Browsing Tag

Activism

Creative Commons? Be aware and support on 10/15

The momentum continues, a couple folks along with myself have just completed an effort with Social Media Club and Creative Commons to increase visibility for the groups and the creators which leverage Creative Commons licensing. This is one of the first deliverables in the Social Media Club’s 4 projects, increasing awareness and adoption for industry standards is central to the mission of the group. To that end, October 15, 2008 – TOMORROW – represents the first opportunity to evangelize the importance of standards and move this mission forward in partnership with Creative Commons.

So what can YOU do to help create more awareness around the important service Creative Commons provides? There are 3 ideas which certainly would help which have been bantered around, but I suspect the community can come up with more by October 15th. The key theme is just to identify a way to let folks know about the best practices around the sharing/creating of creative works leveraging a Creative Commons License. So which one of the below are you going to do?

Post an article describing the services Creative Commons provides to content creators and why YOU think that is important.
Add a widget to your blog to encourage financial support.
Create and/or focus a creative commons licensed work via your preferred social media channel (Twitter, blog, facebook…)

So what are you going to do tomorrow? Doesn’t really matter, it only matters that you do SOMETHING.

October 14, 2008 by Jon Gatrell

A real-time voice: Hack the Debate and Where’s my Gas?

Two really interested things have happened of late around Twitter which has had me discussing Twitter in odd situations. With references in the AJC on a fairly creative use, Twitter may become an inventory management system for the CONSUMER. Consumer based demand management might be another way to look at it – regardless it could change market the landscape. The other interesting Twitter advance is the real-time insight into political feedback, not online but integrated with TV for your Mom to see. Sure Twitter has broken news, provided updates from natural disasters, and even has resulted in the occasional “brand jacking”, but recently it transitioned to being more of an interesting app, now that it has empowered the community to take action, rather than listen to stories, share ideas or just chatting. Twitter sometimes has been thought of as a built to flip entity, but it may have just found a problem solving niche – not just reducing latency of communication but reducing transactional friction and opportunity costs for consumers and voters alike.

The Consumer Has Access

I recently suffered through the Atlanta gas crisis and had used Twitter to aid in finding out where gas was. This use of Twitter solved a critical need for consumers – where and when can I find fuel for my car. The real odd thing, is the use of Twitter came up multiple times when I was New York, merely because I was from Atlanta and specifically because of this pragmatic use of the platform. I spent more time talking about the gas crunch and explaining Twitter with one editor than one would have thought for a guy that blogs, but it made for a nice segue into a community concept which I was there to speak on.

Essentially for many, Twitter has become their main social network or at least more folks are using it now and getting comfortable using it. Whatever the reality – it’s now main stream stream media and successfully connecting people to solve problems. With continuous updates and shared experiences some folks were able to get gas just a little quicker and avoid the opportunity costs of trying to find it yourself. On that concept alone, Twitter appears to be able to produce an ROI. Not only is there now a way to frame a value prop around that use, it allows consumers to rally around opportunities in the marketplace whatever it may be. So I wonder what other use cases folks are going to think of. Could Twitter be used to find out where the latest supply of a cool video game/toy is for Christmas?

Twitter seems well positioned to solve other real consumer problems involving not just presence, but place as it relates to goods or the supply of goods. People already use Twitter for place for a long time for place – think conferences, but introducing access to goods is a new take. So if consumers share information on the ability to access services or goods it could significantly influence consumers choices at a local level.

Where do I go tonight for drinks is already being answered by #happyhour so what else could be solved for in the Twitter community? Perhaps Twitter can effectively manage place, supply/access, precense and quality of experience/managing of opportunity costs.

I wonder what the people are thinking?

I could never see a presidential debate live, not sure I couldn’t react one way or another. Knowing this about me, I was certainly excited to see the integration of Twitter and TV around the debate. Twitter’s 140 characters has become an interesting cross channel feedback for not only users, but non-users. Feedback on a story which just happened for Rick Sanchez or sharing real-time impressions of the debate is no longer visible just to those on Twitter, but also the viewing audience. The integration of Twitter for Hack the Debate is the most recent melding of community and communication which most folks don’t know about. Current TV has integrated Twitter into the debate with real-time streaming of tweets on the broadcast of the debate. Yup what people think in real time about the candidates and their answers. This integration means that users can actively participate in the debate in a way that even those AT the debate can’t. Odd concept – people 10 feet away from the candidates can’t influence, but people 1000’s of miles away can. Below is an example what you might see should you watch the next debate on Current.

