VISITOR FEEDBACK

The feedback from people visiting the Fourth Portal in Great Yarmouth has surpassed expectations. This second test stage focused on whether the real-world layout would stimulate conversations on the likelihood of technology improving people’s lives and reducing human impact on the planet.



Stage 2 complete

The second test stage of the Fourth Portal ended on Sunday, 4 December 2022. We began to ask visitors to share their thoughts on camera. The comments were almost universal in recognising a need for such spaces where in-depth conversation and understanding of technological change can occur.

The following is a selection of videos recorded in the last weeks of November 2022 and photos of customers throughout the two test periods. A write-up on test two and the next stages will follow.


Future of the High Street

Keith and Paul from Birmingham came into the Fourth Portal with their partners on the last weekend of test two. Paul declared that it was the future of the High Street. Keith stated he was ‘gutted’ at the closing, as it was the kind of place he adores. Along with his partner, Keith moved to live in Great Yarmouth two months previously. Paul and his partner were visiting for the weekend. (Film: 40sec)

Keith and Paul from Birmingham define the Fourth Portal as the future of the High Street (40sec)


Gutted

The word gutted was used by many visitors when hearing that the Fourth Portal test was coming to an end. Jaye and her sister stumbled on the Fourth Portal and became hooked on the coffee. As a qualified mental health practitioner, she found the Mind Room fascinating and recommended Fourth Portal to colleagues, who also began to visit. (Film: 35sec)

Jaye reflecting on the end of test two of the Fourth Portal


Understanding the concept

Both Fourth Portal test sessions confirmed the art interventionist approach and layout works. Developed by Platform-7 Events, the method involves creating intrigue and curiosity. It can often be difficult to attract people into any building unless the person has entered previously – tempting people over the threshold is why shop windows play such an important role in retail. The Fourth Portal was not in a retail space and only had small domestic sash windows. To be inviting for people of all ages and backgrounds is a vital component of the Fourth Portal. Without actually walking through the door, understanding the concept can be mystifying. In this video, JP came in with his wife and provides an insight into how most people enter an unfamiliar space. (Film: 1m:45sec)

Long time Great Yarmouth resident JP reflecting on the Fourth Portal


Developing conversations

Sharon and Brian began regularly returning to the Fourth Portal. The video captures how the layout draws in visitors and develops the conversation around technology and lifestyles. (Film: 1m:15sec)

Sharon and Brian discuss their attraction to Fourth Portal and the end of test two.


Instigating ideas

Visitors Emma and Phil met while in the Fourth Portal. Emma moved to Great Yarmouth to create a business – Airbnb and artspace within her home on the seafront. Phil was born in Great Yarmouth and is embarking on a history degree. Emma and Phil discuss the attraction of the Fourth Portal and why such spaces are vital for the town. (Film: 10min)

Phil and Emma discuss why Fourth Portal is needed in Great Yarmouth



Engineering the future

A Norwegian choir came to Great Yarmouth during the last weekend. Three members found their way to the Fourth Portal on Friday, returning on Sunday. Four of the choir, who are professional engineers agreed to be interviewed. The men were struck by the power of the Fourth Portal to bring different people together to create new ideas, businesses and solutions. While in the Fourth Portal, they observed how the space attracted a diverse customer base. The interview touches on how technology should solve some of the climate issues and why humans need to change their behaviour. (17m:55s)

Norwegian engineers discuss the importance of space like Fourth Portal and technological advances in the fight against climate change (17m:55s)


Conclusion

Stage two testing was to ascertain how people would engage in an unfamiliar concept and whether the objects would stimulate conversation around new technology. What surprised us was the breadth of people engaging, and across all age ranges. We will be taking this learning into our (online only) stage three testing and then into a new real-world site in early 2023.  

John M

THE SEMANTIC WEB

The Semantic Web is an extension of the World Wide Web (www). Whereas the www has been built for humans to read, the Semantic Web is for machines to read. The Semantic Web works by using Linked Data. The Fourth Portal will introduce Linked Data concepts to encourage members, clients and suppliers to consider how the Semantic Web could apply to their work.

The Fourth Portal is a new kind of hybrid cafe-bar work and meeting space that introduces the opportunities offered by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The locations will have several innovative tools that visitors and members can access. One such tool will be Annalist, developed by computer engineer Graham Klyne. Annalist will be used to introduce Linked Data, and the potential it offers.


