FISH@6 - From Creativity to Innovation - 18th June 2009
By Jana on June 4th, 2009
We are getting excited about our next FISH@6 innovation workshop in Sydney on 18th June 2009.
This month it is all about creativity and innovation.
We will explore creativity tools which and see how we trigger an “out of the box” thinking by changing our viewpoint. In the context of idea generation and opportunity recognition which lead to innovation we will look at different forms of innovation.
Our inspiring speakers will be:
Janine Cahill who will share a combination of creativity and foresight tools
Matt Moore on Innovation in Australia
Darren Menachemson on Designing by Recontextualising
We will discuss the application of the presented ideas which will lead into the Innovation lab, where
we will use a combination of creative tools, foresight methods and sustainability principles to gain new insights, and develop new ideas for new products and services and ways of interaction.
Join us at this next FISH@6 event and (re)discover the simplicity of being creative and turn this creativity into innovation. Be inspired!
Thursday 18th June
6pm - 8pm
Department for State and Regional Development
Level 47, 19 Martin Place, Sydney CBD
Please RSVP to fish@futurejourneys.com
A Race Against Time - Serious Games in Sydney
By Jana on May 7th, 2009
A Race Against Time is a serious game, structured as a treasure hunt in Sydney. Imagine the following: “Its May 10, 2025. The world is in turmoil. We know that there were opportunities to stop this happening back in 2009. What we don’t understand is exactly what these things were. You have been chosen to research some of the things that led to the demise of society. You have been chosen to locate these trends and events and help us change the direction of Sydney. Watch out for the spies located around the city. The countdown begins.”
The game which has been recently developed by a team of great young people who met at the Serious Game Workshop on 18th April 2009 is based on low tech around social awareness.
The Designing Serious Games Workshop was organised by Vibewire and facilitated by Janine Cahill, Future Journeys.
Janine Cahill is a Serious Game Designer and contributed with this workshop to the Vibewire’s 2009 e-Festival of Ideas, which takes place from 4-10th May 2009. One of the live events during the festival is the developed game A Race against Time.
Come and join us for an afternoon of fun!
Event Details:
Starting from the Vibewire Enterprise Hub, 525 Harris St, Ultimo
10th May, 2pm - 5pm.
Bring a team of 3 - 5 people, mobiles, a digital camera and get ready to race!
RSVP at events@vibewire.org
FISH@6 The Innovation Climate Challenge on May 21st
By Jana on May 5th, 2009
Our next monthly FISH@6 innovation workshop is themed Innovation Climate Challenge and offers an opportunity for participants to explore design possibilities that will have an impact on carbon with others. As in the previous workshops, no prior knowledge is required but an openness to innovation, sustainability and exploring ideas.
We have lined up some fantastic speakers for the evening:
Janine Cahill, CEO and Innovation Designer, Future Journeys
Associate Professor Douglas Tomkin, School of Design at UTS
Selena Griffith, Lecturer, School of Design Studies, College of Fine Arts, UNSW
Dr. Andrew Wallace, Head of Network for European Technocrats, Technocracy for a Sustainable Future
Steven McKinnon, Future Canvas Melbourne on Reforestation project commencing in Docklands
Dr. Brian Lennon: Possible Carbon Winners and how we might achieve them
Maryella Hatfield will show a segment of her documentary “The Future Makers” - people creating solutions that won’t cost the earth
Our speakers come from different areas of expertise. Therefore the different perspectives and the diversity of talent and ideas will be stimulating to think differently about the Climate Challenge.
The workshop will be structured around those or similar questions: What can WE do here and now to reverse greenhouse gases in the atmosphere? Is integration possible? How do our efforts at home and at work translate to the big picture? How do we design systems that have a real impact? How can our consumption and production be effective in reducing greenhouse gases? What does a healthy system look like?
These stimulating speeches will be followed by group discussions on the application of the presented ideas.
In groups we will then co-design solutions in a facilitated and mentored environment. This will give us new insights and let us develop new ideas in regards to the Climate Change issue. Ideas will be shared within the workshop which will show the diverse possibilities and leave us inspired to take action in our companies and homes.
So come and join us for this great next Innovation Workshop in Sydney!
21st May 2009, 5pm - 9pm
Department of State and Regional Development
Level 47, MLC Centre, 19 Martin Place, Sydney CBD
$10 per person will help to cover costs, students are free
Limited numbers, so book now.