It never ceases to amaze me how technology developed for one use can quickly morph to deliver on new/emerging needs with the existing capabilities. Do you think Twitter could help coordinate aid relief, donations and needs for natural disasters? FEMA should maybe get a Twitter account.

October 10, 2008 by Jon Gatrell

Roads, Rail and Infrastructure: The economic opportunity

Not really political these days, but I find myself just a little more interested in politics than I have been for a while with the upcoming presidential election. I actually haven’t had a sticker on my car since the first Clinton election which surprises me now that I think about it. The key driver for my acute attention on this election is the economy. The current market status is just a fun little thing to watch – evaporating value and continuous corrections.

Every good election seems to have an economic issue, wars not so much – kinda odd. There have been two fairly interesting politically driven economies – Clinton’s internet stock bubble and Bush’s housing crisis. Both which have helped bring us to where we are, for good or ill. This $700B bailout has sparked more than a few interesting conversations in which I was a participant or witness over the last couple of weeks, so the economy is front and center for most of us. I was recently reminded that we already put like $250B into the mortgage market already this year, but with the passing of the most recent allotment, I’m just a little curious of what it means. A little positive motivation from President Bush to help me keep my head straight:

We have acted boldly to help prevent the crisis on Wall Street from becoming a crisis in communities across our country…our economy continues to face serious challenges.

Effort Free Growth

Each of the previous market growth markets – Internet and Housing, had little true production of goods and no real multi-industry impact. Seemingly effortless growth, – stocks, real estate – passive financial growth. If you look at the current optics of the market, it has essentially removed all the intangible/labor free wealth from the system. The fiction and folklore around the current economy is fun to watch as well – everyone has ideas and suspicions. Take the debates – everyone had perfectly focused talking points to promote their platforms, as long as they ask the right questions.

Plenty of non-answers or message moves throughout both debate, but one particular question effectively helped both debates go a little off message. A single question from Jim Leherer on “what would the candidates change” based on the latest economic twist? This question was also echoed in the VP debate. You betcha – no one is giving up on anything for the United States voters. None of candidates answered the question really can’t really blame them though. That’s a tough thing to answer this close to the election date in such a competitive presidential race. Effectively the candidates were asked to publicly modify their platforms in real-time on national television. Nothing good comes from a direct answer, but Biden did admit a need to “slow things down”. But the other three had no real talking points on this, so they just stayed on message. Energy, Engine, Maverick, Big Business, tax cuts below $250,000…..

Neither of the candidate’s platforms really do much for the economy, they do each have a “gap patch”, which will fix it for a while and allow them to get on with their presidency, but no long term benefit for the country. The question I have is: “Why not go big and build a bunch of stuff too?”. If the last couple of hurricanes weren’t enough of a clue – we may need a little Civilian Conservation Corp revival, not just to improve for disasters, but to build an infrastructure for growth. You could give the initiative some cheesy name like Infrastructure 3.0, that way you can have a cool logo and t-shirts. Gotta give some money to the apparel industry along the way, a single industry growth model doesn’t work. Perhaps a plan which included the delivery of long term reusable/durable assets which make the nation’s infrastructure sounder and provides for the distribution of funds across economic strata and geographic boundaries. Cross-cutting economics might be one way to look at this.

From Productivity to Production

A geographic based development effort to optimize multi-industry growth and spawn regional economic growth through local/state projects. Burgeoning economies, sustaining economies – ultimately build things. Think the development of the TVA via the new deal. The previous investment in infrastructure post depression was focused to enable the US to fully transcend an agrarian economy and to bridge the economy. Perhaps the US now needs a new infrastructure that better supports the current information based economy which is in transition. Perhaps we could put some folks to work building roads and enhancing the current high tech infrastructure for the future growth of our tertiary economy.

I’m not talking about a bridge to nowhere, but maybe some new bridges. Infrastructure is on at least one candidates mind, Obama asserted that high speed internet infrastructure was important for the populous, but so are roads, rail and the environment. A set of initiatives which focus on in country investment, energy conservation and better access might be what we need.

