pieces of me on community -- original flavor

Fleeting Memories

2012-01-05T21:11:00.000-08:00

"You don't take a photograph, you make it." Ansel Adams

News of Kodak preparing for bankruptcy made me rather nostalgic. It is indeed is bittersweet to see such an icon stumble especially since they helped pioneer the marketing of consumer technology products. This is not so much an article on the business strategy, but rather a reflection of photography on my life and how something is lost for me as film fades away.

Christmas -- 1980s

One year I got a Kodak Disc camera for Christmas and I loved taking pictures with it. On every family trip, I would take pictures documenting the experience. As the camera got older, the pop out flash broke and stayed popped out. As a result, I rigged it with tape so it wouldn't stick out and flash for all pictures. There was one time I recall taking pictures with my cousin Wes with each of us shooting one another with our respective camera and saying "Gotcha with my Kodak Flash." I don't recall if that was the marketing tag line, but it made for an enjoyable time.

High school -- early 1990s

Given my interest in photography as a kid, I decided to take a photography class in high school. My first few pictures were pretty pedestrian, but with the help of a great teacher, I started to get a feel for composition and the art of film. I loved spending time in the darkroom developing the film, making prints, and perfecting my technique. Pretty soon, I was that guy with the camera in high school shooting for the yearbook.

College -- mid to late 1990s

One summer I worked for a photographer who had his own photo lab. The place was not so OSHA friendly but I loved being in the darkroom. I didn't like the spiders or the equipment failures, but it was still a memorable experience that I appreciate today. I also managed to continue working with photos in college, where I shot for the publications office and school paper. As a result, I even managed to get some things published in random journals and local newspapers. I enjoyed that experience so much that I tried to pursue journalism as a career path after school (more on that later).

Chicago -- 1999-2001

After college, I hit the pavement looking for work in journalism -- photography or otherwise. Fortunately with the aid of my network, I landed a gig working with MSNBC. Granted, it wasn't photography, but it was a related aspect of the business. It gave me a taste of film in a different light, but already it was clear digital was the way to go. Despite the huge battery packs with early digital cameras, and the relatively low resolution by today's standard, it was only a matter of time before the technology improved and digital would dominate photography.

Seattle -- 2001 to current

Since moving to Seattle, I haven't really gotten back into photography as I once knew it. Part of it was not finding a darkroom to rent like I did in Chicago, and part of it was the pace of change with digital cameras. In the span of a few years we've gone from 3.x megapixels being the top of the line for a point and shoot to an 8 megapixel in my phone.

Reflections

While I love the instant nature and always present nature of digital photography, I do miss those darkroom days. I miss the feel of the paper between my fingers after it's been fixed. I miss the trial and error aspect of Polaroid transfers. I miss the physicalness of dodging and burning. I miss the sound of the water, washing the prints. I miss the smell of the chemicals with film and photo processing.

Filters, auto-correct software, and now incredibly awesome multi-focus cameras like Lytro -- while they make photography easy, and accessible -- for me they lose that special quality of something I made. Yes, the memories are captured and the image looks great but the tangible aspect for me is gone. They say memories are reinforced when multiple senses factor into its creation -- smell, sound, touch, etc. With the old school way of film and photo processing I engaged many of those other senses; with digital, not so much. As camera technology improves, do we run the risk of losing our memories by making them so easy to capture?

Seattle Leadership

2011-10-29T13:55:00.000-07:00

Since moving to Seattle more than ten years ago, I came to realize that local leadership has often been derided as the "Seattle Process." Indeed, when you look at some of the recent articles on Crosscut, it's easy be dissatisfied with today's leadership in Seattle:

Though it may be easy, I don't think it's really accurate. When looking at the big picture of problems facing the country, I am proud to see Seattle well represented in providing leadership.

The first example is Amazon. Recently hammered on Wall Street for missing their quarterly estimates, I think the article in The Business Insider is spot on:

The most pressing problems in the US economy right now are two-fold:

1. Near-record-high unemployment at the same time as near record-high profit margins
2. Income inequality that is now the highest since the late 1920s, just before the Great Depression

By balancing near-term profits with investing for the long-term, Amazon is helping to address these problems.

The second example is from Starbucks. Recognizing the need for jobs around the country, Starbucks is teaming up with the Opportunity Finance Network to get money into the hands of people creating work. More information can be found at http://www.createjobsforusa.org/

If those aren't examples of exemplary leadership, I don't know what is.

Humbled

2011-10-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

Today I start my new job at Ant's Eye View as a Director of Social Business Strategy. In many ways, I have been building my way up to this since I started at Participate.com in the late 1990s. Back then we called this space an "online community." Tools of the trade consisted mostly of message boards and chat rooms. Now we have Facebook, Twitter, mobile and countless other platforms and tools at our fingertips. The tech may have changed over the years, but the need for businesses to adapt to the changing social landscape remains incredibly important. Having worked on the product and community development side of things for various companies over the years, I believe the need for a holistic Social approach for all organizations, regardless of where they are on their journey, is even more important now. That is why I am humbled and excited to be joining such an amazing team at Ant's Eye View. Not only are all of the Ant's incredible in their own right, but I feel incredibly at home the nature of the work.

I look forward to working with my new colleagues, and wonderful clients in the years ahead!

Update on the Psychology of Sharing

2011-09-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I storifyied some posts about the "Psychology of Sharing" report from The New York Times. Not having been there for the presentation, I captured what seemed to be the more salient tweets from the event. Now, I ran across the actual presentation (hat tip John Porcoro) and there are some great nuggets I missed. Specifically, they identified key motivations about why people share. At it's most basic, it's about relationships:

bringing valuable and entertaining content to others
defining ourselves to others
grow and nourish our relationships
self-fulfillment
to get the word out about causes or brands

For me, the motivation for why someone does something speaks volumes. If you are a business or organization wanting to address the needs and challenges of prospective customers/clients, understanding the underlying motivations will help everyone be successful.

Book clubs and social objects

2011-08-31T15:44:00.000-07:00

Recently I had an exchange with Rich Millington about community building. He made a comment about the need to modernize traditional ways of community building -- book clubs, game nights, etc, and also wondered about a better, modern unifier. Whether or not community gatherings need to moderinize is a good discussion to have, but this got me thinking about why people gather and what ultimately comes from it.

Personally, I think it's less important as to why people gather as it is that they gather in the first place. In my own experiences, I find that the initial reasons for people connecting may wane but the relationships will remain. Here are two such examples:

Pub quiz. When I first moved to Seattle over 10 years ago, my friends and I started going to a pub that held weekly trivia competitions. We did this religiously for years. Team members would come and go, but a core group of us remained until the quiz master retired. The team still gets together often to socialize, but it has been several years since we went to a trivia night together.

Team Works. This is a program through a local nonprofit geared at team based volunteering. The premise is that people gather in groups and volunteer in the community once a month. After each volunteer session, people would typically gather for drinks and food at a local establishment. I inherited a team from a long time team captain, and I brought on some of my friends to the team, who in turn brought their friends. The team has now changed ownership multiple times, and I'm not as involved, but several team members still volunteer frequently. We have been to each other's houses for informal gatherings, in addition to significant milestones in our lives. Though it did not happen in my team, I know of people who got married as a result of volunteering together.

In both of these examples, the impetus for gathering -- pub quiz and Team Works -- sparked connection between people. These individuals then chose to continue the relationship outside the initial bounds of the gathering. In many ways, I am reminded of "social objects" as described by Hugh Macleod:

The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the reason two people are talking to each other, as opposed to talking to somebody else.

Objects will come and go, and that's fine. It's the relationships and connections that make it all worthwhile.

Where is content shared the most?

2011-08-20T13:23:00.001-07:00

VatorNews - StumbleUpon bests Facebook in sharing... maybe

According to the article, sites using https are not factored into the data on sharing. Does this mean that sites with https enabled are undercounted?

Sharing options bring new opportunities

2011-08-03T16:26:00.001-07:00

Given my earlier posts on sharing, this article seems relevant to broadcast to a wider audience Mashable - The Social Media Guide

Funding transit yields happiness

2011-07-12T10:13:00.000-07:00

Below is my submitted written testimony to the King County Council on sustaining funding for Metro Transit. For more information, please refer to the links below

Thank you for ensuring that public testimony can be submitted online. This is quite helpful for individuals like me who cannot always attend hearings due to work and child care responsibilities. With that, I want to voice my support for sustaining Metro funding through a council vote, rather than turning it to the voters at large.

Like the majority of Metro riders, I depend on it to get to work. While I can drive, I actively make a choice not to do so. Part of this is a financial concern. Another concern is that for the environment. Most of all, I ride Metro for my own happiness. Having driven to work in previous jobs, when I am stuck in traffic, I am stressed. This was not good for interpersonal relationships with family, friends, and even my neighbors. Now, my time on the bus enables me to put aside the stresses of the day, and of traffic. I can choose to engage with my other passengers, read a book, or just relax and look out the window. No matter what I do on the bus, this helps my piece of mind and makes me a better partner, father, neighbor, friend, and resident of our great region.

The proposed cuts to Metro would dramatically limit transportation options for me, and millions of other residents. If just a fraction of them take time on Metro to have a moment of happiness, not funding Metro will lead to an overall decline in the overall well being of hundreds of thousands in the region. I encourage you to represent the residents of King County with your vote to sustain Metro funding and lead us all to a place of greater happiness for us all.

a look back at Participate

2011-04-17T21:53:00.000-07:00

Recently, I ran across a re-post by social business analyst, Jerimiah Owyang, about his experiences at a "dot-bomb" company in the 1990s. This post resonated for me on many levels because there are some that think we are in a similar bubble in the industry today, in addition to my own experiences as a dot com survivor. Below are my reflections on that era.

Fresh out of college, I entered the job market in 1999. Armed with my liberal arts degree from Carleton College, I wanted to go into journalism. After pounding the proverbial pavement I eventually landed a gig at MSNBC as a part-time producer. Because of the lack of hours, I also took up a job at a startup called Participate.com.

