Language ecology
Learning organizations for converging cultures - Media Ecology Newsletter #17
What’s Imminent? I have a gift for you!
I'm really fascinated by this dimension of the media ecology that is the world of languages. I've been exploring it for some time, thanks to Imminent, Translated's research center.
Now Imminent's Annual Report is available. If you would like to have it, you can click here and have it sent to your address for free. If you want to read something online you can of course do so here. But in any case, let me know what you think, and leave a comment in my blog, here.
Again: get your copy of Imminent’s Annual Report delivered to your preferred address. It is a beautiful craft, in my biased opinion. But let me have your comments. Because we will start from here to go deeper. May be you would like to be part of a global community that is going to study the transcultural and multilingual world that is growing during these complex times.
Exploring worlds of words
I try and explore this fantastic dimension of media ecology that is language. In an ecological perspective, the oligoculture of just a few global languages is not going to build the best of all possible worlds. And all the more so, the monoculture of just one sort of Global English is not right for the vast majority of the world population. The wealth of diverse languages is not going to be anymore a barrier to understanding, if innovation in translation services makes its way ahead.
Translation is the language of Europe, said Umberto Eco. It can be the new idea of a universal language: multilingualism the fabric of European identity. And maybe it is the right thing to wish to ourselves humans, as Marco Trombetti seems to suggest.
Multilingualism, cosmopolitanism, transculturalism
So many “isms”! But it is to introduce a wonderful book that I’m reading. Arianna Dagnino has written “Il quintetto d’Istambul”, Ensemble 2021. Encounters with explorers of the cognitive territories they find lying between cultures, writers who find - or lose - themselves moving from one culture to another, artists who express their creativity by writing and thinking in different cultures. Arianna Dagnino writes about them. And of course she is one of them.
Looking for innovation, the Italian way
All standard indicators measuring the ability of a country to innovate show that Italy is quite a laggard. But Italian export is growing and Italy is between the first five exporters in the world. How can it be so? Does it exists something like an Italian way to innovation? A series of online workshops has started last week on Il Sole 24 Ore (the first episode is here). During the second episode, Andrea Pontremoli, Dallara’s ceo, has said: “Italians are naturally cultural mediators”. Pontremoli is an inspiring speaker. He has explained how Dallara's cars are getting ready to run at 300 km/h without a driver. Who is going to compete are universities that have used the digital twin to drive them. Do you know if there are other innovation cultures that think of themselves as “cultural mediators”? Comments are welcome, on my blog.
Skills for the future
Take a look at two new Reports
OECD Digital Education Outlook 2021
Both educators and technology are ready for the next level of digital learning. Andreas Schleicher says that we learned a lot about learning during the pandemic. The trick is not to forget them when things return to a new version of “normal”.
Lifelong learning is key for individuals to adapt and succeed in labour markets and societies shaped by longer life expectancy, rapid technological advances, globalisation and demographic change, as well as sudden shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Lifelong learning starts in childhood and youth, continuing throughout adulthood and old age. It encompasses formal learning in settings such as schools and training centres, informal and non-formal learning derived from colleagues and workplace trainers, and unintentional learning stemming from spontaneous social interactions.