Saturday, May 31, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 07:33 made it the masters swim this morning: 2350 meters in the pool. ah
  • 08:23 gas has jumped 20 cents a gallon in the last six days. ouch
  • 10:14 just noticed all comment boxes on Economist blogs are prepopulated with "Sir - " I wonder if that has any bearing on politeness of comments?
  • 10:31 @lotd "it's like a book elegantly bound but in a language that you can't read just yet" Death Cab for Cutie - I Will Possess Your Heart
  • 12:46 great lunch conversation with guys I'll be climbing Mt Whitney with on July 11. not too far in the future, but still lots of time to train
  • 17:22 found a great hike to do Sat morning at 6am with the Mt Whitney training crew: in Purisima Creek Redwoods off Skyline Blvd. See you there!
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Friday, May 30, 2008

listening over and over

For some reason, I'm really hooked on Death Cab for Cutie's song I Will Possess Your Heart from their latest album Narrow Stairs.

Thanks to last.fm, I've been able to listen to it via video stream all day long. Of the various ones published on the DC4C video tab, I like this one best:



I like the build of the album cut (takes over four and a half minutes to get to the lyrics), but I can also appreciate the radio edit that gets right into it:

How I wish you could see
the potential, the potential,
of you and me.

It's like a book elegantly bound
but in a language that you
can't read, just yet.

You gotta spend some time, love.
You gotta spe…nd some time with me,
and I know that you'll find love,
I will possess your heart.

You gotta spend some time, love.
You gotta spend some time with me,
and I know that you'll find love,
I will possess your heart.

There are days when outside
your window, I see my reflection
as I slowly pass.

And I long for this mirrored
perspective when we'll be lovers,
lovers at last.

You gotta spend some time, love.
You gotta spend some time with me,
and I know that you'll find love,
I will possess your heart.

tweets o' the day

  • 13:43 Feeling energized having just reconciled with a dear friend after a 2 year pause & connected with a friend from back in my high school days
  • 13:52 @khopper nice excuse!
  • 13:53 @lopta I'm becoming a firmer believer in "it's never too late to try" but I suffer from the fact it is way too easy to avoid taking the risk
  • 14:05 @silona hey, thx for asking. Cut it to the shoulder, will update icon to show the new look within the week (getting pix taken today).
  • 15:38 just sat thru my first photo shoot (since HS) and got powdered for the first time. amused by the on-the-set lingo e.g. "fill him up more"
  • 15:41 since Twitter turned off the TwitterIM feature, TwitterSync on FB no longer works. temporary? me hopes yes. All your tweets are belong to us
  • 16:30 @ross increased surplus from decline in time spent creating/QA-ing/approving paper-based reports/binders/etc? or what surplus is used for?
  • 20:48 last night of darts for the season. we're playing to win our division outright (with a wee bit of help) #scvda
  • 21:30 after leading 4-2, we're down 5-4. first to 9 wins
  • 21:30 after leading 4-2, we're down 5-4. first to 9 wins #scvda
  • 22:05 now down 6-5 #scvda
  • 22:18 down 7-5, have to sweep the singles cricket (their forte) #scvda
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Thursday, May 29, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 08:39 rumor has it Twittersync is working again on FB? sweetness
  • 10:26 First time actually tapping the power of Adobe Acrobat Pro version. Very impressed. it's made putting together our 78pp book pretty painless
  • 10:30 Retweeting @kevindonovan: When will twitter allow me to use the @ syntax outside their website? API or word press plug in... Whatever
  • 15:20 @denajt welcome to Twitter!
  • 16:58 @tropology thanks for the insta-news updates out of #net2
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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 16:50 getting the hair cut after work... it'll be a decision "of the moment" as to how short I'll go (to the shoulders? to the chin? to the ears?)
  • 22:57 @hrheigold glad to see you're ok, my friend. here's hoping you can settle down to get some sleep tonight
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Tuesday, May 27, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 09:33 legs still sore from yesterday's ride/climb. Have a couple hours to decide whether I'll get the Z35 or not. decisions, decisions!
  • 09:37 good morning @krob! here's hoping you watch 7 ballgames this weekend!
  • 11:11 Sibling trauma this AM: youngest just smashed piggy bank of oldest. much crying ensues. youngest not sure what's so bad. oldest distraught
  • 11:51 off to have lunch with a bunch of onetters in town for N2Y3
  • 15:43 just had a great catchup lunch with @tropology and @nurturegirl and Jessica and Lewis.
  • 17:22 proud new owner of a Felt Z35
  • 22:57 Our chickens made it into the SF Examiner courtesy Michael Procopio's Food Examiner blog. take a look: snurl.com/2asxk
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Monday, May 26, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 10:46 good 24mi ride this morning, including an hour long ascent up a 7% grade. thisclose to buying a new Felt Z35 bike to celebrate
  • 17:01 @acarvin there seem to be a lot of folks chatting on cell phones. champagne later? www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/
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Sunday, May 25, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 06:46 up early to get a masters swim workout in. hydrating thoroughly to see if that helps evade the calf cramping
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Saturday, May 24, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 09:17 the office is like a ghost town today: many folks opting to "work" from the home office this last Friday before summer starts
  • 11:32 News Visual headline: "Ford's 2009 Outlook May Be Good for Kerkorian". Jack K? Dr. Death? oh, you mean Kirk, investor snurl.com/2ab15
  • 11:35 @kellieparker don't get too hung up on time zones
  • 16:31 @rawn potato potahto, no? ;-)
  • 17:13 thought I might be headed home early to jumpstart the weekend. not
  • 18:16 drinking the first (of many) myers and diet cokes of the weekend. this one's a little stiff but I'll manage
  • 18:27 thinking it may be time to acquire new music this weekend. dc4c, mmy, portishead, etc
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Friday, May 23, 2008

social networks pick better roommates. RAs rejoice

A Card Sort in Progress photo by Yandle
So the Chronicle of Higher Education is reporting that more and more colleges are leveraging social networks to better match incoming students as roommates. (Cue the grampa voice: "In my day, we just threw them together in a room and let the RAs sort it out.")

