#1: The One with the Curious Advantage

Last time, in our pilot issue, we shared a post about work we’ve been doing on Greenpeace’s Critical Incident programme. This time, we’ve got some work that we’ve been doing with the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, the first edition of Season 7 of our podcast, and a link roundup.

Let’s dive in!

Nurturing the Wellbeing Economy

In this post, we discuss tackling ‘change fatigue’ by conducting user research and narrowing down platform options, using ‘missions’ to engage the community, and aligning with a client through shared values.

Read the post

Tao of WAO podcast

The first episode of Season 7 of our podcast features the authors and podcast hosts of The Curious Advantage. We’ve recorded a reciprocal episode with them which will be available soon!

In this episode we dive into AI and curiosity, as well as plenty of tangential topics! Get it wherever you get your podcasts, or stream via SoundCloud below.

Listen to the episode

📡 Signals

Links from around the web about things we think are (or could be) important relating to our work on sensemaking and digital transformation:

• AI crap (Drew DeVault) — an argument that the current hype around AI and machine learning is largely driven by capitalism, with the technology poised to replace human labour in various sectors, from customer support to creative work. The post contends that while AI will not bring about the apocalyptic scenarios often depicted in media, it will exacerbate existing social and economic issues, such as labour displacement, discrimination, and the concentration of power and wealth.
• The role and power of re-patterning in systems change (Griffith Centre for Systems Innovation) — a discussion about a collaborative project between TSI / Auckland Co-Design Lab and other organisations, focusing on the role of everyday patterns, behaviours, and values in achieving systemic change towards equity. It introduces seven identified patterns that can help transition systems to be more equitable and just, emphasising that while large-scale structural changes are important, shifting these foundational patterns is within everyone’s reach and can significantly impact people’s lived experiences.
• Deconstructing Power in the Age of AI (Laura Hilliger) — one from Laura’s personal blog in which she explores the impact of AI on traditional power structures, using French and Raven’s ‘six forms of power’ as a framework. She argues that AI has the potential to disrupt these power dynamics, from making ‘Legitimate Power’ questionable due to deepfakes, to amplifying ‘Informational Power’ for those who can harness data, and stresses the need for education to help people navigate these changing structures.
• Learning about learning networks (Stephen Downes) — some commentary on the 2021 Orange Compass’ paper about importance of building a culture of learning at scale and focusing on learning networks for systems change. Some useful quotations pulled out about ingrained hierarchical approaches can hindering self-direction and how good collaboration allows for diverse opinions and exploratory spaces.
• Open-source washing (layerform) — an introduction to “open-source washing,” where companies or individuals misrepresent non-open-source software as open-source. It also touches on the business implications of open-source, stating that being open-source does not guarantee a business model.

👋 That’s it for this week! Like and subscribe if you want to see these keep coming!