Shun The frumious Bandersnatch!

gordian knotWords mean things.  One of the more obnoxious statements of the obvious, and yet I find myself saying it more often these days.  The more I delve into understanding complexity theory, network science, and struggle to understand cognition and neuroscience, the more frustrated I get when people use terms in ways appear at odds with the literature.

As I was preparing this blog to address the use of ‘complex’ versus ‘complicated,’ I found that I am certainly not alone in trying to retain some clarity of language.  Paul Jansen, in particular, has a great blog post on exactly this topic.  Nevertheless, I owe the nice people who followed this exchange on Twitter this week a brief explanation of my frumiosity.

This week, caught up in the holiday mood – I found myself engaging this week in an exchange with a gentleman, Roger Sessions, who has developed a method for IT architecture designed to ‘reduce complexity.’  His paper features references to “attacking complexity” and includes a method for measuring it.  He introduces the “standard complexity unit,” based on something he refers to as “Glass’s Law,” which posits that for every 25% increase of complexity in a problem space, there is a 100% increase in the complexity of the solution space. This reflects work from a 1979 paper by Scott Woodfield, who first posed this idea.  The idea is that increasing the complexity of problems tackled by software engineers does not increase the complexity of the solution in a linear sense, but on an exponential scale.  It is this problem that Sessions seeks to take on with his approach.

Now the notion of reduced complexity is attractive, if you understand complexity as a system that has developed so many connections as to become unmanageable. This is a common usage for ‘complex,’ which seems to translate to “something too hard to understand or manage or control or cost.”  The notion of ‘wicked problems‘ applies here as well.  The greater the connections you find among things, the greater are your odds of decision paralysis and “failure.”  Solution?  Easy, make things simple.  The danger, for me, comes in simplifying management behaviors in ways that deny the nature of the systems we are attempting to manage.  If you believe complex is nothing more than the ‘opposite of simple,’ you are missing some of the most promising areas of applied research in a half century.

When I engaged the gentleman on his use of the term complexity, I received what I believed was an odd response.  For someone who uses the word in titling his books and lectures, he did not appear terribly connected to the word itself.  He even invited me to suggest a different term for what he was trying to achieve. The closest I could come to his definition for complexity (admittedly, without buying his book) is an ‘exponential growth in system states with regards to information technology systems.’  To me, he is trying to help people with an architectural approach that makes overly-complicated IT systems more manageable.

For his part, Roger was comfortable with my discomfort, because in his world “complex” merely means the opposite of “simple.”  Several of us during this Twitter-fuffle suggested the use of “complicated,” which suggests a system that has known but prolific connections.  Cause and effect in complicated systems are related and knowable, but analysis by an expert will likely be needed to connect them when something goes wrong.  My example here is the ‘check engine light’ on my car – while I am at a loss to understand the cause, an expert with tools can ascertain it quickly.  Modern car engines are extremely complicated.

They are not, however, complex.  My car engine is unlikely to evolve new features anytime soon.  There is a reason medical doctors have different training regimes than auto mechanics.  The latter deal with complicated systems, the former with complex ones.

Complexity is a specific term.  Complexity, as described in the literature, is a science that seeks to explain how emergent order (often called ‘hidden order’ or ’self-organization’) is observed in systems or (most) networks. For what it’s worth, I believe those seeking to develop IT architectures could benefit from a deep understanding of complexity, as their users are sloppy humans in messy and evolving sub- and extra-organizational work networks.  Methods for complex systems management show some promise in ‘attacking’ the unmanageable IT systems that Mr. Sessions is tackling here.  It may be that observing and nourishing self-organization among human-based networks, rather than embedding and enforcing an existing or desired organization within them, will help architects develop more manageable and relevant IT systems.

As a blog post, however, this has gone on long enough.  I just wanted to explain my bristling at a usage of the term ‘complex’ in a way that conflicts with the literature. At one point, Roger reminded me that he is trying to tackle an extremely serious problem.  I respect that, of course, and was doing the same.  Given the great work that is ongoing around complexity and complex adaptive systems, we owe some respect to giants upon whose shoulders we seek to stand.

Posted in Complexity | 1 Comment

Learning in the Digital Age – John Seely Brown

Hat tip to Fred Zimny on finding this gem. I embed this video here because I wanted to also give some initial thoughts on what I’ve learned watching this.  You may be tempted to skip the video once you see it will take an hour out of your life.  This would be a mistake, but just in case I thought I would share some of my notes.

At first, I hesitated when I saw the title “digital age,” because I presumed I would be hearing more about the “digital learner,” and how kids are just so different today.  I don’t find there is much science to support this notion, and believe strongly that ‘generational’ characterizations are lazy, deny our shared humanity, and empower us to ignorance.  I’m looking at you, Myers-Briggs.

Much to my delight, John Seely Brown instead here touches on a core problem that I’ve had a hard time describing.  Specifically, and this comes during the Q&A: “there is no norm, no prototype, no typical example, in a power law distribution.  And the human mind is unprepared to reason about things that don’t have examples.”  We are trained to believe in Gaussian (normal) distributions, whereas much of our world is made up of power law distributions.

What? Brown gives an example:  what if architects had to account for humans who didn’t adhere to a normal distribution for height, but rather a power law distribution?  There would be millions of us around 1 foot tall, and a few poor folks 1 thousand feet tall.  How would you design that building?  Fortunately for architects, humans generally follow a normal law distribution for height.  Unfortunately for the rest of us, much of the world does not.

Translation:  we are surrounded by ‘black swans.’  The more we rely on the established wisdom about how the world works, the less prepared we are to succeed in a world that is in flux.  The good news is that our digital age, properly embraced, can help us adapt our notions of learning.  Our first inclination with new technology is to use it to evidence existing practices.  ”Digitizing paper,” if you will.  Moving beyond this will be key to embracing what Brown calls the “new disposition” for a digital age learner.

