Smlxl Reboot

http://www.<lickr.com/photos/naum/1639496461/ 

Rebooting Britain Alan Moore SMLXL 

Straight  line
The true possibilities of the networked society 
   thinking stops here!

http://picapixels.tumblr.com/post/110371277/85945961‐jpg 

The real voyage of 
discovery is not to seek 
new landscapes

It is indeed to look upon 
the world with fresh eyes 
Image:: http://picapixels.tumblr.com/post/112642547/460954095‐jpg

So come with me on a short journey, and 
it all starts, with a friend of mine. Steve 
Watts is a wealthy Californian 
businessman. Recently he decided he 
would take his family on holiday to 
Europe. He decided that it would be a 
good idea to travel en‐familie throughout 
Europe, by train. Indeed, an elegant way 
to travel he thought, along straight tracks 
and clockwork like schedules avoiding 
the trials and tribulations of air and car 
travel. His children implored him to take 
this opportunity to read the Harry Potter 
books, as they thought he would really 
enjoy them, as indeed they had done. 
Steve decided that he would leap into the 
digital age – buy the latest iPod, and 
upload Harry Potter books as audio <iles.

Donning the iconic white headphones as the 8am from Rome to Turin moved out of the 
station, Steve looked out of the train window and began to take in the scenery and the stories 
of Harry Potter. At the end of the week, sitting down to breakfast, Steve announced, much to 
the horror of his children that he thought Harry Potter was severely over rated – well in fact 
more than just over rated, Harry Potter was just plain rubbish. His kids looked perplexed. 
Obviously his children disagreed, so, Steve explained that there was no structure, no plot line, 
and the characters came and went in random order, constantly.

Steve’s kids picked up his iPod and looked at it and then they laughed – in fact 
they laughed until they were in tears, much to the consternation of their father. 
Why? Because Steve had been listening to Harry Potter all week on Shuf<le. Steve 
did not get Shuf<le and so this simple everyday story sits at the very heart of No 
Straight Lines. Because for many of us, we have only ever experienced a linear 
life and a linear culture, Steve’s inability to comprehend even the possibility of 
Shuf<le is a simple but telling example of that fact. 

http://www.<lickr.com/photos/34478983@N00/237139242

Carlota Perez in her 
book Technological 
Revolutions and 
Financial Capital – 
says that there 
comes a point in 
time where the old 
institutions are 
found wanting, the 
old frameworks 
insuf<icient.

http://picapixels.tumblr.com/post/113185311/1241888829265462‐jpeg 

Let me explain

A linear 
 approach to what we 
 make, how we make it, who we 
 make it with, how we share and  
communicate is a framework if you will, or a lens 
 that sets us to look upon our world and act in a very particular 
fashion. Shuf<le is an example of a non‐linear approach, a means 
by which we can access, curate and interpret the world in a 
different way. But for some is very hard to grasp.

http://picapixels.tumblr.com/post/115662173/good‐morning‐situ‐gunung‐ii‐by‐juhe‐jpg 

Think about it like this –  
 the only straight lines made in nature are made by man,  
 and similarly our industrial world has been built with  
 the same straight‐line logic   
and, philosophy. Yet nature is not like that, 
 
it has no straight lines.
 
 Nature <lows, nature is more connected, grass roots and interdependent.   
It suggests a different type of process and logic at play that is not; 
 
centralized, bureaucratic or in<lexible.  
This is the world of no straight lines.

http://www.<lickr.com/photos/greentrench/179501134/ 

For straight‐line thinkers the world of no 
straight lines is akin to living in a foreign 
land; the customs, language, symbols etc., 
are dis‐lo‐cating‐ly alien – they are 
outsiders, unable to fully participate, as 
they do not have the comprehension, nor 
the insight, or the necessary capability to 
fully engage. They have become concussed 
observers to the vital world around them. 
The visceral shock however, is, that this is 
happening to us, not in some foreign land, 
but, in their own backyards.

Our world of business, media, and communications is evolving from the straight‐lines of an 
industrial era to the more complex and networked world that mimics nature.  

This interactive networked world isn’t about vertical silos, traditional notions of product and 
service creation, mass‐production and mass media and marketing. It is about the massive 
<lows of people, who are connecting, collaborating, organising and creating in a manner that 
has nothing to do with a linear approach too much at all. This is truly an engaged and 
participatory culture. 

Yochai Benkler in the Wealth of Networks argues that for over 150 years our economies, 
culture and society have been shaped by a straight‐line logic producing considerable economic 
success. However, in the dawn of the Networked‐Society, a straight‐line logic of getting stuff 
done becomes a barrier to progress. Why? Because, the change wrought by the networked‐ 
society is structural – challenging how markets and organizations have co‐evolved over the last 
150 years. 