I was one of those lucky Resident Advisors back in college forced to fix these personality clashes. And maybe that's where I cut my patience and diplomacy teeth mediating disputes between mis-matched roomies.

I really had to wonder how often the housing folks simply gave up trying to match students as roommates based on the information supplied by the kids who knew damn well mom & dad would be glancing at their proffered details before they went in the mail to school. How many non-smokers were curiously paired with chimneys? How many bookworms found themselves rooming with the life of the party? It was all lies on the form, and the staff could only work with the cards they were dealt. Besides, the info that seems to most indicate how well we'll click (religion, attitides toward sex, political beliefs, party habits) isn't the kind of stuff that colleges care to, or are allowed to, keep in their files.

I don't even remember what I put down as my habits/likes/dislikes on the form back in 1987, but I do remember the guy I got matched with as an incoming freshman was, um, curiously odd (no offense, Roberto, if you're still stalking me all these years later). I of course blamed the system. There's no way I was that eccentric. Nuh-uh, not me.

So now, knowing that kids are already scouring MySpace and Facebook for the sordid details that'll repel or attract them to their next roommate, the colleges are getting wise.

Tulane University recently announced a partnership with RoommateClick, a service that allows incoming students to select roommates through a closed social network.

RoommateClick provides about 10 colleges with customized roommate-choosing networks, where students fill out a questionnaire regarding their living habits (cleanliness, smoking, etc.) and provide profile photos and other open-ended profile information about themselves. Students can then search the closed network to choose roommates if they don’t wish to be assigned matches by the housing department.
At $5 to $10 a student, this could be quite the lucrative market if it's executed properly.

Heck, I'm sure the RAs would even chip in to prevent the headaches on the magnitude I experienced long ago.

(A Card Sort in Progress photo by Yandle)

tweets o' the day

  • 09:14 almost drove the car to work but opted for the bike instead. last time drove to the office? may9
  • 11:52 @lindare don't forget I'm a digital immigrant too. I think the native/immigrant point is binary. there's no age-based gradation of status
  • 17:31 time to ride the bicycle home to hop on my other (motor)bike to get to tonight's darts match
  • 20:01 came back from 0-1 in chicago to win 2-1. the night's off to a good start #scvda
  • 23:52 close match all night long, but we won the team game to take it all: 9-8 #scvda
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Thursday, May 22, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 09:22 another great morning for riding the bike to work. that makes it 5 in a row
  • 10:08 diving into a mgmt meeting for the next 5 hrs. fun stuff
  • 12:53 deep in an mbti discussion
  • 16:40 I've got 3 docs of 50pp total. I need to merge and reorder the pages within MS Word. Bound and determined to do it. advice?
  • 16:49 @kevindonovan thanks for the Pages tip. Would give eye teeth for a powerpoint-esque "slide sorter" view of pages in MS Word on the Mac!
  • 17:18 Hey futurists and trendwatchers: want to help influence eBay's 3 to 5 year investments and strategy? details here: snurl.com/2a0hz
  • 19:11 note to self: never trust the Twitterstream to embargo "live" results
  • 19:19 another successful sale on Craigslist. I heart selling our used baby/kids stuff to local folks. feels rather neighborly
  • 19:41 @chep2m the first time's always the worst. congrats on the initiation!
  • 19:58 does the complaint "can't get published" still carry any weight in these bloggy times? i mean, c'mon, isn't AdSense worth *anything*?
  • 20:49 @stevegarfield same thing happened to me last season. thanks for the reminder to add time to the TiVo recording (here in PST)
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Wednesday, May 21, 2008

I dare you not to laugh

brilliantly inspired adverts for Cadbury Creme Eggs, illustrating their slogan "here today, goo tomorrow":



My favorite is the final one with the balloon and the unseen forces.

tweets o' the day

  • 08:45 I had such a good Tweet to share last night just before bed, but Twitter was down, and the moment has passed. c'est la vie
  • 09:46 Thinking of buying from Bassett Furniture in San Carlos? caveat emptor: snurl.com/29si5
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Tuesday, May 20, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 03:10 debating whether to sign up for the Tri Valley Masters .75 mile open water swim on June 1 at Lake Del Valle. anyone else going?
  • 13:28 My blackberry's getting fixed & even tho it's just across the building from me, I feel completely lost without it at my side. I'm so hooked
  • 14:12 attention #obcf attendees: anyone else get hit with an $8 "porterage" fee posted to your credit card after you checked out of Inn @ Loretto?
  • 15:09 #ocbf folks: Inn says the $8 was a pre-negotiated porterage fee (taking bags to/from room). disagree like I did? Call Tonya at 505-984-7980
  • 15:12 #ocbf folks: if was a pre-negotiated deal, why not in original bill nor any notice to us? call Tonya at the Inn to discuss & get fee removed
  • 15:14 pinging the #ocbf2008 hashtag: see my tweetstream for solution to remove the mystery $8 charge from your Inn at Loretto hotel bill
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Monday, May 19, 2008

PicLens is BEST web tool for browsing images and photos

I first discovered PicLens, a cinematic presentation of photos and videos, while attending a session at Stanford University put on by the D School on Creating Infectious Engagement.

The folks from CoolIris gave a demo to us, and even though I didn't have web access (or phone acces for that matter) during the session, I pre-populated my Blackberry browser with the following Tweet:
18:40 found a must get app: PicLens from cooliris.com you'll be blown away
I downloaded and installed the app that night, and I've been enjoying it ever since as it allows me to sift through images and videos so very quickly to find what I'm looking for.

