Brewed Fresh Daily

"[R]eal geeks [are] at one with the universe! Able to do whatever life asks of them. Build huge things from no code? Excavate in someone else's code for the answers to life's questions? Listen to your problems? Bring something to a potluck? Help you move? No problem... Give me geek any day.

If few innovations come from committees, why would a community or organization try using committees to create innovations? How important is personal transformation to civic engagement and leadership? What might be possible from more conversations between the business communities and university communities? How can people and organizations collaborate while respecting their respective identities? Does collaboration always need to be permanent and lead to a long-term relationship? How can we share projects while still feeling free to spin off into diverse collaborations? When does permanency become an obstacle to sustainability? What would economic policies look like from a place of abundance instead of scarcity? How important is it that an economic region have a geographical "center" and if so should that center have unique responsibilities in their region? How important is it and why would it be important for regions to compare themselves to others? If it is, what's valuable to compare? How do individuals collaborate around small projects around passionate opportunities? How important is it and why would it be important for regions to compare themselves to others? If it is, what's valuable to compare? What evolutionary value do grassroots new business startups and collaborations add to any local economy? Does the size or foot print of a "region" matter when economic activities are pursued through natural social networks? Is centralized planning, the star of communist regimes, always doomed to be arrogant and alienating? How does scale of the place designed for economic and community development impact the planning process and outcome? Can a community that doesn't know itself have faith in itself? To what extent can large research, academic, and funding institutions in a local economy care about helping 200 grassroots entrepreneurs who want to start up new businesses?

The field of regional development blossomed in the last decade, as researchers and practitioners increasingly asserted that the region, rather than the nation state, was the most effective geographic unit for supporting excellence and innovation among entrepreneurs. However, in spite of the obvious dynamism and dramatic shifts that characterize the economy of the 21st century, much of the discussion of regionalism continued to be mired in concepts and language of the industrial age. Many regions started their renewal initiatives with large convenings of area power brokers, who created a common vision of the future of the region and then developed a plan intended to move the region toward that vision. Unfortunately, this type of linear, rational process is ill suited to creating an entrepreneurial environment, which is marked by uncertainty. In the same way, such a static model has had little success in solving the massive problems of poverty and environmental degradation that continue to plague inner cities and rural communities. Transformation, not just tinkering, is in order.

The city of Grand Haven, Mich., is the latest municipality to embrace Wi-Fi as a way to provide Internet access to residents, provide high-speed data services to city departments and try to lure new tech-savvy residents. But the Grand Haven Wi-Fi network, which was turned on yesterday, also offers more than the usual Wi-Fi access. It has also been designed to provide service to boaters up to 15 miles offshore on Lake Michigan and support mobile voice-over-IP (VoIP) phone service.

Perhaps you remember the original concept of Blogcritics.org: "free CDs for bloggers." Blogcritics (515 members, 17,000 entries, 70,000 comments) celebrates its 2nd anniversary in August, and as it turned out, we were way ahead of our time: the concept that record companies, DVD distributors, book publishers, etc would provide review material for bloggers was met with slack jaws from the companies, who barely knew what blogs were, let alone saw them as valuable marketing outlets. Now things have changed - blogs are hot, people are aware of them. We have a system in place whereby review material from dozens of labels, publicists, publishers, concert promoters, DVD distributors, movie studios, etc are now available to our members, free of charge. We only ask that they be reviewed. Our review material database has almost 500 items listed and only about half of them have been claimed by our members. New material is added daily. We truly now do provide "free stuff for bloggers." We are actively looking to increase our membership. We would love for you to join Blogcritics and/or tell your readers about our new review material program. Free stuff is good - everyone wins. More info on the program and joining Blogcritics here. We have also added a special Election 2004 section, where we will collect our ongoing, omni-partisan election coverage. If you haven't checked out Blogcritics in a while, now would be a great time. Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you, Eric Olsen

(TEK.noh.sek.shoo.ul) n. dandyish narcissist in love with not only himself, but also his urban lifestyle & gadgets; a straight man who is in touch with his feminine side but has fondness for electronics such as cell phones, pda's, computers, software, and the web.

Public Relations specialist B.L. Ochman has written a summary of ten companies who could have benefited from the use of a weblog. From that LEGO Spiderman video to a line of footwear Tiva made for an elephant to the launch of Newman's Own Organic Dog Food, Ochman contends all of these companies could have achieved greater return on their efforts had they investigated weblogs.