Other nuggets:

* The biggest obstacle to innovation is wisdom.

* Singapore is reinventing their education system based on a single maxim:  ”teach less, learn more.”

* Marking on a curve creates incentives that fight against social learning.  And all learning is social.

* Nothing clarifies ideas better than explaining them to others.

* Learning through creating, playing provides the foundations for constantly mastering a world in flux.  If your world is static, learn through teaching. If it is in flux, learn by tinkering.

Enjoy!

Posted in Education System | 2 Comments

A Year Ago.

If you ask my friends and new colleagues, you will find I am known as the slightly addicted Internet guy.  iPhone?  Why, certainly.  MySpace?  Cancelled that one, haven’t you?  Facebook? Got my wife hooked on it.  LinkedIn?  Pro.  Twitter?  Are you serious?  @jbordeaux has had brief brushes with stars from Brea Grant to Danny DeVito.  (The former thanked me for an insomnia suggestion, and I’m fairly certain I made the latter laugh once with a ribald remark.)Tin can phone

Occasionally, I get a serious if exasperated question:  Why?  Why are so many people chattering away with strangers and long-lost childhood friends?  Why on Earth would people send text messages to, well, the Earth?  Why are people sharing private information in this online expansion of a phenomenon as old as time – social networks?  In the right mood, I tell them my story.  It’s time I shared it here.

Right as the holiday season hit in 2008, I learned I would be laid off after New Year’s.  As a result, I don’t recall much of last year’s holidays.  My family was around me, but I was absent and overwhelmed.  Every day was spent looking for work, but not in the usual way.  Instead, I used the time to develop and share some ideas; including formalizing this blog, taking it from a blog I called DrFuzzy to a something more business-like.  I opened a consultancy and announced my availability for both contracts and job offers.

Trusting in the theory, I engaged in simple conversations without agenda.  Searching for new colleagues; I made new friends, from Harvard professors to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.  My long-suffering Bride trusted me and supported me every minute, but I could see the questions deep in her eyes.  I was not blanketing the capital city with my c.v., I was chatting on Twitter and blogging.  Not about my situation or needs, but about my ideas.  I even attended a “Tweetup,” my announcement of which prompted one minor media luminary to send me a private message, “What the F is a tweetup?”  I had coffee meetings with fascinating people – with no agenda other than “we should talk.” The conversations arose from shared ideas, and the lack of an agenda let us wander through fields of inquiry, often ending with nothing more than additional names and the promise of more coffee. I joined online sites that share itineraries, to learn when these new friends may be nearby.  (This led, in part, to several treasured in-person conversations with giants in my field.)

two girls talking on a tin phoneStill, I had a job interview almost every week.  And I landed contracts.  With one exception, each of these came directly from social media and colleagues/friends I had never “met” in real life.  In the end, I avoided bankruptcy, or any real disruption to my family.  I crafted an unpleasant Plan B, plotted the date that it would kick in, and threw myself into this experiment.  By the time that date arrived, I was well on my way out of my personal recession.

Using online social media tools, I stitched together a loose network of future colleagues and relationships to be tended.  Rather than broadcasting my increasingly urgent need for income, I trusted the network effect would work in time.

And it did.

Today I find myself engaged in meaningful and rewarding work to redesign a failed education system; working alongside leading professionals in innovation, public policy, and social change.

A year ago, I could not predict where I would be today.  Such is the nature of complexity and networks.  The theory suggested I should place myself in conversations, expand my connections into new networks, and a vocation would emerge.  (While I embrace the notion, I hope I never again have to conduct such experiments with my family’s financial health.)  I saw the traditional reaction to job loss as creating one-to-one intense conversations trying to match my talents to a company’s need.  Instead, I took this path.  Which amounted to no path at all, certainly not one any could predict.  To paraphrase Mr. Frost, that has made all the difference.

I want to thank all who I’ve met in the past twelve months, and commit to further conversation.  I have an obligation now to continue in the spirit of my late friend Melissie Rumizen, a ’super-connector’ soul whose greatest passion was creating friendships.  I am extremely fortunate, and have much to be thankful for this holiday season.  Thank you.

Posted in Personal, Social Media | 7 Comments

All Learning is Personalized

Nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. — Oscar Wilde

Let’s imagine a conversation at the close of the 19th century.  You and a team of designers are considering elements of the internal combustion engine that will, if successful, trigger a revolution in personal transportation and change the course of history.  In a conversation with team members, you are presented with a series of challenging questions regarding the use of a sparkplug.Spark

“How do we know that’s the right design?  Where has this worked before?”

You are flummoxed because there is precious little evidence that you are on the right path.  You understand the principles of fuel and ignition, but you cannot demonstrate how the automobile will transform social structures and economies.  You are engaged in the new, and must resort to principles within known science rather than case studies.  You cannot predict how your creation will emerge and co-evolve in a new world, but in order to begin, you first establish some predictive rationale that lets you begin on a road that has the highest probability of success.

We who believe in systemic transformation for education are confronted with this challenge.  We cannot point to complete system exemplars, because the system we are encouraging does not yet exist. We instead develop principles of design that respect known science to the degree possible.

Let us take one of those principles, problematically titled “personalized learning.”  How do we know this is important?  Why the emphasis on learning, rather than instruction?  And why should the learning experience be tailored to the individual?    The first consideration when pondering how to help children learn should be to explore how they learn.  Fortunately, advances in neuroscience help us reconsider our approach to young minds, and answer some fundamental questions:  Are we born with a vessel into which knowledge is poured?  Or do we create our own mind?


