‘Network Thinking’ – TEDxBerlin talk

We spend time thinking about ‘social networks’, and happily attend ‘networking’ events. And when we look at networks from a more academic perspective, we explore social graphs, mapping the connections between nodes. And yet, there is much more to networks. This talk makes a distinction between network infrastructure and network flows – the traffic that […]

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TEDxKrakow Talk is back again! ‘How Things Spread’

For some reason my talk was one of 20 or so on the TEDx YouTube channel that got removed a month ago. Fortunately the TEDx team were able to repost my video. It meant I lost a lot of views that I had the first time the video was released, but I’m just happy the […]

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1. Introducing The Spread Papers

How do you spread things? How do you spread ideas? How do you spread behavioral change? How do you spread products and services? The Spread Papers is a collection of papers written by Mark Turrell that describe the emergent ‘Science of Spread’. In each paper, Mark develops a concept that underpins Spread, and highlights the […]

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TedXKrakow – my script for talk on “New Lens” plus Libyan Revolution

[holding glass / water bottle] In 1660, a ‘crazy’ Dutch scientist called Anton van Leeuwenhoek started writing scientific papers about how he saw small things moving about in water. The man was clearly mad. Because if you look at a glass of water with the naked eye, even if you really squint, you can’t see […]

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Working on sanitation and rural development in India – my interest in the Great WASH Yatra

Although I might have a reputation more on innovation, technology and revolution, I am deeply interested in applying my skills – and the science of spread – to all types of social challenge. So, when I came across WASH United, and their goal of improving human lives through better sanitation, I was very interested both […]

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Serial Dating Problem and the Switch to Monogamy #MayFail

Human beings are charming. We see the world around us in an instant, and project that this world will carry on the same forever. And we either forget the past entirely or edit the past so that we only think about the bits that fit today, and erase the rest. I always get reminded of […]

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Plausible Ridiculousness – My Tactic to Help Others

For about three years I have been using a tactic to present myself. That tactic is “plausible ridiculousness“. It is a tactic, not reality! I have been working on a plan to help change the world (for better) at huge scale. Ultimately this means: helping people be more happy… and less sad… be free to […]

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Extreme Problem Solving & The Science of Spread – Presentation at HR Tech Europe

I was invited to deliver a keynote on technology and people at the HR Tech Europe event in Amsterdam. I am talking at the same time as I deliver the slides, so don’t be disappointed if you are not sure what the slides mean just by looking at them online. You’d be missing the point […]

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The Zimbabwe Election Monitoring Project 2008

My first ever big ‘change the world (for better)‘ initiative was helping the MDC opposition in Zimbabwe win the 2008 elections. I have told the story many times (in person, and sometimes with a glass of wine in hand). In order to provide more detail around the story, plus some photos of what actually happened, […]

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Saif Al-Islam’s non-arrest – the importance of hoaxes in war (inspired by Guardian)

So, now the world knows that Saif did not really get arrested, or maybe that if he had been arrested, he somehow escaped. The initial response was despair, and a feeling of distrust of the NTC leadership and communications team. (see Guardian article of 23 Aug for a sample) The thing is, as a professional in […]

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