In just ten minutes, this video creatively and convincingly demonstrates the utter folly demonstrated by our common modern understanding of compensation and incentives in the workplace. (Thanks to new acquaintance Guillaume Gautherau for the recommendation!) Highlighting research done by economists from MIT, Carnegie Mellon and University of Chicago (hardly bastions of progressive thought), the video debunks the concept that more money makes people work harder. Leveraging the example of Linux, the thesis points to three primary motivations for the best and brightest people of our generation: autonomy, mastery and purpose.
The work is a collaboration between Daniel Pink, renown author and authority on modern workstyle, and RSAnimate, a division of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), a multidisciplinary cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress in the UK.
Progressives, social entrepreneurs, free-lancers, creatives and anyone else mindful of cultural transformation will find the video a great investment of 10 minutes (and if you haven’t seen the RSAnimate’s unique style, you’re in for a double treat).
News junkies, commodity traders and climate change scientists are all tracking last week’s midwest flooding, noting the confluence of impacts, including global commodity prices, US food costs, regional property damage, ethanol futures. All of this is, of course, written in the context of the upcoming US election, and all the subterfuge within.
Over at AWhere (more here, here and here), they spent the week putting together a pretty cool package that allows individuals to make maps specific to any frame of reference. Rather than relying on the media or on other mapmakers to tell you how to think about the flooding, you can interact with the map, ask it questions, and determine for yourself the impact on your business, life, community or other perspective.
What’s the nuance?
Data visualization is one of the most important frameworks for gaining insight. But professional mapmakers have owned a near-monopoly over the frame of reference since mapping began. Now the power is in your hands. Google Maps, Google Earth and Virtual Earth have set the stage for interacting with maps. AWhere takes this evolution to the next step, and lets you plot your data (as many layers as you can generate) on to a map, creating your own view of things.
(note: here’s a version of a piece I ran over at AWhere’s new blog. Check it out for good info on 2008′s biggest trend in business intelligence (BI).)
TechWeb published the Executive Summary of Ventana Research’s new benchmark survey on the impact of location and geo-analytics on business intelligence practices in the enterprise, calling it one of the major corporate trends of 2008.
Essentially, it demonstrates a strong business case for the deep integration of location intelligence and geo-analytics into business analysis in the growing field of BI, though it’s important to notice that it was financed by two of the largest providers of location intelligence software.
Beyond the bromides, there were some interesting revelations that buttress the benefits location intelligence provides.