The utility of the tool hit home again last night as I was doing reconnaissance for a race I'm participating in on June 8, the Muddy Buddy here in San Jose. It's a combo ride/run/obstacle course, and I was wanting to see whether folks had cages on their mountain bike pedals and what kind of obstacles they've run in the past.

I navigated over to Flickr to find the MuddyBuddy tag and instead of scrolling page-by-page through the 1,579 results (30 at a time), I fired up PicLens.

Within 5 minutes, I'd seen all the pictures, navigating through them as if they were on a light board like one might have seen Tom Cruise spinning through in the Minority Report.

I've also used the interface to quickly find Creative Commons images for use in presentations and to scout out trail conditions on Mt Whitney at various times of year. In all, great stuff.

Well worth the quick download and install. Do it. Now.

tweets o' the day

  • 09:32 great bike ride this morning climbing up above the marine layer and looking out over SF Bay. my quads are shot, tho
  • 09:34 @caLLiecLine great to see you too, C-monkey!
  • 09:35 @robinharper everything checked out ok! (whew) the hardest part was getting the MRI done. the best part: the reading was normal
  • 13:59 about to take the kids out on an "adventure"... who knows what treats lay ahead, hopefully lots of distractions in any case
  • 19:01 cooking up smoked paprika chicken kabobs on the grill. cous cous ready at the table with a nice chilled rose wine. yum
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Sunday, May 18, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 06:05 just had a delightful breakfast with the fabulous @lindare
  • 06:22 thx to United txt update, i don't have to rush to the airport... flt 170 already delayed 20 min
  • 06:34 just noticed they've used SJ Sharks colors (teal and white) as scheme inside the big dig tunnels. how nice for Joe Thornton
  • 06:54 overheard at BOS TSA checkpoint: she: "what's the (black) light for?" TSA: "just some stupid security thing... it doesn't work anyway" sigh
  • 07:09 Sheraton botched my wake-up calls two days in a row (yesterday too early, today none at all). Got 2500 extra SPG points for the trouble, tho
  • 07:18 @kevindonovan great tweeting with you at #berkman too! nice to see the results of our collab effort at twemes.com/berkman
  • 07:49 the wheelchair assist brigade at BOS is spectacularly unaware /uncaring of their impeding the flow of traffic
  • 07:54 admiring the on-boarding coaching of the gate agent. nice touch with all these noob flyers
  • 14:05 touchdown sfo
  • 15:32 Big Brown looked mighty impressive winning the Preakness. triple crown at last?
  • 17:50 @diong (sorry for the spoiler)
  • 17:59 @krob thanks for the news on the chickens needing homes. have blogged it here: snurl.com/29dsh
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Saturday, May 17, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 04:25 good morning Cambridge. wow did I need that sleep
  • 06:44 Bruce Etling: inernet and democracy project - interested in what citizens want. Persephone Miel: Media Republic project #berkman
  • 06:45 and @dangillmor interested in development of media from edge of networks, not from the "center" #berkman
  • 06:45 @chep2m thanks for the usage patterns report!
  • 06:53 going around room with intros. everyone picks 3 words to describe what they do/interested in. mine: networks, resourcies, impacts #berkman
  • 06:56 Dan (@dangillmor) sets the house rule for the session: no hand-wringing #berkman
  • 06:57 cost of trying new media is driven down to zero, @dangillmor tells his students: this is the best time ever to invent own job #berkman
  • 07:00 Etling looking from consumer side: user less concerned of source (blogger, news site, newspaper), they just want the info. #berkman
  • 07:02 Etling: we want 1) well-informed citizens, 2) global news/perspective 3) a watchdog/transparency roll #berkman
  • 07:09 what "we" want from media is thoroughness, transparency, accuracy, convenience, personalization, network mapping tools #berkman
  • 07:13 #berkman does media really promote citizen engagement at a large scale? or is just the usual suspects time and again?
  • 07:16 #berkman there's much to do to explore the business models now that cost of production is so low.. need to focus on sustainability of effort
  • 07:18 #berkman we all have bias, can we be upfront with our biases? (some more than other) observed: traditional media has an establishment bias
  • 07:26 #berkman where market not yet addressing the gap between new/old media, how can nonprofits help bridge the gap? (things like Sunlight Fdn)
  • 07:30 #berkman happy to see someone's already transcribing Open Media blackboard scrawl onto the session wiki: snurl.com/295fo
  • 07:33 #berkman most oft-mentioned organizations in the Open Media session: Knight Fdn and Sunlight Fdn. good for their brands, no?
  • 07:36 #berkman are so many obstacles to measuring internet-based activity accurately, too easy to misinterpret & ascribe authority incorrectly
  • 07:44 (fixed link): Outlets to Go strip so I can plug my Mac brick into the power plugs here at Harvard snurl.com/295i1 #berkman
  • 07:46 great audience question: why is all this new stuff in the media space always being talked about as a nonprofit solution *first*? #berkman
  • 07:47 @mrgarin I'm at the Open Media session (just ended)
  • 08:14 In the Transparency and Government breakout at #berkman snurl.com/295oy
  • 09:05 T&G: Sunlight asked for help with int'l efforts. Excited about the potential. Focus on USA 1st, seeking stuff in form/format needed #berkman
  • 09:07 T&G: audience: Qis there a way these same tools can be used to look at the intersection of industry and government? #berkman
  • 09:09 #$%#$%* some magic sequence of fat-fingered keystrokes just cleared my twhirl history. grrr #berkman