A new growth grid which helps optimize transportation and encourages investment in new places, local places could provide a significant improvement to the economy overall. Basically if we could build an upgraded grid of interstate roads, rail, wireless, and internet bandwidth rural and urban areas alike would benefit. The system would have improved routing based on current population distributions, mass transit extensions would ultimately be funded by states/private sector would provide for basic sustainability. A more sustainable impact on the environment and a sustainable economy, for say 15-25 years. What the US needs now is a little eminent domain, steel production and construction.

I ain’t no Economist, but…

When you hear the word depression, crisis and meltdown – something’s just a little off with the current model. We might want to find a way to lessen the consumption, limit emissions and improve distribution. The current infrastructure and capacity was optimized for fulfilling demand as forecasted in let’s say the 50’s or 60’s and things have changed a little.

A Potential Opportunity

So there are probably 4 things which could be laid out by who ever wins which could significantly improve the economic balance of the our free market economy. Balance between the public and private sector is the key, so the government funds it, private sector builds, localities monitor and maintain, and everyone benefits.

Funding: The funding of the activity will need to come from something, so it’s imports and export taxes/tariffs, it’s ok America is on sale and if you really need a new coach bag, you will pay the additional 4-7%. The Euro and Pound have all kinds of room to absorb the price, as does nearly every other currency. Other trickle down funding opportunities:

The incremental income tax driven by lower unemployment
Small business growth in new grid cross road communities
More government employees will be needed to support the infrastructure (police, road commission, telco, maintenance)
New local development to drive local taxes
Project bubbles for in localities on use and sales tax.

Hopefully this redistribution of tax dollars into the economy will help Hockey mom’s and hard workin American’s everywhere. We can dream….

The Road System

We certainly do have enough roads, but most need a bunch of work and we might be able to improve commutes, increase safety and provide for an improved transportation systems for goods delivery and ultimately lessening the overall impact to local and national environs, plus you get some new bridges and new places for the tertiary economy to develop. Who knows, maybe the next generation of bridge graffiti will be cooler to look at while your taking the train in an hour from the city, rather than commuting 12 miles in an hour. But if you have to drive, maybe you can go 12 miles in say 20 minutes – that might be nice.

Rail

Well.. we certainly aren’t a compact set of nations like Europe which makes it a good deal easier to develop a strategic local and extended rail system, but the movement of goods, vacationers and business people via rail could accelerate extended industries like metals and aerospace while improving the environment. No really aerospace, Boeing makes train fuselages, so this isn’t just about construction workers, engineers make out too with this plan. Putting our money here is definitely a long strategy for the movement of people, but it would provide states the opportunity to build into a new modern infrastructure for the movement of goods. New distribution centers could develop and helping establish new growth areas economically, which don’t have the opportunity now. Along with roads, this could help move folks and industry to less dense areas, a non-obvious eco-friendly side effect of rail and new crossroads.

Internet and Wireless

So hows that new iPhone 3G working for you? Ok for some, not ok for others, we are a little light on coverage for the cool stuff. You could develop as part of the road and rail activities big crazy pipes which run parallel and an extend the next generation wireless network which could further distribute IP connectivity and support for the next wave in commerce. You could also run some new energy delivery through the same network while were at it, perhaps a wind farm or two along the way.

Dream big, don’t just fix it

Wow – that’s gonna cost a lot and take a bunch of time, more than most president’s got, but the results would be immediate as folks ramp up the staff to accommodate so it just might work. You probably also noticed that a couple of points of tax/tariff will work, but it could be enough of a hit to move some jobs back to the US, which based on fuel prices alone appears to be already happening. You betcha we gotta do something to make sure it’s funded appropriately. 😉

So what would a maverick do? Lease the rail? So you could subsidize the effort by letting folks bid on say the 6 new government internet backbones, which parallel to the new train and interstate road system. Heck – it’s all for rent! I have no idea if the strategic multipurpose development on single set of eminent domain swaths can re-distribute population, optimize distribution models, improve the environment and provide bottom up economic growth, but you have to dream big, which I hope the next president does when elected. It’s not like I’m a economist or even that political, but this seems like a big election for some reason. Make sure you vote.

The New Green Deal: A Growth Grid

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: republican democrat)

October 4, 2008 by Jon Gatrell

Complexity: The Context of Identity

The emergence of new technologies continue to change how many of us – as individuals, business folks and our online identities management of our interactions and information is becoming increasingly more complex. Ultimately, online identities can represent people, companies, products and brands. Identity online is becoming more like a house of brands, than a branded house for many of us. The complexity of managing a portfolio of identities/brands is becoming increasingly more challenging as we engage our personal networks, customers and business networks. Context and the complexity of context is making it even more difficult.

