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Innovation Nation and its ties to Clarion
Feb. 8th, 2008 06:39 pmI just finished reading Innovation Nation by John Kao. It talks about how the US is falling behind in the realm of innovation and how if we don't step up, other countries are going to overtake us more than they already are. We could be in serious trouble economically. And you know bad economically will lead to bad everything else.
It's an interesting read and I found myself wishing I could put it in the hands of each of the presidential candidates. But I specifically mention it here because of two things.
Cory Doctorow (follow the link in a timely fashion to see the cute new Doctorow) gets talked about. You're an innovator, Cory! (He probably already knew that.) The book talks about how he used a Creative Commons license to rocket himself into stardom. We all knew Cory was cool, but here's another person proving it.
And not long after that, the book talks about UCSD. Apparently UCSD is an innovative school, in how it was conceived and how its organized. I admit, it made me even more tempted to apply there. I was already thinking about it when I discovered that starting in Fall 2009, they're going to have a Master's program in Writing. They don't have details yet, and they won't be accepting applications until this Fall, but I'm definitely thinking about it.
Another reason I'm considering it is because I attended the Nancy Holder chat that the Clarion Foundation hosted. Two classes she taught/teaches on Buffy and on science fiction sounded cool, obviously.
It's my hope that UCSD will have a science fiction/fantasy-friendly writing program.
I also hope there will be scholarship, grant, and fellowship opportunities. But that's another matter.
Back to Innovation Nation, as I did have another comment I wanted to make about it. I only remember one woman getting mentioned in the book. I admit I may have missed a couple. I wasn't specifically looking until about halfway through. Are women not innovators? Are women not getting noticed? Is Kao himself just biased? Unconsciously, one would assume, since he does make a point to change up his pronouns a bit when speaking generically. Still, it makes me wonder: What's up with that?
It's an interesting read and I found myself wishing I could put it in the hands of each of the presidential candidates. But I specifically mention it here because of two things.
Cory Doctorow (follow the link in a timely fashion to see the cute new Doctorow) gets talked about. You're an innovator, Cory! (He probably already knew that.) The book talks about how he used a Creative Commons license to rocket himself into stardom. We all knew Cory was cool, but here's another person proving it.
And not long after that, the book talks about UCSD. Apparently UCSD is an innovative school, in how it was conceived and how its organized. I admit, it made me even more tempted to apply there. I was already thinking about it when I discovered that starting in Fall 2009, they're going to have a Master's program in Writing. They don't have details yet, and they won't be accepting applications until this Fall, but I'm definitely thinking about it.
Another reason I'm considering it is because I attended the Nancy Holder chat that the Clarion Foundation hosted. Two classes she taught/teaches on Buffy and on science fiction sounded cool, obviously.
It's my hope that UCSD will have a science fiction/fantasy-friendly writing program.
I also hope there will be scholarship, grant, and fellowship opportunities. But that's another matter.
Back to Innovation Nation, as I did have another comment I wanted to make about it. I only remember one woman getting mentioned in the book. I admit I may have missed a couple. I wasn't specifically looking until about halfway through. Are women not innovators? Are women not getting noticed? Is Kao himself just biased? Unconsciously, one would assume, since he does make a point to change up his pronouns a bit when speaking generically. Still, it makes me wonder: What's up with that?
