Last week I got to be part of OpenEd09 - a conference hosted (for the first time) here in Vancouver all about openness in information technology and the education system. I had been invited to be on an parallel panel about copyright and creative commons but when I checked out the schedule I wanted in!

Fortunately the organizers were pretty cool and let me sneak in for free so I ended catching some amazing presentations and discussions, all now available on UStream. In particular I recommend Gardner Campbell on "No Digital Facelifts: Thinking the Unthinkable About Open Educational Experiences", Jim Groom on "The Design of Openness", and John Maxwell on "Wiki as CMS/LMS".

All the recent controversy and media coverage of Critical Mass, and the subsequent launch of Critical Manners Vancouver, got me thinking about whether I would bother showing up to ride on August 14th.

I quickly came to  the conclusion "yes, of course". Now one may fairly ask how I can justify supporting two seemingly-at-odds events. The answer is quite simple - both promote safe cycling as a lifestyle choice, albeit in different ways.

On Friday I presented a talk at the 2009 OpenWeb Vancouver conference entitled Collapsenomics 101: Finding (Open) Opportunities Amidst the Chaos. You can view the slides from my OpenOffice presentation as a Shockwave animation by clicking here (click to advance to the next slide).

I began by talking about the economic downturn and the first slides show what's been happening with various economic indicators over the past year as compared to the Great Depression of 1929. As you can see most indicators show steeper decline. I emphasized that Europe and Asia have been affected more strongly than the US which has resulted in a flood of investment into the US dollar and has really helped prop up the US stock market especially since January. This will not last.

Yesterday's trip to Banyen books helped cement this summer's course of study. I'm in the habit of focussing in the summer on a couple of areas that have been percolating throughout the winter and now I've narrowed it down to the following three.

The first is a sustained study of Integral Ecology. After reading some great reviews I've finally picked up a copy of "Integral Ecology: Uniting Multiple Perspectives in the Natural World" (link is yet another site running Drupal, BTW).

 I just came across an awesome set of mind maps compiled by a guy while he (re)read Ken Wilber's, The Integral Vision. If you're new to or merely looking for a refresher on integral philosophy this book is the place to start, as it lays out the central tenets of the integral approach in an accessible and populist style.