Corinne's Video!

This is a short clip that was played to the copper beach team a while back in torquay

It was originally made as present for a friend (just a friend) on her birthday - since then it's become my most watched piece...

Its a fairly short clip for my animations being only 286 pictures long, made in stop motion using just simple plasticine, my phone and a cardboard box

If you want to know more about it, my work or me please email me

derrybradfordtydeman@hotmail.co.uk

or check out my youtube for more of my work (type derrybradfordtydeman into search bar)

'more-than-profit'

I read somewhere about someone setting up a 'more-than-profit' organisation.

Sounded like a bigger and more joyful take on the old 'not-for-profit' cliche, which was surely a somewhat sour reaction to profiteering.

More than sounds so much more engaging. Count me in...

Looking at leadership

1 - “Discover, deep at their inner core, why each member of your team is working in the job they are. Then you must feed that.”
Douglas “Yoda” Vlchek, Chief Wisdom Officer - DaVita Inc.

2 -“Have you thanked someone today for what they’ve done to help you achieve your vision for yourself and your team?”
Bob Hoffman , Executive Director, Organizational Development
Novartis Oncology

3 - “Leadership teamwork is about individual genius, collectively experienced. Don’t normalize eccentricity or brilliance. Orchestrate a way for people playing full out to do so together.”
Foster Mobley, Chief Executive Officer
The Foster Mobley Group: Advisors in Innovative Change

4 -“Let your actions speak much louder than what you say.”
Cliff Hakim, Career Consultant Author: We Are All Self-Employed

5 - “Be visible, articulate a clear vision, communicate in person often, walk the talk, listen, and respond in a timely manner.”
Jeff Peris, Chief Learning Officer - Wyeth

6 -“Know your business…know your people…have a clear vision and direction that you are able to communicate to your people. Be authentic, decisive, inclusive and most important, be humble.”
Tawfik Kamal, MD , Executive Director - Head of Strategic Marketing Capabilities
Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation

7 - “Find the people in your organization who are already doing what you wish others would do and make a big deal out of it.”
Keir Carroll, Performance Improvement Concepts

8 - “Self-awareness is critical. . . even in the executive suite. Be aware of what others (1) think of you and (2) say about you. Don’t criticize, judge or gossip about your peers, as your team will do the same. Be a role model and mentor for others . . . you will then truly lead by example.”
Kathleen Sack , Director Learning Programs - Tyco International (US) Inc.

9 Drop your need to be right all the time. Your whole purpose is to help others be right” Court Chilton, Principal -Court Chilton & Associates

10 - “No matter what results you are trying to drive through the organization, the culture will bleed through. It starts at the top, so if your senior leaders aren’t modeling teamwork, don’t expect to break downs walls anywhere.”
Deborah Slobodnik, Principal -Options Consulting, Inc.

11 - “Breakthrough performance is rooted in remarkable people. To attract, retain and leverage remarkable people YOU must weave the connection between their passions, their work, and one another.”
Dick Eaton, Founder and Chief Energizing Officer -Leapfrog Innovations

Surveillance, subjugation, personal responsibility and redemption through subversion: CCTV in London

London now has 10,000 state-funded CCTV cameras. This figure doesn't include cameras for traffic control or cameras controlled by private companies such as London Transport. The cost of installing and maintaining these cameras is estimated at £200 million over the past 10 years. Unfortunately they don't do their intended job.

Boroughs with more cameras do not have better crime detection rates:

[F]our out of five of the boroughs with the most cameras have a record of solving crime that is below average.

Indeed according to Nacro, a UK criminal justice charity, the money would have been better spent of street lighting which has been shown to cut crime by up to 20 percent.

I feel that a large part of the problem is to do with abdication of personal responsibility. There is a chain of deferring obligation that extends from the individual through the police and criminal justice system that if antisocial behaviour is recorded somewhere it will all be sorted out somehow in the end.

Technology is only a tool, and any tool is only as useful as it is effectively used. I am not advocating marauding bands of vigilantes taking to the streets, but the censure of our community is a powerful regulating factor for most people. For that to happen an act must be consciously and actively observed. We are ceding the power of our collective observations to an unconscious technological solution and in the process eroding the bonds of our community.

