Inspire
The Magazine
NOVEMBER 2010
WeCollaborate Community Magazine ! !
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NO. 1
“Tell me I'll forget, show me, I may remember, but involve me and I'll understand�
INDEX
REMEMBERING GRANDMOTHER
WHY ETHICS IS CRUCIAL TO A KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY
AESTHETICS AS AN INSIGHT POSSIBILITY THE DREAM OF BEING FAMOUS
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ENDEUX : FROM RESEARCH TO REWARD INSPIRATION IN BUSINESS
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7 ON THE EDGE OF CAOS
FOREWORD
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A big thank you to all the community members of WeCollaborate.org who helped create this magazine by supplying content! Layout is by Katja Gry Birkegaard Carlsen, Who is also the editor of Inspire. If you have any contributions, comments or articles that you think we might find interesting for the next edition of Inspire, please don't hesitate to contact us at kat@wecollaborate.org
I Hope this will Inspire your day and create new and valuable acquaintances.... Hope u enjoy ! magazine
Katja Gry
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Hi and welcome to the first edition of Inspire. This Magazine is dedicated to the heroes of today. The people who walk their talk and collaborate to create all over good solutions for some of the complex problems we are facing today! You are the people that make my day and inspire me to stand up and fight for what I believe in. In the last 2 years that I have been working with WeCollaborate.org I realized that I have met cool, amazing and mind blowing people. Most of them are in the community on WeCollaborate.org, but they don't all know each other. Thats about to change! With this magazine I`ll be asking, showing off and collecting news of the great work and interesting issues you are engaged in right now. Creating a focus on the connection between research and practice. I guess you can say that Inspire is a community magazine, just with the focus on cutting edge knowledge, entrepeneuring, projects, social media and most importantly the members of our exclusive little network club. Can a community magazine be sexy, fun and intriguing and have a focus nondependent upon age? - I believe it can but judge for yourself!
All Content is created by members of WeCollaborate.org
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Want to learn more? Come to the event Thursday 18. november at 17.00-19.00
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Knowledge creation is then understood as an active process of communication between humans. It follows that knowledge is not stored, but perpetually constructed. Ralph Stacey
Thesis
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Of The Month
“The Edge of Chaos”, is the title of our Master thesis. Here we challenge the resource-based view of knowledge by discussing knowledge as a phenomenon, which emerges from the interaction between humans in the living present. The reason for our interest in knowledge creation and social interaction is to be found in a general wonder on how projects are so difficult to plan and execute. From the beginning of our work, we have had a hunch that focus on social interaction can be useful when dealing with project management under nonlinear conditions. Name: Stine Mølgaard Sørensen Profession: Cant. Comm & Project manager Country: Denmark WeCo Status: Welcome- new at WeCo! I graduated in June from RUC and have obtained a Master’s degree in Communications. For several years I have worked professionally with social media and digital communication. I’m especially absorbed by how our use of social platforms change the way we interact and build relations in our daily lives.
Name: Mette julie Lindhardtsen Profession: Master of Communication Country: Denmark WeCo Status: Welcome- new at WeCo! I work in Human Resource where I am primarily involved with recruiting staff to the different divisions of the organization. I’m interested in how a focus on social interaction can be useful in a human resource perspective - both in the hiring process, but also in the retention of employees.
Read the whole thesis at WeCollaborate.org or join the event or discussion group -for a great insight on how knowledge is generated amongst people...
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Name: Tom Evans Profession: Author & Catalyst Country : UK WeCo Status: Welcome- new at WeCo! Tom is an author, musician, poet and technophile who specializes in helping people and businesses tap into their Creative Muse. He specializes in making the esoteric into the exoteric and has been called, by others, the wizard of light bulb moments, a seer and a modern day alchemist.
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“Writers, painters and musicians who are ‘in the flow’ report that they forget about time and enter almost a dream-like state when they are at their most creative.”