Participate.com basically built and ran online communities for businesses back in the day. Some of our clients included AT&T Worldnet, Ace Hardware Corp., Cisco Systems, SAP AG and Microsoft. My first role at Participate was that of a chat host for AT&T. Basically this meant I was there to answer questions (like a support desk) and make sure people weren't doing things they weren't supposed to do. In many ways, I thought my experience as a college dormitory resident assistant was the perfect training for the job. Anyway, I did this for a few months, and eventually started managing the community for another account (Careerpath, now CareerBuilder), and then MSN Games. But enough about the job, and let's explore the environement and culture at the time.

Being situated next to the El in a Chicago loft, the environment was interesting. There were rooms where you would not hold meetings for when the train passed, you couldn't hear a thing. Being a loft, the heating and cooling was always a challenge. There were days where it was so cold (hot air rises in a loft) that I would wear gloves to type. Also, the ceiling leaked. There's something to be said about affordable rent, I suppose. For the most part, the office was an open floor plan with desks grouped together in pods, and offices around the edges with no ceilings. As the company grew in size, we added folding tables like you see at picnics, and folks moved downstairs to the basement. We affectionately called these co-workers the "mole people." We eventually outgrew our space in Lincoln Park and moved to the western loop. For reasons beyond me, we also had our name on the building -- but that was what you did back then, I suppose.

As for the culture, I could not have asked for a better group of co-workers and friends. Everyone there was incredibly warm and passionate about life in their own way. Aside from working together, we drank, hung out, and generally had good times together. In many respects, my life at PDC set the bar (no pun intended) for what a work environment should be.

A few times stand out in my head for life at PDC. One was St. Patrick's Day. Being in Chicago, this was a big deal. I remember that we pretty much wrapped up the day after lunch and headed over to the local pub (conveniently, less than a block away.) We spent many an hour there, only to go on to a different bar when it got dark. Another time that sticks out in my mind was the first company holiday where we shut down the bar/restaurant/pool hall. Our VP at the time was passing our $50 bills to people leaving so they could take a cab. Bear in mind, we were next to the El, so taking a cab seemed rather silly. Who was I to argue with the VP though -- I took the money and then got on the El. When we moved downtown, the culture did indeed change, but the people were still great. When it was time for me to move on (literally, to Seattle), Participate offered to move me out to Seattle. It helped that I worked on the MSN Games account and would be in the Redmond, WA region. Still liking the work, how could I say no?

While the company lived on for several more years before being acquired by another company called Outstart, for all intents and purposes my life at a dot com in that era ended when I left for Seattle. Looking back, I am certainly one of the lucky ones. While I didn't become a paper millionaire overnight, I also didn't lose my job. Things were crazy at times, but I'm not sure how much of that was the industry as it was a certain time and place with the right people.

I cannot thank my colleagues from Participate enough. Not only was it a great place to work with wonderful people, it helped me find my passion for community -- online and offline

What, why, and how we share

2010-08-17T08:44:00.000-07:00

Facebook is a funny place. It seems that sharing something on Facebook now means essentially the same thing as "liking" something. This change likely occurred when Facebook announced their plans to broaden their platform. I thought then, and still feel now, the term "like" is rather overloaded. Not only does it mean "Fan" as it was called in its former iteration, but now it means "like" and possibly "share?" Wow, that's confusing. Terminology aside, this got me wondering, what does it mean to "share" something? Why would someone "share" something rather than "liking" something? Thankfully, I'm not the only one who's been thinking about this. Apparently there's a lot of content out there on why people share, and how people share and what people share.

Let's start with the "what" people share. This one comes paraphrased from Clay Shirky's SXSWi 2010 talk. People Share:

Goods
Services
Information

He goes on to make some great comparisons on how they compare to one another.

In terms of "why" people share, I ran across a few presentations, loosely summarized, by the following list:

enjoyment in helping others
presentation of one's identity
reputation
potential for new connections
receiving feedback

As for "how" people share, I ran across an interesting presentation on that talked about three types of sharing:

spontaneous
planned
gaming (or experiential, in my opinion)

Out of all the pieces on "sharing" that I found recently, the "how" people share was most notable. I think what intrigued me the most was that it really sums up the differences in something like sharing. Sure, the motivations and the what may all be different...but how are they really manifested? it's in the "how" people share. Sharing a bit of information in person is a lot different than doing so via text. Just think about the visceral reactions we get when we hear about relationships ending over text messages -- there's something not quite right about that. Having a way to segment how sharing occurs helps make sense of why we share what we do.

So what? Why do I bother posting this? Aside from my desire to share this with folks (to get a response, to hopefully help people, etc), it's also a way for me to organize my thoughts around it. Thanks for your attention.

Somewhat related:

Flow in everyday things?

2010-07-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

David Hayward brings up some great points about the potential for system fatigue in systems that employ game mechanics. Indeed, if we lived in the game apocalypse world envisioned by Jesse Schell, it all might be a bit boring in the long run.

That said, I don't think it's really a question of do we use game mechanics in whatever system we design. Rather, how is it that we facilitate flow in all experiences?

Related:
an old post of mine on flow
Cultivated Play

Gov2.0 needs solid product managment

2010-02-09T07:46:00.000-08:00

During the recent Gov 2.0 Camp in Los Angeles the notion of jargon came about. I can't help but think about parallels with product management in general.

Let's say you have a product (or service) can do X, Y, Z. It's very tempting to crow about the fact that the product can do X, Y and Z. The reality of the matter is, no one cares about the product (it's not about you, it's about them). All a prospective person who encounters that product cares about is how can it help me kick ass. If it doesn't, they move on to other things.

To facilitate this process, the product manager really needs to know their audience. What are their needs, desires, stressors and the like? More specifically, what are they doing now at and how can you build from it? Think of it as basic marketing, or even basic community organizing. No matter the specific discipline, hopefully the net result is the same -- a deeper understanding of your audience.

It seems to me, government (1.0 and 2.0) is in the same boat. How does government help the average person be better at what they do? Whether it's getting on a bus, or getting a pothole fixed, everyone has a role to play in getting people into flow state of empowerment . While the initial discussion that triggered this post was about jargon, I really see this as effective product management.

Quick thoughts on motivation

2009-09-18T00:49:00.000-07:00

Some great minds talked recently about extrinsic and intrinsic motivations with regards to designing social systems a la leaderboards. The notion of extrinsic and intrinsic motivations also came up in some posts (part 1 and part 2) talking about motivations of volunteers.

Personally I think we are at our best when our internal and external motivations are balanced. The challenge is getting there.

What nonprofits can learn from the recent outages on Twitter, Facebook

2009-08-06T12:21:00.000-07:00

Nonprofits (and any organization) can learn a lot from the recent outage on Twitter and Facebook.

1. Don't put all of your eggs in one basket

Much like the websites of Facebook and Twitter being a potential single source of failure, is your organization at risk?

Some questions to consider:

How diversified is your funding stream?
If a key member of your board, staff, etc fell ill or left, would the organization still survive?
How diversified is your social media strategy?

2. Foster innovation of your service(s)

Despite the news that Twitter and Facebook were down, I experienced no problems getting information through TweetDeck (where I manage both my FB status updates and Twitter messages). Had these sites only relied on their website as the only way for people like me to access their services, I would have been out of luck. By opening themselves up to the innovation of others, my service was uninterrupted.

Some questions to consider:

Does your organization create opportunities for people to build upon the experiences you offer -- perhaps in a manner you did not anticipate or plan?
How do you encourage people to engage with your experiences in a way that is meaningful for them?

3. Have contingency plans

I don't know the details of what Twitter and Facebook are doing/have done in light of the recent outages but I think it is safe to assume they have mechanisms in place to deal with this in terms of restoring service, communication, etc.

Some questions to consider:

What is the plan for your organization?
How up to date is your plan?
Do the people that need to know/execute said plan aware of it? Or does it sit on some shelf or in some folder on your computer?

4. No matter what, learn from your mistakes

If by chance none of the lessons mentioned previously have been applied, it's not the end of the world. Each challenge that confronts us is an opportunity for improvement and learning.

Community change through agile software principles?

2009-01-06T19:36:00.000-08:00

I finished day one of "Certified Scrum Product Owner Training" and I am reminded of why I like agile development. While it can do great things for products, I really appreciate the community building aspects of it. Taking a closer look at the values of agile...

...to me, these have direct parallels to community work.

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools -- people and their interactions with one another are pretty much at the center of any community.

Working software over comprehensive documentation -- Ok, so community work is not software. That being said, I interpret this as focusing on what we can do together (build working software, communities, interactions, etc) rather than focusing on how people think we get there (detailed documentation, program initiatives, etc)

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation -- again communities aren't always made of of customers. To me, I see this as really getting all of the people involved in decisions and issues that impact them.

Responding to change over following a plan -- communities are dynamic, as are product roadmaps. You have to adapt to be relevant whether in business or in our communities on a day to day basis.

I love it when my work and civic life blur.

Loosely related...
Achieving that flow state for user experiences
When individual interests and the public good intersect

mmm, johnnycakes

2009-01-06T18:47:00.000-08:00

Just ran across this video clip of Obama talking about Dixie Kitchen's johnnycakes. Man, I miss those. Maybe next time I'm in Chicago....

Leaving Microsoft

2008-12-19T10:59:00.000-08:00

Today was my last day with Microsoft. It seems rather fitting that the snow and ice pretty much rendered everyone home bound. It is reminiscent of an earlier post when snow and ice also hit this region, except this time I was at home.

Being my last day and all, I can't help but be a bit reflective. Working with Microsoft as a vendor and then as an employee is an incredibly humbling experience. With so many smart, talented, and passionate folks how do you change the world? One step at a time. As with all community work, change does not come quickly. It's not uncommon that your first go around at something will be tweaked and baked a little longer. Sometimes the priorities may change all together to better do what you set out to accomplish in the first place.

I also learned that I need to take more risks to further my learning. While there was certainly more to be learned from others at Microsoft, having that access makes it a bit too easy. For me, much of the learning takes place during the process of wrestling with tough questions. It also takes place from being wrong, rather than learning and building from the experience of others.

