Recently a video game archive was opened in the United Kingdom not only to store old video games but also to preserve video gaming culture. The project is a partnership between a university and National Media Museum in Bradford which will also be housing the gathered pieces.

A couple of weeks ago while traveling I picked up a copy of the Harvard Business Review that had an article in it about creativity at Pixar animation studios written by co-founder Ed Catmull. Although written as an article, to my opinion it might as well have been the most valuable strategic document of the company. Why? Well, it’s a detailed description of the creative process inside the animation studio. And as we often say: the future is not empowered by technology, but by creativity.

Last week I watched Otto Scharmer explaining his U-theory, and like Joachim, I too was triggered by what was explained by  as a “network organizing structure” and an “ecosystem organizing structure”.  My take away in the difference between the two structures was the role of the stakeholder. It is the difference in who is included in the process of organizing and what emergences from these organizing principles.

With 7 days to go the presidential elections in the USA are coming to a close. With ‘important republicans’ supporting Obama it appears to be a done deal. But until the polls close you never know what the result will be. Obama needed almost 2 years to get where he is now. I thought elections culminated on 1 day. It now appears to be an illusion in this era of time-shifting. With postal voting and early voting d-day has changed to deadline. And I expect this presidential election to turn into an anticlimax.

In his Theory-U Otto Scharmer names four different forms of organizational structures that are related to the four different stages of listening (downloading, debating, dialogue and presencing) that we go through while travelling on the journey of the U: the centralized organisation, the decentralized organisation, the network organisation and the ecosystem organisation. To me it was quite an eye-opener to see the network in this row of organizational forms and to reflect on its position and its successor. But is the ecosystem an utopian ideology

Last week I talked to various people, amongst them John Gray, Charles Leadbeater and Daniel Cohen. All interesting talks about society, technology and of course, the economy. I all asked them if they thought we’d come to the end of an era. Namely the end of capitalism. Yes, they all answered, we’ve come to the end of capitalism in the sense of the ‘financial capitalism’: the system that has lead to the build up of tremendous wealth creation in the financial sector. But we are still far from the eradication of capitalism as the ideology on which a society operates…

Climate change front runner Al Gore merely addressed the problem of climate change, he did not have an answer to the problem. Once in a while, when somebody raises the topic of fighting the climate change, I drop the perspectives of our earlier discussed government, business and citizens framework. The conversation usually changes from vague problems and mixed feelings to a far more concrete discussion of how to solve the problem. This switch between wild speculation and a real discussion is only Initiated by offering a few handles. These handles miraculously turned doom thinkers into realists, trying their best to come up with a solution of there own.

In the home of the brave there is a ‘raging battle’ for the next leader. It is no surprise the McCain-Obama battle is getting increasingly nasty. But with endorsements by influential republicans Obama appears to be the clear winner. Voting for a president is usually done once. But in the land of the free democracy has dramatically changed the last year and a half. The Obama campaign has just announced to have reeled in $150 million in funds during september alone. Obama gave the people not 1 vote but many, transforming politics with the true power of networking.

Last week I have visited the ‘Stedelijk in de Stad Bouwkeet’, a project in between the closing down of the temporary location at Central Station and the re-opening of the regular location at Museumplein of the StedelijkMuseum Amsterdam. The project is a container travelling through the city and aims to bring the museum more in touch with its audience, being a meeting point, information centre and lecture location. Last week’s event was about how to set up an exhibition. Besides that I learned something about peer-education and a globalizing modern art scene.