People will soon be able to vote for politicians in their local Tesco or post office, by home computer or by texting from their mobile phone, just as they do for contestants on Big Brother or Strictly Come Dancing. However The Electoral Commission has expressed concern about the dangers of fraudulent voting. ..

One of the aspects of bioteams in nature is that they seem to have just the right amount of structure to handle their environments. Too much and they would be slow and cumbersome. Too little and they would lack the sophisticated responses to move them up the food chain. In either case the consequences are extinction!

The Rocky Mountain Institute and The Biomimicry Guild have launched a new Biomimicry Database to enable knowledge sharing to support researchers and practitioners. They are looking for user feedback....

Digging through the archives I discovered, Dilbert's Ultimate Cubicle, a unique collaboration in 2001 between Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, and Fred Dust of IDEO a leading creative design agency. I propose a sequel.....

Buried deep in a Guardian Newspaper report (February 13) on a new 'lads e-zine' are some chilling figures which reveal that in some organisations non-business-related web activity in the workplace is consuming up to 40% of the working day. But what can you do about it?

Much has been written about why people collaborate and the pay-offs. Key concepts include Tit for Tat and The Prisoners Dilemma discussed in Dysfunctional teams: bioteam them.

Yes Valentines Day is upon you. You have been too busy at work and have have forgotten to buy, decorate and post that card you intended to send to your beloved(s). And February 14 is this Tuesday! You could still send an e-valentine, but be warned you had better follow it up it with some real flowers or perfume or you could just look cheap! If you are desperate here are some places you could try with something for most tastes:

According to The blathering boss (November 2005) one of the easiest and most enjoyable ways to improve your meetings is using techniques like 'Bullshit Bingo' to reduce the use of meaningless phrases like Paradigm shift, Mission critical, Let's take it offline, Drill down, Drop the ball, Empowerment, Think outside the box, On the same page, Don't reinvent the wheel, Proactive, Create synergies, Ramp up, Raising the bar, Touch base and Win-win. On the other hand perhaps no one would be able to speak at all!

Heike Philp, CEO of Let's talk online, will be hosting a virtual panel discussion with Nancy White, Ted Kahn, Robin Good and myself on the topic ‘From Virtual Teams to Global Work Teams’ on Wednesday, 15th of February, 4pm (GMT +1) Worldtime. You can join free from home or from work, from the States or from Europe. For more details.

According to research carried out by accountancy group UHY Hacker Young: Myths exposed as execs ditch gadgets (11th January, 2006) the image of executives managing their lives through handheld electronics gadgets is hugely exaggerated. Apparently only one in seven use a PDA and three quarters admit they are under-exploiting the internet in their businesses.