Martynas Sklizmantas // Confined to the mountainous regions of Papua New Guinea where the tradition used to be to eat other people’s brains. Not really a laughing matter, but the concept is pretty crazy. People who eat too many brains suffer a loss of balance, memory loss, shakiness, paralysis and strangely
inappropriate laughter.
Need help? Let me know - saint@ghost.lt
The Frontal Cortex reports on an interesting study that found that the personality characteristics teachers define as creative are the same ones that make their pupils least likeable in the classroom.
Sounds familiar?
In spring of 2007, the web video series In the Motherhood, a humorous look at modern motherhood, made the move to TV. In the Motherhood started online as a series of 5 minute videos, with viewers contributing funny stories from their own lives and voting on their favorites. This tactic generated good ideas at low cost as well as endearing the show to its viewers; the show’s tag line was “By Moms, For Moms, About Moms.”
The move to TV was an affirmation of this technique; when ABC launched the public forum for the new TV version, they told users their input “might just become inspiration for a story by the writers.”
Or it might not. Once the show moved to television, the Writers Guild of America got involved. They were OK with For and About Moms, but By Moms violated Guild rules. The producers tried to negotiate, to no avail, so the idea of audience engagement was canned (as was In the Motherhood itself some months later, after failing to engage viewers as the web version had).
The critical fact about this negotiation wasn’t about the mothers, or their stories, or how those stories might be used. The critical fact was that the negotiation took place in the grid of the television industry, between entities incorporated around a 20th century business logic, and entirely within invented constraints. At no point did the negotiation about audience involvement hinge on the question “Would this be an interesting thing to try?”
Shared by @fredwilson
9. Experiment, or die.
Let me beat this dead horse one more time. Sorry.
If you don't have a robust experimentation program in your company you are going to die.
It is just a matter of time.
Friendly reminder
