this interview originally appeared on SayDaily, a fun bonus to being inducted into the SAY:100 list of technology thought leaders & influencers! Thank you Say Media!

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I got done chatting with a colleague this morning, who went on a bit of a rant about the failures of the Occupy movement. Their comments were similar to ones I’ve seen in the media – lack of apparent leadership, lack of specific demands.

Of course, I’ve also seen several cogent arguments that this is something ‘different,’ and the people are well aware what they’re angry about, and are figuring out how to level the playing field. (see Wall Street Isn’t Winning – It’s Cheating, by Matt Taibbi; Think Occupy Wall St. is a phase? You don’t get it by Douglas Rushkoff, and his followup Occupy Wall Street beta tests a new way of living; the youtube video of Mark Ruffalo, or for some cold hard stats – Here Are Four Charts That Explain What The Protestors Are Angry About or The Shocking, Graphic Data That Shows Exactly What Motivates the Occupy Movement.)

I personally am rather inspired by many potentialities in the movement. I’ve been thinking a lot over the past few years about emergent organizational structures, systems mapping and analysis of value flows, coordination of human activity across distributed environments, more robust understanding of self and group identity, roles, strengths, and the deeper drives and motivations that guide and influence behavior.

While many of us are having conversations about these topics, we have few functional examples to reference. (well, maybe Nature.) We are still on the cusp of it, but as many are well aware, the components to actualize it are already in the ether, just waiting for their moment to coalesce. Continue reading →

this is the first post in a series to highlight the people and projects coming together at this year’s Contact Conference, Oct 20, 2011 in NYC

I had my first radio interview last week, thanks to Jamillah Knowles of the BBC show Outriders! I gave her a little background about Open Foresight and the Future of Facebook Project. The segment is on her Girl Tech page, or you can go straight to the podcast here. (Fast forward to around 14:55).

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I was approached recently by Design Feast, a blog described as “a go-to resource for students, professionals, educators and the design-curious—delivering relevant and diverse design content, creative voices and projects” to contribute some thoughts about the hows and why of blogging. Below are my responses, originally posted here.

Venessa Miemis describes herself as a “Futurist” and “Metacog.” She is an avid reader, from The Age of Spiritual Machines to her latest indulgence in complexity science. Adjacent to her reading appetite, she practices her hobby of picking up new hobbies like yoga and gardening, even beer brewing. She also takes full advantage of the highly diverse cultural scene of New York City. One of her pursuits is a Masters in Media Studies at the New School which shares space with Parsons. I discovered Venessa and her blog Emergent by Design via@designthinkers. It is where I discovered her insightful post about design thinking. Her blogging reflects her holistic attitude and practice, and her sustained web-based publishing experience may help your entrance into the blogosphere or further inform your current work in it:

Why did you create a web site of regular entries?

I had a lot of ideas swirling around in my head, and got really frustrated when I couldn’t articulate them to people in conversation. The process of putting it down on paper and figuring out how to communicate in a clear, simple manner has been incredibly helpful in understanding what it is I’m actually trying to say. It’s also intrinsically rewarding to have people come to the site and engage with the ideas presented there. Continue reading →