Megan Santosus looks at the impact of hierarchical organisations on knowledge management. To quote:

Becoming a true knowledge management organization, in which information is shared seamlessly among employees and departments, has always been an acknowledged challenge. But when I read Jeff Nielsen's book The Myth of Leadership a few weeks ago, he convinced me just how much the deck is stacked against KM.

posted by George Nemeth  # 7/28/2004 12:49:00 PM

The best thing is to visit, and eat, and talk and meet the networks that have been built... you will be amazed at bottom-up emergence, knowledge creation and sharing, spinoffs and recombinations.... Knowledge dynamics, not spread over a hierarchy, but over many small towns and communities, and spreading.

speaking of the new economy, here is an article of interest. it proports that albany is the next austin, and austin is not amused. i think its important to see why people feel this way and what they are doing.

This is what happened @ ACEnet and its client organizations and why they have been soooooo successful... open source knowledge [especially Casa and its numerous spinoffs]. And it is what happened during our visit to ACEnet last week and why THAT was sooooo successful. BTW, Jack V. is one of my favorite KM gurus/bloggers ...

My Dad used to work at Diamond Shamrock (now Recirca), which was essentially the reason for the Quail Hollow being built back in the days of the chemical facility on the lake in Painesville / Fairport Harbor.

The Support Economy discussion group seeks voices for change. 20th century capitalism and its business models are in a downward spiral. A new capitalism for our times -- and new business models -- are only beginning to emerge. As consumers, we are frustrated and mistrustful. As employees, we are resentful and exhausted. How can we jump the curve from the old world to the new? Can we invent a new commerce that honors the complexity and uniqueness of our lives today? Can we reignite the engines of wealth creation? Those who figure this out will make a lot of money and make the world a better place. Inspired by the work of Shoshana Zuboff, Fast Company contributing writer, Harvard Business School professor, and author of The Support Economy , the discussion aims to bring together people from every industry and profession who recognize that values realize value. The next era of wealth creation depends on business models that embody trust and advocacy, in which each individual is recognized as the ultimate source of economic value. We'll explore the notions of distributed capitalism and the support economy. We'll share information about businesses moving into this space and examine the new purpose and vision for technology. We'll consider careers, management, and leadership in this new world. The discussion will be supported by Meetup, which will enable participants to meet up where they live and plan physical events. Answer the call to action. Add your voice. Change the world.

Here in my corner of the frontier, Greg Gianforte, founder of RightNow Technologies, is a leading contender to the title of regional catalyst. As notable as RNT's business success is the fact that Greg launched his company with the express purpose of demonstrating that a successful software business could be built and sustained in Bozeman.

Building an entrepreneurial economy involves redrawing mental maps, as much as anything else. It means starting to see the world differently, by looking for connections and opportunities. Most economies that stagnate have a leadership preoccupied with fears, limitations and destructive rivalries. These places need a collective leadership head adjustment.

Many people can't live without Internet access these days so if you are going on a road trip in the family RV, what do you do? Read this account by Richard and Angela Hoy about their trip through Michigan (thanks to Glenn Fleishman for posting a short piece about this). They stopped in Grand Haven, Michigan and used the Ottawa Wireless city-wide network. I have written about Ottawa Wireless and it appears their network is working very well. They charge $4.99 per day with special rate for those who are staying for three or seven days. With more people using Wi-Fi, it amazes me to read about news such as this one posted by Glenn: DoCoMo Wi-Fi phones won't work at hotspots. Do you think other handset manufacturers see a market opportunity here?

Local Foodnet is an electronic mailing list or listserv where more than 60 small specialty food businesses participating in ACEnet Food Ventures' business network share information and resources electronically. Past topics have included sourcing suppliers and accessing distributors. If you are a food-related business in Ohio, West Virginia or Kentucky please join us!

an innovative worker-owned cooperative based in Southeast Ohio. We are dedicated to strengthening the enviromental, economic, and social well being of our community by promoting wholesome products, democratic participation and responsible practices.

A cup of coffee each morning may wake you up, but a new study suggests caffeine might hinder your short-term recall of certain words. Caffeine made it harder for people to find a word that they already knew - the "tip-of-the-tongue" phenomenon. Valerie Lesk, of the International School for Advanced Studies in Italy, believes caffeine improves alertness by shutting down other brain pathways. This makes it harder to recall words, she says in Behavioural Psychology. Caffeine is known to excite the brain and increase alertness. But Miss Lesk and her colleague Stephen Womble, from Trinity College, Dublin, found it can hamper or boost short-term memory, depending on what you are trying to remember.

Washington Post columnist Neal Pierce is the unofficial filter for the mainstreaming of new concepts in urbanism. When Pierce calls a trend, you know it's moved beyond the edge and really solidly into the national debate. His latest? Green building.

Less than a week to go until the big Project-Blog marathon for fair trade, and you know what? Not a single sponsor for Foodgoat. That's cold, man. Real cold.

Please, please, please sponsor us for the marathon! We'll blog for 24 hours, all for the love of fair and just food. If you don't want to make your pledge on the Project Blog site, email me with your pledge or leave in the comments and I'll include in my self-pledge.