Reviewing the science, we find that all learning is personalized.  Neuroscience, cognitive science, sociology, psychology, and philosophy agree – we create representations of our world based on individual experience.  No amount of instructional method can ensure an “accurate” uptake of information.  This is because you are designed to predict events in a complex world.  You do this by developing a consistent sense of the world around you, the memory of input patterns experienced from birth.  The infant brain is incredibly plastic, meaning it can change and rewire itself based on the type of inputs flowing into it.

When patterns appear familiar, you recall previous similar patterns and form a sense of the future based on them.  An intelligent human develops the ability to predict events in their environment, so that they may adapt themselves or elements of that environment to suit their interests and goals.

“The cortex is still dividing itself into task-specific functional areas long into childhood, based purely on experience.  The human brain has an incredible capacity to learn and adapt to thousands of environments that didn’t exist until recently.  This argues for an extremely flexible system, not one with a thousand solutions for thousand problems.” (Hawkins, p.54)

As the world is not a predictable machine, this means we do not develop complicated decision trees and Spock-like logic methods.  Instead, we explore, experiment, fail and learn about our world in physical and temporal context.  These learnings are shaped by individual experience, and are inherently intimate.  Our brains constantly create new structures with every new experience or piece of information – these structures are more specific to our individual humanity than our fingerprints or iris patterns.

You are designed to work with incomplete information.  The way you understand your world is through a combination of real inputs and memory.  You resolve ambiguity by continually filling in logical gaps based on learned patterns over time.  In conversation, not every word you hear is understandable out of context, rather, you predict the meaning of phonemes you hear based on the conversation itself.  This same principle applies when reading handwritten words – by themselves perhaps ambiguous, we resolve this by interpreting the context and resolving the meaning based on learned patterns. How does this work?

“Memories are stored in a form that captures the essence of relationships, not the details of the moment.  When you see, feel, or hear something, the cortex takes the detailed, highly specific input and converts it to an invariant form.  It is the invariant form that is stored in memory, and it is the invariant form of each new input pattern that it gets compared to.  Memory storage, memory recall, and memory recognition occur at the level of invariant forms.” (Hawkins, p.82)Cute Baby Boy Isolated on White

You resolve ambiguous input data based on how you believe the world works. This is due to our memory structures, which provide for “invariant form memory,” a memory of input patterns allow for partial patterns to recall whole ones.  This is what occurs when you see a friend in the mall – catching just a glimpse is enough for you to ‘recognize’ her.  This is termed ‘invariance.’  If you see someone at a bus stop partially obscured by a sign, you ‘assume’ the rest of her based on previous patterns that assume whole humans.  This ‘filling in’ of details occurs at the most detailed sensory input, where the blind spot we all have near the center of our eye is accommodated by previous cognitive patterns.  At the top of the cognitive hierarchy, where higher order pattern matching occurs, you experience the same ‘filling in’ for missing details.

This is true from the simplest form – we don’t notice the blind spot in every human eye, but rather complete the image based on surrounding context – to the most complex, including how we make decisions.  One author, discussing the reality of intuitive or ‘recognitial’ decision-making, notes: “The basic aspect of recognitional decision making is that people with experience can size up the situation and judge it as familiar or typical.  Usually this assessment happens so quickly and automatically that we are not aware of it.” (Klein, p.89)

As a student is not passively absorbing what is provided, but rather continuously storing patterns and comparing them against a unique collection of invariant form memories – we see the student is already in control of the learning experience.  This is not new age fluffy thinking, this reflects the reality that embedded experience frames and shapes how we understand our world.

Preparing children to succeed involves acknowledging each child’s centrality to the learning experience.  We can choose to continue methods that are convenient to the adult, mass lectures or student ‘tracking,’ or we can provide a system that adapts to the individual minds in our care at every stage.  The science leaves us no option here – ‘personalized learning,’ by whatever name, is a central design principle for a transformed education system.

Sources

Deacon, T. W. (1997). The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.

Goffman, E. (1974). Frame Analysis:  An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press.

Hawkins, J., & Blakeslee, S. (2004). On Intelligence. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

Klein, G. (1998). Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions. London, UK: The MIT Press.

Posted in Education System | 9 Comments

Context is Destroyed – Rock of Cashel

I’ve been titling the last few posts in terms of how context can shift over time.  This is not intended as a great reveal of some new management method, it just came to me as a recurring theme during this drive through Ireland.  How do we understand, or not, the great sites from ancient Ireland?  For some sites, such as the monastic cities of Clonmacnoise or Glendalough, the context is preserved through accidents of geography or the persistence of reverence – or because perhaps they are a mere 1400 years old, and not 6,000. Recovering context for historical sites is made difficult due – in some cases – to the layers of later civilizations, the absence of stories when sites lay undiscovered for generations, or when there are deliberate attempts to change the context – as in this example, the Rock of Cashel.
The Rock of Cashel was a seat of Irish kings for Munster, dating back to 342 A.D., and was for a time the home of the high king Brian Boru.  It was St. Patrick, however, who made the Rock of Cashel important in Irish history, and activities following his arrival all but erased evidence of the Rock’s use as a seat for pagan kings.  It was here Patrick baptized, in 432, King Aengus.  (One legend holds that Patrick accidentally placed his staff into the top of Aengus’ foot during the baptism, but the King said nothing  When Patrick asked him later why he didn’t cry out or otherwise indicate the injury, and the King replied:  “I thought it was part of the ceremony.”)
The cross of St. Patrick sat on the alleged spot where this baptism took place, and some believe the stone used as a support for the cross is the rock at which the pagan Kings at Cashel were crowned.  It is possible that this rock was repurposed to hold a Christian cross, honoring the evangelist Patrick.  (It barely resembles a cross due to erosion and weather.) The onset of the Christian era did not, however, repeal inter-clan rivalry among the Irish kings.
If you visit the Rock of Cashel, you will find Cormac’s Chapel, a small Romanesque building intended for the private use of King Cormac.  Even this structure was not left unchallenged.  Proving that inter-clan rivalry survived the onset of the Christian era in Ireland, the subsequent bishop was of a different clan, and apparently was not taken with the charming small Chapel.  A large Gothic cathedral was built directly across the front door of Cormac’s Chapel.
Finally, the Celtic cross is a good example of repurposed context.  The circle around the cross is interpreted by some as representing infinity, while its origin is undoubtedly the incorporation of something to charm the pagan, sun-worshipping Irish.  This reminds one of the repurposing of pagan holidays such as late December for use in Christian rituals, a deliberate changing of context in order to erase undesirable stories.