Annalist

Annalist is a software system for individuals and small groups to reap the benefits of using Linked Data. It presents a flexible web interface for creating, editing and browsing different types of data without requiring the user to understand computer jargon or perform any computer programming. It has been particularly effective in exploring and rapid prototyping designs for linked data on the web, covering science and humanities research, creative art and personal information.

For Fourth Portal, we will experiment with Annalist using different approaches. Experiments will include developing a stock provenance system and providing information on famous inventors and social and business innovators.

What is Linked Data?

The text below is the words of Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, written in 2007. It provides a simple introduction to what the Semantic Web is and how it works. Descriptions of the abbreviation with a link to more information are included for ease of reading. Press the link for the full text: https://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html

___

Linked Data by Tim Berners-Lee

‘The Semantic Web isn’t just about putting data on the web. It is about making links, so that a person or machine can explore the web of data. With linked data, when you have some of it, you can find other, related, data.

Like the web of hypertext, the web of data is constructed with documents on the web. However, unlike the web of hypertext, where links are relationships anchors in hypertext documents written in HTML, for data they links between arbitrary things described by RDF (Resource Description Framework). The URIs (Universal Resource Identifier) identify any kind of object or concept. But for HTML or RDF, the same expectations apply to make the web grow:

Use URIs as names for things

Use HTTP URIs so that people can look up those names.

When someone looks up a URI, provide useful information, using the standards (RDF*, SPARQL)

Include links to other URIs. so that they can discover more things.

Unexpected results

I’ll refer to the steps above as rules, but they are expectations of behavior.  Breaking them does not destroy anything, but misses an opportunity to make  data interconnected.  This in turn limits the ways it can later be reused in unexpected ways.  It is the unexpected re-use of information which is the value added by the web.

[Read more on the 4 steps here]

Conclusion

Linked data is essential to actually connect the semantic web. It is quite easy to do with a little thought, and becomes second nature. Various common sense considerations determine when to make a link and when not to.

The Tabulator client (running in a suitable browser) allows you to browse linked data using the above conventions, and can be used to check that your linked data works.’

___ End of article – Read more here ___

Try Annalist

Annalist is open source and is available to try at the Fourth Portal. Read more Tim Berners-Lee vision here.

John M

HAPHAZARD RESPONSE

Does the name Haphazard Business seem less abstract than two weeks ago? The haphazard response to the Covid-19 epidemic around the world provides a stark reminder how quickly situations can change and the importance of being open and nimble when faced with sudden disruption.


Photo: Changing The Lightbulb | Four White House staffers huddle together pre-President Trump’s press briefing announcing paramount importance in observing social distancing. (Screenshot from YouTube, 27March2020, by John McKiernan)

What’s in a name?

The name Haphazard Business took several months to decide upon. It was essential to convey the precarious nature of all plans; no matter how well laid out they may be on paper. Planning is very important in creating any business or pursuing an idea, however it is also equally important to create contingency throughout, and be ready to abandon previously hard held views.

On setting out on this journey to create a hub, few understood why I chose this name, it made no sense as it is not selling anything and is abstract. Yet today, with the Coronavirus keeping more than half the World’s population on lockdown, does Haphazard Business seem less abstract?

Changing Tack

The Washington Post in mid-March ran a headline combining ‘haphazard’ and ‘helter-skelter’ when describing the White House early response to the Covid-19 outbreak. Helter-skelter is not in the Haphazard Business Glossary, although soon to be added, and refers as much to the rollercoaster ride we are all embarking upon as to the more recongnised meaning; “in disorderly haste or confusion.” (Google)

Jared Kushner’s ‘haphazard and helter-skelter’ coronavirus response revealed by The Washington Post (Raw Story)

Kushner entered into a crisis management process that, despite the triumphant and self-congratulatory tone of public briefings, was as haphazard and helter-skelter as the chaotic early days of Trump’s presidency — turning into something of a family-and-friends pandemic response operation.

The administration’s struggle to mitigate the coronavirus outbreak has been marked by infighting and blame-shifting, misinformation and missteps, and a slow recognition of the danger. Warring factions have wrestled for control internally and for approval from a president who has been preoccupied with the beating his image is taking.

Washington Post

Although the businessman within President Donald Trump has been pivoting wildly in the last few days of March 2020, as the full scale of the crisis and the impact on the US has become apparent, it was by all measures a slow response. His unwillingness to listen to the professional advice being offered may prove his downfall. His fixed mindset refused to acknowledge wider factors beyond his own experience, and can be a lesson everyone can learn from.

