This week has been a bit of a challenge for me, I’ve had to catch up on a lot since I wasn’t able to make it to the intensive weekend. I always make a plan, but struggle to stick to it. So I’m rather pleased with myself this time around. I didn’t complete all tasks that I planned to do (still want to re-watch lectures 1 and 2) but I managed to catch up on almost everything from the intensive weekend. The audio quality was not great, which made it difficult to understand and follow. I skipped over a lot of the guest speakers due to this reason, which was really a shame since I love hearing about other people’s experiences.

One thing I wrote about in my last blog was my difficulties with the commercial element of this unit. And I should explain why (thanks for the reminder Ranjit). I’m a big believer in both community and DIY projects, in fact that’s where I’ve invested a lot of my time over the last 15 years of my life. So to be in a course that is asking me to think about money, profit making, value, operational excellence etc etc etc is completely out of my comfort zone. To be honest I don’t find the idea of the next big innovation in tech or starting a start up or whatever so interesting, I’d rather focus on a change in the structure of a business or how arts and cultural events can change the way we interact with each other and think about the future. Having said this I think the information I’m learning is very valuable, and probably not something I’m going to come across in my day to day activities. So I’m not going to shy away from it.

I’m also trying to find a way to interpret the information we’re being given within a framework that works for me and what I want to do. For example, the other day I did a quick google search for, don’t laugh, anarchist entrepreneurship… I know I also think this sounds ridiculous. But I wanted to see if there was anything out there, and what it has to say. I found a journal articles and a manifesto that I’m going to read in the next week. If anyone is curious I’ve found this one, which for the life of me I can’t tell what it’s about, so I’m going to need to really focus when I try to read it. This interview, which seems to me like a bunch of neo-liberal nonsense and the “Creativity of Business” section reeks of Richard Florida’s The Rise of the Creative Class. Then there’s this Manifesto for Anarchist Entrepreneurship, which looks abit more readable but much longer. I’d also like to take a look at Doughnut Economics, which was recommended by Ranjit in the first week. Let’s see how far I get.

To make sure that I’m not missing the opportunity to learn about more commercial stuff and also so that I’m not limiting myself only to ideas that are comfortable for me, I will also try to find some business related literature that is on the more commercial side. If anyone has any recommendations I would be glad to hear them!