“Although the case has been argued for many years that enterprise skills should be embedded into curriculum at all levels – our next generation is entering a very different work environment – fast-paced, flexible and high levels of connectivity. Wi-Fi and smart phones mean that new entrepreneurs will (and in fact, already) have the global marketplace at their fingertips. A collaborative mindset, networking know-how and creative thinking is now just as important as traditional business skills such as finance and strategy.”

Image by KTVee on Flickr

1. Academic excellence no longer translates to job security. There are simply not enough jobs for the high calibre graduates that are we developing. Young people, from all walks of life, will need to find ways to differentiating themselves in the marketplace. Part of this requires a dedication to learning outside of the classroom and pursuing personal interests. With the abundance of online content available for learning, knowledge exchange and engagement (e.g. TED talks) there are ample opportunities for this.

Young people will need to develop their individual and unique skills to build their careers. Professor Steven Gold of Babson College, Massachusetts, who also sat on the panel, described this as the entrepreneurial process of effectuation. Rather than identifying a goal and finding the resources to achieve it (causation), entrepreneurs identify their resources and build their enterprise around what they have available.

2. Digital tools and literacy need to be integrated into all learning, not seen as a separate subject.  An article from John Naughton covers this brilliantly (HT Neil Perkins), where he argues that we need to move from ICT (information and communication technology) training to ICT education – making the transition from technology ‘how-to’ more to enabling a digital mindset and encouraging exploration.

As it’s possible to set up a website and gain an online presence at very little or no cost, particularly with the intention of 100% free Wi-Fi in Barbados, there is a real opportunity to naturally prepare young people for enterprise. Granted, the next generation are growing up with digital more integrated into their lives, but let’s not forget the interpersonal and creative thinking skills that can help them use these tools to their full potential.

3. Re-define what business looks like. You don’t need a massive amount of capital to get a knowledge-based business going. Business doesn’t have to mean a fancy office and expensive suits. It’s increasingly becoming one person on their laptop working from co-working spaces and cafes, engaging in regular pop-up businesses and projects with other entrepreneurs.

It’s no longer about hierarchy and sitting at the top of the pyramid, but about your networks and the quality of connections you have. People operating in this environment need flexibility, agility, ability to work with different types of people and collaborate (and we do believe effective collaboration is a skill!), good communication and project management, creative thinking and problem solving, as well as clearly being able to articulate their knowledge and expertise.  Let’s introduce young people to the notion of ‘portfolio working’ early.

4.  The role of teaching and learning. A young person now has access to a bank of (online) knowledge that is far greater than any single teacher can provide. So, teachers also become facilitators of learning (another term from Babson College). Their role is just as important in encouraging students to develop the lifelong skills and tools that will help them to operate in the 21st century workplace – something we aim to do with our INCUBE8 project.

The think-tank Demos held an event a few months back where 21st century work was described as that which involves: multiple job changes, working in smaller companies, people just as likely to be employers as employees, and many working in industries that don’t currently exist. It’s impossible to base current and future education on how we experienced ours, as much of the material will be out-of-date by the time the next generation are ready to start work.

In addition, the event described how employers are increasingly looking for soft skills alongside technical ones: resourcefulness, adaptability, creativity, communication, people skills, self-management, team-working, problem-soving and critical thinking. Sounds a lot like an entrepreneur to us, and demonstrates that entrepreneurial skills aren’t just of relevance to those that want to work for themselves, but for anyone that wants to operate successfully in a professional environment.

Preparing young people for 21^st century entrepreneurship means preparing them for an unpredictable journey during which they will continue to learn and develop, and will need to adapt to a variety of challenges.

More reading:

10 skills you need to survive the job market (Guardian). With links to:

• Future Work Skills 2020 (PDF)
• The Start-up of You (Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times)

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.

We met with Chris Harper, Programme Manager of the BEF a while back, who explained that the provision of free education in Barbados has contributed to its 99.7% literacy rate and now it’s time to translate that to digital literacy. The aim is to encourage companies and other public spaces to open up their Wi-Fi so that anyone, anywhere on the island can get onto the web at any time, including in outdoor spaces. The initiative catchphrase “From Rum Shop to Bus Stop” is reflective of Barbados’ culture, but doesn’t mean there is any less focus on achieving what can be gained with island-wide free Wi-Fi access.

