Open Education - it is becoming reality

Salman Khan about the learning of the future. With some concepts of Jean Pol Martin, Gunter Dueck, Michael Wesch, and LockSchuppen (where we did similar on smaller scale via ScreenR). MIT Open Course Ware certainly fits in this future journey of learning - pretty much of what I have dreamt some ten years ago here in Dresden - where science, arts and business comes together and LEARNING is the bounding brace.

Watching his video and sneaking into Khan Academy something is definitely calling me (and you as well perhaps) to make the education here in Dresden fit for the coming times! - und es sollte nicht auf eine Sprache begrenzt bleiben (sorry to undo my promise to keep this blog only in English).

Pulling the knowledge currents into action - sparked by John Hagel

How do we engage teams in ever increasing platforms that the new web age brings up?

Examples from my own work experience:

• creating a knowledge team around bringing a new tracking software (of containers) across several European countries on just a virtual collaboration
• being a major facilitator for making the new BMW Plant Leipzig a reality, again especially in dealing and mentoring team members spread across the BMW network
• envisioning the concept of a virtual lean consulting community, which eventually resulted in creating the concept of LockSchuppen - Unlocking Creative Minds
• ...

What are the sparking moments of your life time where similar happened?

21st Century Opera - Time of Enlightenment 2.0

Reflecting on 'L'incoronazione di Poppea' a baroque opera dated back to 1643 which inner truth is so much  of our today's world. Not much has changed: inner circles rule the country and business world, masses of people (workers) make the whole running smoothly, interpersonal and group dynamics show up in crisis especially.

What makes me wonder? How about creating modern opera of todays composers taking the actual reality into account, adapting it to a vivid opera context that then provides the "cultural island" from which the visitors from interdisciplinary fields (politics, science, arts, and business) can get into dialog on changing the world they live into to the better together.


Who is the one who takes the first step to create such?

Behavioral Economics - when clusters do not work

Today I learned - once again- from a local cluster manager that any event inviting experts (which of course cost a few Euros) is not feasible nor doable. The local hightech companies would not be in the position to do so. Especially as the Eastern German part of the country still is the "extended work bench" of Western Germany, or other global corporations.

What I have seen for the last 18 years (1993 I was working as an assistant in the archeological institute in Dresden for 8 weeks, pretty much entrenched into the Eastern German culture and history) there is potential in the locals and local companies to raise well on top of the corporate world. However something is in play in the economic "system" that hinders the uprise.

Copyright: http://bit.ly/gKYLnr

May it be the state funding that is constantly being infused into the country? May it be "closed circles" of "men in grey flanell suits"? May it be a lack of money on the banks and VCs that almost are non-existent (compared with the Silicon Valley situation)?

Who knows. What I know is that there is something happening underneath the surface, nobody wants openly to talk about.

What is the unquestionable that hinders entrepreneurs, startups, and free-thinking people to get to their real potential in life and work?

A short glance in Edgar Schein's book about culture opens new worlds of understanding.

What do you think is reasoning the behavior?

Love & Culture = Economic Growth!

If you ever wondered where the subsidies for large cultural institutions run into, read this New York Times article. It covers the economic impact opera houses, as the Semperoper for example, or the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and their work have on not so familiar areas, such as economic development.

Sometimes one has to go far to see close - like I had to visit a conference in Oman to meet some relevant folks in the social business, like Frauke Godat, co-founders of the SelfHUB (closed in 2010) in Berlin.

There are always "hidden bends" in the course of life that create value for the whole the very moment you don't concentrate (with your eyes or measuring instruments) on the ROI or concrete results!

"If an organization wishes to benefit from its own creative potential, it must be prepared to value the vagaries of the unmeasurable as well as the certainties of the measurable." (quoted from 'Orbiting the Giant Hairball' by Gordon McKenzie)

Lightspeed thoughts on entrepreurship

Picture: Deutsche Werkstätten Hellerau

Vivek Wadhwa at Stanford (120 min (!)) - video
Who is the first politician to comment?
Wer ist der erste sächsische Politiker, der kommentiert?

Time for a shift in the world and SAXONY, as well.

Picture on left is the Silicon Valley of its day on the outskirts of Dresden:

DRESDEN-Hellerau

When Flow of Thought is Cut - IMMEDIATELY! What to do?

Inspired by a recent post by Kurzweil AI I think by myself, "How true is that!" - Islandic volcano, snow everywhere in winter 2010/2011, earthquake and tsunami in Japan, flooding in Thailand, what's next?

• Have we as a species already adapted to the changing environment? 
• Do we still need to travel back and forth and why is that so?

>>> the following was written on Pegasus on 25th of December 2010:

Merry Xmas to all!

What seemed unnatural in spring now comes back in form of never ending snowing here in Saxony and Dresden.

At the moment it is Christmas time, on Monday work starts again.

The current events make us again aware that nature has a much tighter grip on our daily action than we might have thought in the past.

In which ways do we react?

Do we try to do the things we did in the past? Freeing streets running the goods and people as good as possible?

Or do we cocreate new solutions to the given situation outside and take the benefits it gives us in our hands?

Quite a few people will have the probably the chance to try new forms of work such as http://coworking.pbworks.com.

All a healthy time and moments to rethink!
Posted @ Saturday, December 25, 2010 4:08 AM by RalfLippold