Blog

James Devon

9th September 2009
WWF Melting Men

Last week, WWF put 1,000 ice men on the steps of Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin where they duly melted. That of course being the point.

Hat tip to Crackunit

Image from this set on Flickr by Valida Dot.
7th September 2009
The Nerd Venn Diagram

Personally I'd put myself into the "Geek" category. And, as this blog doesn't have comments, that's the way it'll stay, at least here.

Found on Buzzfeed having had it brought to my attention by @presentationzen
4th September 2009
"It's Not What You Say That Matters, It's What You Do."

This presentation has been doing the rounds in the plannersphere today. Can't remember whether I spotted it first from @eskimon or @willsh... Anyway. Here it is. Well worth a look from a "why social media matters" point of view.

Social Media: It's Not What You Say That Matters
View more documents from Paul Isakson.

You can follow the author (Paul Isakson) on Twitter here
1st September 2009
Culture is Bigger Than Technology

I've recently written an article for Haystack's Insight page about how people can get distracted by spurious statistics on social media, when they should be looking at the bigger, cultural, implications.

Link to feature. Link to PDF.
1st September 2009
Thou Shalt Read "Trendwatching"

You simply have to. No arguments, no fuss, just go read Trendwatching. Subscribe via email or RSS, do whatever you need to do.

Here's the most recent trend briefing - Transparency Triumph

Ooh, they're even on Twitter.
28th August 2009
Dan Pink @ TED: Science of Motivation

This is well worth taking the time (roughly 18mins) to watch. Dan Pink delivers a highly entertaining presentation on the disconnect between what science knows about motivation and what business does about it.

In essence the old "carrot and stick" works in relatively few situations, mainly where little creativity is required. For more right-brained tasks, counterintuitively, traditional motivation seems to suppress performance.

(Not specifically discussed in the presentation, but my observation is that motivation and performance are disconnected - being intensely motivated by the incentive doesn't help me to solve the problem, perhaps too focussed on coming up with an answer, rather than thinking about the best answer).

Dan argues that the answer lies in Autonomy, Mastery & Purpose. Essentially gaining drive to complete a task because it matters. The fine example given of this is Microsoft's traditional management practices used to create Encarta vs. a certain more "do it because it's great" encyclopedia project. Who won?