Lena M Holmberg

Photo Competition 2011 – Sculpture Parks

2011-12-30T20:16:00.000+01:00

The previous photo competitions such as the one in 2010, did not have special themes. This year is different. Looking back at my summer days, I realised that I spent a good deal of them in parks and gardens with wild and weird sculptures. All very different, and highly enjoyable.

Your job this year is to select the nicest sculpture park collage. Of course, it’s more fun if you comment on your choice here or on Facebook, but if you’re a bit shy you may send me an email instead. This competition is open to my friends and family. You can win flowers! Some money goes to charity! I want your vote no later than January 31, 2012.

Happy New Year!

Want more information about the locations? Check out Gunillaberg, Kivik, Louisiana, Marsvinsholm, Pilane, Tagel and Wanås!

A Touch of Frost

2011-10-09T11:09:00.000+02:00

I knew it was coming. The day before, I had put my home-grown vegetables to rest in a basket with fine-grained sand on the balcony. I had brought my winter clothes down from the attic and now they were everywhere, breathing new air. I had bought two pair of black winter boots, with thick rubber soles to put between me and the ground, while waiting for the bus in the mornings.

I knew, and still it hit me. Hard. Despite layer upon layer with fabric, I felt naked. The first night of frost. Very much like a relationship gone cold.

Negative Space

2011-10-01T19:52:00.002+02:00

In his new book, Negative Space, artist Noma Bar uses this feature in a very creative way. I very much like the dog-cat-mouse cover, but the dog front and back picture is also very appealing. Constantly questioning what is foreground and background. Which incidentally is a very good question when it comes to formulating agreements between partners involved in research and innovation projects. But that’s another story.

I feel the disharmony the concept ”negative space” brings. It makes me remember the times I’ve struggled not to let a certain place become a negative space because of the events that took place there. Maybe that is also a question of defining what was foreground and background. Or perhaps rather what is.

What Touches Us

2011-09-04T19:19:00.000+02:00

I was going through some of the boxes in my attic, when I found this poem written in my own hand on a piece of paper:

It sometimes happens when looking for
Lost objects, a book, a picture or 
A coin or spoon, 
That something falls across the mind -  
Not quite a shadow but what a shadow would be 
In a place that lacked light.  
As though the lost things have withdrawn
Into themselves, books returned 
To paper or wood or thought, 
Coins and spoons to simple ores, 
Lustreless and without history,
Waiting out of sight
And becoming part of a larger loss
Without a name
Or definition or form 
Not unlike what touches us 
In moments of shame.  

"Lost Things" by Mary Swann (as created by Carol Shields)

It was waiting to be found...Again...

From Åhus 2011

Metaphor Terror

2011-07-25T12:13:00.001+02:00

The recent horrible development in Oslo demonstrates the difficulty facing those we employ to look out for potential terrorists. What makes a person go from talk to action? When should we take threats seriously? When are figures of speech just images? And what predispositions make us look and interpret in certain ways?

It’s only natural for a government initiative with the tag line “ Be The Future” to launch a Metaphor Program. The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) recently opened up for researchers to contribute in the development of automated tools and techniques for recognizing, defining and categorizing linguistic metaphors associated with target concepts and found in large amounts of native-language text in order to identify the conceptual metaphors used by the various protagonists, organizing and structuring them to reveal the contrastive stances.

Similar, critique regarding this program is only to be expected by someone who has organised his website according to a water metaphor: From the drainpipe, Half-filtered and Pure Water. Here David Allan Barker provides six elaborate arguments for why he thinks the program is the lamest idea he’s ever heard.

A more neutral approach is held by Wired blogger Lena Groeger. She manages to squeeze in three metaphors in her first paragraph and continues throughout the text. One of her links takes you to research regarding how metaphors impact how we think about crime and more importantly, how we act.

Yesterday, David Allan Barker posted a piece in his Pure Water section on how mental illness stereotypes used by media affect how we think about people like Anders Behring Breivik. This is not the first time Barker used queer theory to expand the thinking regarding mental health issues. I wonder if they take this into account in the Metaphor Program?

Is it a Jungle In Here?

2011-06-13T22:35:00.001+02:00

Are you measuring an organisation's character by looking at the number and kind of Dilbert strips posted on the walls? Well, here's a new version on that theme. Kenneth and Julie Kendall checked out what kinds of basic metaphors were used by employees to describe the way they were governed in order to find out what kind of IT system that went well with what kind of organisation.

According to the Kendalls, government can be described as a machine, war, a journey, a society, a game, an organism, a family, a jungle or a zoo. Turns out that traditional management information systems and expert systems go well with autocracy (machine) while computer-supported collaborative work and group decision-support systems fit better for enlightened absolutism (journey). Whach out for trying to deploy any kind of system in organisations characterised by panarchism (jungle) or anarchy (zoo), while almost any kind of systems fits a meritocracy (organism).

What the article don't say is how you should communicate these facts to a potential customer…

From Gröna Rehab 2010

And the Winner Is....

2011-03-06T14:49:00.000+01:00

This year, the winner of the Photo Competition 2011 was my former work mate Jeanette. Congratulations! She received a boquet from Interflora in collaboration with Médecins Sans Frontières.

The picture that attracted most votes was number 7, taken outside Lyse in Bohuslän.

From Photo Competition 2010

I hope for a really nice summer this year since I’ve bought a new camera and several books by Scott Kelby and John Freeman. And of course, Dewitt Jones is also an inspiration! Thank you David, for introducing me to his video "Celebrate What's Right With the World"!

City Voices

2011-01-15T16:25:00.002+01:00

In Swedish, the same word is used for vote and voice: "röst". Something to keep in mind when looking at what's being said about my hometown Göteborg. Of course, there's the official websites www.goteborg.com for tourists and www.goteborg.se for citizens. And our best promotion person Håkan Hellström has been very popular with the press lately and he's still famous for his "Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg" (Don't be sorry for me, Göteborg).

During the past months, Göteborg has also been frequently mentioned in the national press, but not for positive reasons. Several scandals regarding misuse of public funding and bribes have shaken the decision-makers into looking deeper into the fabric of the so called Göteborg spirit of collaboration.

One of the organisations figuring in the media is Göteborg Energi. They have now launched a campaign in order to shift the public opinion, contracting the artist Timo Räisänen to do the song for their commercial video.

Another interesting story-telling project has also been presented lately, but by totally different people and for quite another reason: The Gothenburg Shout initiative. Here people for different parts of the city present their story with photos, voices, sound and music guided by students from Kulturverkstaden. An article about the initiative states that they got inspiration from city of Berkeley. Since this is the hometown of the non-profit Center for Digital Storytelling, this makes sense.

Photo Competition 2010

2011-01-01T16:22:00.003+01:00

At our Christmas family dinner last week, my sister Maria asked me if I were going to do a Summer Photo Competition this year. I thought back on the summer of 2010 and came to the conclusion that I didn’t have that many great summer pictures. Partly because I didn’t have that much vacation since I worked on planning a new project. So I decided to use photos from the whole year instead.

Please, look at the pictures and vote for the best one by adding a comment to my blog entry no later than January 31 2011. Add your name and you will participate in a lottery where the first and only price is a flower bouquet!

February 1 2011 I will leave my present job at Innovationsbron and start working as an Innovation Advisor at Innovation Office West. My new email address will probably be lena.holmberg @ chalmers.se. You can always reach me at my private address lmholmberg @ gmail.com.

Happy 2011!

Lena

1. Bangkok in March: Together with my ITP friends, I explored the Grand Palace in search of new ideas regarding innovation system development. More…

2. Tel Aviv in March: Got a quick look at Jaffa before my colleagues from Innovationsbron landed on our international benchmarking tour in order to find inspiration to the new incubation programme. More…

3. Cambridge in April: The benchmarking tour continued with a trip to the new science park in Cambridge, a nice combination of old and new buildings and ideas.

4. Madeira in April: Looking back, I can hardly believe we actually climbed all these steps to get to the end of the cape and back again, but my Mother looks unconcerned. Much more…

5. Boston in April: During a free afternoon on our learning journey I passed the Old North Church and the Dog Tag Memorial for the fallen American soldiers in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. More…

6. Leksand in June: During one of the breaks during the Tällberg conference, I went out and took some pictures of Hildasholm because it had such a tranquil air. More…

7. Båstad in June: On our way to pick up my aunt at Kastrup, we stopped for lunch at Norrviken’s Gardens where the garden design students demonstrated their creativity. More…

8. Lyse in June: We celebrated my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary and it became a time for reflection in many ways. More…

9. Gunnebo in October: No matter time of the year, this castle with its wonderful park always makes me feel good. More…

10. Jordan in November: On our way back to Aqaba from Petra, this stunning sunset over the Jordan Rift Valley provided a great finale to a wonderful day. More…and more...

11. Mölnlycke – December: First Sunday in Advent I always decorate my home with all the Christmas stuff I have, and I have a lot...

12. Upplid in December: Family gathering at my parents’ home and I failed miserably at the Harry Potter game, but my sister managed to avoid the green ghost. More…

Nobel Thoughts 2010

2010-12-24T17:26:00.001+01:00

Andre Geim's speech at the Nobel Banquet, 10 December 2010

“Human progress has always been driven by a sense of adventure and unconventional thinking. But amidst calls for "bread and circuses", these virtues are often forgotten for the sake of cautiousness and political correctness that now rule the world. And we sink deeper and deeper from democracy into a state of mediocrity and even idiocracy. If you need an example, look no further than at research funding by the European Commission.”

Ei-ichi Negishi's speech at the Nobel Banquet, 10 December 2010

“The final reward for any researcher is to see his or her lifetime of work extend beyond academia and laboratories, into the mainstream of our global society where it can breathe hope into the world.”

Dale T. Mortensen's speech at the Nobel Banquet, 10 December 2010

“The three of us are honored to be singled out. However, I am reminded of Isaac Newton’s great quote, "If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants." This sentiment better than any other underscores the fact that science is a collaborative endeavour. Every great achievement is but a small peak in the mountain range of contributions. With this thought in mind, I close by thanking our teachers who played an essential role in our intellectual development, our colleagues who collaborated with us along the way, and our families who supported our adventures.”

Mario Vargas Llosa's speech at the Nobel Banquet, 10 December 2010

“Dear friends, now I can propose the toast I had promised. Let us toast to Sweden, that strange kingdom that seems to have performed, for a privileged few, the miracle of turning life into literature and literature into life.”

Go 50-50 With Branson?

2010-12-18T10:58:00.005+01:00

If you have read tone of the earlier editions of Richard Branson’s autobiography “Losing My Virginity”, I strongly recommend picking up the latest version. Although demonstrating an early flare for social entrepreneurship through the start of student councelling service in the late 1960ies, Branson has later developed a sense for combining business and environmental issues. This is manifested not only in the non-profit foundation Virgin Unite and The Elders, but also as a part of the business strategies in many of the Virgin companies as can be seen in the sustainable development report.

I hope all schools of entrepreneurship, including Branson’s own, the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship, put this book on their curriculum reading list. It has it all: stories of how to design and develop businesses, its impact on friends and family, daring adventures and tragic accidents, intricate intrigues, global peace work, fighting AIDS, TB and malaria, and so on. Although the book is, of course, only one side of the story it nevertheless made me understand better why Branson was awarded a knighthood in 1999.

I’m also very fond of the Virgin website with its cheeky approach to everybody wanting to discuss business prospects. A recent opportunity for keen and innovative bloggers was recently launched: become a guest blogger av Virgin.com! As I haven’t yeat found out how to compete with all these talented young people who know how to make full use of all the nifty technology available, I make a point of declaring that the deal is not fair and not in line with Virgin policy. If I’m to be a guest blogger at Virgin.com, I think it’s only fair that Sir Richard contribute to lenamholmberg.blogger.com!

We Want Peace official video supported by Virgin Unite and The Elders.

Furnish Stories

2010-11-13T17:46:00.002+01:00

Last month an article in my daily newspaper caught my eye. It was about a newly formed design company called Design by Leftovers. Together with other artist they give life to old furniture, but the refurbishment does not stop there. To each chair, wardrobe and sideboard they make up a story to go along with it. Meet Lola, the jazz singer from New York, or Charlotte, the shy rider, or Tiffany or Vera or… They call their furniture pre-loved, a term I like a lot!

I wish they had been around when I had my armchairs restored a couple of years ago, because then the design might have become a little more daring than the chocolate brown cloth they are wrapped in now. However, with respect to stories they are full of them since one was bought by me for my first own real home and the other was purchased by my parents for my Grandmother’s last residence, a room at a nursing home.

Not only furniture is remade in this fashion. The song “All by Myself” is for many people associated with the movie “Bridget Jones’s Diaries” (and many think Celine Dion is singing, when in fact it’s Jamie O'Neal). However, for me it brings back memories of my early years when I borrowed my sister’s Eric Carmen record and sang along this tune. My favourite though, was and is Everything. Come to think of it, I don’t think she got it back. And lucky me I can still play it, because I bought an excellent NAD stereo back in the 1980ies when the CD technology was quite new but hadn’t replaced the gramophone record yet. Still going strong. Still loved.

Acting Entrepreneurs

2010-10-17T10:55:00.002+02:00

Last night one of the TV channels showed an old interview from 2004 with Hugh Jackman. It was from the show “Inside the Actor’s Studio” and James Lipton asked the questions.

I didn’t know Jackman had a background in musicals, but there was also many other new things I learned. I vagely knew about the Alexander Technique as a way of becoming more relaxed in your movements, but I had not put it in the context of English upper-class behaviour as Jackman did. When doing the “Kate and Leopold” movie, he had to take classes in how to act as a gentleman. He pointed out that the manners require you be not stiff at all but as a way of being very agile but also polite and really listen to others. To be present and aware. Mindfulness.

In schools in Sweden today it’s really popular to talk about entrepreneurial learning and teaching where you focus on what you need to learn to become an entrepreneur. To me, the pedagogics is very similar to problem-based learning (check out this teacher’s approach to entrepreneurial maths). However, maybe this needs to be combined with more theatre lessons where all the entrepreneurs-to-be learn how to better observe other people (and perhaps also animals) in order to really get to know them, and also become better listeners. Very good competencies for successful entrepreneurs wanting to co-produce products with customers and to be really good managers.

So You Think You Can?

2010-09-11T18:51:00.001+02:00

My absolute favourite competition is “So You Think You Can Dance”. With millions of American teenagers calling in to vote each time and with spin-offs in more than 15 countries, I’m sure it’s a huge commercial success although it has fierce competition from shows like America’s Got Talent. It has a number of nifty features such as the young ambitious dancers from all over the US and with a background in all kinds of dance, the talented choreographers and the competent jury and a very tall and brainy hostess. And it is often breathtaking beautiful. But it has many other qualities:

Selecting the contestants based on both talent and coachability, and making them dance solo, in pairs and in ensambles.
A passionate jury focusing on constructive feedback and not afraid to show their emotions.
Clever combination of jury and audience voting.
Good mix of music, where new talents are introduced (for example SYTYCD 4 featured Lady Gaga’s first televised U.S. performance.
Good use of social media with a website as its hub but with a presence all over the place.
Interesting combination of competition and foundation, demonstrating a higher purpose (developing dance throughout the US/world) for example through announcing a national dance day.
Excellent scenography with lovely costumes, make-up, lights, camera, editing… and an enthusiastic audience.
A very good start for the contestants’ careers not only through the TV show but with the following tour together with former stars.

It would be so cool if I could find a way to implement just a tiny tiny bit of all this in “competitions” I’m involved in! What if for example research funding could be distributed not only according to an expert panel’s opinon but in combination with votes from the research community?

Feeding Black Ducks Bullshit

2010-08-24T20:06:00.001+02:00

A mallard-loving friend of mine told me about the Black Duck Test. At first, I thought he was talking about Black Swans, but apparently he was referring to a much more common kind of event. Rumor has it that the Black Duck company is well on its way to do a Google. That is, to be so successful in branding that the product name becomes the general one for a phenomenon.

A Black Duck Test is used when, for example, an investor wants to get a grip of to what extent Open Source code has been used in a piece of software and what licences apply. The use of Open Souce can help developers find a way around the "software iron triangle", by reducing cost and time but not features. However, if badly managed in terms of origin the code can be nightmare if you want to sell the company and the investors want to do a technical due dilligence.

From London Spring 2008

In Sweden right now, it's not possible to open a newspaper or watch TV without being bombarded with political messages. General Election Day is September 19 and it's going to be a close fight between the two blocks, with red-green and centre-right coalition. However, since this is Sweden, there's little difference between the blocks where everybody agrees upon the ambition to keep the welfare state and that more companies and entrepreneurship are needed. The major disagreements concerns what taxes to raise and lower. The established parties are also united in their strong detest of the anti-immigrant party, and I sincerely hope we can keep them out of the Parliament.

It's interesting to see new kinds of services in relation to the election. All parties have been inspired by Obama's use of the Internet, and are now freely experimenting with various kinds of social media. But there are other examples such as the media companies who have started blogs where citizens can ask for verification of political claims such as Faktakollen. You can also get the major party leaders as cut-out dolls, although I'm afraid I don't think they'll make it to Stardolls.

However there's one important service missing. In politics memory is short. For example, the Socialist Party which usually is very pro Keynes, is now complaining about the way the current government has been running the finances where lots of public spending has been used to keep unemployment down. So what I would like is a kind of Black Duck Test for party manifestos, where it can be checked to what extent parts have been taken from older ones or even other parties', but also to what extent the negation of current politics can be found among former critique of others. Now, that would be a service I could engage in!

In Bed With Jeremy Northam

2010-07-24T20:10:00.000+02:00

All frequent flyers have their own tricks to fight jetlag. Mine is to use audiobooks. It might result in having to listen to the book many more hours that planned but it works well with me. It fills your mind and in contrast to a book, you don´t need to have the lights on.

I have just finished listening to ”Brideshead Revisited” excellently read by Jeremy Northam, one of my favourite British actors. According to a review of this and its predecessor read by Jeremy Irons, both have their merits. Could it be attributed to the fact that both actors attended the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School?

However, the very best audiobooks according to my taste are the dramatisations such as the Paul Temple mystery series, for example The Madison Mystery, Dorothy L. Sayers’ Unpleasantness At The Bellona Club and Elisabeth Kostova’s The Historian. Then you bring a full cast to bed and not only a Trollope!

Feast or Famine?