Inspiration In Business by Tom Evans
We all have days when we get up and
feel inspired. Conversely, there are days when nothing seems to go to plan. Ideas don’t flow and external events appear to conspire against you so that, at best, you stand still that day or, worse, you feel that you even went backwards. I am guessing that you would like all your days to be of the inspirational variety. With just a few simple techniques, the good news is that inspiration is something that can be tapped into on demand and you don’t have to rely on mere chance, or what’s written in your stars.
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It’s perhaps somewhat ironic that Edison who invented the light bulb didn’t exactly have a light bulb moment in finding the material for the ideal filament. Apocryphally, he tried 10,000 or so materials before he came across tungsten. Imagine if he could have saved himself all that effort - what else would he have had time to invent? The clue to tapping into unlimited inspiration might at first sound a bit counter-intuitive but creatives around the world will testify to this. We need to get our conscious minds out of the way to access the unconscious mind. By definition, we must be un-conscious of such inspirations until they appear. When they do they appear the best ones seem to come from nowhere and, in less than a fraction of a second, you get the whole picture and vision. Writers, painters and musicians who are ‘in the flow’ report that they forget about time and enter almost a dream-like state when they are at their most creative. Such creative activity builds on existing concepts in new ways, whereas when inspiration happens, the solution to a problem is perceived in its entirety. A useful, and simplistic, model that explains this phenomenon is the left and right hemisphere structure of our brains. The left brain is the home of logic and reason and the right, where our creative muse resides. Note that this isn't how it really works but it's a simple model for us to get our heads around.
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The first key to tapping into the inspiration stored in our un-conscious is to get our minds into a state where we are ‘whole brain thinking’ where both hemispheres are working to their optimum and communicating with each other effectively. There are many ways to synchronize the hemispheres but only some that are pertinent to a business environment. A workforce under the influence of alcohol might be fun but unsafe or unproductive. Likewise, meditation may be frowned upon in the workplace which is a bit of a shame as it not only is one of the best methods but it has so many health benefits. What does work very well though is the use of Mind Maps. The diagram above is an example of one. A mind map keeps the logical left brain happy as it gives it a structure and an order. While it’s busy analyzing and constructing the map, the creative right brain seems to sneak in to do its best work. What’s more, the mind map is much easier to remember as a whole as opposed to a list or document. You can use color, images and relative position to enforce and highlight salient areas and to introduce a new level of semantic. Mind Maps seem to imprint themselves in our memory and, for this reason, are being used increasingly in schools – especially at revision time. Note that there are also many software packages available but be aware that, for some, using a computer can get the user back into left brain mode. Grounding ideas on to paper with a pen seems to make them come alive. The second key is to lose ego. This is not just so you suppress egotistical behavior per se but because if ego is in operation, it is a tell tale sign that the conscious brain is active. In a business context there is another mode for collaboration and discussion which fosters the suppression of ego. It is called parallel thinking. Parallel thinking means that instead of taking the whole task on at one time, you break it down in to modes of reflection and analysis. There are formal techniques you can follow such as Walt Disney’s Three Rooms and Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats but in essence they all boil down to the same thing. That is to get all team members pulling together in the same direction, at the same time. For example, in Six Hats you look at all the upside and downsides to a project separately as well as the dangers and positives. You then leave all the blue sky thinking (or Green Hat in de Bono’s case) to the end where no idea is judged and full creative freedom is unleashed. This occurs at the same time egos are massaged and managed.
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These techniques become even more powerful when they are combined with positive thinking techniques such as Appreciative Inquiry. This is where you focus on all the things that work in your organization and then get them to them work even better. As I said though, by far the best way however to encourage inspiration to occur is to practice regular meditation … and to breathe properly. Sadly, introducing meditative practices into the business environment is often frowned upon, which is sad. When I first started meditating, the thought of 'wasting' 20 or so minutes of my busy day sounded ludicrous. Now, if I don't meditate, I know I will waste hours in the day and, if I can, I meditate 2 or 3 times a day. In addition, I teach people how to use their dreamtime to solve real world problems so you can be creative while you sleep. The upshot of the regular use of such techniques is to engender culture change from the ground up. Instilling a culture of innovation from inspiration is vital to any business that wants to survive and thrive in an increasingly competitive environment. There is an urban myth that the US President visited NASA and met an office cleaner and asked him what he did. He answered, “I fly rockets to the Moon.”