  • 09:10 T&G: now onus of gifts disclosure is on recipient, not on giver. Could change this via executive order #berkman
  • 09:11 @jsb focus seems to be on getting access to data, not nec building (yet) but modeling for govt to take over
  • 09:13 T&G: Sunlight has an influence matrix to see all relationships in one easy-to-digest visualization in quest for 1-click disclosure #berkman
  • 09:14 T&G @mlsif 500 people networked together can make a HUGE difference. Would love 5-10 people per district using these tools #berkman
  • 09:18 T&G: Sunlight Foundation ad: If you can code & are interested, please contact Greg Elin the chief architect #berkman snurl.com/29633
  • 09:18 T&G session adjourned. off to lunch #berkman
  • 11:08 In the Goverment Relationship Management (GRM) breakout led by Britt Blaser (Sr Advisor to Dean campaign) #berkman
  • 11:09 GRM: Blaser: the Fortune 535 are the congresscritters that are getting rich thanks to their power position and earmarking #berkman
  • 11:12 GRM Blaser: shouldn't we have sites for pres election that don't disappear right after the campaign is over? all that commty: poof! #berkman
  • 11:16 GRM Blaser: puts forth idea that newprez.us would be this evergreen site to catpure the election content/focus from all. #berkman
  • 11:17 GRM Blaser: we need to re-hijack democracythrough fractal sites (a la my.barackobama.com). #berkman
  • 11:20 GRM Blaser: Create an exoskeleton for the content. Dean campaign did better in states where didn't have a physical presence #berkman
  • 11:23 GRM: audience pushing back on idea: instead of building all these new destination sites why not be where folks already going? #berkman
  • 11:24 GRM: creating new destination sites is last generation approach to solving problems... how do we meet people where they're now at? #berkman
  • 11:26 GRM: audience citation: www.mysociety.org -- Tom Steinberg is doing this already for UK politics. #berkman
  • 11:46 GRM: feels like this idea depends way heavy on giving new and powerful tools to people. imho, we need the simple tools used better. #berkman
  • 11:47 GRM: hearing "it's a mechanical problem" tossed around a lot (tool bias). Really, it's a people thing (my bias) #berkman
  • 12:27 GPS Tovey: ref: Encyc of World Problems and Human Potential ( snurl.com/2977b ) shows list of problems AND propose solutions #berkman
  • 12:28 GPS Tovey: the problems are cyclical. the problems regenerate themselves. How to turn vicious cycles into virtuous cycles? #berkman
  • 12:33 GPS Tovey: State of the Future folks assert that for any large scale problem, you need a trans-institutional solution #berkman
  • 12:35 GPS: What Tovey's talking about re: trans-institutional solutions sounds like global action networks seen at gan-net.net #berkman
  • 12:36 GPS Tovey: once you can address things by idea (language neutral), you can start to work on them together #berkman
  • 12:41 GPS: going around room with folks identifying big problems that they're worried about. currently hung up talking about rivalries #berkman
  • 12:45 reminder to self: never present a topic in the last 2 hours of a 2 day conference (un- or not)
  • 12:59 GPS Tovey: if you want to start winnowing down solutions (a key problem) you have to introduce a reputation system #berkman
  • 13:09 GPS Nesson just sat down next to me... I feel compelled to live-tweet something just to show Twemes working #berkman
  • 13:11 GPS Tovey suming up: ways you can map out problem spaces such that you can discover where engagements are and attentions are #berkman
  • 13:12 GPS Tovey: when start to discover where attention is, you can know where biggest problems are and allocate tools and funds to them #berkman
  • 13:21 GPS session adjourned. on to last panel: Future of the Internet (take 2) #berkman
  • 13:59 got the early read on our daughter's MRI: mostly clean, nothing to worry about (whew!)
  • 14:02 In ten years time, what will the role of the Berkman center have been? #berkman
  • 14:08 (going around room getting deep questions): How do we achieve open-ness? we need places to provide the critical mass for thinking #berkman
  • 14:12 Prof Nash: instead of thinking about how egalitarian IS the 'Net, ask instead SHOULD it be egalitarian? #berkman
  • 14:14 don't know what the problem we'll be looking at in 10 years, but do know issues will come up from between the cracks #berkman
  • 14:16 deep question from @dsearls: Is the Internet public? #berkman
  • 14:23 We're reminded that it's "We the people" not "They the people" #berkman
  • 14:24 when will unconferences become the norm and we have to explain to newbies what a panel is? #berkman
  • 14:30 observation from @zittrain: likes seeing more books being written by people who aren't "authors." #berkman
  • 14:32 asking questions must know we're no longer representative of the users of the internet... we need to cede the role to the new reps #berkman
  • 14:35 imho, it seems that "failed market forces" are invoked primarily when the market is seen as not addressing a particular moral issue #berkman
  • 14:37 @wseltzer hear hear
  • 14:41 Fisher: we can best do our work if we engage a large number of people not formally organized in Berkman-like centers #berkman
  • 14:44 Berkman at 10 is over but for the gala . Thanks tweeps (old and new) for the collab effort to document this event #berkman
  • 18:18 listening to a wonderful recognition speech by MacArthur Fdn for the Berkman Center. rock stars all #berkman
  • 18:52 Zuckerman, Fisher, Benchler, Nesson presenting Berkman awards tonight with Zittrain as MC #berkman
  • 21:48 bummed that someone saw fit to take my (borrowed) umbrella from the coat room. petty thievery's so inconvenient
