Emboldened Individuals Platform Institutions

John Creightonpresenting to

Colorado Association of LibrariesOctober 9, 2010

A Different World

2002

A Different World

A Different World

Six Kids on the Street

Six Schools

Twelve Kids in Playgroup

Two go to Neighborhood School

Education Research

Mid 1990 AttitudesChoice is a strange ideaPeople focused on the Basics - 3RsHome school parents out of mainstreamEducation = School

Kettering Foundation 1995

Education Research

Attitudes emerging in early 2000sChoice is a rightParents care about the “whole child”Home school parents admiredEducation = Another form of self-expression

Piton Foundation 2004-2005

What’s Different

Given the opportunity, people will choose to design and manage their own experiences.

People value expertise but reject authority.

People will gravitate toward institutions that help them design and manage their own experiences — with advice not prescriptions.

Blind to the Future

Preserve the Institution

Consensus in 1995: “Roll the Presses”

“With few exceptions, virtually everyone agrees that new media is merely a supplement to the traditional print paper.”

Maybe Not

Pew Research Center 2009

Forty two percent of Americans would not miss the paper if it closed.

Buried in the ReportPeople want more choice and control in how they receive their news.

People want greater interaction with journalists and each other.

Why?

What’s driving people’s demand for choice, control and the ability to interact with others?

Why do people reject the authority of institutional decision makers?

One Generation Ago

People willingly conformed their lives to the time, place and rules of institutions.

We gave awards to those who best conformed.

Institutional LanguageWorking 9 to 5

Working for the weekend

Night shift

Hours of operation

Morning paper

10 O’clock news

Thursday Nights = Must See TV

Spring Break

Summer Vacation

Culture Follows Structure

sjh foto (Flickr)

Amazon.Com

20th Century Centralized Institutions

20th Century Problems

Scarce Resources

High Costs

Cumbersome Logistics

Limited Communications

20th Century Centralized Institutions20th Century Solutions

Large scale production and mass markets

Centralized management

Place based work at specific times

Take it, leave it, or lobby like hell

20th Century Centralized Institutions

Jason McHuff (Flickr)

battlecreekcvb (Flickr)

Bill Ward Brickpile (Flickr)

20th Century Centralized Institutions

1952

160 million people

>67,000 school districts

2002

290 million people

<14,000 school districts

20th Century Problems slowly going

awayScarce to Abundant resources

High to Low costs

Cumbersome to Invisible logistics

Limited to Ubiquitous communications

New Opportunities

Choice

“You can have it any color you want as long as it’s black.”Henry Ford

Single songs available at Walmart = 50,000Single songs available on Rhapsody = >400,000

Raymond van Dongelen, 2005

New Opportunities

Customization Students vote for new M&M'sby Allison DiCecio, Daily Pennsylvanian,

| Monday, February 13, 1995

New OpportunitiesParticipation (pro-sumers)

New Opportunities

Socialize

New Opportunities

Volunteer labor

New Opportunities

Decentralize

First charter opens in 1991

Today > 5,000 charters

> 1.5 million students

Center for Education Reform

20th Century solutions are slowly losing appeal

20th to 21st Century Solutions

Large scale production and mass markets

to Small scale production, niche markets

Centralized management

to Self-organization

Place based work at specific times

to Any place, any time, any group

Take it, leave it, or lobby like hell

to Do it yourself!!

Impacting Every Sector

Creating Tensions between Old and New

Creating Tensions between Old and New

Students aren’t bored in school because schools lack bells and whistles.

Students are bored because they lack control. That’s a recipe for disaster.

Dr. Philip Zambardo

Institutions Flourish...

When they solve people’s and communities’ problems.

21st Century Platform Institutions

Solving New Problems

Create, identify and organize options

Inform and facilitate satisfying choices

Give people access to tools of production, distribution, participation and collaboration

Enable people to form ad hoc, short term and long term communities

Help people sustain action and community over time

21st Century Boundary Spanning

InstitutionsNew Social Problems

Accidental extremism

Self-selected segregation

Opportunities to develop democratic habits

John Creighton

john@creighton.com

www.johncr8on.com

twitter @johncr8on

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