Rediscovery of Hurtigruten: beautiful journey along Norway's coast

Thanks to nrkbeta, youtube and creative commons.

Design in Practice/"Design i praksis" new book

"Design i praksis: designledelse og innovasjon" (in Norw.), exhibited in Norli bookstore, Oslo, October 2010. Photo: Birgit Helene Jevnaker.

31.10.2010
This autumn, we, Per Farstad and myself, have finished our new book with Universitetsforlaget.

APPROACHES FOR DESIGN AND INNOVATION. The book is dealing with creative challenges and opportunities for designing and innovating in projects with others in realworld situations. Ten transdisciplinary work approaches are introduced for projects of many kinds - in service or product development, concept development, innovation and design. We suggest the work approaches are potentially relevant across several design disciplines and other making and planning disciplines including management, and especially in the current situation where both design and management fields seem to be under scrutiny and transformation.

PERSPECTIVES ON CREATING SOMETHING. No doubt, there are currently many new or latent problems surfacing in and across projects and organizations. From many years of work practice, studies and teaching, we have learned how students as well as scholars and practitioners are often striving with both innovation and developmental work including the conception of something new and different. Or how to actually renew and strenghten something already proven to sustain its actual or potential values? These are among the questions we explore throughout the book, drawing on research and experiential insights from realworld examples.

DESIGN ISSUES AND COLLABORATIONS. The book builds on the premises that platforms and collaborations for good designing are something that is constructed and unfold in practice. It thus delineates and discusses a number of design and developmental issues and seeks to provide new or synthetized perspectives, work methods/tools, and knowledge that we suggest can help something new or existing to become attractive as well as viable in practice. This is however a continuous and often complex challenge but one that we as humans can work on - with and for others.
Any experience, comment and suggestion that can help us to improve this, is welcome. birgit.h.jevnaker@bi.no

See more on Universitetsforlaget

Live Opera in cinema / Boris Godunov

LIVE OPERA IN CINEMA. Interestingly, live operas from some of the top opera houses such as The Metropolitan (the Met) are now sometimes available in a cinema theatre "near you", here in Oslo. The Met, established in 1883, now regularly transmits a number of their performances to other regions via a HD service thanks to certain sponsors. The calendar is available on the link here..

The Met's BORIS GODUNOV. Yesterday (23.10.10), I saw an excellent performance of Modest Musorgskij's opera Boris Godunov . It was broadcasted from the Met in New York to Oslo cinemas Ringen and Gimle. With a reputation for such cultural events, Gimle was sold out but Ringen could take more people. (In fact, all opera performances scheduled currently at Gimle seem easily sold out, at least it was when I booked my tickets for Boris Godunov on 25 September (for 300 NOK per ticket), whereas Ringen, a larger theatre East in Oslo still had vacant seats). Anyway, quite a large group of people still came to see and listen to this particular live opera performance also at Ringen, as did many people in other local theatres elsewhere, I presume. It was a great experience, because the singing and music by great artists and excellent performers were also dramatized with unifying aesthetic and ethical content, form and deeper meaning.
Here is a video from the initial work by Peter Stein (who later left but the work was continued by Stephen Wadsworth, see cast and production details below).



BORIS GODUNOV is a Russian epic opera - partly realistic in its drawing on Russian history and partly drawing on classical/experimental as well as folk music sources. Both music and libretto was written by Modest Musorgskij, or in English Mussorgsky (1839-1881). It is worth noting that he was inspired by Aleksandr Pusjkin's novel with the same name Boris Godunov (from 1830, though not allowed shown before 1870). Also much of Musorgskij's music were met with skepticism. It was not before his friend Rimskij-Korsakov rearranged the opera into a shorter piece and it later became performed with the brilliant singer Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin it became an international success. Later, the full complexities of Musorgskij's Boris have been rediscovered, one might say. The new Met version was, to our luck, performed with a mix of the first and second version of Musorgskij's original opera.

THE STORY in brief is zooming in on the ascendance of a new zar (tsar) and his relationship with the people or Russia at large. Boris Godunov, a bojar - who may have come to power by plotting or ordering the killing of Dimitri, the son of the former zar - has increasing doubts about his own role. Musorgskij shows us what this possibly criminal background does to the zar (he becomes haunted by a strange foreboding) and it influences his ethical relationship with the Russian people. He delivers out bread in the hope that people will forget the rumours. The people is however no unified heroic entity but rather expressed in nuanced and subtle ways by the choir as well as some noteworthy figures, for example, a couple of wandering monks (a new kind of character not common in operas at the time). In addition, the opera has a symbolic character, a fool, that tells the truth to the emperor.