Map from WifiSpottr showing Wi-Fi spots in Barbados. Many of the spots also cover their surrounding areas.

Considering how relatively easy and low-cost it can now be to set up an online presence, and participate in conversations online, free Wi-Fi access will mean that previously untapped entrepreneurial talent can be exposed to a global knowledge bank and market providing them with many opportunities for staying up-to-date, connecting and collaborating with those across the world. The digital divide will become narrower as more people, regardless of economic background will be able to get online to do business, which for many will be through their mobile devices.  And Barbados also becomes a more attractive place internationally, as both a holiday and business destination.

The initiative has meant that Barbados has moved from about 1% free wireless access to almost 75% 60% within a year. Most of this success has been dependant on the great culture of sharing, together with support from Government, the public and private sectors and telecommunications providers. The Free Wi-Fi Barbados? Wi-Not? campaign is run entirely by volunteers, and includes the WiFiSpottr app which maps Wi-Fi spots across the island.

Although the project is still in relatively early stages, the map shows the great progress that has been made, and the campaign has attracted support from over 16000+ people on Facebook – but this only shows those that already have some kind of access to the web.  The Barbados Entrepreneurship Foundation is now working with public organisations such as community centres, demonstrating that making people aware of the possibilities provided by digital literacy and internet access is just as important as the actual connectivity.

Read the official press release here

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.

Hydar in Paris. Photo by Thomas Crossman

 “We can’t only justify being individuals because we all need to do something together”. Hydar Dewachi

On inspiration

“When it comes to creativity, I enjoy working with other people.  Not just with other artists, but a group of people with different skills that can each add something to the mix”.  Recently, Hydar was commissioned to photograph the WAKE exhibition by Arts Admin at Dilston Grove – a six-week project where artists were invited to undertake a mini-residency, each picking up where the previous left off.  Although as photographer, Hydar was more of an observer, the act of being in an evolving collaborative environment like this enabled him to draw inspiration from the work that developed. Collaborations and conversations are most valuable when they bring people together with different expertise.

On ‘minglism’

Together with his friend Xavier Pick – a painter who mixes his work with digital photography – they developed the term “minglism” when they had the idea to combine their work and mediums. They preferred to let the collaboration develop organically rather than forcing it. “When we first met, we didn’t know how we were going to work with each other, so each time we had a conversation, we would record it.  A lot of conversations get lost if you don’t record them.”

On skills

“It used to be ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ but now I believe being a jack of all trades is mastery in itself” says Hydar. “You don’t need to be perfect in one thing, but you do need to have a wide range of skills, for example, if you’re taking pictures to be shown on a website, your knowledge of technology will help you to know what works in that medium”. Artists should reconsider how they define their skills.  Those that say they only do one thing are limiting themselves, as now you’re expected to have a range of skills just to practice your art – e.g. a photographer might use film but will still need to know how to scan them for digital use. Just as important is the ability to define those skills, and talk about them, so that others’ know your capabilities for potential collaborations.

On combining creativity, technology and identities

Hydar has always been sure to talk about all sides of his work – whether he’s someone that works in IT doing photography (when he was at Microsoft), or a photographer that used to work in IT (currently) – and these multiple identities regularly make an appearance in his practice.  A recent project explored the use of Google Earth for showing work.  Not a new thing, but Hydar used his comfortable relationship with technology to show that an art doesn’t always have to be in an exhibition – it can be online too.  “The project is to show my journey to become a British Citizen, and the distance I’ve travelled. After a year, I realised I didn’t need to be either Iraqi or British, I could be both nationalities together”.

This mingling and fusing is clearly demonstrated through Hydar’s website, which he has designed and developed himself to showcase his work – an online photographic gallery, a digital flick-through of his journals containing notes, sketches and collages; and PDF downloads of text pieces reflecting on his Iraqi heritage and dual nationality.   Hydar has developed an approach which means that he happily combines disciplines, skills and experiences, and has an openness to working with others to learn and develop his practice.

