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Howdy !
It's me Scarlett !
This week we have 4 topics.
◈ Psychology : Try something new for 30 days
◈ Education : 5 attributes that are crucial for success in the 21st century
◈ Tech : How can India make smart cities a reality?
◈ Social Issues : 10 years of the Global Gender Gap
Hope you enjoy the topics.
With luv
Scarlett
Try something new for 30 days
A few years ago, I felt like I was stuck in a rut, so I decided to follow in the footsteps of the great American philosopher, Morgan Spurlock, and try something new for 30 days. The idea is actually pretty simple. Think about something you've always wanted to add to your life and try it for the next 30 days. It turns out 30 days is just about the right amount of time to add a new habit or subtract a habit -- like watching the news -- from your life.
There's a few things I learned while doing these 30-day challenges. The first was, instead of the months flying by, forgotten, the time was much more memorable. This was part of a challenge I did to take a picture every day for a month. And I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing that day. I also noticed that as I started to do more and harder 30-day challenges, my self-confidence grew. I went from desk-dwelling computer nerd to the kind of guy who bikes to work. For fun!
Even last year, I ended up hiking up Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. I would never have been that adventurous before I started my 30-day challenges.
I also figured out that if you really want something badly enough, you can do anything for 30 days. Have you ever wanted to write a novel? Every November, tens of thousands of people try to write their own 50,000-word novel, from scratch, in 30 days. It turns out, all you have to do is write 1,667 words a day for a month. So I did. By the way, the secret is not to go to sleep until you've written your words for the day. You might be sleep-deprived, but you'll finish your novel. Now is my book the next great American novel? No. I wrote it in a month. It's awful.
But for the rest of my life, if I meet John Hodgman at a TED party, I don't have to say, "I'm a computer scientist." No, no, if I want to, I can say, "I'm a novelist."
So here's one last thing I'd like to mention. I learned that when I made small, sustainable changes, things I could keep doing, they were more likely to stick. There's nothing wrong with big, crazy challenges. In fact, they're a ton of fun. But they're less likely to stick. When I gave up sugar for 30 days, day 31 looked like this.
So here's my question to you: What are you waiting for? I guarantee you the next 30 days are going to pass whether you like it or not, so why not think about something you have always wanted to try and give it a shot! For the next 30 days.
Thanks.
Article source : http://www.ted.com/talks/matt_cutts_try_something_new_for_30_days/transcript?language=en
<Questions>
Q1. Have you ever felt that you are stucked in a rut? How did you overcome it?
Q2. What are the main reasons for people to be in a state of lethargy in their lives?
Q3. Do you have bucket lists? Please name three of them.
Q4. How do you think about trying something new for 30 days? Do you think it can bring you back a vivid life again?
Q5. When you hit a slump, how do you get over it? Do you have any secret ways?
5 attributes that are crucial for success in the 21st century
By Guy Claxton/ Sep 30 2015
We can no longer assume that being ‘in work’ is the same thing as being employed – ‘having a job’. As the world becomes more connected, so companies get bigger, but so too do opportunities emerge for all kinds of small-scale, niche and self-employed enterprises. Many people who do not have ‘jobs’ in the old-fashioned sense bid for contracts online. Websites like http://www.elance.com broker deals between people who need a task done and those why know how to do it. Elance has nine million freelancers and four million clients on its books. It is currently doing one billion dollars’ worth of business a year, and growing.
Education is about the cultivation of competence and inclination. It is what we do to enable children to succeed in the worlds they will inhabit. We teach them to do, and to love doing, the things that will help them to flourish. Especially when we cannot know how tens of millions of children will be earning a living, those competences and inclinations have to be broad and generic. Obviously reading is one such disposition. It is every child’s right to be shown how to read, and to develop a love of reading, for example. The inclination to read is, according to the PISA tests, a more powerful predictor of life success than the bare ability to read. It opens your eyes to possibilities: new ways of earning a living, for instance. Yet the love of reading is killed, for many children, by misguided education.
But reading is only one of these key dispositions. Here are some others. There is the disposition to be your own teacher: to design learning activities and experiences for yourself, either alone or in collaboration. Young people will not be accompanied by kindly and experienced teachers for the rest of their lives; they will have to become adept at thinking, “What will be the best way to acquire the knowledge and skills I am going to need?” You don’t learn that if learning is always designed for you by your teachers.
There is the ability to think on your feet, when your expectations are dashed and novel responses are required. In tomorrow’s world, learners will be much more in demand than knowers. But traditional education doesn’t build the capacity to cope with the unexpected. It tries to fill young people up with well-rehearsed performances of understanding – which is not the same thing at all. And those performances tend to be confined to single disciplines, whereas the real worlds of both work and play do not respect the boundaries between ‘subjects’.
