DaChispa

This was an unexpected surprise from a Harvard Business School professor who got involved in publishing a Wikipedia article.  What he has to say is very interesting.  It is in two parts – one talks about the process of publishing an article on wikipedia, and who it is in fact quite rigorous, the second is his view of how Wikis can be used corporately.  You can find it here: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5605.html

I am currently reading Wiknomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams and am finding it fascinating.  One of the things they are doing, is producing their next book as a collaborative effort with anyone who is online and interested.  The Wikinomics web site shows how they are doing so far.  You have to admire they for going beyond the paper book and seeing how far collaboration can really go in this new wired world.  The book itself has some great current examples such as Proctor and Gambles InnoCentres and MIT’s open courses (and courseware).  My favourite quote (so far) from the book is (talking about companies) “losers launched web sites… winners launched vibrant communities”

There are a lot of people who come down from Northern Ireland to the place where I go on holiday, and have been doing so for many years.  Recently, I was reminded of the times when they were escaping on holiday from the troubles after a massive explosion shook all the caravans on our site.  It turned out to be a JCB tyre blowing out, but the speed at which the Northern Ireland crowd were out to investigate and got to the root of the noise was impressive.   I think if you have lived with violence and explosions, the fear never quite leaves you and the memory of those unhappy times is always there, waiting to be awoken by unexpected events.  I guess you can’t really know it unless you have lived through it yourself. 

On the boat out to Ireland from Wales, they have a quick and effective way of gathering feedback about the state of their toilets.  There is a box on the wall which asks you to press one of three buttons to give your opinion of the facilities (something like poor, OK, excellent).  I didn’t know what the constant sound of bells was while I was in there, but realised that it was people pressing one of the buttons as they left.  I think this is a great idea – and would be even better if you could visibly show the results as people ‘vote’.  I wonder whether we could adopt this to evaluate courses/documents – or ideas?  Anonymous, quick and effective…