THE PLOT. The opera shows the increasing self-doubts of the tsar on an enlarged background of hunger, mistrust, continued oppression of the people by the rich bojars (members of the highest ranks of the aristocracies), and political rivalry and plotting in and around Russia. This includes the false Dimitri, the Pretender, who is actually Grigorij, a former monk novice who hears about the previous political/criminal plot from his teacher, a chronicle writing old monk, Pimen. However, the young Grigorij - of the same age as would be the former tsar's son Dimitri - no more wants to become a humble monk continuing the chronicle writing. Very effectively, the book lies open on the stage floor throughout the opera and in some passages the key actors are literally in or playing on the book pages. Gregorij who reads the chronicle about the child killing, becomes filled with thoughts that he is the same age as Dimitri. Rather than justice or chronicle-writing, he wants to seize the throne for himself. When rumours begin to build up about this renegade "Dimitri", he escapes over the border to Lithunia. Later, pretending to be the next tsar, he engages in a loving relationship with Marina, a princess of Poland, who has her own ambitions for the Russian zarina throne and also is under influence of a Jesuit priest with ambitions for Russia - on behalf of the Roman-Catholic church.
It can be noted that this politically embedded love affair and Polish part of the opera was not in Musorgskij's imagination originally, it was actually inscribed into the opera by suggestion from Musorgskij's friend Rimskij-Korsakov. This latter composer also later made other, shorter versions of Musorgskij's Boris Godunov.

TOP TALENTS. Many top talents are listed in the Met's new compelling long version of Boris Godunov, among these are many excellent Russian singers such as Ekaterina Semenchuk and the German Rene Pape. The opera is sung in Russian, which is a challenge for non-Russians, of course. Rene Pape told the audience in an interview during one of the two breaks that he was "adopted" by all the Russian singers who each and all helped him express the words rightly. The conductor of this new performance is not to forget the highly creative Valery Gergiev from Maryinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, home to the Kirov Opera and Ballet. Gergiev is also connected creatively to the Met as this opera shows.

CAST
Conductor: Valery Gergiev
Marina: Ekaterina Semenchuk
Dimitri: Aleksandrs Antonenko
Shuisky: Oleg Balashov
Rangoni: Evgeny Nikitin
Boris Godunov: René Pape
Pimen: Mikhail Petrenko
Varlaam: Vladimir Ognovenko

THE PRODUCTION TEAM
Production: Stephen Wadsworth
Set Designer: Ferdinand Wögerbauer
Costume Designer: Moidele Bickel
Lighting Designer: Duane Schuler
Choreographer: Apostolia Tsolaki


OWN BRIEF REFLECTIONS ON PARTS OF THE MET PERFORMANCE. There is much to reflect upon in this magic opera. The music and epic story are accumulating into a unifying experience in its deeper-ethical layers and original complex music style as Mussorgsky had it composed. The scene shifts are however done swiftly, without much disturbance in this "new" Boris Godunov, and the costumes are traditionally rich, even against a background on a relatively stripped down modern stage design, which may help us focus on the main drama rather than exotic detailing. We still sense the fundamental consequences of human actions and the evolving gaps between the power elites and the people. Although a relatively clean or simple, stripped down stage can help focus on the inner tensions and outer troubling times, I am not sure whether we actually hear the bells or clocks of the cathedral in the death scene. A few destiny-ringing bells or some other suggestive sounds might perhaps have helped our imagination regarding the sounds of ghosts that Boris seems to hear. But the personal drama of Boris in Rene Pape's physical gestalting comes forward clear enough any way - whether the bells actually toll or not.

If I shall dare to point to something more suffusing that could be improved, it is one aspect that comes to my mind. In Yesterday's performance, I found the Dimitri character perhaps the most "weak" one ("weak" in relative terms because they are all high-performers in terms of singing!). Nonetheless, the dramatic acting of this and a few other key roles (also prince Shuisky) could be somewhat improved, e.g., the novice monk part by the Dimitri character was not so credible. For example, he did not seem to have been spending his time in a cell as a novice with the old monk Pimen, nor did he act particularly well as a thirsty wannabe ruler. He was more credible as a man longing for love though. As to the Polish acts, however, I really enjoyed the highly seductive song and tight interplay of Marina and the Jesuit priest Rangoni, both ridden by power ambitions and sexual undertones in a credible and memorable way.