Lastly, I learned that there is so much more I want to do than sit in traffic for at least an hour and a half each day. I shudder to think about all the time with family, friends, and the broader community that has been lost due to traffic. As I get older, the more I realize what is important for me.

There are so many things I love about Microsoft, but it is time for me to move on what's next. To all my friends, colleagues and everyone else I worked with at Microsoft -- thank you. It has been a privilege and honor working with you. I hope our paths will cross again.

Does X mark the spot for community?

2008-12-18T14:30:00.000-08:00

Richard Millington has a nice overview of what it takes to build an online community. He concisely states what I've discussed in my presentations on blogging and social media. That being said, I now wonder if there's not a better question for all of us to be answering. Specifically, are destination communities relevant? Is there some magical place where we all need to find? Or rather, will a more distributed community model take root?

While I tend to agree with what is said in finding your first community members (or even how to build a user community), I look at this more from the perspective of tapping into the community that already exists. Do we need to bring them back to one central place? A few years ago, I would have said yes in a heartbeat but I am no longer sure that is the case today.

Thinking about my own communities, I engage with others through a variety of different experiences. Email, Twitter, and Facebook are just some online examples. Other examples include phone calls, drinks at a local bar, coffee at a local Starbucks, or purposeful gatherings (for work and/or fun). To build a destination site for one of my communities, well...I'm not sure that would be relevant. Sure, it can be valuable in things like asynchronous communication, outreach, education and the like. Archival, nostalgia and reconnecting are some other scenarios that could also work. But to have one place for the community seems rather limiting, and in my opinion, misses out on how communities work.

Related, I wonder if this is why we are seeing broader community initiatives such as what Nike does with their running clubs, Nike+ website, and Niketown?

Maybe that's really it then...destination communities unto themselves have their place, but really do not speak to the full complexity and needs of communities as a whole. Thoughts?

photo credit -- kierkier

Seattle Public School Closure Outreach?

2008-12-12T17:24:00.000-08:00

A lot of is being written about the proposed closures, mergers, moves and the like for Seattle Public Schools. I won't bother trying to document all of the changes and intrigue, and instead I have a few questions:

Where are the voices of the students and youths impacted by the potential changes?
Where are the non-parents and other community members impacted by the proposed changes?

With regards to the current and future students potentially impacted, it would seem like that these voices would be important in consideration of changes. Not following it too closely other than through some blogs and mainstream news outlets, it's not evident that youth are organizing. I can't believe this is true...is it? Has the school board or district been trying to actively involve this audience? What about other youth oriented organizations or programs?

Likewise with the non-parents and other community members impacted...to what extent are they at the table? To what extent are these voices heard? To what extent is any outreach being done by the school board or school district? The same question applies to all of the neighborhood groups or home associations.

The thing I love about public school is well, that it's public. A few months ago through some volunteering with Seattle Works, my friends and I volunteered at an elementary school in my old neighborhood. Aside from the work and the weather, the other volunteers there made this one of my favorite volunteer events. Not only were parents and students helping out, but so too were people just from the neighborhood. So too were there people from other organizations throughout the city. Public schools are for everyone -- not just the parents, teachers and students. It's time we all started (myself included) to treat it as such.

A community building manifesto worth noting

2008-12-10T09:56:00.000-08:00

For a few weeks now, I've been intrigued by Richard Millington's FeverBee. While he often has lots of great gems, today he posted a great Online Community Building Manifesto.

In a nutshell, he states:

1) We need to become experts on communities.
2) We need to change how we plan online communities.
3) We need to rethink the role of technology.

I couldn't agree more. Much like much touted POST methodology by Forrester Research, tech should be the last thing on the minds of anyone who works with communities. Focusing on the hows and whys of a community is much more important than the tools that are used. In many ways that is why I find a great deal of my inspiration for community work from nonprofits, community organizers, political campaigns, and games. All of these areas reach out to and mobilize a broad range of people. While I am not as familiar with Jeremy Dean, The Situationist and Of Two Minds, at first glance I see similarities with the wide range of folks I follow like Alinsky, Csikszentmihalyi, and McKnight.

Related, I am currently reading two books that seem to illustrate the points laid out in the manifesto. Community: The Structure of Belonging is one of the more comprehensive books on community I've seen in a long time. And strangely enough, the Counterinsurgency Field Manual also talks about how community building is an effective strategy in well, counterinsurgency.

Thanks, Richard. I look forward to changing this dynamic with you and others in this space.

Phoenix rising?

2008-11-06T13:43:00.000-08:00

Is it me or does this electoral map look like a phoenix rising?

Generation We -- wow!

2008-10-29T08:26:00.000-07:00

I think this video speaks for itself.

Second City thoughts

2008-08-31T16:04:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a bit about Chicago lately -- in large part because of the Democratic National Convention and the story of the Obamas, but also some other reasons.

some recollections...I have been thinking about when I first ran across Barack Obama's name. It was when I was part of the ACM Urban Studies program back in 1998. I'm not going to get into what the program was (or was not), but I do recall sitting in our apartment in Bronzeville reading the paper and seeing Obama's name associated with progressive legislation in the sate legislature. Honestly, I didn't think too much about it and rather, I was more interested in what Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr was doing at the time.

Bronzeville vs Judkins Park -- this may have to do more with racial covenant laws and what not, but I find it interesting that both neighborhoods have historically had large populations of African Americans, near neighborhoods of significant Asian American populations. Having moved recently to Judkins Park, I am just noticing the similarities in neighboring areas. As segregated as Chicago was, it just reminds me that Seattle also has a history of segregation in spite of it's progressive image.

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was released 10 years ago ~~this~~ last week. I picked up the album while I was in Chicago, thanks in part to learning about it from my roommate, T. I can't believe it was 10 years ago! Where did the time go?

Asset based community development -- I first ran across this term via that Urban Studies program. Strangely enough, I've run across that here in Seattle through various organizations.

Politics of a different sort -- Barack Obama, Deval Patrick, Jesse Jackson Jr...this is a very different generation of politicians that what I studied in Chicago and at Carleton.

Identity and place -- I went to a presentation recently from a researcher with Microsoft's Cambridge office. He talked about how place influences identity, and that made me think about who I am at work, in Seattle, in Chicago and the like. My life in Chicago was very different than that of my life here in Seattle. Perhaps it's the size of the cities, or it's the nature of my social networks in both areas. Regardless, once again I found myself thinking on Chicago again...

Where am I going with this? I'm not really sure. But with all my work professionally with community, the poetic description of service by Michelle Obama, and my volunteer work locally just makes me realize how much more there is to be done if we are to fully realize our potential. Who knows what the next ten years will look like, but I have no doubt in the possibility of the human spirit.

Community building in times of crisis

2008-06-03T19:43:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post this for awhile -- with the disasters in Burma and China, it seems even more relevant now...

Through the initiative of some friends of mine from Seattle Works, I am now trained to be a shelter volunteer at the Red Cross for King and Kitsap Counties. What exactly is a shelter volunteer? Think of it as those folks who provide emergency, short term shelter for those displaced for any number of reasons including fires, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, wind storms and any number of other disasters that target the Pacific Northwest.

Admittedly, I knew nothing about what I was getting into when I learned about this opportunity. Mostly, I thought that it would be a nice way to give back locally following so many different natural disasters. And given that shelter is one of the most basic of needs, this seemed to be a great place to start.

The training is made up of three different sections to go over how to care for the masses, the basics of sheltering, followed by hands on simulations. Through each of the sessions, we learned about what it actually takes to plan, prepare, run and manage an emergency shelter. While it was great to learn the specifics roles, tasks and skills required for a shelter, I did not expect to learn about community building in times of crisis.

For years, I always defined community as the result of intentional interactions between people with similar experiences, interests, etc over time. Time, in my definition, never really crossed my mind in terms of a short term, temporary situation which is the desired norm for emergency shelters. Yet, despite the relative brevity of the duration of a shelter, a great deal of work and planning goes in to designing opportunities for community to occur. Whether its through organized activities for children in the shelter, or getting a shared sense of ownership from the clients there by involving them in the operations...there is a concerted effort to make it as vibrant of a community as possible.

This, along with the paper plate notion of relationships has me thinking differently about community. I'm not really sure where it will lead me, but the notion of time -- especially for extended periods -- does not seem to be as important as I once thought it to be.

Paper Plate Relationships

2008-06-02T11:17:00.000-07:00

During a not too recent business trip to New York, I was having drinks with a colleague who remarked that she often had paper plate relationships. I was a bit puzzled by what this meant so I inquired more about it.

She went on to explain that paper plates serve a specific function, for a specific time and place. You wouldn't use a paper plate for a big fancy dinner to impress your in-laws, for example, but you would use them for a barbecue with old friends. She then explained that once you are done with the paper plates, you move on until the next time you need them.

This initially struck me as a little harsh -- the notion of disposable relationships -- but then I wondered if this is similar to the notion of social objects?

In many ways, I see the paper plate relationship to be the result of brief encounters with social objects. If indeed this is the case, what does this mean for those on point for fostering social interactions?

Blogging presentations

2008-05-09T13:47:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, I was asked to give a *quick* overview of blogging to a local nonprofit interested in blogging. These are those slides.

| View | Upload your own

For those interested, I am also posting some slides I ran across today for more detail on optimizing one's blog. The content is by Scott Hanselman and the slides are by Josh Holmes.

| View | Upload your own

When stacked against the likes of either Josh or Scott -- I'm no where near in the same league here or here. Regardless, we all blog for different reasons. Me...it's mostly to keep all the different pieces of me together.

Business and community evolution

2008-03-16T16:01:00.000-07:00

(crossposted on TechNet)
Thanks to Fili for calling out Chris' post discussing Oracle's "Social CRM." This has been on my mind a lot lately -- rationalizing the role of community in the business world.

In many ways, I've been trying to balance this very thing from all my time working with communities in a business environment. While I still think that these are not mutually exclusive, I am coming to realize that we all need to be crisp about what we mean when we say community due to the buzz nature of the term.

