In Yochai Benkler’s TED talk (Open Source Economics) he says something like …

“Social interaction and ideas exchange on the internet is not just a passing fashion … it’s the ‘deep change’ that is challenging our incumbant industrial systems.” 

If you wonder why I bother to blog and read other’s blogs … post ‘tweets’ to twitter and join online social networks, well its because I get real value from it. Yochai goes a step further and suggests that for the first time the control of the new information age is in the hands of everyone with a computer and internet connection. The possibility created by convenient social interactions and knowledge exchange is transformational.

Now Watch this wonderful animated story …

And so to another “Value Idea” posted by Johnnie Moore (via Euan Semple) … In watching this animated story Johnnie writes:

“So many meetings start out with anxious lists of what must be completed by the end. I can understand the anxiety but it risks killing the energy that comes from being present to the process with enthusiasm and an openness to possibility.”

And then linking this (as Johnnie did) to another quote by Viv …

“I’ve been pondering the need to be seen to be DOING, the need to produce OUTPUTS or PRODUCTS and the dilemma of the intrinsic worth of simply BEING with others and having conversations.

This.. situation often arises when I talk about or facilitate open space meetings. “It was good to talk, to have some time to explore, to slow down, BUT what did we achieve?” I wonder why talking, exploring and slowing down are not generally seen as achievements in their own right?”

In watching this animated story it reminds me of how little many of us ‘notice’ what is actually going. Like the music analogy … it is not the destination, it’s about enjoying the journey and being present enough to ‘notice’ what is going on. Then we might start to value talking, exploring together and slowing down. 

Geoff