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Saturday, May 2, 2009

Skills for the future workplace

  1. Ping Quotient
  2. Longbroading
  3. Open Authorship
  4. Cooperation Radar
  5. Multi-Capitalism
  6. Mobbability
  7. Protovation
  8. Influency
  9. Signal/Noise Management
  10. Emergensight
Have the above skills? Know what the above terms even mean?

According to the nonprofit research group Institute for the Future, these are "the skills workers should strive to have and the skills workers should seek out and promote." The skills themselves emphasize social networking (Ping Quotient, Influency), collaboration (Open Authorship, Cooperation Radar, Mobbability, Influency), ability to deal with change (Emergensight), and more. In a culture and economy that is emphasizing ever-quicker innovations, technological solutions, and creative problem-solving, businesses and workers privleging these ten skills will prove more productive and profitable.

Thanks, PSFK.

"Collaboration" image by twowest.

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Friday, May 1, 2009

Graffiti school

Streetsy posted their educational rundown of 40 Street Artists You Should Know Besides Banksy last fall, but I've just now gotten around to educating myself.  Some would definitely turn my head on the street.  I also found it interesting how mainstream and commercial some of the artists are (I love public art, period, regardless of legality or sponsorship, so I could care less).

Blu, who operates mainly in Buenos Aires, is known mostly for monumental paintings and animations

Fauxreel, who is based in Toronto, is best-known for large, black-and-white posters


Painters (and twin brothers) Os Gemeos, work out of Sao Paolo


NYC-based Revs is an old-school tagger turned sculputural graffiti artist

Thundercut, also a New York artist, is known for vinyl art on street crossing signals

Go forth and school thyself, or at least look around with greater observation.

Thanks, Urban Prankster.

From top to bottom: "Blu 1" image by Icons for Now, untitled image by shoehorn99, "Os Gemeos - Close up" image by jACK TWO, untitled image by shoehorn99 (who is apparently a big graffiti buff),"Obama Walker" image (taken in my new neighborhood!) by hragvartanian.

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Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Religion & marriage equality

The Empire State Pride Agenda is trying to anticipate some of the objections it will face from the religious community now that Governor Patterson has introduced a same-sex marriage bill into the New York state legislature. The resulting video is pretty great:




Thanks, Queerty.

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Monday, April 20, 2009

Bringing water to the masses in NYC

I am going to love TapIt Water, a new program that "connects empty-canteen-carrying water seekers with cafes and restaurants who offer good, clean, NYC tap water at no charge and with no dirty you-need-to-buy-something looks," according to PSFK. The organization's website allows local businesses to become partners, listing the details of their water availability in exchange for the presumed increase in business due to the added traffic. The public can then look up sites participating that are near their day's activities from their computer, iPhone, or Smartphone. Genius! Less demand for bottled water is great for the environment, and these kind of partnerships between businesses and nonprofits build stronger communities.

They've also got a suprisingly-often-updated blog (surprising to me--who knew there was so much to say on this topic?).

"water bottle" image by Muffet.

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Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Will the P.U.M.A. change transportation?

A number of media outlets today noted the unveiling of the P.U.M.A., short for Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility, from GM and Segway

"Think of a larger, two-passenger, sit-down version of the Segway PT, with two gyroscopically balanced wheels.  The prototype has minimal bodywork, but podlike enclosures (which look like computer mice on wheels) are imagined for production," writes Jim Motavalli in The New York Times' Wheels blog.

The electric vehicle is powered by lithium-ion batteries and can reach a top speed of 35 m.p.h., and it is so small that six P.U.M.A.s could fit within a standard parking space.

The companies don't plan to sell the vehicle at this time, but are showing it off as "a bit of blue-sky thinking about better ways to move around crowded urban areas."  Indeed, with a presumed cost higher than $5K (Gothamist notes that a standard Segway PT costs bout $5K), it's price point may be too close to value automobiles that offer more space, cargo, and horsepower.

Perhaps PSFK's Dan Gould offers the best commentary on this new vehicle, noting that while this thing is "kind of cool, no [doubt,] wouldn’t a bike be a better, less complicated solution for urban transport?"  Not to mention cheaper, smaller, and completely energy-neutral.

What's really exciting about planned future innovation for these vehicles, however, is in their communicative abilities, both with each other, and with a central power grid.  Larry Burns, G.M.’s vice president for research and development and strategic planning, told the Times that

Project P.U.M.A. vehicles would be designed to tap into the two-way communications made possible by G.M.’s OnStar technology, which has six million North American subscribers. The vision is expansive: using 'vehicle to vehicle,' or V2V, communications, these '100 percent digital' devices would communicate with one another over a quarter-mile range to prevent collisions, eventually allowing what G.M. calls 'autonomous driving and parking.' . . .
There’s more: the pods would also be equipped to communicate with the smart grid of the future (as is the Aptera EV, another podlike electric vehicle that is due to be introduced in the fall), returning electricity to utilities during times of peak demand. That’s not V2V, it’s V2G — vehicle to grid.
That is an innovation that would change transportation.

"The Project P.U.M.A." image by yufujamar.

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Friday, April 3, 2009

Can Obama follow LBJ's legislative legacy?

LBJ came to our highest office with a unique set of legislative credentials, having spent 11 years in the House and 12 in the Senate.  This unique understanding of the complexities of the American legislative system contributed to his historic success in his initial 100 days, as well as the overall reformative legacy of his presidency.  Can Obama hope to live up to Johnson's example, with his broad reform intentions and the Democratic majority of Congress?

We've already seen this term that Obama can get his legislation passed without G.O.P. help, but the President's early success with his legislative agenda has not come easy, and has not come without resistance, even from within his own party's ranks.

In "Can Obama Be a Majority of One?," Robert Dallek describes Johnson's approach:
Despite his majorities, Johnson took nothing for granted. He predicted 'a hard fight every inch of the way.'  He told one adviser: 'I’ve watched the Congress from either the inside or the outside. . . for more than 40 years, and I’ve never seen a Congress that didn’t eventually take the measure of the president it was dealing with.'

To fend off the day when the Congress would resist his requests, Johnson launched a campaign of carrots and sticks that won majorities for his reforms.  He directed aides to treat every member of Congress as if he or she was the center of the political universe.  They were instructed to return a representative’s or senator’s call in '10 minutes or else.'  Johnson himself devoted countless hours talking to them on the telephone.
Johnson wooed the leaders of the opposing party most aggressively, most notably Senate minority leader Everett Dirksen.  It seems as though Obama has already learned some of these lessons, courting Congress with trips to the Hill and invitations to the White House (including for the Super Bowl), and his acceptance of earmarks in the recent omnibus bill suggests Obama's willingness to compromise in order to achieve some of his goals.

Challenges facing Obama, including a smaller Congressional majority than Johnson enjoyed, a lack of long-time ties to Congressional leaders, and "the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression" may hinder his progress, but the President's unprecedented popular support, "[rivaling] the approval F.D.R., Eisenhower, Kennedy and Reagan enjoyed," may likewise help his agenda.

Thanks, 100 Days!

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Thursday, April 2, 2009

Pop culture visualized

I love illustrator Dan Meth's Pop-Cultural Charts.  He takes simplistic data about popular films and sitcoms and displays it via charts, maps, and info-graphics, creating a humorous but analytical snapshot of a segment of pop culture.  Check out the first three below.





#4 in the series is the U.S.A. Sitcom Map and #5 is The Trilogy Meter part 2.

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