2010-06-03T16:11:00.000+02:00

As a vegetarian, I thought it would be a good idea to attend the Land introductory session at the Tällberg Rework the World conference. Here several projects were presented, addressing better use of land such as the Jagritikullu initiative empowering women through providing better energy sources for cooking and Idesam focusing on deforestation in the Amazon. But what really caught my attention was this video from the Multimedia Institute on the Environment University of Minnesota because it had such a powerform format and message. I'm happy for our decision to serve vegetarian food at the FOKUS Innovation conference June 16-17 in Göteborg!

From Good to STaR

2010-05-30T17:21:00.003+02:00

After visiting Boston, I picked up a Harvard Business Press book while waiting at Dulles for the plane to Frankfurt. It turned out to be a very lucky choice indeed: "Strategy for Sustainability - A Business Manifesto" by Adam Werbach. In this book several of my favourite theories are joined in a neat way. So if you like Jim Collins, Martin Seligman and Marcus Buckingham, this is an excellent summer vacation companion.

"There is only one bottom line - the profitability of a corporation. If what a company is doing for sustainability doesn't lead to sustained cash returns, then the company's strategy probably needs to be rethought."

Here you can learn more about Goldman Sachs "GS Sustain" that shows relationships between cash return and sustainability, how to set your own Personal Sustainability Project, how to work with models such as STaR and TEN in order to set your North Star goal, how to avoid green blindness, structure your networks, and use MacGyver as a role-model in product design.

The book is filled with examples from companies like Nike, Walmart, Seventh Generation, McDonald's, Boeing, Clorox, Dell, and Proctor & Gamble. Most of them large established companies focusing on consumer products. I hope his next book will focus on how to help small startup B2B companies, but I'd be surprised to find them on Saatchi & Saatchi S's client wish list.

Economic Gardening

2010-05-23T11:35:00.000+02:00

At the NBIA 2010 conference, one topic was “economic gardening” . This concept was developed in 1989 by the city of Littleton, Colorado an alternative strategy for economical growth. It initially was based on research by MIT’s David Birch, who suggested that most new jobs in any local economy were produced by the community’s small, local businesses. With concepts like “seed financing” working with startup companies and incubators fits quite well into this metaphor. So does the notion of an innovation ecosystem.

With its emphasis on helping small companies to grow, “economic gardening” is in stark contast to the previously more dominant strategy “economic hunting”. This concept focuses on trying to capture successful entrepreneurs from outside and bring them to the community.

To quote Mike Chitty, which tribe do you belong to – The Hunters or The Gardeners?

From Boston

The picture is taken in Boston, a wonderful city where both flowers and businesses seem to thrive.

What's In a Name?

2010-05-11T19:10:00.004+02:00

Friends of mine have recently launched ventures with very appropriate and exciting names. One of them is Sharea, which can be described as a combination of file sharing and a potluck supper. People are invited to come to a certain place (area) and provide something (share): a story, instructions or advice. No entry fee, as long as you provide knowledge or creativity. The first Sharea event will take place in Göteborg 21 May and already more than 100 people have signed up. True to its inherent characteristics, the concept is placed under a Creative Commons licence, why it can be replicated throughout the world. Awesome!

Another is TrampolinStory, focusing on digital storytelling. One very special kind of story, often used in organisations is the springboard story, and in combination with digital storytelling it becomes even more powerful. According to Steve Denning

“A springboard story is a story that enables a leap in understanding by the audience so as to grasp how an organization or community or complex system may change.
A springboard story has an impact not so much through transferring large amounts of information, but through catalyzing understanding. It enables listeners to visualize from a story in one context what is involved in a large-scale transformation in an analogous context."

The third is Recorded Future, introducing the first temporal analytics engine. It makes it easier to relate temporal concepts like “tomorrow” and “next week” to specific dates in order to see trends in data regarding historical and future events. Since predicting the future has always been high on the agenda for humans, the idea of even having it recorded must be thrilling.

All these three ventures make use of video to explain their business. Still, the name says a lot too.

Justified Poems

2010-04-10T16:54:00.002+02:00

When travelling on the underground in London last week, I found my eyes drawn to Anne Stevenson’s poem “It looks so simple from a distance...”. Apparently the London Underground has paired up with a bunch of culture institutions bringing poetry to the commuters and done so successfully since 1986. I say successfully since according to their website, the ninth edition of the book, "Poems on the Underground", has sold more than a quarter of a million copies since it was published in 1999.

I suppose that this mix of providing free samples on the underground and on the web together with selling books is a great example of Chris Anderson’s theories regarding how to give things away in order to make money.

The series “Science Poems on the Underground” celebrates 350 years of the Royal Society. They have a really clever way of integrating scientific papers into modern media.

Planning a conference on innovation and sustainability, I might just look for inspiration here... Perhaps a competition on innovation poetry rather than business plans?

Cognitive Proximity

2010-03-08T12:42:00.002+01:00

Last week there was an article in SvD commenting on the fact that now more than 50% of the top Swedish female business board members think its time to introduce a law regulating the proportion of men and women in boards. This is a rather big increase since last year when 68% still believed that this inbalance and misuse of resources will adjust rather quickly by itself.

I think that the majority of the comments made to this article are written by men. And the arguments are the usual suspects. One of them I find particularly interesting, since the consequence of the argument is really not a compliment on the intelligence of male board members. The argument goes like this: To have boards requested to consist a certain amount of women is not a good idea, because the women recruited would feel bad about being incompetent and not being able to contribute. This argument is based on a number of interesting assumptions. First, that there is an absolute and universally agreed definition of what competence is needed for each bord of directors. Secondly, that all the men already in all the present boards have this competence and should not be replaced. Thirdly, that very few women have this competence. And so on. But it is also based on a notion of feeling sad for the men still on the board because they will have to take on a totally incompetent woman. Like they would pick just anyone from the street just to fill the quota!?! That I would find insulting if I was a man.

Of course there are plenty of women more competent than many of the men now holding positions in boards. One of the reasons why is that boards seldom review what competence is needed for the company right now, because it is only natural for people to hang on to power. This means that if boards are forced to take on more women they will take the trouble to go looking for the competence needed, and if they take on a broader perspective on knowledge and look a little bit further than they usually do they will find plenty of people to choose from. Sometimes they can be found in a neighbouring country, which is even better from a diversity perspective. This is what has happened in Norway and Finland, who has already started to pick competent Swedish women to their boards.

So, of course there will be a competition for the best, as it always is. And then boards and chairpersons need to work on how to attract the women they want. That will be a challenge since for example tools like www.styrelseplatsen.se that support board work also relentlessy reveals who is active or not in reading, commenting, adding material and so on.

White War

2010-02-17T21:40:00.007+01:00

It is claimed that the wars to come will focus much on the control of water. For me personally, the control of snow is much more likely to spark a conflict although hopefully not as serious as the white war in Italy.

Close to where I live is an illuminated running track. With all this snow this winter, it is naturally (I think) to use this track for skiing, which I do. However, people walking and walking dogs use the track as well. Which is fine with me because there is plenty of space for both walkers and skiers. What makes me want to start a war is when people (and their dogs) walk in the ski track, although there is a perfectly good walking track through the snow just beside it.

I just can't understand how they think. We don’t share the same values. Where I come from, ski tracks are holy and you never, ever step into them unless you are severly injured and need to get home as soon as possible. So I don’t know what I will do if I catch one in the track. Perhaps I should read more of Huntington to understand the demographic and cultural developments and reflect upon whether I will be part of a minority or not. I suppose that has to do whether we are facing global warming or a new ice age...

Oral Sadism and The Categorical Imperative

2010-01-24T08:46:00.002+01:00

A column in the Swedish business newspaper Dagens Industri caught my eay with its title “The Kitchen Has Become Our New Bedroom”. It quoted an article written by the Hoover Institute researcher Mary Eberstadt called “Is Food the New Sex?” where she argues that we now have stronger moral issues related to food than to sex.

I have no idea why, but this made me think of a book I was given a really long time ago by a former boyfriend called “Oral Sadism and the Vegetarian Personality”. I still have it and it contains some really funny articles from the Journal of Polymorphous Perversity. When I googled to see what has happened to this fine publication, at the top of my list I found quotes from Google Scholar…

A recent debate article by famous health-oriented people in Sweden also made the connection between sex and food, by pointing out that porn magazines have lower VAT than vegetables. However, none of the bloggers saw the Hoover connection. I’m on to something…

Life is What Happens

2010-01-04T19:40:00.005+01:00

John Lennon (and others) said that “Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans”. After writing my 2009 summary and also transferring photos from my computer to my new TV it struck me that portraying my life as consisting of more or less exotic journeys really wasn’t to give it the right perspective.

In my computer I have lots of photos from workshops with many of interesting persons, from walks around my green hometown, from visits to my parents’ lovely house in the country, cosy family gatherings, from various activities with friends around Göteborg, from Frisksport meetings and activities (such as skating, see picture below).

What is missing completely is documentation of all the endless commuting between Göteborg and Stockholm as well as Mölnlycke and Lindholmen, the numerous although still too few aerobics classes, the weekly jogging tours, a few running competitions, lots of TV-watching, much less cleaning, washing and ironing, all too much shopping, reading newspapers (especially now that I’s subscribing to both GP and SvD), books and magazines (More Intelligent Life is one favourite) and so on.

Future etnographers will not lack material with all the new technology available and creating an endless river of blogs, videos, podcasts and so on. But will they truly capture people’s lives? Would we recognize ourself in future descriptions?

Or present ones, come to think about it. For more than 20 years, I have subscribed to National Geographic (one shelf left in my yellow cabinett). I just love looking at all the great pictures (some taken by Dewitt Jones), the clever use of graphics and reading all these stories. Some years ago, there was an article about Sweden. It gave me a totally new perspective. Not on Sweden, but on how biased all articles are. I didn’t like the article and thought it portrayed just a tiny fragment of the Swedish culture and not perhaps the most interesting one. I didn’t want this to be the only impression non-Swedish readers were left with. And then, of course, I realized that most likely all the other articles are met with the same kind of reaction from the people living in the areas exposed.

One idea would be to have a random alarm set every day, urging me to take a picture right then and there. That album would then be the true recording of that year. Or maybe that’s a project for an etnographer? Of course, this is not a new idea and there are already products on the market. So, what are we waiting for!?!

A Year Well Spent

2009-12-31T08:38:00.000+01:00

New Year’s Eve is a good time for reflection. If you are in want of some kind of structure to support your retrospective, I can recommend the Korean model BEST Sustainability Report, or my friend Julie’s “Zest for Life” questions. Also, I very much recommend naming the coming year, a practice I’ve learned from my friend Helena aka Maja.

I called 2009 “Stronger, slimmer and more agile”. Did I achive that? Well, yes I really think so. Both in terms of physique and mind. Although I definitely could do better. Anyway, I had some really fantastic moments during 2009, both on my own and with colleagues, friends and family such as

Brussels with Marit and Else-Marie learning more about the future of IT
Nairobi with Mårten seeing the results of phytomedicine research and innovation
Koh Kood with Anne spending just the right amount of time in the sun
Kansas City and San Diego with innovation ecosystem colleagues
Stocken with friends from Västergötland kayaking among the island
Sätila with my sister and her family and all Frisksport friends
Pilane and Läckö just me and the new digital system camera (we are still not true friends)
Berlin with my Mother trying to capture the creative spirit there
Vinterviken chilling out after intensive days with the international ITP I2W group
Wuxi and Shanghai visiting new and old ITP friends together with Marit and Kjell-Håkan

In order to get some inspiration for 2010, I did a wordle on my blog posts during 2009. This is the result:

Well, I hereby declare 2010 as the year guided by the words “One time is also really good”, wherever that will lead me...

Happy New Year!

The Sound of Snow

2009-12-21T22:39:00.001+01:00

It’s fascinating how snow brings back memories from times long gone. Not only from childhood’s eternal winter holidays, but from ski vacations in Sälen and The Alps and from living in Stockholm where it’s often much colder than here on the West coast.

Fresh snow has a special sound. It was captured quite neatly in the children’s TV show “Trolltider”. Footsteps made by an invisible tomte. Early in the morning it’s even possible to hear snow falling, each snow flake making a faint noise when bumping into another or when coming to rest on the ground. The whole soundscape is kind of muffled. The ultimate fictional winter experience can as always be found in Mark Helprin’s wonderful story “Winter’s Tale”. Very far from the picture The Holiday, trying to con Americans that it actually snows in Surrey.

Today was winter solstice. From now on it gets lighter. And with the snow, it becomes even brighter. Please Santa, let the snow stay and the sun come! Please!

Merry Christmas! God Jul!

Armeria Maritima

2009-12-12T19:57:00.002+01:00

Thank you so much for all your votes in the Summer Photo Competition 2009, now closed! Of the 25 votes by mail and comments, seven were for the coastal picture from Orust, number 3.

When I studied biology in high school, our teacher took us on an excursion to the archipelago south of Göteborg. She said: “This flower is called Trift. Let it be the least of what you remember from this class.” Least and only, I’m afraid. The butterfly from Sanssouci, the flowers from Vinterviken and the sheep art from Pilarna were also close to winning.

The winner of this competition was drawn by Navid Modiri (the inventor of 365 Saker att göra/Things to Do) when I met him at Språkcaféet in Göteborg. It turned out to be Britt Lööf (an avid blogger herself) who will receive a bouquet from Fleurop-Interflora in collaboration with the Red Cross.

If you want to look at some really intriguing pictures, have a look at National Geographic and Airbus’ website See the Bigger Picture.

East Meats West

2009-12-01T10:34:00.001+01:00

Radisson Hotel in Shanghai is situated by People’s Square where the West and East Nanjing Road meet. From my room at the 28th floor I had a good view of the Renmin Park and of the neon-clad skyscrapers downtown. Despite the abundance of Chinese restaurants I opted for a safe bet, or so I thought, by entering a Pizza Hut. However, market adjustment is always important and obviously Asian customers are more frequent than European ones why it was hard to find some really nice vegetarian food.

Everywhere in the Shanghai region you find advertising for the EXPO 2010. In flower arrangements, in the special stores selling all kinds of goods wearing the EXPO logo and mascot, at the museums, with the street merchants, on posters and so on. Almost 200 countries will participate in this expo that perhaps will be the biggest event ever arranged on earth so far. The location of the expo area is excellent, rather close to the city centre and at the river.

I visited a presentation of the Finnish pavilion and they estimate that it will host 20.000 visitors each day during the six months of the EXPO. In total, 70 million visitors are expected at the EXPO. No wonder all countries are trying to figure out how to make most out of this meeting place, and how to create good business with the Chinese hosts.

Swedish companies have been present in China for quite some time. First the big international corporation started production here. Then came their suppliers wanting to be near their customers. Although service-oriented companies are becoming more frequent, about 80% of the business is still oriented towards sourcing. However, the structure of business is slowly changing, partly because of new demands in relation to Corporate Social Responsibility issues. The Sino-Swedish CSR Cooperation is therefore especially well positioned in time as is the new Sino-Swedish Sustainable Business Program in Shanghai.

I very much hope to go to the EXPO next year. The Swedish pavilion looks exciting and I believe the program will be very interesting too, especially the seminars in the neighbouring regions. Maybe by then I will have read “Where East Eats West: The Street-Smarts Guide to Business in China. Although I’d better practice using chopsticks...

Opportunistic Driving

2009-11-22T10:18:00.002+01:00

In Sweden, most people drive according to the traffic regulations. We stick to one lane and when overtaking we go on the left side. Honking is seldom used, and hard shoulders are frowned upon. A red light means stopping, and if you are in a left turning lane, you go left.

This of course means that if you try to apply the same approach in Shanghai, you will not last a day. Not an hour in fact. Here cars always stray between lanes in order to find the quickest one, why it is impossible to predict the movements of the cars in front of you. Why in turn of course it is only natural to warn them about your own ambitions by using the horn or the lights. If you spot slow vehicles in the lanes turning right, you of course can go around them using the left turning lane if it is empty. Since it is sometime difficult to cross the wide streets with many lanes, it is also makes sense to expect bikes, motor bikes and pedestrians in the streets in all directions at the same time. Red lights are more of a recommendation, but the whistle-blowing policemen should always be taken seriously.

Given these different approaches to traffic, it makes me wonder to what extent we can export intelligent transport systems. What is intelligent behaviour in these circumstances? Maybe something for Telematics Valley to consider, but also the initiative made by the Swedish Road Administration to commercialise more of its intellectual property in cooperation with Innovationsbron: The Transport Business Booster. But I’m sure that since they are cooperating with international partners such as Ericsson, they will already have accounted for this.

Summer Photo Competition 2009

2009-10-25T08:00:00.005+01:00

Today Sweden changed from summer time to normal (winter?) time. We gained an extra hour, which I spent on announcing this “competition”. Otherwise my two jobs, one at Innovationsbron and the other at VINNOVA keep me rather busy.

Although this summer has been a really rainy one, at least in Sweden, somehow I’ve managed to take lots of photos. Want to help me pick the one to symbolise the Summer of 2009? Write down which one is your favourite in a comment to this blog post together with your email address, and at the same time you will enter the lottery with a chance of winning a lovely bouquet of summer flowers. Open until 1st of December.

Look at the Picasa folder with the pictures, and then go back to this blog post and write a comment. It does not show immediately, but you can rest assured that I will take good care of it and put it into the lottery bowl!

Looking forward to your vote!
/Lena

Dressing as Design

2009-10-12T20:20:00.000+02:00

I’m probably going to Shanghai during fall and when I told my friends about this one of them quickly asked me to go to an outlet at Nanjing Road and buy 20 shirts for him. Now, I probably won’t have time to do this but I was intrigued about the request. The idea of having someone else buy my clothes is very remote to me as and I also came to realize that I don’t have more than one of any piece of clothing. Unless you count two shirts from The Banana Republic I bought in Boston that share the same design but are totally different with respect to colour and cloth.

This is probably a gender thing. As a woman, I don’t just dress in the morning – I compose an outfit. The clothes I wear are carefully selected in order to fit the weather, the schedule and my mood. To look the same two days in a row is not an option. I think this is good practice in order to stay creative.

My absolute favourite designer is Vivienne Westwood. I hope one day to wear one of her suits (I adore her evening dresses, but I have a hard time picturing myself in one of them). In the meantime I might use the suggestion from The Guardian on how to make you own Westwood dress!

Although some days I certainly wish I had some kind of uniform, when inspiration is nowhere to be found and both the weather and schedule have changed since I did my planning the previous evening...

