The Collapse of Complex Business Models

The Collapse of Complex Business Models by Clay Shirky discusses how complex systems collapse and relates this idea to industries being changed by the internet and technology.  He closes with this paragraph.

When ecosystems change and inflexible institutions collapse, their members disperse, abandoning old beliefs, trying new things, making their living in different ways than they used to. It’s easy to see the ways in which collapse to simplicity wrecks the glories of old. But there is one compensating advantage for the people who escape the old system: when the ecosystem stops rewarding complexity, it is the people who figure out how to work simply in the present, rather than the people who mastered the complexities of the past, who get to say what happens in the future.

Shirky doesn't talk about education but my thoughts have been on Scott McLeod's recent talk about education and the premise that schools are becoming irrelevant.  I look at the reforms and suggestions around me and they all seem to be aimed at making our educational system more complex. More rules.  More forms. More tests.  At what point does our educational system become too complex?  Too unwieldly? To the point where some group of different thinking folks just make an end run around "how things have always been done" and leave us cleaning the chalk dust off our trousers wondering what just happened.

[Image: "Theatre Entrance"; Flickr: Uploaded on October 19, 2007 by iamtheh; http://www.flickr.com/photos/iamtheh/1640228985/ (creative commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic)]

Shift Happens

I was at a district training last week and the presenter showed Karl Fisch's "Did You Know" as an activity to bring us back on task after lunch. Many of the teachers and staff in the room had not seen it before. I was a little surprised as it seems like I've watched it so many times now. I'm thinking it might be time to show it in my own building to get people thinking.

Several folks asked if I would send them the link for the presentation. Since I went to the trouble to gather the links, thought I'd post them also.

• This is the YouTube link (same as embedded below).
  
• Many districts have blocked YouTube so here is a download page where you can find the presentation in several formats.
• A link to a wiki page that gives more information on the presentation.
• A link to Karl Fisch's blog, The Fischbowl.

This is a great conversation starter for any meeting or class. It will generate all kinds of comments and opinions from the group.


[Image created by Al Gunn]

Edublog Nomination: Dangerously Irrelevant

I didn't realize that this video had been made by a teacher in Colorado until today when I was reading the Edublog nominations for most influential blog post of 2007. I watched it several months ago after reading about it on a blog. Several friends have referred to the presentation or recommended it to me since then. The most recent recommendation came from my brother-in-law in Minnesota, last week. It has been watched by over 10 million people.

Here is the most recent version of this video and a link to a wiki page with more information.