Post Covid-19 World

At time of writing, no one knows how this global crisis will play out. What is fairly clear already is that individuals, communities, business and the global economy are going to stumble out of this into a new World. The Kaleidoscope has been shaken dramatically, and business as usual cannot resume.

Haphazard Business was not a prophesy of impending crisis, it was and remains a blog to demonstrate the need for flexibility and to encourage expanding the nuance within an idea or project being pursued; the importance of being open, adaptable and accepting of change and challenge. Creative collaboration trumps the lone scientist (pun intended), as Walter Isaacson points out masterfully in his book The Innovators.

Going Forward

It might be difficult today to believe, as the death toll mounts, that we will come out the other side of this pandemic. It is imperative that those in a position of power, wealth and stability, as well as the visionaries, now step up to the plate with urgency and begin to shape the post Covid-19 World into something that is more equitable and empathetic than our recent past.

I have already set in motion the speeding up of my plans and these will be revealed over coming blog posts. Please feel free to comment below.

John M

References

Brigham, Bob. 14 March 2020, Jared Kushner’s ‘haphazard and helter-skelter’ coronavirus response revealed by The Washington Post, Raw Story, Washington, Online. https://www.rawstory.com/2020/03/jared-kushners-haphazard-and-helter-skelter-coronavirus-response-revealed-by-the-washington-post/

Washington Post, 14 March 2020, Infighting, missteps and a son-in-law hungry for action: Inside the Trump administration’s troubled coronavirus response, The Washington Post, Washington. Online.https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/infighting-missteps-and-a-son-in-law-hungry-for-action-inside-the-trump-administrations-troubled-coronavirus-response/2020/03/14/530c28b4-6559-11ea-b3fc-7841686c5c57_story.html?arc404=true

HAPHAZARD TIMES

Starting a business is always somewhat Haphazard, however a gas leak, no water, weeks of storms, and Coronavirus initiating a stock market crash has been a little more than was bargained for … and Brexit is still yet to come!


Gas Leak and No Water

A few weeks back, it was announced on this blog site the opening of two new haphazard.business hub within weeks! The intention was to do some cleaning, basic repairs and get the places open before slowly developing each site over the coming year, while encouraging local people to join the journey with suggestions that would steer the design.

Within a few days of taking the keys, hub one had access issues to water and hub two had an odd smell that turned out to be a slow gas leak. Both places require much more attention than first believed and it was clear opening would take slightly longer than first expected. Although disappointing, this is not unusual when occupying old buildings.

Storms

In January, Storm Brendan kicked off more weeks of rain. It was soon followed by Storm Ciara, Storm Dennis and Storm Jorge causing major disruption and becoming the wettest February on record. Although Great Yarmouth was one of the luckier places not to suffer flooding, travelling, transporting equipment, and just generally moving around without getting soaked all began to cause issues. Visitors and help struggled to reach GY due to transport issues. A general gloom had already descended on many people because of the lack of sunshine, almost constant wind and dealing with the drizzle cum heavy rain, even before the Coronavirus outbreak reach the U.K.

Covid-19 Coronavirus

This last week (March 01-07) Covid-19, commonly known as Coronavirus, claimed its first life in the UK. As I write, there is a discernible sense of rising panic as cases increase across the globe leading to large falls on the world stock markets and panic buying in some supermarkets. London is noticeable quieter on the streets. Surveys of the hospitality industry capture the growing worry as the spring holiday season approaches.

The data showed 85% of senior executives across the out-of-home food and drink market were now “concerned” about the threat of coronavirus to their businesses, with 58% of leaders “very concerned”.

The Caterer

Haphazard Business Blog

The intention behind this blog is to document the often haphazard nature of creating a business, project or idea, as even the most careful planning can be scuppered by unexpected circumstances. However, the last few weeks have had a number of quite exceptional circumstances way beyond what would be normal, and things may yet get much more hairy!

Documenting The Next Stage and Stress

Beyond a ban on public gatherings, or some further issue that causes delay, one of the hubs, probably hub two will open later this month, with a very stripped back offer. My intention is to try and document the journey as best as possible. One of the greatest causes of stress is not being in control of circumstances and lacking information. The last week in particular has been difficult, trying to decide how best to move forward. A new normality will creep in over coming weeks and I hope to capture this here for future readers to understand how decisions have been made and are affected by unknown, far off as well as close to home events.

