... the mill on Ricci Street

Welcome!

To the Chinese, Matteo Ricci was a gadfly: a constructively provocative critic of existing institutions. He addressed the Chinese soul with the gospel and the Chinese mind with memory palaces. Today, a virtual classroom like Ricci Street addresses the soul and mind of Western education.

Like Chinese institutions, Western higher education is rooted in centuries of self-justifying dogma. Vested interests within higher education (how's that for a euphemism?) will defend the shroud of lecturing until their retirements, no doubt.

These shrouds are descending on the old way of doing things in commercial organizations, too. The new organizational patterns encourage us to alter our perspective on how we manage organizations, how we view and value our employees, and how we approach problems. 

Will higher education do as the Chinese, swallow up the new ideas and remain unchanged for three more centuries? Or will the 21st century Matteo Riccis have the success of their patron's Jesuit and Dominican brothers in South America, who transformed the culture? After all, it's coming on the Year of our Lord two thousand in Lima, Peru. It's coming on the Year of the Dragon four-thousand something in Beijing, China.

A mill has the machinery for transformation, for processing material into more finished form. The mill on Ricci Street has not only the tools but the ideas to help you use them. As mills gave way to factories during the Industrial Revolution, what will happen to today's new-media gizmos in the next century?

Matteo Ricci welcomes you to design and construct your own new-media gizmos. He would recognize them as electronic memory palaces.

Getting around the Gizmos, Inc., neighborhood

Much of Gizmos, Inc., especially the Toolkit and Workbench, answers the same questions. You'll find the same headers used throughout.

what

These sections explain the vocabulary, tools, and techniques for making webs.

how

These sections explain, often click-by-click, how to do some of the techniques.

why

These sections go into more depth behind the what and how. They speak directly to your mental models by providing context, making connections, and trying to shape your attitude.

recs

These sections give my advice about the tools and techniques to use.

tip | These usually short sections emphasize a technique or feature that will make your life simpler by reducing the number of clicks or keystrokes you need to make.

geek alert

These sections are more technical. While they may be interesting, they are probably not necessary unless you want to do something advanced or think more like a wirehead. <grin>