Posted 17:56 by Mark Federman permanent link
On Organizational Effectiveness

I got into a discussion the other day with a professor teaching a course on Organizational Leadership. He noted that, while there are very many (almost too many) theories on the nature of leadership, there is no - his words were "can be no" - cohesive theory that describes organizational effectiveness. The essence of his argument was that organizational effectiveness is always judged relative to the specific goals, objectives and mission of an organization, and hence, a theoretical measure of effectiveness is necessarily subjective, and hence not sufficiently "scientific" to be considered a proper theory.

My response was simple: Media "theory" - and I always use big quotations around "theory" when it's applied to media - essentially focuses on effects, that is the basis of effectiveness, either in organizations or otherwise. An organization's mission, goals and objectives all speak to the effects it intends to bring about in its environment - that set of dynamic processes created when various ground effects interact with one another, often outside of our willingness to perceive. But that's another story.

Given that media "theory" is derived from the study of effects of our various conceptions and creations - be they tangible or intangible, abstract or concrete - organizations and organizational dynamics are not exempt from being explained, at least in part, by thinking tools like the Laws of Media. Thus, the effects of an organization can be anticipated (e.g. goals and objectives set, mission statements stated, but not necessarily or exclusively so) according to the cognitive structure of the Laws of Media, and other of the McLuhan thinking tools, including media temperature and the transformative effects of metaphor. The Laws of Media in particular allow us to anticipate and articulate the totality of effects, both those that we wish to bring into being, and those we might wish to avoid.

Organizational effectiveness can then be expressed (as a percentage or any other appropriately scientific measure) as the degree to which effects deemed desirable can be achieved, those deemed undesirable can be avoided or mitigated, and effects that were originally unanticipated can be anticipated prior to their occurrence and achieved/avoided as appropriate. Thus, with this conception, effectiveness measures the leadership's ability to anticipate, execute, and perform the inevitable mid-course corrections as new information becomes available. Seems pretty effective to me!

To my knowledge, this is a new expression of how to measure and manage effectiveness that is not dependent on the specifics of the goals or objectives, and hence is objectively empirical in nature. If your organization would like to participate in a playshop that actually implements this conception of effectiveness, please contact Mark Federman.

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Posted 11:58 by Mark Federman permanent link
Freedom of Speech?

You be the judge. David Weinberger is one of the bloggers covering ("like a bedbug covers a bed") the Democratic convention in Boston this week. He sends photos from the "Free Speech Zone." Welcome home, George Orwell. We're only twenty years late.

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Posted 22:45 by Mark Federman permanent link
AmericaEnsureOilOpportunity

Numbers 992 through 995 in Wordcount, a very cool study. Thanks Ben!

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Posted 00:12 by Mark Federman permanent link
This Land is Whose Land?

An equal-opportunity offender, and a terrific political parody of both Bush and Kerry. I missed it from earlier in the week, so if you missed it too, go have a look.

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Posted 10:08 by Mark Federman permanent link
Inside the Mind of a Leader

I've been doing some thinking about Transformational Leadership lately and happened to come across the just-started weblog of Jonathan Schwartz, who happens to be the COO of (some say) beleagured Sun Microsystems. Fascinating to listen to the inner dialogue of a corporate leader in a very human voice. What do COOs pay attention to? Tune in.

Of particular interest to me was this post, in which Schwartz draws from the Retrieval quadrant of the Laws of Media when considering the issue of how to monetize Sun's Java language, moving from Retrieval to Extension/Enhancement. What's missing from Schwartz's outered thinking are Obsolescence and Reversal, both of which may have interesting implications for the future of Sun's business.

Or, for that matter, for your business too!
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Posted 09:09 by Mark Federman permanent link
Another Reason for Government to Ban "Pirates"

Those pirates are at it again. Now, they're using their criminal file-sharing networks for something that hits too close to legislators' homes - emergent democracy tranparency. Outraged Moderates is urging people to Download For Democracy, making available files, dossiers, materials released in Freedom of Information requests, and court documents that provide details on controversial issues that certain govenment officials might prefer to stay buried in trial proceedings.

