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MOOCs and the future
Thursday, May 23rd, 2013
The growth of massive open online courses (MOOCS) is hyped, but the issue is a useful proxy for discussion about the strategic challenges facing Higher Education. Top institutions like MIT are offering course content for free, while new firms like Coursera are enjoying explosive growth. McKinsey’s new report asks “If a nontrivial portion of higher education is destined to be challenged this way in the next decade, what will that mean for society?” READ MORE
Porter on Social Progress
Thursday, May 23rd, 2013
Strategy Guru Michael Porter (of Porter’s five forces) has launched a new Social Progress Index. It indexes a nation’s well being and happiness based on three categories: basic human needs, foundations of wellbeing, and opportunity. It’s aimed to help policy makers, corporations and non-profits look at measurements which are not economic. READ MORE
Manifesto for the Creative Economy
Friday, April 26th, 2013
There are some thought-provoking analyses and debates in NESTA’s new manifesto for the ‘creative economy’. These include (in chapter eight) a discussion about how to think about the ‘value’ of arts and culture in society. As NESTA note, it’s a question that deserves sophisticated consideration, but normally results in fuzzy economic impact studies. READ MORE
Givers, Takers and Matchers
Monday, April 15th, 2013
Your “reciprocity style” describes how you interact with other people. This article suggests people settle into one of three styles at work: ’Givers’, ‘Takers’ and ‘Matchers’. ‘Givers’ look to create value for others whilst for ‘Takers’ success is a zero sum game. Most of us are ‘matchers’ trying to balance giving and getting. The interesting finding is that ‘givers’ dominate both the “bottom and the top of the success ladder”. READ MORE
Iran Election Watch
Monday, March 4th, 2013
Foreign Policy has described the 2013 Iranian election as one of ‘eight elections that could change the world’. Iran Election Watch, developed as a part-time project by three journalists, is the first English-language site dedicated to the event. It looks at the potential candidates, analyses Iranian election law, and highlights how the election is being covered globally. With Ahmadinejad unable to run for re-election due to term limits, the website notes that the election ‘is likely to pit partisans of an anti-Western policy against factions more conciliatory with the West’. READ MORE
Making the Games
Monday, February 4th, 2013
This Institute for Government report tracks the development of the London 2012 Olympic Games from the exploratory research in 2000 through to the opening ceremony. It focuses on 12 lessons for government – from project management to politics – in delivering future major projects. Governments often focus on learning from failure. This seems like a rare attempt to learn from success. READ MORE
The Ipsos MORI Almanac 2012
Friday, January 4th, 2013
In a year of the Jubilee and the Olympics, Ipsos MORI’s annual report unsurprisingly found that Britons are most proud of the NHS and the country’s history. Although the economy continues to dominate as the top issue for the British public, the Almanac also found a country that is ‘quietly proud’ of itself. Future challenges also feature. In particular, the Almanac predicts ‘significant shifts’ over the coming decades as demographic changes create generational splits in opinion. READ MORE (pdf)
Poverty in Perspective
Friday, December 7th, 2012
DEMOS have been working with NatCen, supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, to develop a new model to understand the multidimensionality of UK poverty. They’ve identified 15 distinct types of poverty within the low-income population – 5 types each for children, pensioners and childless households. All 3 groups are characterised by a series of 20 indicators, including mental and physical health, education and family support. The indicators, and accompanying report, aim to help practitioners understand the different combinations of services and interventions required to tackle entrenched poverty. READ MORE
The Stories You Missed in 2012
Friday, December 7th, 2012
Foreign Policy have put together a quick overview of 10 trends that you might not have come across this year that you might see more of in 2013. It includes increasing trade between India and Pakistan, oil in central Africa, tensions between Hong Kong and mainland China and the impact of 3D printing on copyright laws. READ MORE
Voicing the Public Interest
Friday, October 26th, 2012
Who defines ‘the public interest’? The Carnegie UK Trust, in partnership with Demos, argue that the public’s opinion is important in understanding the concept. This report looks at how the public considers each aspect of any story, balancing the ‘what’ and ‘who’ against ‘how’ the story was gathered. As discussions turn to press regulation, the report argues that public support for any future regulatory system will require the public voice to be incorporated. READ MORE