Dealing with the downside… and up
June 5th, 2010 by John Creighton in Dispatches
Tags: Culture-Structure, Public Leaders, Technology
What do cell phones, the internet, and the pill have in common? They all are structural changes in our lives that changed our culture. And, they all have downsides… as well as upsides. A spring issue of Time Magazine reported on the 50th Anniversary of The Pill — the pharmaceutical contraceptive that has achieved the status of one name moniker enjoyed by icons such as Madonna, Pele and Lebron. It is hard to argue that The Pill transformed society. National [...]
Read more...Learning limits and self control.
May 29th, 2010 by John Creighton in WarmUp
Tags: Culture, Parenting, Social Media, Technology
Some rough thoughts to warm up on a Saturday morning… How do you teach your children self control? How do you help your children set limits so they don’t get “too much of a good thing?” If there is one thing that is more difficult for parents of this generation to instill in their children than previous generations, perhaps limits and self control are it. Setting limits on TV, computer, food, consumption in general is a daily issue now. Not [...]
Read more...Delusional Power
May 19th, 2010 by John Creighton in Dispatches
Tags: Culture, Education, Public Leaders, Technology
The Texas Board of Education received national attention back in March of this year when it adopted a new social studies curriculum. The decisions of this board used to matter a lot. They matter much less today. They won’t matter much at all tomorrow (i.e. in the near future). Diana Gomez, left, and Garrett Mize, along with other University of Texas students, rally before a State Board of Education meeting in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday, March 10, 2010. (Photo: AP) [...]
Read more...Mind the Gap
December 6th, 2009 by John Creighton in Dispatches
Tags: Citizen Centric, Technology
We live in a different world than we did just a few years ago. The Smartphone is transforming how we experience day to day life. Mobile phone calls, emails and text messages are mere harbingers of the ways in which the Smartphone is, can and will change our lives and our society. It is not the Smartphone itself that is changing society. It is the fact that we are able to take internet access with us where ever we go. [...]
Read more...Culture Follows Structure
November 6th, 2009 by John Creighton in Dispatches
Tags: Culture, Policies, Technology
The only place I’ve been sailing is in Colorado. It hardly makes sense to imagine sailing in Colorado. The natural bodies of water are mostly streams and rivers. But, build a dam. Create a reservoir. And, the possibilities begin to emerge. Sailing is possible in Colorado. I first heard the phrase “culture follows structure” coined by William G. Ouchi in his book Making Schools Work. The idea is that changes in infrastructure, technologies and policy change people’s behaviors. Behavioral changes, [...]
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