Online working adds a new dimension to our jobs. When I see myself working and interacting, I’m involved very differently than when I only act from my own perspective. From my first-person and newly acquired second-person perspective, I have slowly but surely come to form an opinion about this. From the first-person it was about contents, or fellow stakeholders. Second-person questions are: Why are we doing this? Is this really a job? It is argued that a good thing about the online "revolution" could be that it could lead to a reappraisal for honest craftsmanship!
From November 2013 till January 2014 a minor ‘Smart Life Rhythms’ was taught at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. In the minor students used service design methods to develop solutions for improving life rhythms. Reflection on the minor produced the insight that building physical prototypes early on in the design process was key to success. Further discussions with colleagues and a literature review gave more arguments for the motto ‘Just build it’ – an encouragement to build simple physical models in the early stages of the service design process. Building these simple physical models is not just advocated by educators and in line with service design principles such as being iterative and user-centered. In his book ‘the Craftsman’ (Sennett, 2009) Richard Sennett provides us with more fundamental arguments regarding the value of ‘making things’. On top of the added value to the design process in itself, simple physical models are a tool for engaging both clients, users and students in the design process. So get out your glue gun and start building!
De rol van advies in mkb-financiering is cruciaal, omdat twee van de drie ondernemers gebruik maakt van extern financieel advies (Van der Veen, Van Teeffelen, Ibrahimovic en Lentz, 2015). Hoe goed zijn adviseurs op de hoogte van nieuwe financieringsvormen en het combineren daarvan? Vier typen financieel adviseurs zijn met elkaar vergeleken: bankiers, accountants, MKB Kredietcoaches en onafhankelijke financieringsadviseurs. Elk van de vier steekproeven betreft adviseurs die relatieve voorlopers zijn in hun beroepsgroep bij mkb-financiering. Het onderzoek is onder een beperkte groep van 166 respondenten uitgevoerd. De uitkomsten bieden een eerste indruk, gezien de kleine omvang en selecte steekproeftrekking. Bankiers lijken meer bekend met financieringsvormen die zij zelf verstrekken. Meer dan andere adviseurs gaat hun voorkeur uit naar bancaire financieringsvormen. Verder lijken accountants minder kennis te hebben van een aantal financieringsvormen dan de andere adviseurs. Het betreft hier onder meer de verschillende vormen van risicokapitaal, crowdfunding en factoring. Ook weten accountants minder af van gestapeld financieren en wijken af in hun financieringskeuzes voor werkkapitaal en productontwikkeling. Dat MKB Kredietcoaches – zelf ook accountants - in kennis, advies en keuzes van financiering meer overeenkomen met bankiers en zelfstandig financieel adviseurs, houdt vermoedelijk verband met de specifieke financieringsopleiding die zij hebben gevolgd.
Students in Higher Music Education (HME) are not facilitated to develop both their artistic and academic musical competences. Conservatoires (professional education, or ‘HBO’) traditionally foster the development of musical craftsmanship, while university musicology departments (academic education, or ‘WO’) promote broader perspectives on music’s place in society. All the while, music professionals are increasingly required to combine musical and scholarly knowledge. Indeed, musicianship is more than performance, and musicology more than reflection—a robust musical practice requires people who are versed in both domains. It’s time our education mirrors this blended profession. This proposal entails collaborative projects between a conservatory and a university in two cities where musical performance and musicology equally thrive: Amsterdam (Conservatory and University of Amsterdam) and Utrecht (HKU Utrechts Conservatorium and Utrecht University). Each project will pilot a joint program of study, combining existing modules with newly developed ones. The feasibility of joint degrees will be explored: a combined bachelor’s degree in Amsterdam; and a combined master’s degree in Utrecht. The full innovation process will be translated to a transferable infrastructural model. For 125 students it will fuse praxis-based musical knowledge and skills, practice-led research and academic training. Beyond this, the partners will also use the Comenius funds as a springboard for collaboration between the two cities to enrich their respective BA and MA programs. In the end, the programme will diversify the educational possibilities for students of music in the Netherlands, and thereby increase their professional opportunities in today’s job market.
