The Future of Learning keynote

Earlier this month, I gave the keynote address at the conference Unleashing Knowledge and Innovation for the Next Generation of Learning, convened by the Knowledge Alliance/Center for Knowledge Use, the Stupski Foundation, and West Wind Education Policy.

The talk was on The Future of Learning, and it covered the KnowledgeWorks Foundation's 2020 Forecast, prefaced by and mixed with some of my own thoughts about foresight, strategy, and innovation. It was an enjoyable experience for me, and I received many nice compliments afterwards.

The audio file minus the last 60 seconds has been posted online, and the slides from the talk are below. If the video gets posted in the coming days, I'll add that as well.

Knowledge Innovation Summit 080709

View more presentations from Mark Gibson.

One note: after delivering this talk, I became a tentative, but strongly-persuaded convert to the Aquatic Ape hypothesis, so I'd tweak my statements about the human body and brain being designed for the African savanna accordingly. Thx Chris!

The Urban Homestead

I recently finished reading and can heartily recommend The Urban Homestead. The authors Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen have outdone themselves with tips on everything from raising rabbits to home canning to DIY solar.

It's a thorough, plainspoken and playful guide, enlivened by he said/she said debates about some of the more advanced projects. (The authors are also partners, and share a house in Los Angeles.) The suggestions here clearly save money and build character, but they also might be vital "when the zombies come." On that note, given the length of the book and its subject matter, you might want to buy this one in hard copy instead of Kindle, so it's handy when you need it.

I finished the The Urban Homestead full of hope, and with many new plans for home projects. And at least one mega-million-dollar idea: how about a movie version, with Chris Messina (the actor) and Amy Adams playing the two authors, quarreling and laughing over the challenges of mulching, fruit butter, compost toilets, and greywater wetlands.

I'd see that movie.

p.s. Check out Kelly and Erik's blog Homegrown Evolution.