Most moving for me was, nonetheless, the whole complex of music going on and on including the expressive singing and excellent acting of the self-doubting Boris (performed by Rene Pape), such as his dying act with his children present and also the various symbolic scenes with the fool.
The last Kromy scene in the woods - when people take violently revenge over bojars and their soldiers and a woman in vain try to stop the mob's cruelties and is slaughtered while finally the fool expresses all the sorrows - shows that this scene was not meant as a simplified "revolutionary" or heroic tale of the people, it rather shows a mob seduced - in-between rival oppressors.

MORE ON THE MUSIC BACKGROUND. How could Musorgskij at a relatively young age come up with this moving, complex music? His opera Boris Godunov was first allowed to be performed in 1874 (and Musorgskij died already in 1881, at age 42). The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece.

Some enabling aspects may be his own dedicated creating and his particular teacher in a creative milieu with a handful of composing friends. As far as I have read, Musorgskij did not travel much but devoted himself to music composition (and alcohol), perhaps not surprising because his family went bankrupt and he also met much skepticism among his music contemporaries. See for example, Andras Batta (2001) Opera, p. 404.

Musorgskij's TEACHER. Although taking piano lessons from his early boyhood, Musorgskij had no full classical education. However, he was regarded as an eminent pianist, and eventually (from 1857), he started to study composition with his friend Mily Balakhirev (or Balakirev), who is regarded as the founder of the Five, a handful of composers, and its new Russian music school.

According to a Wikipedia article, I found this passage (courtesy to Wikipedia, link here):

In conjunction with critic and fellow nationalist Vladimir Stasov, in the late-1850s and early 1860s Balakirev brought together the composers now known as The Five—the others were Alexander Borodin, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. For several years, Balakirev was the only professional musician of the group; the others were amateurs limited in musical education but possessing enormous potential. He imparted to them his musical beliefs, which continued to underlie their thinking long after he left the group in 1871, and encouraged their compositional efforts. While his methods could be dictatorial, the results of his influence were several works which established these composers' reputations individually and as a group. He performed a similar function for Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky at two points in the latter's career—in 1868-9 with the fantasy-overture Romeo and Juliet and in 1882-5 with the Manfred Symphony.
As a composer, Balakirev finished major works many years after he had started them; he began his First Symphony in 1864 but completed it in 1897. The exception to this was his oriental fantasy Islamey for solo piano, which he composed quickly and remains popular among virtuosos. Often, the musical ideas normally associated with Rimsky-Korsakov or Borodin originated in Balakirev's compositions, which Balakirev played at informal gatherings of The Five. However, his slowness in completing works for the public robbed him of credit for his inventiveness, and pieces that would have enjoyed success had they been completed in the 1860s and 70s made a much smaller impact.

COMPLEX CREATIONS. According to several sources, Boris Godunov, among major operas, shares with Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlos (1867) the distinction of having a complex creative history and the greatest wealth of alternative material. The composer created two versions—the Original Version of 1869, which was rejected for production by the Imperial Theatres, and the Revised Version of 1872, which received its first performance in 1874 in Saint Petersburg, according to Wikipedia. These versions constitute two distinct conceptions, not two variations of a single plan. It is noteworthy that the Met version seeks back to much of the original version while also including scenes from the second one. Thus, it became an approximately 4,5 hours opera but I really enjoyed also the length - of a magic evening. Many seems to agree with this rich experience of "original Boris".

Marimekko exhibition in Oslo 14.2-9.5.2010

Courtesy for Photo Marianne Siebke and nrk.

This colourful exhibition recently (14.2) opened at Kunstindustrimuseet - Museum of Decorative Arts and Design - in Oslo (see National museum of art, architecture and design).

