one of the things i love about the change you want to see gallery is the enormous bookshelf beka has amassed over the years. from art theory to obscure political philosophy, i find myself absorbed by book jackets debating which i should tackle next. after hearing beka pimp out Steve Duncombe's book Dream: Re-imagining Progressive Politics in an Age of Fantasy i decided to take it home and have fallen in love with it... filled with so many lessons, i can't stop highlighting every other word (yeah, it's that good.)

then, i was spending a few hours research a design shop named "mother" and happen to stumble on a nice blog post on obama's marketing campaign. as a political junky, i just love his "O." if you get a chance, check out these two articles (1, 2)and read how his brand works.

if you're looking for boiled down comments on the value of face to face conversations and how they support your constituency, check out this creating passionate users blog post. i've written before how online connections must meet physically, but in this post, kathy sierra lays out 10 universal components that are golden rules in building ANY constituency. fast companies' friends network is one the best examples of a physical medium using online tools to promote a disaggregate support network. heath row's journeys in 1999, 2000, and 2001 provide tangible experience supporting user networks. also, you should note that one of the best examples of diy face-to-face organizing is Four Eyed Monsters - check out henry jenkins' take on their impressive work.

1) Put together a "How To Start A Local User Group or Club" document. (noel's note - FastCompany.com has an interesting FAQ that should be a good start.) Include tips on things like finding a space, topic ideas, and getting speakers.

2) Offer free materials for the user groups User group meetings often start or end with prize drawings; give the user group leaders plenty of swag for the meetings. It'll make the leaders look good, etc.

3) Treat your user group leaders like royalty Sun puts JUG (Java User Group) leaders on a pedestal--helping them promote their groups, giving them special receptions at the annual JavaOne conference, etc.

4) Instead of a traditional user group, provide guidelines for a Study Group (noel's note - one really good example of this is the Drupal Dojo - a weekly user let training session.) Collect advice and lessons from other existing groups. Provide a list of suggested books to read, and 6-months' worth of topic plans.

5) Hold a very low-cost annual weekend conference. (noel's note - couchsurfing.com has historically set up "collectives" around the world to help maintain their website.) Make it ridiculously easy for people to get there. Find sponsors to help. Even better if you hold several mini-conferences a year, in different locations.

6) Encourage users to start a local BarCamp (or other *Camp). (noel's note - there are many examples of *camps - check out rootscamp or drupalcamp) Direct your users to the BarCamp Wiki where they can learn how to do it.

7) Utilize monthly meetings. There are many examples - Social Media Club's wiki, Drupal's Groups, NextNY.org's wiki, Frak Party, or Meetup.com. (original PSU's recommendation - Use Meetup.com as a resource!)

8) If you already have online user forums, enlist moderators to try to form an offline meetup. This is often one of the best places to start.

9) Hold special cocktail receptions/parties for user group leaders at industry conferences in your domain.

10) Advertise/promote your user group events on your main page! Remember, passionate users MUST connect with others who share that passion, so this is not a nice-to-have... it's an essential part of any product, service, or cause for which people are passionate.

Technorati Tags: couchsurfing, coworking, drupalcamp, economy 2.0, fast company, four eyed monsters

out of all the conversations at lift, i am still awe struck by one presentation.

when i first had lunch with Ben Cerveny, our casual conversation would have led to nothing more than a few high-fives and an occasional email. though, something struck me funny when he casually made reference to his presentation and it's generic topic of metaphors. once Ben started his presentation, everyone shifted in their seats. it was instantly clear that this was was not going to be a simple conversation. by ben's second paragraph, Michele Perras and i had stopped taking notes. by ben's third slide i just closed my eyes and let the words flow into my ears

to me that there was no way in hell i would ever understand the complete value of this presentation. so at the end, (yup that me mucking up the microphone)... i had to say thank you for blowing my mind and inquire about Ben's perception on intelligent life... after a 10 min break, i attempted to sit down and listing to another presentation and could not. so i ran out and quickly wrote school of fish. since that afternoon, i have been in awe wondering how to use this data. after a request to laurent, the awesomeness face of lift; he uploaded ben's presentation. one by one, all presentations will be up! snag them via itunes or your pirate "arr-Rss" reader.

