The Institute for the Future is planning a conference on technologies and social change. My feeling is that since around 2000 people have become increasingly aware of how technologies can be used to foster social change. Obviously technologies change our societies, and everyone has their favorite negative impact story, but we’ve really begun to try to leverage the prevalent technologies (and newer ones) to create positive change. [Read more…]
Archives for 2009
Chatting our way to World Peace
When I made my first trip to Dharamsala, India, in 2005, to see this hub of activity of the Tibetan exile community and the home of the Dalai Lama, I was hosted by Thubten Samdup. “Sam” is founder of the Canada Tibet Committee and an activist in the exile community. He lives in Montréal. When he’s not traveling, that is.
One of Sam’s recent projects (it’s a couple of years old now) involves a group of Chinese-speaking (reading and writing as well) Tibetans who live in Dharamsala and spend their time chatting with people inside China. About what it is to be a part of the Tibetan culture and how it relates to the rest of China. It’s an actual project with financial supporters and employees, and you can contact me if you’re interested in helping support it. Sam also spends a lot of time in the Tibetan exile settlements in the rest of India, but that’s another story.
Peace Support Network Video Contest
The Peace Support Network has an online video contest on YouTube for peace videos. They’ve received 49 submissions and are on to judging now. Results will be announced March 31, 2009. |
Nice to see even 49 videos submitted! At Project Happiness we’ve shot a lot of our own videos as well, which you can see in our Moments of Happiness video project. Our initial thought was that lots of people would produce video segments, but we’ve found over time that this is a tough sell. Peace Support Network is offering a $1,000 cash prize for the winning video, and maybe that makes the difference. What do you think? What would motivate you enough to make your own video about peace, or happiness, or whatever…?
Essential Strategies for Eventually Launching a Site
I was reading Dion Hinchcliff’s “50 Essential Strategies for Creating a Successful Web 2.0 Product” (you should go read it when you have more time) and I’ve cherry-picked the points that ring true for me. His points are good and very interesting, but some are real gems of wisdom[1]. And I’ll add some of my own observations to this article. I’ll limit mine to 10 and if you’re ambitious you can read the 50 in his blog. One of the overarching principles is that, as he says, “The Web Community Gets Smarter Every Time It Builds A Product” – which I will exend to add that we marketers and developers are constantly learning, and the more we involve people early in our development processes, and the more closely we listen to them, the faster and better our development cycles will be.
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Your Blog’s MBTI
I have friends who read tarot cards, and I myself have read tarot cards in the past (during the Hippie days, as if I actually had those). But I view them as a projective technique where what you are thinking about and hoping for is reflected in your reading of the cards.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator [MBTI] is a personality inventory which can give you some insight into how you approach the world. The Myers & Briggs Foundation web site contains lots of information on this instrument and you can take the full instrument online or offline many places. Professionals are certified and can give you a full administration and reading of the MBTI instrument. But taking it online is also informative! Just remember that this instrument is licensed, and the freebie versions aren’t the real instrument.
But, here’s some online fun with a slant on the MBTI – the Typealyzer.com web site reads entries from a blog and then gives an assessment of MBTI type based on what it sees there. Don’t ask me how they do it, though I have my theories. There’s always the caveat that what you write may not reflect how you would score in the actual MBTI, but I think it’s pretty interesting. Try this site on your own, or any other, blog. Just give it a URL and you’ll get back a type!