More info and examples of Hydar’s work at www.dewachi.com

Around 2 years ago, we wrote about the 24-hour book project, an ambitious initiative bringing people together to collaboratively write, edit and publish a book in just 24 hours. They succeeded back then, and now they’re back with a similar challenge for the South Asian Literature festival – this time with a South-Asian theme and working with contributors from both London and Delhi.

 ”On Saturday 15th October, writers armed with their bare imaginations, a lot of digital ink, and an industrial quantity of coffee, will commence the writing process. Then, on Sunday 9th October, a group of volunteer editors will move in to make the story ready for publication in the final 12 hours. The book will be printed using the latest print-on-demand technology and published under a Creative Commons license.”

It’s an interesting and exciting way of working, and also reminded us of the project that produced the Collaborative Futures book over a week in January 2010. The team have also gone on to create Booki, a downloadable platform which encourages others to produce and publish books using a similar open model. They call this the ‘book sprint’.

The ‘sprint’ has evolved from the technology community, where a group of developers come together over a specified time to develop software projects. Media Lab Melbourne, who have taken the concept to a wider creative community including artists, designers, scientists and technologists, describe the sprint as “short periods of intense project development based on a theme”.  Although there is a large emphasis on producing digital content, working collaboratively in this way also naturally lends itself to using online tools for participants to collaborate. The 24-hour Book Project and Collaborative Futures shows that it works in book publishing, and there are certainly other creative disciplines that could use this format too.

Would you attempt a ‘sprint’ for a project that you’re working on? Do you already work in this way? Let us know.

The 24-hour book project will be taking place at Rich Mix, Shoreditch on 15^th October from 10am. It is run in partnership between The Literary Consultancy, the Society of Young Publishers, CompletelyNovel, if:book, German Book Office New Delhi and the Young Indian Publishers.  They are still looking for experienced writers, proofreaders, copy-editors, and typesetters to participate, so if you’d like to get involved, check back for more details. View the flyer (PDF)

Creative Collaboration
Date: Fri 9 Sept 2011
Time: 10am-1pm
Location: Craft Central, 33-35 St John’s Square, London EC1M 4DS

Collaborating with others can be a rewarding experience, enabling you to generate new and exciting ideas, and develop new opportunities for your creative practice. By sharing skills and resources you can access larger and interesting projects and more funding opportunities. This could be for anything from a group exhibition to a client project, or even a new venture.

You may already be working with others, about to embark on a new collaboration or looking for ways to develop new partnerships. This interactive workshop will take you through the essentials, top tips and tools for making sure your creative ideas are pushed forward effectively, and avoiding difficulties to deliver a successful project.

The session will cover:

• How to use social media to develop your networks and find collaborators
• Kick-starting projects when working with new partners, to minimise potential difficulties
• Tips for turning creative ideas into action, to make sure things get done
• Using online tools to manage collaborations flexibly and productively, so that you can focus on the creative output

Cost: £16 members/£26 for non-members.

Book here

Image courtesy Mindful Maps

Visual facilitation is one of the most the most interactive ways of working visually. It essentially combines facilitation with graphic harvesting (sometimes known as graphic recording or graphic facilitation) The two roles of facilitator and harvester can be played by a team or two or more people, or by one person playing both roles. In our experience, it works best when the graphic harvester is co-facilitating or interacting with another facilitator. This emergent mode of practice is used in various settings; meetings, conferences, vision-building activities, one-to-one, in groups and in communities.

Effective collaboration makes the most of the ideas and skills of all of those that are involved,  and good communication is integral to this.  Visual facilitation can be seen as a process to support collaborative and co-creative working. This post explores the relationship between the two.

At the beginning of a collaborative project or during creative brainstorming, great discussions come from diverse, unformed ideas.  Although a text document is a good record of what was said, it doesn’t capture the links, tangents or organic development that the conversation takes, as well as the energy and excitement in the group. Cue visual facilitation…

A group working next to a visualisation of their conversation; they can use the image to illustrate their points. Image courtesy of Mindful Maps.

