Large-Scale Collective IQ

Another interesting presentation from IT Conversations is a presentation from November 2004, by Douglas Engelbart -- credited with bringing (or helping to bring) the mouse, hypertext, multiple windows, bit-mapped screens, shared screen teleconferencing, and outline processing into the world. In this presentation -- available in audio from the site, with a link to the PowerPoint slides -- Engelbart discusses the acceleration of change which in turn accelerates change. The perspective is technology impact on society, and the ability of organizations to keep up with the pace of change, its complexity and the urgency to change in order to stay ahead. To keep up, organizations need to "become increasingly faster and smarter at their core missions" -- which in turn drives them to "become faster and smarter at how they continue to improve."

I haven't listened to this presentation yet, but it's on my list -- once I have an hour to spare.