How About A Percolator features the stentorian Chet Huntley and his bevy of post-modern women giving frank opinions against a dance track bubbling out of a Boss MRS-1044. Careful! Contents may be hot!

"i disagree. there is nothing that ne ohio needs more than pr right now. it has a lot ot great amenities that would attract people and business but nobody knows about them. i hope mayor jane does not buy into that nonsense. throw some $$$ at saatchi&saatchi jane the world needs to hear about cleveland!"

DIY PR will be the authentic voice of corporations. And it will come from employees and C-level executives doing it for themselves and their organizations and not from the professionals. We will still need PR people, just far fewer. PR pros that can give up control and teach organizations to communicate with their customers in a human voice will survive; many others will not. And in the long term, the formal boring PR voice, messages and spin will become extinct and replaced by people conducting conversations with their customers and clients.

Although I haven't said so flat-out before, many of the tools and services I've been playing with, exploring, and seriously using lately (wikis, Furl, Bloglines, e-learning tools, content management tools � even blogging software and Gmail, to some extent) all have a common thread: what many people today call knowledge management. However, I personally loathe the buzzword "knowledge management" because it has become hopelessly corrupted, convoluted, and devalued by companies hawking huge expensive systems or consulting services that border on organizational voodoo. Denham comments:

The power of knowledge does not seem to come from (re)working explicit stuff, but from making new connections, helping a group form new and meaningful distinctions, crafting, vetting and applying patterns, building shared meaning, keeping each-other aware of important events, changes and happenings.

Amen. In my book, knowledge management boils down to arranging ideas. In other words, I prefer to view this as a real human process, not a technological or abstract one..

Eric Eldred (of Supreme Court fame) recently went to Walden Pond to hand out free copies of David Thoreau's "Walden," which is very much in the public domain these days. He was quickly told to stop because he did not have a permit to hand out free books. The park supervisor claims they told him to leave because handing out free books might interfere with the business prospects of the "Shop at Walden Pond" which sells copies of the book. The executive director of the Thoreau Society, which runs the shop, didn't seem to mind, and the whole thing is somewhat farcical given the nature of "Walden" anyway.

I had a friend ask me last evening what the point was of working at home, with the rising cost of insurance, the purchasing of all my own software and hardware, the cost of supplies and lastly the cost of networking. I told her this, and I invite you to comment as well..... I said, it is very worthwhile to work from home, not only do I get started and finish my day when I want, but I get to go at my own pace, I don't set unrealistic goals for myself, and I am honest and forthright about my business and what I can and can't do.

A small, struggling U.S. biotech company has been cleared by the Treasury Department to develop experimental cancer drugs with the Cuban government. It appears that Cuba's biotech industry may have a lot to offer in this field.

This article in USA Today looks at WiMax which "has allowed several thousand mostly small Internet providers across the USA to cheaply deliver broadband to remote areas via antennas on hilltops, barns and homes.They typically feed off a fixed broadband line to a central antenna site or base station.WiMax is expected to expand wireless broadband to most of rural America, challenge cable-modem and DSL broadband in big cities and eventually add roaming features that could threaten the fast-data offerings of cell phone giants".

Communities are the future of learning (or more accurately - they have always been the most effective means of learning, we're starting to give them the proper role in our current model of information sharing/learning). This article is worth reading...but I think the author misses two important points: 1. When talking communities, wikis, not blogs, should be the tools of choice. Blogs are personal and can be linked. Wikis are community conversations. Blogs are generally more about individual/personal conversations.Wikipedia is a great example of community content creation. 2. Learning communities are only partially about knowledge sharing. The other (more important) component is knowledge creation. What we know today may well be outdated in a few years. The capacity to continue to know (knowledge creation) is of greater value than sharing what we know now.

Joel Kotkin's Social Software blog asserts that blogs are ultimate social networking tool. Ergo, those who want to master networking skills also need to master blogging skills. I could not agree more. How can we get the entire Case faculty networking, so that we are not hiding our best minds up in the ivory tower?

The thing about weblogs is that they embed 1 to 1 conversations [often many simultaneous] within a broadcast medium - the ungodly lovechild of conversation via letter writing [with all the reflection and personal voice that implies], and broadcast via TV [with the resultant ability to speak to many simultaneously].

