When I was kid, many summers would find me at camp. Invariably camp was fun, challenging (new things, new people, different rules…), and always a learning experience. What if today’s “professional development” experience was like camp? MuseumCamp 2014 Nina Simon is Executive Director of the Santa Cruz (California) Museum of Art & History. […]
Effective Communications: Adding Verbal and Non-Verbal Capacity in Virtual Contexts
August 7, 2014 by · Leave a Comment
Working virtually can put the squeeze on our full range of verbal and nonverbal communication skills. This is a given with it comes to nonverbal. When we’re in the same physical space together, the success of our communication effort is mightily influenced by our nonverbal, visual, actions. Where is body language, and tone of voice, […]
Public Art: A way to increase local interactions, connections and conversations
July 14, 2014 by · 2 Comments
Do you know your neighbours? Anything that increases interaction opportunities with neighbours, or strangers, I figure is a good thing. Public art is such a thing. From silos to interactions Even in dense urban places, our life can feel like a silo. Yet, once we get past our inward-looking tendencies, and open up to interactions […]
Urban beekeeping offers us a lesson in change and conflict management
July 7, 2014 by · Leave a Comment
Its summer, here. Flowers and gardens are blooming. Bees are buzzing in the neighbourhood, and more, if you have backyard beehives. A Yes! magazine article this week, Four Ways to Build a Bee-Friendly Neighborhood, gave some great tips for alleviating neighbour concerns, associated with urban beekeeping. I also thought the tips offer a larger model […]
High-context communications in a low-context virtual world
April 3, 2014 by · Leave a Comment
Singapore mediator Ian Macduff wrote a helpful article, last week, about the differences between low- and high-context cultures, and its’ impact in online mediation. His piece highlighted the challenges of understanding the meaning behind the message, when the message can mean so much more, or less, depending on the culture of the person sending/receiving the […]