Prickly Wisdom

2009-10-02T19:56:00.004+02:00

I am forever thankful to my friend Katja who recommended me reading Muriel Barbery’s warm and intelligent “The Elegance of the Hedgehog”. This book celebrates learning, but also demands that we do something good or beautiful with our new knowledge.

A great source of inspiration for good deeds is Harvard Business Review’s September issue. In it several important aspects of sustainable business development is covered, very much related to the HINT project I’m working with at Innovationsbron.

Constant innovation is the key to survival, why it is interesting to read about how LEGO and Cisco have approach this issue using the wisdom of the crowd through competitions and end-user communities. Engagement from employees is also important, where a green strategy can boost moral as well as innovation.

Women as an often neglected market because of lack of diversity in company workforces and boards is another topic (although I think this particular article was a little bit traditional in its pick of products). Six key female consumer segments are identified and, yes, I could see myself in this model.

C K Prahalad has written several interesting HBR articles all related to sustainability the last years. In this issue he argues that sustainability of the key driver for innovation and describes five stages for companies on their way towards sustainability. Another piece looks at renewable energy and Bill Clinton talks about how to create value even in the middle of an economical crisis.

Blue Ocean Strategy is described as a way for a company to actually have an impact on the context it operates in. This is a way for the entrepreneur who is not afraid of taking on the double task of changing the world and attracting customers. Like the CSR-driven entrepreneurs in focus in a Nordic research project.

What is also interesting with this issue is that only a few of the articles mentioned above can be found in the “Sustainability + Innovation” section. Apparently, HBR only considers environmental aspects as sustainable. Me, I’m still in favour of the People-Planet-Profit definition of sustainability.

One important aspect of sustainability is of course to be long-lasting. This is the topic of many of Jim Collin’s research project. One of my favourite books is “Good to Great” where, of course, the hedgehog concept is one key to survival.

“A hedgehog concept is not a goal to be the best, it is an understanding of
what you can be best at.” Jim Collins

Summer Memories 2009

2009-08-30T00:09:00.002+02:00

As has become my tradition, I have made a list of the wonderful things I experienced during summer as a way of preserving and enhancing the memories.

The summer of 2009 started with a return to Orust for a kayaking trip. The weather was splendid and we probably did a 20 kilometer long excursion. Next day my arms were so sore I could not even lift a pencil! A sunny Sunday my friend Ingegerd and I went to the Botanical Garden in Göteborg, not only to look at the beautiful flowers but to listen to the soundscapers at the exhibition Botanic Sounds. I was very impressed by Chris Watson and bought his record Stepping into the Dark. My friend Åsa and I went to Stora Amundön to spend a day at the sea basking in the sun. As it turned out, this was one of the few really sunny days during the whole summer.

Next I went to another island: Öland. We combined the traditional Holmberg family gathering with my cousin Lotta’s birthday party. Such good food and such wonderful, soulful music. All under a big, full moon.

After short stop in Mölnlycke to change to some new gear, it was time to join my Friskport friends at the Riksläger in Sätila. Since the Göteborg district was responsible for organizing this camp, I spent lots of time in the information booth. However I also played volleyball, did aerobics, swam in the lake, rode an Icelandic horse and even contributed to the very long jetty where a board now should have my name on it. The sunjar was a great success.

We bought a new camera for a project at work, and I brought it along to Pilane outdoor art exhibition to practice. As I suspected, using a system camera is a bit trickier and I’m still not totally comfortable with it although some of the pictures turned out alright.

I got some help from my brother-in-law when I visited my sister’s family who was camping on Getterön outside Varberg. We went to the Ötzi exhibition at Varberg Castle and were impressed by the extensive knowledge of various kinds of wood he must have had.

After spending lots of days trying to get my new apartment in order, I went to my parents’ house in Upplid. We picked blueberries and raspberries, and I enhanced my non-fear of heights by painting the barn. Back at the West coast, I went to another birthday party this time at the Onsala peninsula. My friend Birgitta were quite happy about her present: a flag pole.

I took some time off from carrying boxes and went to Lidköping, looking at the Rörstand porcelain museum and continued to Läckö castle, again visiting the lovely garden. I also went to Gunnebo Castle lots of times for lazy lunches outside the café and to watch the outdoor comedy theatre “Lend Me a Tenor” by Ken Ludwig.

In August my Mother took me to Berlin. I had never been there before and was enchanted by the contrasts in architecture and by the entrepreneurial spirit soaring. We focused on the traditional tourist sites such as the castles Charlottenburg and Sanssouci. Without any trouble, I could spend many more days in this great city. I'll be back!

The last weekend of August, I went back to Orust this time with my runner friends. We had a mini training camp, running both in the evening and in the morning around the beautiful old fishing village Hälleviksstrand. It was a perfect closing and provided lots of energy.

Thank you, friends and family, for making also the summer of 2009 very much worth remembering!

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2009-07-12T21:14:00.008+02:00

The latest issue of the Swedish magazine Camino there is a guide indicating how eco-friendly the Swedish music festivals are. In the UK, things have been taken to a much higher level. As part of their Glastonbury Festival sponsoring, Orange has designed a new concept tent creating a truly mobile home for the wireless generation. Well, they had some help from the product development company Kaleidoscope.

The tent is made of photovoltaic fabric acting as a solar panel transforming the rays to energy. This is used for the central wireless control hub displaying energy generated and consumed as well as providing a wireless internet signal. If you are cold, the energy can be used to heat the floor. If you want your tent to be warm when you come back, just set the temperature level and the sensors will do the rest. Another feature is the “glo-cation” technology that helps you find your tent in the dark. Just send an SMS and your tent will provide a welcoming glow.

At the Frisksport Riksläger in Sätila last week, I was in charge of the mobile phone charging station/information booth. Although not as cool as the The Orange Chill ‘n’ Charge tent at the Glastonbury Festival, it was still fascinating to see the large number of people paying 1€ to charge their phone. Not to mention the number of gadgets left behind after the camp closed. Outdoor life is no longer what it used to be.

I introduced my latest favourite thing at the camp: The Sun Jar. It looks like a traditional Mason Jar with a glass lid and a rubber ring, but it contains low energy LED lamps, a rechargeable battery and solar cells. During the day you put it in the sun. Since the jar is water proof you don’t need to worry about letting it being outside all day. During night it will provide the most wonderful warm glow.

Apparently you can also get it in blue and pink. Perhaps something for Orange to consider, since it might be a bit difficult to find your tent if the concept turns into a really popular product. If they for some reason insist on keeping the orange colour, a pulsating light can be an alternative. Just like you can compose your phone signal, you may perhaps in the future be able to create your tent ditto and maybe the Morse code gets a revival.

Of course I know that this kind of stuff is not really eco-friendly at all. Despite the solar panel, this is just another piece of nice-to-have technology. Applying a life cycle assessment would probably reveal several drawbacks with my new favourite toy: the materials used, the transport, the production methods and so on. However, in comparison to tea lights the Sun Jar is safer to use in tents!

Wandering Tale

2009-05-23T21:55:00.002+02:00

My friend Charlotta, she did it. She went from talking about it to actually do it. She belongs to the same informal group of former colleagues as I do and we have long talked about combining our professional life with some kind of charity. We talked, but she took action!

Last weekend Sjöklint Agenturer and A Gallery invited to vernissage and premier of TOMS Shoes. The founder of TOM Shoes, Blake Mycoskie was there together with a really exciting mix of artists such as Patrik Andiné, Peter Apelgren, Gorm Boberg, Jan Jörnmark, och Viktoria Hallenius.

The idea behind TOMS Shoes is really simple. You buy one pair of shoes and another pair is shipped to a child in need. The shoes are incredible comfortable and very stylish, and you can even personalize them in interesting ways (read about the arduous task Blake’s Mom is accomplishing right now to help her son, it’s quite funny).

Everybody who buys the shoes also spread the word by telling the story behind the company. This way the viral marketing does its trick and the values are displayed in a narrative format. Great! More than 140 000 pairs of shoes have been given to children in Argentina, South Africa and Ethiopia. Even greater!

However, I’m not really surprised. Sjöklint Agenturer was very quick at using Facebook for communicating with us customers, which of course they have continued with their new shop Sally Jones (I wonder if the name of the shop was inspired by Jakob Wegelius book with the title Sally Jones?

Sjöklint Agenturer is represented in the Nordic countries. So is the research project CSR-Driven Innovation. The project aims at supporting the business potential among Nordic small and medium-sized enterprises by combining the fields of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), design, innovation and growth. They should really look into this case!

If you are looking for more art, take a peek at The Saatchi Galley!

Weather Fair

2009-05-15T15:47:00.000+02:00

I have come down with the flue. No, not the swine flue, just the ordinary one. One benefit of being ill is that you watch TV programmes in the middle of the day, picking up gems normally lost in everyday doings. Like this splendid documentary on Ian Fairweather I just watched.

Apparently Fairweather led a very special life. Born in 1891 in Scotland and died on Bribie Island outside Brisbane in 1974. He served in both world wars and were twice kept prisoner of war for a long time. He travelled extensively in Europe and Asia, studying both Japanese and Chinese.

No wonder he developed a layered approach, combining several experiences and memories into one painting. Like the Monestary, described in this way by the National Gallery of Australia:

“On the one hand, Monastery may be considered a recollection of an experience many years before when the artist stayed briefly at a monastery near Beijing. He described it to his early biographer Nourma Abbott-Smith as a place of spirituality. He recalled that the snow outside covered the monastery while the inside was illuminated by hundreds of candlewicks floating in golden bowls, casting flickering shadows and softening the carved aspect of the statues. In a broader sense, as Murray Bail noted in his later book on the artist, Monastery also represents all monasteries, all contemplative silences and so summarises this serious artist’s obsessions.”

I think we need more people like Fairweather, who can assimilate various cultures and create something new, who are curious and passionate, and who can capture both the specific and the general.

We could use a bit of more fair weather also. In Sweden, SMHI a government agency under the Ministry of the Environment provides weather forecasts. In addition to general forecasts and weather warnings, it also provides industry-specific services, simulations and analyses, statistics, climate studies and contracted research.

Recently they launched a service providing property managers with forecasts making it possible to adjust the temperature and thereby lowering the energy cost. It will be interesting to see what kinds of products and business models SMHI and other government agencies can provide to support sustainable development.

This reminds me of informative arts experiments of letting interactive art show complex real-time data. Maybe SMHI could be inspired by Fairweather’s work and provide a weather art service?

Long-Tail Muesli

2009-05-09T22:44:00.001+02:00

Since 1964 Saltå Kvarn, a anthroposophy-owned mill in Sweden have grinded all kinds of grain. Recently they started a new kind of web-shop. At www.minmusli.nu you can buy your custom-made ecological muesli. First you choose a base by selecting from spelt, barley, quinoa or seeds. Then you add some extra oat, rye, raisins, raspberries, mango, goji berries, hazel nuts etcetera. You can even add chocolate and gummi bears! And then you just write your address and your personalised muesli will arrive at your doorstep. The price depends on the mix.

What better example of the long tail concept!?! Apparently the web designers also used the Internet to listen to customer comments on the usability, given this long blog conversation.

Not living in Sweden? Well have a peek at MyMuesli if you live in the UK, Germany or Austria and are looking for some ecological cereals.

Instruction on Demand

2009-04-14T21:30:00.004+02:00

Have you ever tried to put together a greenhouse? Within a greenhouse? Now, I don’t mean those small ones in plastic but a big one in aluminium. Didn’t think so. But I have! Tried, that is.

My parents bought a greenhouse construction from Skånska Byggvaror. It’s a beautiful and ingenious little house in aluminium and it will provide much joy in the future, I’m sure. However, the manual must have been put together by a sadist. Or at least an engineer without any knowledge of usability testing. If only someone had taken the time to test the instructions by letting ordinary people put together all the millions of mostly unmarked pieces with the minute tools. I was sad to see that nothing much had happen since 1996 when I published my PhD thesis, including a study on user manuals.

My Mother had another angle. She suggested, a true entrepreneur, that we should advertise on the Internet now that we knew how to put together this specific model, recognising the market for greenhouse construction support. I suddenly had an epiphany and saw a range of IT-based instructional services on the same theme. Taka a photo of the section you are having trouble with, call us and we send you a short instructional video to help you. If you need personal support, make a video call and show us what is puzzling you and we will talk you through it.

You could also access our self-support site where proud greenhouse owners have made their own videos showing how they put together their houses. We could use tools like Bambuser or Mogulus to create mobile TV-channels with edutainment where we let celebrities compete on how to go from opening of the boxes to putting the last glass into its frame using as little time as possible, a bit similar to Gordon Ramsey’s cook along live show. More tricky situations will be introduced after a couple of seasons (like building a greenhouse within a greenhouse) and unlikely teams in order to create more drama. I’m sure it will result in quite a large number of hours to watch with funny (and dangerous) situations, including arguments bordering on domestic violence (no, we did not get that far, only to some verbal abuse).

This kind of service is a kind of antithesis of making the construction parts intelligent, telling you how to put them together, something researchers have been into for some years creating proactive furniture through augmented reality.

The lyrics of the Goo Goo Dolls song “Iris” includes the line “When everything’s made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am”. Maybe it should be changed into to “When everything’s made to give rise to additional and expensive services, we just want to know who you are”. This reminds me that I should finish my blog post on e-identity I have been working on for some time.

Scope of Control

2009-04-05T11:49:00.001+02:00

On Sundays I attend an aerobics class at my local Friskis&Svettis, an excellent non-for-profit health club. It’s a dance class where we move to a very varied string of tunes: hip-hop, tango, Eurovision Song Contest melodies, house, Robbie Williams, Michael Jackson, Sonja Aldén, Bollywood songs, Latin American rhythms, Swedish pop...

I’m as agile as a safe, as we say in Sweden, but I like it a lot. And I’m not alone in this, which means there is a whole room full of rather stiffly moving people with happy grins on their faces trying to move gracefully to the music. Partly because of our non-agile condition and partly because of our instructors’ choreography this looks rather comical and the children looking at us often have a huge laugh.

Surely neither the composer nor the artist had this application in mind for their music. They might even become upset could they see us. But how much influence can you have on your work once it is released to the public?

Samuel Beckett gave very precise instructions on how his play “Waiting for Godot” should be played. He even took legal action against a group of women for playing the characters, since Beckett was very strict on that only men should be in the play.

I saw the play a month ago, at the premier at Göteborg Stadsteater. My uncle Henric is the director so of course I’m a bit biased when I say I thought it was really great. However, not only the audience thought so too but also a string of critics from newspaper such as Svenska Dagbladet and Dagens Nyheter, and also the national radio Sveriges Radio. The local newspaper Göteborgs-Posten was a little cooler in the response, claiming a lack of reference to modern day society. I find that a bit strange since I think the play is very much about general aspects of what it is like to be a human being in terms of our need for relations and recognition, but also since Beckett does not leave much room for such references.

Another key message is that in the unknown there is hope. Thank you Henric for making me see that!

Economical Drama

2009-04-01T02:59:00.001+02:00

While waiting in the harbour for the speedboat to Koh Kood, an economical drama developed before our eyes. A silent war took place between the young Nestlé ice cream salesman and his more senior opponent from Unilever. In contrast to the conflict in Thailand between the yellow and the red, this was a battle between the blue and the red.

In spite of a bad cold, the blue were getting more of the market, maybe because he was under a tree in the shadow. The red was positioned closer to the café where a lot of the potential customers were hovering, waiting for the boat to arrive. However, his bright red motorbike was in the merciless sun. Since I like to encourage competition, I bought a Magnum from the red when he showed signs of giving up. He let me have the ice cream, and then moved across the road into the shadow. The blue then gave me the evil eye and immediately moved into the vacant space. A nice kind of illustration of first-mover advantage versus the benefits of being the fast second.

In these times of economical crisis, we need to learn more quickly and also come up with more novel ideas. According to researcher Barbara Fredrickson, discrete positive emotions broaden the scopes of attention and cognition and lead to a widened array of thoughts and action impulses in the mind. So how about designing positive learning environments? In folk high schools pedagogical drama is often successfully used and it is even possible to study the topic at Malmö University. Another creative combination of art and science is the concept of dialogue seminars, applied in many contexts including the Swedish National Defence College.

But my favorite educational concept is that of simulations. My friend Kristofer Erlandsson has developed several simulations for example one where you practice innovation system development and another where you get a better understanding of the works of the EU. Right now he is running several workshops in Europe called Road Map simulation, helping companies to develop business strategies.

Wouldn´t it be nice if we could develop a new art/science called Economical Drama? There we could act out wicked problems related to financial and climate challenges, based on scientific knowledge. A group of decision-makers could be assigned different roles in order to learn to understand other perspectives. Let the capitalist play the role of the WWF president, let the industrialist become the new Fair Trade Executive, let the scientist try on the Current TV journalist’s shoes, and make WTO and World Bank executives do a swap.

Another application would be to simulate a funding committee in an incubator with a mission of sustainable funding. It could be inspired by UNEP’s Financial Initiative (thank you Milton Lore for this gem) or the Swedfund’s good results.

I’m going to the National Business Incubation Association conference in Kansas City in a few weeks. Maybe I should launch the idea then and there…

My Blog Wordle

2009-03-23T21:17:00.001+01:00

Global Warming and the Female Climate

2009-03-08T10:27:00.003+01:00

Sweden works proactively with issues related to equality in many ways. How sad it is that this has had little effect on the distribution of men and women in company boards and in leading positions. Among the listed companies in Sweden, only about 18% of the board members are women. Very few of them are chairmen. Maud Olofsson our Minister for Enterprise and Energy, is rather pleased that at least the number of women in the boards of the companies owned by the government has increased (33%). Almost 100% of all the CEO’s in the listed companies in Sweden are men. If you want to know exactly who is on what board, have a look at the yearly report “Styrelser och revisorer”.

Since research has demonstrated that companies with a mixed board do better in financial terms, it is good to know that there are several organisations supporting the equality movement related to leadership. One is the journal Passion for Business, where their first issue 2009 contains a list of 549 women (I’m among them) who are both suitable and willing to become board members. Another is Styrelsekvinnor, where companies can find a whole database with names. A third is Women's Business Research Institute.

It has also been recognised that organisations supporting the development of innovation systems need to address this issue, why regions such as Skåne and Västra Götaland have made special efforts. Also the Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems has contributed to the debate with a study on the effect of equality programs the last 25 years. The Nordic Council has also focused on this topic a long time.