There is the capacity to manage your attention. Learning how to pay attention to things that you consider to be worthwhile, and often challenging, rather than being at the mercy of every advertisement, flashing link, tweet or email that comes along, is, for many people, one of the big challengers for 21st century education. Concentration and discernment are mental muscles that grow stronger with exercise – but that growth won’t happen in a classroom where everything is beautifully quiet and orderly. Yet the ability to concentrate is crucial to ‘getting the job done’, whether that be in employment, in self-employment or for one’s personal satisfaction.
What about scepticism: the inclination to subject knowledge claims, especially ones that are written and authoritative, to critical scrutiny? Many teachers are worried that their students are too ready to believe whatever they read on the internet – yet, without thinking, they have been training their students into an attitude of credulity by treating the textbooks as if they were beyond question. Students can get A grades in examinations but not have developed this inclination to question, yet a questioning mind-set is the foundation stone of creativity and innovation, and it is these that employers say they seek, but too often fail to find, in applicants for jobs.
Here are five dispositions that are crucial for life, work and play in the 21st century: a love of reading; the inclination to design your own learning; the capacity to think on your feet; the strength to control attention; and the disposition to question knowledge claims. Any system of schooling, no matter how well it performs in international comparisons, is miseducation if it stifles rather than nurtures these tendencies.
Published in collaboration with WISE. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.
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Author: Guy Claxton is Visiting Professor of Education at King’s College London.
Image: A teacher writes the phrase “Today it is the start of the new school year” on the blackboard of her classroom. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard.
Article source : https://agenda.weforum.org/2015/09/5-attributes-that-are-crucial-for-success-in-the-21st-century/?utm_content=buffer96895&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
<Questions>
Q1. What kinds of employment types do you have? Are you an employee, who works full-time or long-term, or a freelancer, who is a self-employed?
Q2. Compare to the past, the definition of jobs has been changed a lot. What is the biggest difference ?
Q3. Have you ever visited the webpage 'http://www.elance.com'? This site broker deals between people who need a task done and those why know how to do it. How do you think about those task based freelancer type employment? Do you think these types of jobs will increase in the future?
Q4. Do you like to read? What are the merits and demerits of reading?
Q5. According to an article, education is not just developing your ability but cultivation of competency and inclination. For example, for your kids you have to develop not just bare ability to read but the inclination to read. However, the love of reading is killed, for many Korean student, by misguided education. Do you think what is required for our education system?
Q6. What is the best way for you to acquire the knowledge and skills you are going to need? Do you take that knowledge by taking a learning course or being your own teacher?
Q7. A questioning mind-set is the foundation stone of creativity and innovation, and it is these that employers say they seek, but too often fail to find. Do you think our education system develop those qualities in student? Or do they just ask student to follow their manual? Were you a student who have a lot of questions in your class?
Q8. Here are five dispositions that are crucial for life, work and play in the 21st century: a love of reading; the inclination to design your own learning; the capacity to think on your feet; the strength to control attention; and the disposition to question knowledge claims.
Do you think you have all attributes with you to be ready for the 21st century?
How can India make smart cities a reality?
By Alice Charles/ Nov 16 2015
The world is experiencing an unprecedented transition from predominantly rural to chiefly urban living.
India is no exception, with its urban population forecast to increase from 410 million in 2014 to 814 million by 2050. This represents an urban population increase of one Delhi per year, for the next 35 years.
If India properly plans and develops its urban environment, urbanization can provide an efficient way for people to live, enabling economies of scale in the delivery of infrastructure and services. Moreover, the proximity and diversity of people can spark innovation, create employment and provide the country’s economic engine. However, without proper planning and services, sprawling cities can become flashpoints of discontent.
In this context, India’s government has launched two ambitious urban rejuvenation programmes:
100 Samart cities
The government plans to invest $7.5 billion over the next four years, with an equal contribution coming from state-level government, in the enhancement of physical infrastructure (water, energy, built environment, waste, mobility and ICT) and social infrastructure (health, education and recreational facilities) in 100 cities across India. The cities are identified through a “Smart City Challenge”, which makes cities compete against each other, while engaging citizens in identifying the key challenges facing the city and developing a plan to deliver smart solutions.
500 AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) cities
The AMRUT cities programme aims to enhance the basic infrastructure (water, sanitation, open spaces and public transportation) of 500 cities in India, with the Government of India investing $7.5 billion over next four years. The programme intends to provide training to strengthen the urban local bodies.
