The Medici Effect

Listening to a podcast by Don Tapscott hosted on Principled Innovation while I write this.

Tao #2
by Lao Tzu

People finding one thing beautiful,
Think another unbeautiful,
Finding one creation sound,
They judge another unsound.
Yet, creation and destruction,
Difficult and easy,
High and low,
All arise from each other.
Since something and nothing
Give birth to one another,
Offer texture to a life,
And nourish the imagination,
A creative person accepts no rules,
And knows that opposites,
Are part of the whole.
Accepting everything as it is,
The let it come and go,
As something to participate in,
Yet not to dominate,
To nourish, yet not to possess.
In union with what is,
They give birth freely,
Without claiming authority,
For creativity is all around,
And within us all."

(From the book "Tao of Creativity")

Wanted to share a cool book I am half-way through reading, The Medici Effect by Frans Johansson.  I got a heads-up to read this book from a new friend in New Zealand,  Artichoke.  I respect her mind immensely so I decided to take some of my reading time (which is very precious as I am in a PhD program) and check it out. Boy am I glad I did!

If what Ken Robinson, Daniel Pink, and others are saying is right- (and I believe it is) then creativity and innovation are going to be incredibly important as we live out our lives in the 21st Century. Personally, I have always been drawn to highly creative people. In fact, I have started a series of podcasts with highly creative people in an effort to see if there is anything in the way these people think that could inform educational reform.
Podcast 1
Podcast 2

The Single Point Where Different Cultures, Domains, and Disciplines Intersect
Basically, the Medici Effect is the place where the differences in people and their experiences connect, clash, and and combine. It is here that new combinations and innovations are born. The book is about taking what happens when you step into an intersection of different disciplines and cultures and bring the ideas you find there to life.

One method of finding intersections is by maximizing upon the resurgence of globalization. This was brought home to me while I was preparing to go to New Zealand as a keynote for the Tuanz educational conferences. If there is one thing I understand it is the power of collaboration and connections.  These two  concepts have been the most powerful catalyst for bringing me where I am today. I truly believe- None of us are as good as all of us. So in preparing for New Zealand, I asked my friend  Paul Harrington, of Wales, did he know any teachers in New Zealand. He did. And what followed was an amazing organic series of connections that not only resulted in my having a better understanding of the New Zealand educational landscape before I arrived but also in an amazing amount of new ideas and possible projects as a result of intersecting their culture with mine. Here is a graphic representation of how the connections via Web 2.0 came about for my daughter Amber and I - BEFORE we arrived in NZ.

http://flickr.com/photos/snbeach/441002130/  (Photo on Flickr)

You can click on photo to make it larger. I will write more about this book as I finish. I am on page 125 now.

Comments

[nix]

Hi Sheryl,

Thanks for dropping by my place! I'm looking forward to some quiet time tomorrow to listen to the podcasts that you've created.

Your graphic is really interesting. Can you provide a key for your graphic? I thought I was onto orange =kiwis ... but then I realised some yellows were kiwis and some blues ...

Anyways, I am glad that you had a good time in New Zealand. We're a magical bunch of people. ;)

[Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach]

I am ashamed to admit the color scheme is visually pleasing only as I explained the graphic during my presentations in Tuanz. I used the slide to show the importance of connectivism and networking as a powerful learning strategy.

Here is the explanation:
It started with K12Online. Through organizing that event I met Wes Fryer. When Toni contacted Wes about coming to NZ, he couldnt- so he recommeded Miguel and me. I was contacted first but could only come for two weeks. So Miguel was asked to come for the last week.

Heidi and Sarah were Tuanzs contacts who started arranging everything. From that we advertised a preconference Elluminate session on the newly created Tuanz blog where Jane, Tom and Wayne, and Chris attended.

Paul in Wales (a Skype friend who collaborates on other projects) introduced me to Allanah (who started collaborating with me on many projects) who intro'd me to her cousin Joanne (through email) who intro'd me to her principal Bruce who I had a Skype call with and brought in Miguel.

I had begun to write about NZ on my blog and from that got an email from Fiona and Barb. Unrelated David saw I was part of a Flickr group on education and randomly emailed me.

Graham in Australia (a Skype friend from K12Online) told me about Greg, Rachel, and Derek- plus Derek had posted to Miguel's blog and Miguel hadn't followed up on it-- so I did. I had Skype calls with all of these folks.

Rachel posted a wiki of Kiwis' blogs which turns out was many of the NZ folks I had organically connected with already. (but it helped to read their ideas) Graham also told me about TALO and from there I met and started Skyping Leigh Blackall and Pam. Leigh has agreed to teach one of my classes at the College of William and Mary via Elluminate. I also look forward to many future connections/collaborations with others that I met while in NZ.

Amber, my daughter who came to NZ with me, made her own connections via her social netoworking sites. She is in the top right hand corner.

Hope that helps.

[Amaya]

Hi Sheryl,
I'm practicing responding to posts on my blog! Thank you for commenting on my latest entry. It makes feel special when someone posts something on my blog.
Your daughter's site is beautiful! I haven't had a chance to listen to the podcasts you made, but I did check out her page and was really inspired by it. I love mooching off creative people, so I might try to start doing more creative things on my blog... if I can figure out how to do it!

Have a nice night! -Amaya-