Members Evgen Vorobyov

Nov 8 2009: I think that Mr. Berners-Lee's exciting speech anticipates future trends. And when I say 'future', I mean very near future and not the long-term perspective. However, this 'Raw-Data' idea raises many questions.

First, creating unlimited access to data worldwide means that Intra-nets (supported by government agencies, companies and individuals) have to be merged into the Internet extensively. This will require to overcome desire to hold control, corporate greed and security concerns. Will a multinational company want competitors to gain access to its customer base? Will CIA permit anyone to view security-related data?

Secondly, this model of data exchange stipulates that current copyright model should be revised and changed to facilitate the information flow. As we have seen lately, information flow in the Internet breaks clashes with the strict limitations imposed by 20th century legal norms. Unless this limitation is removed, 'monopoly' for data will still be there.

Nov 8 2009: Companies should harness Web 2.0 communication technologies instead of trying to block them, especially if they are doing business internationally. I will give a couple of examples to prove the point.
It is sometimes easier to find the "right" person to employ or work with if you make a little research first by checking out a profile in a social network like LinkedIn.
If you deal with people from Turkey or India, Skype can help you a lot - businessmen there use it very often in their job.

Sep 19 2009: I work in an information company, so it was increadibly interesting and useful to listen to this talk.

Jacek makes a great point about the synergy of design and content. It is the combination of the two that can help newspapers survive in a digital era. Sophisticated design for a poor set of articles will make a publication look blank and blunt, while clumsy design of good material may discourage many readers from buying it.

Printed newspapers cannot compete with numerous on-line media in terms of instant delivery of news and interactivity, but they still can offer their readers good quality of pictures, relevant analysis and personalized focus on the issues that seem vital to their target audience.

Sep 14 2009: Mr. Pink gave a great speech. I can't help agreeing that change of the motivation paradigm is long overdue. However, there is a serious obstacle to that: motivation model based on internal urge to do things right requires mutual trust between a company and an employee. Unfortunately, not many companies are ready to let their employee define his own pace of work, since they are driven by short-term targets: cut costs and survive the financial storm.
Neither are managers in those companies willing to yield control over planning and result appraisal.

The other problem is that extrinsic motivation is deeply rooted in the practices of manufacturing companies. As Mr. Pink showed, intrinsic motivation was adopted primarily by companies that had emerged as Internet pioneers. Large '20th century' corporations are very reluctant to change their ways, because they don't yet have a 'role model' among their peers.

Jun 1 2009: Well, yeah, proficiency in English is often perceived as an attribute of prestige in many societies (particularly, in the developing countries), but this happens because it might help people to get by financially. I don't really think this a problem, it's just an inevitable trend.