Here's a moral tale which tells us how far we are from being a knowledge society - even though we're surrounded by ever smarter technologies.
In response to last week's post, @Carloper posed some great questions: what "mastery" are we measuring? If kids are learning in a more open environment, why do we insist on assessing them in a closed, traditional way?
I was in San Francisco last week at the Encore.org conference - a meeting of a couple of hundred Boomers over 50 all committed to achieving social change in the second half of their lives.
While running our Destination Local programme, we often debate about the scope and nature of hyperlocal media. It's such a new term that a number of very different types of service get described as hyperlocal, usually depending on who we talk to.
The results of the first Community Life survey were published with little fanfare earlier this month. We can't draw conclusions from one data point, but it felt significant that three quarters of the population described themselves as having volunteered in the past year.
The power of population is so superior to the power of the earth to produce subsistence for man, that premature death must in some shape or other visit the human race. So said Thomas Malthus at the end of the 18th century, and he can be forgiven for predicting global apocalypse, given that population growth looked to be accelerating very rapidly when compared with food production.
My view of the Knowledge Society is the same as Gandhi's view of western civilisation: that it would be a good idea.
The rise in our ageing population is one of the most significant social challenges we face. By 2025, half the UK adult population will be aged 50 or over. This profound demographic shift will increase the numbers of people affected by social isolation and ill health.
The second camp of phase two of Nesta's Creative Councils programme, hosted by Wigan Council, began at Sunshine House community centre in Scholes with an introduction to some of the most innovative work already happening in Wigan and the surrounding area.
On Monday, Burberry streamed its London Fashion Week show live across the world and to its Regent Street flagship store, allowing global consumers to become part of the experience. By offering a new way to watch as if from the front row they ensured customers were fully immersed in the show.
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