Highlights from Esko Kilpi’s writings (2014–2019) that resonate

From 2014

From Jobs to Gigs and from the Value Chain to the Internet (Nov 3, 2014)

The Internet is the first communication environment that decentralizes the financial capital requirements of production. Much of the capital is not only distributed, but also largely owned by the workers, the individuals, who themselves own the smartphones and other smart devices, the new machines of work.

It is about loose couplings and modularity, about networked tasks. In creative work, any node in the network should be able to communicate with any other node on the basis of contextual interdependence and creative, participatory engagement. [top highlight]

Creative, network-based work in the future will not be about jobs, but about tasks, assignments, gigs and interdependence between people. You don’t need to be present in a factory any more, or in an office, but you need to be present for other people. …

Below are recent Tweets posted following the onset of the pandemic. They reflect various personal perspectives on the impact of COVID-19 on entrepreneurship and how UBI might be relevant.

May 2020 Tweets

Project Dialogue is a community-based arts project encouraging innovation in the application of advanced software tools to create what is popularly referred to as “generative art”.

The project is coined as a “Dialogue” whereby the participants are “conversing” through the act of curiosity-driven exploration, creative experimentation and self-expression through the co-creation of a work of art.

The Co-Creators

“It’s not about making cheap plastic parts. That’s the first thing I tell people about 3D printing, it’s about being able to come up with a vision and then realize that vision in some concrete way. And the most important part of that process is learning to fail.” — Tom Meeks, 3D Printing Instructor, YouthQuest Foundation

With those words, Tom Meeks/YouthQuest Foundation inspired me to launch in 2013 a project to introduce desktop 3D printing to the Ottawa community. The YouthQuest program convinced me that 3D printing offered youth not only the potential of developing technical and creative skills for the 21st century but perhaps more importantly, life skills such as resourcefulness, team work and self-efficacy. …

Speakers: Jasmine Bouchard, Head, Research and Learning, Arts and Science Library, University of Ottawa; Sarah Simpkin, Digital Scholarship Librarian, University of Ottawa

2017 Ontario Makers and Mentors Innovation Conference

Highlights

Speakers introduced libraries in the context of “third places” providing social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of home (“first place”) and the workplace (“second place”); described emerging recognition as libraries as urban spaces to share experiences, community gatherings, collaborative learning, and much more (workshops,digital converson services, technology demonstration spaces, etc)

Cited examples of Canadian libraries introducing innovative facilities and programming: Halifax Central Library, Edmonton Public Library (EPL Makerspace) and Toronto Public Library (Digital Innovation Hubs) as leaders in this movement. …

“Are we recognizing that the very principles that are shaping how we are creating the 21st Century Makerspace learning environments are those same principles that have guided the indigenous peoples for centuries, the very principles and values that were taken from them when traditional school was created?” — Zoe Branigan-Pipe, Indigenous Worldviews Inspires THIS classroom MAKERSPACE (April 23, 2016)

The following post represents a “thought stream” imagining the potential of makerspaces inspired by indigenous worldviews and cultural practices: that blends the past and the future, knowledge transmission between elders and youth; a space that promotes deeper awareness of indigenous culture through collaborative “making” projects and a space to inspire innovative ideas to make the world a better place. A “re-mix” of indigenous artisanal/craft tools, traditional materials and know-how with digital technologies available in a makerspace could open up wonderfully creative project opportunities (see Tania Larsson story here).

The following post is a copy/paste of an article by Ariane Koek that deeply influenced my thinking of true art-science collaboration.

Original Source: http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Cern%3a+where+art+and+science+collide/24678

By Ariane Koek.
Published online: 04 October 2011

Arts and science are similar in that they are expressions of what it is to be human in this world

It is one of the fashionable arts movements of the moment. It is also one of the most troubled because the aesthetic is unsubtle and still evolving. …