TDC11

Like a Glastonbury of the Digital Media and Technology world, Thinking Digital Conference 2011 surpassed all previous events with a fantastic array of speakers, ideas, music and learning. Innovative, stimulating and relaxed in equal measure, TDC11 delivered on all counts.

As TDC11 ‘thinkers’ we were treated to an extensive and eclectic mix of thought leaders in the worlds of social media, tech commerce, music, medicine, robotics, political engagement, app & game development, music and infographics, dictionary and literary liberation – you name it! There were so many compelling speakers, and we’ll let you know when the Thinking Digital Team get the videos streams on-line. For now, here are some of the highlights…

Walter De Brouwer – CEO OLPC Europe

A fascinating take on the future of healthcare where our ‘nomadic health records’, come with us and are populated with our own ’self-quantified’ health data. But to achieve it we have to give up some privacy so that we can enlist the best mix of health specialists to advise us on our healthcare. For now our health records are protected only by the “sheer chaos” of multiple players, systems and records that make up our histories. Anyone looking into the future of health care and informatics would really benefit from listening to Walter’s talk.

Dr Vincent W Li – Co-Founder of the Angiogenesis Foundation

Angiogenesis is new blood vessel growth, put simply, too little angiogenesis and we don’t heal, too much and you have the beginnings of cancerous tumours. Vincent’s compelling talk showed us the amazing health benefits of optimising angiogenesis by simply eating the right foods. It’s the stuff we know, green tea, brocolli, blueberries etc, but never so convincingly presented. Vincent is creating a movement for change called Eat to Defeat Cancer. Check out the excellent and simple eating and cooking tips and you’ll wonder why you aren’t already following his advice.

Conrad Wolfram – Wolfram Alpha

Imagine that, instead of trading PDFs multiple times with your colleagues, you could create documents which had dynamic and searchable data embedded within. Documents which would in effect ‘come to life’ so that data becomes useful and accessible. Wolfram Alpha’s unique approach is the foundation of ‘CDFs’ (Computational Document Format). There is hope of liberation from report and PDF overload!

Nancy Duarte – Duarte Design

This is the lady who advised Al Gore’s slide presentation at the core of An Inconvenient Truth. The first lady of presenting in our book and her ‘Resonate‘ strategy for devising and delivering compelling presentations is a must for anyone who wants not just inform, but compel their audiences into action.

Erin McKean – Wordnik

Wordnik is the OED with cosmic rays and bells on. This is the dictionary to revolutionise our relationship with words. About as current as real-time can be, Wordnik sweeps the web as well as the weighty tomes of the dictionary powers-that-be. So any word you seek can be found in several contexts. We like it.

Caspar Berry – Risk Analyst

This man has the coolest CV ever, top of the list being ‘poker advisor for the makers of the Casino Royale Bond film’! Aside from that, Caspar is hot on uncertainty and our naive efforts to control the future. Mind blowing for us all when much of our work time is spent trying to do just that!

Alan Cohen – CISCO

VP of Global Public Sector & Industry Solutions for CISCO, Alan is on a mission to overcome our much bemoaned ‘Paralysis by Analysis ‘ and Information Overload’. His thesis: “70% of knowledge work is just the re-shuffling of already existing data”. And, he says, the anti-dote is ‘7′! Keep it simple and build information systems with human capacity in mind, we can process up to 7 items of data in our brains on a good day, fewer on a bad one. His vision is “putting people back into the centre of the information flow”. Wise words indeed.

PS – Want to see pictures? Check out a great FlickR feed from Simon Finch

Our client wanted to understand where the strengths and gaps were in the people, process and technology strands of their IT strategy. The Lead & Transform team worked with a cross section of staff at the Firm to identify efficiencies and potential gains across teams of legal fee earners, admin and technical staff. We also gave the firm an independent perspective of the value being derived from current key IT supply partnerships.

Now furnished with our feedback and recommendations, the Firm has identified new opportunities for productivity gains, and for greater business process innovation through the strategic use of IT.

We’re really excited to be involved in a pragmatic research programme that gets to the nub of what makes, or breaks, successful business innovation, and the part that IT leaders and their teams play in realising the benefits.

Who does it well in your experience and what exactly sets them apart as being successful? What type of leadership styles work and what cultural, structural and business strategies combine for success?

If you are a business or IT leader in an organisation that is embedding, or has already embedded, IT-enabled innovation, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us to take part.

View our SlideShare presentation to the IT Director’s Forum here.

Download more information about taking part in the research by clicking here Research Overview & Flyer for Interviewees 2011.

In many of our current client projects, IT agendas are all about improving the productivity of expert staff and transforming business productivity through the better use of IT. There is plenty of technology and IT capacity out there, but not so much of it is being utilised to good effect. In economically chastened times, businesses and organisations are still investing considerable budgets, but now the emphasis seems to be doing more with what we have rather than buying in new solutions.

We welcome your thoughts….

If you have an idea don’t hesitate to get in touch and we can see if we can turn it into a suitable project.

For more information see the website or email me at colin.ashurst@durham.ac.uk

In a nutshell, SFIA is a thorough framework and potentially very useful for large and varied IT/IS professional teams. In the main, SFIA users appear to be very large corporates or large public sector IT employers, such as local councils and health organisations. The main benefits seem to be that organisations with long-serving IT employees now have a language to use for career development which is in tune with the dynamic demands of today’s knowledge economy.

As with any major organisational change, for SFIA to realise meaningful benefits, significant time and serious, senior level sponsorship is required. There was evidence from SFIA members such as Leeds City Council, BAE Systems and British Airways that IT professionals have benefited from better structured recruitment and staff development processes which have helped to transform the skills mix in tech-critical operations. For small to medium sized employers of technologists, some of the SFIA ‘lite’ applications will be more suitable, offering a structure in a straightforward, flexible format.

Contact us if you’d like to explore the potential benefits of SFIA for your team.