Simon Vince and the Collaborate Tree
The backstory…
My friend David sent me a link to this poster by Simon Vince a few weeks ago. He’d seen it on the Brainpickings website and thought that I’d like it. I did, and although I recognised Simon’s name, I couldn’t remember where from.
The next day, during a random search, Simon’s name popped up on my contacts list. My notes said that we’d met at the Rich Mix centre in 2010, and then it all came back! That day in May, I’d been meeting people for our BracketLab project. Simon had overhead me talking about creative collaboration and approached me for a chat.
So I tracked him down to find out what had happened in the two years since we met, and to find out the meaning behind his poster. We decided to meet at Rich Mix again.
Something for the weekend: take part a creative jam
Image credit: goodfornothingflickr on Flickr
Do you want an outlet to exercise your thinking and play with creative ideas? A hackathon-inspired event could be the answer. Hackathons (also called ‘hack days’) are 24-48 hour events where developers come together to produce a mobile or web app in response to a brief or problem. Although hack days tend to be technology-oriented, there are also events that encourage multi-disciplinary teams, inviting other creative producers and thinkers to contribute their skills in problem-solving and making. Read More
Developing entrepreneurs for the 21st century
We recently sat on the Education and Talent Development panel at the Barbados Entrepreneurship Summit 2011. The conference is organised by the Barbados Entrepreneurship Foundation (BEF), a charity set up to make the island the world’s #1 entrepreneurial hub by 2020. The BEF has also initiated the drive towards free Wi-Fi across the island which is now at around 60% coverage. Whilst this creates many opportunities for entrepreneurship, it also requires a different approach to the workplace. We discussed this in our contribution at the Summit and were asked to give our big ideas on education and talent development for enterprise:
From Rum Shop to Bus Stop: putting Barbados on the business map with island-wide free Wi-Fi access
We’ve all seen those photos: the person working from their laptop on the beach, freelancing whilst surrounded by sun, sea and sand. Well that may be achievable in the not-too-distant future in Barbados. Friday (11.11.11) was their target date to become the first Wi-Fi-wide island.
The initiative, championed by the Barbados Entrepreneurship Foundation (BEF), is just one in a range of programmes to make the country the world’s entrepreneurial hub by 2020, and a very significant one.
Tea with… Hydar Dewachi
Just as we were about to leave the cafe after lively chat and a cup of tea, Hydar Dewachi said: “I prefer to collaborate with others because it brings out the best in my creativity”. It seemed like it was time to get the notebook out and stay a little longer. We spoke about collaborations, creative skills and the idea of “minglism”.
Hydar has been a freelance photographer since April 2010 (although he started practicing in 2002), when he left his job as a technical support engineer at Microsoft. But he hasn’t left his technology background behind him completely, it’s still very much a part of his practice, and it’s provided him with a unique take on collaboration. Read More