Of course, there are also several books on the topic such as Through the Labyrinth: The Truth About How Women Become Leaders by Alice H. Eagly, Women and Leadership: The State of Play and Strategies for Change by Barbara Kellerman and Women and the Leadership Q: Revealing the Four Paths to Influence and Power by Shoya Zichy. A Swedish book of interest is Kvinnliga chefer i näringslivet 2008.

Information technology can also be of good help. StyrelseAkademien in Stockholm has developed a virtual board room, where boards can gather information relevant to their work. Apparently women are very much in favour of this kind of solution and keen to get started. The men are more reluctant, and are not too fond of the tracking mechanism showing who has read what documents and who are active in debates.

Maybe we need more such tools. Especially when looking into combining gender issues with environmental aspects, as Gender and Climate Change and the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Maybe there is a need for developing our taxonomies such as the one used by Catalyst to list gender-related research. The Nordic conference on equality, gender and climate changes on February 2 2009, could be a good place to start looking.

Birds of a Feather

2009-03-01T19:07:00.003+01:00

During my short stay in Nairobi, I had the good fortune of seeing quite a number of beautiful birds. The garden surrounding the Fairview Hotel is large and green, with lots of feeding stations for various species. My experience was also greatly enhanced by reading the lovely book “A Guide to the Birds of East Africa” by Nicholas Drayson.

This book had caught the eye of Charlie, a keen bird watcher and blogger, who wrote a review recommending it although at the same time criticising it for being inaccurate in some places. Although Drayson has studied zoology and has a PhD in 19th century Australian natural history writing, he is apparently more of a platypus expert. However, he did a very good job defending his rights as a fiction writer when interviewed by Charlie, who was very impressed by his kindness.

Although I love my little camera, it is not especially well suited for taking pictures of birds (as you can see from the photos). However, there are plenty of much better photographers who have made an excellent job of catching the little creatures on film and there is lots of information on how to go on bird watching tours in Kenya. If you want to know what to look for, Wikipedia has an excellent list of all the indigenous species.

I was lucky to get some wooden birds from the Birds Paradise Souvenir Shop though. Don’t miss it!

Innovation System-Driving Film-Making

2009-02-21T19:49:00.003+01:00

After visiting the Karen Blixen museum and the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden, it became clear to me that the impact from the famous writer persists long after her death. The lush Nairobi suburb Karen is situated between the city centre and the mountains, and the views are stunning. No doubt, the film “Out of Africa” boosted the Karen economy, featuring one of my favourite actors Robert Redford.

When back at the Fairview Hotel at Upper Hill and swimming in the pool, I started to think about how making films can drive innovation. No doubt science fiction and Bond movies have expanded our technical ideas, and to some extent our management designs as well. However, I think that not only companies can benefit from collaborating with the film and fiction industry, but also regions. Whole innovations systems consisting of scientists, entrepreneurs and civil servants could team up with famous film makers in order to create the vivid images of the preferred future as encouraged by Peter Senge and Robert Fritz (the latter often using film as a metaphor for how to frame your message in an appropriate scope).

So how about Nairobi, a life science hub, hooking up with the Swedish Film Institute to make a movie about fictional Danish and Swedish descendants of Karen and Bror Blixen coming to Kenya to start a sustainable functional food business? Collaborating with local suppliers, researchers and incubators in all countries they could make good use of solar and wind power in order to breathe new life into the old Swedo African Coffee Company. Perhaps with a young American director, supported by Redford’s Sundance Institute.

Creating an image so real and attractive, it may have the chance of paving the way for investors and real entrepreneurs. Perhaps the company could even be in place before opening day, since it would be really cool if the film merchandise would include products from the new company. How about that for product placement?

"He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast",
from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

Heart of the Matter

2009-02-14T10:18:00.001+01:00

When I was studying English at the university in 1984, one of the books we were required to read was “Heart of the Matter” by Graham Green. I’m not sure what it did to my perception of Africa, civil servants or marriage, but I believe that that course changed my life.

“No human being can really understand another,
and no one can arrange another's happiness.”
Graham Green, The Heart of the Matter

Although I already liked English, which of course was one of the reasons for enrolling in the course, I think this was the time when I really fell in love with the language. This is a love that has lasted longer than any other.
Which is why I now own books like “Brush Up Your Shakespeare” and enjoy comments regarding how expressions change through usage and how they become metaphors.

Hamlet:
"Give me that man
That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him
In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart
As I do thee."
Hamlet Act 3, scene 2, 71-74

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Cruel to be Kind

2009-02-12T20:42:00.004+01:00

“Sometimes you need to be kind to yourself”, said Stefan Einhorn at a seminar last week in reply to a questions concerning what to do when somebody asks you to do something you do not want to or have time for. “If you cannot deliver, you should say no because in the long run it is kinder.”

He should know because he has written an excellent book called “The Art of Being Kind”. Being a Professor of Molecular Oncology he has had plenty of opportunity to observe what it takes to be kind, both at work and at home. You actually often have to be both brave and smart to be kind. There is also much research that demonstrates that humans benefit from kindness and most of us want to be good.

There is a world-wide ongoing debate concerning if it is better to support entrepreneurs in struggling economies through companies like MyC4 where lenders get interest or through charities like Kiva. Most people seem to take the position that there is room for a variety of players and I totally agree with this. However, I also believe that we need to become better at offering true business deals.

When you do want to help charities, there are plenty of opportunities to do that in combination with business. The site God Handling (A Good Deed) offers an opportunity to purchase from web shops and at the same time make the companies pay charities. As a consumer you don’t pay any extra, but the company pays to get some more publicity.

If you are in doubt concerning what charity to choose, you might want to use Charity Rating. Here the charities have been categories in terms of what focus they have, what countries they cover, how transparent the information is and so on. So far only Swedish charities have been rated, but there are similar organisations like Charity Navigator in the US and Guide Star in the UK.

Should you want to experience a really weird mix of kindness and cruelty, I recommend taking a look at The Cruel Game, and become a benevolent assassin.

“Will innocents be caught in the cross-fire?
Oh, yes.
But when your secret weapon is a random act
of kindness, it’s only cruel to be kind
to other players...”

Maybe Hamlet got it right in the end…

Places of Importance

2009-01-24T20:43:00.003+01:00

What makes a place important to you? Is it because of the past? The time you spent there, the important work you did or persons that you met who forever made an impression on you? Or is it because of the present? Where you live and experience here and now, anchored in everyday life and enjoying unexpected, small pleasures.

Can it be because of the future? Places you desperately want to go to. Big and important in your mind because of what goes on there. Perhaps merely because of the associations they bring to you and to others. Places with power. Where you can create interesting stories.

In the new issue of The Holmberg Gazette I have gathered some places of importance to me. Places I hope to visit during 2009. Most of them are places I’ve already been to, but don’t expect to stay the same. It was a difficult choice, because I have visited so many exciting places, met so many interesting people.

A totally different kind of place is the Internet. For me, that is one of the most important places. Right now and probably even more so in the future. That is why I try to explore it in many ways. Why you can find me at LinkedIn, Facebook, Plaxo, ResearchGATE...

Indigenous Knowledge

2009-01-11T21:39:00.000+01:00

Last week I made a great decision. My friend Agneta and I went to see the film Australia. And what a wonderful movie it was! A real adventure story of the old and good kind, with damsels in distress, a hero who can both shoot and cry, wild children and animals, beautiful scenery, unexpected friendship and love, faint popular music, and enemies defeated at the end.

This is a very much Australian production: supported by the government through Screen Australia, with an Australian director (Baz Luhrmann) and all leading actors native (including Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman). Although Kidman’s shoes are made by the Italian company Ferragamo and her clothes were made especially for her, you can get the same gorgeous look and feel by popping into RM Williams, the famous Australian brand that delivered the rest of the gear for the crew.

And there are several more very good reasons to see the film. One of the messages in the film is the importance of making change happen when necessary. “Just because it is, doesn’t mean it should be.” Another reason is the strong emphasis on storytelling and the indigenous Australians use of storytelling as a means to create memories and individuals. “The only thing you own is your story”. Well, better make it a good one. But why somebody would need a reason to see a film about Australia featuring Hugh Jackman is beyond me…

Another form of indigenous knowledge is used in user-driven development. According to research at the MIT by Eric von Hippel but also at Karlstad University by Per Kristensson, users are very apt in supporting product development and are likely to come up with more original, more valuable and to some extent more realizable ideas. These two collaborate, although Hippel is more of the “eating his own dog food” kind of a guy since very much of the material he has produced in terms of articles, books and videos are downloadable from his site.

Apparently Baz Luhrmann made use of user-driven development, because he changed the film after a preview. Or rumor has it 20th Century Fox made him. I must say I prefer the user-driven one, but then again I am a true romantic.

Meaningful Search

2009-01-01T10:49:00.001+01:00

I subscribe to the AI mailinglist, and yesterday something caught my eye namely the referral to a website with only good news. This is actually a collection of sites, and the compilation is done, not by computers, but by three people in the small company Nononina.

Although I really appreciate the talents that must be involved in keeping such collections alive, I’m also very intrigued by the technology behind semantic search. With by background in computational linguistics, I can’t help but wonder about how we can move from the kind of very rudimentary search most of use, typing a word or two into the search field at Google and then browsing through the first of the 235.366 documents, towards something more meaningful.

According to the researchers who recently gathered at the ESWC08 conference, there are several challenges that semantic search systems try to address such as how semantic technologies can be used to capture the information need of the user or how what the users wants to know more about can be translated into language the computer understands without forcing him or her to use weird symbols? With so many documents produced, it is no wonder that the EU Commission has spent some money on semantic search projects, Alvis being one of them. And it comes as no surprise that the Finns are really good at semantic computing, since almost nobody (or at least less than 6 million people) can understand their language. This means that it probably will not be included in the semantic search engine Hakia, since they “plan to cover all languages spoken by significant number of people”.

Another big challenge is the increasing move from text to pictures, audio and movies. The Horizon Report from The New Media Consortium talks about trends in use of technology in education and one of their observations is that “grass root video” is really catching on. Of course, already some applications try to address this such as the Media Mill. It would be really interesting if it could be applied to user generated material such as the stuff presented by Al Gore’s Current TV. Again, this is something the EU addresses. Audio and visual search is the topic of the CHORUS coordination action and there is even some hope for disruptive innovation, something that is always delightful from an investment perspective.

Now, if you are really into semantic search what do you do? A semantic search engine searching for semantic web documents, of course. It is called Swoogle. If you are a researcher and want to try semantic search features in order to find colleagues (or potential competitors), you can try the ResearchGate. See the video below on how to use it.

However, even with the help of semantic search engines, how are we going to find things that are relevant for us? How on earth can we navigate in the ecology of attention, described so accurately by Davenport and Beck in “The attention economy” and in “The Economics of Attention” by Lanham?

Dewitt Jones, a photographer often working for National Geographic, emphasizes that we should look for what is right with the world. This philosophy has made him a great photographer, but has also provided him with personal direction. Something he has captured in a beautiful and pedagogical way in his video. If you want to know what Appreciative Inquiry is all about in plain language, this is an excellent way to get all the basic concepts together with some really beautiful pictures.

Of course, the EU Commission is on top of this issue and provides research success stories where some of them have even reached stardom. But what can we do in our daily lives? Could search research find ways for us to become more aware of what is good, beautiful and right? To make us search for and find things that build on our strengths? Instead of “I feel lucky” maybe Google could have a button called “Make me happy”.

One way of increasing the relevance in results from search engines is to make use of the features provided by WordsCloseTogether. They make sure that you get only results where the words you are looking for are written less than 100 words apart. Sprung from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, it is no wonder that the company mission is to serve people. I do like their comment on Google’s mission statement:
With all due respect to Google Inc., "Don't be evil" is a negative theme. Google's nineteen thousand plus employees would be better directed by servant marketing themes that are fully respectful of key human values.

Now, isn’t that something meaningful to search for?

Root Cause

2008-12-25T11:10:00.003+01:00

I have no idea why, but I got two books about trees at Christmas. One called “Gastekar och väckefuror”, a title impossible to translate since it refers to old Swedish names for special trees with mythical powers. 120 trees are described, all with a history of its own. They are beautifully illustrated by Nils Forshed.

The second book is written by Johan Tell, and is called “Träd kan rädda världen” (Trees Can Save the World) where the theme is very much the same as in “100 Ways to Save the World”. After reading it, you really feel like planting a tree and build a wooden house. More than half of Sweden is covered by woods. This means that we are dependent on importing food. Food that might grow on land recently converted to farm land from woods. Suddenly my soya beef does not taste so good anymore when I see the pictures of the “green deserts”.

My mother has also written a book about trees. Or rather about the storm Gudrun that in 2005 devastated many of the woods in the southern part of Sweden where my parents live. 300 million trees died during those two stormy days. When I came there a couple of weeks later, it was a very strong experience. Although I was just a visitor, I felt my heart break. Trees are so much more than just trees. They carry hope. Hope for a better future.

One of the pioneers within Appreciative Inquiry is Malcolm J Odell. He has worked all over the world and has developed ways of getting good results without the fancy stuff like flipcharts, videos and computers. When describing how an appreciative approach is different from a problem-based, he often uses a tree as a metaphor. Often we identify something that is wrong. This is the trunk of the tree. Then we go on to find the causes for the problem. They are the roots. We then move to identifying the consequences. These are the branches in the tree top. However, we can do exactly the same but instead of focusing on the problem we can formulate what it is we would like to have or have more of. Instead of looking for causes and consequences for sick-leave, we can look for the reasons why people are healthy at work and see what that can bring to the organisation. If you want to see the difference, divide a large group into two smaller ones and let them each work on one kind of tree. It will become evident to everybody which group will have more fun, come up with more constructive ideas and feel more committed to actually implement them.

Root Cause is a nonprofit organisation in Boston supporting social innovators and educating social impact investors. They work in close collaboration with New Profit, a venture philanthropy fund that provides financial and strategic support to selected social entrepreneurs and their organizations to help them create widespread impact. Their signature partner is the Monitor Group, funded by Michael Porter and they also work together with Robert Kaplan, why, of course, balanced scorecards are used for developing performance indicators.

I visited Root Cause and New Profit in 2007 and were amazed by the way they work and what they have achieved. They have inspired me a lot in my work with Stensund. But I still can’t help thinking about what they might accomplish by selecting another tree to work from. And what Sweden as a country could achieve by focusing more on collaboration than on competition. Trees can save the world.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-20T18:18:00.001+01:00

Last week, my friends in the UK AI Network asked me how come Santa Claus lives in Finland. My prompt response was that Santa lives in Lapland, a region that is shared between Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia but that the Finns were much faster in understanding the power of branding. To be politically correct, the name Sápmi should be used instead of Lapland, but the Sámi people have some way to go there in changing that misconception.

However, perhaps it is only natural that Finland is Santa’s home. American scientists have discovered how Santa uses nanotechnology to grow presents under the Christmas tree and how he uses the time-space continuum in a clever way in order to make it around the world in such a short time. Since the Finnish government have spent much money on The Finnish Government Agency for Innovation and Technology, this high level of technology can only be expected. Nevertheless, it is apparent that Santa has a rather strict IPR policy since nothing has been distributed as open source. I’m sure that The Swedish National Defence Radio Establishment would be more than happy to use Santa’s device for keeping track of who’s been naughty or nice.

In contrast, European researchers have recently embarked on a non-technical but still very interesting project. The “Explaining Religion” (EXREL) project “seeks to understand both what is universal and cross-culturally variant in religious traditions as well as the cognitive mechanisms that undergird religious thinking and behavior”. The project is funded by the European Commission and some of the sub-projects seem to be applicable to explain even the strong universal belief in Santa, but also the slight variations such as if he really goes down the chimney: “Religious recurrence and variation”, “Creative thinking and religion” and “The role of systemic reinforcement in religious variation”. However the most promising project is “Simulating future trajectories in the domain of religion” since it will predict to how the Santa faith will develop, something the Finns should be especially interested in from an investment perspective.

The close connection between religion, innovation and regional development has been pointed out by the Swedish author and science journalist Maja Hagerman. This relationship might be hard to exploit by the chairman of the Swedish Humanist Association Christer Sturmark, who himself is an ICT entrepreneur. But you never know.

Merry Christmas, believe it or not!

Augmented Reality

2008-12-09T15:35:00.001+01:00

The book “Not On the Label” by Felicity Lawrence inspired the Swedish journalist Mats-Eric Nilsson to write “Den Hemlige Kocken” (The Secret Chef). He has now released a sequel called “Äkta Vara” (Real Food) and I do recommend reading them both, although in reverse order. Why? Well, one of my chef friends said that he was afraid to read the first book since he suspected he would become heart-broken and not want to cook any longer and I think he’s on the spot right. You need to see that there are good alternatives to factory produced food containing additives with suspect origin and effects.

Regarding the glutamate debate it is quite interesting to see that The Swedish National Food Administration describes it as harmless and natural existing. However, the point that Nilsson makes is that we should be careful eating food that has been produced and processed in such a way that the natural flavor has been lost (if it were ever there).

Augmented reality is part of the ubiquitous computing area, where live real world images are enhanced with graphical computer overlays. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could walk into a grocery shop and just immediately see what food is good for you since it was highlighted by your glasses? Ideas like these are not far from becoming reality since researchers from all over Europe team up to develop for example mobile augmented reality, such as the IPerG project.

However, I think there is a lesson to be learned from the history of food regarding what might happen when mixing the real and the artificial. Bounce, cohesiveness, denseness, gumminess, heaviness, moisture absorption, mouthcoating and uniformity of chew are all examples of parameters of mouthfeel. This is the way that the food and drink industry tries to capture aspects of what we consume, as a means to replace the real (and expensive) with the artificial (and cheap). One of the fundamental aspects of programming is that it requires everything to be described in detail. But do we want to always have our experience reduced to distinct entities? What about enjoying something in a holistic manner, where the result is something that is more than the sum of its parts? And what about the risk of making people so used to the artificial (has happened with vanilla ice-cream) that they become skeptical to the real thing?

Recently four women founded the company Sjölunda Gård and started to import ecological food to Sweden. They have launched ecological candy having all the bounce, denseness and gumminess you can expect, and it tastes really good as well. In contrast to many of the big brands with names designed to make you associate to small-scale local production (although the food is made in giant factories) there seems to be a real farm. Although the products are imported, the barn is used as office and store-house. I also like the way they make use of Facebook to keep in touch with the growing numbers of customers, and that they have the guts to include a Youtube video from a fan.