John M

References

The Caterer, (06 March 2020), Restaurants and pubs ‘left reeling’ from coronavirus and new immigration rules, Jennie Milsom, London, online. https://www.thecaterer.com/news/hospitality-businesses-reeling-coronavirus-immigration-rules

THE CODED GAZE

The Coded Gaze is the term used by technologist and poet, Joy Buolamwini to cleverly describe, in a fascinating 8-min TED talk, the bias that exists within many machine algorithms and risks this poses to society. (1min read) 

This post follows on from an earlier Haphazard blog article, Dismantling Discrimination within Ai-enabled machines.

Joy, aka Poet of Code*, has launched the Algorithmic Justice League for people who wish to challenge biases within machine code, which is built on the tenets;

  • Who Codes Matters
  • How We Code Matters
  • Why We Code Matters

*Joy Buolamwini is a poet of code who uses art and research to illuminate the social implications of artificial intelligence. She founded the Algorithmic Justice League to fight the coded gaze – harmful bias in artificial intelligence. At the MIT Media Lab, she pioneered techniques that are now leading to increased transparency in the use of facial analysis technology globally. https://www.poetofcode.com//

This post is linked to Dismantling Discrimination

John M

Image: Coded Gaze Facial Recognition | Centre on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown Law

Please feel free to comment below, negative or positive, and join the discussion.

DISMANTLING DISCRIMINATION

Dismantling the engineered bias and discrimination embedded into Artificial Intelligence (Ai) algorithms, and avoiding making the same errors in the future, can only be achieved by diversifying the Ai workforce and make-up of the research community (3min read).


Machine technologies come with embedded discrimination, whether intended or not, because the majority of those who created the underpinning algorithms are male; and of those men, many are white, American or European educated.

Dismantling the bias already embedded within existing coding and engineering, particularly within legacy equipment, will be one of the biggest challenges over the coming generation. It is important to stress that although some Ai-enabled technologies have a life cycle of only a few months before the next iteration, the coding it is built upon can stretch back years, occasionally decades.

Unconscious Bias

Unconscious bias stems from those biases that people internalise by just being in a society, group or family. Although individuals may try hard to challenge their own biases, in reality it is difficult. In tech, these biases feed through to coding, and can have devastating affect. The tech industry has been slow to deal with the issue of bias, and the education systems in USA, Europe and Asia have also failed to train for a more diverse workforce.

Bias concerns

“There have been a number of high-profile ‘embarrassments’ around bias that have made the public domain, including:

  • Sentencing algorithms piloted in US courts were statistically more inclined to discriminate against people of color,
  • Amazon’s experimental hiring tool to rank job candidates, which began to downgrade applicants who’d attended all women colleges or resumes with the word ‘women’s’ in them.

Such examples point to the potential of wide-scale damage if the question of bias is not tackled head on at this still early point in the AI revolution:

As AI systems are embedded in more social domains, they are playing a powerful role in the most intimate aspects of our lives: our health, our safety, our education, and our opportunities…“It’s essential that we are able to see and assess the ways that these systems treat some people differently than others, because they already influence the lives of millions.””

Tackling bias in an AI sector that’s already too ‘pale, male and stale’

Personal Experience

A personal experience of blatant bias was when being shown the back office of a major UK bank in the late 1990s. The hosts took great delight informing my colleagues and I of the algorithm that charges higher interest rates and make access to credit more difficult for people in the most deprived postcodes. The example they chose was SE15, Peckham, my postcode! The sniggering abruptly stopped on me mentioning where I lived; the bank did not win the business.

Innovation Hub

Raising awareness and encouraging events aimed specifically at issue of bias will be one of the aims of the Innovation Hub. It is worth noting that the EU classifies ‘consumers’ as ‘vulnerable users’, basically everyone will be impacted if this issue is not addressed.

This also requires adequate respect for potentially vulnerable persons and groups, such as workers, women, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities, children, consumers or others at risk of exclusionEthics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI, (EU).

Further Reading

Tackling bias in an AI sector that’s already too ‘pale, male and stale’, Diginomics, Stuart Lauchlan, April 22, 2019

Tech Still Doesn’t Get Diversity. Here’s How To Fix It, WIRED, Michael Connor, 02.08.17 01:00pm

Gender Diversity in AI Research, NESTA, Wednesday, 17 July 2019, Konstantinos Stathoulopoulos, Juan Mateos-Garcia, Hannah Owen

Regulating Ethical Artificial Intelligence, Clayton Rice, Q.C. June 28, 2019

Ada Lovelace | Music by Numbers, Prof. David de Roure, January 2019, BBC Music Magazine

John M

Image: Breaking Away Berlin | John McKiernan

Related Articles: Ai Hub, Creating A Successful Hub and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson

MAESTROS AND IMPRESARIOS

Not all hubs need a physical space; many form around a dynamic charismatic individual who creates a unique community that becomes like an orchestra, making a greater impact collectively than any individual player could achieve alone (5min read).


