping me see why its important to be careful who I spend time with. Below is the introduction to the post. A quick trip to the Creating Passionate Users blog is well worth your time.

Everyone’s favorite A-list target, Robert Scoble, announced the unthinkable a few days ago: he will be moderating his comments. But what some people found far more disturbing was Robert’s wish to make a change in his life that includes steering clear of “people who were deeply unhappy” and hanging around people who are happy. The harsh reaction he’s gotten could be a lesson in scientific ingorance, because the neuroscience is behind him on this one.

Whether it’s a good move is up to each person to decide, but I’ve done my best here to offer some facts. [Disclaimer: I’m not an authority on the brain! I have, however, spent the last 15 years doing research and applying it, both in my work and also because I have a serious brain disorder, and my brain knowledge could be a matter of life and death. Another disclaimer: I haven’t spoken with Robert about this; I’m simply offering some science that supports the decision he may have made for entirely different reasons.]

A few things I’ll try to explain in this post:

1) One of the most important recent neuroscience discoveries–“mirror neurons”, and the role they play in a decision like Robert’s

2) The heavily-researched social science phenomenon known as “emotional contagion”

3) Ignorance and misperceptions around the idea of “happy people”

I always liked this song and dance tune and it came up in a conversation only yesterday. It’s the Music Man and it’s even better than I remember.

I like this new tool called Scribd. It gives you the means to quickly upload any docs and file types quickly to the web and then embed the doc in your web or blog. Very cool.

The 8 Blogging Habits of Highly Effective People

I see a number of connections between the benefits of blogging catalogued by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel in Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers, and the 8 habits of effectiveness and greatness outlined by Stephen Covey in his two most famous books, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons for Personal Change, and The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness. I already blogged about how blogging is a natural channel through which to practice the 8th habit, find your voice and inspire others to find theirs: every blogger has a voice, and reading other blogs often helps inspire me to take more risks in my own blogging. Having recently finished Naked Conversations — and having continued to blog for two years since my initial observation — I see even greater relevance between blogging and [other] habits of effectiveness and greatness.

For more, click here to go to the Gumption Blog.

	February 11, 2008

Dave Pollard’s writing is a treasure trove of insight, pointed commentary on business, organizational development and environmental guides. His pondering on what commonalities of love that he looks for in his collaborations, partners and business enterprises is a delightful read and helped me reflect on my own qualities of love that I look for. Enjoy:

Twelve Things I Love About You

Lately I’ve been thinking about the qualities that the people I love have in common. And about the qualities that I look for in prospective collaborators and partners in various ventures — projects, enterprises, communities. And about the qualities I treasure in a friend. And about the qualities I try to exemplify myself, in practicing to Let-Myself-Change to be a better model, in trying to make the world a better place..It turns out they’re all the same qualities. Intelligence: A combination of good critical thinking skills and excellent instincts (and a willingness to trust them). Smart people are fun, and sexy. Emotional Strength: Freedom from neediness — it’s OK to love attention and appreciation, but when someone can’t live without constant external validation, they can become unbearable. If you want others to love you, you have to love yourself first. Attention Skills: Emotional sensitivity, perceptiveness, awareness, openness, capacity to listen, to focus the senses on what is really happening, and collaboratively figure out what it all means. I know people who live their whole lives in their heads, and others who live in an emotional cocoon; they need to learn to get out more, to get outside themselves. Honesty: About what you love, what you can’t stand, what you believe in, and what you have doubts about. Just get it all out there. But be positive — don’t criticize, offer constructive ideas and alternatives. And never, ever lie (that includes saying nothing when there is something that must be said). Communication Skills: Ability to articulate concisely and precisely what you know and what you think and what you love, orally and in writing (and to show, not just tell). Learning Skills: The self-directed ability to discover, access and process useful information (captured, experiential, and in conversation). This is the key to self-management and independence and making yourself a useful and valuable partner. Passion and Responsibility: Belief that what’s possible can happen, and energy and a sense of responsibility directed to a shared purpose. Curiosity, Imagination and Creativity: The desire and capacity to find out what you don’t know, to think about what could be, and to bring those imaginings to fruition. Different Perspectives & Complementary Strengths: We are often attracted to people who share our beliefs, our culture, and our skills, but in my experience the best partners are those whose gifts and points of view complement each other (i.e. neither conflict nor overlap). Self-Knowledge, and Knowledge of Others’ Capacities: Knowing which capacities you have, and which you lack, and what you know, and what you don’t, and what others can do better than you can, is enormously important to collaboration and love, especially in coping with challenges. Love, Respect and Trust: Most of us love and trust those who love and trust us in return. The alternative is dysfunctional and dangerous, a recipe for either abuse or co-dependency. BGP: Beauty, grace and presence: Deny it all you want, we all prefer to be with people who are attractive, gracious, charismatic, and energizing. Some are naturally more gifted at this than others, but we can all improve, with practice. As I was compiling this list it occurred to me that these are also the qualities we, as writers, hope to attract and bring out in our readers, and the qualities that, as readers, we value in good writers. So now you know, dear readers, why I love you so much I am compelled, out of joy and the privilege of your attention and the desire to keep you coming back, to write my heart out, every day, a total so far of 5,000 pages, 25 books’ worth of what I know and think and care about. I think you, those of you who stick around, exemplify these twelve qualities. And your attention and appreciation, more than anything else, has informed and defined my journey to learn and discover and convey and start to make a difference in this world. This blog really has been, from the start, a collaboration, a partnership with you. I’m honoured to be in your company, dear collaborators and partners in love and conversation and community. Happy Valentine’s Day. Image from DoggyBloggy.com Category: Let-Self-Change

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danah boyd is a PhD student in the School of Information at Berkeley and a Fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society. She writes and researches extensively about youth culture, social media, Friendster, MySpace, Facebook etc.