Working with communities (as an end to itself) seems to be quite different than working towards a given business goal that involves community. While the latter may sound somewhat opportunistic, is it? Is it different than the "double bottom line" or social enterprises we see sprouting up? Personally, I don't think it's very different at all. Instead, I think the challenge for all of us in these spaces is to to figure out how to best adapt to tackle the big problems and really change the world.

Online Community Roundtable Notes

2008-03-16T15:59:00.000-07:00

(cross posted on TechNet)

A few days ago, I attended the Online Community Roundtable where we had some robust discussion about community strategies. Thanks to Bob for stepping up and hosting this session with Forum One. Thanks also to Nancy, Teresa and Bill for posting their notes.

I'll just add a few things that stood out for me:

Nancy White -- when describing some of her work internationally, she mentioned it would take about two years for behaviors to change.

[this reminds me of a recent post by danah boyd where she discusses the changing nature of how actions by youth are manifested rather than the behaviors/motivations of youth changing. No matter what strategies we take with our communities, we all need to be in it for the long haul.]

Frank Jerden -- when talking about the integration of the online TED conference profile with offline interactions, the question of whether or not it matters that event communities are disposable. Sean O'Driscoll brought up a great question on how one would measure the impact of these communities.

[personally, I'm not sure it matters if the online community manifestations are disposable as long as the participants end up deepening those connections through other means.]

Chrystie Hill -- with WebJunction working with communities of librarians. I found it interesting that her problem space is essentially the same as mine -- how do you ensure that folks coming to your experiences find the resources they need quickly to address whatever problem initiated the inquiry in the first place?

As for the key success factors regarding community, the slide/image below is what was discussed. I appreciate any feedback you have on this.

Note -- this is MS scoped, but I think you could find/replace MS with whatever you wanted.

Note -- since the roundtable, this has undergone some more refinement to better incorporate the different community types. More specifically, I believe that a key success factor is the need for a shared understanding of the type of community so all parties involved are ultimately successful at what they are trying to do.

Community types for technical professionals

2008-03-09T10:58:00.000-07:00

With social media exploding the last several years, it's easy to think that all this emphasis on community is equal from one experience to the next. Wanting to be precise in what we're talking about, I think it will be helpful to describe the communities we work with on a day to day basis.

For the technical professionals that come to experiences like MSDN and TechNet the four types of communities seem to be most pertinent:

support based communities
communities of practice
feedback/development
enthusiast

Support based communities are probably best characterized by the need for an answer now. This is manifested on our forums today. Most technical forums seem to fall into this category.

Communities of practice tend to be those types of communities that draw people in around a shared goal -- learning more about a particular topic for example. In many ways, groups such as Ineta and Culminis appear to fall into this category. Another example, ~~non-tech~~ (edit -- non-Microsoft) would be the online facilitation Yahoo! group.

Feedback/development based communities are those where people interact for the sake of bettering a product or technology while getting early previews as to what's next. Connect seems to be a prime example of this. Dell's IdeaStorm is a (edit -- another) prime example of this.

Enthusiast communities are those where people tend to interact with others to not only connect with those that share their enthusiasm, but also to share their passion around a particular product or technology. Channel 9 (in addition to Channel 8 and On10) do a nice job of this. I'm not an expert on enthusiast or fan-based communities, but Nancy Baym and Henry Jenkins have both written a lot about this.

Of course, there are many more types of communities. I only listed four different ones as they seem to be most pertinent to the work I do. To clarify, in working on a communities team, I am not responsible for all the sites/experiences listed above. Rather, those are just examples to better illustrate what I mean by community types. My role now focuses more narrowly on planning for community from a platform and processes perspective. I am of the notion that the platform and processes needed will vary based on the types of community being discussed.

So that's where my head is at right now. What do you think? Are there other types of communities pertinent to technical professionals in your opinion?

The Space Between -- Where's Brian?

2008-03-09T10:13:00.000-07:00

I am trying to get back on the blogging bandwagon but after repeated attempts of fits and starts, I've come to realize it's something that takes a lot of work from me. Don't get me wrong, I *will* keep blogging. I do want to be clear though that there are other ways in I intend on (hopefully) providing value to you and others interested in the intersection of community and technology.

First off is my del.icio.us account. This is where I tag a lot of things that relate to community and tech. Apologies in advance for the random political things that pop in now and again.

Second is my list of shared items from Google Reader. These are a lot of the items that I find noteworthy from the feeds of most interest to me.

Third is my Amazon wish list. I don't really do a good job of removing the ones I've read so it's both things I will be reading and things I have read.

(Note -- friendfeed has all of my del.icio.us, Reader and Amazon stuff all in one place)

Last but not least, I blog in a variety of places:
here -- work
here -- community in general (work and personal)
here -- running (personal)
here -- games (personal, not updated much)
Internally at work

Thanks to Commoncraft,* Josh and DMB for the inspiration in writing this.

*while I also have a Twitter account, I don't really use it so don't bother looking for me there. Should this change, I'll let folks know.

3 AM surprise

2008-03-08T20:57:00.000-08:00

This is too funny. The infamous "3AM" ad that Clinton's been running features a WA state resident who is an Obama supporter.

style over substance? you bet

2008-02-17T14:24:00.000-08:00

There's been a lot of criticism of Obama lately for just giving speeches rather than solving problems. I think this line of criticism is off the mark.

Maybe it's because I am the product of a liberal arts education. Or maybe it's because I've been in the tech industry for close to ten years. Regardless of the reasoning, I personally don't put much stock in any given solution, if there even is such a thing.

Instead, when it comes to matters of hiring, elections or the like I want to know who can effectively solve the problem in the best manner (assuming folks are qualified for it, which is the case in this election cycle). After seeing Clinton and Obama speak in person, and watching the debates, it is clear to me that Clinton represents a top down, solution-driven approach. Her use of "I have a plan" and the like is rather telling imo. Contrast that with Obama's "Yes, we can." (emphasis added). It's no longer about him and just his ideas but what we all can do together at the table. He may not have all the answers, and frankly, I think that is a good thing. In this uncertain, rapidly changing world, the best laid plans can get wiped out in an instant -- you need to adapt effectively to get anywhere.

ABCD's of Social Media

2008-01-27T17:23:00.000-08:00

| View | Upload your own

Yesterday I did a workshop on Social Media with some other folks at KCBS for a leadership conference. This presentation is part of a larger session where we worked with video, audio, non-moving visuals (text, images, etc) and media justice. Hope you enjoy it. Would love your feedback

Hope trumps cynicism @ YouTube?

2008-01-23T13:11:00.000-08:00

My friend Dave (link fixed)pointed me towards a great article in The Nation.

Loving the speech myself, i've embedded it here for your viewing pleasure.

Product design, experience, and transit

2007-12-21T10:43:00.000-08:00

disclaimer -- I *try* to take the bus as often as I can to avoid sitting in traffic

That being said, I'd rather have rapid transit of some other kind. A friend once tried explain to me the benefits of Bus Rapid Transit options with dedicated lanes, but I was never really sold. Today I ran across an article that better articulated the problems -- in short, the overall design and experience leaves a lot to be desired.

This makes perfect sense when thinking about overall consumer product design. Here's another article that talks of the need for good design as it relates to global issues.

...

For all planners (myself included), policy makers, elected officials...perhaps we need to get crisper on articulating what the problem is so we can better address the key issues?

Pedal power

2007-11-30T08:30:00.000-08:00

Repetition, repetition, repetition. Bicycles have been on my mind a lot as of late due to:

A recent trip to China

…and Barcelona

Now, I learn that the University of Washington is looking at having electric bikes for folks on campus. Not a bad idea, despite the hills, but why electric?

Related, I just finished Giving, by Bill Clinton and one of the nonprofits he mentions, World Bicycle Relief, works to provide access and independence through bicycles. Sounds like a great organization!

WA school funding and property tax cap?

2007-11-30T08:14:00.000-08:00

The Washington State Legislature passed a 1% cap on property taxes that has been signed into law. I'm wondering what impact, if any, this may have on school funding in our area?

The reason I ask is that I saw a recent video pulled together by some friends of mine on California school funding.

While we are not California, I recently learned that they too have a 1% cap on property taxes. To help offset potential revenue shortfalls, they also have a minimum $ amount for schools as well.

Things that I do not know (but probably should)…

How will the property tax cap it impact school funding, if at all?
Are there safeguards in place to ensure a minimal level of public school funding like the one in California?
What role if any will Simple Majority and an all mail in ballot have on the likelihood of school levies and the like passing?

(Un)intentional broadening of community?

2007-08-13T19:04:00.000-07:00

Bill Johnston has a nice write up on how discussion groups can play a central role of one's overall community strategy.

Although I find many of his points quite salient, the most intriguing takeaway for me is in what is not said. Specifically the following words are not used:

forum
message board
newsgroup

To me, this was immediately noticeable when going to tag this article. "Discussion groups," are often associated with forums, newsgroups or the like and I intended on tagging his post with "forums." Re-reading the article though, it became clear that Johnston did not include forums, etc in this article. I'm not sure if this was purposeful, but I appreciate the broadening of community beyond the tools themselves.

And speaking of broadening, were it not for the inclusion of one or two mentions of "online" community, the points made by Johnston can just as likely apply to community strategy "offline" in face to face discussion groups by way of a neighborhood council, or a local meetup. The principles that guide those, I would suggest, are quite applicable online as well.

Blogging as transformational

2007-08-13T19:01:00.000-07:00

Gerald Kanapathy's recent post on successful blogging points towards Microsoft as one company that has been transformed by blogging. Specifically he talks about how blogs "opened up Microsoft" and goes on to say how "it's now amazingly open and responsive."

While great as that sounds, I'd have to agree with Yag in that the most interesting part is when Kanaphathy writes:

What did Microsoft do? I don't know if they had it before, but it takes certain
organizational cultural values. It's not about process, or rules. In fact, it
requires acceptance of uncertainty and ambiguity, tolerance of risk, openness to
criticism, and a degree of confidence. These are not things that can be
proceduralized, but instead come from how the organization is, uh, organized,
and simply the underlying values.

