Atkinson Field Notes
Learning in Action
News, presentations and reflections from Atkinson’s Chief Executive Officer Colette Murphy and the rest of the Atkinson team.
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by Category:
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by Media: Publication
1 Apr 19
This weekend we learned Donna Wood died a couple of weeks ago in Victoria, British Columbia after a long illness. Donna was a private person about her health, but a fiercely public person when it came to the health of Canadian society. That’s why only a few of us had any idea that the paper we published together on Employment Insurance at the end of January would be one of her last. Read more >
19 Dec 18
Almost four years ago, I became a member at Karma Co-op Food Store—a small, historic food co-op in Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood. The co-op began as a cost-effective way for the residents of the area to access high-quality, local, fair-trade, organic produce and health products in the early 70s, back when such things weren’t readily available at your local grocery store. Read more >
3 Dec 18
With the support of the Atkinson Foundation, Meg Ronson and I published a new paper called The Co-operative Opportunity: A Strategy for Small Business Succession in Ontario this fall. Our research pursued signs of massive generational change in this sector. Read more >
1 Nov 17
I was a kid who loved the weekend comics but who never quite became a comic book nerd. I discovered Chester Brown's now acclaimed graphic novel on Louis Riel while in university. It was a revelation to me to see such serious information delivered in an entertaining and sensitive way. While the playful illustrations pulled me in
Read more >
17 Oct 17
In the same year as the Unemployment Insurance Act was passed by the House of Commons, Joseph Atkinson turned 75. The effects of the Great Depression had been so intense that in 1940 federal and provincial governments were finally willing to take bold measures to prevent its repeat and to mitigate the unpredictability of the economy. Read more >
26 Aug 16
“How many of you work in tech?” It’s International Women’s Day and I’m hosting a panel on women in tech, with … women in tech. As I try to get a sense of who is in the audience, most hands go up.
It’s International Women’s Day and I’m hosting a panel on women in tech, with … women in tech. As I try to get a sense of who is in the audience, most hands go up. Read more >
9 May 16
At the heart of the internet, if you look closely, people are having a conversation. Whether it’s asking Google a question, on anything and knowing you’ll get a decent answer quickly, or chiming in on a Facebook comments thread around the breaking news story of the day ... Read more >
3 Oct 14
A few years ago, I worked at the Beehive. There was no honey or bee stings involved, just a playful name for MIT's startup incubator, a place full of activity. Working on a mobile app to track political TV ads at the time, my co-founder Dan and I shared space with other MIT business students Read more >