I’ve written about the Sims before, but this announcement of an upcoming University add-on pack for the software game was just too much to let pass: This addition to the popular ”people simulator” includes the young adult age group, which enables Sims to head off to college. Collegiate Sims can vie to become the Big […]
If you don’t know your own community, don’t blame the government
Friend, colleague, and research wonk Neill Archer Roan reminded me of the wonderful riches available on-line from the U.S. Census Bureau. Their American FactFinder is a treasure trove of market research and demographic information on your community. Just run a quick ”fact sheet” search of your city and you’ll see what I mean: median household […]
The thrift belt
New Englanders aren’t taking kindly to a new national index on generosity (covered in an AP story posted here and elsewhere). It turns out that New Hampshire and Massachusetts ranked at the very bottom of the index for generosity. That’s fairly embarrassing on its own, but becomes insufferably so when the top three states are […]
Mathematics for Musicians
It’s a chilly Friday in Madison, Wisconsin, that demands a little light humor rather than a pensive tome today. So here are a few selections from the hilarious Mathematics for Musicians recently forwarded to me by a colleague (thanks Bob): Wilma is tired of paying for clarinet reeds. If she adopts a policy of playing […]
The on-line communications toolkit
If you’re looking for a crash course or a quick refresher about how to plan, implement, and evaluate your organization’s communications efforts — marketing, PR, etc. — the folks at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation have anticipated your need. Their marketing and communications kit offers a short and snappy overview of the strategies and action steps […]
The demise of civil society
From the British comma commissioner, Lynne Truss (author of the hit grammar book Eats, Shoots & Leaves), comes a new diatribe, this time exloring the collapse of civil society. Her new book, Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door […]
Welcome to the future…get used to it
At a recent gala orchestra opening in Madison, guest soloist Kathleen Battle paused mid-performance to wag her finger at someone in the balcony. It seems they had a recording device of some kind. Once she left the stage, an announcement reminded the audience that such things weren’t allowed. It’s a common problem at popular music […]
Honoring Peter F. Drucker
A tip of the hat and a note of thanks to Peter F. Drucker, who passed away last week, at age 95. Drucker was considered by many to be the father of modern management, and was most certainly among the more persistent voices bringing a human and social perspective to the profit-making world. Beyond that, […]
Playing a positive role in innovation
Tom Kelley of the famous IDEO design firm is clearly fed up with at least one role-playing game used in organizations: the devil’s advocate. Invoking that role, he says, instantly absolves the invoker of any personal accountability for their criticism (it’s not me criticising that idea, I’m just speaking on behalf of Satan). The resulting […]
Constructing our public self
Three fascinating art/sociology projects explore how people construct their ”public” self through the astoundingly popular Flikr photo-sharing web site. The two German design students suggest that Flikr provides a public platform for the intentional construction of personal identity through photographs. Says the web page: This is a series of three projects investigating what constitutes the […]
