Finds

№ 7 | Above the Line, Cameras and Lenses, AI Video Generation?!, Reframing the Office Space, and a Classic Book on Meetings

Living above the line

A co-worker shared this short video, with a cautionary note: “Warning, this may change how you look art the world.” Enjoy “Locating Yourself — A Key to Conscious Leadership.”

Cameras and Lenses

I love a good web page with interactive elements. Here’s an interactive blog post to check out, all about… Cameras and Lenses!

AI Video Generation?!

Last week it was AI being used to generate video summaries. This week, it’s AI being used to generate video clips. This new “Make-a-Video” tool (from Meta) uses machine learning to translate a rough text prompt into a short video. Essentially, what Midjourney, Dall-E, StableDiffusion do for static image creation, this can do for short video clips. 🤨

Here's a solid piece from HBR. Heck, how can you go wrong with an opening statement like “In today’s hybrid world, ‘work’ is increasingly something people do, not a place they go.”

Now, some criticism (not necessarily about this article). I don’t disagree with anything written, but… what’s the problem we’re solving for again? Is the goal to get people back into the office? Or something more? I like the proposal to recast the office as a place for connecting with other people. I’ll “Yes, and…” this proposal. But… Let’s also not let up on making or finding ways to connect remotely, as well. In many of these kinds of articles, I keep sensing an implicit assumption that presence and connection is something that can only happen in person—with physical proximity. I think it’s more complicated than that, and that yes, there are contexts where people can and do already feel tremendous presence—with co-workers they’ve never been in the same room with. Where are these stories?

Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There!

I’ve been researching the heck out of meeting best practices, so I was surprised to come across a book recommendation (on meetings) I’d never heard of: Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There! I haven’t read it yet, but this comes from a colleague whose recommendations are always top notch.

№ 125 | Harms of the AI Ecosystem, OK Go Sandbox, Learning Experience Canvas, Family Tree of French Sauces, How Nouns and Verbs Shape Game Design, Harm Along a Spectrum, and Pain Point Bingo

Harms of the AI ecosystem At this point, just about anything Per Axbom creates is an instant share from me. His latest creation, an infographic identifying various “Harms of the AI ecosystem” is a fabulous ‘thing to think with’. Brief. Good use of dual coding. Seemingly comprehensive. I was initially

№ 124 | Deep Deck, Charismatic Language, “Are Student Attention Spans Really Shrinking?”, AI Divergence Engine, 10 Things to Watch Out for When Working with AI, “Society Begins at Home”, and Collective Madness Bingo Sheet

Deep Deck Let’s kick things off with a good ol’ analog card deck! Deep Deck is a deck of conversation starters that promises to “push strangers closer and pull friends deeper.” Deeper connections and all that. Long-time readers will know how bored I am by most of the

№ 123 | Deep Code Cards, Cultural Differences and Storytelling, “So You Want to Be an American?” (the Game), Work-Life Balance, the Smiley Model, Playful Visualizations—Using Trees!, and Deep Reading

Howdy! Welcome to another roundup of ‘playful things to think with’ and things to think about. Let’s kick it off with… Deep Code Cards Ooh… Another project from Dark Matter Labs. The Deep Code Cards offer a “playful exploration of the invisible forces that shape our lives.” Nice. Maybe

№ 122 | A “Horseshoe” Diagram, Slow AI, the Data Communication Triangle, The Invisibles, A Simple Clustering Algorithm for Lists, Ordinary Abundance, and “Certainty, Variety, and Delight”

A ‘horseshoe’ diagram Ooh… A horseshoe diagram?! That’s a new-to-me pattern; I’m adding this to my collection of visual primitives. Pretty much a cycle, with emphasis on the starting and ending points (before the cycle begins again). That’s all. Oh, and as for the content