The Haphazard road trip has already discovered and written blogs on some dynamic individuals who have set up a business that later becomes a hub in their local area. Richard Garrett in the town of Leiston, Trevor in Assington village, Roger de Haan (charitable foundation) in Folkestone – blog pending, and Gillian Harwood with her numerous small business hubs.

Strong businesses embedded into the community where they are situated are vital, although these are only one type of hub. Another type is one that creates a community within communities. London City Voices and Goldsmiths Alchemy Generation are two examples to be touched on here, demonstrating the importance of dynamic individuals creating non-physical hubs.

London City Voices

London City Voices (LCV) is much more than a non-professional choir for London’s stressed out workforce, it’s a community of friends.

Founder, Richard Swan has been bringing communities and musicians together throughout his adult life. Richard hit on the idea of a choir for workers in central London to assist them in unwinding at the end of a stressful day and turned it into a successful business. LCV has grown from one small group in 2010, to over several hundred participants across four central London areas.

“London City Voices is so much more than your average London choir… We are a community, a group of friends, an increasingly-large group of drinking buddies… and we are also a dynamic non-religious, non-audition community London choir.”

The video shows the choir in full voice, with hundreds of delayed harried commuters joining in at London Bridge Railway station*, briefly forgetting the inconvenience of their disrupted journey. This video provides a kind of metaphor on how contagious a good idea can become, quickly spreading beyond the immediate group or community.

Goldsmiths Alchemy Generation

I attended the final show of Mikey Kirkpatrick’s Alchemy Generation at The Albany theatre in Deptford. The majority of Alchemy participants are troubled and were sent to the project either because of issues at school or home, often both.

What was striking, and became the inspiration for this post, was a young participant’s speech on behalf of the group at the end of the concert.   There was an outpouring of unreserved thanks and love toward Mikey for what he had managed to achieve with the group. A deeply moving experience for the audience to observer, it became abundantly clear that this cohort of individuals’ have bonded in an exceptionally positive manner. Throughout the concert and at the end, one was fully supportive of another, encouraging those who became overcome with nerves to push on. An energy pervaded the room, and demonstrated how, when relationships are able to form naturally, the whole becomes much larger than the parts.

Mikey has said on a number of occasions, ‘I don’t do anything, I just let them get on with it and assist when required’.

Conclusion

As I write up the first phase of this project, a clear pattern is emerging. Places that have a distinct offering, which make them stand out, also appear to have a charismatic leader and/or investor. Groups or communities who form bonds and supportive network appear to congregate around dynamic, enthusiastic, open personalities who encourage rather than teach.

Where the impresario will develop a programme to bring an orchestra to an audience, the orchestra conductor’s role is to direct the emotion and ensure the players are in time. It is neither the impresario’s role to tell the conductor how to conduct nor the conductor’s job to teach the musicians to play. It is when there is mutual respect that there is real alchemy, and is as crucial in creating a dynamic hub as in creating a dynamic concert.

John M

Please feel free to comment below, negative or positive, and join the discussion.

Header Image, Alchemy Project at The Albany | John McKiernan

*LCV at London Bridge was part of one of my Platform-7 intervention LB Live Station. ** Mikey Kirkpatrick initially created an earlier version of the Alchemy Project at another of my Platform-7 interventions, The Waste Agency

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HAPHAZARD PERCEPTION

The perception of Haphazardness often overrides the actual reality, as I experienced recently after British Airways cancelled my flight at the boarding gate.

In creating the Haphazard Index (Hi) it will be necessary to distinguish between what is happening and how it is being perceived.


Cancelled Flight

While waiting to board a BA flight from Barcelona El Prat, a weary Captain comes out to tell us waiting passengers that he would overrun on his quota of flight hours and cannot fly due to a French air traffic controller strike.   

What followed was not particularly well handled by the ground staff but no disaster, yet the impression it left on the passengers was one of total chaos.  

Airport Design

Large airports are designed to flow passengers one way, depending on arriving or departing, meaning signage point towards a single direction.   So announcing to 150, now stranded passengers, some garbled instructions on how to reach the luggage conveyor belt and route back to check-in desks created a fair amount of confusion. 

