Wrestling with Godwin’s Law: Breaking the Taboo

Het voormalige bevolkingsregister nu

On May 5th, 2014, I delivered the inaugural annual Godwin-lecture at the Dutch Resistance museum in Amsterdam. May 5th is liberation day, a day on which the Dutch celebrate freedom. An ideal moment to use the past, in particular the Second Worldwar, to reflect on the our current state of freedom. Below, in Dutch, the … Continue reading Wrestling with Godwin’s Law: Breaking the Taboo

How To Chair a Socratic Webinar

Socrates

Webinars are usually dreadful affairs. There is wise advice from Donald Taylor and there is the webinar manifesto (slightly too commercial: "Never design, deliver or sell lousy webinars again") that will help you do a better job. I would like to add a completely different way to run a webinar. I call it the Socratic … Continue reading How To Chair a Socratic Webinar

“Don’t Life Log Me” – Quantified Self 2013 in Amsterdam

This weekend I attended the Quantified Self conference in Amsterdam. The number of participants was just short of 300 of which 90(!) people were involved in some way in a session. They call this a "carefully curated unconference": they started by checking out all the registrants and then connecting to them if they look interesting. … Continue reading “Don’t Life Log Me” – Quantified Self 2013 in Amsterdam

TruBaltics, An Unconference on Recruitment

Today I attended #TruBaltics one of the Tru Conferences on recruitment. The Recruiting Unconferences are a series of pure unconferences organised worldwide, where the emphasis is on conversation, communication and the free exchange of ideas and experiences, (dis)organized by Bill Boorman. These unconferences have four simple rules: No Presentations No PowerPoint No Name Badges No … Continue reading TruBaltics, An Unconference on Recruitment