Stranger then Fiction

I love this film.

In particular, I love the overlayed infographics used throughout the film. Very cool.

Here's the clip, just double click on it to start:

 (it's a Quicktime clip, and was sourced here)

Business as Usual

I was at work today, Easter Monday. It's a holiday for many people, but there were plenty of us in the office.

I was working on a few old ideas, and trying to get some new stuff happening, when I realised something. My current role came around because I tried some new stuff out - and it worked.

Reflecting on this, I realised some of the hardest steps have been to move things from being odd, outside or just plain new into being the way things should be. And that's not really a hard thing to do - it's just not straight-forward, and generally not much fun. Often it's not a good idea either.

So I decided to go back to where the fun started - and just suggest some things that were on my mind.

What's the worst that can happen? That my perception goes down in people's eyes?

I'm really not sure that matters, because while I've read and learned a lot from Trust Agents, I'm not trying to build myself a tower of self-accomplishment.

What's my motivation for being at work?

I spoke about that yesterday here.

None of the above

On the radio the other day, I heard a selection of Vox Pop clips including one where a man said:

"I want an extra box on the ballot paper for the election - a box for 'none of the above'. I don't want any of them".

While an indictment of many political animals in the UK, it got me thinking about who I would vote for.

Then I read Ian Pearson's ideas about re-designing democracy. Read it here.

His central idea:

At an election, why not allow people to vote for the party of their choice and also for the local candidate of their choice. So you tick two boxes, not much extra effort.

It's not a million miles from the current Scottish Election system where you get to vote for a candidate tied to a party and then to vote for a party.

I'd like to see this trialled on a local election and see what happens. See if more people turn out. Sure, some people might not get it first time out - but is that any different from just now?

Have a read and see what you think.

is innovation new or perpetual?

I've been thinking that I can sometimes think that when we fix things now that we're breaking new ground, solving problems that no-one has ever solved.

When I read about the way that early audio instructions were included in cars, I was struck that Solomon was right: "there's nothing new under the sun" (which, interstingly was the topic of my Higher English dissertation in 1997 - based on Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5). We might be solving problems more efficiently, but we're probably reusing ideas others have had and applying them to our problem.  In the case of the speaking car, the problem is "how to make the car tell the driver what's happening".  The first solution in the 70s was to basically create small records - now we do it with digital audio files.

And I love that. Learn from others and become wiser (not smarter, there's a difference, in my mind).

I think that's why I enjoy listening - either in person, in print, on RSS feeds or on Twitter.  Learning.  Only caveat, it's got to be followed with action. 

On the topic of digital audio, have a listen to the latest edition of The Guardian's techweekly podcast.  A really interesting interview with Kane Kramer, who basically seems to have invented the digital music player (or at least the way it could work) in 1979. 

So what have you learned by listening? How has it changed how you work/live/play?