Tools for navigating today's hyper-connected, rapidly changing, and radically contingent white water world.
Design Unbound presents a new tool set for having agency in the twenty-first century, in what the authors characterize as a white water world―rapidly changing, hyperconnected, and radically contingent. These are the tools of a new kind of practice that is the offspring of complexity science, which gives us a new lens through which to view the world as entangled and emerging, and architecture, which is about designing contexts. In such a practice, design, unbound from its material thingness, is set free to design contexts as complex systems.
In a world where causality is systemic, entangled, in flux, and often elusive, we cannot design for absolute outcomes. Instead, we need to design for emergence. Design Unbound not only makes this case through theory but also presents a set of tools to do so. With case studies that range from a new kind of university to organizational, and even societal, transformation, Design Unbound draws from a vast array of domains: architecture, science and technology, philosophy, cinema, music, literature and poetry, even the military. It is presented in five books, bound as two volumes. Different books within the larger system of books will resonate with different reading audiences, from architects to people reconceiving higher education to the public policy or defense and intelligence communities. The authors provide different entry points allowing readers to navigate their own pathways through the system of books.

Design Unbound: Designing for Emergence in a White Water World, Volume 1: Designing for Emergence (Infrastructures)

Politics & Social Sciences

Pendleton-Jullian, Ann M.

Brown, John Seely

Social Sciences

The MIT Press

Design Unbound: Designing for Emergence in a White Water World, Volume 2: Ecologies of Change (Infrastructures)

To see the future we can build with information technology, we must look beyond mere information to the social context that creates and gives meaning to it. For years, pundits have predicted that information technology will obliterate the need for almost everything—from travel to supermarkets to business organizations to social life itself. Individual users, however, tend to be more sceptical. Beaten down by info-glut and exasperated by computer systems fraught with software crashes, viruses, and unintelligible error messages, they find it hard to get a fix on the true potential of the digital revolution. John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid help us to see through frenzied visions of the future to the real forces for change in society. They argue that the gap between digerati hype and end-user gloom is largely due to the 'tunnel vision' that information-driven technologies breed. We've become so focused on where we think we ought to be—a place where technology empowers individuals and obliterates social organizations—that we often fail to see where we're really going and what's helping us get there. We need, they argue, to look beyond our obsession with information and individuals to include the critical social networks of which these are always a part. Drawing from rich learning experiences at Xerox PARC, from examples such as IBM, Chiat/Day Advertising, and California's 'Virtual University', and from historical, social, and cultural research, the authors sharply challenge the futurists' sweeping predictions.They explain how many of the tools, jobs, and organizations seemingly targeted for future extinction in fact provide useful social resources that people will fight to keep. Rather than aiming technological bullets at these 'relics', we should instead look for ways that the new world of bits can learn from and complement them. Arguing elegantly for the important role that human sociability plays, even—perhaps especially—in the world of bits, The Social Life of Information gives us an optimistic look beyond the simplicities of information and individuals. It shows how a better understanding of the contribution that communities, organizations, and institutions make to learning, working and innovating can lead to the richest possible use of technology in our work and everyday lives.

The Social Life of Information

Business & Money

Duguid, Paul

Management & Leadership

Harvard Business Review Press

Pragmatic Imagination is a small book that presents a valuable resource for navigating our broadly connected, rapidly changing, and radically contingent world. It begins from an assumption that agency in the world today requires a productive entanglement of imagination and action. It then presents a framework for unpacking the imagination as a wide range of mental activity that can be put to purpose in this world. This is the Pragmatic Imagination - a concept and framework of six principles.This book is the last chapter of a larger work. It is both parent and child of a soon to be published five-book book called Design Unbound: Designing for Emergence in a White Water World, which provides a tool set for agency and impact in our world today. Like a single released before an album, this previews the larger work, introducing concepts and themes that both anticipate and encapsulate the larger project. But also like a single, it can stand alone because of the way in which it anticipates and encapsulates the larger project with a singular coherence.