To me, this is key. At the end of the day, blogs are a means by which people communicate. It is a means, not an end. So for all those wanting to start a blog because everyone else is, ultimately it comes down to something more intangible. How open and willing is your group or company to change? To uncertainty? To risk? To criticism? To engage with people in an open an ongoing conversation?

While this may come across to some as staying away from blogging if the underlying values are not there, it's not meant to be. I just wanted to call this out by illustrating that blogs are not an end to itself. It's part of a much larger picture, and ultimately it's success (or failure) depends upon so much more than what we can traditionally measure at this time. Should a company, organization or person for that matter get into blogging, I hope they do so with their eyes open to the whole process.

When individual interests and the public good intersect

2007-07-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

With a new fiscal year upon us, my role is shifting a bit. as a part of that, i've been taking a closer look at community planning, broadly speaking. during this process, i keep on coming back to a best practice of sorts that occurs when individual interests intersect with the public good.

while this can be applied to just about anyplace where individuals and the public intersect, i'd like to call out flickr in this regard. one of the killer features (in my opinion) on flickr is "interestingness." according to flickr, many actions go into determining whether or not a picture is "interesting." these actions include:

where the click throughs are coming from
who marks it as a favorite
it's tags
and much more

taking a closer look at those actions, they are all focused on the self. clicking through to a picture is to actually display the full image. favoriting is so you can find it again. tagging it helps you to find it among countless other photos. in short, the individual actions of people then go into surfacing "interesting" photos for everyone.

what is the public benefit? seeing what others on the site find most interesting. other benefits include inspiration for photographers -> better photographers, or the joy from looking at beautiful photos. many of these items are also very individual goals, but overall, the public benefits as a result of these actions.

how this relates back to overall community planning is that i think a rather nice framework, or at least pillars to keep in mind, can be derived from this example.

1 -- know your audience
2 -- what's in it for them? identify the actions and items of highest individual value
3 -- what's in it for everyone else? identify the actions and items of highest collective value
4 -- determine the points of intersection
5 -- focus efforts on making it as easy as possible for the individuals to perform those actions, find those items, etc

note -- this is in part derived from earlier readings on flow, game design and the like. nod to amy jo kim for calling this out initially

"Death and Life..." a promising start

2007-07-26T10:18:00.000-07:00

After finishing Richard Florida's The Rise of the Creative Class, I finally got around to starting The Death and Life of Great American Cities, by Jane Jacobs. For years, I've been wanting to read this classic in urban planning, and community design. I can't believe it's taken me this long.

While it's very easy to read, regardless of one's knowledge of urban planning, I'm only about 100 pages into this book (compared to 200 pages in the latest Harry Potter book). Partly that's because every page or so in Jacobs' book has me thinking about the cities she mentions and how they function (or do not) today. I also find myself taking a closer look at the city in which I live now, in addition to all the communities (online) that I've been a part of over the years. In short, this book has really got my gears spinning when it comes to thinking about community -- and more importantly, designing for community.

Something as simple as looking closely at sidewalks, for example, has me wondering about the parallel in an online community. Where is the proverbial sidewalk in a community of developers? Is it found in a blog? On a forum? In the tags used by others? How do people associate with one another (at different levels of participation) in a way that is meaningful to them, whether they are strong ties, weak ties, or loose ties? How does a community manifested online help people acclimate to the "neighborhood" so to speak?

As I work my way through this, I'll continue to post some reflections on this great read.

getting back on the horse...

2007-07-26T10:15:00.000-07:00

this is just an obligatory sorry for not blogging much post for [insert reason here]. [add some future promise] etc etc. it's funny how i feel compelled to provide some sort of transition after a long hiatus...

building connections to build community

2007-05-29T10:13:00.000-07:00

working in community, it's easy to get wrapped up in the technology, the measurements, the key performance indicators, the cost of doing, or not doing community...

when this happens, i find it helpful to take a step back and look at community from completely different perspectives. thankfully, i am able to complement my community work at microsoft with active civic involvement in the community with several local nonprofits. it just so happens, in the past month, I recently attended back to back retreats for two such organizations.

i won't get into the nitty gritty of each, but one common thread throughout both retreats was this notion of relationships between people. after all, what is community if not a series of intentional relationships with others?

To me, that is the core of what we do -- community building. Through our technology, we are building new ways for people to share their experiences with others in such a manner that this greater sense of self arises. No longer is it just an isolated experience of one person, but it's the experience of an individual that is then tied to the experiences of others. Experiences and content put forward by participants may match one to one the experiences of a good number of people. Likewise, the experiences of an individual may only be connected to a select few. Regardless of the total number of connections, the message is clear -- we are all in this together.

why bring this up? partly, it's front and center on my mind given how recent these retreats were. also, there has been a recent focus on this notion of measurements within the orgs i run. bob posted on this recently, and some of my earlier thoughts can be found here. another motivator is dave's recent musing on community, in addition to some recent readings for an advisory board on which I sit.

So pooling all of this together, I guess I am just struck with the fact that to really measure the impact of community, we need to understand and identify all the ways in which connections are formed with one another through the specific tools and services we offer. Sometimes this may exist within the confines of a particular venue, say a blog or a particular forum. Other times these connections occur through serendipitous discovery in tagging or social bookmarking. Once we are able to get a better grasp on all points of connection can we truly measure the full impact of community.

I fully realize that what is discussed above is not a simple, nor quick approach. Indeed, there is a lot that needs to be done to fully capture all of that information for current and future community solutions. This of course does not mean that we can't do our best to measure the impact as we go. As with anything, this is an iterative process that builds upon itself. It is my hope that through a greater understanding of how community is formed, will we really get a clear picture of the full impact of community.

mini- seattle center update

2007-04-17T16:51:00.000-07:00

doh, i've been a bad blogger over here :( i'll post some updates shortly.

in the mean time, for all 5 or however many of my readers, if you are interested in checking out the latest on seattle center's redesign, there are some meetings this week (the first was last night) :(

i'll try to make thursday's meeting. if anyone wants to meet up, leave a comment

Be part of shaping the future of Seattle Center

during a series of community meetings, April 16 � 19. Share your ideas for the Seattle Center campus with the Century 21 Committee, a citizen group appointed by Mayor Greg Nickels to help chart the course of Seattle Center for the next 20 years. View the design possibilities inspired by input from other meetings and let us know what you think before the committee makes recommendations later this year.

Community Meetings
Monday, April 16, 7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Rainier Community Center, 4600 38th Ave. S
www.seattle.gov/parks/centers/Rainier/directions.htm

Tuesday, April 17, 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Shaw Room on the Seattle Center campus
www.seattlecenter.com

Wednesday, April 18, 7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, 4408 Delridge Way SW
http://youngstownarts.org/contact_us/driving_directions

Thursday, April 19, 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Greenwood Library, 8016 Greenwood Ave. N
www.spl.org/default.asp?pageID=branch_open_directions&branchID=12

more info at -- http://www.seattlecenter.com/news/detail.asp?ME_MediaNum=1026

A touch of love...

2007-02-13T21:27:00.000-08:00

I love recap posts. For those of us who weren't able to attend the CommunityNext summit, I found recaps by Anastasia, Lee and Tara quite useful. I personally find it helpful to see how others view the same content -- that alone makes it that much more insightful and authentic.

Loosely related...it was great to see folks point out that the community space is not at all monolithic and there are multiple community camps. On the one hand, you have those who more or less set out to build a community, and if money happens, then it's a good thing. Others set out with money as the primary driver (either making it or saving it) by using a community. As similar as these may sound, they represent two very different philosophies. To make things more complicated, sometimes you may encounter situations where the two different camps are working on the same project!

Having worked in both camps from time to time, I would like to suggest that there is yet another piece to this matrix -- the people who build the tools used in community. Think of this as the Belgium of the community space. It doesn't fit into either camp perfectly, and instead prefers to remain neutral, and flexible so it can benefit the masses. I don't believe I belong to any one camp, but rather I tend to float between, adapting to the needs and the circumstances of the day. If pressed though, I'd say that I lean more towards the focus on the community first. What about you? What's your community philosophy?

Heh -- I just noticed that I started and ended this particular post with love -- explicitly in the first sentence, and implicitly in the last with philosophy. While I'm at it, here's another loving post from the Windows Live QnA Team

(crossposted)

Getting into the flow of campaigns

2007-02-13T21:21:00.000-08:00

The year 2007 is barely two months old and we are well into the thick of things when it comes to presidential politics for 2008. With candidates announcing their intention of running, or that they are actually running just about every week, it certainly makes for interesting times. And by judging by the websites and presence online for each of these prospective candidates, we've come quite a long way from the "early days" of online fundraising a la Howard Dean. Unfortunately, it also seems that not much ahs changed with regards to people "getting it."

Recently I ran across a few posts by Zack Exley on this topic. In his first post, he talks about the role of authenticity. Specifically:

Building a “genuine relationship” with your supporter base online doesn’t mean simply writing the same boring emails, but writing them yourself. No, it means writing to your supporters from the campaign trail in the same way that you might write to your spouse (without the smoochy stuff) or to a close friend: tell them the exciting things you experienced that day, what they made you think of, a joke you heard, and what occurred to you is really at stake. Some emails could be four pages, and some could be four sentences. Maybe sometimes you should just send a picture you snapped yourself.

In another post Zack continues on this theme of writing one's own emails to would be supporters:

If you can spend six hours per day on high-dollar fundraising, you can take 15 minutes to jot out a note to your supporters.

These posts are echoed by Eve Fairbanks (via Personal Democracy Forum) where she says:

assimilating Internet tactics doesn’t mean you have to assimilate Internet culture, too

As I wade through all of this in my spare time, I am struck by the juxtaposition of reasoning for people in New Hampshire wanting to keep their early primary. Every time the Presidential election rolls around, the state of New Hampshire gears up for the onslaught of cameras and visits by Presidential hopefuls. While there is something likely to be said for the "I shook so and so's hand" the common theme conveyed by a recent ABC News report was that this hands-on, personable campaigning is the way it's supposed to be.