These programmes have brought a new emphasis on cities in a country that has traditionally focussed on rural development. In addition, it has brought renewed interest from international and domestic investors, who recognise that public private collaboration is required to enable India to bridge the infrastructure investment gap and invest $640.2 billion in urban infrastructure up to 2030. However, their message is clear: smart cities cannot exist without smart governance and smart regulation, and urgent reforms are required at the institutional and policy level in order to ensure that new urban rejuvenation programmes do not fall victim to the errors of the past.
Infographic: Urban Infrastructure Requirement: 2012 – 2031
Infographic Source: The Future of Urban Development & Services:
Urban Development Recommendations for the Government of India (Page 7)
The World Economic Forum Future of Urban Development and Services initiative serves as a partner in the transformation of cities around the world, as they address major urban challenges. In 2015, the initiative has focused much of its efforts on India and in particular providing Urban Development Recommendations for the Government of India and more recently focusing on the reforms required at all levels of Government to accelerate the delivery of smart cities.
Infographics: India’s Competitiveness Profile
Infographic Source: The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2015-2016
The World Economic Forum Future of Urban Development and Services Initiative has identified four key reforms needed to make smart cities a reality.
Strengthen city administration
At present, a mayor is only a ceremonial figure in cities in India, and the municipal commissioner, who is deputed by the state government and accountable to the state, is the executive head of the city.
An executive mayor – directly elected by the city or elected by council – with a unified command over all the city functions could bring accountability and purpose to city-level administration, which is currently plagued by frequent leadership changes.
Additionally, the executive wing of the city needs to develop technical and management capacity to execute large urban rejuvenation programmes.
Infographic: Stakeholder preparedness for City Transformation
Scale measures preparedness of stakeholders, 0 implying not prepared and 4 implying fully prepared
Source: Survey conducted by World Economic Forum
Get user charges right
Urban projects are often derailed because the people who use them don’t pay for them. This leads to a vicious cycle where the revenue receipts suffer leading to poor service delivery and precarious financial situation impedes the chances of urban local bodies to obtain financial assistance or raise loans. Across urban domains such as water, waste management and mobility, there is a need for an independent regulatory body that can determine service levels and minimum prices to meet the operations and management expenses. In a case where the state takes a populist decision to not impose the charges determined by the regulator, then the deficient charges should be funded by the state, thus ensuring the financial independence of the city.
The city administration must also take steps to reduce pilferage in utilities (non-revenue water accounts for 50% of water production) by ensuring 100% working meters (70% of leakages are due to malfunctioning meters), and only then make technology investments.
Collaborate with the private sector and improve the resolution of disputes
While citizen engagement has rightly been made an integral part of the smart city programme, transparent avenues must also be provided for the private sector to provide feedback on key projects that cities plan to undertake. The early involvement of both the private sector and citizens will reduce the risks such as community risk (acceptance from local population) and scope risk (change, creep or cancellation of scope).
Ambiguity in project scope could lead to contractual disputes and India ranks 178th (out of 189) on dispute resolution. India might consider establishing special courts to expedite issues with strategic infrastructure projects, promote an alternate dispute resolution mechanism, and introduce an electronic litigation system like Singapore and Korea (that streamlines litigation proceedings) to ensure that key projects are not stalled and their financially viability is sustained.
Infographic: Risks in Public Private Partnership in India (Urban development Projects)
Source: Survey conducted by World Economic Forum
Improve the permit process
India ranks 183rd among 189 countries for obtaining construction permits, and the industry has often cited issues with environment compliance process. India’s three tier governance structure often involves liaising with multiple departments – which makes obtaining permits a lengthy process. With the Smart and AMRUT cities programmes only having an initial duration of four years, it is of utmost importance that projects are executed on time and bottlenecks in permit processes be removed.
India could consider adopting similar improvements to those introduced in Hong Kong SAR, China where 6 local departments and 2 private utilities were brought under one roof to establish a one-stop shop for building approvals. Further, India could consider adopting a risk based classification, whereby buildings which are low risk go through an accelerated process, similar to that in Singapore.
Since the Government of India launched its urbanization programmes, in particular the Smart Cities programme, India has witnessed euphoria around technology solutions for cities – which are being proposed as a panacea to all problems. However, India needs to first prioritize reforming its governance practices, otherwise technology investments could be futile.