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Friday, May 16, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 04:06 touchdown BOS. travel tip: don't sit in seat 10F on a red-eye; exit row doesn't recline
  • 05:58 sitting in Austin Hall watching folks trickle in for #berkman at 10. Glad to see Ethan Zuckerman's here sans eye patch
  • 07:21 Zittrain: Cerf says possibly a quarter of a billion machines have code awaiting instructions to do something (heckuva sleeper cell) #berkman
  • 07:22 Zittrain explaining the way internet routing works ("best efforts routing" or "Send it and pray") #berkman
  • 07:28 Zittrain: a plus chart with hierarchy/polyarchy on horiz axis and top-down/bottom-up on vert axis. Internet at polyarchy/bu corner #berkman
  • 07:32 Zittrain: "this just in -- the internet's down" "Should we tell someone?" "we can't -- the internet's down" more humor at #berkman
  • 07:41 Zittrain: we're looking at the end of the PCas we know it (away from swiss army knife does-it-all poorly& into specialized tools) #berkman
  • 07:48 Zittrain: Facebook terms of use allow FB to kill any FB app at any time for any reason. Could you see Gates doing it with windows? #berkman
  • 07:51 Zittrain: experiment shows getting rid of warning signs at intersecton, accident rates go down - drivers depend on social contract #berkman
  • 07:57 Zittrain: robots.txt doesn't have to be obeyed, but it is. It's an example of the ethics of the Net , the social content/contract #berkman
  • 08:17 Zittrain: mentions the informal "slug liines" system in DC that enables on-the-fly ridesharing. I remember slugging in DC - nice! #berkman
  • 08:26 listening to @ethanz say "I'm fine, surgery went well, thanks for asking" for the 100th time. He needs a t-shirt that says as much. #berkman
  • 08:46 John Palfrey (ED of Berkman last 6 years) now talking about the Politics of the Internet here at #berkman at 10
  • 08:49 Palfrey: Growth and Gov't argument: The internet allows more speech from more people than ever before #berkman
  • 08:51 Now @ethanz (from the audience) giving the history of Global Voices Online as a way for many more people to have voice online #berkman
  • 08:54 a blindfolded @ethanz says "we've gone from int'l news being a supply problem to a demand problem" #berkman
  • 09:19 Rob Faris (snurl.com/28zrn) talking about the slope of the freedom curve in regards to blocked Farsi blogs #berkman
  • 09:21 Where govts are censoring net content, Info getting shared via memory sticks, so censorship is getting routed around by the network #berkman
  • 09:25 Joshua Kauffman (snurl.com/28zsv) talking about his work via REGIONAL of getting content into/around Cuba via flash drives #berkman
  • 09:33 listening to @ethanz agree with Esther Dyson that we don't need to fix the tech, we need to fix the people. the internets is people #berkman
  • 09:40 watching a YouTube vid of Cuban Students Criticizing the Government snurl.com/28zxi #berkman
  • 09:45 now YouTube of the student who criticized the Cuban govt talking about why he was "picked up" (detained) snurl.com/28zyf #berkman
  • 11:34 Wales: Neutral POV is absolute and non-negotiable. Via mutually assured destruction inherent in wiki editing: u write for the enemy #berkman
  • 11:36 Wales: at wikipedia strive for consensus rather than majority rule: rewrite until all by most unreasonable can agree #berkman
  • 11:39 Benkler: speaking on Cooperation, Human Systems Design, and Peer Production at #berkman
  • 11:42 Benkler: Tells of path of encyclopedia price: $5000 for 32 paper volumes, $500 for CD version, $29 for online version, now free #berkman
  • 11:43 Benkler: For Encyc Brit threat is not the money, it is the threat of authority over knowledge. learning comes from discussion #berkman
  • 11:45 Benkler: now it's all about collaborating to uncover all kinds of information both entertainingly and impactful #berkman
  • 11:47 Benkler: we're seeing collab production move from quirky and on the side to become the mainstream. Control is deeded to the user #berkman
  • 11:51 Benkler: good change a technical legal organizational system that is closed shifts to a more open system (more human agency) #berkman
  • 11:53 Benkler: We're moving from frame of network-life to huger frame of human production where there's ample room for cooperation #berkman
  • 11:56 Benkler: when you frame something as monetary payment, you crowd out the framing of it as friendship or good will #berkman
  • 11:56 Benkler: how do we replace the rational actor model with something that's much more applicable to the cooperative world we're in? #berkman
  • 12:08 Wales: easy to be rude to someone you'll never see again. Hard to be rude to someone you'll be working with regularly #berkman
  • 12:10 Wales: thinks they had problem with growth in th amount of tradition, jargon in the community. gets hard with too much jargon. #berkman
  • 12:11 retweeting @jacallina: Jimmy : People should not have to become expert wikipedians to join in the conversation. #berkman
  • 12:14 Wales: who decides when someone's important enough to be included in Wkipedia? the community does. is a complex & difficult issue #berkman
  • 12:30 Wales: intentional vulnerability is very important , absolute security is broken. good should cost less, bad should cost more #berkman
  • 12:39 question from @ethanz asking if there's a participation gap. Is some of activity we celebrate putting up cultural barriers to entry #berkman
  • 12:40 Benkler disagrees with word incentives (v sustainability) for this behavior. We need to think about money incentives and who's paid #berkman
  • 12:42 Wales: Correlation for participation is wealth. In most parts of world, don't have time for wiki, there are more pressing needs. #berkman
  • 13:25 Dyson: self-proclaimed court jester. since she's "retired" she gets to do whatever she likes. #berkman
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Thursday, May 15, 2008