"It's the way politics should be," New Hampshire resident William Juch said of the onslaught. "These people should come and present themselves."

Put another way, I would suggest that this is a more authentic approach as people are able to look a candidate in the eye, talk with them face to face, and perhaps even challenge them as one would a peer. In other words, the interactions with a candidate provide a sense of feedback to those engaged in the process. Sounds a bit like flow now, doesn't it?

survey in need of usability

2007-02-13T21:16:00.000-08:00

Kudos to the City of Seattle (and partners) for launching the Seattle Civic Engagement Project. In terms of what it's up to, so far it seems to want to broaden the outreach methods of current engagement. Specifically:

Partners are encouraged to expand their current methods of communication by creating opportunities to talk about issues with friends, family, and colleagues, to listen respectfully to their opinions and to contribute their own. Then members are asked to complete a simple web 'Opinionnaire,' designed to determine levels of agreement or disagreement around the issues. This process is not a scientific poll, but is instead an opportunity to connect with others and engage people in the important community functions of civic conversation and dialogue. The results of these surveys will be shared with partners, public officials, and the media.

You can read more about it at Seattle's Brainstorm.

This sounds pretty neat, however I have some serious usability concerns with how it's all put together. First off, the videos linked from the survey page crashed one of my computers. I tried running it on a different computer with a different OS, and it white washed the screen to launch the QuickTime app. Now granted, I'm not a guru of any kind when it comes to video integration for a website, but I don't think the experience should be jarring. Embedded videos a la YouTube, SoapBox, etc provide for a much more user friendly experience.

Aside from just the video itself, burying the links in the right column seem to de-emphasize their value. If it is important for people to review, make it easy to access. Given how many websites are designed today, things in the right nav are not always reviewed as they tend to be equated with ads. Do you really want to have valuable content associated in a space commonly associated with ad space?

In terms of the survey itself, I'm concerned that the length and organization of the survey will hinder useful information. First of all, there are eight demographic questions that do not seem to relate with the specific topic (transportation). If the questions were to end the survey early, (say if you lived in Nebraska) that would be one thing, but instead they take up way too much of the focus of a would be survey respondent. I would be curious to see what the drop out rate is for survey completion -- how many people start the survey and never finish? With eight demographic questions and at least twenty-two topic specific questions, that seems like a rather large investment of time and energy for a rather complex and polarized issue. Additionally, the issue of transportation is rather complex. It seems that the survey is intended for those who already know a fair amount of the issues at hand. If this is indeed the intention, ignore my next comment, however if people want a broad dialogue, shouldn't it be as accessible as possible for the broadest audiences? I realize that time and time again Seattle is ranked among the brightest and most literate of cities, however there's something to be said for simplicity (note to self -- follow own advice).

Though it is promising to see more and more groups embrace technology, there's a lot more that can be done. I believe that the dialogue that folks are hoping for would be better served by better utilizing blogs, video clips (three to five minutes long) and podcasts (also short in duration). Additionally, tying the content to offline dialogues (formal and informal) would likely do wonders for this initiative. A discussion board may be fruitful provided that expectations are set early on in the process. Wikis would be an interesting addition to this process, however, that is not something to take on lightly given how polarized the debate on transportation has become in the region.

Ultimately though, the means of discussion (how it's transmitted, and the messages being transmitted) really need to be relevant to those not currently involved. Who is the audience that folks are attempting to reach with this current implementation? What else competes for your audiences attention, and how are those "competitors" doing? The more information you know about your audience, the better the chances for success.

Related -- see Kathy Sierra's recent post on the intersections of marketing and learning. I would suggest that those points raised are quite apt for things of a civic nature as well.

Voting part 2

2007-02-11T13:03:00.000-08:00

Just a quick little update from my whole ballot fiasco. Seems that my address is officially changed in the King County Records, Elections and Licensing Services Division as I received mail from them regarding the upcoming special election regarding the viaduct. Whether or not I get my new voter registration card and ballot, we'll see.

Are you a friend of Seattle?

2007-02-06T21:23:00.000-08:00

For those that know me, I try to be involved on a civic level best I can. Whether it's through volunteering, politics, or other civic type events, I'm just passionate about community broadly defined. That's why I'm really psyched with all of the work that some of my friends have been doing with Friends of Seattle. Here's a bit about them in their own words.

Friends of Seattle is a membership-based advocacy group whose mission is to inspire elected officials and our fellow voters to support a more urban, livable, and sustainable city. We propose policy reforms, lobby elected officials, and support political campaigns.

I had the pleasure of attending their big kickoff tonight, and it was great. With over 200 ppl in attendance, and several electeds and press, it was great to see. It's hard to believe that FoS is so new, starting up just this past year.

As exciting as it was to see so many people, what was perhaps most inspiring was that there is a tangible sense of action associated with FoS. Instead of just talking about it, here's a group of folks getting together to try and do something about it. Whether or not people agree with the issues of FoS, I think we can all take a cue from them (I know I have) to get more involved with our communities in a meaningful way. In a representative democracy, isn't that's what's needed and expected -- an active and engaged electorate?

The other amusing little thing is that I randomly overheard Councilman Steinbrueck refer to the President of Friends of Seattle, Gary Manca, as a future candidate for City Council. With Gary's welcoming remarks, all I have to say is "Run, Gary, run!" :-)

First date scenario at a new Seattle Center

2007-02-06T21:15:00.000-08:00

One of the items I discussed with volunteers the other night at the Seattle Center public meeting specific to this first date notion, really it's the notion of allowing people to just "be" however they choose. Right now, Seattle Center seems to be primarily a place to do stuff. Whether it's seeing a show, attending an event, or the like, it does not seem to be a place that fosters the notion of just "being" present in the place at a given time. I suggested that it might be worthwhile to consider fostering this notion of just being. Also I suggested that it would be interesting to allow for all sorts of "user flows" from being to doing.

An example of one scenario for a first date at the Center would involve people who wish to see a paid performance (at the Intiman, Rep, etc). They could first go to the Center and walk through any number of interesting paths on the campus. They could stick to the pre-made paths connecting buildings, or they could forge their own path that uses some of the well-traveled ones, and some not so well travelled. Additionally, they could sit by the fountain to watch mini-Bellagioesque shows, or they could wander by the skate park to watch people perform gravity defying tricks. In actuality, there's any number of things the would be first daters could see at the Center. They don't have to "do" much, but rather it's being present with others in this shared space at the Center. If they got a little hungry or thirsty prior to the show, they could pop into any number of restaurants that meet budgets (financial or time) of all sizes. Perhaps a cafe could be at the Intiman courtyard? Afterwards, they would attend their ticketed performance. The evening at the Center could be finished off at a little desert place for coffee, munchies, or drinks where they could further engage about the performance they just saw.

Of course, this is just one way in which a "first date" could be at Seattle Center. honestly, I'm not the best to ask as it's been awhile since I've had a first date :P Others feel free to chime in.

Houses vs Homes or Seattle Center Planning v2

2007-02-06T21:08:00.000-08:00

Phew, catching up on a few blog posts here. In addition to my whole ballot fiascoes last week, I attended another open house for Seattle Center's 21st Century planning process. This time it was held at the Langston Hughes Arts Center. It was a gorgeous building, and fewer people showed up. Perhaps it was the time of day, perhaps it was the location, regardless, it seemed like that less people were present. Admittedly I got there about 30 minutes into it but still, not as many as I would have liked to have seen.

The format was essentially the same, and I had a great discussion with several of the volunteers around the notion of fun, flow, play and games. Mostly we were talking about what makes for an engaging experience and I shared some of my thoughts with regards to how elements of good game design / flow could be applied on a wider scale to say, planning for the Seattle Center :-) We also discussed the notion of what "a first date experience" could feel like at a revamped Seattle Center. I'll get into that first date bit in another thread. For now, I just want to provide some general thoughts and reflections.

I also found it interesting that a lot of the people there (volunteers or attendees) were architects. Really it's not too surprising when much of the focus of the topic areas are on buildings such as the Center House, Key Arena, memorial Stadium, etc. The notion of open space also is quite prominent, and closely related in my opinion, to the overall notion of buildings.

While having tangible discussion points is a great way to help focus people on direct and concrete feedback, in some ways I feel that this is putting the cart before the horse. In my day to day job of being a product manager, I try not to focus on the specific implementations much, and rather, I want to ensure that the best overall experience is what is ultimately realized. By focusing on the buildings, or programs that occur in the physical spaces, it feels to me that we're diving straight to the implementation. A risk that can arise from this is having all of these great buildings/programs/open space but there isn't that really ties them together in a meaningful way. In many ways, it's the difference between a great house and a great home; a house is really just an object, but a home is a feeling. I want Seattle Center to foster great feelings.

Ok, so how does one go about that? Personally, I would start back at the goals of Seattle Center. One of the goals listed says "The nation's best gathering place." Finding out what this means to people in the region seems to be a good place to start. Where do people currently gather? People, in this case are defined as those in the target audience of Seattle Center. Likely this is a mix of people from the region as well as tourists. It would be helpful (perhaps it is already known?) to determine where they currently gather. Of course, finding out where they gather is just part of the equation. The more interesting part, in my opinion, is why they gather where they gather. Is it because it's convenient? Is it because that's where their friends are? Perhaps it's a cost thing, or maybe their options are limited so it's the default choice. Regardless, taking a closer look at how targeted audience members interpret "gathering place" within the context of their current lives will help shine light on what to build and how to get there.

Best laid plans -- a rant of voter registration

2007-02-04T11:20:00.000-08:00

Recently Public Radio International's This American Life had a series of stories who talked about the best laid plans of individuals not turning out as they wished. I have a similar situation with regards to voting in Seattle, WA. Apologies in advance for what is in part, a rant.

Apparently for whatever reason I have not received my ballot in the mail despite trying to get it delivered to my residence. Granted, I am not really a fan of the all mail in ballot but for a whole variety of other reasons regarding work, location of polls and the like, I get it (or at least try) delivered to my residence.