So what's it going to take to get smart young people to live in your city? Apparently, an interesting job, some pocket money, an instant network of friends and mentors � and fun, fun, fun! That seems to be the lesson of Cleveland's Summer on the Cuyahoga program, in which 56 students from four universities (Yale, Princeton, Colgate and Case Western Reserve) are given summer internships at local companies, free housing, travel money, a whirlwind of activities (theater, museum tours, picnics, etc.), and opportunities to meet alumni in the area. What are the students asked to do in return? Work at the intern positions and enjoy Cleveland. The notion, of course, is that once finished with college, these young people will return to the city that treated them so well. The idea for Summer on the Cuyahoga was borrowed from Louisville, Ky., where a group of Yale alumni started a program six years ago called Bulldogs in the Bluegrass aimed at introducing Yale students to the area. Some Yale grads in Cleveland heard about that program and launched their own version, Bulldogs on the Cuyahoga. Alumni from other schools wanted in; hence, Summer on the Cuyahoga. The idea seems to be a hit at the schools: More than 300 applied for the 56 slots this year. And those participating seem to be having a good time. "All the alumni have been very friendly, very welcoming," said a Colgate student. "They're really trying to get us to move here." And some are clearly coming away with good impressions of Cleveland. One Yale student said all she knew of Cleveland, growing up in Boston and Los Angeles, were the urban disaster stories of the past. "But I got here and found Cleveland to be a completely different place," she said. "It's an amazing place." But are they impressed enough to move there later on? The Louisville program's track record is not particularly encouraging. Of the 200 or so Elis who've spent summers there, only 15 moved there and remain there. But the program's sponsors say they aren't discouraged. "Louisville is not the most appealing city for a single 22- or 23-year-old," said one. "But we're planting the seeds. The real test is when they turn 35 and 40 and they have a family and are looking to settle down."

"Green design" is the practice of manufacturing electronic components with less hazardous materials and engineering them for recycling. There are no unified ergonomics for how to build a computer - some of the parts are interchangeable, but most aren't. One example of intelligent design comes from Apple, whose processors are replaceable, so when a faster chip comes out, you can simply pop in a new one-instead of having to buy a new computer.

1. Big Events 2. Sponsorships 3. Sending out undifferentiated media releases 4. Sending media releases to the world 5. Creating expensive media kits then distributing them to the world

I think it is safe to say that sharing information is at the center of social networking. And blogging software is the best and most popular tool available which combines social networking and sharing information publicly. Blogging is at the center of many social networks... It is only natural that timely sharing of information with different degrees of a social network be a core piece of social networks... Having conversations in real time by sharing information is fueling the birth of all kinds of knowledge in the blogging world. These �blogging search and discovery� tools help us navigate the distributed conversations going on across weblogs, so we can pick and choose the nuggets of info we want from the massive amounts out there... How do you use your blog to network?

"From a very early age, we are taught to break apart problems, to fragment the world. This apparently makes complex tasks and subjects more manageable, but we pay a hidden, enormous price. We can no longer see the consequences of our actions; we lose our intrinsic sense of connection to a large whole. When we then try to 'see the big picture,' we try to reassemble the fragments in our minds, to list and organize all the pieces. But, as physicist David Bohm says, the task is futile -- similar to trying to reassemble the fragments of a broken mirror to see a true reflection. Thus, after a while we give up trying to see the whole altogether."

Cliff Adams linked to this letter to a young activist, penned by Thomas Merton in February, 1966...

Do not depend on the hope of results. When you are doing the sort of work you have taken on, essentially an apostolic work, you may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself. And there too a great deal has to be gone through, as gradually you struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people. The range tends to narrow down, but it gets much more real. In the end, it is the reality of personal relationships that saves everything.

The power of reputation rests on the idea of network closure, which is the degree to which everyone knows everyone else in a network. In a subgroup or "clique" where everybody knows everybody else, reputation can have currency much more powerful than money. Promises within the group can be trusted because the consequences of breaking a promise would be catastrophic. Anyone who mistreated a fellow member in such a group would quickly find himself ostracized by the entire group, his reputation ruined

What would a community's dialogue and innovations look and feel like if the community took a two generation view rather than a two year view into their collective future? What might it consider in the generational view that would be neglected in the year view? How would the community think about how it raises its next generation of weath and public policy stewards, who are today just getting out of diapers? What would the community explore with the longer view in mind?

A therapy veteran, ex-boyfriend of mine once said, "Hurt people hurt people." As trite as this saying is, it always made some sense to me. It explains Courtney Love's chaotic life, but what about George W. Bush? What is his excuse for hurting thousands of people? How "hurt" can this man, born with a 24-karat spoon in his mouth, be? As Moore's film demonstrates, the only group he truly cares about, and doesn't want to "hurt" are, as Bush himself refers to them, "�the haves and the have mores." As a culture, it's time that we take our eyes off of the sins of the Courtney Loves of the world and start looking at those people whose decisions truly impact the lives and futures of millions of people. In his presciently trenchant 1967 book The Society of the Spectacle, French writer Guy Debord theorized on the subversively distractive power of images, celebrity, and political propaganda in societies where citizens enjoy the privilege of "leisure." Debord contends that spectacle serves those in power as it is, "�a permanent war waged to make it impossible to distinguish�satisfaction from�survival." Simply put: as long as we let celebrities and the media distract us from what those in power are up to, we'll never truly know what's going on in the board rooms of major corporations, or in the clandestine chambers of the White House and the Pentagon. As long as we're alienated from the truth, we are only surviving, not living to our fullest potential. So, go a head, stay on your couch and pass judgment on Courtney Love's lifestyle, obsess over Nicole Kidman's dress size, or ponder Britney Spears' wedding plans. Somewhere out there an able-bodied woman with three kids just lost her job. Or, even worse, thousands of families are living with the fact that their spouses, sons or daughters are not coming home from Iraq, or that they are coming home, but they will return transformed: missing limbs, missing their innocence, or their sanity.