Now that’s what I call inspirational.
Read also Tom Evans article about collaboration in; Business Wise Words of wisdom for small businesses with big ambitions Find it in “Navigating CSI + CSR”´s bookshelf at WeCollaborate.org
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Quotes
"Imagina tion is more importan t than knowledg e" Albert Einstein
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All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. [o,o] l(__) Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Name: Michael Rasmussen Profession: Analyst & Communications Country:DK WeCo Status: Welcome-new at WeCo!
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Name: Kristian Moltke Martiny Profession:Research Assistant and Consultant Country: DK WeCo Status: Welcome-new at WeCo!
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In my academic career, as well as in my consulting and in endeux, I aim to make it clear that society and business can profit from academia (mainly philosophy), and vice versa.
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Through my work as an analyst and a communicator, doing research and writing in endeux and elsewhere, I aim to bring science and philosophy to the broader public, and make them see how they can benefit from it.
From Research to Reward endeux is a two-man operation, hailing from Copenhagen, Denmark. Inspired by the method of philosophical inquiry, endeux is nestled in the emerging field of Knowledge Consultancy, trying to balance academic research with the need for communicating that research to society. “We basically started endeux because we both felt that philosophy had something to offer, something other than how it is practiced in the halls of knowledge. We are alike in that respect – and since we work extraordinarily well together, complementing each other’s thoughts and strengths, it seemed like the natural thing to do. Philosophy, unlike all the other sciences, is by its very nature liberated from having to deal with a certain body of knowledge. As a method it transcends scientific boundaries, enables collaborative synthesis, and thus creates meaning, which is not only useful to scholars, but to society as a whole. In a society lusting for innovation, ethical guidelines and sustainability, the method, which is unique to philosophy, proves indispensable in our efforts to move forward. The problem with philosophy, h o w e v e r, h a s a l w a y s b e e n t o communicate it. In endeux, our mission is to help facilitate that transfer of knowledge. We do this by creating a link between research departments, educational institutions, businesses and the media, through which our collaborative efforts help the parties involved gain new insights. Insights that hopefully will differentiate them within their own field of expertise and show fruitful directions for future collaborative development.“
endeux
”endeux” is a contrac/on of the french ”en deux”, which means ”in twain”, or literally ”in two pieces”. It represents the dual nature of our partnership, our friendship, and the dialogic nature of philosophy as it engages the world. It is a way of overcoming challenges and crea/ng meaning.
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The Dream of Fame Drømmen om Berømmelse Everyone dreams, on some level, of being famous – of being a visible member of the crowd and garnering the a?en/on of one's peers. We can witness this phenomenon in a wide array of aspects of our daily lives: The way we use online social media, the abundance of reality shows we watch on tv, and the way we elect our poli/cians. The book dissects, analyzes and debates the history and the current state of the celebrity culture, as it is labeled. How did this all come to be? What are the consequences of this obsession with celebri/es and gaining fame? How can we ensure that we push things in the right direc/on? The answer to the last ques/on comes, in part, through social media. These can be used effec/vely to turn the simple craving for a?en/on into something substan/al that benefits society and the democracy we pride ourselves of. We have already seen this happen with Barack Obama's presiden/al campaign, and with plenty of issues that fulfill the urges inherent in our culture without these actually demanding the presence of a celebrity. Thus, the democra/c poten/al in our culture is vast, and the book offers an iden/fica/on of this poten/al. Name: Christian Have Profession: Creative Director at Have Communication Country: DK WeCo Status: Ambassador of WeCollaborate Chris/an founded Have Kommunika/on in 1983. Which have grown to be the leading PR and communica/ons agency within its field in Scandinavia, assis/ng cultural ins/tu/ons, organiza/ons and events to stand strong in today's complex media world. He is the author of three books, and he holds two professorial posi/ons at Aalborg University and the University of Copenhagen, while also being a board member at many organiza/ons.
