Interesting Reading 12/18
Thinking in Systems: A Primer
http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Systems-Primer-Donella-Meadows/dp/1603580557/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229607540&sr=8-1
I just received this intriguing book last night from Amazon. So far this
is a great, easy to understand, introduction to the idea of systems
thinking. The author, who died in 2001 was a MacArthur "Genius" Award
recipient and nominee for the Pulitzer Prize. The book is from a
manuscript she was completing at the time of her death.
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How Did the Economy Go Bad - an Onion Infographic
http://www.theonion.com/content/infograph/how_did_the_economy_go_bad
"In 2007, the economy was extremely robust. Less than 12 months later, the
United States is facing a plunging stock market, record unemployment and
total credit collapse. How, specifically did this happen?"
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Send Money Through Twitter With Twitpay
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/send-cash-through-twitter-with-twitpay/
"Twitpay is a start-up that aims to allow people to send small payments
through Twitter. To do this they include the recipients' username in their
message. For example, posting the update "@johnsmith twitpay $10 for
lunch" would deliver the cash to that Twitterer's Twitpay account. The
company monitors the public stream of messages for the keyword "twitpay"
and facilitates the exchange. You replenish your Twitpay account using a
site like PayPal. Once recipients have accumulated more than $10 in their
accounts, the balance can be cashed out in the form of an Amazon gift
card. For all transfers exceeding $1, Twitpay will take a flat cut of five
cents."
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Staying Informed Without Drowning in Data
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/18/technology/personaltech/18basics.html?_r=1
"I'M a reporter and I write about the Internet. I write about its culture,
its latest developments and the people and companies involved. You may
think this means I spend a lot of time watching videos of
advice-dispensing ninjas and funny photographs of cats but that, sadly, is
not the case.
What I do spend a lot of time doing is scouring the Internet for
information and news. This is great because the Internet makes this easier
than ever. This is also a huge pain because the Internet makes this easier
than ever. There's a never-ending sea of news sources, and if I just
plunge in headfirst, I'll probably get overwhelmed in minutes. And yet to
be ahead of the news, I can't just read the big, mainstream publications -
I have to dig deeper and find more specialized sites and blogs that are
often closer to the action.
The key is to manage the information overflow. This can be done through
sites and services that filter and curate the online news-scape into
something I can actually digest. With a little time spent exploring and
tailoring these sites, you too can get better, deeper information on
subjects you care about - and it won't take you days to sort through it
all."
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Learning About the Backstory of the Clothes We Buy
http://www.psfk.com/2008/12/learning-about-the-backstory-of-the-clothes-we-buy.html
"Amsterdam-based MADE-BY recently launched a new program called
Track&Trace that gives shoppers the opportunity to learn about the rich
backstory of some of the products they buy. MADE-BY has partnered with
several Netherlands-based fashion brands to insert an added tag to their
products that comes with a code which "unlocks" the history of the item.
Shoppers enter the code on the MADE-BY site and are given a glimpse of the
product's long journey to the shop window - where the garment was
manufactured and by whom, who spun the yarn, who grew the cotton. Each
step in the process includes a picture of the worker(s) and a brief
interview about that stage of production and the labor that went into it.
The purchase-then-learn model might not directly help those looking to
make their shopping choices based on sustainability, but MADE-BY's
initiative promotes more informed consumption and serves as a nice
reminder of the many steps it takes to create the things we buy."
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Web-based Business Model Innovation Software and Working on the Wall
http://business-model-design.blogspot.com/2008/12/web-based-business-model-innovation.html
"Boris Fritscher, a brilliant masters student of HEC business school in
Lausanne, Switzerland, has picked up on using software to sketch out
business models under the guidance of my co-author, Professor Yves
Pigneur.
Yesterday he showcased the tool to me and Patrick van der Pijl, producer
of my business model book. Boris built a web-based tool that allows the
design and description of business models. But Boris didn't keep it there.
He extended the tool to allow designing business models live on a
projected image on the wall (see picture where Boris works on a business
model). How cool is that?"
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10 rules for making good design
http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2008/12/i-picked-up-a-book-recently-called-design-elements-a-graphic-style-manual-by-timothy-samara-that-is-quite-good-samara-start.html
"I picked up a book recently called Design Elements: A Graphic Style
Manual by Timothy Samara* that is quite good. Samara starts off his book -
after a short discussion on what is meant by design and graphic design -
with a list of "Twenty Rules for Making Good Design" which includes a
brief but good elaboration of each of the rules. Now, as Samara points
out, rules are important to understand but it's certainly permissible to
break the rules (he even shows how later in the book). What is not
permissible is to remain ignorant of the rules. Samara quotes Typographer
David Jury here: "Rules can be broken - but never ignored." I tend to
think in terms of Principles rather than Rules, though this is really just
a matter of semantics. This stuff is old hat for longtime designers, but
for the rest of us Samara's list of 20 Rules is a useful reminder. Here
are just Ten of Samara's twenty rules below just as he wrote them (though
not in this order). I chose the rules (principles) which I think are both
the most important and yet easiest to grasp without much or any
explanation. Keep these rules in mind when designing your next
presentation or website, poster, etc."
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Prezi = The Zooming Presentarion Software
http://prezi.com/
I highlighted this outfit before. They have a new domain and have
steadily been updating the software.