Linda Eisenstein: Thanks for your time. Charles Fee: You know, I love Cool Cleveland. Everybody in Boise reads it, to keep up with what�s happening here.

In a connected world where people don�t have letterhead, don�t wear suits (don�t even own suits) work out of tiny rented office suites (or their living room) have a simple website and buy only Adwords, have an answering machine not a PBX, don�t have a receptionist or a sculpture out front� in that world, how do we tell? As we�ve stripped away a lot of the extraneous expenses and signaling mechanisms, are we in a race to the bottom (if �bottom� means raw, not bad)? I can no longer count on the best books coming from a major publisher, on the best articles being in the biggest magazines (in fact, I can assume that if it�s the cover story of a major magazine, it�s insipid). I can no longer assume that someone with a sketchy resume or a simple website isn�t serious about what they�re up to� Welcome to the blended times. The moment when the big and small, the impermanent and the permanent, the accepted and the �scammy� meet. For a while, it�s going to be awfully confusing. We�ll get ripped off, waste time, become even more skeptical than ever before. But soon, I think, we�ll walk out to the other side. I have no certainty as to what the other side looks like, but I�m pretty sure the winners are those that treated their customers and their constituents with respect and did it with honesty. Trust and respect are the two things we haven�t figured out a shortcut for.

The NY Times reported today that many nations in sub-Saharan Africa are losing their health professionals to Europe because of the chance for higher pay. This loss is disproportionately impacting women--women are those being left behind to deliver and care for children without medical attention. Maternal and infant mortality are chief indicators of wellness, and they are declining in many African countries. The article states that "more registered nurses have left to work abroad in the past four years than the 336 who remain in the public hospitals and clinics that serve most of the country's 11.6 million people, according to Malawi's Nurses and Midwives Council." In addition to the negative impact on the healthcare systems of these countries, it is a contemporary example of the ways in which wealthy nations continue to exploit poorer ones. "It is the poor subsidizing the rich, since African governments paid to educate many of the health care workers who are leaving."

Winter is on a mission to visit every Starbucks in the world. On this day alone, he has mapped out four more stores around Phoenix and two in El Paso that he needs to hit. A contract computer programmer, Winter works just enough to fund his obsession, for which he has laid out specific rules: He stops only in Starbucks that the company owns�eliminating the more than 3,000 licensed spots in places like airports and grocery stores�and he has to drink caffeinated coffee in each. In the seven years that the 32-year-old has been on his quest, he's been to 4,122 stores in North America (including some that have since closed), 114 in Britain, and 53 in Japan. Starbucks operates 4,025 stores in the U.S. and 846 internationally. So Winter is doing pretty well. Except for this one problem: The company opens an average of 10.2 new, company-operated Starbucks a week around the world and has no plans to slow down. Neither does Winter. On the fringe of society, there have always been thrill seekers looking to achieve immortality by pushing through society's dark borders.

And what about all those other great experiments -- Dialogue, Appreciative Inquiry, Community Building, and I suppose "Circle practices" (although I am not quite sure what they are)? Speaking just for my self -- I must say that each of these have been profound teachers. From the practitioners of Dialogue I have learned what intense and productive communication can be like. From Appreciative Inquiry I have learned the incredible power of a positive, appreciate approach to my fellow human beings. And from Scott Peck and Co. I have learned much about the nature and function of effective human community. Each of these has opened my eyes, sharpened my attention, and raised my expectations in terms of what and how we can function at optimal levels both individually and collectively. But my deepest learning occurs when with open sharpened, eyes I see exactly the same things happening in Open Space -- all by themselves, and all without the overt intervention of some prescribed, facilitated process.