Submit your ideas
on how to create a great profile or vote for the best idea yet!
The one with most votes Wins the Book “DRØMMEN OM BERØMMELSE” and gets their profile featured in the next edition of Inspire.
Use you imagination and create an interactive Portfolio using WeCollaborates great opportunities for uploading profile videos, pictures, linking to home pages or submitting music... only your imaginations sets the limit vote for the best ideas submitted and get the chance to influence who gets to be the featured profile for next edition of Inspire Competition ends the 29th of now. 2010
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AESTHETICS as an INSIGHT POSSIBILITY
The scientific approach has been and still is of great
importance in the health services. But there are still areas unfathomable to science, for instance when human beings, befallen by suffering, grief,or anxiety, reflect on the existential conditions of life. Questions like: „What is the meaning of life?“ or „Why is this happening to me?“
No matter how much faith we have in science, we are not
able to answer these questions definitely, but, nevertheless, the questions still remain. However, throughout time, philosophers and artists have made suggestions as to how an aesthetic recognition, characterized by sensation, can help human beings open up to an insight aimed at a whole.
The objective in this article is to examine how sensuous
perception can open up to another experience than that of science. The pivot is, among others, the ideas of K.E. Løgstrup.
Name: Anne Marie Enderlein Profession: Master´s degree in History of Ideas and Rhetoric and Communication, Nurse Country: Denmark WeCo Status: Ambassador of WeCollaborate.org I am a project leader in psychiatry in South Denmark, in aim to develop, and improve the ethical awareness, and legitimate and allocate time and space for ethical reflection. Additionally, my area of interest is aesthetics significance to human cognition.
Read the whole article at WeCollaborate.org
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A Roadtrip into our Knowledge Society In
a contemporary world where everything is changing and knowledge explodes in scopes, the ability to stay focused and navigate by the fundamental values become essential to both individuals and society as a whole. I am exploring the following: How philosophy can offer and develop interpretative keys that are vital resources for the identification of meaningful horizons in a society whose basic characteristic is complexity. The article begins with a theoretical contemporary diagnosis, bridging the gap between theory and practice. Knowledge society has in the past decade had a prominent place in our understanding of what specifically characterizes the period we live in. There are of course numerous other characteristics of our current society, such as information, network, experience and dream society, but knowledge society seem to be the preferred terminology in the entrance to the 21st century. Such terms may of course be used as pure platitudes, but they do capture something in our time. One of the trends as the term "knowledge society" captures in our time, is that our society can no longer live by material production and reproduction. Every year we lose thousands of manufacturing jobs to the south and east countries. We are on the path of a fundamental transformation where knowledge and intellectual production is slowly but surely becoming the basic structure and key value that determines our society's economic and thus also social development. This requires a focus on how to give knowledge development the best conditions, but also a basic understanding of the different forms of knowledge.
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Name: Â Allan Alfred Birkegaard Hansted Profession: photographer, collaborator & entrepreneur Country: Denmark WeCo Status: Founder of WeCollaborate.org Alfred is an explorer and a creative entrepreneur, Exploring people, life, philosophy and collaboration while creating movies, pictures and communities using the social media.
foto: Allan Alfred foto: Allan Alfred
“Friction creates possibilities�
foto: Allan Alfred
Firstly. In relation to knowledge circulation, Denmark has no tradition of knowledge exchange between academia and industry, and here the problem lies largely in the “clash of languages”. At universities, students are taught complicated language and interpretation skills that are hard to convey. Not being taught the art of putting their knowledge into play, their acquired insights and skills are often only enriching within their own circles. Solving this problem requires establishment of a common language, which will mean building skills in communication, innovation and learning. The big challenge is to create a new knowledge infrastructure that increases the circulation of relevant knowledge across disciplines and enables interaction between people. In practice this will mean a confrontation (and confrontation usually implies conflict) between people with differing worldviews. The development of this knowledge infrastructure requires transparency. Therefore the knowledge society depends on our ability to develop courage, responsibility and trust.