Reprinted from a recent guest stint over at cognitive-edge.com

I’ve been titling the last few posts in terms of how context can shift over time.  This is not intended as a great reveal of some new management method, it just came to me as a recurring theme during this drive through Ireland.  How do we understand, or not, the great sites from ancient Ireland?  For some sites, such as the monastic cities of Clonmacnoise or Glendalough, the context is preserved through accidents of geography or the persistence of reverence – or because perhaps they are a mere 1400 years old, and not 6,000. Recovering context for historical sites is made difficult due – in some cases – to the layers of later civilizations, the absence of stories when sites lay undiscovered for generations, or when there are deliberate attempts to change the context – as in this example, the Rock of Cashel.

The Rock of Cashel was a seat of Irish kings for Munster, dating back to 342 A.D., and was for a time the home of the high king Brian Boru.  It was St. Patrick, however, who made the Rock of Cashel important in Irish history, and activities following his arrival all but erased evidence of the Rock’s use as a seat for pagan kings.  It was here Patrick baptized, in 432, King Aengus.  (One legend holds that Patrick accidentally placed his staff into the top of Aengus’ foot during the baptism, but the King said nothing  When Patrick asked him later why he didn’t cry out or otherwise indicate the injury, and the King replied:  “I thought it was part of the ceremony.”)

Patrick's Cross at CashelThe cross of St. Patrick sat on the alleged spot where this baptism took place, and some believe the stone used as a support for the cross is the rock at which the pagan Kings at Cashel were crowned.  It is possible that this rock was repurposed to hold a Christian cross, honoring the evangelist Patrick.  (It barely resembles a cross due to erosion and weather.) The onset of the Christian era did not, however, repeal inter-clan rivalry among the Irish kings.

If you visit the Rock of Cashel, you will find Cormac’s Chapel, a small Romanesque building intended for the private use of King Cormac.  Even this structure was not left unchallenged.  Proving that inter-clan rivalry survived the onset of the Christian era in Ireland, the subsequent bishop was of a different clan, and apparently was not taken with the charming small Chapel.  A large Gothic cathedral was built directly across the front door of Cormac’s Chapel.

Finally, the Celtic cross is a good example of repurposed context.  The circle around the cross is interpreted by some as representing infinity, while its origin is undoubtedly the incorporation of something to charm the pagan, sun-worshipping Irish.  This reminds one of the repurposing of pagan holidays such as late December for use in Christian rituals, a deliberate changing of context in order to erase undesirable stories.

Posted in Ireland | Leave a comment

Context is Lost – Newgrange

Reprinted from a recent guest stint at cognitive-edge.com

Raise a glass, when you get a chance, to T.B. Naylor, who, one day in 1891, found himself or herself inside the center chamber of the passage tomb at Newgrange.  This was during a time after the restoration begun by Robert Campbell in 1699, and before the government took ownership of the historic site.  So Naylor, having no other compass to direct his/her actions, carved their name on one of the ancient stones.  The guides there now make a passing reference to “Victorian graffiti” and ask you to ignore it.
In Newgrange, the history is markedly different from other passage tombs. In Knowth, we have evidence detailing how each successive civilization made use of the hallowed grounds. In Newgrange, however, the fortunes of time led to a entombment. For thousands of years, the mysteries of Newgrange’s passage tomb lay beneath mounds of dirt that slid off the mound. An apparently random pattern of stones lay undisturbed amidst a gentle sloping field. Campbell uncovered the passage, the odd pile of quartz (from the Wicklow mountains, some 80 miles away), and the kerbstones.
An odd aspect of this passage was an upper doorway above the walkway into the center chamber.  As you walk to the center, you navigate an incline of two meters such that this upper doorway is now aligned with your feet.  And aligned as well with the horizon.  So precisely aligned that, for four days during the winter solstice, the rising sun shines into the narrow passageway, illuminating the chamber for 17 minutes at a time.
In a field below Newgrange lies an unexcavated passage tomb, stark in the middle of a Irish farmer’s land. Knowing Knowth, we have clues to Newgrange. Knowing Newgrange, we have clues to Tara, historically the center of Irish kingship, featuring also a passage tomb.
There are some forty such passage tombs across Ireland, many more across Western Europe – from Portugal through Scandinavia. What is the significance of these structures, what context can we reconstruct and with what tools?  The guide at Knowth advised us to look to the local language for clues – the Anglicized terms belie the context of later civilizations. The Irish language, once outlawed, retains important myths and tales. To these descendants of the Celtic age, Newgrange is not simply a burial tomb, it was home to the greatest of Celtic gods, the Dagda Mor and Aengus, his son.
Of course, the Irish language represents one of the civilizations that came after the builders of these passage tombs.  The oral histories that would help us understand context are absent. Artifacts are important for comparisons, and lunar and astronomic theories are important excursions – but the absence of the stories is felt deeply.