Appreciative Leadership for HR Jack Ricchiuto Principal, Smart Meeting Design According to the Gallup Organization, only about 20% of 1.7 million employees surveyed globally feel that their organizations make good use of their strengths in their work. In an era of considerable attention to cost cutting and trimming waste, it seems ironic that organizations would allow 80% of their people resources to go wasted on a daily basis. The traditional model of leadership focuses on identifying and eliminating people's performance problems, gaps, and weaknesses. An appreciative model of leadership, though, views strengths as the greatest opportunities for performance improvement and organizational success. In this thought-provoking session, corporate coach and author, Jack Ricchiuto, draws from his latest book, "Appreciative Leadership" and addresses the following topics: * Why the deficiency model does not work * The core principles of appreciative leadership * Assessing for strengths and passions * Appreciative hiring, reviewing and coaching * How to build an appreciative culture

ISSUE: The issue is how to establish what Barbara has called a "social venture bank" that could provide seed funding and planning support to help new, long-term, sustainable collaborations get off the ground... Our first page notes read as follows: Social Venture Bank -- what is it? A response to the conservatism of established philanthropy (we discussed that but the group seemed to agree that many mainstream foundations, including community fundations, are risk-averse in their grantmaking. Ventures = risk. Ergo, where is the "deal flow market" where people with great social venture ideas can go for help in developing their business model and plan? We listed some possiblities: incubators networks -- what Julie calls an "augmented social network" clusters/diffusion differences between putting funds in an endowment paying out only 5% and putting an equal amount of funding into a "revolving fund" that could keep on generating new social ventures PRI--program-related investment is an option the audience for this kind of idea is an entrepreneur who wants to make his/her philanthropy more effective -- "efficacy" On our second flip chart page, we attempted to "follow the money" from a "bank" (fund of some kind) through an "incubator" (of social ventures) to the ventures themselves--projects, programs, business etc. for "social good" [they may or may not "earn profit" but they would be economically sustainable through multiple income streams. Lenore discussed the "art" or "process" of assisting the community visionaries in bring big ideas to fruition. It includes the following: angel investors scouts/analysts conveners space tools (office equipment, webspace, email capacity etc.) network(s) -- both f2f and virtual consultants/facilitators/project managers business plan/grant proposals governance plan, agreements, commitments IF we had better ways to support the incubation process for "social ventures" we would expect investors to see better results and to have more involvement in providing expertise. Action Items: Barbara will further develop the business plan for a model social venture bank based on contributions from all of the participants today. We will create another "open Space" on this topic, in Indianapolis at The Strategy Studio, and attempt to enlarge the circle of participants who can bring time, talent, treasure and/or other gifts to help us bring this idea to fruition.

But before everybody implements wi-fi systems, both aboard public transit and in cyber caf�s, consider this story from the Los Angeles Times. According the article, the LA City Council voted to regulate about 30 businesses where teens and others congregate to use computers. "We need to make sure people are safe," City Councilman Dennis Zine told The Times. �The new regulations, which are expected to go into effect later this summer, require cafes with at least five computers to eliminate closed booths, install security cameras and bar minors during school hours to prevent truancy, The Times reports. �The cafes must also apply for police permits, much like strip clubs and other adult businesses. Businesses that allow teenagers to play video games during school hours, smoke or gamble could lose their permits and be forced to shut down.�

From BrewedFreshDaily, Economic Development is WiFi and alluded to again here in a story regarding Starbucks. In the interest of creating economic development opportunities along the Euclid Corridor, where dark fiber optic lines already exist, it seems like a no-brainer to WI-FI the entire Corridor. Consider the current "knowledge worker" served by the route who attend or work at CSU, CWRU, or the CLINIC. Consider also, the current percentage of ridership represented by this demographic. Pretty low, I'd guess.... This is therefore an opportunity for RTA to increase ridership by offering something not possible to automobile commuters. A while back HotelBruce interviewed local developers regarding the potential of the Midtown area which will be served by the ECTP. View their conclusions here. Recently, HotelBruce commissioned a conceptual plan which was executed by the Urban Design Center of Northeast Ohio. It can be viewed here. This article from the New York Times highlights the ways in which WI-FI can be employed on a train as well as the cities that are doing it, often with grants from the Federal Transit Administration. It would seem that if the stations along the corridor were WI-FI'd, their proximity would allow near continuous connection while riding the route so long as there existed some means of caching data, as most stations are less than a quarter mile apart. Additionally, these hotspots could serve the local "hang-out" population as the signal will likely "spill-out" into the sidewalks and building frontages. The synergistic economic and social opportunities presented here seem far too great to pass-up. I intend to let RTA know. I'm counting on ya'll to spread the word far and wide...

>Hello Everyone, >B-Ware Video is closing it's doors after eight years. We were the >ONLY place to get all your B-Movies, underground films, Indie >Flicks. (and >proud of it!!!!) >Starting Sat July 10th (1-8:00p.m.) Everything in the store is for >sale.(First Come, First Serve) VHS and Dvd's are all ten dollars >each. >Fixtures, and tons of cool junk. (We have a basement full of it) >Credit Cards, and Cash Only (sorry no personal checks) We really >need >your help. If you know anyone who would be interested, PLEASE pass >this >e-mail on to them. Thanks > >Support Independent Stores or they will ALL be gone. > >Stay Sick..... > >Eddie, Natalie and Angus

