Categories: Articles

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #274

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 (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, Solve For Interesting, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist’s Manifesto) 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:

Tribeca Storyscapes 2015: Experimenting with Immersive Documentaries in that Awkward Headgear Phase – PBS. “I had a great talk with one of the pioneers of VR movies and immersive experiences this week. He described VR as an ’empathy machine,’ and cited examples of projects like The Enemy that put you in the middle of conflict. This piece from PBS looks at another project that puts you in the shoes of another, which just launched at the Tribeca Film Festival.” (Alistair for Hugh).
personal Knowledge database – Intuition Analytics. “We’re fast approaching a time when our every memory is recorded. But the problem isn’t recording; it’s recall. We’ll probably have to rely on smart agents to dig through the chaff of our digital lives, because we don’t have the time or patience to do so. What might an interface for harvesting memory look like? Here’s one interesting example that’s both user interface and visualization.” (Alistair for Mitch).
What the Corbyn moment means for the left – New Statesman. “After two decades of the ’ hird way’ approach of Tony Blair – which might be called ‘Conservative lite’ – The Labour Party in the UK has shocked many by electing Jeremy Corbyn as the leader of their party. Corbyn is a real lefty, and many in the Labour establishment have decried his ’unelectibility.’ Laurie Penny piles into this notion, and makes the case that particularly younger voters want something other than the Third Way. We’ve seen this kind of anti-establishment voter sentiment in the US, with Sanders on the left and Trump on the right, and the general feel on all sides is something is sick in the body politic. Whether Corbyn or these other outsiders can do anything about it (and if they do, whether that makes things better or worse), remains to be seen.” (Hugh for Alistair).
The question of Election 2015: Can government create jobs and growth? – The Globe & Mail. “Canada’s government approach to economic development in the Harper years can be broken down into roughly: promote oil companies and extraction industries, give tax credits, and fund basic research. Doug Saunders considers Canada’s laissez-fair approach, and compares it to the economic devevelopment approach of world leaders. Turns out, Canada doesn’t stack up too well.” (Hugh for Mitch).
Uber Would Like to Buy Your Robotics Department – The New York Times. “It used to be that when the tech giants liked something they saw in a startup, they would just buy them. Sometimes they did this for the technology. Sometimes they did this for the talent. Sometimes it was for both. But, the competition is heating up for talent (and ideas). So, if you’re trying to take part in the race towards autonomous vehicles, how does a company compete? Forget all of the major car companies that are eying this space, both Google and Apple are opening the coffers for this kind of talent. So, if you’re Uber, what do you do? Raid the universities… that’s what you do. Is this fair game? Are these students up for the task? What does this mean for the future of education? The startup world’s grind for talent is starting to look like the pro sports’ worlds grind for the best athletes. Soon, tech companies may be scouting your kids right out of elementary school…” (Mitch for Alistair).
These Public Libraries Are for Snowshoes and Ukuleles – The New York Times. “The library… the place to borrow books… then movies… then music… and now? Well, in the digital world, you can use your library to borrow ebooks. Which, if I’m being honest, seems clunky. So, welcome to The Library of Things. What do you want borrow/learn about? GoPro cameras? Sewing machines? Yes, we’ve looked at how the library is evolving, but it feels like we’re getting into some pretty funny territory, unless what we’re really seeing is that the library is quickly becoming more like a self-serve school without any teaching or accreditation…” (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.