The Passage Tomb at NewgrangeRaise a glass, when you get a chance, to T.B. Naylor, who, one day in 1891, found himself or herself inside the center chamber of the passage tomb at Newgrange.  This was during a time after the restoration begun by Robert Campbell in 1699, and before the government took ownership of the historic site.  So Naylor, having no other compass to direct his/her actions, carved their name on one of the ancient stones.  The guides there now make a passing reference to “Victorian graffiti” and ask you to ignore it.

In Newgrange, the history is markedly different from other passage tombs. In Knowth, we have evidence detailing how each successive civilization made use of the hallowed grounds. In Newgrange, however, the fortunes of time led to a entombment. For thousands of years, the mysteries of Newgrange’s passage tomb lay beneath mounds of dirt that slid off the mound. An apparently random pattern of stones lay undisturbed amidst a gentle sloping field. Campbell uncovered the passage, the odd pile of quartz (from the Wicklow mountains, some 80 miles away), and the kerbstones.Newgrange entrance

An odd aspect of this passage was an upper doorway above the walkway into the center chamber.  As you walk to the center, you navigate an incline of two meters such that this upper doorway is now aligned with your feet.  And aligned as well with the horizon.  So precisely aligned that, for four days during the winter solstice, the rising sun shines into the narrow passageway, illuminating the chamber for 17 minutes at a time.

In a field below Newgrange lies an unexcavated passage tomb, stark in the middle of a Irish farmer’s land. Knowing Knowth, we have clues to Newgrange. Knowing Newgrange, we have clues to Tara, historically the center of Irish kingship, featuring also a passage tomb.

There are some forty such passage tombs across Ireland, many more across Western Europe – from Portugal through Scandinavia. What is the significance of these structures, what context can we reconstruct and with what tools?  The guide at Knowth advised us to look to the local language for clues – the Anglicized terms belie the context of later civilizations. The Irish language, once outlawed, retains important myths and tales. To these descendants of the Celtic age, Newgrange is not simply a burial tomb, it was home to the greatest of Celtic gods, the Dagda Mor and Aengus, his son.

Of course, the Irish language represents one of the civilizations that came after the builders of these passage tombs.  The oral histories that would help us understand context are absent. Artifacts are important for comparisons, and lunar and astronomic theories are important excursions – but the absence of the stories is felt deeply.

Posted in Ireland | Leave a comment

Context is Layered – Making Sense at Knowth/Cnogbha

Reposted from a recent guest stint over at cognitive-edge.com

When you visit Knowth, you stand amidst “passage tombs,” most likely built over 6,000 years ago. Surrounded by massive kerbstones featuring neolithic carvings, these magnificent structures have survived civilizations and North Atlantic weather.   Passage tombs are burial mounds that some believe were meant to be transition points for ancient souls, so called because they feature a single passage to the center of the mound.
Built around 3200 b.c., these predate the Giza pyramids and Stonehenge, and there are over forty across Ireland,.  Cremated remains were found in them, but no one knows the significance.  Large “curbstones” ring the larger of these, with neolithic, highly abstract art.  Symbology whose meaning was lost along with the civilizations who built them.
(Much later, as we got back to the rental car, the radio beeped on occasion, telling me helpfully “No TP, No TA.”  It struck me that I was just as lost to understand this message as I was trying to interpret the spirals from 5,000 years back.)
The message, the meaning of these structures, however, goes beyond grave sites, and has been forever lost – but clues remain for many researchers to ponder.  The use as a lunar calculator may be one of the more useful – and that researcher emphasizes his point by detailing how Knowth can be used to predict when Easter will fall for the coming year; making more than one point in his conclusion.
For Knowth, we learn the arrival of the Iron Age civilization (the Celts) meant a militarization of the structures, as the high ground they afforded provided an irresistible defensive point.  They dug deep ditches into the edges, wounding some of the passage structure, but accidentally preserving some of the more interesting kerbstones. The graves found that reflect this period feature females for the most part – with the odd inclusion of two decapitated males buried with a gaming set.  The “ring forts” of this era are apparently, in part, the re-purposing of these passage tombs.
By 1142, the Christians were adding settlements atop the mounds. This occurred along with the establishment of a monastery at Mellifont, itself dissolved in 1539.  The Protestant landed gentry took ownership of the lands until the current Irish Republic government took over the maintenance and management.
We appear to be the first civilization to issue tickets for the mere privilege of viewing these relics – therefore, our purpose is most greatly served by preserving or restoring the relics to their original state.  The context for what is “original,” however, remains layered.  In order to understand what we see before us, we must first understand the many civilizations who lived and died at Knowth.  The result is a fragmented understanding, with our filters applied to each – the Stone Age rituals layered with Celtic warriors, monastic settlers, landed gentry, and tourism attractors.
When it came to explaining the stone carvings, some of which appear on the hidden side of these boulders, the guide asked us to consider what sense the images made to us.  “Your guess is as good as anyone’s.”
Passage TombsWhen you visit Knowth, you stand amidst “passage tombs,” most likely built over 6,000 years ago. Surrounded by massive kerbstones featuring neolithic carvings, these magnificent structures have survived civilizations and North Atlantic weather.   Passage tombs are burial mounds that some believe were meant to be transition points for ancient souls, so called because they feature a single passage to the center of the mound.
Built around 3200 b.c., these predate the Giza pyramids and Stonehenge, and there are over forty across Ireland,.  Cremated remains were found in them, but no one knows the significance.  Large kerbstones ring the larger of these, with neolithic, highly abstract art.  Symbology whose meaning was lost along with the civilizations who built them.
(Much later, as we got back to the rental car, the radio beeped on occasion, telling me helpfully “No TP, No TA.”  It struck me that I was just as lost to understand this message as I was trying to interpret the spirals from 5,000 years back.)
Unexcavated passage tombThe message, the meaning of these structures, however, goes beyond grave sites, and has been forever lost – but clues remain for many researchers to ponder.  The use as a lunar calculator may be one of the more useful – and that researcher emphasizes his point by detailing how Knowth can be used to predict when Easter will fall for the coming year; making more than one point in his conclusion.
For Knowth, we learn the arrival of the Iron Age civilization (the Celts) meant a militarization of the structures, as the high ground they afforded provided an irresistible defensive point.  They dug deep ditches into the edges, wounding some of the passage structure, but accidentally preserving some of the more interesting kerbstones. The graves found that reflect this period feature females for the most part – with the odd inclusion of two decapitated males buried with a gaming set.  The “ring forts” of this era are apparently, in part, the re-purposing of these passage tombs.
By 1142, the Christians were adding settlements atop the mounds. This occurred along with the establishment of a monastery at Mellifont, itself dissolved in 1539.  The Protestant landed gentry took ownership of the lands until the current Irish Republic government took over the maintenance and management.
We appear to be the first civilization to issue tickets for the mere privilege of viewing these relics – therefore, our purpose is most greatly served by preserving or restoring the relics to their original state.  The context for what is “original,” however, remains layered.  In order to understand what we see before us, we must first understand the many civilizations who lived and died at Knowth.  The result is a fragmented understanding, with our filters applied to each – the Stone Age rituals layered with Celtic warriors, monastic settlers, landed gentry, and tourism attractors.
When it came to explaining the stone carvings, some of which appear on the hidden side of these boulders, the guide asked us to consider what sense the images made to us.  “Your guess is as good as anyone’s.”
Posted in Ireland | Leave a comment