What sort of issues, you ask? Little things about the links between Vice-President Cheney and the Haliburton Corporation, memos concerning the torture in Abu Ghraib prison, reports on the violation of Constitutional rights under the USA PATRIOT Act - stuff that might interest a concerned citizenry.

Instantaneous communication enables transparency in goverment in a way that a free press was intended to do, but with the acceleration and oral effects ("she told two friends, and they told two friends, and so on...) characteristic of our times. Politicians will soon realize that, under such conditions, "staying on message" is a liability if that message can easily be demonstrated to be at odds with either the truth or the democratic intentions of the public.
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Posted 21:41 by Mark Federman permanent link
Experiencing Global Culture

I've been considering the question of the culture of the global village of late, a topic on which I'll be musing, writing and speaking over the next couple of months. Among other things, it occurs to me that it encompasses the sense of proximity that we experience in the acoustic space of the Internet (and additionally enabled by other technologies of instantaneous communication.) Toronto is an interesting exemplar of the emergence of that culture, as it has been called "the most multi-cultural city in the world." Evidence of that is seen in the rich and diverse nature of our cultural experiences.

Residents of Toronto have an opportunity to experience some diverse cultural richness over the next couple of weeks, as a friend of mine from Toronto's Muiraquita is staging Capoeira, Capuera - A Story Behind the Game.

This summer Muiraquitã Capoeira is spinning a tale, recounting the history of Capoeira down through the centuries, through legend, folklore and historical fact. At the Poor Alex Theatre in Toronto, the rhythmic and hypnotic beats of the Berimbau, the Pandeiro and the Atabaque will draw you in as our perfomrners move inside a circle: legs flying, bodies spinning, an intricate dance of attack and defense. You can never predict where the next move is coming from, or how the players will respond. Capoeira is music, dance ... and combat. Steeped in the dark history of slavery, it is the yearning for liberation and need for freedom of expression. Get a glimpse into how the dance that is a fight evolved into the game it is today.

I've seen Capoeira and it is a wonder to behold - a combination of ballet and martial arts with Brazilian passion. The show runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday, July 22-24, and 29-31 at 20:00, with Saturday matinees at 14:00, at the Poor Alex Theatre on Brunswick Avenue in Toronto. Tickets are $17 in advance, $21 at the door, and $12 for matinees; advance tickets are available by phone at 416 882 3711, or from Insomnia Restaurant, 563 Bloor Street West.

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Posted 19:25 by Mark Federman permanent link
Consultants to Bin Laden - "The Future is Bright"

Paul Rogers of openDemocracy has "intercepted" The SWISH Report, produced by the "South Waziristan Institute of Strategic Hermeneutics" for Al Quaeda's leadership. Their conclusion?

You are operating over a timescale of many decades and in such a context progress has been rather good, but it has to be said that this is not entirely down to your own capabilities but largely to the sheer incompetence of your opponents. ... We would conclude that your campaign is going well, has some very strong prospects for further progress in Saudi Arabia, is in a good position in Pakistan and has excellent potential for action in Iraq. In the latter case, in particular, the long–term security of Gulf oil is essential to the United States, and withdrawal from Iraq is therefore highly unlikely. This gives you a remarkable opportunity to develop a range of oppositional policies and tactics.

Thus, the future looks bright. We insist, though, that much of this is due to the actions of your opponents and it follows that any actions that you can take to ensure that they persist with their current policies will be to your advantage. The immediate requirement, as we have indicated, is therefore to aid, in any way within the framework of your core values, the survival of the Bush administration.