On at least two different occasions, I have tried to change my mailing address, however for any number of reasons I do not seem to get my ballot in the mail. The first was several months ago where a local nonprofit was helping to register voters (in addition to helping voters who moved change their address which was my situation. ) By the time the next election showed up, I did not receive a ballot. I contacted the nonprofit and was assured that the forms were mailed in, and I was directed to call the vote hotline (206-296-VOTE). I called them and then proceeded to ensure that my mailing information was changed. Regardless, I still did not receive a ballot and I ended up going to the Board of Elections. There, I also made sure to fill out a form to verify my address was changed, and I marked myself as permanent absentee. I also received a ballot for that particular election cycle. All was good, or so I thought. Turns out, with this latest election regarding school levies, I still did not receive a ballot at home.

Thinking that it may have been delayed in the mail, I waited for a week or so. Now with the election less than a week away though, I needed to do something to ensure I vote. Just last week, I finally had the chance to go down to the Board of Elections (again) to try and sort this all out. While I had the option of calling, I personally prefer face to face interactions to address problems. Also, I was not convinced I could get resolution via the phone as that didn't seem to work in the past. Anyway, I get to their office with about 15 minutes prior to them closing, given a hectic day at work, and lack of parking around the building where the board of elections is housed. I arrive and indicate that I did not receive my ballot and I am directed to fill out a form. Instantly my guard is up given my last experience with this and I make it clear that I do not want a repeat of my prior situation (filling out a form and not getting a ballot in the next cycle.) The gentleman who is talking with me explains how that should not have happened (duh) and proceeds to investigate why that may have been the case. It turns out that following my last attempt to change my registration, my residence and method of voting should have been ok. Unfortunately, it also appeared that a voter registration card came back to them from the post office and I was then removed from permanent absentee voting. It was unclear if the voter registration card was from the last time I filled out a form at their office, or if it was from the first time I filled out the address change and the timing just overlapped. Regardless, somehow my voter registration card with my current address was returned to the board of elections and I was removed from the list of people to receive an absentee ballot. I was instructed to talk with the post office to find out why my voter registration card was not delivered. Crazy, huh?

While the gentleman at the board of elections showed me the timeline of things associated with my account, I found this a little strange that my card would be returned. First off, I haven't stopped my mail at all. Also, I live literally across the street from the post office. I see them every day arriving to work when I leave for work. I know their schedules intimately from when the trucks show up and who all drives what car. That they could not deliver a voter registration card to me seems a little strange given that I seem to get a lot of other mail -- bills, advertisements or other.

In addition to finding it strange that I was flagged not to receive an absentee ballot, I was also concerned about all of the other folks who would not necessarily (or who could not) take the time to go and talk to someone about not receiving a ballot. From my experiences working as a poll worker (in Chicago, granted) I know how the access to vote, or the perceived access, was one of many ways in which a voter could be disenfranchised. I expressed my concerns as to the overall process and the worker at the Board of Elections ( I really should have got his name) then went on to explain that I was not technically removed from the polls, but rather I would no longer receive a ballot in the mail as it was automatically done when voter registration cards were returned. He explained that was fairly common (?!) and people could still vote at their polling location. I did not know that, and was glad to learn that I was at least still registered. He also went on to explain that I would be eligible to vote on a provisional ballot. He also said I could have called all of this in and they would have attempted to get me a new ballot prior to the election. There were other specifics, but by this time, I was still stuck on the fact that this whole process was rather silly. Wanting more time to read through all of my options, and finding out the specifics, I inquired as to where I could find more information hoping that I could get a pamphlet or something. Instead, I was directed to the website, and was then also instructed that this information could be obtained via email or on the phone. After checking the website I found no mention of these alternatives.

While I appreciate all of these options (searching the web, calling the board of elections, talking to my local post office, going to the board of elections, going to my polling place, emailing, etc) I must say that this whole thing is ridiculous. Why does this election system seems so stacked against the voter? Shouldn't I be drop dead simple for a citizen of the United States to be able to vote? I was initially going to say "registered" citizen…but then I realized that act of registration is rather silly in and of itself. We all have Social Security numbers. We all pay taxes. Somehow with all of that the government is able to find us. Why can't local boards of elections then find us for the elections that happen in our area? Why do we even need to register at all?

Aside from this notion of registration, I'm also wondering about the so called benefits of vote-by-mail. Though the benefits regarding voter participation with mail in voting seem are favorable, my experiences thus far, gives me all the more reason to oppose it. Aside from decreasing the significance shared experiences for a community, any system that is this fragile -- e.g. the reg card is returned by a dependent system, voter no longer receives the ballot, and information is not readily or consistently available as to their options -- certainly seems to hinder and/or discourage people from voting. The cynic in me says this is purposeful, but I may have been watching too many episodes of the X-Files or something.

Anyway, critiquing the system of voting in and of itself will not change much. Can it be better? Of course. Ultimately though, no matter how good the system is, if people are not actually motivated or inspired to vote, we will never have the active and engaged citizenry that the Founders envisioned so many years ago. Now, if there were only more flow like principles designed into civic action :-)

Forums for a civic process -- Seattle Center

2007-01-30T21:14:00.000-08:00

Forums for Seattle Center? This should be interesting. It's nice to see that the Forum has some starter content. I also like that there are basic guidelines posted, though I would have made the guidelines a "sticky" post in ideas forum, rather than it being a standalone post in a different forum. While we're talking about suggestions, I also would have waited on the blog post until all of the forum topics as outlined in the welcome message were live. Anyway, I could go on about community building via blogs or forums, but that is way too close to my day job :P

Tech / community strategy aside, it is encouraging to see outreach through a variety of means -- open house sessions, blogs, and now forums. I do wonder how all of this is going to work from a macro level. For example, there are meetings posted (as a pdf) on the 21st Century page of Seattle Center. This schedule lists a "Public Forum for Organizations" on January 30th. The blog, in reference to the same meeting, says that it is a proposal deadline for anyone (individuals and organizations) to submit a one page summary vision for air time with the committee. Based on the content recently posted in the Forums and on the blog post talking about the meeting, it is clear that the public meeting on the 30th was not solely for organizations as originally stated on the schedule. How does an inconsistency such as this get resolved with the venues (blogs, forums, website) present? Is there a definitive place for all of the information? Better yet, is there a way to ensure consistency of information across venues?

Something else to consider...the Forums seem to imply that they exist for capturing other ideas / summaries not already raised (in meetings or elsewhere) while having content for people to discuss. If that is the case, I'm unclear as to why there was a deadline for proposals in the first place if it would all happen online anyway. Granted, I'm not privy to any of the inner workings of the overall plan, so this may make a lot more sense than what I've seen so far.

Of course, I realize that what Seattle Center is undertaking with the blog , and now forums, is still a work in progress. While there are things I would personally change with what I've seen, ultimately I am excited that folks at the Seattle Center are bringing innovation and leadership to a new civic process for the 21st Century. I look forward to working with folks to bring about even more amazing things for all of us.

First public meeting for Seattle Center redesign

2007-01-26T07:38:00.000-08:00

Wednesday night I attended the first public hearing for reimagining Seattle Center for the next 20 years. Though I was skeptical at first, being one of the few dozen or so folks there not affiliated with the work thus far, and not to mention me being one of the few individuals under the age of 40, I liked what I saw.

Just to recap how the public hearing was organized, when you first enter the Lopez and Fidalgo rooms at Seattle Center there is someone there to greet you as you sign in. They give you a quick overview of how the evening will proceed -- there are stations throughout the room for public comment, volunteers who have helped with the process thus far will be at each station to talk with you about your ideas, a brief presentation will occur halfway through the evening, and the overall goal is to gather as much public input as possible. Essentially this was how Collaborate! was organized, though this iteration put forward by Seattle Center seemed to take it up a notch.

At each station, Seattle Center provided a backgrounder of the topic area (transit, events, specific buildings, etc) being discussed at that station. A map of the center, with the related parts highlighted as appropriate, were presented alongside any conceptual images that may exist. In the case of a revised theater district on Mercer Street, concept images of a revamped Intiman and Reparatory theaters were presented. Additionally at each station there were questions posted on a large sheet (about 10 feet high and 4 feet wide) for people to place note cards as responses to the questions. Participants could also take a dot to voice support for an existing comment if they so chose. The questions typically followed the same pattern -- what draws you currently, what would you change, and other.

In terms of the volunteers at each station, not only were they intimately knowledgeable about the topic area at hand, but they would help flesh out suggestions from participants. Sometimes the volunteers would actually write down the ideas described by the participants themselves. While this may seem to be antithetical to the notion of having the people submit their own words into the process, from what I was able to see / overhear, the volunteers were very good at ensuring that the words captured on the cards accurately reflected the intent of the participant. This leads me to believe this method of data collection was not so much as to serve as a filter as it was to help capture the ideas of people who might not be able to write for whatever reason. To some degree this may have also been used to help standardize the handwriting so it would be easier for people to read.

All in all, I liked the event. That being said, there is always room for improvement. First and foremost, food and beverages should be available at meetings of this nature. Given the time of day (5:30 - 8:00 pm) this might help keep people engaged and alert. Also, it would be great to have (and this may be in the works already) each of the "stations" appear as separate blog posts to engage people online. Following on the theme of technology, what about having interactive kiosks with webcams and or sound recording (think podcasts) for people to give their feedback and thoughts about the work thus far? A recent PBS documentary did something similar to this. In a way it's similar to the work of StoryCorps or Densho. These means of recording (video or audio) could be something stationary or it could be more mobile to get a wider range of participants. Also, folks may want to consider posting the video footage and still pics of the event online. Using existing services like Soapbox, YouTube, Flickr or the like would be fine to help implement it quicker, and also it enables it to be spread throughout a wide variety of blogs (mine, for example, but hopefully some with more traffic -- lol)

Anyway, thanks to all the volunteers who helped last night. And thanks to all who planned the first public hearing. Even though I get the sense that the next meeting will be similar, I look forward to attending. Don't worry, I won't try to skew the data towards things I already voiced support for -- multi-seasonal amphitheater for more intimate music and entertainment performances, a farmers market, more walkable, more bikeable, transit hub, etc. Instead, I hope to have more ideas fleshed out around this notion of helping to make Seattle Center a "first date kind of place." (My thanks go out to Karen Keist who helped me think of it during our discussion of open space at the center). I should have more ideas around what this actually looks like at the next meeting.