How a Memory Palace Fuels the Elevator Speech

My apologies for the mixed metaphor in the title, but I’m pressed for time these days.  I certainly need to improve my blogging frequency, monthly just does not cut it with me.

My 'Other' Memory Palace

My 'Other' Memory Palace

We recently began to settle on a strategy story line at our little shop, to capture our approach to improving life options for children of color and poverty through education transformation.  Even that is a mouthful, but it gets harder.  Ready?  We aim to:

Accelerate achievement for these children through system redesign in order to realize a personalized learning experience for each child.  We will pursue this by working in a network of selected districts established under umbrella ‘innovation zones,’ connected by a common information services platform.  We will deliver frameworks for innovation in education and specific tools that have proven effective – recognizing a spirit of both experimentation and measurement.  We will work to establish lasting networks for sustained innovation across the educational system, improving the probabilities that innovation will lead to systemic transformation.  We don’t want to lock in our 21st century understanding of learning – we are currently locked into a 19th century approach and have learned the hard lesson of stagnant markets for education.

Whatever you think of the paragraph above (and how many floors would that elevator ride take to explain?), I am able to recite it at will because the pieces live in my childhood home on Long Island.

Allow me to elucidate.

Borrowing from Matteo Ricci and reaching back to 1596, I first rely on the accidental blueprint in my head regarding the home in which I spent my first 16 years (and then a few additional years, but that is a story for a different blog).  As I first heard and talked through our strategy, I walked through my home and placed artifacts or built structures to remind me of the elements.

Walking in my front door, I head first upstairs – in the bathroom I have placed a speedometer to reflect Acceleration.  We were a family of six, with one and one-half baths.  Acceleration was something often requested of the inhabitant.  Walking to the back bedroom, I find Personalization because my sister once painted the walls a hideous blue that refuses to leave my memory.  Walking back up the hall, I stop at the bedroom I used as a teenager.  Here is where I used to exit the home using the window, sliding down the garage roof for post-curfew appointments.  Of course, this reflects System Redesign.  In the smaller front bedroom, I placed imaginary scaffolding to reflect how much I wanted to rebuild the room when sleeping there as a small child.  Hence, Frameworks.  In the fourth bedroom are many boxes containing – the Tools.  The man of the house had been packed up and moved out when I was 11 years old, hence the packing crates with tools.

Walking downstairs, I sidle past the System Architects sitting on my couch – my sisters’ boyfriends who curried favor by fixing things around the house – to the dining room which long featured a “swamp cooler” for “air conditioning.”  Here I imagine the humidity and flora, including the Cocoon (innovation zone).  In the kitchen, where my mother spent weekends perfecting her sauce in a large kettle (every home on Long Island understands the Italian sauce that lasted all week), I find the Information Services Platform.  Here I pause for a bite of most excellent sausage (Laws), as most of my conversations begin with the new role of the Federal government in education and the opportunities this provides for our endeavors.

So there is my Memory Palace.  Hardly a palace to my recollection, but it’s an internalized physical space through which I can wander and survey the elements of our strategy. My childhood home is filled currently with the elements for education system transformation.

Where is your Memory Palace, and what do you keep there?

Posted in KM History, Personal, Strategy | 1 Comment

COBRA – Do Better, Jack!

We interrupt this blog for a cautionary and personal tale regarding health care insurance in the U.S. – specifically the predatory practices by at least one player deep within the system. This will be a long tale, and I apologize in advance for the length. The summary: If you lost your job and are using the ARRA subsidies to help pay COBRA premiums, be diligent about canceling this coverage once you are employed again. When I say diligent, I mean do not trust anyone involved in the process – be careful, and get everything in writing.

200906300858.jpgBackground: in the U.S., you pay a small portion of the actual health care insurance premium while your employer pays the lion’s share each month. The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986, or COBRA, provides you with the opportunity to remain a part of your employer’s group health plan following termination of employment – but you must pay the entire premium. This unwelcome shock to your finances can come at the worst time, as a laid-off employee can find themselves paying three times what they’re used to paying at precisely the moment they lose their source of income.

