Serendipity and Learning

 When was the last time you did something new? Mine was last weekend. When I tried my hand at creating youtube videos. I looked at a few video editing softwares, downloaded it (or used it off the cloud). Obviously, I was not very happy with my first few attempts and kept the video in a private mode.  A few hours later into this trial and error process, I realised that this is no different from blogging - where more than getting the writing right - it is all about getting the idea out there and continuing to work on it - and not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.  So, I put out my first few videos on the Coolture Designs video channel.  And the friend who had instigate this had warned - your first few videos are going to crappy and you will not have views - but keep at it - videos are the mode of the future (as much I am a reader and a consumer of the printed word more than videos) - so you better learn this skill.  So, that was last weekend. This weekend,...

Solving a problem..Innovation...whatever you want to call it! A useful video to share...

It is one of those things that do not need explanation! Worth a watch this one...

This is a very well known video. With Ed Catmulls book, Creativity Inc. being read, we ended up googling for some Pixar short films and ended up finding this video. I shared this with the little one - the story is tragic to say the least, but for a small child, the full import of it does not hit home (and that is good for now). But something amazing happened. As we watched the video, the little one said, Appa, this is a very sad video - and all because of what happens at 2.20 in the video. At that point, the Kiwi sheds a tear - just a single tear and that is enough to connect the audience with all the emotion being conveyed. For the rest of us - grown up, the whole story is poignant - but even if you do not understand everything - just that one moment establishes the connect. That is the power of emotion!

This is the latest speech by Narendra Modi which was delivered yesterday at the India Today Conclave. Much analysis has been carried out on this speech, but here is a different perspective. I have written about Presentation skills - and to me this is a video that touches upon almost all aspects of presentation skills. For someone who wants to learn public speaking, presentation skills this speech is a great example. It is well worth your time, if you want to see presentation skills in action (and the bonus of a great speech). The speech is largely in Hindi, though there are parts in English as well.  Mr. Modi uses a video at the start (which is missing here) - so the speech uses other media as well - surprising the audience - since politicians arent generally given to videos. That initial video has made the audience look forward to more. The speech is extempore - which can only happen when one knows the subject thoroughly. I personally don't know how much Mr. Modi practices...

Not sure what is the point of this ad by Britannia in terms of selling its products, but this is one great video. Especially useful for us in the learning and education field. We learn best when we do...

This is an inspiring video on 'Moonshot Thinking'. Inspired primarily by the premise of taking the man to the moon - but not knowing how to exactly to accomplish it, this video inspires us to take on audacious goals. Indeed, I recall reading how our very own Chandrayaan project could help boost the technical capabilities of the suppliers. We, at work, or in our personal lives have the opportunity of doing so. Whether or not we reach there is kind of immaterial, but the effort itself will take us somewhere which will be forward movement as compared to where we were prior to it...

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo . Via Brainpicker  

Take a look at this wonderful advertisement. It beautifully replicates a website into a physical design through the 90 odd seconds that it runs. First of all it is creative - almost burns the light bulb in your head - and makes you go - why did I not think of that. Second, truly, the internet, like life is what you make of it. Third, it is quite inspiring when you come to think of it. But as a creative concept, this has appealed to me for a longish time. We had attempted to do something similar for a website as part of a project at work. We worked on getting the entire website down a book. The whole idea was to make the website "physical". So, literally you would have dropdowns that would need to be folded back and then little windows would pop up as part of the book and so forth. Pages would cut like tabs on the website and would take you back and forth and so on. The project did go through, though to a time crunch in the end, we had to cut down many of the "feat...

Superb video. Dont miss it - if you havent already seen it.

Another great video. Take a look.

A great example of storytelling - using vivid illustrations - and this is only about Bottled water. The whole series can be seen here - lovely stuff. All part of a project called "The story of stuff".