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Values and ectical skills make interdisciplinary and cultural collaboration possible. Collaboration requires simultaneous cooperation and understanding communication (lat. communicare – make common). Summary: A common co-created language is a necessary premise of whether we can understand each other.
The big challenge is to create a new knowledge infrastructure that increases the circulation of relevant knowledge across disciplines and enabling interaction between people. Another key question is how we understand the concept of Knowledge. The Greek philosopher Aristotle proposes 3 forms of knowledge; Episteme, Techne and Phronesis. Episteme roughly covers the theoretical type of knowledge that refers to scientific knowledge. Techne is a pratical form of knowledge which is contingent upon actions in a specific context.
Phronesis is a practical knowledge that can be translated as practical wisdom. Practical wisdom requires the ability to combine the different forms of knowledge, and thus phronesis reflects on the ability to apply general knowledge, practical experience, empathy and creativity, into a good and wise choice. Phronesis can not be taught as the case is with Episteme and Techne, but must be experienced and come into play in concrete actions which translates into an ethical perspective. Since Phronesis cannot be taught I will not try to explain. Instead I invite you on a journey into "Knowledge Society", a project created to reflect on the dialectic between the different forms of knowledge, focusing specifically on Phronesis which the philosophical tradition has a natural softness for. The following figure shows an illustration of the Phonesis concept in relation to Techne and Episteme, and how this has come into play in the project. A deeper explanation of Phronesis and thus ethics in the knowledge society are offered in the final thesis (due late dec 2010).
The ethical knowledge approach in a knowledge society Where the ethical reflection and practical experience manifest itself
Theoretical knowledge Episteme
This illustrate the dialectic point between theory and praxis
Practical knowledge Techne (Praxis)
Practical knowledge Phronesis
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Phronesis is associated with the ability to reflect about what can be done in the concrete situation, thus implying our ethical imagination / intuition, a radical sense option which associates it with our experience. Â My contention is that the challenges arising out the creation of a knowledge society require an ethical approach to address them.
The circle could illustrate: Macro level: countries, languages, culture and discipline boundaries Microlevel: biological, consciousness and internal mental boundaries
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Practice (how) Since my thesis is grounded in philosophy, the practical challenge is to make it understandable and accessible. Which means first and foremost, to speak clearly and relatively free of internal discussions and adapt to the communication technology's ability to invite people into a dialogue. To build this communication bridge between theory and practice I have in the last 6 months toured around Denmark on a roadtrip talking with politicians, philosophers, businessleaders, which has come down to 7 small dialogue based movies. With the project starting in ancient ethics, it was natural to update the classic virtues like, courage, wisdom and responsibility and I therefore selected a number of central personalities who in their own way have addressed these ethical challenges. The journey is visualized here:
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Phronesis and the art of asking questions Phronesis knowledge equals ethical discernment, but how to achieve this knowledge? The short answer is to be persistent in questioning the unknown and keep the mind open to new horizons. For example in conversation with others, we open ourselves to the other's horizon, and though we might disagree, the other's horizon becomes understandable to us and thereby broaden our perspective and empathy in the world. The German hermeneutics Hans-Georg Gadamer referring to Plato / Socrates writes;
"its harder to ask questions than to answer them".
The project is hermeneutic in practice and theory and is my final thesis in philosophy at Copenhagen University. My challenge has been to actualize practical philosophy, with a focus on ethics in relation to our contemporary personal (and also social) challenges. The aim is to focus on a new form of interactive and practical philosophy, which intervenes in time by bringing our "everyday consciousness" in perspective.