Back at the check-in desks, many of the cancelled passengers began receiving texts with new flight bookings for later that day.  A new issue then ensued for people who had been automatically rescheduled for the next flight, they could not check-in their luggage due to queue length and one member of ground staff making a flippant rule that ‘everyone was equal in the queue’. This was not the case. From what I observed, people with texts showing later flights were happy to allow those with earlier flights to jump in front.

I was not rescheduled for that day, so in theory I did not even need to queue, twice! – I spent the first 30 minutes in the wrong queue.

Efficient System

All turned out fine. The vast majority of people were rescheduled the same day. A few others and I were provided taxis, nice hotel, dinner and breakfast for our trouble. Compensation has also been offered and accepted.

The systems and processes BA had in place had worked, and removing the ground crew’s handling, it was pretty efficient.

Perception

The perception of the passengers of BA’s handling (to be fair it was Iberia ground crew seconded to BA) was one of chaotic mess and hassle. The passengers I spoke with were all accepting that cancellations happen, and not upset with the Captain for wanting to keep to his quota (they would rather be safe), it was lack of clear instructions.

The algorithms had already reallocated seats by the time most passengers had reached the check-in desk, less than 45mins later. Pretty remarkable!

Mindfulness

There was a lack of mindfulness across the ground team, who had lost sight of the passengers perspective. Had any of the team considered how the situation was being perceived they could have quickly remedied.

  • One agent could have led all the passengers back to the baggage carousel.
  • Another could have announced that texts were automatically being generated and people should check mobiles phones for new flight details, and explain why some passengers should be prioritised.
  • Another agent could have walked along the queue to check people were in the right line, and picked out those with babies and on long-haul connecting flights.

All of this would have been easily manageable with the number of staff available.

Perception vs. Reality

All 150 people, including me, were out of the airport within 3 hours, quite an impressive feat by BA when considered. Yet, most passengers will remember not knowing where to go, what to do, being in the wrong queue, and such things, making the whole system seem Haphazard, which was not the case!

John M

Image: Plane Reflection | John McKiernan

HAPHAZARD INDEX (Hi)

An aspiration of this project is to create a Haphazard Index (Hi), a simple methodology to measure the amount of Haphazardness existing within a business.   

Measuring haphazardness within a company may allow the organisation to better understand where to loosen controls and where to tighten methods of working and/or systems.  

Haphazard Auditing

Inspired by a paper on Haphazard Auditing and Chance vs. Randomness, the Hi will review areas of the business that would otherwise not be noted for adding value.  ‘Haphazard sampling’ is a legitimate non-statistical technique used by auditors.  

Measuring Routine

The intention is to adapt the method and apply to the Daily Routine of the employees and systems within the company to discern the amount of haphazardness.

The hypothesis runs that if the level of haphazardness is high, then the employees will be better equipped mentally to manage uncertainty, whereas if it is low, then there is risk of lethargic response?

Artist Resilience

Drawing heavily from the arts, live events and learning from this project, the Hi will slowly evolve (or not!), to provide business with a scorecard for dealing with uncertainty.  

Being able to adapt and roll with the knocks embodies The Artist of all generations, a notoriously precarious profession. The kind of skills an artist needs to be totally resilient could prove invaluable to management and employees in the present political climate.    

John M

Connected Posts: Auditing Haphazardness, Haphazard Life Plan, Haphazard Routine and Artistic Process

Image: Triborough Bridge (East 125th Street Approach) | Photo Berenice Abbott (1937)

HAPHAZARD LAW

The law is often portrayed in the media as Haphazard.  Even from within the legal profession there can be criticism of the manner in which some legislation or legal precedent has emerged. 

Yet, for all its archaic practices and perplexing rulings, the legal system does work – most of the time!

Ideas Law

How a law comes into being might be a good way to compare how an idea comes to fruition.  

Law sets societial rules, yet when a law is first created, it would have been responding to some kind of societal change, outcry or innovation. The analogy this conjures is whether an idea emerges from circumstances or does the idea dictate the circumstances? 

Judging Ideas

The law is an arbiter of disputes and competing interests; the pinch point when conflicting viewpoints cannot be reconciled. Could a similar balance that a Judge is required to pertain, for the law to appear fair, be developed to assist in deciding if an idea is worth pursuing? 

Haphazard Index (Hi)

How laws are created and applied will be used as a measure when creating the Haphazard Index (Hi).

John M

Image: Painful Parking | John McKiernan