James Drogan

From MetaFilter comes this montage.  Some of my students will quickly connect with what is going on here.  For others, it will be an interested view of global commerce.

Some of you may recognize this as the First Law.

However, for a very intersting twist on this see Mission Impossible: The Code Even the CIA Can't Crack.

In the fall of last year I added a CSR module to my logistics class and did the same thing this term.  In the fall of this year I expect to have a CSR module in all my classes.

The discussion assigment for CSR in logistics reads:

"The goals of corporate social responsibility adopted by a GIFT company intersect the forces of the various cultures in which the company operates. In some cases the forces of culture and the goals are complementary; in other cases theyare in opposition.

One of my students, Wesley Yarnall, addressed this assignment as follows:

"Responding to the push and pull of CSR goals and an eclectic culture base within a GIFT can be difficult. Aligning an appropriate CSR and culture characteristic make transition and acceptance smoother and ultimately more cohesive. For GIFT company, developing a CSR goal that can make multiple impacts, and mesh with a variety of cultural characteristics reflects well not only the organizations societal contributions, but also their appreciation for different values. Developing and integrating CSR into the core business strategy yields greater returns and reaches to other organizations. Showing that it is possible to create a positive impact on society through economic, environmental and social actions while still achieving business goals is attractive to every culture.

The overlapping benefits of a truly effective CSR, one that helps society through economic, environmental and social actions, should be recognized and applauded regardless of culture. If a GIFT CSR was to retro-fit unused shipping containers into transportable homes for impoverished locations around the world, it would cover the span of; improving living conditions of a society, create a low cost living space and recycle unused containers taking up space in ports. Assertive cultures such as Austria, and the U.S. would praise the efforts and human approach to providing aid. Future oriented cultures such as Singapore, Switzerland and The Netherlands would be appeased by the foresight and ingenuity of recycling unused goods to benefit others. Cultures who value performance, Taiwan, New Zealand and Hong Kong can appreciate the efficiency gained by decreasing storage cost of empty containers and increase in available space. Every culture shares common core values that are part of their culture. Acts of kindness that benefit multiple parties should be recognized by the world as a success. Effective CSR goals that are reached through rethinking and working everyday business can align with every culture.

GIFT has the difficulty of attempting to satisfying a global array of cultures when developing a CSR goal. However, the span of a GIFT provides itself with a greater range of opportunity and areas with which to with, allowing for more creative possibilities. Even if physical transport of goods cannot be improved (which is unlikely) , shore side operations can work on improving sustainability, consumption of resources and recycling efforts. The larger the operating network , the greater the potential for long-term gains and improved efficiency."

An innovative, considerate, and wide-ranging answer.

One of my students has written the following in response to the question of what to do when technology fails.

'Michael says, "Once the systems are down all we can do is wait until they are started back up."I don't know about all of you, but I often find a moment of peace when this happens.

I was travelling for work today and was driving through the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York.I spent about an hour without cell phone coverage.My employees need to regularly reach me by phone on and off through the day, but for the most part it is not a huge emergency if they cannot reach me for a limited time.I actually had time to think about what I wanted to think about, whether it be how beautiful the tops of the mountains looked with snow, or to formulate priorities for when I reached my office.

Of course when I popped back up I had phone messages, and then a period of time where there was much phone activity to get caught up.This still may qualify as a failure of technology, with a recovery period, but it is limited and planned.The system still moved forward, even if there were slight delays in answering a specific inquiry.

I guess my point in all this is, sometimes a technology "failure" need not be a "bad" thing, and further it might not be so horrible to take back control of the technology, at least in limited doses.You don't continuously have to have access to the internet at night when you go to sleep.You can shut off your cell phone once in a while when you go to lunch, or if you are in an important conversation or meeting and want to control the amount of distractions that may come up.As with other aspects of life, balance is always important.'

I am reminded by this student's words, recent experiences of watching people walking on the streets of New York City, and the e-mail streams that I find myself swimming in that we seem to increasingly, willingly or unwillingly, find ourselves in a digital bubble.  In this bubble we are more-or-less oblivious to much of what goes on around us.

Like a blind person, our senses are reduced to what we can touch with our DSD (digital sensing device).  We miss much of what is going on life even though we may sense things in a new and more powerful way with DSD.

It becomes a question of breadth and curiosity, on the one hand, and depth and isolation on the other.

How does something like this make it into the digital bubble?  Well, you might say, the same way this picture made it into this post.

I contend, however, that in this digitization much of the message of the moment is lost.  In the move towards expediency we have moved away from the experience.