live-tweeting from Berkman @ 10

I'm contributing my observations here at the Berkman @ 10 conference to the Twitterstream as @itsthomas, and you can follow my tweets (and others) over on Twemes at the following URL: http://twemes.com/berkman

While I used to live-blog this stuff, I've feel that live-tweeting is better than live-blogging.

If you'd really rather read someone live-blogging, take a gander at Ethan Zuckerman's work over on his blog. (we're sitting next to each other)

tweets o' the day

  • 09:08 giving up golf is such a great sacrifice
  • 09:18 sitting in the pre-op waiting room with a very hungry 3 yr old on my lap
  • 11:51 watched my kid get completely stoned in prep for anesthesia. too funny. now she's in the mri machine, sleeping
  • 12:15 med-evac helicopter just came in to land at stanford hospital. can't be a good thing (is not here for us)
  • 13:51 waited 45 crazy-making minutes for her to emerge from anesthesia. can't imagine waiting longer
  • 18:50 to see my little girl now, you'd think nothing out of the ordinary happened today. MRI results next week. thanks for the wishes & prayers
  • 18:55 had a great 20mi bike ride just now in the 93 degree heat. just the thing to sleep so well on the red-eye tonight to get to #berkman
  • 21:42 made it to sfo. getting ready to sleep in 10F all the way to BOS
  • 22:00 so many tragically hip lookin folks on UA flt 180 tonight. hope they don't snore
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Wednesday, May 14, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 09:03 @alexlewis now that the shock is off, I can see the merits of the change, too. Pressure is really on the players now.
  • 09:07 rode the bike to work. hardly broke a sweat. 1 yr ago: very sweaty. that's progress, right?
  • 13:19 geeking out thinking about how understanding laws of chemistry and physics can provide insights into how social networks function at scale
  • 13:28 PV=nRT on the brain
  • 13:33 @chep2m would be great to have the talk!
  • 14:59 @chep2m coffe'd be great. I'm getting ready to head to #berkman tomorrow so next week?
  • 22:44 blackout in Redwood City. going on 90 min sans power
  • 23:18 power returns 150 min after it went out. ahhh the electric hum returns :)
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Tuesday, May 13, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 09:06 calves still sore from cramping during the swim Saturday. 3 mi run this AM helped a little bit
  • 12:17 do people who flag EVERY email "URGENT" really think I'm going to pay any attention, let alone more attention, to them?
  • 14:27 wishing my Tuesday evening wasn't already booked, otherwise I'd be at the SF New Tech Meetup snurl.com/28jnd
  • 14:53 checking out Clear to avoid TSA lines. Amex offers deal, but must enter card number via unsecured webform. no go. doesn't bode well for plan
  • 17:27 time to call it a day in the office. heading home to spend time with the chickens before heading out for poker
  • 18:40 geeking out to the Garmin Training Center I just loaded on my Mac to sync with my Forerunner 305. I feel a faster tri time coming on
  • 22:30 went from big stack to one out of the money at our table of 8 tonight. need to get better at playing less-than-ideal hands.
  • 23:28 can't believe the Sharks fired their coach, Ron Wilson
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Monday, May 12, 2008

enjoying a new Gnarls Barkley video

I like how GB has chosen to highlight specific words from the lyrics into the video. Even without the visuals, I think this'll make a nice tune to run to when I need to dig deep training for the triathlon.


Give the video a look-see here. It's called "Going On":



Can't see the video in this post? catch it here instead.

tweets o' the day

  • 11:20 off to the SF farmer's market as a mom's day request
  • 12:41 at the ferry bldg. first time inside tho have lived in the area for 8 yrs
  • 14:59 at SF Aquatic Park enjoying the sun and watching the swimmers. glad I'm not in there with them today
  • 20:38 great mother's day in SF today. i always forget how close we are to the city and how much fun it is to spend the day there.
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Sunday, May 11, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 07:04 off to masters swim class. wish me luck
  • 09:02 2100m swim workout complete... now to go help clean up my daughter's school. full day today
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Saturday, May 10, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 09:03 @wenderful so what'd you have for breakfast?
  • 09:06 happy to have Twittersync now working with my FB account.
  • 09:35 Retweeting @cashel: folks pushing "tax cuts" should call them what theyare: mandatory, negative interest loans from our kids and grandkids
  • 10:14 glad to be able to cash in all these miles for flights home for the family
  • 10:29 have you voted for your favorite subway busker yet? great videos on NPR blog to help you make your choice snurl.com/2833e
  • 11:04 all this triathlon training has done some good. my BMI has dropped from 28.5 to 23.8 in the last ten months, and my resting heart rate is 46
  • 11:10 @joshuagay thx! am a fan of J Friel's training books, & looking @ G Bernhardt's training plans now as I ramp up see snurl.com/283c1
  • 11:15 @kaparkins please have a bloody mary (or three) for me at the Monteleone!
  • 11:18 still lmao at this "when obama wins" widget. way to go twitter-space: kottke.org/when-obama-wins/
  • 13:28 Retweeting @lindare: A perfect analysis of what makes Twitter so beguiling: blogs.mediapost.com/spin/?p=1296
  • 15:36 IT/Web coordinator wanted for a microenterprise network based in the DC Area snurl.com/284r0
  • 17:11 love looking up flights and being offered a lower fare option where I can save $16 but spend an additional 4 hours in transit. no thanks
  • 20:07 my better half just informed me the heater has been turned off until the Fall. hooray for energy savings
  • 20:55 @davetaylor I agree, Flock still seems buggy to me, with none of the extra social feeds streaming properly
  • 21:03 @kaparkins T-money lives!
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Friday, May 09, 2008

IT/Web coordinator wanted (DC area)

I've had a chance to get to know the good folks over at the Small Enterprise Education and Promotion (SEEP) Network and I'm a big fan of their work and what they're trying to do to build capacity in microfinance development practitioners.

They've got an acute need for a good IT/Web person to help them get their infrastructure under control as they prepare to breathe new life into their web-based networks and communities.

For the full details of the DC-based opportunity (deadline for applications is end of May), download the job description from this page. The summary is below:
Since its founding in 1985, The SEEP Network has developed a significant membership base of microfinance and microenterprise development practitioners and has created a wealth of technical resources, tools and trainings that are widely recognized throughout the microfinance sector. SEEP enjoys a history of meeting the needs of practitioners through programs and services that allow for innovation through collaboration of key stakeholders. In 2006, membership was expanded to include international networks and organizations, setting the stage for a new set of challenges and opportunities such as the continued provision of quality services at greater distances, peer-to-peer learning involving multiple languages, increased requests for dynamic working groups located on different continents, and new designs for other activities, such as The SEEP Network Annual Conference. As it continues its internationalization and growth, SEEP is seeking an exceptional results-oriented and dynamic individual to join its team and contribute to its long-term success.

