The Obvious?http://www.euansemple.com/theobvious/en-GB2010-03-21T08:26:42ZSquarespace Site Server v5.9.3 (http://www.squarespace.com/)A magic moment with my favourite guy in techhttp://www.euansemple.com/theobvious/2010/3/17/a-magic-moment-with-my-favourite-guy-in-tech.htmlEuan2010-03-17T07:55:11Z

Leo Laporte crowd surfing while live streaming @ Diggnation
Originally uploaded by Jeremy Johnstone

]]>Social Business Edgehttp://www.euansemple.com/theobvious/2010/3/15/social-business-edge.htmlEuan2010-03-15T21:58:34ZI've just been booking my flights over to New York to join a really smart bunch of folks taking part in Stowe Boyd's Social Business Edge Conference on the 19th of April. He describes it thus:

Today, more than ever, management is reexamining and rethinking the basic principles of business: how to innovate and prosper. To that end, managers are looking to stay in step with a changing world, and the rise of the social web in particular. How should today’s business leverage what is being learned about the social web?…

Some of the leading thinkers in this area believe that we are at the start of something much larger than a retake on marketing. We are seeing a rethinking of work, collaboration, and the role of management in a changing world, where the principles and tools of the web are transforming society, media, and business. The mainstays of business theory — like innovation, competitive advantage, marketing, production, and strategic planning — need to be reconsidered and rebalanced in the context of a changing world. The rise of the real-time, social web has become one of the critical factors in this new century, along with a radically changed global economic climate, an accelerating need for sustainable business practices, and a political context demanding increased openness in business.

These issues cannot be dealt with one by one, but instead approached as connected elements of a new world order for business. Social Business Edge is designed to address these issues, and to bring together a community of visionaries, practitioners, and tool makers, to collectively explore what the form the social business — and our aspirations to design it — will take.

Can't wait!

]]>Buildings are a buggerhttp://www.euansemple.com/theobvious/2010/2/11/buildings-are-a-bugger.htmlEuan2010-02-11T13:40:23ZAs I flit like a bee from one big organisational headquarters to another it occurs to me that such buildings add little benefit and restrict in the following ways:

You have to waste time, money and energy traveling to them.

They cost a lot of money to maintain.

You are subject to IT networks that are slower and more restricted than your own at home.

You have to pretend to be working even when you are not whereas elsewhere you can stare out of the window and think.

You are less in control of who interrupts you and why.

Their architecture is often depressing rather than uplifting.

Can you think of any more reasons?

]]>Happy Birthday Bloghttp://www.euansemple.com/theobvious/2010/2/6/happy-birthday-blog.htmlEuan2010-02-06T09:06:44ZThe Journey by Mary Oliverhttp://www.euansemple.com/theobvious/2010/2/6/the-journey-by-mary-oliver.htmlEuan2010-02-06T09:01:10ZThe Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice --
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do --
determined to save
the only life you could save.]]>Reboot 2009http://www.euansemple.com/theobvious/2010/2/5/reboot-2009-presentation.htmlEuan2010-02-05T17:40:16ZThe video of my keynote at last year's Reboot has gone up. To explain the start I decided that when Thomas announced me I wouldn't be on stage but sitting in the audience in an attempt to convey the discomfort people feel when things don't happen as they expect.

]]>Should everyone get involved in social media?http://www.euansemple.com/theobvious/2010/1/29/should-everyone-get-involved-in-social-media.htmlEuan2010-01-29T08:50:12Z

You can see the full series of Q&A's here

]]>"Working In The Wired World" Workshopshttp://www.euansemple.com/theobvious/2010/1/26/working-in-the-wired-world-workshops.htmlEuan2010-01-26T11:15:18ZOver the next two months I am going to be delivering a series of workshops in London covering various aspects of the business use of social media. I have been running similar events for some time within organisations but this is the first opportunity, in conjunction with Online Information, to make them available to a wider audience.

There are three workshops offering a comprehensive understanding of the impact the web on the workplace and the information needed to do something about it.

24th February GETTING TO GRIPS WITH THE WIRED WORLD

10th March HOW TO MANAGE THE NETWORKED WORKFORCE

24th March STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE IN THE POST INDUSTRIAL AGE

If you are unable to make it yourself, or know of someone else who would benefit from any or all of these workshops, do please forward this link.

]]>Geoprivacyhttp://www.euansemple.com/theobvious/2010/1/22/geoprivacy.htmlEuan2010-01-25T05:59:01ZStowe Boyd writes this morning of the issues of geolocation tools and privacy. I have been an early adopter of Brightkite, Foursquare, Twitter geotagging, Fire eagle and Google Latitude. The only ones I use now are Foursquare and Twitter and even then not all of the time. Like Stowe I often zoom out to city level rather than being specific about my location. I don't automatically post locations to Twitter to try avoid annoying people with too much noise and only do so when I think there might be a chance of meeting up with someone.

My experience so far has been 100% positive with many serendipitous meetings that I wouldn't have had without letting people know where I am.

I am always surprised when people write as if they were victims of technology rather than in control of it - I guess it is a bit like email!

]]>All you need is lovehttp://www.euansemple.com/theobvious/2010/1/22/all-you-need-is-love.htmlEuan2010-01-22T18:29:40ZI attended a funeral today. A very moving and nice tribute to a man who had a real zest for life and was very much loved by everyone who knew him. One of the readings was from 1 Corinthians 13 which I quote below.

As I listened I heard it in terms of some of the things that can seem to really matter in this brave new 2.0 world but which in fact maybe don't.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
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