The Colour of Money

2008-12-01T16:17:00.000+01:00

In the book “The United States of Europe”, author TR Reid points out that the creation and deployment of the Euro is an astonishing achievement. Although I’m living in a country that does not really embrace this notion (we still have our Swedish “krona”) I must say that I’m impressed too, but also somewhat wondering about what the EU money is spent on.

This is why I was glad to learn about the European Commission’s call on governments to jointly develop a strategy for international cooperation in science and technology. This Communication is one of five policy initiatives planned by the Commission to follow up the 2007 Green Paper "The European Research Area: New Perspectives".

It will also be interesting to follow what the newly established European Institute of Innovation and Technology can achieve. The first areas covered by the institute are likely to include climate change, renewable energies and the next generation of information and communication technologies which is great, especially when combined (although I have already stated what I think of the concept “green IT”). Let’s hope they also keep an open mind regarding how to collaborate with the world outside Europe.

The Swedish government is also concerned about the climate change, and has proposed an increase of the research budget for the next couple of years. They also want the universities to become better at commercialization and provide funding for the development of supporting infrastructure. However, I think there is much more to the collaboration task than commercialization and would have liked a broader discussion on this, especially taking an international perspective.

International commercial collaboration to support the global development has taken an interesting turn with Bono’s initiative (RED). This is a business model created to raise awareness and money for the Global Fund where some of the world's most known brands team up to produce products branded (RED). The colour red was chosen because it is a sign of emergency. Also Danish MYC4 has the colour red in its logo, indicating perhaps the emergency of investing in small African businesses. This interesting opportunity for everyone to become an investment banker was recently recognized by The Times.

Maybe some of the EU and Swedish research funds could be used to investigate how the next generation of ICT could enhance the collaboration between business and non-for-profit organisations?

Now, if you are really interested in the colour of money I recommend taking a look at Colourlovers. Watching the movie with recently deceased Paul Newman might also help. Or the video clip below by Hollywood Beyond.

Tron ej, vad håglösheten viskar till er,
att striden är för hög för er förmåga,
och att den kämpas ut väl er förutan.
Vad mänsklighetens härlige ha sökt
sitt hela sköna, rika liv igenom,
väl är det värt att sökas av oss alla.

Esaias Tegnér, Epilog 1820

The Persistence of Memory

2008-11-25T10:05:00.002+01:00

By resolution 54/134 of 17 December 1999, the United Nations’ General Assembly designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Sophia Ivarsson at the Swedish National Defence College has done research on gender aspects of peace-keeping and rescue missions. Through her studies, she makes it clear why it is important to continue to develop knowledge of the UN Resolution 1325 and how to implement it. Because it matters where you decide to put your rescue camp, since it can provide protection for women fetching water. Because the decision to clear mines in the woods, in the fields or in the pathways may have a profound impact since men often use the trails whereas women collect sticks in the woods in order to cook food. Because employing local women in the rescue work can have a major influence of the development of the area and of female entrepreneurship. Because women taking part in peace-keeping missions can get access to parts of the society that are hard for men to get into.

The Director General of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Anders Nordström, comments today in a debate article on the lack of Swedish participation in the campaign “16 days of activism against gender crime”. In case you wonder what this is all about, the United Nations Population Fund lists 16 forms of gender-based violence, and it is present in all regions not only the so called developing countries. For those of you who would like to understand more about how violence against women are used as a clear strategy in armed conflicts I recommend the film Intended Consequences, which is in addition to its important message a very good example of multi-media storytelling.

Bright Future

2008-11-22T19:57:00.001+01:00

The future seems a great deal brighter with Barak Obama as the new president of the United States of America. Apparently even some republicans think so. According to cognitive scientist George Lakoff, Obama seems to have gotten the hang of storytelling and the proper use of metaphors. Apparently, this is something Swedes appreciate since most of them preferred Obama over McCain. He also seems to have understood the use of Web 2.0 technology and how to reach young people.

One of Barak Obama’s celebrity fans, Oprah Winfrey, said that “When I look into the future, it's so bright it burns my eyes.” However, there are some people who would like the future to be somewhat darker. National Geographic for example, featuring the article “Our Vanishing Night” in their November issue 2008. Light pollution is becoming a major concern but there are also solutions. The Starry Night Lights website has recognised that dark skies are green and lists lights that are supposed to be less polluting.

Las week I was invited to Infracontrol’s Future Party. After inspiring speeches from CEO Johan Höglund, automotive expert Hans Nyman, and adventuress Renata Chlumska as well as spirit-lifting songs from Göteborg Gospel we all took the elevators to the year 2015 on the sixth floor. There we found demonstrations of Infracontrol’s future products. We could be guided to the nearest free parking space, or have mobile stations warning us about wild animals crossing the roads, or remotely handle incidents in underground stations making trains and escalators stop and start at our will, or get commuter information recommending taking the train instead of the car because of traffic jams.

However, many of their so called future products are already here. One of their current projects is looking into how the lights at Arlanda airport could be adjusted to shine only when needed. This would cut the energy costs a lot, but also contribute to decreasing light pollution.

What I like most about Infracontrol is their dedication to develop technology based on human needs. Although their solutions are very high-tech and complex from a technical perspective, they put usability first whether it concerns systems for energy, traffic, or security management. They also take a sustainability perspective on their technology, wanting to help people and organisations to become more efficient in their use of resources.

I think both Barak Obama and Infracontrol want the future to be both brighter and darker, and that they will achieve this by applying metaphors and technology when appropriate.

The photo is from Lights in Alingsås 2008.

Small Pleasures

2008-11-16T21:26:00.000+01:00

November is the absolutely worst month of the year in Sweden. It’s dark, cold and rainy. In order to fight depression, I try to cherish small pleasures and this weekend I have really revelled in them, involving all five senses. I went to bed Friday evening without setting the alarm, falling asleep under my thick winter duvet after reading a chapter in a clever detective story. When I woke up, I got up to get the newspaper, but went back to bed to read and fall asleep again. Waking up a second time I put my feet on the sheep skin rug and curled my toes. I put on my thick terry cotton robe and made a hearty breakfast with boiled eggs, fresh vegetables, mango juice, yoghurt and tasty raspberry muesli.

I dressed in my bright red and turquoise raincoat bought at Louisiana and my high black rubber boots and walked to the nearby folk high school Wendelsberg to look at the beautiful buildings and listen to lectures, participating in their 100 year celebration. I walked away much more knowledgeable about amusement parks through the public park, watching the last leafs falling down. Then I popped in to our local library and read some magazines sitting in one of their fancy modern chairs looking out on the lazy river. On my way home I bought some fresh flowers from the local florist and one of them was a Protea reminding me of the trip I made in 2003 to South Africa with my Mother.

In the afternoon I had a cup of spicy fair trade chai tea in the handcrafted mug I recently bought in Tällberg. You can see it in the picture on the tea tray I received recently at a workshop in Hudiksvall. Then I went to an aerobics class at Friskis&Svettis enjoying immensely moving to all kinds of music in good company. Back home I took a long warm shower, using rough Brazil nut scrub and then put on lovely-smelling chocolate lotion I bought in Öhr where my grandparents used to live. During the evening I mixed doing ironing with watching a chick flick with a happy ending (of course), before hitting the sack.

Sunday was dedicated to volleyball and I tried to do some pep talk to my arms while ecodriving to Herrljunga. I sang loudly in the car, playing favourites from the 1980ies but also some new music put together for a good cause. It was good fun meeting all friends and holding a small baby again, smelling the soft, warm skin. Back home I put my sore feet in a hot foot bath with bright white salt crystals while draping my wheat warmer on my aching shoulders, getting ready to write this blog post.

Of course I know that I am immensely fortunate having the opportunity to enjoy all these small pleasures. Every single one of them can be regarded as a luxury. I am also aware of that they are all related to what Martin Seligman calls the first level of happiness, not even close to eudaemonia or true meaning. However, when my mood is low they truly help when trying to reach the higher levels, living the “The Good Life” vision of the Västra Götaland Region.

The Road to Copenhagen

2008-11-12T10:55:00.004+01:00

My trip to Copenhagen this August, visiting Resonans and participating in The Solutions Focus training, actually led to another journey. It took me all the way to Motala, "the city at the water". There I spent a great day with the Frisksport leadership teachers where we jointly explored our knowledge of instructional design, presentation techniques and storytelling while staying in Motala Frisksportklubb’s wonderful club house. Thank you for participating in creating a creative learning environment! I especially hope you enjoyed the Kolb Learning Styles video (in Swedish).

In one of the exercises, Carl did a presentation about sustainable development and his own attitude towards this. We all enjoyed his presentation very much, since it was very personal and sincere. I think he will find that there are lots of things going on that will help him in his attempts to become better at sustainability, for example the new newspaper “Climate Smart in Motala” provided by the municipality.

However, the road to Copenhagen can also lead to other places like Brussels, Madrid, Poznan and Bonn. By invitation of the EU Commission Vice President Margot Wallström, Club of Madrid, GLOBE Europe and Respect Table joined forces to create an initiative metaphorically called the Road to Copenhagen. The aim is to make it possible for business and civil society to become involved in forming input to the post 2012 climate change negotiations. Using modern technology like a wiki, avatars and a virtual forum in combination with IRL meetings, this initiative lets us participate as citizens or companies in forming a sustainable future.

So Carl (and others), what are you waiting for!?!

Appreciating the Creative Tension

2008-11-03T19:16:00.001+01:00

When Robert Fritz started his workshop in Stockholm in September, I was filled with anticipation. This was my second encounter with him and his wife Rosalind and much had happened since I first came in contact with his change management ideas. I was very interested in finding out whether his concepts could be used in combination with Appreciative Inquiry.

Immediately I started to look for similarities between the two approaches. Both are constructivistic in character and emphasize the careful use of language. Interviews are used early in the process and visualization is used as a tool for creating images of what is and can be. Storytelling is central, as is retelling others’ stories as a means for extracting the fundamentals. Both take departure in the notion that what you want is often part of current reality, and spend more time talking about possibilities rather than problems. The conceptual frameworks can and have been applied in various settings: for individuals, couples, groups and organizations. The clients are considered to be the experts and the consultant’s role is to support them in coming up with the solutions or decisions themselves. Change and identifying underlying structures are in focus, where both problems and opportunities can be used as points of departure. Similar to many people working with AI, such as Frank Barrett, Robert Fritz make extensive use of music and art in combination with more traditional business development methods.

I see lots of opportunities to combine many of the tools and concepts from the two schools of thought. The Fritz way to do clarification interviews is perfect when trying to extract a client’s real challenge, using it as input in an AI process. Fritz’ creative tension chart is an excellent tool during the Destiny phase, when deciding what to do in more precise terms. Also, Digital Decision-Making can be used when deciding on what steps or design elements are more important than others.

The one really big difference lies in the different approaches towards intellectual property rights. David Cooperrider has always emphasized openness and sharing, resulting in making the AI Commons a globally accessible well of knowledge. Robert Fritz has also published books and videos, and you can find lots of information at his website but he also keeps a much tighter control of his material, for example through certification processes.

This mirrors a more general debate concerning the pros and cons of open innovation and open source. The key question is how to achieve the perfect blend of openness and ownership, in order to make you, your organization and society in general prosper. Do you have the answer?

A Stolen World

2008-10-31T18:02:00.000+01:00

As I write this blog post, my friends Leif and Ingrid are back in Tanzania. I know that they are having a good time, because again they publish their experiences online at www.metafari.blogspot.com. Yesterday morning, they saw a lion just across the lawn from their hut in the Mikumi National Park.

If you travel northwest from Tanga in Tanzania, you will come to Mombo. Go a further 30 kilometres and you will reach the Nanyogie Maasai village. This is where Leif and Ingrid went to talk to the people about life, livestock, warriors, dreams and the rapid development in the world.

From my office window, I can see the big sign on The Museum of World Culture in Göteborg encouraging people to come and look at their new exhibition: A Stolen World – The Paracas Collection. It shows 2,000 years old funeral textiles from Peru that come from looted graves. In the beginning of the 1930ies large quantities of these textiles were illegally transported to museums and private collections all over the world. Sven Karell, the Swedish Consul in Peru at that time, smuggled hundreds of these textiles to Sweden and donated them to the Ethnographic Department of Göteborg Museum.

Besides showing these beautiful pieces of art, the exhibition confronts the visitor with questions regarding what to do with this stolen treasure. How are we to handle what our ancestors did? Does what was done in good faith, make up for the fact that it was illegal? But what about having better opportunities to preserve these important items, helping us understand history and appreciate other civilizations?

The famous Danish design company Stelton recently released what they call their Maasai collection with beautiful mugs and baskets in vivid nuances of red, blue and aubergine. There is no mention of collaboration with the Maasai people. But is this really a case of stolen culture? We are constantly inspired by the things we see around us. Can a community claim their right to some colours, their trademark?

I think we really need to think long and hard about how we handle intellectual property issues and how we pay tribute to the creativity of people, no matter country or century. Don’t you?

Positive Paranoia

2008-10-30T18:08:00.000+01:00

In late August I spent two wonderful days in Copenhagen together with the Resonans crew and their guests from The Solutions Focus: Paul and Janine. Through working with Henrik from Resonans on a project in Sweden I had already experienced the wonders of some of the exercises described in the book “58 1/2 Ways to Improvise in Training: Improvisation Games and Activities for Workshops, Courses and Team Meetings”. I was so grateful for his gracious yes when I asked if I could come to the session.

During the two days we used tools in various combinations. We did JAM sessions (Just-A-Minute) and addressed coaching conundrums. The Walkabout Marketplace was an enriching encounter where we collectively gathered and shared knowledge on important topics. I liked the whole experience so much that I found myself longing for an opportunity to practice my newly acquired skills, so when Linnea asked me to do a one-day session with the Frisksport leadership teachers, I was more than happy to accept.

One rather fun exercise was a kind of competition where the task was to identify who was who from looking at pictures of people who have contributed a lot to the strength-based, solution-focused, self-organised, positive-oriented and constructivist community. I could barely recognise David Cooperrider and Marcus Buckingham, but my Resonans team partner Mikkel turned out to be well versed in this game and quickly spotted persons like Insoo Kim Berg (Brief Theraphy), Augusto Boal (Forum Theatre), Thiagi (Frame Games), Gregory Bateson (Change Language), Keith Johnstone (Improvising), Steve de Shazer (Brief Therapy), Martin Seligman (Positive Psychology) and Margaret Wheatly (Complexity).

Of course, the list can be made much longer than that. For example, I would like to include images of Anne Radford, the founder of the AI Practitioner and who brought AI to the UK, and Jane Magruder Watkins who was one of the early adopters and who has spread AI around the world through courses, books and projects.

Ecodriving

2008-10-26T18:26:00.003+01:00

In these times of financial crisis and looming recession, maybe ecodriving is a good metaphor for how a country should be managed. We must learn at what speed and gear our national machinery works best, understand how to accelerate and break more gently in order to save energy, choose the right fuel and keep the engine in good shape, design efficient motors and provide clear indicators that will guide us towards our best behaviour. And of course, practice anticipation.

In Tunisia, the small city of Mahres is considered a forerunner in terms of environmental consideration. The water is recycled and the power comes from solar panels. However, none of this is noticed by the tourists passing by. Instead, they probably observe the heaps of garbage lying around everywhere. Despite campaigns in schools and in media, waste management is high on few people’s agenda.

It sure is difficult to figure out how I as a tourist can contribute to sustainable development. Should I buy the wonderful soft leather bags (made in Libya)? Or the mass manufactured pottery and jewellery of unknown origin you see in every tourist shop? Or go on a speedy jeep tour into the vast desert (probably using petrol smuggled from Libya)? Or buy a hand-made woollen rug tied by women earning 2,5€ a day? There is only so much locally produced dates and olives one can eat in a day and I can’t afford the 7.500€ shimmering silk rugs.

Tunisia is one of the countries allowed to participate in the Sida-funded Advanced Training Programme “Putting Ideas to Work – Strategies for Innovation-led Sustainable Growth” organised by the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems. With its educational systems and high attendance-rate, the population’s excellent command of French and good grasp of other languages, as well as equal opportunities laws Tunisia stands more than a fair chance of continuing being a stable country and to prosper even more. Looking back, both the Phoenician and Roman versions of Carthage might serve as inspiration (and I don’t believe they sacrificed infants). Especially if introducing incentives for making better use of all the creative power among the large number of highly educated women.

Our bus-driver, Samir, demonstrated excellent eco-driving skills when he transported us to the Sahara and back. Maybe this could be a new line of Tunisian business: ecodriving courses in the desert! And by the way, riding a camel into the desert sunset is quite an experience!

An Excellent Choice

2008-10-05T09:05:00.005+02:00

Life’s full of decisions, some of them more important than others. But what makes a choice excellent?

I think some of the most difficult choices I face are the ones I make as member of funding advisory committees. As member of the Venture Cup West jury, I decide which business plan gets a prize that entails both money and recognition that will help turning the plan into a start-up company. The winner will hopefully inspire others to become entrepreneurs. My job on the funding advisory committee for the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems is to select those research groups that will become VINN Excellence Centers. By long-term funding we hope to create stable environments that will attract even more funding as well as really bright people, and of course develop some really interesting and useful results that will make sure Sweden continues to be a prosperous country. The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research has similar ambitions, where I’m the chairman of the advisory committee for the “Program Intensive Systems” programme.

There are more difficult choices entailed than “just” selecting the winners. These involve the design of the selection process. Who and how many should be on the jury? How often should they meet? What selection criteria should be used and how can these be made simple but not too blunt? How should the rules be communicated? Should resources be spent on educating the applicants in order to raise the quality of the submissions? Should a portfolio model be used in the selection process?

I think perhaps the most important aspect of this kind of work is to ensure there is a continuous learning among all the people involved in the process, so it can be improved each round. This is why it is important to create statistics that show distribution according to for example gender, age, area, organisation and geography in order to reveal any systematic inaccuracies. I also wish that the applications should be published afterwards and workshops be held with discussions on what constitutes a really good submission.

Google has made some tough decisions through its ten years existence. Now they are facing some more difficult choices in their 10100 project. In this competition anyone who has an idea concerning how to improve the world in terms of energy, environment, healthcare, education, communities and families are welcome to submit them at www.project10tothe100.com. The competition is open until October 20 and a team from Google will select a 100 promising ideas. Everybody can then vote. From the 20 most popular projects, an advisory board will select the five projects that will share the 10 million dollars has set aside to implement the ideas.