• Visual facilitation captures relevant or interesting information that might otherwise get lost in communication. By using the power of illustration, we can help emergent ideas to materialise through the simple act of getting things down on paper. This then gives the group something to talk around which enhances the quality of the conversation, rather than going into ‘cycles’ where people repeat themselves and the communication gets stuck. Visual representation can also help spark more ideas and keep creativity flowing.

• The act of visualising something in a live setting improves the group memory. 80% of what we learn, we process visually – seeing something articulated and expressed as it happens gives a more lasting memory and learning of the event. Whereas a text document provides a record of the conversation after it has taken place, visual facilitation creates good reference points during the conversation.  Allowing people to see the discussion as it develops helps to create an instant memory and deepens its quality.

• When we visualise something as it’s happening, we enable people to have their voices heard. Documenting what someone says means it is taken more seriously, and visual facilitation can certainly be used as a tool to give people a voice regardless of their position, age, race or gender within the group.  A visual facilitator can pick on the quieter but equally valuable points and include them in the conversation.  Seeing something you’ve said being written or drawn in front of a group is empowering, giving you the confidence to contribute even more.

• Visual facilitation can help a new group to find a shared language. Sometimes when discussing new ideas and concepts, it can be difficult to articulate what we’re thinking.  Visual expression can often help us to move forward by communicating things in images when we don’t quite have the words.

• Working collaboratively can enhance the visual facilitator’s role. Although the graphic harvesting process is valuable to collaborative working in itself, when a visual practitioner works collaboratively to make images they can help people visualise things themselves. If people can make images themselves the process is more powerful. Working in this interactive way, the visual facilitator can help other to explore their creativity. By sharing these skills we can enable others to make images and think visually.

Our 5 top tips for making the most of visual facilitation

1. Ensure that the meeting is well-organised in the first place. Ask the right questions, have the right people there, keep on track, and ensure everyone gets a say.

2. Don’t leave the visual at the meeting or stick it in a cupboard. Transfer it to a shared online space to remind everyone throughout the project, of where it started. Take good quality photographs and share them.

3. Keep the physical object up for a few days – to further enhance memory and spark new thoughts about the process.

4. Use the visuals as tools to do further work from – bring them out in meetings and workgroups and to help write documents.

5. There is still a place for linear, text documents. They provide a good record of the discussion and can be used to clarify points.  Use both visualisation and text documents alongside each other to enhance the process.

Thanks to Emily Wilkinson of Mindful Maps for co-writing this post.

Know what you’re going to be addressing. This could be a few questions to explore or a more detailed brief.  If you decide to send a briefing to all team members beforehand, don’t send it too far in advance but give people enough time to digest it. And also ask them not to share ideas until you meet – that way everyone can start off from equal footing when they get together for the first time.

Start off the session by allowing everyone to ‘braindump’ – their initial response to the brief, thoughts, suggestions, and further questions.  And to ensure any priorities or ‘agendas’ are aired.    If they don’t come out now, they’ll come out later, and much better to develop the project from everyone’s standpoints than having to adapt it, with difficulty, later on.

Image by Leonard John Matthews on Flickr

Break into smaller groups for discussion. Groups of 2 or 3 max are best. This ensures that those that might be initially shy in speaking up can have their say.

Have a plan. Break the time available into slots and decide what needs to be covered and how much time will be allocated. Let everyone know at the beginning that this is how the session will run, so they know how much time they have.

Remember what you’re there for. The beauty of creativity is it takes you in directions you hadn’t anticipated. The difficulty with creativity is that it takes you in directions you hadn’t anticipated. You need to find a good balance with encouraging the free flow of ideas but ensuring you don’t stray too far off within the time allocated.  Clearly state the objectives of the session, and refer back to it regularly to keep everyone on track.

Have plenty of snacks available. Fruit. Biscuits. Chocolate. Sweets. Enough said.

If possible, have a facilitator that isn’t someone who is also involved in the ideas generation. A facilitator will be there to keep focus, keep an eye on time, take notes, synthesise information and keep things moving forward.  This can be difficult for someone who is involved and passionate about the project, as their own ideas and opinions may take over.

