Keynote: The Business Opportunities of the Future

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This morning I gave the keynote at the MyBiz Expo 2011, on Business Opportunities of the Future.

I had been interviewed for the cover story of February edition of MyBusiness magazine on which industries will prosper and shrink in the decade ahead. I shared some thoughts on the blurring boundaries of industries, and some specific ideas on what sectors to delve into and avoid (on which I’ll share more in a future post).

Below are the slides from my presentation, which include discussion of emerging business opportunities as well as a detailed view of my Success in a Connected World framework. As usual, be warned that the slides are not intended to stand alone but to provide visual support to my presentation.

Why crowdsourcing should (and maybe will) be the future of government

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You may have seen the marvellous news that Iceland is crowdsourcing its new constitution.

Draft clauses are put up on the Internet for people to comment on below, or on the Council’s Facebook page. Council meetings are open and streamed live, video interviews with council members are posted on YouTube, and they interact with citizens on Twitter. Since the constitution will be put to a referendum when it is completed, they very rightly thought citizens should be involved from the outset.

A similar but less ambitious project was the public redrafting of New Zealand’s Police Act, which was done on a wiki in 2007.

These examples represent the future of government, though the path forward will be long and slow.
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9 great ways to make the iPad a useful work tool: structures, setup, apps

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When I posted a little while back about using an external keyboard with the iPad, I promised to share how I use the iPad for work.

When I bought the iPad I found it quite frustrating for a while in trying to use the iPad as I wanted, but I managed to work it out, and some of the elements that were missing at launch have been put in place. Here is what I have learned and how I use the iPad for work. I’m keen to hear what others have learned, as I’m sure there are plenty of other great tips.

1. External keyboard.
To my mind an iPad is of very limited use, almost a toy, without an external keyboard. I am sitting in an economy seat on an airplane right now, able to pull out my iPad and immediately write a blog post, respond to email, make notes in my to do list, or work on a client report. It is a fully functional work device. For more on this see my post The REAL transformative package: iPad plus wireless keyboard.
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Who is the conscience of the global brain?

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The Business21C radio program on Monday morning broadcast an interview with myself and and a representative of Anonymous on the topic of cybercrime.

You can listen to the 25 minute cybercrime program as a podcast from the Business21C site. Here is the description of the program:

Last month the hacking of Sony’s PlayStation3 system that compromised 77 million credit card users’ details gained worldwide attention as Sony shutdown its PlayStation network and music streaming service.

The network breach raised questions about how the companies that fall victim to cyber crime can track down hackers, and whether they can overcome the challenges posed by online security breaches.

If the key to security is raising collective consciousness through education, how can this be done effectively? Is the government’s proposed Internet filter an adequate protection measure?

This week in part 2 of Business21C Weekly’s series on cybercrime, we speak to Ross Dawson, keynote speaker and expert on the future of business and technology; and we are joined by a member from the activist hacker group Anonymous, to discuss what is needed to ensure cyber security for individuals and business.

It was a fascinating conversation, particularly given the participation of Anonymous, though as he noted, no one person can truly speak for a distributed network.
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Keynote: Social Media in Fashion Retailing

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Tomorrow morning I am giving a keynote to the managers of a national shopping center group about the power of social media in retail, focused on fashion.

Here are the slides for my keynote. As always, the slides are not intended to stand alone, but to provide visual support for my presentation.

The presentation covers three domains:
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List of the top 100 Twitter cities in the world

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While Twitter started in the US, it is now a global activity. Below, courtesy of Twitter Grader’s Top Cities, is the list of the current top 100 cities in the world on Twitter, based on the total number of users who put that city in their location setting.

We have color-coded it to make it easier to see the distribution:
North America: 52 (of which 5 in Canada)
Europe: 20 (of which 9 in UK)
Asia: 16
Latin America: 7
Oceania: 5

See below for the full list. How does your city rank? Is it higher or lower than you would expect?
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Presentation: Build Your Business with Crowdsourcing

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Today I spoke at Australian Chambers Business Congress on Build Your Business with Crowdsourcing.

Below are the slides from my presentation. Usual disclaimer: these slides are meant to accompany my presentation, not to stand alone. But in fact this time there is a little more detailed content than usual in my slides, as this was intended as a highly practical session on how to approach crowdsourcing.

I’ll be fleshing out this content in other posts over the coming months.

The brave new world of intellectual property

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Here is an excerpt from my book Living Networks, giving an introduction and context to my coverage of the fundamental shifts in the intellectual property landscape today:

In 1421 the government of Florence awarded the world’s first patent to Filippo Brunelleschi for a means of bringing goods up the usually unnavigable river Arno to the city. He demanded and was duly awarded legal protection for his invention, being given the right for three years to burn any competitor’s ship that incorporated his design.

Fast forward almost six centuries, and the global economy is dominated by intellectual property, and the flow of information and ideas. This “property” exists in the space of our minds rather than under our feet, yet it is by far the most valuable economic resource that exists today.
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List of the top 100 Twitter influencers in Australia

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One of the key facets of the rise of the reputation economy is that reputation and influence can increasingly be measured. The rise of tools that measure people’s influence in social media channels, such as PeerIndex, Klout, and Twitter Grader, is just the beginning of a far broader shift to metrics of influence and reputation.

We have compiled a list of the most influential people in Australia on Twitter as measured by PeerIndex, which is based on a combination of authority, activity, and audience. Follow the link for the original list, or you can see the top 100 as of today below. Problogger Darren Rowse is at the top, and our Prime Minister Julia Gillard in 100th place. I come in second place on the list, driven in particular by the measurement of my authority. Of course the list could be quite different as judged by other influence engines.

Note that the list does NOT include entertainment related profiles (such as Justin Bieber fan JDBaustralia and Melbourne-based Filipino TV star Jasmine Curtis-Smith), corporate accounts, or media accounts such as ABCNews.
[NOTE:] If you are in Australia, have a PeerIndex score of 50 or more, and are not on the Australia list on PeerIndex, email us at oztwitter [AT] ahtgroup [DOT] com and we’ll add you to the list (or even easier, click on ‘Suggest someone’ on the top right of the PeerIndex page).

The full list is below.
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Awesome 3D visual mapping on Sydney Opera House

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Last Friday I was at the opening party for the Vivid Sydney festival, on East Circular Quay directly opposite the Opera House. The opening speeches concluded by triggering an absolutely awesome light show on the Opera House, called Lighting the Sails. The Opera House has been lit up for the last two festival, but this far transcends those. It was absolutely stunning. The projections will continue over the next two weeks of the festival.

A while ago I blogged about how amazing new 3D video projection can bring buildings to life, including some videos of great examples – well worth a look. In essence, the technologies used draw on a detailed 3D mapping of the building’s surface, enabling projections to take full advantage of the contours of the building.

The group selected to use the extraordinary canvas of the Opera House was French group SuperBien. It’s hard to imagine any video could do justice to the show. However here are few samplers. The first video is a teaser created by SuperBien before the event.

Teaser Vivid Festival 2011 à Sydney from SUPERBIEN on Vimeo.

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