O Serendip! How Twitter Solved the Greatest Challenge of the Century

O Serendip! How Twitter Solved the Greatest Challenge of the Century: The Reciprocal Curation Engine Nigel Cameron Twitter still comes in for high-blown denunciations from Great Persons who have never used it. But I ventured to suggest the other day (in a tweet, of course) that it is now an open question whether anyone can be … Continue reading

Old wineskins, new wine, and bottling up value in technology

In a brief and penetrating post, John Hagel and John Seely Brown focus the question best set up (though not by them) in the Biblical metaphor of wine and wineskins. Our institutions are the old wineskins. The new wine of disruptive technological innovation is being steadily poured into them. Its value is increasingly failing to … Continue reading

Toward the future of the conference – knowledge networking by the sea. #NNN13

One of the themes of my professional life has been conferences. Organizing, hosting, moderating, attending, and even speaking. As an undergraduate at Cambridge I once penned a guide on how to run them. Last spring I wrote a piece about a series of 9 I had attended within a period of 3 months – each … Continue reading

Cobblers and their Lasts – #CSR and corporate mission

Cross-posted from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce http://bclc.uschamber.com/blog/2013-02-07/cobblers-and-their-lasts-why-every-company-needs-look-inward-it-turns-outside     Cobblers and Their Lasts: Why Every Company Needs to Look Inward Before it Turns Outside   February 7, 2013 AUTHOR Nigel M. de S. Cameron The old saying that the cobbler should stick to his last – his mold – suggests that we ought not … Continue reading

Why Twitter Matters

Why Twitter Matters: Tomorrow’s Knowledge Network Image via CrunchBase Twitter still comes in for high-blown denunciations from Great Persons who have never used it. But I ventured to suggest the other day (in a tweet, of course) that it is now an open question whether anyone can be a paid-up member of the commentariat in 2011 … Continue reading

Has the Social Media #Bubble Popped? #sm #IPO #Facebook

I posted earlier on the debacle of the Facebook IPO and some longer-term considerations in respect of the valuation and staying-power of these early-generation social media brands. And they are early-generation. Part of the problem we are facing is that we are in the throes of exponential change. One thing that means is that we … Continue reading

Federal #Science and Ideology: #DC and the #Valley

In a largely historical op-ed in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, Michael Lubell of CUNY and the American Physical Society lambastes the current parties for their inability to agree on the priority of science funding – in marked contrast to earlier efforts over the past generation when, despite differences of emphasis, bipartisan collaboration led … Continue reading

#Apple CSR #Strategy – #Risk risk risk

Triple Pundit has just published a strong critique of Apple’s approach to corporate social responsibility. The leadership point is especially telling (see my post earlier today), but in general what this sharp series of points suggests to me is that with the passing of the baton a fresh approach is being explored that has yet … Continue reading

#Apple and #China sweatshops and #CSR at #Foxconn

I have written before and at more length about the Apple-Foxconn- Fair Labor issue. Once again these companies, locked in a commercial embrace, are in the spotlight, as another organization reports on working conditions and claims to have interviewed scores of Foxconn employees. https://nigelcameron.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/values-and-the-value-chain-apple-foxconn-and-the-new-csr/ Three observations. 1. Apple’s decision to sign on to Fair Labor was … Continue reading

#Facebook again: And Biz Models

Doc Searls has taken the critical analysis of Facebook’s value to another level, by pointing out the fundamental weakness of its ad-supported revenue model. His argument is worth serious reading. Put a somewhat different way: We assume too readily that exponential pressures mean we can just draw lines up graph paper from anything that has … Continue reading