The highest and best form of ef1iciency is the 
spontaneous cooperation of free people.  
Woodrow Wilson

http://www.<lickr.com/photos/14431773@N08/3512241035 

Communication -
Community -
Communion

This creates a dilemma. And the dilemma is this – How can <irms and the people 
that work in those <irms, develop coherent strategies/products and services that 
are premised upon No‐Straight‐Line principles – when they have been versed only 
in Straight‐Line thinking – at least for the over 35’s – from birth?

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/lewishamdreamer/1523495713/
There are no such things as conscripts ‐ there are only volunteers, says Euan 
Semple, he says young people are coming into traditional organizations having 
spent the entirety of their young lives: collaborating, networking and getting stuff 
done in very different ways. They are confronted with an alien world of: linearity, 
silos, hierarchies and the ego of title. The friction is palpable because the old 
organizational models cannot cope with or take full advantage of the new 
potential, unleashed is a profound transformation in the way of doing things,  
of getting stuff done.

Make no mistake – we are currently in the midst of a communications revolution – 
and once you have stormed the Bastille you don’t go back to your day job. 

We are at the barricades <ighting for a participatory culture as the modern world 
has stripped us humans down to units of education, production and consumption.   

In fact we want to, recover something of the spirit of the Enlightenment on terms 
appropriate to our time. And this is what Reboot is all about: whether its Lee 
Bryant talking about People Power, Andy Hobsbawm looking at how we create 
Social Good from Social Media, Tom Steinberg giving us a real alternative vision of 
a participatory and transparent Democracy – through mySociety, Paul Miller 
offering us a vision as to how we can collaborate and innovate together better. We 
want, No we demand the shared ability to connect to other citizens on common 
ground. Because we have become victims of the rules we all live by. Replace every 
member of Parliament but ask them to work within the current system – and you 
will get exactly the same outcome – It’s a system breakdown. 

Communications technology can be wielded as a powerful agent of social and 
political change, today it is being wielded with great might and great ferocity.

We have turned away from a Read Only  In the age of mass media, the press was 
to a Read Write culture – Nokia says  able to de<ine the sphere of legitimate 
25% of all media will be created by us  debate with relative ease because the 
by 2012 – YouTube uploads 13 hours of  people on the receiving end were 
audio‐visual material every minute of  atomised  but connected “up” to Big 
every single day of the year. This is folk  Media but not across to each other. And 
culture for the 21st Century – albeit on  now that authority is eroding   says 
steroids.  Journalism Professor Jay Rosen 

communicationstransformation


But what is driving this communications revolution? 

Is it that technology has just appeared? Is it a <luke? An accident? 
The simple answer to that is no. Technology is a human creation 
in the <irst place and it succeeds or not the the extent that it 
meets fundamental human needs, human beings have an innate 
need to connect and collaborate, through communal and 
cooperative activity we <ind context and meaning in our lives.  
Right now, we are directing communications technology to 
achieve very speci<ic things for society. As Carl Jung said….

“I” 
 
Needs  
 “We”   
to truly be 
 “I”

Noisy ghosts in the machine called life 

But our industrial, mass media, mass consumer society, strips us of what 
makes us who we are – we have become units of production and consumption, 
battery farmed, and raised in a world where we feel little personal 
accountability to each other. We have deconstructed humanity almost to the 

http://www.woostercollective.com/2008/09/fresh_stuff_from_dan_in_bristol_uk.html 
point of destruction – sceptical !? Ask any practicing psychologist who will tell 
you of the very complex psychological problems many people have as they 
struggle to construct their identities.  

Sadly many of us have become very noisy ghosts in the machine called life. In 
the UK Every 3 in 5 people suffer or have suffered from a mental health 
problem 

The crisis of our modern age is the crisis of meaning, these are the deep 
drivers to what all the speakers at Reboot are concerned with – what Reboot 
directs you to is how we can rediscover our sense of ourselves and in doing so 
– Reboot Britain.

Image: http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/camil_t/82015664/

“Human nature is not a machine to be built after a model, and set to do 
exactly the work prescribed for it, but a tree, which requires to grow and 
develop itself on all sides, according to the tendency of the inward forces 
which make it a living thing.” 

