Friday Faves is our weekly blog series highlighting a few select pieces from the REG team’s reading lists. You can catch up on past Friday Faves on the archive

How NFTs are building the internet of the future

Anne says: Do you remember the baby that bit his brother’s finger in the back of the car? Charlie bit my finger – a YouTube sensation since 2007 with nearly 900 million views was sold recently for US$760,000 – as an NFT or a nonfungible token. Jack Dorsey (founder of Twitter) sold his first tweet for US$2.9 million. Nyan Cat, an animated cat with a rainbow trail sold for US$580,000. But what is an NFT and why are people selling things for what appears to be crazy amounts of money.

I’ve struggled a bit to explain this to friends, so I was relieved to watch this TED Talk from Kayvon Tehranian – from now on, I’m going to share the link: Here, watch this! So, if you want a straightforward explanation, plus some future vision about the implications – watch it!!

And while you’re watching it, let your imagination consider the future of digital assets. Will NFTs become the norm? Will we accept this fundamental change in content ownership? And how will this release us from the ownership of our assets from the big platforms?

Watch: https://www.ted.com/talks/kayvon_tehranian_how_nfts_are_building_the_internet_of_the_future

How (and why) to train your brain to be more curious at work

Jakkii says: Curiosity is essential in our work as researchers and human-centred designers, and it’s also a critical skill for empathy. It takes curiosity, openness and willingness to develop understanding of others, their views, their motivations, their pain points and their struggles. Like any skill, it’s something you can cultivate in yourself and learn to be better at.

This article talks about the whys of curiosity (from a work perspective, it’s largely so we can problem-solve, ideate, improve and innovate), before going into some suggestions of habits and approaches we can take to train ourselves to be more curious. These are:

  • Work in your ‘curiosity zone’

  • Manage uncertainty

  • Surround yourself with curious people

  • Embrace a collaborative approach

  • Avoid the “advice trap”

  • Stick with it

As always, you can review the article for more detail on each, but the suggestion (aside from ‘stick with it’!) that stood out most for me to be honest was to avoid the “advice trap”. Essentially this is about resisting the temptation to give advice when you’re asking questions and listening to someone – you’re trying to learn from their perspectives and understand people including their motivations and issues, not to solve problems or give advice. It can be hard to resist, especially if you’re trying to learn more about your team, such as in the example the author provides of trying to work out what each team member needs in order to perform their best.

I’d love to hear from you on curiosity, whether it’s something you already practice and your experience of it, or if you don’t already practice curiosity, how it goes if (or when!) you put some of these approaches into practice in your workplace. Let me know in the comments or on social media!

Read: https://www.fastcompany.com/90683974/how-and-why-to-train-your-brain-to-be-more-curious-at-work

At home

Jakkii says: Can you believe it’s already the middle of October? Time has moved at the weirdest pace this year – I suppose really since the pandemic kicked off. In some ways, it’s gone lightning-quick, while in other ways it’s absolutely dragged. Things that happened 6 months ago feel like 2 years ago. It’s so odd. But while you’re pondering existence and the passage of time, here’s a few things you can watch, listen, read and do at home this week.

Friday Fives

Hybrid workplace and the future of work

Remote work and the digital workplace

Community management, moderation and misinformation

Privacy, data and security

Big Tech, tech and regulation

Facebook

Social media

Extras

This is interesting: How fonts affect learning and memory

Things that make you go hmmm: The status games we all play

Space: Australian-made rover to help establish a human base on the moon

Podcast: Randomness: a need for chaos

Friday playlist: 60s rock anthems


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