Reboot10: Free the Battery Humans

Free the Battery Humansa contribution to Reboot 10 and its

discussion of the term ‘free’, June 2008

www.headshift.com

Lee Bryant

http://www.usdesignstudio.co.uk/freerange.html

this is not an anti-corporate talk

big companies are not going away

they may be the key to real change

freedom comes in bubbles...bubbles are fragile and can disappear

we can codify freedoms and values in law, rules, process ... and now code

sometimes the codification goes wrong and ‘the system’ takes over

but codification gives longevity toideas, process and ways of working

modern corporations bear the imprintof various stages of development

Weberian bureaucracy Industrial Revolution Taylorism

technology has played a key role inthe development of our organisations

enterprise IT has taken on very old organsational models and metaphors

but we left behind the ‘mass’ era and entered the ‘networks’ era long ago

the early promise of IT and the ‘net has been lost in control structures

key message:

consumerisation of enterprise IT is our chance to think about codifying new human, connected values for the future

3 dimensions:(i) more efficient, better business(ii) better workplaces, happier workers(iii) socialising corps as global citizens

taylorism in a complex world is too expensive as a business strategy

humanising the enterprise, trusting people and welcoming ‘Generation Y’

corporate power vs global scrutiny:can we help socialise corporations?

are corporations evil? no ...they are made of people

but we need to place people above structures and systems

what do social tools have to offer?

(cc) http://www.flickr.com/photos/yuan2003/403643949/

social networks + weak ties = an organisational immune system

human-powered organisation of info and negotiation of language / meaning

the social web has taught us a lotabout how trust breeds trust

helping corporations engage in difficult conversations with the wider world

building empathy by understanding the complicated problems we all face

how do we codify the values, freedoms and affordances of the social web

within the DNA of large companies?

without recreating Kundera’s joke

please think about that

free the battery humans!it’s a triple bottom line win ;-)

Free the Battery Humansa contribution to Reboot 10 and its

discussion of the term ‘free’, June 2008

www.headshift.com

Lee Bryant

image creditsEscape from the windowless world on FlickrThe new cubicle on FlickrMonday morning on Flickrcubicle donutDilbert Nightmare on FlickrMemorial to the victims of Communism on FlickrMFJ Telegraph Key on FlickrProce55ing Source Code on FlickrFlickr Photo Download: rows and rowsFlickr Photo Download: IBM System 360Lenin on Flickrfree stampSugar Conveyor, Liverpool on Flickrnetwork threat diagram3 fishL'Unilever brucia le foreste del Borneo on FlickrLolcats evil planConversation on FlickrGlobalwarming Stoopid on FlickrJessica WittebortLee Bryant

special thanks to Usdesign for permission to use the cover image: http://www.usdesignstudio.co.uk/freerange.html

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