This is the retrospective travelling exhibition of Marimekko (first exhibited in 2003, so finally now in Oslo).
More info from the museum here: http://www.nationalmuseum.no/index.php/content/view/full/6955

And here you can find an article with more photos by Marianne Siebke, for nrk: http://nrk.no/nyheter/kultur/1.6967878

Siebke has interviewed Anne Kjellberg, senior curator of the Kunstindustri museum. We get to know an interesting anecdote about the woman designer Maija Isola who later designed one of the most well-known Marimekko patterns, the interlocking poppies (valmuer in Norwegian). Maija Isola had lived in Oslo, where she worked at the restaurant Gamle Raadhus (old townhall). She also visited the Kunstindustri museum and was inspired by old jugs to draw the pattern "Amfora".

In Norwegian (excerpts from Siebke's article for nrk):

Kvinnen bak valmuemønsteret

Allerede i 1949 engasjerte de designeren Maija Isola (1927-2001). Isola hadde bodd i Oslo, der hun jobbet på restauranten Gamle Raadhus. Hun vanket på Kunstidustrimuseet, og der inspirerte gamle krukker henne til å tegne mønsteret «Amfora».

Later her famous patterns for Marimekko were used on a variety of objects such as raincoates.

Prinsesse Märtha Louise i Unikko-regnfrakk.

Foto: Lars Harald J. Kristiansen /Scanpix

Marimekko is not only an example of Finnish joyful design. It has been a huge marketing success but also experienced troubled water economically speaking as a company. For some elaboration on this, based on empirical design and management research on Marimekko, see a good chapter by Antti Ainamo (1998) in the research anthology book Management of Design Alliances (Bruce and Jevnaker, eds, published on John Wiley & Sons, UK. You will probably get it via a library).

Taking a sabbatical - designer Stefan Sagmeister

Courtesy to TED and Sagmeister.
Filmed July 2009, posted on TED talks Oct 2009.
Link (if problem with the video here): http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/stefan_sagmeister_the_power_of_time_off.html

Walid al-Kubaisi inspiring Anne Grete Preus

www.pluto.no/.../mk.kveld/ Walid_al_Kubaisi.htm
photo of Anne Grete © Marcel Lelienhof
Courtesy: Anne Grete Preus, see http://tinyurl.com/yl8l2rs

Anne Grete Preus' Lille Hjørne:

Fra julepresang til åpningssang (IN NORWEGIAN)

Det begynte med en fin julegave sist jul. En kjær venn ga meg et abonnement på Dag og Tid. Jeg satte stor pris på gaven for denne nynorske kulturavisa var et nytt bekjentskap for meg og jeg likte både tonen i bladet og mange av artiklene. En omtale av Peter Norman Waages bok ”Jeg” tiltalte meg spesielt, forøvrig en fin og original kulturhistorie. I omtalen brukte skribenten ord som glød og inderlighet, ord jeg er fortrolig med, men som dessverre har gått litt av moten til fordel for et litt anorektisk norsk som ofte preger de mer seriøse tidskriftene. Hvem var denne skribenten som kunne skrive om Wergeland så jeg for første gang ble nysgjerrig på mannen bak barnetog og norsk nasjonalisme? Walid al-Kubaise – ja han er nok ikke født og oppvokst på Lillestrøm eller Norheimsund tenkte jeg. I neste nummer av min julepresang (veldig fint å gi en gave som en får mange ganger!) leste jeg min første artikkel i Kubaisis serie Blekk og Blod og ble enda mer imponert. Håper dette blir en bok så jeg kan lese denne fine og personlige artikkelserien i sammenheng! Jeg har en god, gammel venninne som reiser mye i Midtøsten og arabiske land med et stort kulturprosjekt. Etter flere måneder på reise i disse himmelstrøk har hun også funnet en kjæreste der nede. Jeg følte dermed det var på sin plass å inkludere følgende lille melding i en av mine rapporter fra gamlelandet. Kjære M, …. Alt vel osv osv…….. PS Nå er også jeg blitt fan av en araber! Han heter Walid al-Kubaisi. Sporenstreks fikk jeg en mail tilbake som var en mail med to adressater:
Kjære Anne Grete og Walid ! Dere er tvillingsjeler og jeg er glad for å sette dere i forbindelse med hverandre så får dere selv sørge for å treffes. Hilsen M
Jeg tok oppfordringen på strak arm og bare noen dager etter satt jeg på Walids al-Kubaisi kontor i Dag og Tid og drakk kaffe mellom de overfylte bokhyllene. Den samme varmen og nysgjerrigheten som jeg hadde sett i artiklene hans lyste ut av de brune øynene. Med meg fra dette møte hadde jeg to gaver. Det var en diktsamling av Muhammad al-Maghout Gleden er mitt yrke, som Walid hadde oversatt til norsk og hans egen artikkelsamling Norske poteter og postmodernistiske negere. Begge skulle få betydning for meg i skrivearbeidet.

