Archives for 2006

My weblog neighbor, Greg Sandow, has been attempting a bold experiment in publishing — ”performing” a book on-line, posting chapters as he writes them for feedback from the world. When he’s done, he’ll publish it the old-fashioned way. After some months of wonderful prose and intriguing comments on the future of classical music, Greg has […]

Lots of chatter on the Internet is celebrating the evolution of ”Web 2.0,” or the next generation of web systems and content. What is it, exactly? Depends on who you ask. Marshall Kirkpatrick offers a useful description, suggesting that Web 2.0 services and systems have the following qualities: They allow non-web designers to put their […]

The Design Council of the United Kingdom has been rethinking the structure and goals of health care systems, particularly as they relate to chronic health issues that require constant and personalized attention. If you squint a bit, the results of their work, published in this report and others, could also be a conceptual map for […]

Antonia Zerbisias at the Toronto Star is in a bit of bunch over leadership changes at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. To her taste, the new team is a bit too focused on business models, audience segmentation, focus groups, and modeling of past peformance in making their programming choices for the network. Developing and commissioning series […]

I’m rather fond of mapping projects, especially those that attempt to compress an impossibly complex ecology into two dimensions. Having to draw a static visual representation of a dynamic process forces individuals and groups to expose their hidden assumptions about how things are connected, what elements of that world are in the center, and what […]

I just had reason to revisit the wonderful writing of John Carver on governing boards (you can find a useful summary of his work here, or read the book). And I was struck again by the clarity and consistency of his approach to an otherwise hazy endeavor. If you can get past his personal hubris […]

A continuing study on the impact of arts activities on older populations may finally bring two elusive elements together for arts advocates: good news and rigorous methodology. The study, being conducted by Gene Cohen, M.D., has already shown significant health and wellness impacts among arts participants over the control group. Said Cohen at a March […]

KCRW’s The Business radio show (audio file available here, the story starts at about 21:30) has a charming story about graduate film students and their final project. Despite a tight budget and a killer schedule, they decided they needed a live elephant for the shoot. So, they got one. The story asks the question: Is […]

Ann Daly has some great thoughts on the present and future of the arts ecosystem in the United States. While her comments spring from frustration at the ”creative class” rhetoric that seemed more heat than light (a grievance she’s aired before), the real power of the piece is in its recommendations for the future. Says […]

I’m thrilled to have a wise and thoughtful colleague blogging now on issues of arts and brand and strategy. Neill Archer Roan has shown up a few times in this weblog (like here and here). But now instead of quoting what I heard him say, I can point to his words directly…and subscribe to them, […]