Allocate a good chunk of time at the end of the session to allow everyone to reflect on what they can individually contribute next. Encourage everyone to take ownership of the tasks they have suggested and commit to taking something forward.

And bear in mind that motivation can often wane after the intensity of a focused session like this, so make sure everyone is clear of the next steps.  Find ways of keeping the discussion going – perhaps by gathering responses to the meeting notes, sharing further ideas that pop up, or asking further questions (and as always we’ll tell you that using an online space – even something simple like a Google Doc – can support this!)

These techniques work well at the start of a project, but can equally used throughout when the team need to get together at key times.  In an upcoming post we’ll be looking at how graphic facilitation can enhance this stage of a project.

Planning isn’t just about setting out the tasks and timeline – in fact, if you start off from here, you’re missing a big trick of making the project the best it could be.  It’s actually a great stage of exploration, research and entrepreneurial thinking about how you’re going to make the project happen.  Start thinking BIG and WIDE by bringing together the knowledge of everyone involved, and gradually honing the project down into what’s possible within the resources and the time available.

This ensures that all the team members are setting off in the same direction, and builds stronger foundations from the start.  It’s not about setting everything in stone from the beginning, but developing a framework and guide to fill in and shape as you go along.

Image from MyTudut on Flickr

Some questions to ask:

What is the idea? A simple question, but important!  Team members may have different views and understanding of what the project is, or will be.  Clear this up by ensuring everyone has a chance to air their ideas at the beginning, and then shape the project based on this.

What are you aiming towards? Visualise what the project outcome could look like when it’s finished and how you will know that it’s been successful.  Rather than developing in-depth creative ideas (that’s for later), again, this is bringing together the thoughts of team members of what they see as important for the project.

Who is it for? Consider the end users of the project, and those that might be involved along the way.  Pull together a good idea of their characteristics and needs, and what should be included in the project on this basis.

What’s happening? Bring together the team’s industry knowledge on external trends and factors (this might require further research).  Think about how these factors support your idea and could have an impact on it.  Learn from previous projects and identify how you could make yours different and unique.

What do you have? Build your project around the resources, skills and expertise that exists within the team.  This gives everyone an opportunity, at the beginning, to identify what they can contribute.  Also think about any gaps that exist and whether they need to be filled, or whether you need to re-think the structure of the project based on this.

The next stage will be to discuss project budget (both income and expenditure) timeline and tasks.

Our next post will provide some tips on running meetings to kick-start creative projects and pull ideas together.

Time for a technology slow down?

Image by dogbomb on Flickr

Aleks Krotoski (Technology writer and broadcaster) explained how the web has provided exceptional opportunities for social interaction. The ability to make new connections and collaborate with speed is a positive development.  Our technology keeps us connected to the greatest archive that the world has ever seen.  But Krotoski also noted that as humans, we don’t always have the capacity to deal with this, particularly in terms of synthesising information.  As Nick Tyler (Chadwick Professor of Civil Engineering) stated, the rate of human evolution is much slower than the rate of technological evolution, so engineers need to start developing solutions that place the human first.

Perhaps this explains the discomfort that many individuals experience in trying to surf this wave  – they feel constantly behind, they don’t feel ready.  One audience member commented how she feels ‘forced’ to engage. Is it all moving too fast for us all to comprehend?

Sherry Turkle, author of the book “Alone Together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other”, brings together 15 years of research on the impact of technology on our relationships.   Turkle says that it’s time for us to reassess how we’re using the web in line with the effect that it’s having on our behaviour, social etiquette and ability to communicate.  The answer is not to refer to it as an ‘addiction’ – technology is not going away.  But, we do need to look at issues such as privacy and how the ‘always-on’ culture is affecting our (and particularly young people’s) ability to be alone and to communicate effectively with others.  In one piece of research she found that business students prefer texting to real-time interaction.

