'Strange as it may seem, overcoming geographic obstacles, winning decisive battles or meeting global business targets are the type of goals often best achieved when pursued indirectly. This is the idea of Obliquity. Oblique approaches are most effective in difficult terrain, or where outcomes depend on interactions with other people I have long been taken with John Kay's theory of obliquity But has there ever been a better example of how you achieve your goals without directly explicitly pursuing them than the You Tube sale to Google this week? It appears that this is a seminal moment in the early history of the Web and a sure sign that 'user generated content' - whatever your views - is going to be the very essence of the future of the web. In the 10th anniversary issue of Wired last year Kevin Kelley prophesised that 'in the near future, everyone alive will (on average) write a song, author a book, make a video, craft a web log, and code a program. This idea is less outrageous than the notion 150 years ago that someday everyone would write a letter or take a photographWell we are getting there...But what does all this mean in terms of Education.Who is experimenting in this space? Is there a role for Channel 4? Two workshops this month will explore this further. Come along if you can. Click here for more