På side 11 i artikkelsamlingen beskriver Walid hvem han er i en liten orddans i identiteter. Og plutselig slår det meg at dette er en sang! Jeg mailer på nytt til Walid og spør om han kunne tenke seg å skrive denne teksten sammen med meg. Selvfølgelig svarer denne vennlige mannen ja og vi avtaler et møte ved mitt kjøkkenbord. Etter et par treff og en god kaffe på benken ved siden av Welhaven statuen på Riddervollsplass har jeg fått så mange gode bilder og tanker at det er nok til mer enn en sang og jeg innser at dette må bli en sang om Walid og om at vennskap handler mer om sinnelag enn at en har hatt samme pålegg på skolematen. Noen dager senere sendte jeg først utkastet til hovedpersonen og mottok igjen et vennlig svar. Hvor lite Oslo er fikk jeg forøvrig bekreftet når Marcel Leilienhof kom innom Rainbow studio på en liten reseach før han kom for å fotografere meg i innspillingsarbeid med tanke på coverfoto. Jeg hadde akkurat startet med den første grunnsporet på Walids sang og medprodusent Jan Erik Kongshaug og jeg prøvde ut litt ulike tempo. Før jeg hadde sagt noe om låta forteller Marcel at han kjenner Walid godt. Fin fyr, er den presise beskrivelsen han gir og jeg blir enda mer fornøyd med at jeg har skrevet denne sangen! Før Marcel er ferdig med sin befaring er sangen spilt inn.
I går kveld var Walid en av mine gjester da jeg inviterte alle som har hatt noe med Nesten Alene å gjøre på en ettermiddagsfest på mitt kjøkken. Jeg føler av og til at jeg har besøk fra en ungdomsklubb når jeg nå om dagen treffer de fine folka på Warner Music. Er det gjengen der som blir yngre og yngre eller er det jeg …… har tross alt hatt Warner som tilholdsted for arbeidet mitt i 22 år!
Etter at Erland og jeg fremførte sangen holdt Walid en fin tale om identitet for oss. Den konkluderte med at Ibsen tok feil! I løk-scenen fra Per Gynt letes det etter en kjerne i mennesket, men Walid sier det er lagene som er vår identitet og løken bærer frukter når vi planter den ut i menneskenes hage. Da kan den blomstre selv om den er lag på lag og ingen kjerne har! Å se disse unge menneskene bli like forført som meg når Walid sjonglerer med ord, kiler Ibsen under haka og sender takknemmlige tanker til Gilgamesh og forteller om sine 5000 år gamle tårer, var en fantastisk opplevelse.
Både julepresangens avsender og min barndomsvenn M var sammen med oss på kjøkkenet denne kvelden da Walids sang avsluttet sin tilblivelsesreise. Det skal bli spennende og se om den har nok i seg til å komme seg videre på en egen hånd.

Oslo , 7.nov 2009
Publisert 08 Nov 2009
Tilbake
design © treepixel 2008
photo © Marcel Lelienhof

PERSONAL COMMENT: I found this by chance a couple of days ago. What magic, I thought, here two of my favorite poets had come together by good chance circumstances and a song was born. A lesson to learn is to continue give the special Dag & TId newspaper as gift to friends for Xmas! Then good things may happen...

Oxfordgirl's avatar

Colonel Pessian
AA 1-441 First lieutenant Mohammad Taqi Khan Pessian
Courtesy: The Institute for Iranian Contemporary Historical Studies (IICHS) Copyrigth © 2008 IICHS. All Rigths Reserved
The reproduction of articles is free by announcing the resource. Designed by RayanKaveh co. Source: http://www.iichs.org/index_en.asp?id=1680&img_cat=104&img_type=0

ON TWITTER and in the midst of the Iranian people's movements, there is an interesting communicator called @oxfordgirl. S/he is presenting her bio on twitter in this way: "I'm a writer, a literary agent and have a consultancy that helps writers with their books, plays and film scripts. In my spare time I dabble in politics."
Her picture (avatar) is an edited version of Colonel Pessian, this is not presented explicitly in the profile. However, reference to the Colonel has emerged but only a few places in the tweats and dialogues with others: "...There has never been a hero like the Colonel #IranElection" (about 9 hours ago from TweetDeck in reply to NN. (Accessed 11 July 2009.)