Context Defines Identity?

So I was watching The Soup the other day and I was generally amazed at how many of the personalities/identities I actually knew. The problem is I only know of these identities/celebs because of the Soup. I have no other context, except for Anderson Cooper, who wase featured on one of the more entertaining segments in the episode I just got to watch thanks to Tivo. The other thing which has got me to thinking about identity is some work I have been doing with ASC X12 and the context of where the market is, where the organization is and where it needs to go. These two things got me thinking back to how can context of a given set of interactions impact identity or the management of identity.

The Echo Chamber

Context is one of the more interesting challenges of identity and I as a user of many platforms have way too many context sets to manage. I’ve spent a great deal of time trying to streamline my online experience of late, but have been challenged to keep up with the pace of network specific interactions. My initial streamlining was related to getting yet another ID at ping.fm to help keep a consistent pulse across my networks and for that use case it works. The problem with ping.fm is that it is not conversational – you end up with orphaned replies on Facebook, twitter and other social networks.

Leveraging a tool which only speaks AT others rather than listening too is not a good thing for maintaining and developing relationships… With Ping.fm you end up with replies which echo into silence, until 3 or 4 days later when you check in at that given platform. Privacy and conversation are key drivers of the increasing identity crisis folks who are attempting to manage identity online with one way updates just doesn’t solve for.

Do I want my professional network to know the same thing my personal network know? How many networks do I need to update with my the latest picture of my kids?

The 4 P’s of Identity

When thinking about the say 8 accounts I commonly use, the ability to engage AND manage the relationships, responses and outreach can be a daunting task. Beyond the basic administrivia of each account, the challenge of trying to understand how to manage the mix of my activities and platforms continues to grow.

While ping.fm is interesting, it mainly is a broadcast tool, unless there is some well hidden feature I can’t find. As a tool, it only represents the ability to consolidate presence, not the ability to manage platform capabilities, promotion and placement. Identity as a brand or product is essentially what develops in each of the channels you participate in. If each instance of identity becomes a product, that means as platforms change, people migrate and new capabilities are available on a single platform identity/brand equity is diluted and management gets more complex.

So what are the 4 P’s of identity?

Platform – The holder of the ID account from a technology perspective is commonly the definition of a given platform. Typically platforms have unique account management and network capabilities which are not open, for the most part, for third party management.
Presence – The capability set typically associated with where you are and what you are doing. Twitter or the Plurk are good examples of platforms which support presence.
Placement – Group membership on a platform is one way to look at placement, but as are the ways which you allow to be contacted or how you can be engaged in context of group or platform. On some platforms you may expose email, others you might constrain to the core messaging option, such as inbox messages or the wall on Facebook.
Privacy– Each platform, identity and group has privacy management attributes and rules which need to be managed. The management of privacy is uniquely related to the relationship you have in context of a platform and group.

Why is identity such a challenge online?

If you share content online, it doesn’t go away. However, if you share something at a dinner table it might be moved from memory, but it definitely isn’t a broadcast or a sustaining reality. Just imagine if that incredibly stupid thing you said after your 3rd bottle of Silver Oak lived on forever? It is the broadcast and permanency of content/interactions which make managing context and identity a far more complex thing. As an example, my offline identity is pretty much Jon and maybe a couple of nicknames, each with their own context, but mainly that context isn’t necessarily shared, even if the moniker is used more widely. I recently got a new nickname, Echo, while a seemingly fun name and definitely has an affinity to who I am that identity has no context outside of 3 people, the adoption is getting wider than expected. While Echo usage is growing, the context isn’t being shared. On some level the visibility of context is greater and can be shared, not so much in the real world.

The key challenges of managing the 4 P’s of identity are unique to being online and the fragmentation, management and interaction requirements require some type of solution. Technologies to update, integrate and provide security/authorization are out there, but a great deal of work is needed to actually manage, protect and OWN your data. Perhaps interoperability isn’t enough, we need to also support portability to better manage identity.

DataPortability – Connect, Control, Share, Remix from Smashcut on Vimeo.

September 20, 2008 by Jon Gatrell

Older Posts

Newer Posts