IdeaFestival

Honoring Randy Pausch

Editor's note: Jeffrey Manber is a writer, commercial space pioneer, former IF speaker and a principle in the new movie Apollo's Orphans. These are his thoughts on the passing of the Randy Pausch, of "last lecture" fame.

I wonder how many of us harbor the idea of floating weightless in space as one of those little life-long dreams so important to who we truly are. I’m thinking about this given the news that Randy Pausch the professor whose “last lecture” made him a symbol for the wisdom of everyday life experiences,  passed away on July 25^th from pancreatic cancer.

His lecture, delivered at Carnegie Mellon on Sept. 18, 2007, has become of course, first a YouTube phenomena and later a best seller book. His down-to-earth advice on growing up (he was grateful for being allowed to paint pictures on his walls), thoughts of his wife, on never giving up no matter how many brick walls must be confronted, struck a chord with millions of viewers and readers.

Amongst the remaining wishes of his life the professor mentioned wanting to experience floating in the weightlessness of zero-gravity. And there we are, confronted once again that for so many of us, there is something special about the frontier of space, a place as filled with gigantic planets and inconceivable forces, as with the wonder of floating and flying and running along alien surfaces.

Dr. Pausch realized that particular dream: NASA allowed him on one of their KC-135 zero-gravity missions. Even there he had to overcome yet another metaphoric brick wall. When his students in a virtual reality program won the right to fly aboard a KC-135 flight, it was understood that faculty members were not allowed. So Dr. Pausch applied as a journalist covering the mission to experience the thrill of zero-gravity.

Taken for granted was his desire to play for a football team; work with Disney, or to take part in a Star Trek film. Yet for those who came of age in the glory of the Apollo program, there remains a life-long wonder of what was then accomplished. Let us hope that this feeling towards space travel, and the desire to personally experience it, never becomes extinguished.

NASA does these sort of things badly, but an educational zero-gravity program named after Dr. Randy Pausch would be a fitting memorial for a man who moved so many with his clear-eyed list of the priorities of life.

Jeffrey

"Living Library:" Can we Talk?

Asking whether the concept can be applied to museums as well as libraries, Nina Simon at Museum 2.0 describes a unique experience pioneered by some Danish libraries. What if, instead of checking out a book to read, you could check out a person to talk with?

A "Living Library" requires "'Books,' who openly and honestly represent certain stereotyped groups (i.e. Feminists, Disabled People, Muslims, Police, Goths, Gays), 'Readers,' who check out the Books for 45-minute to 2-hour discussions, and Librarians, who facilitate the whole process.'" 

More here.

Wayne

Research: Online multiplayer gaming cultivates business leaders

Recent Harvard Business Review research says we shouldn't be surprised if future business leaders come from players of massively multiplayer online games, which reward speed and risk taking and confer leadership positions temporarily, which, I'm guessing, the authors would say is because such positions are earned in virtual worlds through merit and expire once better leaders come on the scene.

I'm guessing because, unfortunately, only the executive summary is available.

Wayne

For organizations, "wrenching change" comes sooner or later

At Museum 2.0, Nina Simon writes about establishing an organizational skunkworks, a place where sanctioned saboteurs break the rules so that the organization can, in a strategic sense, change the rules. It's a thoughtful riff on a subject she obviously cares about: the museum experience. The top of her post features the image of a famous aircraft with these words:

Would you trust a small group of rule-breakers to change your organization? Lockheed did.

And addressing a complaint about rule breakers, she makes this trenchant observation about change and organizations:

Ok, you might say. But why do I need to put these people in a separate room and let them ignore the accounting forms? Doesn't that fracture our overall institutional culture? Can't we innovate [with] our current systems?

Yes. But it will be wrenching institutional change, or it will be wrenching institutional lack of change.

Fair enough.

Wayne

Great minds she'd like to devour

I've heard of food for thought, but thought for food? Following each entry with a single hyper-linked demand - "learn!" - game designer Jane McGonigal suggests a list of people whose minds she'd like to devour. You may devour her mind at the IdeaFestival in September.

Wayne

Ethan Zuckerman on "blogging the world," IF Conversations

Ethan Zuckerman, who is the co-founder of Global Voices and someone I admire and have enjoyed meeting at the IdeaFestival the past couple of years, answers a question about "changing the world through blogging" in this installment of IF Conversations.

Wayne

"I, Gamer"

In a brief post at Terra Nova, Ren Reynolds wonders what the societal impact will be of a generation of game players that self-identify as "gamers." Without providing any answers - are there any now? - I just thought it was an interesting question, as was the title of his blog post.

Wayne

Measuring innovation takes faith-based failure

Freakonomics recently asked several individuals to provide their take on on innovation - as in, how can a company measure innovation? On Friday, it published a number of their responses.

I was intrigued by one suggestion in particular.

Using the example of the digital camera, one contributor suggested that since truly innovative products are often worse at a launch than competing products, perhaps the key metric is failure. The key then is to fail fast, recognize and embrace risk taking - to fail forward, some failures align with the company vision and some do not - and to identify where new ideas originate. Are they coming from all levels of the organization?

Since truly innovative outcomes aren't generally known until well after the fact, that made some sense. But succeeding at failure during the interim takes another key attribute, faith.

Wayne

Podcast: Why fashion matters

IF continues to release great audio from the 2007 IdeaFestival.

The very latest podcast features New Zealand fashion designer Karen Walker discussing her creative process, design style and the meaning of fashion. Podcasts may be obtained directly via RSS or from iTunes.

Wayne

Missed opportunities: venture capitalist lists "anti-portfolio"

How many successful companies were initially turned away by venture capitalists who at the time couldn't quite see the business case? Displaying good humor about its mistakes, Bessemer Venture Partners lists its "anti-portfolio," companies like Apple and Google on which it took a pass.   

Hat tip: Freakonomics blog

Wayne