We are, in some significant ways, ill-served by the digital bubble.  Being over protected from the full panoply of the world's sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch we compromise our ability to build a sensory immunization system; we limit our ability to build ethical, critical thinking, and communications skills.  We're safe in the bubble, but left at sea when the bubble bursts.

Always on, always connected, and always transmitting.  I wonder whether, in the long run, this is a good thing.

Your attention is drawn to this article by Dan Tapscott that appears on The Huffington Post.

Education has tended to be a push model, driven by the big brands (e.g., Harvard).  Tapscott argues that there is a trend towards a pull model where success is defined by easy access to quality learning of relevance.  This requires a different sort of business model.

A number of things -- some funny, some serious -- on the subject of comnmunications have come my way over the last few days.

The first is from the March 29 edition of the New York Times.  I suppose one might call it "The Descent of Man." 

I'm also reminded here of the Seventh Annual Symposium on Communication and Communication Intensive Instruction Sponsored by the Bernard L. Schwartz Communication Institute at Baruch College, Apriul 27, 2007.  The theme was "New Rules: Convention and Change in Communication."  My preparatory notes for this conference can be found here.

Related to the mention of twitter in the above cartoon is the ext item, an IT Conversation, "Scott Lemon - TopFollowFriday," regarding the growth and use of Twitter.  There is a lot of technical language in this podcast, but listen carefully for hints of change in the manner in which people communicate.

This third item popped up on g-mail this morning.  Today is, of course, April Fools' Day and this is a bit of a spoof on the powers of google.  On the other hand, it may not be too far from the truth.  In my family we call these sorts of things "caboose stories," that is, an untrue story containing a certain amount of plausible truth.

The last item is a podcast by Susan RoAne, "Face to Face."

"Susan RoAne, author of the book Face to Face: How to Reclaim the Personal Touch in a Digital World, talks to Moira Gunn about how basic conversational and social skills have deteriorated. RoAne's book offers simple steps to more effective communication."

RoAne suggests that digital communication, by its very nature, considerable narrows the communcation bandwidth and is, in some situations, inappropriate.  I agree.  There have been times when I have walked from one end of campus to the other to have a face-to-face conversation.  She brings out things to think about.

BIO 202 Unintelligent Design

3 class hours, 2 laboratory hours, 4 credits.

Debunking the evolutionary myths created by the charlatan Charles Darwin. Through a careful study of the works of this country’s most eminent televangelists, the student will come to see that this world could only have emerged through unintelligent and somewhat malevolent intervention. Laboratory experiments will consist of a study of the fossils found on the college campus, some of whom are still teaching.

For some time I have wanted to post about "kleio’s belly," but have struggled with how to say what I want to say (most unusual for me).  The reasons for this may become apparent a bit later.

I have always admired those who excel at their craft, be it what most of us call work or be it what most of us do simply for personal enjoyment.  Sometimes I don't fully understand the craft.  Much of what's in "kleio’s belly is like this.  Much of what I hear and see in "TED Talks" is like this.  Apparently complete understanding is not necessarily required for complete appreciation.

December 6, 2008, saw the arrival of "kleio’s belly" on the blog scene with an opening post of "yet another craftblog..."  While the blog is about crafts, it is far more rich than that (cf."americana 101: rollerderby").  It is a delightful, funny, poignant, very well-written romp through through a wide swath of a person's life.  It's not a tell-all, but it is a tell-a-lot.

Craftsmanship, of course, abounds.  From food to photographs; from writing to wondering and wandering; from artifacts of childhood to the artifacts of adulthood.

"kleio’s belly" is in my feeds and almost every day it brings a surprise, a bit of elixir in the otherwise humdrum of the daily routine.  I laugh and sometimes wipe away a tear at a revived memory.

And the force behind this is my daughter whom I love very much.

It's been some time since I have cited Dave Pollard.  This morning brings Friday Flashback: Ten Parameters for 21st Century Innovation.

I am especially attracted to the graphic accompanying Pollard's post.  It compliments what I try to impart to my students regarding critical thinking. 

The entire post, which I commend to your reading and thought, touches upon the issue of ethics. 

The post is also an excellent example of high quality communication.

I'm reminded of the last stanza in Robert Frost's "Miles to Go Before I Sleep."

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."

All of us have work to do.  Pollard gives us some suggestions for completing that work.

Those of you in my courses retain, hopefully, some memory of The Context of Interest.  One of the major external business drivers is labeled Socio-Political-Economic.

George Friedman, author of The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century, made a presentation (followed by questions and answers) to the Carnegie Council in New York City.  His remarks deal directly with this driver and are recommended for your consideration.