RSVP to fish@futurejourneys.com
FISH@6 on Youth Innovation
By Jana on April 28th, 2009
Our last FISH@6 workshop on Youth Innovation presented some amazing young innovative people who shared their projects with us. It was inspirational to see what young people are doing to change our world:
Rachel Beaney spoke about the development of MobyMag, a magazine for mobiles, which gives a voice to emerging artists and writers. Interestingly this great innovative idea emerged from the passion to provide a platform and exists as such, without the need to transform it into a big business yet. It just shows that great innovations do not always have to be developed with a commercial aim in mind, but are working just as well on a small scale. MobyMag is a great innovation and will most likely grow slowly as the mobile phone technology develops. For more information about MobyMag see http://mymobymag.com
Donnie Maclurcan, the founder of Project Australia talked about apparent gaps in infrastructure for emerging social entrepreneurs in Australia and showed how Project Australia’s model will address these gaps. Interestingly the discussion following Donnie’s presentation once again circled around the question of profit, here in the context of social innovations. Social innovations can implemented on a large or very small scale and both are equally important. What we probably often forget is how small improvements also contribute to make the world a better place.For more information about Project Australia see http://www.projectaustralia.org.au/
Rachel Hills, a young writer, social commentator and media strategist talked about Innovation in Journalism and the differences between heritage media and new media with some insight into the world of new media. Rachel explores what heritage media can learn from (good) bloggers in her blog ‘Musings of an inappropriate woman’, please see her blog http://rachelhills.tumblr.com/post/96955756/what-can-heritage-media-learn-from-good-bloggers for more information.
Daniel Dominguez, an IT Manager at i-azul and an entrepreneur in designing robots, joined us via Skype from Colombia, even with a 15 hour time difference. He talked about innovations in IT and Marketing in particular about Proximity Marketing, a new technology which picks up mobiles in the proximity (for example passers-by at a shop) and sends out information as a new form marketing. The group discussed the technology from the customers’ point of view with its implications on privacy and possibilities of a more targeted way of using it. More information can be found on http://www.i-azul.com (Spanish only).
David Beaumont, entrepreneur who works for the City of Sydney, talked about new solutions for indigenous problems in Australia. He spoke about a few projects that were implemented together with government bodies. The fact that was new about those projects was that they consider the people as they are instead of trying to change the indigenous population of Australia. The projects which are assisting them to live sustainable with their traditions in their communities are both helping the indigenous people to live better lifes by embracing what they have as well as teaching everyone else about indigenous traditions and the value these can have to the whole Australian population in terms of sustainable lifestyle.
In conclusion it was a highly interesting evening which showed that there is much to learn from young Australian innovators and entrepreneurs. It may be time for some change in thinking and time for more collaboration across generations.
FISH@6 - Innovation workshop in Sydney
By Jana on April 12th, 2009
FISH@6 is a Foresight, Innovation and Sustainability Hothouse. The new branding for 2009 goes along with some really interesting new topics which cover information provided by excellent speakers as well as discussions of the provided information in groups and the work on innovation challenges.
In these challenging times “Manage your costs and INVEST in innovation” is an often heard message in any industry. In fact innovating out of this downturn collaboratively is the only solution regularly offered.
Therefore FISH@6 offers a platform to learn, network and look at some real challenges and work on them together, with the purpose to drive innovation in Sydney forward. Using a combination of creative tools, foresight methods and sustainability principles, new insights can be gained, and new ideas for new products, services and ways of interaction can be developed.
The workshops present some great speakers around a specific topic, who are experts but present the topic from different perspectives. This will be followed by group discussions on the application of the presented ideas.
The last part of the workshop is dedicated to an Innovation Challenge, which is usually presented by one of our participants. Using a combination of creative tools, foresight methods and sustainability principles, new insights will be gained and new ideas for new products, services or ways of interaction will be developed.
Futurist Janine Cahill, CEO and Innovation Designer of Future Journeys facilitates these workshops emphasising the importance of innovation in our society, especially in those challenging times. An expert in experiential learning and simulation games Janine Cahill inspires to think about the future, and to create and innovate collaboratively.
Participants can benefit on a personal level as well as on a business level. FISH@6 aspires to create a more innovative and sustainable future.
Every Third Thursday
6pm - 8pm
at Department of State and Regional Development
Level 47, MLC Centre, 19 Martin Place, Sydney CBD
A$10 per person will help cover cost; students are free
Please see the event column on our website for dates and topics of upcoming FISH@6 workshops in 2009. More detailed information about each workshop will be posted closer to the date.
Please RSVP to fish@futurejourneys.com to attend one of our upcoming innovation workshops and get inspired!
Rockit… Gameshows in Second Life
By Liz on August 16th, 2007
If you can’t get enough of who wants to be a millionaire in your first life be a part of Rockit in your second life. A veteran Australian Second Lifer started a trivia competition Rockit which was a blaring success last week. Two teams were picked out of the audience and then with numerous rounds of audio, visual and text questions we had a winner. its amazing to see how close and supportive the Australian community is in Second Life… check out SLOZ.org.au for more details
Flaws of Facebook (and we thought they didn’t have any)
By Liz on August 16th, 2007
Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace have become part of the daily routine for millions of Internet users who connect with friends, share photos, and reach out to other people with similar interests. The popularity of social networks has resulted in an unfortunate byproduct, however: the mushrooming number of requests that come from dozens of these sites.
While not quite spam, the steady stream of requests for Facebook friends, LinkedIn connections, Dopplr travellers, or Plaxo contact updates, highlights the lack of interoperability between social network sites and significantly undermines their usefulness.
