On what’s in a name?

You may have heard that in the high definition DVD format ”war”, Blu-ray has emerged victorious over its rival HD DVD format. In fact, HD DVD is in its death throes. Anyone left holding a HD DVD player is trying to offload them on to ebay.
The popularity of Blu-ray discs over HD DVD in Australia (and elsewhere) is [...]

On poetry

I had a coffee and a chat with Matt Moore last week and he told me about his poetry project. He has been blogging about it recently but this post is the one I want to think about today.
When I was at high school my favourite subject was English. Naturally, this education included novels, plays and poetry. [...]

On narrative, sensemaking, and volunteering

I did promise on Saturday that my next blog post would be on narrative, sensemaking, and the volunteering project. However, Doris Lessing did come between posts with an earlier blog post this afternoon.
Looking at my notes from the debrief from the volunteering project on Friday, I took this point from Dave Snowden’s introductory remarks on complexity and sensemaking, and [...]

On the internet and books

Just a quick post on this news story I read today about Nobel prize winner for literature, Doris Lessing, and her tirade against the internet.
Doris Lessing is one of my favourite novelists, The grass is singing being a particular favourite of mine. And I have a lot of respect for her views on quality literature and [...]

On the fear factory

I intended to write some pithy comments about communication strategy in Australia’s federal election (voting is tomorrow) and how the spin from the current government has focused on fear, fear, and more fear. Fear the opposition Labor Party, fear the future economic tsunami, fear the immigrants, and fear the internet. Perhaps fear losing the election [...]

On “words are powerful”

Words are a powerful communication tool if we use them wisely. This is another “isn’t this obvious” statement, surely. However, the reality is that people are often sloppy with words and use them in ways that are actually completely unhelpful.
I have almost finished Martha Beck’s book, Finding your own North Star, about finding your own authentic [...]

On translating and the computer

I recently blogged about information and knowledge embedded in other languages. Single language speakers, like most English-speakers, are missing out on the opportunities to communicate and learn from other language content. My personal foreign language skills could be better, having learned German at school and French post-university. That’s one reason why I really appreciate international art and international [...]

On storytelling

One of my favourite novelists was the American writer, Wallace Stegner (1909-1993). My favourite Stegner novel is Crossing to Safety, a beautiful story about an academic writer at the University of Wisconson, Madison, and the important relationships that he has throughout his life. Stegner also wrote On teaching and writing fiction, and from that work comes [...]

On words

I have been following the use of words in different contexts for some time. For example, I have been fascinated by the words used by spin doctors in politics to fabricate different meanings out of pretty damning events or behaviours. The Iraq War is a classic example. More on this in later posts.