Opening up thinking about education today for tomorrow - Imagining possibilities and solutions

Saturday, July 26, 2008

"You are what you share." We-Think

Today I started reading Charles Leadbeater's recent book, WE-THINK: Mass innovation, not mass production.
It's shaping up to be a thought provoking book. Charles Leadbeater, a researcher with the London think-tank Demos, is one of the leading thinkers about innovation and creativity.

Leadbeater was

early to notice the rise of "amateur innovation" -- great ideas from outside the traditional walls, from people who suddenly have the tools to collaborate, innovate and make their expertise known.

Leadbeater has written about such ideas as personalisation. Publications include:

We-Think examines ways in which the world wide web is changing our world. These changes are creating a culture that allows people to share and collaborate ideas and information. Leadbeater argues that "the web is a potent platform for creativity and innovation."

The sharing can be for good, but also brings with it dilemmas.

We-think explores the new phenomenon of mass creativity exemplified by web sites such as YouTube, Wikipedia and MySpace. The book ... argues that participation, rather than consumption or production, will be the key organizing idea of future society.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Leadbeater

The following YouTube clip provides an introduction to We-Think:



The thinking behind We-Think is outlined in a TEDTalk that Charles Leadbeater gave on innovation. (This talk is about 19 minutes)



The implications for schools, schooling and learning are great! Has anyone else read the book or have thoughts on the implications?

Remember: You are what you share!

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