Earlier this year, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 – part of these provisions included a subsidy for partial COBRA health care premiums if you have been laid off from your job. The idea is to “restore” the employer’s share of the premium for up to nine months’ coverage. With so many losing their jobs since October of 2008, this is a welcome lift. I should mention that the previous employer does get hit with additional costs, as they are billed for their share of the premium for a terminated employee. Employers and employees must opt-in to the ARRA program.

My previous health coverage ended in February, whereupon I secured COBRA and began paying ADP my premiums as directed. Since I started paying the before ARRA took effect, I paid full-price. The ARRA subsidies were then applied to future premiums…and herein lies the tale.

I accepted full-time employment at my new job on 1 June. The following is a timeline written after an otherwise wasted day, in hopes this will help others from wasting theirs:

5/14 – Send email - first notice to ADP of intent to cancel coverage, as I’ve accepted full-time employment. Asked procedures to cancel and how to get refund of premiums paid.

5/15 – Bride calls CSR #1, who says ” Just send or fax us a letter saying you want to cancel coverage, and you’re all set!”

6/4 – Letter faxed as per instructions.

6/10 CSR #2 – Tells me I needed to have faxed information as of 5/31 to get it cancelled for June. Nevertheless, she promised cancellation as of 6/1.

6/24 CSR #3 – Apparently, someone overruled CSR #2 and I have to pay for June anyway. More worrisome, I’m on track to pay July as well. For some reason, my account status is Active. CSR #3 announces a cancellation as of 6/30, and issues a refund for July and August premiums. I vow to get June back somehow, since any collection of COBRA subsidy under ARRA while employed could lead to a penalty – basically, ADP is compelling me to defraud the U.S. Government by applying an ARRA subsidy against COBRA premiums for any date after 1 June!

6/30 ADP responds to my 5/14 email. Announces July has been paid. If I want to avoid paying August, I am invited to dance this dance once more. Amazingly, they admit to having my request for cancellation – but want it again. I’ve bolded salient portions below and masked dollar figures – I have not fixed the broken English:

“We have reviewed your account as per the request below. Our heartiest Congratulation to you for your new Job! The account is paid in full through 07/31/2009 and we have a credit of $xxx.xx in the account. In reference to your email regarding early cobra termination, we have received a written request on 06/04/2009 to cancel coverage effective 06/01/2009.

“Please be informed that you would need to post mark the letter by the last day of the previous month for the changes effective from the 1st day of the next month (that is, by 05/31/2009 for the plan changes effective from 06/01/2009).Since we received the request on 06/04/2009, we are unable to terminate the coverage and we have already forwarded the premium amount to the insurance carrier.

“However, if you wish to cancel cobra coverage effective 08/01/2009, you would need to send us a plan termination request letter via mail or fax, stating the effective date from when you would like to cancel cobra coverage, along with the account number in the letter and the letter needs to be signed by yourself and your spouse. You would need to post mark the letter by the last day of the previous month for the changes effective from the 1st day of the next month (that is, by 07/31/2009 for the plan changes effective from 08/01/2009).”

In English: Start over, and get it done today or we’re stealing your August premium as well.

6/30 (8:00 am) Called CSR #4 and asked for supervisor. Bride standing over me now, weapons at the ready.

6/30 Poobah #1 is horrified. “Not proud of my company today,” says she. She promises to fix all, but first has to talk with previous CSRs, then would call back “this morning.” Never heard from her again.

6/30 (1:00 pm) Called CSR #5. Claims Poobah #1 made it a priority case, and they’ll be back to me “tomorrow.” (Interestingly, he says he has a note in the case file that Poobah #1 called me to convey this information already. Nice.) Problem: tomorrow is 7/1, at which point, they can then charge for me for August since they didn’t hear from my by 6/30 – according to the email. Not accepting this answer, as the only written correspondence indicates the need to re-submit paperwork by 6/30. “Sir, I am trying to help you.” This is where I utter the phrase, several times, ”Do better, Jack!”

6/30 (1:30 pm) Transferred to Poobah #2. He assures me the research department will review the June issue and resolve in 48 hours. He is confident July and August will be refunded. I now refuse to hang up the phone until he sends me an email to this effect. He tells me this is not possible, he can only email people within ADP.”Do better, Jack.” He tells me to respond to the morning’s email and he will reply with the info. Ten minutes later, he claims technical difficulties have prevented the email from going out, and can I give him 24 hours to send it again? Yes, he really said that. “No. Do better, Jack.” He implores me to grant him more time, as he is messaging his supervisor, Uber Poobah #1. I ask to speak to that person, but – you guessed it – that is simply not possible. They will not come to the phone. I have reached the pinnacle of ADP Customer Service: all decisions occur above Poobah #2, where men and women labor in a client-free workplace.

By 2 pm, I have an email saying July and August will be refunded. Still wrestling over June, but mercifully, I let Poobah #1 hang up the phone.

My concern is not with my refund – I am employed and have the resources to eventually resolve this matter. And I will let the government know I did not intentionally defraud them out of a June premium subsidized with ARRA funds. My concern is those who cannot make their own hours and spend a day with ADP. What is happening to the hourly employee, (who, for example, may have received this end of month email after business hours today)?

What is happening to those who cannot spend hours on the phone with a call center?

What is happening to those who were supposed to be helped by ARRA? If they are still unemployed, they are still receiving health care coverage. But if they resume employment – they are likely being drained of their premium refund by ADP. ADP’s choice was to apply the ARRA funds to future premiums rather than refund the money and bill me. This decision ensured their fees for several months, as their efficient CSRs effectively stonewalled me for a full six weeks. The less persistent may give up – and these souls will then find themselves charged a 10% fee and told to return the subsidy for health coverage they tried to cancel.