FOLLOWING. I have followed oxfordgirl (and also the persiankiwi and others) since the (flawed) election results were announced in June 2009. I was immediately struck by the particular gestalt, a personal voice mediated via the Colonel avatar and also the sometimes shifting aestetic background of this profile site hinting to literary and historic references and beauty of the Persian past.

A COLONEL FROM PERSIAN HISTORY. Who was this colonel, I've wondered. And why would this oxfordgirl choose a hero colonel for #Iranelection current twittering? I searched for various persian colonels but were not sure and did not find the right photo either. Today I eventually hit upon the right colonel since his name was used in a twitter dialogue, oxfordgirl with NN. Visiting NN I found the Colonel's name, at last:

"@oxfordgirl Amazing that you know Colonel Pessian. Our history is amazing indeed. Many ppl stood up against oppressors #IranElection"

According to Wikipedia, Colonel Mohammad Taqi-Khan Pessian (1892 - 3 October 1921) (also Colonel Pessian or Pesyan "Pesseyan"), born in Tabriz, was a popular military leader of Iran.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_Pesian

According to an article in IICHS, "During world War one and invasion of Iran by other powers, his bravery in Mosalla battle became known to all. He went to Germany to attend a course of aviation. He returned to Iran and was sent to Khorassan as the head of Gendarmerie. Following Seyyed Zia's coup and the formation of the new government, he was on mission to arrest Ahmad Qavam. He confiscated his properties and sent him to Tehran under guard himself became the acting governor of Khorassan."
"Colonel Pessian was a brave man; at the time of death, he was only thirty years old. He was devoted to Persian literature and music. He has let some poems, translations and articles behind."

DOUBLE MAGIC. So there I guess are the roots of double inspiration - brave (& probably just) fighting for Persia and an art-maker including translating literature. A crossover figure familiar with several cultures and with believable personality.

However, it is more to this reuse of a historic figure, the colonel Pessian, as an avatar for a brave actor-networker in the current people opposition against the flawed election and for a more people-grounded governance. Notice the way oxfordgirl is twittering. What is interesting is for example that @oxfordgirl in fact do not defend violent opposition, s/he is recurrently speaking against violence... in spite of violent basij she insists on not using the same means back.

SOME TWITTER EXAMPLES (*reaccessed 11.7.2009):
1) @jim1010 he is an old dying man, nothing can be achieved by violence against him. Not sure he will survive much longer #iranelection (about 13 hours ago from TweetDeck in reply to jim1010).
2) The events of last few weeks have transformed image of Iran in the world, they have seen a noble & heroic ppl not terrorists.
#Iranelection (about 14 hours ago from TweetDeck).
3) @Bergen2 a wonderful generation of young ppl prepared to die for freedom and justice. #iranelection (about 14 hours ago from TweetDeck in reply to Bergen2).
3) This movement is such an example to the world. Calm and dignity and sacrifice #iranelection
4) Hate will not win this battle, only love of a country and its ppl #iranelection
5) We must learn from history, enemy of my enemy is not always my friend. #iranelection #iranelection Beware those wnt 2 use Green 2 grab power (about 15 hours ago from TweetDeck).
6) No 1 in Sea of Green has any intention of killing Mullahs or anyone . Pray that U nevr have 2 take the life of another human #Iranelection (about 15 hours ago from TweetDec).
7) @oxfordgirl recently shared this reflection: "RT @justtash71: Heroes are not born they are created in times of need #iranelection So true.! " (about 15 hours ago from TweetDeck).

Productive distractions

In favour of distractions, what I've felt right for many years in order to think or do things differently. So attention economy and scanning widely are not necessarily dichomotous, I suspect there are potentially productive disctractions but aided by a certain attention economy (to be able to scan quickly, move on etc). 

http://nymag.com/news/features/56793/ *discovered this link via my colleague and friend Thomas Hoholm, BI.