They're Chinese students on a three week course in London and they're not very different from most undergraduates I have encountered except for their extreme politeness.But I'm equally fascinated with what I can learn from them, as much as they're expecting a whirlwind three weeks of lectures from my colleagues, many of whom have international standings.
All of them have not known a world without the net, and when I joined the media as an undergraduate in 1987, many were not born. An amusing fact none the less, but that's all because the web favours the young anyway.
But I love studying group dynamics and how people are motivated. If like me you spent your formative years in a boarding school you'll understand my fascination.
So the idea that was thrown into the group based on simple principles of an idea's life cycle and what I call the QBS mantra: quality (trust), branding (personal) and simplicity (ease of use).
If a concept's going to make it, these are fundamentals. But if we chart social phenomenon around behaviour and politics, you can reasonably make an intelligent assessment about a future scenario.
Trend extrapolaters, the delphi principle have all sort to use techniques which harness knowledge capital and trends. And that's what we did yesterday.
Their different perspective would shed new light on aged problem solving. It would also provide a forum to explore group dynamics and some of their ideas.
I'll post the video of them looking at the future of the web this week. It's inspiring