The Information Technology/Web Coordinator is responsible for software, hardware, and network support, training, and troubleshooting on a wide range of applications. S/he is also responsible for the organization, appearance and functionality of The SEEP Network’s external and internal websites.
Are you interested or maybe know someone who might be? please pass this along.

tweets o' the day

  • 08:39 just ate the first ripe home-grown strawberry of the season. delicious!
  • 14:23 twitter updates stopped streaming into my FB status. reinstalling twitter FB app to see if that fixes things
  • 14:23 nope. tweets still not showing up in FB news feeds. grrr
  • 14:32 @bo your tinyurl to your resume is broken (need to remove the period from the end of the link)
  • 14:37 testing twittersync
  • 14:50 @EndTheRoboCalls thanks for the tip on Twittersync! snurl.com/27yli
  • 14:53 can someone please tap the breaks on today's breakneck pace? I need a bit more time to finish this stuff
  • 15:40 a fair & quick resolution: FL & MI broke rules, rest of states followed rules. penalty is: votes don't count. done snurl.com/27yth
  • 16:46 getting ready to host a farewell party for a great community manager who's moving on. Nice to reflect back on the 2.5 years he's been here
  • 21:26 a good night at darts. i've won all 3 games I've played and we're up 6-3 so far (first to 9 wins)
  • 22:19 gulp. our lead is now 7-6 (first to 9 wins)
  • 22:46 @wenderful welcome to Twitter!
  • 23:41 squeaked out a win 9-8 whew
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Thursday, May 08, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 11:28 half the day is gone. slept thru the first quarter, tho. no shut eye for the next 12 hours so I can get my work done
  • 11:54 If you don't like change , you are going to like irrelevance even less - General Eric Shinseki
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Wednesday, May 07, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 06:40 off to run the Burke-Gilman trail over to Fremont
  • 07:49 great views of Seattle skyline on the 5mi run this morning. overcast and cool, but great weather to run in.
  • 11:11 Verna Allee: in existing institutions, all accountability is upward (to boss). In networks, accountability is to each other
  • 11:16 @bo nice glasses. you've got good taste, my friend!
  • 11:50 Allee: management is simply paying attention to what we want to achieve.
  • 12:22 Alan Briskin - The capacity to honor the collective consciousness and to act on behalf of the whole is truly the work of the next 100 years.
  • 15:30 wondering if the clouds will break enough to see Mt Rainier in the next 120 minutes, or I'll have been to Seattle 5 times without seeing it
  • 16:40 @perezda welcome to twitter!
  • 18:17 I'm now 0-5 in Rainier sightings while in Seattle. sigh.
  • 20:48 touchdown sfo
  • 22:10 i need to fly more often: great to see a 12 point lead evaporate so nicely while I was in the air
  • 22:47 @Constance see you next week!
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Tuesday, May 06, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 08:01 just coming to grips the Sharks hockey season is over. at least it's just four months to training camp
  • 11:51 geeking out creating a complex data merge template
  • 13:11 first data merge form built, next two will be a snap
  • 14:08 packing up, off to SFO shortly
  • 18:21 touchdown at sea-tac
  • 19:18 in U District of Seattle. Got a recommendation for a great running path from the hotel clerk: Burke-Gilman trail (heading W from here)
  • 19:30 @krob WOOF to the U!
  • 20:24 yelped a sushi restaurant in Univ District. Great reviews missing imp item: closed mondays. doh
  • 23:25 calling it a night. see you in the AM
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Monday, May 05, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 17:35 just back from a weekend of camping with the kids. little sleep, lots of dirt, tons of fun. can't wait to do it again
  • 22:09 going to triple overtime. what a game
  • 22:12 @krob barely breathing, and busy catching up on TiVo (learned not to live tweet games out of real time earlier this postseason) :-)
  • 22:56 going to overtime #4
  • 23:25 crap. the Sharks lost at 9:03 of the 4th overtime. season over
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Sunday, May 04, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 09:52 just did my first masters swim workout. it. kicked. my. butt. (I needed that)
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Saturday, May 03, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 08:38 @chep2m great to see you at CIE yesterday!
  • 09:04 cheapest gas I can find this morning: 4.09/gal ugh
  • 13:53 trying to reassemble my calendar and sync it to BB. please kill me now
  • 14:05 there's a special place in hell reserved for code jockeys who write the commands to erases old calendar info without asking permission 1st
  • 14:28 I know it's SOP, but I still get nervous erasing my BB's calendar in order to re-populate it. Too many botched Windows installs in my past
  • 16:35 @pierre yes, back wheel to curb, 90 degrees (more or less depending on whether you're on a hill)
  • 17:01 idea: a transcription service for dyslexic students. kid recites topic, typist captures & emails back. too sophisticated for dictation app
  • 17:04 idea cont: needs human editor on capture side to alleviate dyslexic's inability to proof it themselves. offshore potential (via skype)?
  • 17:07 getting excited to take my daughters camping with a couple other families tomorrow. mt diablo here we come!
  • 22:57 I'm still tingling after watching the Sharks come back to win it in overtime. Game 6 on Sunday :-)
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Friday, May 02, 2008

tweets o' the day

  • 09:28 Retweeting @howardgr: Blood is beautiful and it Takes All Types takesalltypes.org/ to save a life. (great little FB app!)
  • 09:49 if they make this Uno in a hi-viz yellow color, I'll be all over it: snurl.com/26nra Endos forever
  • 11:13 more reason to love working at Omidyar Network: employee gifts to nonprofits now matched 2 to 1 (up to my first $5K in donations). sweet
  • 14:52 @chep2m I'm going to CIE, too. see you there!
  • 18:40 found a must get app: PicLens from cooliris.com you'll be blown away
  • 21:27 back at the dart board . not throwing so well tonight
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How did Nate Taylor pull off "Lights Out San Francisco"?

I was able to carve out some time Thursday to attend the Stanford University d.school's "Creating Infectious Engagement" event on campus.

The first presenter to inform us how he (they were all male, fwiw) leveraged infectious engagement was Nate Taylor, Executive Director of Lights Out San Francisco (info@lightsoutsf.org). Taylor gave a short talk about how he went from idea to event in just six months by focusing on a single, simple idea and allowed people's enthusiasm to power it to come to pass.