Re-connecting with real-time communication

So it’s interesting that some technology being developed is focussing on how to enhance real-time visual interaction, as opposed to text-based.  Something that could have a major impact on the way that dispersed teams collaborate.  At the NESTA event, Richard Harper (Microsoft) explained that a reason that video conferencing hasn’t taken off in the workplace as yet, is that people prefer text-based communication to real-time as it gives them time to edit – it’s a performance issue.  He noted that on a basic level, people don’t like leaving voice mail messages because they don’t trust themselves to get it right first time.

At the same time, the technology capabilities are now improving.  Previously there were issues with quality and connectivity.  Now, as Nick Sheppard (CISCO) described, it’s almost impossible to buy a new communication device that doesn’t have video capabilities.  It’s something that we’re being increasingly exposed to, and it’s changing the face of communication, literally.

The future of video communications

Image by axel.voitier on Flickr

At NESTA’s Digital You event we heard from two companies at the forefront of video conferencing.  Gostai describe their Jazz Robot (pictured) as a “skype on wheels”, providing a two-way live video link to a location, but is mobile, enables interaction with colleagues and can be used to observe surroundings.    So for example, rather than cutting off the virtual communications at the end of a meeting, the robot enables an individual to maintain their presence.  Even though the image of interacting with a robot raised a few giggles at the event, Gostai have made it a reality.

body>data>space have been researching the area of telepresence which they describe as “realtime performance or connections using the internet to link two or more remote spaces”. This includes how technology can portray gesture development and body movement, particularly in the skills that young people will need for their future social and professional interactions.  They have a range of fascinating projects which explore the use of technology to enhance collaborative practice, one of which is the NESTA-funded Robots and Avatars.  Ghislaine Boddington (Creative Director, body>data>space) mentioned however, that when they run their projects they develop a timeline which integrates both physical and virtual meeting points.  This method of hybrid communication, she says, is vital in terms of building trust.

Virtual communication over physical?

And this is a key point in that ongoing question: will virtual replace physical?  In a word, no.  It was clear from all of the speakers, and in fact both events, that these tools are not a replacement, but are providing us with a wider choice in how we communicate.  What’s important is that future development takes human needs and psychology into account, and in turn we become better at recognising when it’s more appropriate to meet in person or when it’s relevant to use digital communications.  As one speaker remarked, “video is better than e-mail, but not better than face-to-face” and we often need an in-person meeting to kick-off effective virtual communication in a project.

Furthermore, it’s important for us to not blame online tools for unsuccessful collaboration.  People collaborate, not technology – it’s just there to make the process easier.  The team has to be right in the first place, have the willingness to work together and the skills to ultimately get the job done.

I am a self-inflicted scope-creeper! Arggh.

Scope creep describes the way that projects grow beyond their original definition/objectives -  it’s a risk for any project, and particularly creative ones.

When you’re working on something that you’re passionate about, and have a group of interesting people coming together, great ideas will be generated.  Not just at the start of a project, but throughout.  And this can be good.  Discussions will spark inspiration, observations and research will provide new perspectives, and there will always be the temptation to make the project even better.

But it’s also important to balance this with getting the work done.   If a project grows, it needs more time and often money.  So unless you can get either of these, you will need a way of deciding whether these new ideas can be incorporated.

Rejecting new ideas without consideration could impact team motivation and kill creativity, so some things to think about:

• The original objectives of the project – does it align with the core goals or does it take you in a different direction?  A different direction could be good if the project wasn’t working in the first place, but ideally you’d be communicating and reviewing at regular points to ensure that a drastic change isn’t necessary
• Whether it will really make the project better, or whether it’s just a ‘nice to have’. You might need to be firm with yourself and your team on this.  You could agree to deliver everything you originally planned to, and re-assess any additional ideas if there is time after that.
• Whether it will impact your ability to deliver the project?  If the deadline is fixed, bringing in new ideas might mean you’ll have to sacrifice other areas and/or put additional pressure on yourself or others.  Make sure you’re honest about the additional work that will be created.

Develop a way for capturing new ideas, acknowledging them and then assessing whether they are brought into a project or not.  Online tools can be great for this:  1) having a space where the team can make suggestions to be discussed and explored at the next opportunity and 2) documenting the core project objectives so that everyone stays on track.