Those of you who would like to contribute to sustainable development in other ways could look into the company MYC4 who provides micro-credits to entrepreneurs in Africa. A network of local providers screen the people who would like to obtain a loan and local lenders handle the financial transactions. The bidding process is based on a Dutch auction principle, which basically means that the more investors interested in investing, the more favourable the terms the African business will get.

Another way is to donate money to organisations such as Hand-In-Hand who educates women in India, South Africa and Afghanistan on how to read, write, run a business and act as micro credit banks. Then they themselves make the tough decisions on who’s going to get a loan to expand their business.

Maybe I should benchmark against these organisations regarding how to design efficient selection processes?

Flash Fiction

2008-09-27T09:59:00.001+02:00

There are stories that are even shorter than short stories. Apparently they are called “flash fiction”. The probably most famous, appreciated and moving flash fiction story is the one by Hemingway: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Apparently, less is more. I had a stab at it when I was in Tanzania last year:

Jumping at me
Immediately when I opened my bag while unpacking after the visit to the Maasai village, a spider jumped at me. It didn’t succeed in leaving the large bag, so I picked up the blouse it was sitting on. The spider was very black against the white blouse. I opened the door and carried the spider and the blouse out to the nearest large flower pot. There I tried to get rid of the spider. I shook the blouse thoroughly, but it didn’t want to let go. Suddenly, it jumped to the palm tree in the pot and crawled quickly up the stem. I was a little stunned by the sudden movement, and I almost started to feel abandoned.

A totally different kind of spider is The Swedish Program for Information and Communication Technology in Developing Regions (SPIDER). Their mission is is to assist developing countries with promotion and deployment of ICTs for combating the digital divide and reducing poverty, in line with the UN Millennium Development Goals. I was visiting their office in Kista last week, and it was very interesting!

September Renewal

2008-09-14T10:15:00.004+02:00

It was so good to see so many familiar faces at the September Renewal Residential at Bore Place! And to make some new friends as well! As always Anne Radford and Jane Magruder Watkins did a splendid job carefully guiding us towards new insights into how renew relationships with clients and how to sustain and renew ourselves. Being in such a great place with wonderful food helped a lot.

I tried to gather some of the superb phrases that emerged during these days:

Love and blood.
We must put down our swords and start walking and talking together.
The data is in the system.
Dropping the pebble in the pool.
It’s all about people.
How it felt is not the same as the impact it had.
Feedback will tell you more about the person delivering it than about your performance.
What we fear the most is our own power and strength.
Hold your nerve!
Past Over and Pissed Off (POPO).
Humor me!
The 4D-model is really Kurt Lewin’s action research model.
Make use of what is in front of you.
Wisdom is acting with knowledge while simultaneously questioning yourself.
Sapien circles.
Open to awe.
Stealth AI.
What’s the most useful question I can ask you right now?
Smellavision.
Leadership is a function, not a position.
Prototyping.
Even better.

During one of our sessions, Mark Lough wrote a beautiful poem called "Still Water":

Still water
Moving with force
Quietly

Dropping its power
Thundering into
Stillness

Cleansing
Reforming
Bringing about
New integrity

For those of you who couldn’t participate this time, I recommend having a look at the pictures.

Absorptive Capacity

2008-09-06T17:49:00.000+02:00

I have noticed a rise in awareness of the ecological trend in the Swedish media. You might even speak of a development of Ecomedia (not to be confused with the EU ICT project, nor the Austrian blog, nor the Canadian media company, nor the book by Sean Cubitt) far away from the traditional look and feel in this segment. First there was Camino, a magazine made in Göteborg focusing on sustainable consumption. Next came EcoQueen, who’s attitude towards ecological aspects could at best be described as more playful. Even Vecko-Revyn is publishing a piece on ecological dresses from several Swedish fashion companies. However, they focus more on H&M than thoroughly ecological clothing company DEMCollective (also based in Göteborg) who act as true societal entrepreneurs using their company to impact the clothing industry.

Of course, if you are really into ecology, there are many more magazines you can browse through such as WWF and National Geographic or even our Frisksport Journal (as seen in the picture).

But keeping up with the trend is not always that easy. I remember participating in a workshop last year at the “The Power of Positive Change” conference in Orlando. The workshop was organised by the design company Ideo and our task was to design some kind of device or process to help an employee at Al Gore’s TV company Current to become more sustainable in his daily life. We were introduced to this “extreme user” though a film showing us a typical day in his life. However, I suspect that unfortunately he wasn’t that extreme at all. He drove to the office, although he lived just a few kilometres away. Breakfast was bought at a coffee shop and taken to the office. His dustbin was filled with paper mugs. And so on. I do hope Ideo told him about all the clever ideas we developed during the workshop.

Paper media of course has an advantage when it comes to absorption (yes, I know that’s not what’s meant by absorptive capacity but I couldn’t resist the pun). This, however, has not deterred the Swedish e-newspaper project DigiNews. But what is really the most ecological way to consume news? Any comments on that?

Last Day of Summer

2008-08-31T07:48:00.007+02:00

Yesterday evening was magical. After days of rain pouring down, the weather turned sunny and warm. The wind was completely still and the audience silent. There were two events at Gunnebo that night. First, Music on Water with lots of melodies from the musical stage, then Acid Jazz with Cantaloop. All with the castle as a backdrop, cleverly lit by Torbjörn Eliasson who’s been very much involved in Lights in Alingsås.

I have a kind of tradition of making a list of the nice things I did during summer and putting it on my fridge. That way the feeling of summer stays with me longer. Since I will be travelling a lot, I thought I’d write the list here instead. Perhaps another category of blogging metaphors to add to blog by Liz Strauss’s list!

Perhaps the summer started with a visit to Stensund in the beginning of June. The view from castle is stunning, where you can stand and watch the blue sea forever. Traditional Midsummer festivities were next on the agenda, with lots of nice excursions in the vicinity of Ulricehamn. Kayaking off the coast of Orust was quite an adventure, but I managed to stay dry. During summer, I visited three of the four gardens participating in the Gardens of Göteborg programme: Gunnebo, The Botanical Garden and Trädgårdsföreningen. This year the annual Frisksport camp was in Hestra and I went to the top of Isaberg with my brother-in-law. I spent lots of time at my parents’ place in Upplid, and one day my Mother and I went hiking at Stora Mosse.

Next, I visited some friends at Öland and had dinner at Kackelstugan and bought a painting of a hen. One of the best days were when I went to Läckö to look at the garden, and then spent some time at the beach at Hindens Rev. We had a great family party in Slottskogen in Göteborg, arranged by my cousin Mats, and shortly after that I had a warm and sunny day at the coast visiting Stora Amundön. I had a nice weekend in Stockholm, taking the opportunity to swim in the outdoor pool at Eriksdalsbadet. Last week I went to Copenhagen to participate in an excellent course arranged by Resonans, but also managed to take a stroll at Strøget. And much much more.

Thank you, friends and family, for making my summer very much worth remembering!

Herding Cats

2008-08-23T10:02:00.000+02:00

You might have spotted the video “Herding Cats” at the bottom of my blog. It is an extremely funny commercial from EDS, especially if you are a cat lover. My friend Thomas Verner pointed out to me that EDS actually did a series of videos, all using the same kind of metaphorical approach.

According to Gerald Zaltman, consumers use seven deep metaphors in order to orient themselves in the world. By understanding them, companies can frame their marketing better. These deep metaphors are balance, transformation, journey, container, connection, resource and control. He has described these and a method for extracting them in his book “Marketing Metaphoria”. The method requires people to collect images that they think relate to a specific product and are used as a point of departure in an interview.

In cognitive linguistics, deep metaphors are a well-researched area and the book “Metaphors we live by” by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. The former is very much engaged in demonstrating how metaphors are and can be used in politics. His latest book is called “The Political Mind: Why You Can't Understand 20th Century American Politics with an 18th Century Brain” and he has used some of his findings when analysing speeches made by Barack Obama.

When looking into what voters seem to try to understand about a politician (Values, Authenticity, Communication, Judgment, Trust and Identity) it seems to me that they are very similar to what you want to understand about companies. There is a great trend towards looking at yourself as a brand, so why shouldn’t companies see themselves as persons?

Take a look at the EDS videos. They are witty and still very accurate illustrations of what it is like working in the software consulting industry. And the comments are quite interesting too.

Looking at these I was reminded of the now classic Norwegian Helpdesk video, where a monk is instructing a fellow brother in how to use a book. Hilarious!

If you want to learn more about how to combine metaphors and storytelling, there is no better way than to go on a Metafari!

Slow Food – Big Business

2008-08-09T10:28:00.005+02:00

A couple of years ago, a friend gave me Carl Honore’s book “In Praise of Slow”. I haven’t taken the time (!) until now to read it, but I must say I like it a lot. He describes his conversion towards a more “slow” approach to life in various ways in a very down to earth and funny way going through topics like cities, food, sex, work, medicine and children. His own wakeup came when he realised that he was toying with the idea of buying a collection of “One-Minute Bedtime Stories” for his children at an airport.

Already in 2003, USA Today stated that the slow movement meant big business. Lots of companies and cities have joined the slow movement since then. Of course, research has not been slow to pick up. For example, Dr Philip Howard at Michigan State University has investigated the consolidation of the organic industry and illustrated this in very telling graphics.

The Slow Food movement has also started to look into research and education, and founded in 2003 a University of Gastronomic Sciences. The Swedish equivalent I suppose would be the Department of Restaurant and Culinary Arts at Örebro University, in Grythyttan. They received funding from The Knowledge Foundation as part of their “Creative Industry” program.

In West Sweden we are also oriented towards slow food. The local chapter, Slow Food West, is collaborating with the great “Paradise Gardens” exhibition in Göteborg. Last week I had a healthy snack in Göteborg Botanical Garden, and we also had a big family lunch at my favorite garden, Gunnebo. The restaurant at Gunnebo is part of the consortium “Västsvensk Mersmak” guaranteeing the use of local and organic products and great care in both cooking and presentation.

However, the first city in Sweden to be accepted into the Citta Slow is Falköping. This small city in West Sweden has pledged to the Citta Slow philosophy, festina lente: to haste slowly, to seek the unique and special, to respect the small and local in a globalised world, and to seek sustainable solutions. It will be very interesting to see how they will integrate this into their action plans for regional development and how they relate it to the overall vision of the Västra Götaland Region: “The Good Life”.

Smoke in China

2008-08-04T11:58:00.003+02:00

In China, not only the smoke from cars and factories seem to be a problem in relation to the Olympic Games. China has 350 million smokers, a third of the world's total, and a million Chinese a year die from tobacco. Although smoking in public places has been banned in Beijing before the Olympics, it is no wild guess that smoking will continue to be an issue.

The initiative from Michael Bloomberg and Bill Gates is therefore very welcome, launching a $500 million dollar call on governments to implement proven interventions to reduce tobacco use, save lives. They emphasize the use of the World Health Organization’s program MPOWER:

Monitor tobacco use and the policies to prevent it
Protect people from tobacco smoke
Offer people help to quit tobacco use
Warn about the dangers of tobacco
Enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship
Raise taxes on tobacco

They will support complementary efforts to reduce high rates of tobacco use in countries such as China and India, as well as to help prevent the tobacco epidemic from taking root in Africa.

Of course not everybody is happy with this development. Russian Pravda calls Bloomberg and Gates naïve. According to the Chinese Embassy in the US, China will ban all forms of tobacco promotion by January 2011. Since China is both the largest tobacco producer and consumer, this is an important and not uncontroversial step.

In Sweden around 1,3 million people in Sweden smoke, out of a 9 million population. About 6 500 individuals die every year because of smoking. That is more lives than taken by traffic accidents, hiv/aids, drugs and suicides together, according to Cancerfonden.

A really interesting website is The Tobacco Documents Online, where you can find the documents that the tobacco industry uses in trials in the USA. The website is a search engine, making search through various databases possible.

If you want to get a complementary view of China, watch the wonderful movie CJ7.

New Issue of The Holmberg Gazette

2008-07-30T10:56:00.004+02:00

It’s been a while since the last issue of The Holmberg Gazette, but now it is here again! As usual, you can find it in the right marginal below. The focus this time is on “Information and Communication Technology” (ICT) and the articles cover different aspects such as development, use and research. The photos are taken this year in various locations, and can be seen in full at my Picasa site. Enjoy!

I hope you are busy doing nothing during your vacation. One of my next blog posts will have “slow” as its theme. If I ever get around writing it… Suggestions are very welcome!

Location Location Location

2008-07-19T19:25:00.005+02:00

On Öland, the second largest island in Sweden, direction is always given in terms of north, south, east and west. Never as right or left. The island is about 130 kilometres long, only 20 km wide, and also very flat why it is kind of difficult to lose direction.

How the landscape can impact our thinking is the major theme for the sixth meeting of the European Network around Appreciative Inquiry and Strength based change. It will take place in the beautiful Italian landscape Reggio Emilia 10-11 October.
It is interesting to think about how the location may have an impact on the political discussions in Almedalen (in the medieval town Visby on the island Gotland), Tällberg (a tiny country village set deep in the woods in Dalarna) and Davos (a ski resort in Switzerland). What does leaving the city and getting closer to nature mean for the people attending these meetings?

The importance of the location has long been recognised by others than Conrad Hilton, for example by Leif Edvinsson who created Scandia Future Center. The centre has served as inspiration for many creative places such as futurefocus in London and Dalenum in Lidingö. However, one of Leif’s latest adventures, The New Club of Paris, seems to be more virtual in character in spite of its name!

Made in Sweden

2008-07-15T18:40:00.001+02:00

Yesterday we went to see the latest Björn&Benny success: Mamma Mia The Movie. According to the official website we were in good company since among the 30 million people in 160 countries have watched it. ABBA has done a really good job marketing Sweden, and we are now almost rid of getting mixed up with Switzerland. And yes, it is good fun to watch even for people like me who have seen the show live.

Design is another successful Swedish export area. I went to the small country town Lammhult in Småland, the hub of Möbelriket (the Furniture Country) to check out the latest news at Norrgavel and Svenssons. Although I was tempted by the many creative items from Källemo and beautiful rugs from Kateha (whom I was glad to find is operating with a RugMark licence and thus is working against child labour) this time I bought a very comfy Bruno Mathsson Jetson 66, a really soft cushion from Bantie with the pattern “Paradise” and a Danish vase from Normann. You can see the vase and the cushion in the picture above, although the aluminium table and chair from Byarums Bruk are previous purchases.

For those of you who won’t be able to make it to Småland this year, I recommend www.scandinaviandesigncenter.com!

“It shall stand the wear of the eye”. Sven Lundh

Envisioning The Works of a City

2008-07-02T23:16:00.003+02:00

One of my great regrets in life is that I have never been to New York. Although I have been to the US many times, it has always been in as part of a business trip and somehow the conferences have always taking place elsewhere like Orlando, San Diego, San Francisco, Boston, Washington, Cleveland and Atlanta. So I have to envision the city and dream about when I’m going to experience spring there IRL.

There are several means for visualizing New York. One way of doing it is to read Kate Asher’s book “The Works – Anatomy of a city”. She works at the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and has designed a beautiful and intelligent piece of art that describes the transport system, the various parks and trees, how the sewage system works and so on. I guess she’s been inspired by Edward R Tufte’s work on visualization.

Another way of experiencing New York is to read Mark Helprin’s wonderful story “Winter’s Tale”. This is my absolute favorite book of all times since the language is so beautiful and the story so rich and amazing. It combines the importance of following your dream with staying true to your friends and family.

“Set in New York at the beginning and the end of the twentieth century, Winter´s Tale unfolds with such great narrative force and beauty that a reader can feel that its world is more real than his own. Standing alone on the page before the book begins are the words, I have been to another world, and come back. Listen to me. In that world, both winter and the city of New York (old and new) have the strength and character of protagonists, and the protagonists themselves move as if in a vivid dream. Though immensely complicated, the story is centered upon Peter Lake, a turn-of-the-century Irish burglar, and Beverly Penn, a young heiress whom he encounters in robbing her house, and who eventually will die young and in his arms. His love for her, and a gift of grace, will allow him after the most extraordinary and painful explorations and discoveries to stop time and bring back the dead. To follow him, his predecessors, his inheritors, and his companions is to experience one of the great stories of American literature.” (from www.markhelprin.com)

A totally different way would also be watching the new “Sex and the City” film. I must admit that I have seen quite a number of the TV episodes, although I’m not sure I will watch the movie. Although it contains a lot of clever product placements and must in itself be a great ad for New York, I’m not sure I can stomach the moral. Especially after trying out their “Match your man” quiz that resulted in pairing me with Mr Big...

Should you want to view New York and the US in a larger perspective, you can always watch Hans Rosling’s tool for visualization of complex and important issues: Gapminder. There you can watch his 2007 TED talk, "The Seemingly impossible, is possible". It will be interesting to follow the development of Gapminder, now that Google has bought the underlying software.

However, Göteborg is also good at visualization! I feel proud about having been part of the formation of the Center of Visualization Göteborg, an organisation that supports collaboration between academia, companies and the public sector. We used “Appreciative Inquiry” as a means for envisioning the future of the center, and so far much of what was expressed as dreams now have come true in terms of research funding, a conference, a physical center, a web site, collaboration projects and so on.

From Alarmist to Activist

2008-06-30T19:58:00.002+02:00

When I visited the Globe Forum conference in May, one of the organisations that impressed me most was the World Wide Fund for Nature. At the conference the WWF secretary general, Lasse Gustavsson, told us about the transformation they have gone through going from being alarmists to activists. Instead of merely shouting about the poor condition of the earth the WWF has become proactive and is now supporting companies that provide solutions to the global warming through their Climate Solver campaign. One of the selected companies is Ecoera. They provide technology that turns agriculture waste products into bio-fuel, and is sprung from Chalmers School of Entrepreneurship.

Recently the WWF has been quoted a lot in the media, since they presented a new report on attitudes towards the Baltic Sea and at the same time introduced a new collaboration deal with LRF (The Federation of Swedish Farmers). I remember kayaking in the Baltic Sea in 2005 at Stensund when the algae were blooming, and it was a horrible experience. So this year I went kayaking in the North Sea instead, at Stocken. If you are interested in knowing more about what is happening with both the North and the Baltic Sea, I recommend listening to Isabella Lövin, author of “Tyst hav” (Silent Sea), when she talks on the Swedish Radio 10 July.

If you want to know what you can do to become an everyday climate activist, read Johan Tell’s book “100 ways to save the world”.