The power of observing antisocial acts is that it reveals the truth of the senselessness of the act to the miscreant. The taboos of our society are still there but they need to be maintained or they will wither and die. We don't need every minute of our day observed by machines. We need some crucial moments actively observed by people. It is revealing that street lighting that allows people to see better is more effective than CCTV in reducing crime.

There is one small benefit to all this surveillance. A group of filmmakers have drafted a manifesto for using these cameras to make films. The footage is available through the Freedom of Information Act and with a little ingenuity a story can be constructed.

The first of these films Faceless is due for release this autumn in the UK, and you can watch the trailer here.

Totnes leads the way

There was a poignant moment this week when - as well as wanting a solution to global warming - my youngest daughter also told me she wanted an ipod. As a kid, the former – had it been invented – would have surely featured on my wish list. The latter didn't bother me. These and other more worldly concerns were only to dawn on me in my early twenties – long after school and college.

Is it right I wonder to get schoolchildren concerned or even feeling bad about the alleged damage an industrialised minority of us are supposed to be doing to the majority of our environment? Whilst I'd love my daughter to grow up to be a responsible and useful adult, I really hate the fact that she may in any way have her childhood overshadowed or undermined by green guilt. To me, she's innocent and should in no way feel pain projected upon her by well-meaning adults.

There's a subtle, yet huge difference between being guilty and being responsible.

A local organisation living this distinction is Transition Town Totnes (TTT). Dear old funky town claims to be the UK's first to explore how we can prepare for a carbon constrained, energy lean world – in simple terms: how to survive if and when the oil starts running out, which some say could be any day now. If you consider how much of your own life is based on the consumption of fossil fuels, this is certainly a projest to keep an eye on, if not get fully involved in.

Very encouragingly, this is a community-led initiative which is working towards the creation of an "Energy Descent Action Plan" modelled on Kinsale's original idea of that name. "The thinking behind TTT is simply that a town using much less energy and resources than we presently consume could, if properly planned for and designed, be more resilient, more abundant and more pleasurable," say the local organisers.

This is a "timetabled way down from the oil peak", add TTT who strive to be inclusive, imaginative, practical and fun. With the emphasis on being fun and easy, this approach is not about being an expert, It's more about getting involved as well as the chance to "meet lots of interesting people, strengthen your community, and learn new skills."

Initiatives so far that take shelter under the TTT umbrella include an alternative currency - the Totnes Pound , and sub-groups that are looking at building, energy use, healthcare, food, the arts, transport, local government and economics. Of particular interest to me is the Heart and Soul group which is “exploring ways to support and inspire us through these challenging and exciting times”. Taking a good look at how we can prepare our hearts and minds for the predicted ecological and social shifts, they are dealing with the “psychology of change”. And in the face of energy descent, they recommend a “consciousness ascent” – good thinking.

“Many believe that transforming our world will mean a deep change of heart and mind, as the transition to sustainability goes far beyond the immediate practical tasks”, say this section of Transition Town Totnes. “Themes that have already emerged include understanding the psychology of the industrial growth society, reconnecting with nature, expressing how it feels to be alive and engaged at such an uncertain and critical time and creating community celebrations”.

At the official “unleashing” of TTT, speaker Chris Johnstone said: “the question is whether we start being ahead of the game, and actually start adapting before the price of oil starts going through the roof, before oil becomes more difficult to get hold of, or supermarkets have problems stocking their shelves. If we can adapt before that happens, then we're in a much better position to adapt to the changes rather than being defeated by those changes.”

Echoing the words of visionary Buckminster Fuller - "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete" – it’s good to see that Totnes are leading the way and engaging themselves practically, positively and hopefully; not succumbing to the stunning effects of the many gloomy, doomy messages that bombard us daily.

All power to this transitioning Totnes elbows…

“Totnes has an opportunity here to be ground breaking internationally. I have been talking about this idea of The Great Turning, that maybe in 400 years time, if humanity finds a way through, maybe they will look back at this time at the beginning of the 21st century as a crucial time, as the last decade of the Oil Age. Maybe they will tell stories about what happened in Totnes,” adds Chris.

The Heart and Soul group holds regular open meetings, discussions, workshops, and events to explore these themes and uncover new ones. To receive updates, email sophyb@btinternet.com or call 01803 863766.