Pragmatic Imagination

Pendleton-Jullian, Ann

Blurb

The twenty-first century is a world in constant change. In A New Culture of Learning, Doug Thomas and John Seely Brown pursue an understanding of how the forces of change, and emerging waves of interest associated with these forces, inspire and invite us to imagine a future of learning that is as powerful as it is optimistic. Typically, when we think of culture, we think of an existing, stable entity that changes and evolves over long periods of time. In A New Culture, Thomas and Brown explore a second sense of culture, one that responds to its surroundings organically. It not only adapts, it integrates change into its process as one of its environmental variables. By exploring play, innovation, and the cultivation of the imagination as cornerstones of learning, the authors create a vision of learning for the future that is achievable, scalable and one that grows along with the technology that fosters it and the people who engage with it. The result is a new form of culture in which knowledge is seen as fluid and evolving, the personal is both enhanced and refined in relation to the collective, and the ability to manage, negotiate and participate in the world is governed by the play of the imagination. Replete with stories, this is a book that looks at the challenges that our education and learning environments face in a fresh way. PRAISE FOR A NEW CULTURE OF LEARNING “A provocative and extremely important new paradigm of a ‘culture of learning’, appropriate for a world characterized by continual change. This is a must read for anyone interested in the future of education.” James J. Duderstadt, President Emeritus, University of Michigan “Thomas and Brown are the John Dewey of the digital age.” Cathy Davidson, Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, Duke University “A New Culture of Learning may provide for the digital media and learning movement what Thomas Paine’s Common Sense did for the colonists during the American Revolution— a straightforward, direct explanation of what we are fighting for and what we are fighting against.” Henry Jenkins, Provost’s Professor, USC “A New Culture of Learning is at once persuasive and optimistic — a combination that is all too rare, but that flows directly from its authors’ insights about learning in the digital age. Pearls of wisdom leap from almost every page.” Paul Courant, Dean of Libraries, University of Michigan “Brilliant. Insightful. Revolutionary.” Marcia Conner, author of The New Social Learning “Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown portray the new world of learning gracefully, vividly, and convincingly.” Howard Gardner, Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education “Thomas and Brown make it clear that education is too often a mechanistic, solo activity delivered to the young. It doesn’t have to be that way—learning can be a messy, social, playful, embedded, constant activity. We would do well to listen to their message.” Clay Shirky, author of Cognitive Surplus “Anyone who fears, as I do, that today’s public schools are dangerously close to being irrelevant must read this book. The authors provide a road map—and a lifeline—showing how schools can prosper under the most difficult conditions. It is a welcome departure from all the school bashing.” John Merrow, Education Correspondent, PBS NewsHour “American education is at a crossroads. By illuminating how play helps to transform both information networks and experimentation, and how collective inquiry unleashes the power of imagination, A New Culture of Learning provides an irresistible path to the future.” Joel Myerson, Director, Forum for the Future of Higher Education

A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change

Thomas, Douglas

Reference

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Managers today are understandably skeptical of the promises of new technologies. During the 1990s, vendors of both enterprise applications and Internet platforms promised enormous benefits. Companies invested large sums, but the benefits either failed to materialize, or came at a high price. Managers sacrificed flexibility and struggled to collaborate with business partners-a crippling disadvantage in today's marketplace.
Now, leading business strategist John Hagel III has a refreshing message for managers burned by over-hyped technologies, yet pressured to find innovative ways to deliver more value with fewer resources. He focuses on a new generation of technology-known as Web services. This technology connects existing IT platforms in more automated and flexible ways, leading to much lower operating costs.
The premise is practical and devoid of "change the world" promises. That very pragmatism, says Hagel, will drive enterprises to adopt it. In this book, he provides a clear view of the business implications of Web services: its distinct capabilities, its power to deliver near-term profits, and its potential to drive long-term growth.
Drawing from the experiences of pioneering adopters, Hagel shows how Web services will enable companies of all sizes to:
- Realize bottom-line savings quickly with modest investment - Leverage investments in existing applications and create more flexibility - Target specific areas for near-term cost reduction - Establish-or leave-business relationships fluidly and inexpensively - Create leveraged growth platforms for long-term competitiveness
A landmark book for CEOs, strategists, and IT managers, Out of the Box addresses near-term cost concerns and requirements for future success. As it discusses Web services, it provides deep insights into business strategy. At its core, this book tackles the most fundamental business issue facing managers today: how to continue to create value as competition intensifies. It also outlines innovative approaches to business process management and organization.
John Hagel III is a business consultant based in Silicon Valley, and is coauthor of two best-selling books, Net Gain and Net Worth. He has served as a senior executive with various technology companies and spent sixteen years as a Partner at McKinsey &amp; Company, Inc.

Gale Encyclopedia of Science

Hagel III, John

Gale

“Should be read by anyone interested in understanding the future,” The Times Literary Supplement raved about the original edition of The Social Life of Information. We’re now living in that future, and one of the seminal books of the Internet Age is more relevant than ever.
The future was a place where technology was supposed to empower individuals and obliterate social organizations. Pundits predicted that information technology would spell the end of almost everything―from mass media to bureaucracies, universities, politics, and governments. Clearly, we are not living in that future. The Social Life of Information explains why.
John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid show us how to look beyond mere information to the social context that creates and gives meaning to it. Arguing elegantly for the important role that human sociability plays, even―perhaps especially―in the digital world, The Social Life of Information gives us an optimistic look beyond the simplicities of information and individuals. It shows how a better understanding of the contribution that communities, organizations, and institutions make to learning, working, and innovating can lead to the richest possible use of technology in our work and everyday lives.With a new introduction by David Weinberger and reflections by the authors on developments since the book’s first publication, this new edition is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the human place in a digital world.

The Social Life of Information: Updated, with a New Preface

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