Country Living – Living Country

2008-06-27T22:56:00.002+02:00

I spent the last weekend celebrating summer solstice in the small Swedish town Ulricehamn. My friend Åsa and I went to the Hofsnäs mansion where a traditional Midsummer celebration took place with a maypole, dancing, lotteries, horse carriages and much more.
The next day we went on a shopping spree in the country. The first stop was the book café Crea Diem where we had tea and cakes. I bought a beautiful replica of one the first drinking glass to be mass produced in Sweden. We then backtracked to visit the artist Berit Olméus at her house and gallery. She showed us a great exhibition of cow paintings and kindly allowed me to take some pictures of her work. I was very tempted by her smart knitted hats…

We then drove a few kilometers north to Alboga and Sarah James Larsson’s shop Storegården Country Living. She has lived in Sweden since 1989 and has created a lovely atmosphere, combining English, Italian and French styles in a very Swedish house. I bought some ecological lemon curd and did what Sarah told me: combined it with Greek yoghurt and it was heaven! Get some more tips from Sarah’s blog! You can also buy the lemon curd from the web-shop.

What is great about these shops is the way they collaborate. They all include information about what is going on in the county. Sarah even has a list of her neighbors’ blogs where you for example can read about the mini-pig Torsten. It is wonderful to see such industrious entrepreneurs in the country! Everybody with a story to tell!

National Founding Story

2008-06-06T23:21:00.005+02:00

Today we celebrated the Swedish National Day commemorating when Gustav Vasa was elected king by the Swedish Parliament 6 June 1523. The events prior to the coronation are in par with any modern Hollywood production, including several narrow escapes, imprisonment, skiing chases, assassinations, ice breaking, starvation, horse rides, sailing, betrayals, canons, sieges, decapitations, and so on when Gustav fought the Danish king Christian II who led the crumbling union between Denmark, Norway and Sweden. At least if the scribe Peder Swarts is to be believed. He was hired by Gustav Vasa, who apparently clearly understood the value of storytelling.

I celebrated this day by participating in the sunny welcoming ceremony at Nydala monastery. This monastery is one of the oldest ones in Sweden, and was founded by Cistercians in 1143. The monastery was raided 1520 by Christian II on his way back from decapitating most of the Swedish nobility in Stockholm. According to legend, he also drowned the abbot and at least six of the monks. This made the people in Småland so furious that they threw out the Danes. However, Gustav Vasa was not especially nice towards the monks, since he confiscated the property including 250 farms in 1529.

Apparently the monks of today do not fear the Swedish government or the politicians from Värnamo municipality, despise the historic events. After 479 years in exile, they have returned to Nydala and are now renting the mansion. The monks are mainly from Vietnam, making this a truly international enterprise and reminding us of the important role as innovation centers the monasteries have played through out the centuries.

The monasteries in Nydala and Alvastra was soon followed by one in Varnhem in 1150. This monastery plays an important role in a very popular fiction book series about the knight Arn by Jan Guillou. The books can be seen as a part of the debate concerning how Sweden came to be a nation, where the Western and Eastern parts of Sweden seem to have different interpretations of history. Perhaps I should recommend Stephen Denning to write a sequel to his book “The Leaders’ Guide to Storytelling” focusing on founding stories for nations. By the way, the English entry in Wikipedia on Christian II is disputed and my guess is that most of the current content is written by a Swede.

Never mind what the truth is, the books and the films about Arn are now contributing to the tourism business in Västra Götaland and they have increased public interest in history dramatically.

A Room With a View

2008-06-01T19:35:00.008+02:00

When I was at the local library last week, I happened to see a book called “Halva makten hela lönen” (=Half the Power The Whole Salary) by Agneta Stark. I only had time to browse through it and although it was published already in 1994, it still contained some interesting perspectives on gender and equality. One of her comparisons struck me as especially good. She argued that to stop working for equality just because we have a legislation regulating this is similar to saying that since 'drinking and driving' was forbidden in the 1950’s we do not need to address that topic.

I then remembered a very interesting lecture I went to at Gunnebo Slott in March this year. Professor Ebba Bratt-Wittström talked about “From Jane Austen to Doris Lessing. The bright and warm room was filled with 40+ women, a few younger women and two brave men. Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors and last year I went to see the film “Becoming Jane” when I was in London. I think the film illustrates some of Austen’s most important themes: How to balance romantic love and passion, how to do what is morally right and at the same time handle the pressure from society, how to combine personal freedom with economical realities. Maybe Austen would have benefited from reading Robert Fritz’ work, helping her to decide what was most important to her?

You could not shock her more than she shocks me;
Beside her Joyce seems innocent as grass.
It makes me most uncomfortable to see
An English spinster of the middle class
Describe the amorous effects of "brass,"
Reveal so frankly and with such sobriety
The economic basis of society.
W. H. Auden, Letter to Lord Byron
(1936), lines 113–119

Professor Bratt-Wittström pointed out that when the whole world congratulated Doris Lessing on winning the Nobel Prize, in Sweden this sparked a discussion concerning whether such a thing as “female experience” even existed.

"that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny" (the Swedish Academy’s motivation for choosing Doris Lessing)

Many younger Swedish women claimed that there is only universal human experience and that feminism is no longer needed. Of course, certainly things move in the right direction. Of the eleven women to win the prize in its 106-year history, five have been awarded since 1990... By the way, a very good reflection on the works of Doris Lessing and its impact can be found at Joyce Carol Oats' website.

I have been appointed ambassadors for Women´s Enterprise by the Swedish government. At the kick-off, the minister of Industry Maud Olofsson of who initiated the program received lots of questions regarding regulating the ration of women and men in company boards, like Norway has done. One of the proponents for this step towards equality was Pontus Schultz from the magazine “Veckans Affärer”, who described his experience from the event as “magical” and after entering a room with 800 women said that he now knows how women in business feel.

The website supporting the initiative is called “The Embassy” and is rather nifty with some Web 2.0 features. A good place to develop and distribute female experience!

“What matters most is that we learn from living.” Doris Lessing

AI Dogma

2008-05-25T19:44:00.003+02:00

Learning about Appreciative Inquiry has been facilitated by video for quite some time where the AI Commons contain a rather long list of videos, including one by David Cooperrider. A quite famous example is the film from US Navy. Leif Josefsson has also used both video and photos in a clever way at www.metafari.com. Also Marcus Buckingham has recognised the opportunities with using multimedia.

When working with the Windoor company in Sweden, my Danish colleagues from Resonans and I invented the AI Dogma Film. We tried to use as many of the famous dogma rules as we could to create a vibrant and interesting film. Hopefully you will be able to see it soon.

Meanwhile you can check out the video from the “AI and Research” conference in Gateshead last year. It definitely feels rather strange to watch myself on video. I’d better get a camera myself to hide behind. Any recommendations?

Sustainable ICT

2008-05-17T10:06:00.001+02:00

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.
William Blake – “Auguries
of Innocence”

Recently the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) published the report “Ambient Sweden” presenting a vision for how Sweden can maintain its position as a prominent IT country. One of the areas that were put forward as a future area was Green IT, focusing on how information technology can support organisations in becoming more environmentally-friendly. In recent years, “Green IT” has increased in popularity where Gartner was one of the earliest proponents. This week the EU Commission announced that it would promote ICT to improve energy efficiency throughout the economy, starting with buildings, lighting and the power grid as part of its effort to combat climate change.

From Green to Sustainable
This attention is truly great, but I would really like to see a somewhat wider perspective in several dimensions. First, the environmental aspect is just one of three if you take departure in the sustainable development definition, the other two being social and economical. So instead of Green IT, I would like to see more of a discussion concerning Sustainable IT. There are so many interesting examples such as the stunning graphics provided by Hans Rosling, making it possible to understand complex issues and increase incitements for changes in behaviour as displayed at Gapminder. Ericsson’s CEO Carl-Henrik Svanberg, who has taken part in the UN Global Compact, emphasises that their new base station technology makes it easier for developing countries to get access to the Internet. Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency recently held an international workshop called "Big Brother and Empowered Sisters - The role of new communication technologies in democratic processes" and there is a Swedish Program for Information and Communication Technology in Developing Regions. And so on.

From system and impact to process
The debate so far has also focused a lot on the technology (hard- and software) and its effects on the organisation, often in terms of energy and environmental impact. Which again is great and also a complex issue. For example, it is obvious that downloading a system from the Internet or using a service saves a lot in terms of packaging, production and transport although using the Internet also “costs” in terms of energy and equipment. This has inspired Google to invest in R&D into renewable energy.

However, we should also look at the process of developing and maintaining IT solutions. For example, how about a kind of Fair Trade marking for IT, ensuring that the system developers were not underpaid and overworked outsorced workers, that collaboration tools were used during the process keeping travels to a minimum, that efficient best practices kits were used to ensure that the wheel was not invented again and so on.

For example, it would be nice if models such as Inuse’s model for managing IT projects would be used for making decisions on a combination of the three sustainable aspects? Or if the Capability Maturity Model Integration also included recommendations regarding how IT developers step by step can become more sustainable?

Suggestions
As suggested in the Prism article “Sustainability within and beyond the ICT industry” sustainability provides the ICT industry with many opportunities, not only challenges. I would like to replace Green IT with Sustainable IT, putting more focus on the act of balancing environmental, economical and social aspects. Something that the companies behind the Global e-Sustainability Initiative already have recognised. It would also be nice if the debate is extended to encompass all the following dimensions:

Impact: how using ICT can have a positive impact on individuals, organisations and society in terms of sustainable development.
Technology: how systems in terms of both hard- and software can be designed in such a way that they support the development of a sustainable society.
Process: how the process of designing, developing and maintaining information technology can be crafted in a sustainable way.

I also have the following concrete suggestions:

If Ambient Sweden becomes a program, widen the focus regarding Green IT to Sustainable IT.
Make sustainability a basic design criterion in ICT education, that is, teach all students how to consider sustainability in terms of impact, technology and process.
Start a discussion among the research funding agencies regarding how they can support Sustainable ICT R&D, for example by identifying how to better measure sustainability according the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines.

Today, 17 May, is the World Information Society Day, proclaimed by a United Nations General Assembly resolution to raise global awareness of society changes brought by the Internet and new technologies and to help reduce the Digital divide. Let’s make it a good day!

Wired Discovery

2008-05-02T09:35:00.005+02:00

Right now I'm in a conversation with some friends all over the world focusing on how to support knowledge-driven communities of practice. I have tried to find a useful metaphor for what I would like us to create in order to support the learning and knowledge development associated with Appreciative Inquiry, and so far I have come up with the following:

"As I see it, what we need in the AI community is a website that is like a college campus. We need a library with lots of different kinds of information such as articles, videos, blogs, links etc (document management). Rooms for lessons (e-learning). A lab for creating new things (project/collaboration rooms). A cafeteria for informal exchange (chat). A store where we can by books, workshop material etc (web-store). A yearbook where we can see how everybody is connected (database). And so on. "

Perhaps not the most novel metaphor, but one firmly grounded in my experience from working at universities and from R&D related to knowledge management and collaboration software. Some of this and more recent experience were put into the article "Using the Web to Support Organic Development of the European AI Network" written by Leif Josefsson and me. It was recently published in the special issue of the AI Practitioner called "Wired Discovery: New Conversations and Deeper Connections" guest-edited by Loretta L. Donovan, Gabriel Shirley and Sue Anderson Derby.

Do you know any good metaphors for knowledge-driven communities of practice? Please let me know!

PS. Spring is here!

Bear Necessities

2008-04-17T16:40:00.001+02:00

When the UK AI Network met in Islington March 28, one of the topics we discussed was “What is important?” with respect to the network itself. Before rushing into creating lots of activities and fancy web features, we really want everyone to think about what they want from the network. I think this is a good strategy, not only for communities of practice, but in general.

For me, one vital aspect of life is the opportunity to go for long nature walks. This is something I do rather often and one of my latest adventures took me to the Chipinque Park in Monterrey. This park has everything for everyone and is really well-kept. I thought myself rather fit and started to walk up the steep mountain, but I hadn’t thought about the altitude and soon found myself quite out of breath. Fortunately I had brought some water and was also able to replenish my stock at the top restaurant, to make my hike into the somewhat more unknown possible.

The views were stunning, and I also saw an industrious squirrel, reminding me of my recent walk through the Regents Park in London. The black spot in the photo is actually an eagle, giving an elegant illustration of they joy of soaring. A happy day indeed, although I didn’t see any of the bears claimed to live in the area. I wonder what would happen if we used a park as a metaphor for a community? Anyhow, enjoy the pictures.

Do you have any favourite nature trails? Please, share stories about them!

Design Conversations

2008-04-05T17:38:00.002+02:00

When Richard Boland held his closing speech at the Positive Design Conference he really put pressure on us, making us reflecting on to what extent us coming to Monterrey for this event really could make up for the money it had cost, the time we had to spend away from our families and for the tons of carbon dioxide we had generated by flying there. I definitely think that we achieved a good result, even from a sustainability perspective, with lots of new ideas for research and education. However, the most important result from my perspective was the interdisciplinary conversations and the academic bonding they resulted in. As you can see from the pictures, we certainly had a lot of fun!

So how do you design a conference that will lead to such conversations? I think it was a very good idea to have a mix of inspiring presentations and group work. The social events were also great, with lots of opportunities to talk and dance and explore the local culture. Another design element was the mix of people from design, management and technology from different countries but with a clear collaborative attitude. I also very much liked us creating a collective poem at the end, reading out loud the sentence we had written expressing a summary of our experience of the conference. My contribution was: “From name to face to soul mate”.

I really think the conference was a great example of positive design, with respect to both process and outcome. I’m looking forward to the next conference in Korea 2010, especially after Professor Dong-Sung Cho’s presentation of the BEST Sustainability Report. Thank you so much, both organisers and participants for a wonderful conference! I miss you all already. You have inspired me to continue to make a difference!

Urban Exploration

2008-04-03T17:26:00.002+02:00

According to Wikipedia, “urban exploration is the examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of human civilization”. One of the most acknowledged urban explorers in Sweden is Jan Jörnmark, who in addition to being a researcher and university teacher also likes to explore with his camera. In fiction, I think that Margaret Atwood did a great job with describing how nature regains control in Oryx and Crake.

"He doesn't know which is worse, a past he can't regain or a present that will destroy him if he looks at it too clearly. Then there's the future. Sheer vertigo." Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake

I recently did some exploration in an urban environment, but it was quite the opposite of the “traditional” sense since I went to a newly developed area in Monterrey among the mountains in Mexico. The Paseo Santa Lucia is part of a greater park that was developed in time for the Monterrey Forum in 2007. Since this forum focused on cultural diversity, knowledge, peace and sustainability I thought it was a good way to get in the right mood for the Positive Design Conference and as you can see from the pictures, I had a really good time.

The Hidden Factory

2008-04-02T11:31:00.000+02:00

When I described The Flying Starship workshop to my friend Ali Tabrizi at Katapult, he said that to him it seemed like an excellent way of exposing “the hidden factory” within an organisation. After running the workshop yesterday with members of the Appreciative Inquiry network in Göteborg, I see what he meant.

We used a combination of the The Flying Starship simulation and an Appreciative Inquiry workshop developed by Innovation Partners International (thank you Bernard Mohr for all your help and inspiration!). By acting as a factory, we all got an experience of what chaos an over-zealous Tayloristic organisational design can result in. Although everybody were very focused on their specific task, most of the efforts went to feed the hidden factory and not to the (very few) products reaching the eagerly awaiting customer.

The second part of the workshop made us experience the power of a strength-based approach to development, with appreciating interviews and creative group work resulting in surprisingly many novel ideas for improvement in very short time, based on the aspects many of the workers considered worth preserving.

If you plan on doing a major change project in your organisation or are planning a leadership course, I strongly recommend including a Flying Starship workshop! You can see for your self how fun it was by looking at these pictures.

Have you been to such a workshop? Or used similar simulations? Please tell us about your experience in a comment!

Business Innovation for Sustainable Growth

2008-03-23T09:18:00.004+01:00

True friends open doors for you so you can enter new worlds. One such good friend is Kristofer Erlandsson from Processim. After an excellent Rotary lunch where Jonas Hallberg did a thought-provoking and funny presentation on rhetoric, he introduced me to the Globe Forum Business Network. In addition to the network and all the material published, conferences are organised around the globe. Make sure you are in Stockholm May 7-8 for the conference “Business Innovation for Sustainable Growth”. Of course, Stockholm in May is a treat in itself.

Göteborg also has its attractions. Last week I was invited to a house-warming party at the newly launched unit for Sustainable Business Development at Chalmers University of Technology. In addition to talking to all the guests I had the honour of being the photographer, my first official photo assignment!

If you are interested in sustainable development and innovation, there are several excellent communities and information sources you can rely on. One of them is World Changing, an online journal with reports from all over the world trying to connect the dots. Another great source of information is the UK-based think tank Demos, who recently launched their new “Atlas of Ideas 2.0” project covering innovation in Asia, the Islamic world and Brazil. Also there is always TED with inspired talks by the world's greatest thinkers and doers.

Do you know of any other great sources? Please, make a comment tell us!

Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own

2008-03-09T10:47:00.002+01:00

Last night I went to the IMAX Cinema in London to watch the U23D film. It was quite amazing! I’m not in the habit of going to concerts but this has to be the next best thing, or even better since you get a much better view of the band. Make sure you don’t leave too early, because the graphics at the end are also worth looking at while appreciating all the people involved making the film. Many great U2 songs are included such as Vertigo, Where the Streets Have No Name, With or Without You and many more.

Before it started, we were told to put on our big funny glasses and turn off our mobile phones. We were also informed that taking pictures were not allowed. However, in the film during one of the ballads, Bono encourages the audience to use their mobile phones as “lighters” and during the whole concert the panoramic camera flows through heaps of youngsters recording their experience on camera and sharing it with friends. Hmm. There seems to be a clash of perception of how money is made here.

I’m in a discussion right now with some friends regarding pricing an educational dvd we have produced. Although it will be filled with lots of interesting videos and texts, I think it will be difficult to get people to pay that much for it. Instead I view it as marketing material, and that earnings will come from conferences, subscriptions and advertising. But it’s hard to think that way when you put a lot of work into your production.

