Monthly Archives: November 2010

Legitimacy of G20: Self-appointed for the sake of G172?

Last week the leaders of the G20 met in Seoul for the G20 Summit. For many, the ‘Group of 20′ (G20) is a largely self-appointed and barely legitimate body with no authority to assume its current role. Is this a … Continue reading

Posted in Development, G20, United Nations | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Prototype and reinvention = the freedom to fail expectations

This morning at breakfast a friend David Greatorex who has considerable experience running marathons inside of 3 hours gave me some advice after hearing about my injury. “You know 25% of people who set out to run a marathon following … Continue reading

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Can design change the world?

Emily Pilloton from Project H argues that used correctly, design process can let appropriate solutions emerge from within in this TED Talk. Having design in your toolkit brings a fresh perspective. But what does that actually mean? It is much … Continue reading

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Why the G20?

The G20 Toronto Summit Declaration from June earlier this year stated: We recognize that 2010 marks an important year for development issues. The September 2010 Millennium Development Goals (MDG) High Level Plenary will be a crucial opportunity to reaffirm the … Continue reading

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Why a bridge?

The bridge is an important metaphor for joining people, institutions, conversations, ideas, communities and places together. The bridge is a universal metaphor. Everyone understands the purpose of a bridge is and how it is used. A bridge has multiple functions, … Continue reading

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If you’re not embarrassed when you ship your first version you waited too long.

There is no substitute for real-world feedback. Matt Mullenweg writes a compelling blog encouraging us to just ship it (this is the guy who helped bring us WordPress). He uses the example from Apple, and the development of iPhone. Steve Jobs … Continue reading

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Soft Power: Good news for the ‘war on poverty’?

People often refer to a ‘war on poverty’. I thought it would be interesting to see what expert historian and diplomat Joseph Nye would have to say about this perspective. I used this TED Talk as a reference. One of … Continue reading

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Why more aid is not the starting point to solve poverty.

Alan Kay is a genius. Here in this video he is speaking on “Why does computer-based teaching fail?” Does this have anything to do with poverty? Not directly, but the idea is relevant. In fact, I would argue that through … Continue reading

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Complexity and Simplicity: Avoiding the ‘Too Simple’

The problem with ‘poverty porn’ is not that it is actually ‘porn’. If that were the case it would be the most appalling failure of care meaning that aid agencies would be distributing inappropriate pictures of the vulnerable in order … Continue reading

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Small Change? “Why the revolution will not be tweeted”

Malcolm Gladwell’s recent The New Yorker article Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted argues we have lost a true sense of activism through a hyper-networked digital world. Thanks to my friend Kim who recommended this article. Gladwell … Continue reading

Posted in Activism, Awareness, Malcolm Gladwell | Tagged , , | 1 Comment