Janet Rae Dupree suggests that since computers are already doing left brain tasks so well, it’s time for us to focus more on our imaginative, creative right-brains:

…now that computers can emulate many of the sequential skills of the brain’s left hemisphere — the part that sees the individual trees in a forest — the author Daniel Pink argues that it’s time for our imaginative right brain, which sees the entire forest all at once, to take center stage.

Wikis are good for the right brain, and the creative process, since they don’t bog you down with complex steps and processes - the domain of the left brain. [Read more]

Rob Castaneda, Founder of CustomWare Asia Pacific, wrote Working the “Wiki” Way for the March 2008 issue of Octane, quarterly magazine of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO).

In the article, he discusses how CustomWare uses a wiki internally to improve information flow between teams working on client projects:

The Pain Point

The biggest snag we experienced was transferring knowledge and context from the sales team to the delivery team. This muddled flow of information threatened our client projects.

Rob and his company decided they needed to improve communication, and decided to use a wiki as their collaboration platform. [Read more]

Thames River, London, at dusk. Doesn’t it look like a city from the future?

Marc Andreesen on Barack Obama:

In 2007 Marc Andreesen spent an hour and a half with Barack Obama:

Smart, normal, curious, not radical, and post-Boomer.

If you were asking me to write a capsule description of what I would look for in the next President of the United States, that would be it.

Andreesen’s piece reads like a letter of recommendation. It’s thoughtful, very analytical, an assessment of Obama’s strengths and how he turns his perceived weaknesses into even stronger strengths. (via TPMCafé)

‘Creative Class’: What Does Your City Say About You?

Newsweek’s Katie Paul discusses how place affects lifestyle with University of Toronto business professor Richard Florida:

Technology makes the world smaller, but it also makes the world spikier…Economic activity is not only becoming more concentrated but also more specialized. New York is great in fashion design and investment banking. San Francisco’s great in software. L.A.’s great in entertainment technology. And Nashville is the epicenter of music production. So if you want to pursue a given career, it’s not just that you can make it in any big city, because now there is a smaller number of big cities that will be the key places for you.

Twitter Tools, Tweaks and Theories

John T Unger has written a comprehensive guide to Twitter tools, 8 great uses for Twitter, tips for getting the best out of your use, useful apps and clients, Twitter and RSS, and the utility of Twitter for business. If you’re thinking about using Twitter (or already use it) you can’t miss this guide!

Do you follow me on Twitter? If not, let’s connect!

Ben Martin on social media use in organizations:

Here’s the dire assessment: Your association is becoming more irrelevant by the moment if it isn’t participating in the conversation made possible by social media. Signs of the paradigm shift are all around us and quite obvious. Association leaders who don’t recognize the signs are either uninformed or unconscious.

Larry Cannell writes about a recent CIO Magazine interview in which Ross Mayfield discussed 4 common wiki uses that can reduce email. Here are Ross’ four examples, and my suggested Wiki patterns that can help you with each:

1. Collaborative intelligence - “for example, in marketing and sales operations, you need to communicate to the field organization about an ever changing product line.” The pattern I’d use here is Magnet to establish a wiki as the “go-to” place for people out in the field.
2. Participatory knowledge base - “99 percent of the pages created [on the wiki] and tagged allow the call center to go from 20 clicks to find information to four, substantially decreasing search costs and decreasing the average call time by 10 to 20 percent.” I’d use the FAQ and Seed it with content patterns here.
3. Flexible client collaboration - “a collaborative workspace between [a firm] and the client.” Agenda is a good pattern for using the wiki to organize meetings with clients, and kickstart client collaboration.
4. Business social networks - “with your business partners or customers, where you’re communicating to them, getting feedback from them, and they’re interacting directly.” I’d use the Corporate Directory and MySpace patterns as the building blocks of a social network.