This interview was given for the Discover magazine and includes reference to much of her research on youth culture, MySpace and Facebook. The Discover magazine describes the interview as a look at what what kids are doing with technology, where mobile phones are going, and the Facebook vs. MySpace smackdown. The interview is lengthy but well worth it. The introductions around the table are a bit of a detraction however they add an element of “friendliness & intimacy” to the video.

Can she rock or what!

Dave Pollard, How to Save the World web site is one of my favourite reads. This post came via my Stephen Downes OLDaily email newsletter. I especially appreciated his list of attributes and qualities that experimenters practice. This resonates a lot with our efforts in the Streetjibe Project in York Region. Below is the full post.

For the last eight years, the US treasury has been plundered by the thieves of the Bush Administration, doling out handouts to corporatist friends (and undoing legislation and refusing to enforce what little corporatist regulation remains) in return for campaign contributions, future jobs and other favours. Bush has pursued an unjustifiable private and personal ideological war that has cost a million lives and a trillion dollars. The US is now technically bankrupt, public services have been hollowed out to the point they are dysfunctional to non-existent, and the country’s reputation internationally is in tatters.

This is the legacy of a regime that promised a new form of leadership both before and after 9/11. There could be no better demonstration that relying on self-serving and self-proclaimed ‘leaders’ to do things for you is a ruinous path.

Yet what are Americans rallying around now? Different self-serving and self-proclaimed leaders ambiguously promising ‘change’. How far will the cult of leadership in the US (and it’s spreading worldwide, like a toxic disease) go?

In business, ‘leaders’ are paid obscene sums of money (tens to hundreds of millions of dollars each per year) to offshore jobs, reduce quality and services, close down operations, merge with other organizations with their own self-serving ‘leaders’, and otherwise cripple the US economy in the interests of ‘maximizing shareholder value’ (no accident that these ‘leaders’ are paid mostly in shares, so it’s their value they’re maximizing).

Millions blindly follow religious ‘leaders’ who preach hatred and suppression of basic human rights and freedoms, and the popularity of such ‘charismatic’ despots is growing by leaps and bounds.

Drug addled professional actors, singers and athletes attract groupies and awards and fortunes and the adoration and emulation of millions, as part of the celebrity leadership cult, and this popularity can often be parlayed into political or business ‘leadership’.

And universities charge extravagant sums for ‘executive’ programs that presume to teach ‘leadership and management’, while meanwhile, because of a desperate shortage of entrepreneurial skills, most graduates can look forward to a life of wage slavery working for these ‘executives’, many of whom had their ‘leadership’ positions bought for them by rich parents.

As I reported a couple of years ago, Peter Block, one of the founders of the discipline of Organizational Development, thinks that, in business at least, it’s absurd:

“Leadership” is a well-developed misconception. The dominant belief is that the task of leadership is to set a vision, enroll others in it and hold people accountable through measurements and rewards. It’s a patriarchal system used to create high performance through centralization of power. Most leadership training focuses on how to be a good parent. We teach how to “develop” people, as if they were ours to develop. We do a lot to create the notion that bosses are responsible for their people. All that parenting has the unintended side effect of creating deep entitlement and having employees stay frozen in their own development. Most management techniques are ways of controlling people so they feel good about being controlled.These are the most common questions I get from my clients. “How do I get people to …” and you can fill in the blank after that. My favorite is, “How do I get people on board with my ideas/visions/whatever.” My response is, “How do you know you’re in the boat?” These are the wrong questions. They’re the questions of a parent about recalcitrant children. As soon as you start the sentence, you’re acting as a sovereign. All of these are components of the patriarchal way of thinking that dominates our culture. Put this in boldface: They are not your children. Once you realize that, real engagement is possible.

We don’t need ‘leadership’ or ‘leaders’. What we need is experimenters.The way to create working models that work better than the dysfunctional ones we have now, in a complex system where no one is in control and no one has the answers, is to try things. A lot of small-scale experiments, bold, different, even wacky. And then compare notes with each other about what works (and why) and what doesn’t (and why not).

That will allow the successful experiments to spread, virally, and be adapted and improved. Eventually, bottom-up, it will allow us to create decentralized community-based self-managed political, economic, educational, and social systems that actually work well, for each community.

Unlike most ‘leaders’, experimenters are:

• collaborators: they don’t do anything alone
• facilitators and coaches: they help others to learn and discover how to do things better
• demonstrators: more than just communicators, they show how it works and what it means
• ideators: they imagine what’s possible, and tell stories to bring those ideas to life
• innovators: they take those good ideas and realize them, make them real
• researchers: they study what’s been done, in nature, by other cultures and communities, and what’s needed, and spread that knowledge
• connectors: they bring people together who were meant to work together
• model-builders: they design and build something that can be understood, replicated and adapted by others
• founders: they start new things — enterprises, communities, different ways to do important things; they build something new rather than criticizing what exists

That’s what we need. We won’t find it in one or a few people. We have to find it within all of us. To do that we have to give up on ‘leaders’ and take charge of our own lives, collaboratively, as peers. Who’s ‘leading’ in government, in business, in religious and educational and social organizations doesn’t matter.

The power is in all of us.

Passion, courage, feminism, politics, family, humour are only a few of the qualities found in this outstanding Ted- Ideas Worth Spreading talk by Isabel Allende.

This young Canadian jazz singer is just a phenomena of unparalleled proportions. She sings like Ella, yet has the spunk and high energy of the 14 year old girl she is. I heard her on the radio today and was very impressed by her vibrant and mature answers to Andy Barry’s questions. You can download some of her music from her web site for free. Give it a try, I think you will agree she is a talent that will be with us for a long time. By the way, she is singing at Carnegie Hall at the end of February.