my dear Drupalistas,

every day the sun peaks up just a tad bit earlier for you to code. the birds sing in delightful syntax. the temperatures rise giving you another excuse to keep the air conditioner on and to stay inside. these are just a few good reasons, to break out of your shell and once again join fellow drupalistas at Polytechnic University for DRUPALCAMP NYC 3

when :: saturday and sunday, july 14 - 15, 2007

what is drupalcamp?
modeled in the *camp unconference structure, drupalcamp is a no-holds-bars discussion, workshop/code-a-thon involving the open source content management system Drupal. at drupalcamp you ask the questions and the experts provide the answers. at drupalcamp you discover your solutions to your most pressing problems. like previous drupalcamps, there will be a number of break out rooms...

- Beginners Room: Several advanced Drupal Ninja's will take shifts in this room covering the basics of Drupal and its various systems.
- Sessions 1: Room available for user generated sessions - throughout the day we will cover intermediate concepts of Drupal and Howtos - Propose a session, anyone can teach!
- Sessions 2: Room available for user generated sessions - throughout the day we will cover intermediate concepts of Drupal and Howtos - Propose a session, anyone can teach!
- Advanced Room: This is where the ninjas hang out. they might write a module for drupal or hold a patch marathon. sometimes you can walk in and find them drunk on the drupal and Redbull.

where is drupalcamp?
Polytechnic University Brooklyn Campus - Building A
Six Metrotech Center, Brooklyn, NY 11201 Subway Map

what can you talk about at drupalcamp?
you can talk about anything related to drupal. from business practices to code, all is welcome. if you have a topic to discuss, a problem to pose or a session to present, check out the sessions / schedule page on the wiki and then register to attend. (pwd c4mp)

how do i register?
it's super simple! unlike most conferences, this conference is FREE, as in beer. just visit the register page and add your name to the list. please be mindful that there is a limitation to 100 attendants and the organizers take every name to heart. if you can not make it or you are passively thinking attending, please make that known. (pwd c4mp)

on a personal note, this is the first drupalcamp i will not participate as an organizer. while it does make me sad, it's been wonderful to see the new york city drupal community mature from a rag-tag group of disparate coders to a cohesive structure. many kudos to jacob redding for the monthly meetups, hans-christoph steiner for being a tireless soul in coordinating access at poly, good luck to the ingenious michael mandiberg.

Technorati Tags: Drupal, drupalcamp, IDMI

Dear Friends of Noneck,

If you haven't heard, in two short months, I will depart from my beloved city of New York to explore this planet. On 7 July 2007, and traveling for seven months, my feet will wander the earth, while I contemplating seven topics of freedom. On the way, I'll be documenting the experience on the "Luck of Seven" travel site (Lo7). While on the way, I'll be blogging on seven topics of freedom: free culture, free and open-source software, couchsurfers and bloggers, agents of progressive social change, happenstance, and our environment.

Yesterday, I sent out a message to my beloved donors, facebook and flickr friends. Much to my surprise, several previous donors chipped in a few extra bucks, forwarded my email around the globe and blogged about the Lo7. Luck of Seven is now at 24% of the way to fundraising USD$ 7,777. THANK YOU!!!

With 07/07/07 quickly approaching and my first month planned out, I see a wealth of opportunities to explore, BUT I can't do it alone.

1. A small donation of USD $11.11.
Thank you donors!! In return, I promise you an autographed copy of the book. In the meantime, luckofseven.com will continue to tell the story though rich media. < http://luckofseven.com/donate >

2. Spread the word and connect me with your other friends.
There is nothing more important to me than my friends. Though my past years of traveling and countless workshops, I know that we can make this a better place. Regardless if it's just a smiling face, a pint of beer or a hard floor to sit on, I want to visit your friends and say hello. Forward this message to your friends! Then, if you have a blog or social networking site, spread the word. I really need the link love ;)

3. Organizational sponsors for equipment and travel.
In Prague, Transitions Online has asked me to teach on new media journalism to former Communist countries. While "on the way," I look forward to teaching, conversing and interviewing citizens of this earth. If you know of an organization that might be a good fit, please don't hesitate to forward this email or make a formal introduction. I'm quite keen on helping organizations adapt technological frameworks for their own uses, elevate the seven topics of freedom, and share my experiences as an organizer. Otherwise, I'm looking for sponsors to acquire equipment: an HD Camcorder, a GPS device, an GSM cell phone, etc... I have a list and would love to entertain any ideas. Have your people call my people!

... and with that, I hope you place your luck on seven and at least give a donation.

be seeing you...
noneck noel

it's been a while since i've seen a steady paycheck. as of this morning I will start to see one again. after the new york state senate and trellon debacle, i really didn't want to find myself in a world dependent on other people's whims. now after 140 days from my last employer, countless conferences and after digesting a gazzilion journals and books, i have found my calling.

this week, i embark on a research project with NewAssignment.net investigating open-source journalism. this project will take the tools built for assignment zero and migrate them to a multi-story/social networking system. picture NYtimes.com or any other online publication giving ANY reader the ability to comment on EVERY article and asking them to dawn a series of tasks to enhance articles. i originally pitched this idea to a few print publications, but they didn't bite. then after some pro-bono advice to David Cohn and a recommendation from Fred Benenson, Jay Rosen gave me a call.

honestly, i'm overwhelmed by the opportunity to change our perception of participatory culture. after last week's salzburg seminar, the world of web 2.0 died. no longer should we view participatory culture through the eyes of one's web browser. if you think i'm crazy just look at twitter and google's mobile apps... our new world is about convergence - convergence in the mind, convergence in data, convergence in action, convergence in governance and in policy. as these four principles converge on each other, i promise you a resuscitation of a true democracy. bringing profound change into the hands of everyone.

Technorati Tags: assignment zero, economy 2.0, freedom, newassignment.net, open government, salzburg seminar, twitter, web 2.0

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

On Monday, Participatory Politics Foundation and Sunlight Foundation, opened a new spotlight on Congress - www.opencongress.org. When thinking of a member of congress, one no longer has to imagine integrating committee memberships, bills sponsored and co-sponosered, voting history, who they tend to vote with, which blogs and news articles are floating around, over laid with campaign donations. You can now just visit any US Senator or US Representative.

Beyond the integration of Google News, Congresspedia, Technorati, Open Secrets, and Govtrack.us, what's the most glistening part of Open Congress? Is it the plethora of ways for you to access the data, or is it that they are building a network of users to make the next revision better?

Nonetheless, Opencongress.org just installed a new sunroof on the big dome.

Note: PDF Founder, Andrew Rasiej and PDF Co-founder & Editor, Micah L. Sifry are technology advisors to the Sunlight Foundation.

This article is cross posted on the Personal Democracy Forum Blog.

Technorati Tags: Congresspedia, open government, personal demoracy forum, Participatory Politics Foundation, Opencongress.org, Sunlight Foundation, technology, 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...

Friends, Romans, Coworkers...

We have reached that point were we are seriously talking about scheduling software. John McGann, 116 West Houston, has hired a developer to update his old software. John doesn't have any particular construct, php, ruby on rails, drupal or some other open-souce CMS. John just wants the software built with enough ambiguity to manage a generic set of coworking spaces.

My personal interest is to make this dream a reality, and within the next few days we will set up a call to review any/all documents to kick start this bad boy. In the meantime, if you are interested we need you to do three things...

1. join the coworking google group.
2. think up what are the best features and post them to the wiki.
3. add your name if your want to be part of the development team

This article has been cross posted on blog.coworking.info.

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Technorati Tags: coworking, web 2.0

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