This silent auction will link you to some of the region's top executives and community leaders for solid one on one time to pitch your company, your project, your proposal, and/or your credentials for advice, guidance, and opportunities. Click on the catalog tab to view the executives. This auction is open to all residents in Ohio. Proceeds to Launch CAAO's Endowment Fund. Top 12 Reasons to Bid 1. Pitch your company, your products or your services. 2. Pitch your nonprofit organization. 3. Pitch a specific project or proposal. 4. General advice on the direction of your business. 5. Career development advice. 6. Seeking referrals regarding your company or organization. 7. Seeking board or committee members. 8. Seeking a project champion or professional mentor. 9. Seeking collaboration. 10. Seeking innovative and creative advice. 11. Helping CAAO establish its endowment fund. 12. Seeking sponsorship for your non-profit.

"The hardest part about gaining any new idea is sweeping out the false idea occupying that niche. As long as that niche is occupied, evidence and proof and logical demonstration get nowhere. But once the niche is emptied of the wrong idea that has been filling it - once you can honestly say, 'I don't know,' then it becomes possible to get at the truth." - Robert A. Heinlein

While Starbucks is making noise about just how "successful" their paid WiFi in stores is going, they don't give out any actual numbers. Carlo Longino, over at TheFeature, goes through the announcement, makes some reasonable estimates and explains how much more successful the program would be if they gave away WiFi for free. It's not too hard to do the math and realize that Starbucks isn't getting that much money for each person subscribing to the WiFi service. They are, however, getting a benefit from those users buying high margin coffee-like products from Starbucks. Put those together, and you realize that free WiFi brings in more users who will buy more high margin coffee, and it completely wipes out any rationale for charging for the WiFi. It's not clear why no one at Starbucks or T-Mobile has been able to make this calculation

completely ignores any hard figures on the number of connections, users or revenue, focusing on user behavior: T-Mobile subscribers visit Starbucks an average of 8 times per month, more than non-users, spend more time -- about an hour -- and make more than 90 percent of their connections after peak hours end at 9 a.m. Note that the Starbucks press release is specifically talking about "subscribers", which T-Mobile said in March was about two-thirds of users. It stands to reason subscribers would visit more often and spend more time than casual users, since they're paying the lowest cost and don't incur any per-minute charges. These figures mirror the benefits from other restaurants providing Wi-Fi service: it can generate extra visits and entice users to stay longer -- meaning more sales.

[17:20] ChrisCorrigan: I wrapped up my spring rush of work and I've got several things going at the moment...giving conference, running an open space at the business alliance for local living economies conference here next June...working on a foundation with Aboriginal youth...hmmm [17:20] ChrisCorrigan: Writing about the democracy and practical colonization stuff... [17:20] ChrisCorrigan: practical DEcolonizations... [17:20] ChrisCorrigan: Hey you mentioned Open Space! [17:21] GeorgeNemeth: business alliance for local living economies?! i know some people here in town that would be into that. [17:21] GeorgeNemeth: of course i mentioned open space! [17:21] ChrisCorrigan: :-) [17:21] ChrisCorrigan: Let's see...BALLE is amazing...hang on [17:22] GeorgeNemeth: they just did a summit or something in philadelphia, didn't they? [17:22] ChrisCorrigan: Valdis is a "lone wolf" entrepreneur? lol [17:22] GeorgeNemeth: he'd like to think he is... [17:22] ChrisCorrigan: http://www.livingeconomies.org/BALLE/ I'm on the advisory board of the British Columbia chapter [17:22] ChrisCorrigan: Yeah...that's the one...it'll be here next year. [17:22] GeorgeNemeth: sweet! [17:22] ChrisCorrigan: You coming? ;-) [17:23] GeorgeNemeth: looks like we'll have to start making arrangements. [17:23] ChrisCorrigan: yup...we're putting together a whole indigenous track with folks from Canada, USA and New Zealand

Annalee Newitz has a great article in Alternet about Mash-ups, going over the copyright laws involved and how the laws are viewed in the mash-up scene. It's an interested clash, where restrictive laws loom over digital musicians armed with low-cost computers and software that makes mixing easy. In this realm, Newitz sees mash-ups as a form of protest, where DJs knowingly violate laws in order to spread their art in the world.

As a masher on [Get Your Bootleg On] recently posted, "Everything is illegal." Under an I.P. regime where artists feel like nothing goes, it seems that everything could. The infringement generation aims to mash up copyright law in pursuit of better music. But it also has a chance to challenge social divisions more profound than the distinctions between hip-hop, rock and electroclash.