The genesis of the Lights Out San Francisco project was that Taylor left his job as Director of PR for Google to in search of "his next big thing." While on travel in Sydney, Australia, he was dining in a  restaurant when suddenly the lights went out. All the staff were very calm and collected and produced candles for folks to dine by and carried on almost as usual. Why? Turns out it was the Lights out Sydney event, an event designed to help Australians be more aware of their energy consumption overall and at a singly moment (an hour), cut down on power use tremendously.

Intrigued, Taylor started researching and found out that Lights out Sydney included 2 million people participating and there was actually a 10% energy savings over typical Saturday night in Sydney.

Taylor knew he wanted to make the same thing happen in San Francisco, but how? His game plan:

He identified an organizing principle
- Give folks one simple action to fight climate change
- Give them something tangible they can do to make a difference
- Connect them to communities around them

What the LoSF organizers did:
- created a community based group
- assembled a steering committee to guide the work
- set a specific time and date - turn off lights in SF for one hour on 10/20/07 from 8-9pm 
- set up as a Tides Center Project (acted as fiscal sponsor, thus allowing them to avoid having to create their own 501c3)
- create a website
Started simply: Google page creator
developed into a full site w/blog

Built a coalition (enlisted the restaurants, as they were critical to the original inspirational story
- Authored and passed City & Golden Gate Bridge resolutions
- Focused efforts on turning lights out on city landmarks
  e.g. GG BRidge, Bay Bridge, City Hall, Alcatraz, Transamerica Pyramid, etc
- Adjusted campaign mid-stream - decided to give away 100K Compact Flourescent Lightbulbs
  - changed call to action to "1 hour, 1 bulb"
- Add to Web presence with Facebook, My Space and campaign banners
- Had a volunteer field campaign - feet on the street.
- Did fundraising, getting small amounts of money from lots of sources. They went to a series of companies to get money (not just one), with blessing of environmental groups (who informed them who to avoid getting money from because they were "tainted" sources)
- Had a big event with music, etc

Once the event was announced, people called from all over to say "we want to do it, too" and Taylor convinced them to not do it with the SF event on 10/20, wait for Lights Out America on March 29. (Picked 3/29 because Australia had picked the date as a follow up)

Still, they made tools for these other cities to use that could replicate, were scalable and assisted the organizing

In hindsight: what worked?
- press works if you can giet it, crafting the story/vision is key
- volunteer outreach
- CFLs handing them out, it was like gifting the city in the weeks before the event as a PR campaign
- Focusing efforts on landmarks, not on EVERY house in SF
- Hosting a central event for folks to rally at
- Creating an authentic community-based effort and $ from many sources
- Making web tools replicable
- Handing off to the WWF the responsibility of doing the follow-up March 29 event which WWF branded as its own (Taylor and team created the playbook and handed the entire campaign to WWF, did not wind up working for them -- but WWF built off the momentum created at the SF event)

What didn't work?
- posters, printed materials (cost a lot to develop and only used 25% of it)
- partnerships with the larger institutions
  - Big Associations (leant name only, no energy toward the cause)
  - Environmental groups (they weren't into the project as Taylor and co were working with PGE, so the enviro groups actually protested LoSF!
- Percentage goals - according to PGE, they saved no energy (the PGE machine was not sensitive enough to measure small amounts of savings)

Bottom line: Taylor feels they didn't go far enough

What's next? (Chapter 2) More than Just One Hour ... make lasting change

Chapter 2: The Facts
 - lights and appliances are on in buildings in downtown SF at night, all night
- just the tall commercial buildings in SF use ~ 100 megawatts between 8pm and 8am and that's enough to power ~100,000 homes
- there are 350K homes in SF
- How do we reduce the power consumption at night when very few people are working?!

d.school asked him to tell us "what is infections action?"
1. zero in on one simple idea
2. connect with real people on the ground (relentlessly and enthusiastically
3. don't over-design from the start
4. keep the focus as local and specific as possible for as long as possible
5. be honest, humble and open

Remember: "Good Things Happen in the Dark"

interested in helping Nate with his chapter 2 work? send him an email at info@lightsoutsf.org

Thursday, May 01, 2008

social networking the blood donors


Thanks to a tweet by @howardgr this morning, I was introduced to Takes All Types (TAT), a new nonprofit that's tapping into the broad social network of blood donors.

Now, I'm not sure about their claim that communication is the main issue around the seeming constant blood shortages throughout North America, but I can't argue that tapping into the networking abilities of existing donors isn't a great next move.

I've been donating blood since I was 16 (through good times and bad) and it never ceases to amaze me the bond I feel with fellow donors as we're going through the process together of saving lives one pint at a time.

I've added the TAT app to my own Facebook profile, and signed up to be notified when I can donate again, even though I already know it's June 21, the same day of my next triathlon (I'll donate a couple days later). If nothing else, I can now raise better awareness amongst my network to join me in giving blood as often as we can.

tweets o' the day

  • 08:03 Debated with my better half whether we can turn the furnace off for the season. I lost. OPEC, you're welcome
  • 13:18 @krob now you're just showing off!
  • 13:58 can't believe it's already 2pm PDT. nice productive morning, but still where the heck did the time go?
  • 16:02 watching Justin Dillon's documentary on human trafficking. I want to go home and hug my daughters tight
  • 17:02 the documentary's still a rough cut, but man does it need a clear call to action. I'm tired of being left at the altar of wanting to do good
  • 17:42 anyone seen a documentary that has a txt number at end to get you to sign up for more info to be sent to you later? not URL or email but TXT
  • 21:35 so happy the sharks are stil in it
  • 21:41 @frandallfarmer nice hand!
  • 21:50 @DaveTaylor close: paired an HDMI with a mac mini (to a plasma)
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