Author: Alice Charles, Community Lead, Infrastructure and Urban Development Industry, World Economic Forum
Image: Vehicles jam the road after a flyover was briefly closed to vehicular traffic for precautionary measures following an earthquake in Srinagar October 26, 2015. REUTERS/Danish Ismail
Article source : https://agenda.weforum.org/2015/11/how-can-india-make-smart-cities-a-reality/?utm_content=bufferec9cc&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
<Questions>
Q1. Where are you living now? Do you live in urbanized area or rural area? Do you satisfied with your life in your city?
Q2. Do you know what the 'SMART CITY' is? If you have a chance to live in those city, would you live in this city?
Q3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of living in the SMART CITY?
Q4. Do you have any city you want to visit? What is the reason for that?
Q5. While you are living in the city, you will experience some moments that make you feel satisfied with your living in there. And sometimes you want to escape from your city because you feel frustrated with lives in a city. Compare to other urbanized area, what are the merits and demerits of lives in your city?
Q6. Do you think technology is always right solutions for challenging situations?
Q7. When you are getting old, where do you want to live?
10 years of the Global Gender Gap
By Oliver Cann/ Nov 20 2015
Ten years of measuring the Global Gender Gap has helped us understand how lack of progress is damaging to global economic growth, and given us insights into how practical measures can support growth and improve quality of life for women worldwide. But what can we actually learn from the numbers?
For one thing, we can see that, of our four pillars, equality efforts in two of them, Health and Survival and Educational Attainment is far more advanced, with gender parity for Economic Participation and Opportunity still some way off and balanced political empowerment further still.
Some of the progress we have witnessed may seem intuitive – it makes sense, after all, that the fastest progress has been recorded in the political sphere as there is more room to make up. But at the other end, equality in terms of Health and Survival has actually gone down overall worldwide since 2006, while educational equality has slipped further in 22% of the 109 countries we have covered continuously during this period.
Since 2006, an extra quarter of a billion women have entered the labour force. Over the course of this time, the economic gender gap has closed by three percentage points from 56% to 59%. Extrapolating this means that we will only close this gap completely in 2133 – or in 118 years’ time.
And yet, the annual pay for women only now equals the amount men were earning ten years ago. The direct economic impact of this imbalance is that we are losing great amounts of talent from the global workforce – which in turn is impacting our ability to generate sustainable growth and job creation.
We know a lot of countries are investing in education – this chart just illustrates the G20 group of nations, but are they doing enough to help women enter the labour force? One thing we have learned is that there is a link between perceptions of high wage inequality and low participation in the economy. Put simply, even the impression of a gender wage gap acts as a disincentive to women to enter or re-enter the workforce, and hurts economies.
This chart throws the education-employment-leadership mismatch into stark relief. Another way of illustrating the problem is to consider that while more women than men are enrolling at university in 97 countries, women make up the majority of skilled workers in only 68 countries and the majority of leaders in only four. Understanding how to prevent this leakage of talent lies at the heart of the economic gender gap.
The biggest progress towards closing the gender gap has been in the political world, although here, much more needs to be done. Nevertheless, positive interventions such as well-implemented quotas for a defined period of time for example have been proven to be effective in creating momentum which has led to improvements elsewhere. Similar measures are now being adopted in company boardrooms.
Progress in the economic and political worlds have been proven to be self-reinforcing, so which interventions work best? Regulations banning outright discrimination seems an obvious place to start, while another area of policy that has proven so effective in the Nordic nations as well as elsewhere is improving parental leave, childcare and tax policy. Bypassing regulation by creating incentives for companies to improve their performance has also proven effective.
There is a clear case for gender equality for nations and society at large.
Author: Oliver Cann, Director, Media Relations, World Economic Forum
Image: A man and a woman are silhouetted as they walk on an overpass at a business district in Tokyo, Japan, November 5, 2015. REUTERS/Yuya Shino
Article Source : https://agenda.weforum.org/2015/11/10-years-of-the-global-gender-gap/
<Questions>
Q1. What is the gender equality? Do you think your society have well structured gender equality system?
Q2. Why do we need female workforce in the society?
Q3. What are the each gender's strong points and weak points?
Q4. What is your job? Are there any difference in work duty according to their gender?
Q5. When hiring women workforce in your organization, what is the most challenging issue for you?
Q6. Do you think we need more women politicians? What would be the benefits of women politicians?
Q7. Do you have any women role model?
첫댓글 아 ,내일도 서울가야하는데 , 혹시 서울행이 취소되면 참가가능, 이러다 짤리는거 아닌가요?
ㅋㅋㅋ 네~ 의무사항은 아니니까 시간되실때 참여해 주세요. ㅋㅋㅋ
그럼 즐거운 주말보내세요 :)