there are several ways of interpreting ben's presination. one, is to accept it at face value and only consider that the terms we use in technology as analogous to science terminology. two, we should think more about the abstract and not attempt to catalog it as a new invention. though we should continue branding these things as hip, hot, sexy beasts. three, is to look at flow as representative of nature's biological ecosystem. instead of attempting to think we are breaking through new walls of enlightenment, we should harness these tools to augment the ways we communicate in person. just like we have open conversations we should ensuring that the data flows freely. if that is the latter, data stuck within our brains is in it's natural state, harmonious with nature. sadly, in the technological world, there are two impediments that prevent flow from being at harmonious state...
1. closed technology systems.
2. technical hardware that data sits on.

imaging a world where you don't have to have a million and one user names and passwords. imagine a world world, where you have an aggregate social networking site, and you no longer have to create a million profiles and go though the same meticulous process of adding friends. imagine a world were your business systems are easily integrated with your desktop calendar, address book, cell phone, etc... the distance of this world isn't too far off. through the work of Lawrence Lessing, EFF, Save the Internet, Open Source, OpenID, Microformats, The Internet Task Force, and the Integration Proclamation - just to name a few - they are working endlessly fighting closed systems. thought the fight never really ends. there are many still who think they can control the flow.

most troubling of ben's metaphors is the hardware that sits beneath all of our society. two additional presentations at lift highlight the problems industries faces - suren erkman and julian bleeker. while suren's presentation was dry and complex, it provided a thorough review of industry and how we should move forward looking at which models we should use for industry. space is not just the final frontier, but is a clear example of a closed ecosystem that needs complete sustainability. note - peter barns who's attempting to move markets (not just companies) to calculate the cost of the environment - capitalism 3.0.

julian bleecker, gave a succinct presentation (video here) on the second life cost in our first life. julian's not just talking about the game, but all of our online activity. nicholar carr's deduction that a Second Life avatar is equivalent to a Brazilian is not an absurd statement to make. second life is not alone, google is also facing power consumption issues. in january, i, cringly reported that google has gone to extraordinary lengths to purchase property next to power plants. just in this week's economist's article "going green" goes on to expand the power dilemma we face, by fundamentally taking a look how AC conversion into DC is inefficient and the most costly in power consumption.

the power that is consumed by our flow is just part of the iceberg. greenpeace's green my apple campaign is nother example of the unsustainability our flow faces. even the most trendy of computer manufactures has problems producing environmentally computers. computers, cell phones, tivos, batteries, etc, are all manufactured from harmful products. grist magazine does a great job speaking in practical realistic language of things we can do to be better. as we have decreased the barriers of publishing a linty of online publications have appeared - ecogeek, treehugger, and worldchanging just to name a few. at home, you always have sustainable power and terrapass...

as the flow we create exceeds the footprint of a human, and our hunger for it's company becomes as prevalent as our desire for shelter, warmth and love. we should take stock in the transformative nature of all elements of our interconnected society.

Technorati Tags: ben cerveny, global change, Julian Bleecker, lift conference, lift07, second life, sustainable development, sustainability, transparency, web 2.0

if you are happy and you know it clap your hands....

if you are unhappy and you know it read a book...

i have been a long time proponent of self-educaiton. well after high school, i just kept on reading... and some how stumbled upon this link http://readingforradicals.com

the list of books is great, but questionable... frankly there's not technological books, nor books on decentralized empowerment and networks... so, if you have the time, please leave a comment on what would be your reading list for radicals.

mine, you've heard them before and you'll hear them again...

• The Wealth of Networks - Benkler - Law Professor at Yale
• The Starfish and the Spider - Ori Brafman & Rod Beckstrom - entrepreneurs
• Code 2.0 - Lawrence Lessig - lawyer; author of Free Culture
• Capitalism 3.0 - Peter Barnes - entrepreneur; founder of Working Assets

cross posted with comments open on luck of seven...

my brain just exploded...

if you don't read i, cringley then you've already lost the game. according to this article, we've just lost the fiber game. yes, my head just exploded.

