Daily Thoughts 1/16/2011 (What Technology Wants, The Other Side of Innovation, Budget)

"Music and Literature," oil on canvas, by the American artist William Michael Harnett. Courtesy of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1878

Daily Thoughts 1/16/2011

I have been reading more of The Other Side of Innovation.  I learned that Fisher Price releases over 700 new products every single year.  Like the fashion industry, the toy industry has to constantly innovate.  This creates an atmosphere of continuous learning and continuing education.  I am finding the ideas about innovation refreshing in this book.

I read a little bit more of What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly. This is a quote from P.83, "That's how it works.  This is how all technology works.  A gadget becomes a junky prototype and then progresses to something that barely works."  This sentences reflects on the deep understanding of the author of technology.

Web Bits

An article about the fight to save Britain's libraries. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/overdue-the-fight-to-save-our-libraries-begins-2185826.html

The same argument seems to be playing out in Britain as in the United States.  Even though more people want to use libraries and there is an increase in usage, libraries are not an essential service.   This is a reminder that an argument on pure statistics will not work that well.  As in the United States it is an attack on the cultural foundations of society.  Much of what is preserved in libraries and archives is part of cultural memory.  There seems to be an attempt to rewrite our past by wiping it clean.  We do need to remember history and not allow this to happen.

On a more local level the budget is still being negotiated.  http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011101160341  Mount Vernon City Council Overrides Mayor's Budget Veto.  This is a little more from an article that covers both the City Council President and the mayor. http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2011/01/14/mount-vernon-city-council-overrides-mayoral-budget-veto/

Daily Thoughts 1/15/2011 (Captain Blood, The Other Side of Innovation)

Raffaelo Sanzio,Detail of The School of Athens showing Heraclitus and Michelangelo Buonarroti as one person, 1509

Daily Thoughts 1/15/2011

I have been reading The Other Side of Innovation. The authors are describing when and how to create internail and external teams for innovation.  They call the internal parts of an organization, the "performance engine".  It describes how it is necessary to bring some outside people in to help with innovation.  Not all major changes in a corporation can occur from inside an organization. It was interesting learning about how implementing innovative ideas is often more about learning to do things right than pushing execution.

I am also reading What Technology Wants. Kevin Kelly is describing how human evolution is increasingly tied to technology.  He seems to be pushing for a view that we are inseparable from modern technology right now.

I got a request to write short articles for The View From Here which is an online literary magazine.  I'll probably confirm tomorrow on Sunday.  http://www.viewfromheremagazine.com/

I also watched Captain Blood today starring Errol Flynn and Olivia De Haviland.  It is Errol Flynn's first movie which is surprising. The movie is based on the book Captain Blood  by Rafael Sabatini.  The book was written in 1922 so it is well out of copyright.  http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1965

Daily Thoughts 1/12/2011 (What Technology Wants, Books)

Albert J. Franke (1860–1924): Die Schriftgelehrten. Signiert. Öl auf Holz.. 31 x 42 cm

 Daily Thoughts 1/12/2011


I am reading What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly. Kevin Kelly helped launch Wired magazine.  There is a new term which the author creates called the technium which is the globally interconnected web of technology around us.  It reminds me a bit of the gaia hypothesis which compares the earth to a living organism.  They are different ways to view the world.

It was snowing heavily last night.  I cleaned up the displays a little bit and worked on some minor projects; getting a button on the website so people can join our email list, converting a few flyers into jpgs for the website, and picking out some more graphic novels and dvds for the Graphic Novels club next week.  I also set the date for our first order meeting of the year.  Things are going steadily and smoothly.

I checked out The Other Side of Innovation Solving The Executtion Challenge by Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble.  It is published by Harvard Business Review Press.

I updated my selected links page with a few new links.

Web Bits

 Permanence Matters is an argument for printing hardcover books on better quality paper.  I think the hardcover titles that should survive should have better design, quality, and permanence.  http://www.permanencematters.com/

Sisters In Crime, The Mystery Book Consumer In The Digital Age http://bit.ly/hQlHsG