Tag: trends

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Design Education Globalization Milwaukee Network OpenSource Reading Technology

Latest read: Making Globalization Work

If you were first introduced to globalization via Tom Friedman‘s The World Is Flat, you may be interested to learn more about this wave of economics. Many point to the recent book by Joseph Stiglitz called Making Globalization Work. This is a follow-up to his 2003 book Globalization and Its Discontents.

Stiglitz is professor of economics at Columbia. He served as Chairman of President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers from 1995-97. He followed that appointment by serving as Chief Economist and Senior VP of the World Bank from 1997-2000. Stiglitz was one of three to receive the 2001 Noble Prize in economics.

He accurately addresses areas of economic globalization that continue to fail across the globe in shaping market opportunities of underdeveloped nations. Needless to say the real golden rule applies: He who has the Gold makes the rules.

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Education Reading TED

Latest read: Gang Leader for a Day

You’ve read Freakonomics…right? One of the most popular chapters Why Do Drug Dealers Still Live With Their Moms? is about Sudhir Venkatesh, a grad student at the University of Chicago who studied a crack cocaine gang The Black Kings in Chicago’s Robert Taylor Homes (Building #4040) during the height of the crack epidemic in the 1990s.  I wanted to learn more about Sudhir. His book Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets is now available.

gang leader for a day

I recall my own orientation at the University of Chicago was exactly like Sudhir’s story — being warned by police where NOT to walk around campus and when. The tragic killing of a grad student last Friday, (January 25th) is such an example of the danger facing faculty, students and staff members.

My daily commute from Glenview via Metra to Citigroup Center, then to the Midway Plaisance (map via Google) via the University’s charter bus service passed the Washington Park Lagoon everyday. Sudhir mentions his exploration of the Lagoon and lessons learned from speaking with older black men about Chicago and its history. Sudhir allows readers to see another side of America.

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Design Education Globalization Network OpenSource Reading Rich media Technology

Latest read: Everything is Miscellaneous

David Weinberger’s book Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder is really amazing. It follows on the footsteps of Tom Friedman’s The World Is Flat and Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail.

Everything is MiscellaneousThis book presents an interesting look at the digital data we have access to via the internet and how the distribution of data will forever change business, education and society.

What is the biggest change outlined by David Weinberger? The world’s data will be tagged and freely shared, all on the internet.

From the Dewey Decimal System to Flickr and everything in between … is now miscellaneous.

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Design Education Milwaukee Reading Technology

Latest read: Beautiful Evidence

The holiday is a perfect time to catch up on reading and must admit Beautiful Evidence from Edward Tufte is a very refreshing look at aspects of visual evidence we simply overlook in everyday life.
Beautiful EvidenceWith so many amazing lessons regarding the presentation of data I found Chapter 6 the best as it addresses PowerPoint.

The issue Corruption in Evidence Presentations: A Consumer’s Guide to Effects Without Causes, Cherry Picking, Overreaching, Chartjunk, and the Rage to Conclude. Considering we all sit through too many PowerPoint presentations that corrupt the truth…this should be mandatory reading.

To maintain standards of quality, relevance, and integrity for evidence, consumers of presentations should insist that presenters be held intellectually and ethically responsible for what they show and tell. Thus consuming a presentation is also an intellectual and moral activity.

So the next time you sit in a presentation – be truthful! I must admit to drifting into Chartjunk myself at times (yikes) before reading The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within last year. This learning forced me to approach communicating via PowerPoint…Keynote more accurately as defined by Tufte. And this began with eliminating all the bullets. His chapter on Sparklines is pretty impressive as well.

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Education Reading

Latest read: Freakonomics

Well I’m not sure what took so long to read Steven Levitt‘s Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. It was enjoyable, fun and interesting to read the hidden side of everything.
So I finally pushed it to the front of my pile of books after crossing an article on the NYTimes and found the book is now part of their blogs. When was the last time the NYTimes took over a book’s blog? Yea, its that good!

I was very impressed with Chapter 3 “Why do drug dealers still live with their Mothers?” since I was working in Chicago for Apple and know the area where his research occurred: the Robert Taylor Homes.

I remember getting advice from fellow engineers at the downtown loop office to literally drive through red lights, stop signs and anything else if I ever found myself anywhere around Cabrini-Green or the Robert Taylor Homes.

Sure enough I recall driving at night in the loop lost and finding myself looking at a sign similar to the one in this photo…drove without stopping until I was north east of the area. Nice welcome to the city…

So I was living in Chicago and still remember the violent deaths reported at that time during the gang wars. Wow Levit does not display the details of the violent incidents that occurred during this crack war.

And the research actually proves gangs organized by a business model very close to McDonalds. What is most amazing was his ability to access the financial records of the gangs. While gang foot soldiers were making $3.00/hour the research showed that if you survived long enough to be on the “board of directors” of a gang you could earn $400,000/year.

But with a 25% chance of being killed working as a foot solider, its no wonder drug dealers still live with their mothers. And that is just one chapter of his amazing book. If you have passed on this book you should really pick it up and give it a read. Its easy and will amaze you.

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