The Horizon Report from The New Media Consortium talks about trends in use of technology in education. One of their observations is that “grass root video” is catching on. Since it is so inexpensive to make a video and put it on the Internet and young people often prefer looking at a video instead of reading a thick book, this will probably have an impact on teaching. If your students can choose between listening to you doing a live lecture or look at videos from all over the world, perhaps including several of the top researchers/teachers in the world, you are up for some competition! However, turning teachers into video stars might have the positive effect that more young people might become interested in a career in education…

Welcome to Metafari Fraser Island August 2008

2008-03-02T22:19:00.003+01:00

What can at the same time be a market place, a factory, an oasis and a temple? According to the Swedish Professor Svante Beckman, these are four metaphors for an academic university. In a debate about how the university should work together with the rest of society, these different perceptions lead to very different reasoning about why such collaboration would be of interest, who it should involve, how it should be conducted and so on. For the researcher viewing the university as a peaceful oasis where he or she can fulfil his or her life project, the idea of inviting people in from other organisations might not be so attractive. However, for those who view the university as an arena for education and career, the notion of boundless collaboration is perfectly natural.

Metaphors are extremely powerful tools for communication. The American cognitive activist George Lakoff has even made a conceptual metaphor database. He is especially interested in educating the progressives in the US in how to use storytelling and metaphors in order to get messages through and create a picture of the future. With books such as “Whose Freedom?”, “Don’t Talk About an Elephant – Know Your Values, Frame the Debate” and “Metaphors We Live By” he has provided a lot of food for thought that are very useful in these times of elections.

Last November we organised a Metaphor Safari – Metafari to Tanga in Tanzania. Liz Mellish in Australia became very interested in the concept, why we decided to expand it to include a trip to Fraser Island in August 2008. If you want to learn more about metaphors, storytelling, Appreciative Inquiry, digital photography and sustainable development while at the same time exploring the world’s largest sand island which is also on the UNESCO world heritage list, then this interactive "course" is a great opportunity. Read more about it in our tentative brochure.

Interested? Or know someone who might be interested? Please spread the word and let this become another international networking opportunity!

Do you know of any other places suitable for a Metafari? Write a comment and let us know!

Research for Action

2008-03-01T21:59:00.000+01:00

Imagine that you work as a nurse or a doctor at a hospital. Imagine that you have done a very successful AI workshop involving personnel, management, patients, family, suppliers, researchers and others. Imagine that you developed the following provocative statements and took departure in that when developing the organisation even further but also when going to work everyday:

“Nursing care is an art at its very best. What we do with our minds, hearts and hands is truly beautiful. We paint with brush strokes of compassion, weave tapestries of comfort and sculpt an environment of caring beyond technology for our patients, their families and often for one another. At UK – this is the art of nursing.”

“Nursing, the common thread that unites a patchwork of disciplines into a quilt of teamwork.”

The provocative statements quoted above is from a presentation describing the AI work done at the University of Kentucky Hospital in the US. They are my favourite examples of provocative statements because they are so poetic and yet they are very concrete.

I used these statements as inspiration when writing a text on how to use Appreciative Inquiry in research on IT in healthcare. Professor Jan Read, Dr Agneta Nilsson and I have put together a chapter intended for a book called “Handbook of Research on Information Technology Management and Clinical Data Administration in Healthcare”. Since we wanted to emphasise how AI can lead to change in many ways, we called the chapter “Appreciative Inquiry: Research for Action”. It will be very interesting to see how many will heed the call!

Do you know of any research related to Appreciative Inquiry and IT or healthcare? Please write a comment and let us know!

The photo was taken in Sälen in February 2008.

Storytelling and Innovation

2008-02-20T10:19:00.000+01:00

This year the Golden Fleece storytelling weekend May 8-10 will have “Storytelling and Innovation” as its theme. More than 150 people are expected to gather in Washington to exchange ideas and experiences from using storytelling in organisational change initiatives.

One of the presenters will be my Metafari partner Leif Josefsson, who was invited to do a workshop at this event. He will, of course, tell the story of how the Metafari came about but also describe the storytelling ingredients in the program. I think he will even make the participants try some of the exercises we did during our learning journey.

The combination of Storytelling and Washington makes my mind wander to the ongoing election in the US. If you are interested in how storytelling can change politics, read the excellent book “Don’t think of an Elephant” where George Lakoff, an American cognitive scientist (or as he calls himself, a cognitiv activist) provides excellent advice to progressives on how to become better at framing the political debate. His other books such as "Whose Freedom? The Battle over America's Most Important Idea" and "Thinking Points" also seem very interesting.

Do you know of any other good books about how to frame political messages using storytelling and metaphors? Please write a comment and let us know!

PS Thank you Annet for the great elephant photo from our Metafari! I will also get such a nice camera sometime...

Lessons in Love

2008-02-14T10:05:00.000+01:00

My Metafari friend Sonja told us a lovely story about love and learning. She is working as a volunteer, helping children with their homework. One of the boys she was helping did not show much interest in school work until one day when he declared that he wanted to know how to say “I love you” in various languages. This came as a surprise but was immediately used as a pedagogic approach.

Another lesson in love can be found in the Valentine entry in Wikipedia. This is an excellent example of good Knowledge Management, where you can find not only stories about the various Valentine saints but also information on how Valentine’s Day is celebrated in different countries and cultures. The material is presented in various formats, with longer text combined with short overviews. The entry also includes many references, but the most exciting part is probably the indexing related to the Love series. Here we can find historical love references, but also various kinds of expressions of emotions such as erotic, familial, puppy, platonic or romantic love and so on.

"If we lose the time before us, the future will ignore us" Level42, "Lessons in Love"

September Renewal Residential 2008

2008-02-13T18:56:00.002+01:00

Have you experience from using Appreciative Inquiry? Do you want to develop your skills by meeting others with similar interests in a beautiful environment where they serve absolutely lovely food? Well, then check out the September Renewal Residential at Bore Place! The Commonwork Centre at Bore Place is on a 500-acre organic farm in the Kent countryside and is part of a group of trusts and enterprises working towards sustainable solutions in farming, the environment and education.

Anne Radford and Jane Magruder Watkins are organising this event. I went to their workshop last summer and wrote “The Right Attitude to Rain” and “Say Yes to the Mess” there and took some lovely photos. I’m so proud Anne wanted to use some of them for this year’s workshop flyer!

What’s in a Name?

2008-02-08T08:09:00.001+01:00

I like concepts such as Mobile Life and The Network Society much better than Embedded, Pervasive, Ambient and Ubiquitous technology. Seamless Force seems to me a much interesting concept than Network-Centric Warfare. Names matter because with them comes associations, contexts and underlying metaphors.

Yesterday I presented an outline of a course at the Swedish National Defence College. I have given the course the name “Embedded”. The name is in English, signalling its international focus. To be embedded is to be in something larger than yourself, but continuing to be a separate entity. This is very much the case when you do field research during peacekeeping and crisis management operations, which the course is all about.

Appreciative Inquiry and storytelling are used in several ways as a pedagogical foundation. The basic pulse for the course is when the participants meet and first listen to an inspirational presentation from someone with experience from the field, talking about common dilemmas. Examples of dilemmas are who should be selected for interviews, how to minimise risk for yourself and the ones you talk to while at the same time gather good data, and how to be of immediate use but also perform research for the future. After such a presentation, the group uses the AI workshop format to share experiences and extract Lessons Learned to be put in a handbook. The examination task is to put together a plan for how to conduct a field research trip. Hopefully, the participants also realise that they can use Appreciative Inquiry as a technique and approach in their research but also when directly supporting the organisation they are embedded in.

Do you know of any similar course with respect to content or pedagogy? Write a comment and let me know!

PS. Thank you Mum for the wonderful winter rose!

From mE to yoU?

2008-01-30T18:09:00.001+01:00

Last week the Swedish Parliament organised a seminar focusing on IT in the future. I rather liked the emphasis Professor Kia Höök put on the importance of having a vision for what we would like to use the technology for. She used Japan as an example, who has been very active in formulating their u-Japan strategy, although it contains some ideas that are very far from what I believe the majority of Swedish citizens would like.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) is trying to contribute to the understanding of what the new Internet technology can bring. Last year they launched the Internet Foresight project, with the purpose of identifying central questions and come with suggestions for how they can be addressed to ensure that Sweden continues to be a leading Internet nation.

The European Union is of course also focusing on ICT in their research programs. ICT are considered critical to improve the competitiveness of European industry and to meet the demands of its society and economy. More specifically it can have an impact on productivity and innovation, modernisation of public services, and advance science and technology.

My own contribution to this topic is a paper called “A Software Platform for Societal Entrepreneurship” that I will present at a conference called Positive Design. It takes place in April 3-5 in Monterrey, Mexico. My idea is based on the concept my colleague Helena Kovács developed in the Societal Entrepreneurship Project last year, namely “the researcher as societal entrepreneur and the societal entrepreneur as researcher”. My proposition is to use Web 2.0 technology to develop a platform for services that can support societal entrepreneurial initiatives. This is, of course, very much related to initiatives such as Google’s Open Social.

I still think that some of the best thinking about the future of society and technology is the trilogy “The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture” by Manuel Castells. I wonder where I put those thick books… and I should read his more recent paper on social uses of wireless communication technology…

What would you like to see in your country’s vision for how to use the Internet in the future? Write a comment!

Winter Light

2008-01-26T20:49:00.000+01:00

Last summer, the famous Swedish director Ingmar Bergman passed away. He was a master at describing the dark sides of the human mind and capturing the Scandinavian mood. Winter in the southern parts of Sweden is especially bleak. The lack of snow makes the long dark days almost unbearable.

My friend Julie Barnes got tired of all the negative conversations going on all around us, why she started the “Zest for Life Discovery”. She recently sent an email to all the members of the UK Appreciative Inquiry Network, inviting us to participate in this inquiry. These are her words:

“Instead of talking up a global recession, I’d like to create more conversation about abundance.
Instead of being afraid of terrorist attacks and creating more divisions between people, I’d like to talk about our similarities, our common hopes and wishes and start valuing our differences.
Instead of berating our young people as trouble-makers, fighters, drinkers and obese over-eaters, I’d like to hear about what makes them happy, what they are good at and what they are passionate about. What Bertrand Russell calls a ‘zest for life’.

I’ve been working on some appreciative questions and want to try them out. I’m inviting people to ask some or all of these questions in conversations with others – formally and informally – with family, friends, colleagues, clients, acquaintances and complete strangers. Start the conversation and see where it takes you – and them. I’ll be interested to hear from you:

About these conversations – what are people saying and feeling?
About these questions – how can we improve them?
What more can we do to promote conversations like these? Eg sending the questions to Gordon Brown? Writing the story for a national newspaper? Building these questions into a conversation at least once a day?

Zest for life questions
Try asking your family, friends, colleagues, clients, acquaintances and complete strangers these appreciative questions. Listen attentively, prompting for full responses and focusing on the positive. Note down key points and quotable quotes.

If you are being interviewed, answer fully from your own experiences. Enjoy this opportunity to talk without limits, about your greatest happiness, achievements, passions and delights.

Zest for life
When do you feel most alive; what gives you your zest for life? When are you most passionate? Tell me about a time in your life when you felt most alive, zestful and passionate. What were you doing? Who was there? What did you do? What made you choose this example?
Being your best
When are you at your best? Describe a time when you felt at your best; perhaps when you felt happy, fulfilled, and confident. What were you doing? What did others do? How did it feel then?. How does it feel now as you recall it?
What do you value? What matters to you?
In these stories, what do you value most about yourself and about others? What else do you value?
What can we learn?
What can we learn from these experiences of being our best? How can we take what we know and apply it to create more of this in our lives/ in the world?
How can it be better?
You wake up after a long sleep and find that the world is a better place. What is happening, how is it different, how do you know.
What is happening right now?
What do you see beginning right now which gives you hope for the future?
What does the world need from us?
What is the world calling us to be and to do? What might you do, right now?
What do you wish for?
What three wishes do you have: for yourself, for others, for the world?”

Please heed the call and send your answers to Julie Barnes!

For those of you also interested in the scientific aspects of happiness, have a look at Professor Martin Seligman’s work.

“A too powerful ego is a prison from which a man must escape if he is to enjoy the world to the full. A capacity for genuine affection is one of the marks of the man who has escaped from this prison of self… Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.” From “The Conquest of Happiness” by Bertrand Russell

In Good Company

2008-01-20T11:01:00.000+01:00

Last summer when I was visiting my parents, I came to think about how boring CV’s often are. They mostly focus on what you have done, not the exciting projects you are currently engaged in or the adventures you plan for the future. And they are not supposed to include pictures. So I decided to put together something different and the result was The Holmberg Gazette.

The first issue was created during rainy summer days using my parents’ computer, with a cat in my lap. During Christmas the same cat also helped with the second issue that I now proudly present. I'm very fortunate in working together with bright and inspiring people all over the world. In this issue you meet some of them: Liz Mellish from Australia, Clive Margetts (futurefocus) and Paul Corney (Sparknow) from the UK, Annet Van de Wetering (TNO Management Consultants) from The Netherlands, and Helena Kovács (Apprino), Bengt-Göran Bengtner (The Business Lighthouse) and Ingegerd Green from Sweden.

You probably also know many great persons. Please put their names and web pages in a comment and let more people get to know them!

Agile Retrospectives

2008-01-13T10:30:00.001+01:00

The approaching and start of a new year often triggers reflection and dreaming. Looking back at what happened during the last year, setting ambitions for the next. A former colleague of mine often said that it is our bad experiences that create our strongest desires for the future. That we at least are sure of that we don’t want that to happen again. However, our tendency to focus on trouble and problems is not necessarily always productive. We also need to remember the good, in order to make more of that happen. Happiness is not the equivalent of lack of unhappiness.

Esther Derby and Diana Larsen have combined the ideas behind agile software development with appreciative inquiry to a new way of doing Lessons Learned sessions. They call it “Agile Retrospectives”. Interested? Check out this brief and witty text, look at the informative and funny video or buy the book. I believe that this way of doing reoccurring formative (e)valuations of projects where you look at successes as well as challenges, but also document ideas and make sure that good contributions are recognised can create a permanent change in the organisation towards a more constructive approach in general. Creating what Gervase Bushe calls a transformational change.

Together with my research colleagues at the IT University and Ericsson I am looking into doing research in this direction. We will develop a Lessons Learned-tool that incorporates some of the ideas described above. The trick will be to also combine it with strength-based perspective while doing the research as well, using what I learned from being a guest editor for the special AI Practitioner issue on appreciative inquiry and research. An agile retrospective on the work on agile retrospectives. It’s all about appreciating recursion…

Promises, Promises

2008-01-01T19:34:00.000+01:00

According to an investigation made by an insurance company, about a third of the youngsters in Sweden planned to be both drunk and shoot fireworks at this New Year’s Eve. No wonder that the news is full of stories about boys with their hands and faces damaged, destroyed properties and hysterical pets. As always.

Don’t get me wrong. I love fireworks. Really great ones, handled by professionals. One of my best experiences was at the Millennium Eve celebration in London. People flocked around the Thames to see the splendid show. We were there, my aunt and I. Watching 3M£ go up in smoke, but it was a very special experience.

However, lots of money is spent on rather dull fireworks, in my opinion. What if we would start a movement where people were encouraged to contribute to a really big firework session, one for each city/town/village instead of buying their own? Since that would probably amount to quite a lot of capital, perhaps it could also be used for some kind of lottery and for supporting local societal entrepreneurs. If this would be a success, the business for fireworks producers and suppliers of course would change, but surely we as a society would benefit from it. Lots of cities are already using money from taxes to provide fireworks, with the usual discussions in tow. In Göteborg, the biggest fireworks display is hosted by the major daily newspaper: Göteborgs-Posten. I still think it’s possible to create common fireworks that combine beauty and excitement with safety and support. Combining play with care, as prescribed by The Play Ethic.

The Swedish lifestyle magazine Camino is focusing on sustainable consumption. Right now they are promoting a competition, gathering peoples’ New Year promises. Maybe my promise should be to get this movement rolling…

Be Careful What You Wish For!

2007-12-31T09:35:00.000+01:00

Last New Year’s Eve, my colleague Helena sent a text message to me asking me to give the new year a name. The words I text back were “Out in the World”. In Appreciative Inquiry, one of the principles is “words create worlds”, emphasising its constructivist perspective. I must say that 2007 truly proved this principle to me. Looking back at my travels during 2007, I will especially remember:

smelling the colourful flowers at Ulriksdal Castle with my friend Marie. (January)
wandering in the snow in the Alps in Oberammergau in southern Germany with my Mother. (February)

catching the light in the British Museum in London. (March)
visiting Boston, Cleveland and Washington D.C. all in one week, discovering the essence of social entrepreneurship. (April)

enjoying Merete Wedell-Wedellsborg’s excellent defence of her PhD thesis in Copenhagen. (May)
presenting an AI article at the IFIP 8.6 conference in Manchester with my friends and research colleagues Anna and Agneta. (June)

camping with my sister and her family in Motala, jumping out of joy when the sun finally defied the rain. (July)

meeting my Holmberg cousins and their families at the annual reunion, this time in Vallby in Skåne. (August)

discovering the essence of walking in the rain during the AI Summer Reflections at Bore Place in England. (August)

finding new ways to use my camera at the Royal Coin Cabinet in Stockholm. (August)

listening to the marvellous concert in the old quarry in Dalhalla together with my Frisksport friends, discovering how to do AI interviews on a bus. (September)

having a magical dinner in Orlando with some new storytelling friends. (September)

seeing a bird parade in Roswell, north of Atlanta. (September)

having a truly international lunch in Brussels after investing in some chocolate (all gone now, I’m afraid…). (October)

wandering all alone in the rainforest at Noosa Heads in Australia after presenting a research paper at the IMTA conference in Surfers Paradise. (October)

swimming in lukewarm water in a roof pool in Abu Dhabi. (October)

catching my breath after the steep walk to the castle in Heidelberg, followed by aninteresting visit to the research group at US Army Medical Research Unit-Europe. (November)

listening for the lions in the morning light in Mikumi National Park during our Metafari in Tanzania. (November)

cycling on the beach in Worthing in December before going up to London for the first AI UK network meeting. (December)

taking to train to Upplid in Småland, to have a merry merry Christmas with my family. (December)

I would like to thank all my friends, colleagues, partners and family members - you really have made this year something to remember. Special thanks to Helena for providing me with such an opportunity to create a wonderful 2007 filled with inspiring places and people! I wonder what I will call 2008…

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-22T21:31:00.000+01:00

Krismas Njema Na Heri Za Mwaka Mpya! Fröhliche Weihnachten! Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! I'D Miilad Said ous Sana Saida! God Jul! Have a look at this site with Christmas greetings in more than 360 languages!

Want to hear lovely a new Christmas song? Check out “Coming Home” by Torbjörn Eriksson, Hjärnverket.