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Six Links Worthy of Your Attention #516

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (Solve for Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, Interesting Bits, HBS, chair of Strata, Startupfest, FWD50, and Scaletechconf; author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (Rebus Foundation, PressBooks, LibriVox) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person “must see.”

Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another:

Can’t decipher Trump-speak? Meet Margaret, the computer bot – Los Angeles Times. “Two links on AI and language this week, which seems timely. First up: Margaret. It’s telling when someone’s speech patterns crash a computer. Having trouble parsing political speech—or adding in metadata like word speed? Well, there’s an app for that.” (Alistair for Hugh).
ThisWordDoesNotExist.com is rewriting the dictionary with the help of AI – The Verge. “Deleveragement. Sabbatory. Nungy. Ever hear a word that doesn’t exist but should? There’s an app for that too. It literally makes up new words, with definitions. An infinite number of monkeys may not write Shakespeare; but a very large number of CPUs can apparently make up words to rival the Bard. (BTW, this is actual site, but I figured I’d link to the article that explains it first).” (Alistair for Mitch).
Split Screen Studies – Johannes Kreidler – YouTube. “Let’s all think about making art for a while.” (Hugh for Alistair).
What Do Artists Do All Day? – Norman Ackroyd – Art Documentaries – YouTube. “Let’s all think about making art for a while.” (Hugh for Mitch).
The Day the Live Concert Returns – The Atlantic. “When I think about what has sucked the most since Covid 19 started, I realize that they are all first world problems, but they are my problems. They are problems of privilege, but they are my problems. They are problems that will make other’s eyes roll, but they are my problems. When they cancelled the Montreal Jazz Festival, when the TED conference got cancelled (for 2020 AND 2021), seeing the list of upcoming concerts and events in my calendar go by and nothing – that’s what has done me in. It’s the publicness that hurts the most. I want to go to a concert. I want to go to a conference. I want people to hang out without having six feet of distance between us. I am not alone. Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters and Nirvana fame penned this lovely article about the live area. Let’s rock…” (Mitch for Alistair).
Interesting Bits – Alistair Croll – Substack. “I am stuck. I have zero speaking gigs. Speaking was my main occupation… until Covid 19. The entire industry is in chaos. Virtual events are not live events. I’ve spent well over two decades in the communications space. I have lots (and lots) of thoughts on conferences, events, business travel, and what’s happening right now (in a word: depressing… in another word: disruption). Well, right under my nose, our good friend and weekly collaborator of links, Alistair Croll, has become one of the biggest brains in where the event space should go. He’s not only writing about it on Substack (which, in and of itself, is conversation-worthy as one of the more interesting publishing platforms that has come along in the past short while), but he is running his own virtual events to give his thoughts and ideas and new tech for the event space as we manage through this. HIs next one is happening next week (May 19th, 2020). You don’t want to miss it. Also, subscribe to his Substack. It’s packed with ‘interesting bits’ as he’s called it. Well done, friend!” (Mitch for Hugh).

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.