Digital Culture Shock

Both pictures accessed 03 November 20103 fro m http://www.soulseeds.com/expectation-post/2012/07/seed-of-perspective-4/ and http://observationsofanordinarylife.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/sunday-inspiration_16.html

What do you do when everything that is familiar….

Turns upside down…

and then vanishes!?

Has change just “snuck up” on you?

Picture accessed 08 August 2013: http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzx7ml0tIG1qkns7zo1_500.jpg 2

Does this pattern look familiar – and make you wonder what happened?

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/business/wages%20productivity%20inequality.jpg Accessed 08 August 2013 3

Before the digital storm… • In the pre-digital world, the rules were generally known, and

people knew how things worked (even if they didn’t like the set-up much).

• There was a hierarchy – and little questioning of elders or bosses. • If you played the game, you would rise up the ladder over time. • Rarely did anyone beyond your friends and family asked for your

opinion (and offering it freely often got you into trouble!)

Pictures accessed 30 August 2013 from: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/9/19/1253388411441/Boy-sticking-out-his-tong-001.jpg and http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life/smack-the-child-go-to-jail-parents-pressured-20090822-euef.html 4

The old rules…

• Study hard, go to college once

• Get a job for life in the same industry

• Defer to authority

• Respect your elders because…well, because they are older

• Keep your head down – don’t rock the boat

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no longer apply!

The old certainties are fading or already gone You can either….

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ADAPT

Accessed 30 August 2013: http://artographja.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Change-Butterfly.jpg

OR

Accessed 30 August 2013: http://cdn-3.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/2012/03/fall_behind_in_style.jpg

FALL BEHIND

It’s a whole new world….full of wonders…

Picture accessed 24 September 2013 http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/213/6/e/Futuristic_World_by_e_designer.jpg 7

…and dangers….

Picture accessed 24 September 2013 from: http://willza99.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/pc6.jpg 8

There is no map to this place - and it can be turbulent…

Picture accessed 24 September 2013 from: http://raysheaf.deviantart.com/art/Journey-Beyond-Horizon-311818646 9

but here are some pointers…

The skill set, attitudes and mindset needed is different….

• Any standardized knowledge can be automated – it is losing (relative) value.

• The world is more open; huge opportunities, but also huge competition.

• If your industry only exists due to protection, or distance, your days are numbered.

Original knowledge now has a premium – for a short time!

• Value now comes from creating new content; from creating links between different fields of human endeavor.

• Anything which can assist in systematizing the spread of information is rapidly adopted.

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You have some useful tools…

Picture accessed 30 September 2013 from http://www.primermagazine.com/2010/live/8-mental-tools-thatll-change-your-young-life

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to help you find your way…

Picture accessed 30 October 2013 from http://www.amillionlives.net/gps-for-hiking-how-to-find-your-way-around-the-forest.html

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Your existing skills

Picture accessed 30 October 2013 from http://mycareer.world.edu/files/2012/05/thinking_skills_lr12.jpg 13

Your ideas about who’s in charge…

Picture accessed 30 October 2013 from www.urbanblah.com/2009/06/lets-be-clear-about-whos-in-charge-2/ 14

Your view of the way the world works…

Picture accessed 30 October 2013 fromdarmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2007/11/waking-up-sleep.html 15

Your ways of learning

Picture accessed 30 October 2013 from http://www.jonrognerud.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/edgar-dale-cone-of-learning-chart-

color.gif

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And your attitude….

Picture accessed 30 October 2013 from www.paulschekblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/cat-sees-lion-mirror.jpg

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What are the new rules?

• Be proactive – you are on your own

• Education is still important, but needs to be ongoing

• Learn how to learn, and how to fail faster

• Project work is becoming the new norm

• Respect is earned by achievement, not just assumed.

• Challenge assumptions

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So, how do I adapt? • Where there are problems, there are opportunities.

• Learn about the changes; read books and websites, attend seminars.

• Be curious: think about which industries your current job relies upon, and what changes they are facing. Then, look at your industry’s customers: what do they need from you?

• If it has changed, is your firm (and are you, personally) meeting those needs effectively?

• Have you got the skill set to fix the problems? If not, how do you develop (or find) those skills?

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To recap… • Yesterday’s jobs and rules are not coming back

• The value of many products and services is high for a shorter period – before becoming commoditized.

• Everything is becoming linked and networked, and as a result, everything moves faster.

• Earning potential at both industry and individual level is now shaped by the ability to find, develop, and sell solutions to problems.

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Both pictures accessed 24 August 2013 from: http://terceroprofesorado.blogspot.com.au/p/cultura-de-los-pueblos-de-habla-inglesa.html

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Take courage: we have been here before...

The Industrial Revolution

Picture accessed on 24 September 2013 at: http://www.angelfire.com/md3/apeuro/Industrial_Revolution.htm 22

But we are human beings – the most adaptive species ever known – so we

worked together…

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6023724/Stone-Age-man-used-fire-to-make-tools-50000-years-earlier-than-we-scientists-thought.html Picture accessed 24 August 2013 23

Thought things through…

/cartoonists/rdi/lowres/rdin654l.jpg&w=400&h=280&ei=PzwYUqrdCImMkwX_7oHABA&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:10,s:0,i:107&iact=rc&page=1&tbnh=165&tbnw=229&start=0&ndsp=22&tx=90&ty=88

Picture accessed 24 August 2013 24

And improved them over time…

http://www.livescience.com/18808-invention-wheel.html Picture accessed 24 August 2013 25

Until the problem we had suffered from….

http://gardenofeaden.blogspot.com.au/212/07/saber-toothed-tiger.html Accessed 24 August 2013

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…was overcome!

Accessed 24 August 2013 http://i3.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article882979.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Michael%20Jamison%20and%girlfriend%20Jac

kie%20Smit%20have%20one%20year%20old%20pet%20bengal%20tiger

Thank you for reading about Digital Culture Shock

• If you liked this, please let me know what (and why!)

• Also, if you didn’t like it, I’d appreciate hearing from you, so I can improve!

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