The interoperability issue is likely to become more prominent in the months ahead as hundreds of specialty social networking sites — covering virtually every area of interest from dogs to cooking — jostle for new users. In fact, services such as Ning now enable anyone to create their own social network site.
The result is that Internet users are repeatedly required to re-enter their personal information for each new network they join and find that each network is effectively a “walled garden,” where the benefits of the network are artificially limited by the inability to link a friend in Facebook with one in MySpace.
Friend me, Uruguay
These limitations are particularly striking when viewed from a global perspective. While Facebook is a leader in Canada (as well as in the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Norway), nearly a dozen other sites hold leadership positions in other countries. These include:
- MySpace (United States, Australia, Mexico, and Italy)
- Bebo (Ireland and New Zealand)
- Cyworld (South Korea)
- Friendster (Indonesia, Philippines, and Singapore)
- Fotolog (Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay)
- Hi5 (Colombia, Ecuador, and Thailand)
- Mixi (Japan)
- Orkut (Brazil, India, and Paraguay)
- Skyblog (France, Belgium, Senegal)
- Studiverzeichnis (Germany, Austria)
- Vkontakte (Russia)
The result is that social networking sites are far more “local” than is often appreciated. Unlike the global Internet, which enables virtually the entire world to connect, social networks have created very large, localized communities with far more limited international interaction.
Doctor interoperable
The obvious solution is to facilitate greater interoperability between social networking sites, thereby enabling users to better control their personal information and reduce the need for duplication, while simultaneously enhancing the value of all social networks by removing the current barriers. This suggestion is not new — experts began commenting on the desirability of open social networks years ago — yet there are reasons to believe that the opportunity for greater interoperability may have finally arrived.
First, the focus on the benefits of interoperability cut across a wide range of technological issues, including recent calls for interoperable wireless networks and the music industry’s recognition of the need to offer downloads that operate with all music players. Moreover, the frustrations associated with the initial lack of instant messaging interoperability serves as an important reminder of how the issue resonates with consumers.
Second, there are signs that the social networking industry recognizes the value of openness. Facebook moved toward an open platform for software developers this spring, enabling third party developers to bring thousands of new Facebook applications to market. Similarly, Plaxo recently launched a service called Pulse, a social networking aggregator that works with many popular sites.
Third, there is mounting interest in developing open standards for social networks that would facilitate greater interoperability. For example, the Liberty Alliance and Project Higgins are two privacy-focused identity management initiatives that claim to provide users with the ability to manage their personal information across social networks in a secure and trusted manner.
Talk to the hand
The irony of the current generation of online social networks is that although their premise is leveraging the Internet to connect people, their own lack of interconnectedness is stifling their potential.
Some services may believe that it is in their economic interest to stick to a walled garden approach; however, given the global divisions within the social networking world, the mix of language, user preferences, and network effects, it is unlikely that one or two services will capture the global marketplace. The better approach — for users and the sites themselves — would be to work toward a world of interoperable social networking.
Tyree.ca
Richard Hames’ New Book - The Five Literacies of Global Leadership
By Liz on May 21st, 2007
Last week went to see Richard Hames speak about his new book it was really good and here is what i learnt:
There are 4 enablers which are connected to the 5 literacies (proficiencies) to being an effective leader:
4 enablers:
- Adaptive receptiveness (open mindedness) – teachers > learners (tangible)
- Ability to re-invent one’s self (constant searching) – can change what they know/ who they are to better one’s self
- Vigilant responsiveness (constant awareness) – opportunities/ explore/ risky – take advantage of opportunities when they arise
- Appreciative reciprocity (giving back) – how can this benefit everyone – grows value
5 literacy’s
- Networked intelligence (networks of networks) – using weak links making global networks
- Literacy of futuring (strategic foresight)
- Strategic navigation (adaptive management of where we need to go)
- Ecological design (environmentally sustainable)
- Brand resonance (understanding their role in the world and fitting their ideas inside it)
Thought Controlled Video Games
By Liz on May 4th, 2007
Neurosky has just released their prototyped mind reading game controller. That’s right… with focused thought the user can effectively control movements and game play actions. There is a mask which below it has sensors that touches the user’s forehead and reads the brain’s electrical signals which sends them wirelessly to a receiver which lights up when you are concentrating. Engineers at NeuroSky Inc. have big plans for brain wave-reading toys and video games. They say the simple Darth Vader game — a relatively crude biofeedback device cloaked in gimmicky garb — portends the coming of more sophisticated devices that could revolutionize the way people play. Imagine the other implications of this in medicine and anywhere…
Solar Phone Charger
By Liz on May 4th, 2007
You no longer can use the excuse that my phone died with the creation of Solio. With Solio, you could charge almost all of your portable handheld electronics using just sunlight. Solio Charges mobile phones, Ipod, PDAs and even your Digital camera. It comes with an internal battery that you can pre-charge for use later. A fully charged Solio will charge an average mobile phone completely at least once, and while charging an iPod directly under the sun, One hour of sunlight will give one hour of playtime. Solio comes in White, Silver, Black, Pink, so you have no excuses for not being contactable…