To summarize: The road to all knowledge goes through the question and asking is to keep something in the open. In this project, the reason, I am not solely questioning philosophers, is to address the diversity of dialogue. The aim is to raise a multitude of voices from people talking in their own way about key ethical aspects.
Begin the journey ... www.videnssamfundet.com
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..the relation between you and me; it is the key to the many challenges that stand in our way today..
Hej “No human can resist the power of decency”
“a Citizenship where the human is at long last in the center”
“We are certainly going through the most serious social crisis that our country has had to face since the end of WWII” ...we all have a sense of what citizenship is.
Remembering Grandmother...
As I grow older the voice of my grandmother is coming back to me in an ever more frequent basis. The voice is mellow and always reminds me that the one who stands on the ground of decency is solidly planted in humanity. That one has the whole world to call home. I strive today to make those words of hers the guiding principles of my life and the underpinning of my approach to it, and thereby my relation to fellow humans. I may be hit by the nostalgia of my childhood when the voice of my grandmother used to sweeten my early days or maybe the wisdom of her words only now starts to reveal itself in its plenitude. Today I have the enormous privilege to be engaged in a movement known as Citizen21. In reality it is a human story where the main aspiration is a redefinition of Citizenship in the 21st Century; a Citizenship where the human is at long last in the center. I along with the people who joined me to launch this improbable quest knew that we all have a sense of what citizenship is.
We do so as a result of an almost instinctive understanding of the democratic principles Vivamus suspicion gravid rises sit amet ultrices. Integerthat quis neque sit amet velitgovern malesuada auctor. Nulla iaculis viverra. Donecaconsectetur our society. Thatpretium has enabled us to build posuere justo. Vestibulum condimentum interdum purus, non dignissim nation where the notion of freedom and welfare is not diam dapibus ut. Curabitur a dui vitae risus lacinia molestie sit amet et felis. an abstraction buteros a reality life thatFusce eachplacerat one ofcommodo us Phasellus vitae felis sed suscipitof dignissim. diam nec feugiat. Etiam amet ipsum risus. of Sed a mauris at metus blandit can claim. We shallsitnever lose sight that. lacinia. Donec sit amet tucu.
We are certainly going through the most serious social crisis that our country has had to face since the end of WWII. It is witnessed in the economic challenges that threaten our welfare. Our social cohesion is under siege with supposed or real tension resulting in the settlement of newcomers from different cultures, and many others connected to our increasing opening to the world. In that context people are starting to sense that a need to go back to the basics and the rediscovery of the essential values that make us humans may hold the key. When I invited people- some I never met before- to my apartment one Tuesday evening to gather and reflect on how to continue the never ending human quest, I was stepping onto the unknown. I started it sight unseen but the voice of my beloved grandmother kept coming back and was saying the same: No human can resist the power of decency, and when you operate on that basis you will get it back from people.
Name: Â Aziz Fall Proffesion:Cand.comm, External lecturer, Chairman of Citizen21 Country: DK WeCo Status: Ambassador of WeCollaborate.
There shall always be a reward to an effort and that applies to everything and every aspect of life. With that faith, I go to the discovery of the world.
That faith has presided over the very birth of Citizen21. My belief is citizenship in the 21st Century is the unquantifiable sum of the relation between you and me; it is the key to the many challenges that stand in our way today. That is what I learned at the Citizen21 maiden conference in Vartov, and I intend to carry that message forward.
www.citizen21.dk
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In‧spire To encourage someone by making them feel confident and eager to do something: in·spire (in spīrʹ′) transitive verb ·Inspiredʹ′,
• to breathe or blow • to draw (air) into the lungs; inhale • to stimulate or impel to some creative or • • • •
effective effort to cause, guide, communicate, or motivate to arouse or produce to affect to occasion or cause
Next magazine is out the 1st of march 2011 We would love to hear what you think since this is our very first edition, so please write us at kat@wecollaborate.org
All Content is created by members of WeCollaborate.org