Why do younger people generally think it is less essential to live in a democracy? Perhaps it’s because the times are changing. The first democracies (USA, France, and gradually the UK) emerged about 300 years after the invention of the printing press. A free press was a cornerstone of American democracy. All of these are… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Democracy
democracy 2.0
How print enabled democracy “The mass societies had many more decisions to make, and no way of making them in the old, egalitarian way. Their huge numbers made any attempt at discussing the question as equals impossible, so the only ones that survived and flourished were the ones that became brutal hierarchies. Tyranny was the… Read more »
toward distributed governance
Last year I wrote a post — cities & the future of work — as an introduction to my session with the Prime Minister’s Office of Finland. I have been invited back to Helsinki this year to further discuss some issues around reforming the government’s operating practices particularly moving toward a more collaborative culture. In… Read more »
complexity & chaos — the new normal
A major challenge I have had in my organizational change work is getting people to understand that complicated environments are different from complex ones, and the latter are almost always the situation when people are involved. Generally it means that in complex situations there is less reliance on pre-planning and analysis and a greater emphasis… Read more »
autonomy, competence, relevance
If we seek diverse or divergent views, will the opinions of others change our minds? A recent study seems to indicate that paying attention to views opposed to our own may actually harden our existing perspectives. “In a study that was published last month in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, my… Read more »
socially mediated
Social media extend emotion, obsolesce the linearity and logic of print, retrieve orality, and when pushed to their extreme result in constant outrage. A socially networked society could reverse into a popularity contest, where our value is only measured in our mediated reputation, such as numbers of Twitter followers or LinkedIn connections. Our tribal leaders… Read more »
‘we’re living in a very liquid world’
When I think back On all the crap I learned in high school It’s a wonder I can think at all And though my lack of education Hasn’t hurt me none I can read the writing on the wall —Paul Simon, Kodachrome (1973) Nothing that you learned in school has prepared you for today. Nothing…. Read more »
knowledge filters revisited
The concept of filtering sources of knowledge has informed the personal knowledge mastery framework for many years, as explained here in knowledge filters (2011). Recently, a “CBC News investigation found that a YouTube channel devoted to putting misleading headlines on TV stories from other stations is getting recommended more often than many mainstream news outlets.”… Read more »
chaos and order
chaordic [kay-ordʹ-ic], adj., fr. E. chaos and order. 1. The behavior of any self-organizing, self-governing, organ, organization, or system that harmoniously exhibits characteristics of both order and chaos. 2. Patterned by chaos and order in a way not dominated by either. 3. Blending of diversity, chaos, complexity and order characteristic of the fundamental organizing principles… Read more »
self-determination ensures democracy
Self-determination theory (SDT) is based on three innate human requirements: Competence, Relatedness, and Autonomy. Deci and Ryan [the researchers] claim that there are three essential elements of the theory: 1. Humans are inherently proactive with their potential and mastering their inner forces (such as drives and emotions) 2. Humans have an inherent tendency toward growth… Read more »
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