 John Stuart Mill – On Liberty 1859

A new commonsense for the networked society 

http://www.<lickr.com/photos/nathaninsandiego/2723981272/ 
Participatory culture – folk culture for the 21st Century 
In a late medieval carnival, for example, everyone had a role to play and a chance to distinguish 
themselves individually by the brilliance of their costumes, the wittiness of their jokes, or their 
talents as dancers or athletes. Barbara Ehrenreich in her book Dancing in the Streets, a history 
of collective joy, says that the capacity for collective joy is encoded into us almost as deeply as 
the capacity for erotic human love of one human for another. We can live without it, as most of 
us do, but only at the risk of succumbing to the solitary nightmare of depression, argues 
Barbara Ehrenreich. Today, the most prescribed drugs in the world are those for depression. 

We want to co‐create, share, collaborate together in this way we <ind common meaning.

HOS 
http://www.we‐make‐money‐not‐art.com/archives/2008/05/erika‐larsen‐for‐the‐past.php 

              Human                                 Operating                             System 
The Open Society 
George Soros worried deeply that unfettered capitalism was creating a closed society which only one 
thing counted – material success. He argued for an open society a new type of operating system that 
was not built upon market fundamentalism, dogma and avarice. I would argue this is what we might 
call a Human Operating System. This social operating system looks beyond materialism to something 
greater ‐ to liberate us from closed systems so that we can all re‐engage with the world to feel and be 
accountable to each other and experience and enjoy the richness of life

http://picapixels.tumblr.com/post/110384580/picapixels‐tumblr 

@ Reboot we are showing each other what this Open Society really means 
systems, platforms and services that enable people to better cooperate together, 
more effectively and enjoyably.  We go from faster to closer – from context to 
deeper context. And as John Thackara says a culture of community and 
connectivity has to be fun as well as challenging, as well as responsible.  

The “open society” is created by the unfolding of; ideas, language and creativity 
that brings us new ways of describing and comprehending our world.

The Open Society should NOT JUST SATISFY US. No it should 
inspire us.

http://www.<lickr.com/photos/9266144@N02/1075722366/ 

I want to share some words with you that I want you to re<lect upon and in doing so to think 
about what do these words suggest as possibilities to you? And perhaps as you spend your day 
with us all @ Reboot apply this language to your company, your organisation and imagine what 
that language means?

individual & 
collective 
accountability

permeable 
<lows of 
information

collaborative 
&  
participatory

trust 
& 
transparency

hyper‐local
 
& 
superglobal

technologies   
of 
 
cooperation

understands 
the morality of 
“enough”

Cocreation 
The co‐creation of culture and the sharing of culture creates social cohesion.  

Collaboration, participation, co‐creation


Craftsmanship in the networked society 
Social philosopher, Richard Sennett's book The Craftsman, is an exploration 
into the idea of craftsmanship, he begins from the basics of technique and 
personal expression and applies that to a philosophy of how craftsmanship 
might be at the very heart of social good in modern society. It is Sennett's 
contention that “nearly anyone can become a good craftsman” and that 
“learning to work well enables people to govern themselves and  so become 
good citizens.” This line of thought depends, among other things, upon the 
Enlightenment assumption that craft abilities are innate and widely distributed, 
and that, when rightly stimulated and trained, they allow craftsmen to become 
knowledgeable public persons.” The craftsman is more than just a good 
technician he is a bringer of peace and a maker of civilisation, he uses his 
tools for the collective good.

Embedded Sociability 
Every single case history and proposition at Reboot actually has sociability 
implicitly embedded. Reboot recognises embedded sociability as part of the 
DNA of the networked society – it is a fundamental requirement. 
http://www.<lickr.com/photos/an_untrained_eye/1195966967/

Permeability of organisations 
organisations need to be 
permeable, with the ability 
to absorb <lows of 
information, and people.  

This means using more 
transparent methods of 
communication from inside 
http://www.<lickr.com/photos/powerhouse_museum_photography/2862345500/ 

out and outside in.  

It also means being <lexible 
and adaptive, more organic 
in thought and deed. 

http://picapixels.tumblr.com/post/113152317

People have lived and worked in villages since the dawn of civilization. The corporation, argues Charles 
Handy, is a youthful concept, little more than a century old. One could argue, too, that the notion of a lively 
village — with its unabashed humanity — is a more appropriate way to look at what the corporation 
should be in the 21st century than the constrained and impersonal entity it has been.  

Villages are small and personal, and their inhabitants have names, characters, and personalities. What 
more appropriate concept on which to base our institutions of the future than the ancient organic social 
unit whose <lexibility and strength sustained human society through millennia? 

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/krustysplodge/898377791/

The organisation as a village

http://www.woostercollective.com/2008/08/bruno_taylors_playful_spaces.html 
We don’t take back the public realm by more CCTV ‐ Trying to control the public 
domain remotely is never going to work.  Why is it in Japan that you can leave 
your bicycle left unlocked in down Tokyo – because society has a powerful sense 
of the inter‐relationship between society – the public realm and the individual. 