When Being a Verb is Not Enough

even before his rootscamp dc closing session ended, zack exley climbed into his soap box car and starting orating his problems with our society. afterward, he sat down and penned three parts [part 1, part 2, and part 3]. i find these thoughts contagious; too bad there are no "new lands" to test these ideological freedoms. what's more intriguing? his concepts are the surfus of an socio/economic fissure disscussed in four books published in 2006.

note, these books are significant works!

• The Wealth of Networks - Benkler - Law Professor at Yale
• The Starfish and the Spider - Ori Brafman & Rod Beckstrom - entrepreneurs
• Code 2.0 - Lawrence Lessig - lawyer; author of Free Culture
• Capitalism 3.0 - Peter Barnes - entrepreneur; founder of Working Assets

first and foremost, lessig is the quintessential author on free culture; he defined it. for the past 10 years, he's seen his book code and other laws of cyberspace rewritten by tecnological, entrepenureal and legislative movements. these develoments made the first revision outdated and muted. so this past year, using a wiki and the globe's brightest, they rewrote the rules of cyberspace into code 2.0. let me tell you, this is a great book! succinctly, lessig lays down his arguments for an online world that protects our freedoms. i am still reading this book, and will give you a more tangible post shortly.

back in the spring of 2006, i stumbled upon yale professor benkler at eyebeam. through his dense presentation, i was floored to see how quickly our society has moved, but not our governance. in reality, legislation controlling our online activity has reverted to a pre-american constitution state. his book, The Wealth of Networks is the golden standard in evaluating decentralize organizations. if you're looking for a primer, i highly recommend the Starfish and the Spider. Starfish should be considered a reference to understand the simplicity of building organizations that support freedom than attempt to control it.

then just a few days ago, i got an email from one of the few nyc political think tanks - Demos. in their, happy and wellcome to 2007 email, i was introduced to another new book - capitalism 3.0. while my copy is in the mail, come join me to meet peter barnes on tuesday, 9 january from 12:15-1:45pm. Demos event info and registration page. if you can't skip out during the day, on thursday (11 jan), come to bluestockings at 7pm - more information on MNN's event page.

Join Demos in welcoming Peter Barnes discussing his latest book, Capitalism 3.0: A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons. In his latest book, Barnes shows that protecting "the commons" is the key to revitalizing capitalism and safeguarding the planet. Whether we're discussing Social Security privatization, deregulation of the airwaves, or global warming, these threats to the commons often seem insurmountable. However, as Peter Barnes proposes in this thought-provoking new book, the surprising answer to many of these challenges is readily available: "upgrading" capitalism by reclaiming the commons. Proposing innovative solutions to these challenges, Barnes calls for an upgrade to Capitalism 3.O, examining the future of our economy, with intriguing results.

sidenote - i don't know where this is all going. i do know that once again we are faced with a turning point where MTV's election motto seems fitting "choose or lose..." this turning point is not just technological, political, ecological nor economic... this turning takes everything we've seen and slaps it into one big bag... someone's got to coin a name for it...

last night, i ventured to mo-pikins for the monthly comedy show how-to-kick-people. An old friend, Gideon, joined me for a journey of bad mixed tapes, dry jokes, uncomfortable stories, and von von von... but not all hope was lost, i did get a free mixed-cd and a few stickers. ;) this show is a must for anyone who's wicked smart, doesn't watch tv, interested in big words, and likes to feel queazy about their youth.

victor varnado - opened up with a good story about his youth in northern Minnesota, and crucified himself with a dry delivery. fitting since the story it self was about three kids trying to be "hardcore" gangsters and finally feeling the brunt of playing out a sterotype. i've seen this guy a few times on tv, he's kinda hard to forget, and i highly recommend taking a look at his comedy...

paul ford - unknown until the minute i saw him walk on stage, and OMG his reading was AWESOME. his book GARY BENCHLEY, ROCK STAR sounds like a gold mind textbook on hipster insults. i can not wait to read it on my flight next week.

von von von - funny, yes - hipster, yes, international hipster no less - he's kinda one of those types of comedians you don't clap too, but ya just rattle your jewelry! sadly the VonVonVon's most comical song, bürlin, isn't listed on his website.

mad props to Todd Levin and Bob Powers for once again producing a completely unconventional comedy show. i just love that they force these people to READ! like a train wreck, it's great to see when things go bad.

happy two year anniversary next month!