The detailed analysis is insightful, and worth the read.
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Posted 23:18 by Mark Federman permanent link
Sometimes I Hate To Be Right

Last fall, I gave an interview to Voices Without Votes 2004 in which I speculated about the possibility of the Bush Administration delaying the election. About three-quarters of the way through the interview, I said,

The cynic in me fears that there will be some crisis next October that will cause the election to be postponed for some reason. That is the cynic in me. That would be such an incredible disaster. I floated this idea with several people. They said it could never happen. But then again there are many things that "could never happen" that have indeed happened. It frightens me tremendously to even think of that. To even have the conditions where the idea enters my head frightens me. ... There was recent controversy over the voting machines, and how they can be compromised. Again, it gives one pause. We are beginning to hear resonances with the dictatorships in Africa, and elsewhere, where some election results are rigged. So again that gives one pause. Assuming an election, and assuming a fair process, and people have the ability to make change… democracy has the ability to correct… assuming that we still have a democracy. Again, I have to give a qualification, and that is disturbing: "assuming that we still have a democracy."

My mother in law came from Eastern Europe. She was the guest of the Russians during the Second World War, and survived. She and her husband lived in Czechoslovakia. After the Russians came in, they decided one bout of Russian hospitality was enough in one lifetime. They came to North America. They came to Canada. They saw the difference between totalitarianism and democracy, freedom. They see Canada and the United States as the world exemplars of democracy. When I was talking with her about my concerns, about the reversals of America, she became quite indignant. She said, 'you know, there are elections. There are free elections. You still have newspapers and television. People still have a vote. There is still a Congress. You have all of these institutions. What are they going to do, stop the elections?'

'Of course it is a democracy,' she said. But all of those things she pointed to: the free press is not so free any more. There is a tremendous media chill. There is a concentration of media ownership that has vested interests tied to the current administration. ... So many other fundamental freedoms have been suspended because of terrorist activities and security, that the right to vote is conceivably in question. This is a frightening prospect for the world.

A frightening prospect indeed, especially when CNN and Reuters are reporting today that the Bush Administration is investigating ways to "obtain the authority to delay the November presidential election in case of an attack by al Qaeda."

It's times like these that we need folks like Tom Burka to make us laugh; otherwise we'd be crying.
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Posted 14:55 by Mark Federman permanent link
Electronic Elections

Man, am I glad we here in Canada have voted already!
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Posted 14:44 by Mark Federman permanent link
I've Got a Little List

KO-KO. As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,
I've got a little list--I've got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be underground,
And who never would be missed--who never would be missed!

...

CHORUS. He's got 'em on the list--he's got 'em on the list;
And they'll none of 'em be missed -- they'll none of 'em be missed.

The Mikado's Lord High Executioner isn't the only one with a little list. Ernest Miller has begun Hatch's Hit List, to which he will add daily. He says, "I will endeavor to post every weekday an example of a nascent technology that can be quashed by the INDUCE Act." For those who haven't been following closely, the INDUCE Act, pending before the U.S. Senate, will permit a civil action against anyone who creates a device that would induce someone to infringe copyright, regardless of possible non-infringing uses (effectively overturning the U.S. Supreme Court's famous "Betamax" ruling, by which we have all enjoyed our VCRs.) Could Apple be sued over the iPod under the INDUCE Act? Technically speaking, they could. Would they be sued is another question entirely. The INDUCE Act would likely not be used against established firms, but rather would be targeted against innovative technologies they may ultimately compete against the good folks at Apple... or Sony... or Microsoft. If you are completely satisfied with all the technology you have today, you'll be happy with the INDUCE Act. If you think that there may be some not-yet-invented technology in your future, check the list.

And if you're confused about all these attacks and mixed messages from the various recording industries and device manufacturers around the world, pity the man who is the head of both Sony and the Recording Industry Association in New Zealand!
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Posted 21:47 by Mark Federman permanent link
What Kind of Musical Is This?