To ADP, and I suppose United (see previous) or any business struggling to survive today, I guess the message is simple: Do Better, Jack.

Posted in Personal | 8 Comments

Virgin America: Humans at the Center

While she is not nearly this old, the Bride learned to drive on a Model A pickup truck. The experience was centered around the magic of personal locomotion – the human was a bit of an afterthought as the engineering of these first mass-produced automobiles focused instead on harnessing the challenging technology of the day. 200906261016.jpg She regales me with her memories: set the choke, engage the spark, and other terms lost to history. The automatic transmission, the electric starter, power windows and cup holders had not yet been invented. Today, buying a car with a manual transmission is within the interest of the hobbyist, but for most of us who are buying transportation rather than a car – the latter is the domain of a fading breed. The need to accommodate the human to early technology has passed, we can now tailor the experience to our comfort and convenience.

Back in the 1970s, I had the occasion to listen to one of the first Sony Walkman devices to enter the U.S. The sound was remarkable, I knew I was experiencing history. Of course, if you moved the portable device, the cassette tape would warble and distort the sound. No matter, the engineering needed to produce this remarkable sound hadn’t yet caught up to the iPod experience. I accepted the limitations of motion because the innovation of the sound experience was worth the inconvenience.

What is your focus when you purchase transportation services – are you buying the car or the ride? For air travel – my real point – are you buying the airline or the flight? For years I supported United, I knew the airline industry was a difficult yet essential industry, and I believed that loyal customers were core to the health of the industry. I earned “elite” status, and was able to book exit row seats and the occasional upgrade to human-sized seats and actual service. I have been a United “member” since 1991.

What I missed was the dynamics of the market – so long as someone is willing to pay to fly, someone else will provide the service. United is an important employer, but it is apparent their system of service delivery places accommodation of the human as a last priority. Recently, I began to listen as fellow travelers told me of airlines such as Virgin America, Jet Blue, etc, who considered the user experience in their design of the cabin, the services, etc.

For me, today, this stops here. This far, no further! (Hoping you can hear Patrick Stewart as you read that.)

I write this while aboard my first Virgin America flight. I am less than an hour into the flight, but it feels like it’s only been 10 minutes or so. The simple reason, I am not focused on the airline, the aircraft, or the fact that I’m strapped in and hurtling through the air at 30,000 feet. I am not deprived of all sensory input so that I may focus on the flying experience. Instead, my senses and mind are engaged – not enduring the broadcast of a single movie choice that changes every two weeks, but enjoying options from on-demand television and video as well as in-flight Internet access. Rather than treating my weekly cross-continent commute as a time of sensory deprivation, I am connected and engaged.

Some quick comparisons, written now two hours into a five hour flight. I don’t think I need to wait for landing to finish this blog, though:

United

Virgin

“We welcome our Global Services, 1K members, and First Class on the red carpet to board first. Seating area 1 will board using the blue carpet, but only after Premier Executive members board, also using the blue carpet. It’s simple, people!”

“Hi, John. Welcome aboard, please enjoy your flight.”

Pre-flight safety video eminently ignorable and hasn’t changed. Kindly bearded gentleman in the video likely retired in 1980s.

Pre-flight video speaks to you as an adult, uses clever cartoons to engage you. Bonus, Richard Branson avatar makes inappropriate reference to Mile-High Club.

In-flight entertainment system is initiated once “cruising altitude is reached.” I secretly palm the iPhone, listening furtively to avoid takeoff noise.

Seat-back video available as you board and throughout. No need for subversive behavior.

In-flight entertainment (on most flights) consists of central video, occasionally obscured. Broadcast model – one movie fits all. The movie and tired TV reruns cycle twice per month.

In-flight entertainment matches home experience – satellite television and on-demand movies. I don’t need to stock iTunes with past seasons of Rescue Me to endure the flight.

Seat audio often inaudible or broken (personal experience, IAD-SFO route). As a treat, you are invited to listen to the air traffic conversations between the pilot and tower. If you want to know what’s on each channel, you consult the printed guide. Otherwise, you pound the arrow keys as you cycle through the audio channels.

Seat audio high quality, simply select the genre from the touchscreen, no need to know the channel, or cycle up through bad rap, cheesy DJs or stale comedy to get to your selection.

Drink cart wheeled up the aisle occasionally, reminiscent of prison book cart experience you see in old movies. You may ring your call button to order out of cycle, taking chances with flight crew attitude.

Thirsty? Order drink from the menu, and they bring it to you. An innovation for air travel, a regular practice at every restaurant since the beginning of time.

Wifi available in the Red Carpet Club, conveniently located in many airports – subscription price varies based on Elite level, would cost me $400/year. Not terribly relevant to the in-flight experience, but needed for comparison in the column to your right.

Wifi available on-board the aircraft. Less than $10 per flight, or $50/month for frequent fliers.

Laptop power a rumor, and special adaptors possibly needed (never seen on IAD-SFO route)

Power outlet in every seat, no adaptor needed.

The prices are comparable. Would I rather stay with United, in hopes that I get upgraded more often to an in-flight experience that is better than the folks back in steerage? Or move to an airline that engages and connects every passenger? Where every seat is at least tolerable? My travel agent is concerned that I will not maintain “status” with a global airline, but I am choosing instead to help grow an airline that places the human experience first. We face tough choices each day, and the occasional heart-rending decision path. This simply is not one of them. Congratulations, Virgin America – my 200,000 miles (plus) per year are yours.

————-

Photo used without permission from http://www.firsttofly.org/Information/Homework/wright_photos.htm

Posted in Personal | 4 Comments

Powered by Web Design Company Plugins