market outside of Hungary they have to sing in English." The English language is suddenly a fabulous asset. The British should forget about manufacturing cars and promote their film and music industry. The article concludes with an important plea, "There's a Nobel Prize waiting for: the person who figures out the economics of information." For More Information: "The World Information Economy," Whole Earth Review, Winter, 1986. AWARDING SOCIAL INVENTIONS Social invention awards include a neighborhood cooperative land bank, a roadsign in the shape of an eye, and wildlife areas in hospitals. The Institute for Social Inventions in London was established in September 1985 to promote new and imaginative solutions to social problems. The Institute runs social inventiveness workshops and has recently established an annual awards program for innovative social inventions. Social invention is defined as a new and imaginative sofotion to a social problem, or way of meeting an unmet social need. In June 1986 the institute honored its first winners. The Churchill Hospital in Oxford was honored for its development of wildlife areas around hospitals to encourage patients' recovery. Also honored was the concept of cooperative land banks, a way to make all users of residential property the owners and controllers of their neighborhoods where each resident, besides a perpetual lease on a dwelling, acquires shares in the neighborhood. The scheme is being tried in Australia and Boston, Massachussets. A new type of road sign was also noted. Signs with white eyes and eyelashes, ·with the pupils painted in indicating which way to look, are used on roads to reduce accidents among tourists, children and others when crossing streets. For More Information: The Institute for Social Inventions, 24 Abercorn Place, London, England NW8 9XP. 01-229-7253 RAPIDS OF CHANGE ' Need for leadership described in book published in form to encourage contributions from network of change agents Robert Theobald, innovative social thinker and author, recently produced an innovation in book publishing with this typewritten, three-ringbinder format book, which he calls " a work in progress." Don't be fooled by the funky style; this is a serious book. It is distinctive on four separate counts: the message, the form, the process by which it was written, and the audience Theobald seems to be reaching. Actually, the message itself is perhaps least distinctive. It will be familiar to anyone who has been following Theobald in recent years. He asserts we are undergoing a very turbulent period of history when profound c.ultural discontinuities demand fundamental shifts in our attitudes, behavior, and institutions. Both great dangers and great opportunities lie before us, and we must find new ways of se1zmg the opportunities unencumbered by either pollyanna optimism or a sense of despair. Theobold wants you to see the big picture. But because the canvas is so vast, he offers you a myriad of small bits, in the style of an impressionistic painter, for you to make into a whole. The entire book is a sequence of these onepage (front and back) bits, laid out in a way that allows a linear reading, but encourages the reader to hop around, charting a course through descriptions of cultural driving forces, perceptions of reality, life-long learning, redefining work, social entrepreneurship, servant leadership, networks, bioregions, new styles of group process, and soon. The book was written through an interactive process consistent with much of the message. Theobold sent out drafts for review by members of Action Linkage, a network of change agents he founded, and incorporated suggestions into the text. The process of revision is planned to continue, hence the loose-leaf format of the book. Finally, and perhaps most significant, is the audience Theobold targets in his work. Unlike many social critics who preach mainly to the converted, Theobold speaks to those people who may have a vague sense that things aren't quite right in the world and that old ways can no longer Fa 11 /Winter 1986 RAIN Page 23
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