The New York Times answered, "An original one!" Ain't that the truth. Yesterday evening I saw Urinetown, The Musical! for the second time, and loved it even more than the first. It pokes fun at many of the cliche musical theatre conventions, while remaining a delightfully inventive, wickedly funny and devilishly self-aware - show. It opens with the Officer Lockstock character welcoming us to Urinetown - "not the place, of course, the musical" - and throughout keeps us laughing 'till it hurts with flights of fancy in some of the best song-and-dance numbers I've seen in a musical, either here in Toronto or on Broadway. The U.S. tour of Urinetown appears to be done, but it's still playing in Toronto, produced by CanStage at the St. Lawrence Centre. There are apparently rush seats available for most shows, released on the day of performance at 10 a.m., and special deals for students through the summer.

And despite the name, no toilet humour, either. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm just a few pennies short... (Aren't we all.)
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Posted 18:26 by Mark Federman permanent link
Thoughts for a 4th of July

David Weinberger points us to this post from a man who seems to me to be a patriot in the truest sense of the word. His specific memory of an incident in Vietnam should give us all - GWB supporters included - pause.

To my American friends on their celebration of Independence, may all of us around the world experience peace in our lifetime, and each be afforded life, liberty and the pursuit of our own happiness.
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Posted 15:57 by Mark Federman permanent link
Fundamental Flaw and the Axis of Evil

Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo has the transcript of an interview with U.S. Senator Joseph Biden (D - Delaware), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It is a clueful interview - the Senator offers some thoughtful insights on the possible future of U.S. foreign policy. However, what struck me was this response to a question on the neoconservative worldview:

The fundamental flaw --- forget flaw, the fundamental difference between Joe Biden, John Kerry on the one hand, and the neoconservatives on the other is that they genuinely believe --- and put it in the negative sense --- they do not believe it is possible for a sophisticated international criminal network that will rain terror upon a country, that has the potential to kill 3,000 or more people in a country, can exist without the sponsorship of a nation-state.

They really truly believe --- and this was the Axis of Evil speech --- if you were able to decapitate the regimes in Iraq, Iran, North Korea, you would in fact dry up the tentacles of terror.

I think that is fundamentally flawed reasoning. If every one of those regimes became a liberal democracy tomorrow, does anybody think we wouldn't have code orange again in the United States? Rhetorical question. Does anybody think we don't have to worry about the next major event like Madrid occurring in Paris or in Washington or in Sao Paulo? Gimme a break. But they really believe this is the way to do it.

Later in the interview, Biden mentions, among other things, that cutting off terrorists' supply of money would be more effective. Indeed.

The biggest challenge the world faces when it comes to ending corrupt regimes, widespread oppression and transnational terrorism is the ability to hide money in anonymous bank accounts in Switzerland, the Cayman Islands and other so-called banking havens. The problem is that many world leaders cozy up along side world terrorists in these exclusive clubs that are, like Hernando's Hideaway, "a place where no one knows your name." Would it surprise you to learn that many of the neo-cons who call for decapitating the heads of the Axis of Evil have such secret banking ties? Me neither.

We, and others, have written about emergent transparency as one of the effects of instantaneous communications that directly contribute to an evolution of democracy. Such an evolution is consistent with the reversal of we as consumers (of "broadcast" democracy) to producers of more participatory dynamics in our democratic processes. Secret bank accounts stand starkly at odds with emergent transparency, and today pose the most direct threat against our freedom and security, and indeed, against democracy itself.
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Posted 13:28 by Mark Federman permanent link
Art and Life in the Posthuman Era

We're often asked what the "next big thing" will be. Last week it was a question on the future of jet-packs for urban transportation - I kid you not. Next week... who knows? Perhaps teleporters or telepathy. But the question of what's coming next is a key one for, as Marshall McLuhan so eloquently expressed it, as we come up with new innovations we should "think them out before we put them out."