You can shape the future of the music industry

There is a maelstrom of controversy around the use of bit-torrent and peer-to-peer file-sharing of music fulminating at the moment. There are (at least) two sides to the argument and perhaps the only thing that is clear is that the status quo will not stand.

On one hand the music industry is furious with the bit-torrent and peer-to-peer sites. They paint them as pirates stealing food from the mouths of starving artists. On the other hand the pirates say that internet distribution has changed things forever and that the old commercial models make no sense in the new world of interconnected information. The truth, or certainly a sane solution, lies somewhere in the middle.

It is somewhat disingenuous of the music industry spokesmen to claim to be speaking for starving artists. Although James Blunt often looks like he could do with a good feed I imagine he is well compensated for what he does. The real threat of the changes afoot are to the companies at the top of the music industry food chain. Bit-torrent in particular is a fantastically efficient method of distributing digital information. It cuts out the physical manufacture of CDs, requires no transportation and no retail outlet.

Following this argument through, peer network distribution cuts out a large part of the role that many music industry companies perform. So perhaps they are more worried about their own futures than where James Blunt's next hot dinner is coming from. It all sounds rosy at first. We can all strap on our tricorn hats and eye-patches and download anything we want, can't we?

Unfortunately not, or at least not yet with a clean conscience. While there may be some real marketing advantages to releasing music on peer network sites there is currently no direct way to extract any revenue and this once again swings the pendulum in favour of the waif-like Mr Blunt and his ilk. If you are already making money from your music and have access to the monetized distribution networks the peer network sites are a great meretricious marketing tool. Indeed the music industry is actively using them for research now as this article from Torrentfreak.com points out. But what of those fighting their way up the greasy pole how does this emerging model help them?

At the moment it doesn't directly though the potential is huge. The distribution of wealth through-the music industry is still based on the old models where much is done on guesswork. It has kept some cats fat, but it doesn't share the wealth. With the ability to track exactly what has been downloaded over the internet there is an opportunity to create a system where artists really are paid based on their popularity, where the medium of distribution is open to all and talent is rewarded rather than the size of your marketing budget. While James Blunt might be gaunt his marketing budget is not.

The infrastructure is emerging but it is not fully enabled or monetized yet. It could be on the basis of subscriptions or perhaps sponsorship. The solution is out there waiting to be discovered, and it will emerge. One day we will be able to download content for invisible (or even no) cost, all artists will prosper according to their popularity and the playing field will be level.

If this sounds like something you would like to happen then I would encourage you to actively engage with the process. Support sites like Amie Street that are proposing alternative distribution methods and don't accept the industry line that file-sharing is evil. Engage with the process and improve it.

P.S: It is unfair to single out James Blunt for ridicule. There are scores of corporate drones cranking out music by the yard for their paymasters. I just happened to see his tragic face on a billboard this morning.

Tools for Transformation

Big up to Peter Shepherd who created the Tools for Transformation site, newsletter and po - http://www.trans4mind.com

One of his readers puts it so well: "Just a quick message to say I think trans4mind is fantastic! In my opinion it is exactly what the Internet should be about. I knew something was missing in my life and trans4mind has helped me identify the pieces. It is good to see so much valuable self help information made available in one place!" - Jason

meme re:man

I'm a fan of the growing recognition of "memes", one of Richard Dawkins' better contributions namely "a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation" in his book The Selfish Gene (1976).

I found out about the idea in Randy Gage's book "Why you're dumb, sick and broke. . . and how to get smart, healthy and rich" - a different and arguably more accessible platform than the religious atheist Dawkins. See: http://randygage.com/products/sick-broke.html

Anyway, there's a new meme book; turbocharging the idea. Apparently, vMemes are the basis of a new book - Spiral Dynamics by Don Beck and Christopher Cowan.

Steve Dinan of The Esalen Institute says: "this is really a terrific book ... it presents, in fascinating detail, a spiral developmental model of worldviews. Beck and Cowan call these patterns of thinking vMemes (short for values-attracting meta-memes)."

More importnatly, "Beck and Cowan are more interested in lubricating change effectively than rejecting and overthrowing old structures."

You can find it at: http://www.spiraldynamics.com/index.htm