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December 21, 2003 By Uncategorized


Beatbugs

The folks who live and work at MIT are irrepressable. There is nothing out of bounds for researchers there. Now they are inventing a whole different set of musical instruments which you can read about at the Hyperinstrument Homepage. Included are the above-pictured beatbugs, described as

… palm-sized digital musical instruments that are designed to provide a formal introduction to mathematical concepts in music through an expressive and rhythmic group experience. Multiple Beatbug players can form an interconnected musical network by synchronizing with each other, trading sounds, and controlling each other’s music. Since interaction among players enriches the musical experience, the Beatbugs also encourage collaboration and social play.

My mind is whirling at the possibilities of using these in group processes.

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December 19, 2003 By Uncategorized

From a site called ProjectJazz comes this paper called Playing the Live Jazz of Project Management (.pdf). The paper revolves around five principles that apply to both jazz and dynamic management:

1. Plans are enabling, not constricting.
2. Aberrations are normal.
3. You work with what happens.
4. Order is emergent, not pre-defined.
5. Disorder is not chaotic.

My favourite of these is the one on emergent order:

There is a myth in organization theory that order and structure comes from some strange place out there, that it can be simply imposed upon organized action. This can be seen in project manage-ment, for example in habitual planning beforehand, where master plans and masses of charts are put together to impose structure on the project. In jazz this is reversed. Initial structures are kept to the minimum needed to keep the group together, and order is allowed to grow organically out of the collaboration between the players. As projects always retain some unique elements, neither does their order exist solely in the pre-determined master plans of the project. Just as the jazz mu-sicians find new and functional structures in the act of playing, project managers find ways of doing things in the acts of building.

Link from a newly discovered blog, Reforming Project Management.

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December 19, 2003 By Uncategorized

Dina Mehta lost a cousin in Gujarat last week in a tragic car accident. In traveling back to be with her family, she reflected on the Indian Joint Family, a family structure where everyone lives under the same roof, but the structure of the house is flexible and malleable to reflect the relationships in the dwelling:

This is a classic Indian Joint Family – man and wife, three sons and their wives and children. Individual quarters built for each of the sons and their families – yet under one roof with common kitchen, dining and washing areas. Provisions made to partition the home in case of rifts. That’s the structure – but what really struck us were the relationships and interactions. The grandparents are old, have been really hit badly by this – yet were always encouraging the younger ones to get on with life. The sons going off to work – but dropping in almost every hour – silent support. The daughters-in-law (including the mother who had lost her child 4 days ago) working cohesively and harmoniously – looking after so many guests – food, laundry etc – yet spending time with us sharing stories about the young girl, breaking into tears sometimes, one taking over when the other was distraught, at other times smiling and enthusiastically showing us the house they had just moved into a year ago, and buying local goodies for us to sample from the hawkers that came by the door. The children too – lovingly tending garlanded photos of their cousin, never once letting the incense sticks or lamps go out.

I was quite touched by how the structure of the house, and the family came to be used in a time of crises, creating a robust environment of care. Even in the midst of grief, everyone is looked after and there is space to cry, space to socialize, space to be alone, and still the incense keeps burning and all are fed.

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December 16, 2003 By Uncategorized

Out of Davenport Iowa, comes Vital Communities, a collection of resources on new urbanism, sustainability and creating community. It’s a vast resource well worth exploring and it comes with this introduction:

Cities and towns throughout the United States are struggling with urban sprawl, declining neighborhoods, and deserted downtowns, but a new wave of interest in revitalizing our communities is sweeping the country. The resources on this site attempt to document the work being done in some cities and towns and to provide information that can inspire and assist other communities in reinventing their surroundings.

It IS possible to create robust and energetic communities — vital communities.

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December 16, 2003 By Uncategorized

I love this, and I hope he keeps it up. This is the personal website of our new Prime Minister, Paul Martin. On the site is a blog which has been sleeping since October, but there is also Paul Martin with Flat Mark, a photo montage of the new Prime Minister going about his day with a cardboard cut out doll called Flat Mark. He even poses with Flat Mark as he is waiting to be called into the Governer-General’s residence to be sworn in as Canada’s 21st prime minister.

It is about time our political leaders had blogs, and a sense of humour. Good on the new PM. Hope he gets back to the blog.