PICSHA is an innovation-development organization focused on building out a new ‘productive infrastructure’ – new tools and methods give us new ways to organize our groups, networks and institutions, communicate better, and govern our affairs more effectively; while expanding opportunity, health and quality of life for large numbers of people.
We regard this infrastructure as a ‘transformative technology’ – like electricity, rail or semicondutors – which changes the world: eliminating barriers, reducing costs, extending how we live and think – and, in this case, how we combine our efforts in groups and networks to make ‘New Worlds’…
The Blend
This ‘technology’ grows out of the integration or ‘blend’ of two already well-developed areas of work:
First, what is called open-digital – the natural evolution of the last fifty years of digital technologies – tools of many sorts which are easily combined, including a range of ‘representational’ utilities designed to be easy to use – making a near-future in which half the population use these tools to describe and coordinate their activity – in many new ways.
Second, human science – the collected knowledge of a hundred years explorations into what we are like as a species, our hidden incompletely appreciated abilities, as well as knowledge of our ‘systematic’ weaknesses which relentlessly slow our progress. A field which has exploded in the last twenty years to greatly sharpen useful insights – but which remains largely invisible and less applied to our practical lives.
These two fields have affinity: although presently unconnected they mesh naturally, creating mutual benefit. To mesh they need to be brought together, thus the third part of the blend: Projects – the work of groups, networks, institutions, learning, and governance – which extend their work by applying these tools and methods
Projects
We need to build projects in order to place specific requirements on the tools and methods – as defined by real-world activities – what people want to do, make, build – for themselves and their communities. These conditions force the tools and methods to evolve to fulfill these needs.
There are many possible application areas: we look for those neglected by current methods – often because they are too expensive, or ineffective; because the work is considered too low value or too complicated; because available alternative tools and methods are thought too complex, too “high-level” or too difficult to adopt.
Finally, we seek connections to communities which are, in some ways, living in the past – effectively nearly all of us – who sense new possibilities, but feel they lack the means to move forward. Through these connections we work to negotiate ways to apply this technology to bring transformative potential.
We are always looking: so, if you have ideas on how and where we can do more…