Valdis Krebs says that's good for this region's economy. Valdis Krebs: So, yeah, the more free wireless there is the better it is. Krebs is owner of Orgnet-dot-com, a software and consulting company that maps out networks of people within companies and communities. In other words, Krebs is an expert in the whole networking thing - and yes, he's sitting in yet another caf� with wi-fi access. Valdis Krebs: It gives the whole region two things. It gives people the opportunity to be almost anywhere and connect and it also gives them the reputation that this is a hip place. Kreb says wireless internet gives lone-wolf entrepreneurs like himself the ability to work anywhere and network with people sitting in the same caf� or in a caf� halfway across the world. Krebs says access to such technology creates a fertile breeding ground entrepreneurs, the kind of hi-tech entrepreneurs that sustains economic development. This isn't speculation, by the way; it's already happening. Independent contractors are regularly meeting up at wi-fi hotspots across the region. And with the advent of OneCleveland, the region's educational, arts and non-profit institutions are part of the revolution - a revolution that so far seems to include everyone except the established power-structure. Lev Gonick: Because technology doesn't respect hierarchy. Lev Gonick is president of OneCleveland's board and President for information technology services at Case Western Reserve University - he had an actual office for his interview. OneCleveland provides super-fast, high-speed network communications for collaborating non-profits. The network is getting attention on an international scale both for its goals and the level of cooperation necessary to get it off the ground. Gonick says OneCleveland is doing wonders for the area's reputation, but the effort would have a greater impact if just one traditional business leader got on board. Lev Gonick: And what we need is our own Lee Iacoca, someone who comes from the success of where we've come from as a community and who's willing to say to his or her colleagues, �The future is that-a-way. It's not over the hill, not the mountain that we've already climbed.� Gonick says the non-profits involved in OneCleveland are taking risks and testing the internet in ways never attempted before. It's the experiments underway now that could set the standard world-wide for how we use technology.

Nemeth and Krebs (and others) were a featured part of WCPN's "Making Change" series. Topics included wifi, OneCleveland, and Ryze. Overall, a great radio piece and excellent PR. As usual, Valdis had wise words and George seemed like he just recently polished off a big cup of joe ;) There may be an audio link later...stay tuned.

Andy Kessler, who likes nothing better than forcing people to rethink the status quo, has dropped in a submission about his latest Wall Street Journal op-ed piece explaining why economists who are worried about too many people being employed leading to inflation are living in a time before intellectual property economics became clear... "The output gap of intellectual property is almost infinite. Full (and high wage) employment in research jobs is what we want." This is the very concept behind things like "increasing marginal returns" that show that intellectual property, when opened up frees up the economy to do more, not less. So, the more we can encourage that, the better off our economy is. Unfortunately, it's taking a while for economists to realize this -- and apparently those economists all read the Wall Street Journal.

Jack has built a Tesla Coil according to the original design and has brought it to the bar in a wagon to demonstrate it to Meg. Jack says that Nikola Tesla changed the world with countless inventions, including the fluorescent light, and preceived the Earth as a conductor of acoustical resonance. Jack starts up the Coil, which gives off an impressive lightning-like display, startling The Kitchen Guy, until something goes haywire with the device

Take a few moment to examine the contents of your pockets or purse ...... Can you find any item there, that you obtained without the help of someone else? Look around you. What do you see? Did you make the clothes you wear? Did you grow the food you eat or the tools you use. Look around your home or workplace. Can you find anything that you made. Do you know the names of those who did make all these things? Do you ever know upon whom you depend. Can you find anything in your environment that was obtained without the help of someone else? I am not talking about ownership here. I will grant that you own your possessions. But would you have them if they had not been for sale. I would argue that nearly everything modern humans possess was obtained with the help of others. As I examine my world I discover that I depend on others to to grow and produce my food. I depend on others to design and build my home. I depend on others to generate my electricity. I depend on others to supply my water. I depend on others to deliver my mail. I depend on others to educate my children. I depend on others to entertain my family. I depend on others to manufacture my automobile. I depend on others to refine the gasoline for my car. I depend on others to care for my family when we are sick. I depend on others to protect us from crime and war. I depend on others to.......... I depend on others, I depend. Human INTERdependence is made less visible by our present economic exchange system...

Powerful stuff.

posted by George Nemeth  # 7/06/2004 08:27:00 PM

Democrats are opening up their convention to bloggers - well, at least bloggers they like. Republicans say they will, but it seems it's taking them slightly longer to figure out if they like any. So far, 60 bloggers have applied for press passes to the Democratic festivities. The party said it will choose the lucky ones based on audience size, content professionalism and the proportion of original content on the blog.

Adaptive cruise control (ACC), as its name suggests, is a modified version of traditional cruise control. It employs radar to monitor the road ahead of a vehicle, automatically adjusting that vehicle's speed to maintain a safe distance from the one in front. This is safer than manual driving because it reduces the system's reaction time from nearly a second (human) to practically instantaneous (machine), thus helping to forestall shunts. But ACC may have a useful side-effect, arising from the fact that another effect of slow human reaction times is to produce traffic jams on apparently open roads.