Creating community is only marginally about technology. What matters is the 
emergence of shared meaning as we interact with each‐other in meaningful 
activities… For hundreds of years, when the majority of the population was 
illiterate, participatory ritual and performance were the main ways that beliefs 
were shared within a culture. 

Taking back the public realm

The learning age 
Stephen Heppell considers the 21st century to herald the ‘learning age’.  
In the 20th century, he argues, we built big things (railways, universities) 
but the focus for the 21st century is ‘helping people to help each other’.  
In his view, “The old stuff won't do any more”. 
The four Cs are Heppell's key…

Learning should be a  {1} 
part of all our lives – 
an open, living  Creating
breathing system 
where intelligence 
and knowledge is 
shared and 
distributed –   

{3}
  {2}
 
Collaborating  Critiquing 

{4}  
 
Communicating

Deschooling business schools – a new capitalism 

http://www.<lickr.com/photos/delibelli/279319214/ 
Contrary to popular opinion – business is in fact a social science – so perhaps our business 
schools should be more like this – the Eden project The promise of this new world cannot 
come about until education/business /politics etc.,adjusts to human need not the other way 
around by connecting people with common interests, unlocking creative talent among 
groups that have a passionate interest or an desire to exchange information globally, and  
as a consequence new content and solutions emerge.  

I believe that by offering collaborative tools for innovation at the grass roots we dramatically 
increase productivity because as I have pointed out a simple truth people embrace what they 
create.

The effervescent 
beauty of systems 
thinking 
Straight Line Thinkers also fail to think of the whole system or pathway of help, which  leads 
instead to focusing on bits of the system, with the result that although each bit may be doing 
its bit, the overall result is awful, as one part clashes against another.  

John Seddon, argues that this dynamic is currently endemic in Britain’s public sector leading 
to valueless activity, meaningless measurement, and ever poorer service, at ever greater cost. 
You and I as taxpayers are paying heavily for this stupidity. The solution, Seddon advocates 
is a Systems Thinking approach where  [1] individuals come <irst,  [2] waste is reduced  
[3] responsibility replaces blame.  It's an approach that is proven, successful and relatively 
cheap ‐ and one that governments around the world, and their advisers, need to adopt urgently. 

It is the difference between effectiveness vs. ef<iciency

simplexity 

We create complexity by not thinking through solutions de<ined by simple 
human principals. This is as relevant to our daily lives as individuals and as 
professionals. We forget to look beyond the obvious and step back from 
situations to enable us to alter our preconceptions of taking and making 
solutions.  And by doing so, we tumble into complexity

One of the ways to simplexity is through the Bill Bailey 
principle. Bill is a comedian and he is asked how he comes 
up with his jokes 

The Bill Bailey Principle

Bill says – well I start with a laugh and works backwards. 
What do I need to do to create that about of laughter!! 
Where we start to think about solving problems will 
determine where we end up.

James Dyson started by asking a question and focused there after on <inding the 
very best answer / experience to that question. His focus was on effectiveness 
not ef<iciency. Funny that – he also has 50% of the vacuum cleaner market – 
globally.  

But we also see the same approach for MyPolice and in there is a suggestion of 
a completely different approach, a process that provide very different results.

I suggest, that rather than <iddling around with bits of the system, we raise our eyes and 
minds upwards and yearn for the vast endless sea of possibility of what our society could 
be beyond the con<ines of Straight Line thinking – Embrace and use daily what Howard 
Rheingold rightly describes as “Technologies of Cooperation”.  

What you call things is important, as I have also explained, we need a new language and 
framework to enable to us to succeed as a society, and, we need to put commerce in its 
rightful place within the human fabric of the networked society. 

We need a system reboot into a new social paradigm. As Richard Sennett argued in the 
Craftsman 

We want to, recover something of the spirit of the Enlightenment on terms appropriate to 
our time.  

We may need a form of dualism for a while, understanding that we are in the process of 
making a journey, spiritually, socially, and economically from one way of seeing and 
behaving in the world to another.  The source of the solution lies in <inding once again the 
‘being’ in human being. The fundamental need we have is to <ind shared meaning, because 
without such communal meaning or belonging, we become bricks in the wall, living 
meaningless lives. 

We need to Reboot the system and we need to Reboot it now.

SMLXL: 
Contact: alanm@smlxtralarge.com  
Twitter: alansmlxl
 
www.smlxtralarge.com 

Thank you  http://icanread.tumblr.com/post/85622811/via‐inothernews

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