A group of such thinkers is coming to the University of Toronto early in August to participate in just this sort of thinking. With the various technological innovations to extend and (presumably) improve our lives, the entire nature of our culture, its art, artefacts, philosophy and ethics is called into question. From August 5 to 8, TransVision 2004: Art and Life in the Posthuman Era brings together scientists, artists, philosophers, ethicists and performers, "providing an opportunity for transhumanists and the broader community of concerned and interested participants to come together to critically discuss and analyze the radical potential for life in the posthuman world." Two of my favourite post-humanists, Steve Mann and Stelarc, will be giving keynote presentations, Mann on Friday morning and Stelarc on Saturday evening. When we had the two of them together, it was an evening to remember, with a sell-out crowd. Now is the time to register online for this outstanding event.
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Posted 12:19 by Mark Federman permanent link
The New Gulag

It is an archetypal story of the totalitarian regime. An innocent person picked up by authorities on the basis of paranoid suspicion. He's placed in solitary confinement for months without recourse to a court or access to a lawyer. And, to ensure his disappearance is complete, the record of his arrest and confinement is erased from the public record, so that any inquiries about him from family or friends is met with no information.

Such stories of "The Disappeared" emerge from around the world - Pinochet's Chile, the former East Germany, Stalinist Russia. And now, this story emerges from the Orwellian world of George W. Bush's United States of America.

The Toronto Star has picked up this story from The New York Times about an innocent Nepalese tourist, Purna Raj Bajracharya, age 47, who was arrested and tossed into the (il)legal maze worthy of Franz Kafka while he was taking some tourist video before returning home. Unfortunately for "the Nepalese man, who spoke almost no English, [he] had been placed in solitary confinement at a federal detention center in Brooklyn just because of his videotaping. He was swallowed up in the government's new maximum security system of secret detention and secret hearings."

Am I indulging in hyperbole when I describe Mr. Bajracharya's ordeal worthy of comparison to the Soviet-style gulag? Judge for yourself:

He had spent almost three months in a 6-by-9-foot cell kept lighted 24 hours a day. The unit of the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn where he was kept has become notorious for the abuses documented there by the Justice Department's own inspector general, who found a pattern of physical and mental mistreatment of post-9/11 detainees. Videotapes showed officers slamming detainees into walls, mocking them during unnecessary strip-searches, and secretly taping their conversations with lawyers.

That he had access to a lawyer and was eventually released was due entirely to the action of the FBI agent who arrested him in the first place. Field agent James Wynne, after filing his arrest report, realized he had made a mistake in apprehending the Nepalese tourist. However, because of new procedures put in place by the Justice Department within days of the World Trade Center tragedy, Wynne was unable to obtain the requisite signatures of the top anti-terrorist officials in Washington.

Mr. Wynne took an uncommon step for an F.B.I. agent: he called the Legal Aid Society for a lawyer to help the jailed man. ... Ms. Cassin, of Legal Aid, argues that under this secret practice, there is no way to know whether other noncitizens are even now being unfairly detained. "By its very nature," she said, "it can happen again without our knowing about it.

A gulag in Brooklyn? Or something more akin to Abu Ghraib prison?

By telephone from Katmandu, Mr. Bajracharya recalled the fear, humiliation and despair he had experienced in prison. "I had nothing but tears in my eyes," he said through a translator. "The only thing I knew, I was innocent, but I didn't know what was happening." He said he was stripped naked in the federal jail. "I was manhandled and treated badly," he said, becoming agitated. "I was very, very embarrassed even to look around, because I was naked."
...
Mr. Bajracharya's accounts of mistreatment fit the pattern reported by the inspector general. A spokesman for the United States attorney's office in Brooklyn, Robert Nardoza, said the office recently declined to prosecute abuses detailed in the reports "mainly because all of the witnesses had been deported and were unavailable to be interviewed." Back in Nepal, which is riven by civil war, Mr. Bajracharya said he would be willing to testify against those who mistreated him if he were asked, though he fears what the government would do to him if he did so.

The Reversal of America. In a democratic country that values the rule of law, that has a constitution with enshrined "God-given" rights to due process of law and public trials, an innocent man, wrongly incarcerated and abused, should not fear what the government would do to him if called to testify in a court of law. So-called war or no war, this is a shameful situation.
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