For additional coverage, check out Seattle Center's blog, or the KOMO-TV Report

Achieving that flow state for user experiences

2007-01-23T20:27:00.000-08:00

What would happen if you took great game design principles and applied them to product development for something other than games? Would you get a really fun and engaging product? Or would you get a product that completely misses the mark? I don't know the answer just yet, but I suppose that is one of the good things about iterative product development :-)

In terms of what I've been able to gather so far, there's a few different variations on the theme with regards to this general notion of flow and or fun. According to social architect Amy Jo Kim, the elements to pay attention to with regards to game design include:

Collecting
Points
Feedback
Exchanges
Customization

Another writer on this topic of games and design, DanC, has these elements listed:

Action
Blackbox
Feedback
Mastery

According to a recent report about the motivational pull of video games (pdf), the following criteria are listed:

Autonomy
Competence
Presence
Intuitive
Relatedness

All of these items seem to be related to this broader concept of flow. Flow is perhaps best described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi where he lists the following as the principle elements that facilitate this space:

Challenge
The ability to concentrate on that challenge
Clear goals
Immediate feedback
Deep involvement on the part of the participant
Sense of control over one's actions
The concern for one's self decreases
Sense of time is skewed

To put it in a more user friendly way, Karim Lakhani and Robert Wolf (pdf) describe flow as a state that occurs when "a person's skills matches the challenge of a task." Put another way, it is when your skills, experiences and knowledge all sync up to a particular situation at hand and you are in the moment when you are at your best.

Wouldn't it be great if all the users of your products and or services felt like that all the time? Seems to me that elements of flow or good game design need to be factored into the overall product development cycle.

Building upon what I've encountered so far (I'm still going through Csikszentmihalyi's book on flow, among some other references) I would say that for product development that helps prospective and current customers achieve that flow state, the following items must be considered throughout the entire design process:

Assuming that a user does a specific action and something happens behind the scenes, the following items should be considered:

Feedback
Personalization
Connection
Mastery
Optimization

In the case of a discussion forum where someone posts a message this flow state could look like this:

Feedback -- Message appears in location selected

Personalization -- This could be as simple as providing a personalized greeting acknowledging contribution in your native language, listing your name, etc in a conversational style or as complex as a personalized email doing the same.

Connection -- Provide links to other people who posted similar content or who are interested in similar content

Mastery -- Enable a notion of leveling tied specifically to the action of posting. The more messages a user posts, the more adept they are at the interface. Acknowledge the time (no matter how small) it takes for them to post a message. Something as simple as listing the message count, or something as complex as a reputation system tied to the frequency of content creation could be implemented here.

Optimization -- "Leveling up" needs to open up new opportunities for folks to do more. As a particular individual masters a specific action, let them do more to further optimize their experience. It could be skipping steps in a workflow because they know how to best do it, or it could be granting of additional options for them in posting a message.

...

Zooming back down to my day to day with blogs and forums...my sense is that much of this already exists to varying degrees. Granted, it could tie together more. For that matter, it could even tie together flow states for both blogs and forums. There's likely a lot more here...so I appreciate any thoughts and comments folks have on all this. thanks!

(crossposted)

Equivalent to 18 sell-out Seahawks games

2007-01-17T22:43:00.000-08:00

I'm reading through some backgrounder information (pdf) about revamping Seattle Center for this day and age and came across an amazing stat.

Each year serving more than three times the annual number of visitors as Safeco Field and the equivalent of 18 sell-out regular football seasons at Qwest Field, Seattle Center is the state's top attraction.

I knew it drew in lots of people, but that's pretty impressive. To me, that just underscores the importance of holistic and regional transit solutions around that area. Unfortunately, with what is currently being discussed with regards to the viaduct vs the tunnel, I'm not hopeful that a regional solutions are even on the table.

Seattle Center is blogging too!

2007-01-17T22:28:00.000-08:00

Blogs are popping up all over the place ;-) Seattle Center is the latest to get into it. I think this is a great way of opening things up, especially as folks are focused on revamping Seattle Center.

Loosely related, on a whim some colleagues and I started talking about the notion of revamping the center for this day and age. To my surprise, I was pleased to learn that folks are talking about this right now. While it seems like I won't be actively serving on the committee (as there's been a blue ribbon group meeting for awhile already) there looks to be some options for plugging in nonetheless. Granted, the existing ways do not seem to be all that compelling in terms of really getting input into the process, however it is a start. Looks like I'll need to buckle down with folks to actually engage in a meaningful way about changes facing this civic institution.

Seattle Works blog

2007-01-17T22:25:00.000-08:00

Yay for blogging! With the recent trip to the Gulf Coast by some incredible volunteers from Seattle Works, we officially launched our blog. Not only is it great to get more visibility to the incredible things underway, but it's also helped me refocus on blogging. Expect to see more of me here on this site, and here (for work related things)

slowing down, snowing down

2007-01-11T15:59:00.000-08:00

Last night during the rush hour commute, the Puget Sound region was hit again by snow, ice and rain. Needless to say, it did not make for a fun commute. After spending about two hours waiting for a bus that never showed, I ended up hitching a ride with others trying to make it back to Seattle. Were it not for the generosity of Marcel, I don't know how I would have gotten home as the buses I could have taken either never showed or they were stuck in the ice.

While his kindness is not surprising, I still wonder why shared experiences, or shared difficulties seem to bring people closer together. A few years ago, I wrote upon this a bit...here's a little snippet from 2005:

Another example of how the unexpected can be a good thing would be what happens in Seattle when it snows. First, it rarely snows, and if it does, it rarely sticks around. So it is not that surprising that people in this city get all "weird" when it comes to snow. For days the top news story was the snow. This overall weirdness though, is somewhat unique though. At work last week when it snowed, the focus of everyone in the office was elsewhere. People worried about how to get home, some had to get their kids from school, others looked in awe at the big fluffy flakes falling from the sky. Regardless of how individuals reacted, there was this overall giddiness in the office. Likewise, it seemed that there was this sense of wonder for all experiencing the snow. Just a few years ago when it did snow heavily and stay, the city of Seattle literally shut down. Hills turned into ski slopes. Neighborhood restaurants never looked so packed. The place down the corner from me turned into a ski chalet, offering free hot chocolate to those braving the weather...

...this notion of surprise and shared experience seems key in terms of bringing people together. It seems to shake people momentarily from their day to day routine, and we are all then able to look at the world with a sense of wonder, possibility and play.

Following the big windstorms in Nov 2006, a local columnist also commented on this notion of community here

All of this makes me wonder, are we *too* distracted in this day and age of constant activity and connectedness to really be connected to one another as a community? Kathy Sierra wrote recently on how our flow seems to get disrupted with all the noise of mail, feeds and the like. Do we all just need a good old fashioned "snow day" once in awhile to better ground us so we truly are better connected to one another? As much fun as that might be, that's not a good longterm solution. I get the feeling that this magic formula of community through serendipity has to do more with this notion of flow and play in everyday life. Now, if I only knew how to bottle it ;-)

(cross posted On community...)

My name is Brian...

2006-09-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

and I'm cheating on my blog solution. I admit it, I've been blogging elsewhere.

I seem to be in a period of transition -- blogs, work, etc. For the handful of folks interested, I'm posting thoughts over at Spaces hereand here. Oh, I'm also on del.icio.us here if you want to know what's been catching my eye.

Where and when will all this stuff sort itself out? I'm not sure just yet. At the moment, I seem to be leaning towards Spaces with the whole Messenger gleaming integration...but who knows. I'll continue to post here time to time (as well as all the other places) until I sort this all out.

Reading list from my summer break

2006-08-28T17:36:00.000-07:00

Vacation is a great time for reflection and reading. Over the last few weeks, I had the opportunity to finish several books including:

Naked Conversations -- light reading on business blogging basics. didn't really learn anything new, other than background info on blogging at MS

Free World -- started a while ago, and finished it on the train from NYC to Baltimore. Rather interesting and timely in light of all the happenings in the Middle East and all

The Long Tail -- expansion of an earlier article posted in Wired. Still have several questions with regards to the role of The Long Tail and local civic or political life. Choice is one thing when it comes to buying things, but connecting with others is different, especially when civics and politics are factored into the equation.

Republic.com -- Been meaning to read this ever since I picked up Bowling Alone years ago. This dives deeper into some of my unresolved questions from reading The Long Tail, while addressing broader legal and societal concerns.

Kafka on the Shore -- pure "fluff" when compared to everything else I've been reading. There's not too many fiction writers I follow, but Murakami is one of them. Beatifuly written, disturbing as always, and difficult to put down.

Affiliation as it relates to reputation

2006-08-22T22:43:00.000-07:00

I first noticed it with Yahoo! Avatars and their sponsorship of WorldCup. Mixed in with jerseys from various teams, you could choose your cause such as One.org, Breast Cancer awareness, World AIDS day, and the like. Now according to a recent article, YouthNoise and Meez are getting into this game as well.

YouthNoise, a community meant to inspire and empower young people to catapult their passion and idealism into movements that sustain the planet, teamed up with Meez, a company that helps people create their own 3D avatars. For some time, Meez has hosted virtual clothing by real life brands. It makes sense that virtual cloting for causes would take shape.

All this has me thinking about one's overall reputation and representation online. With services like Yahoo! Avatars, Meez, Acheivements on Xbox, or even tagging on 43 People, isn't affiliation with a group or cause an important part of reputation? The actions that done by people (online or off), the time they spend with a product or service, and the content (information) they share all help others gauge the relevance of content found online. Does it not go to reason that one's affiliations can also play a role in helping others gauge the value of the contributions of another online?

Also, what of overall preferences? What else could be shown/discovered to help provide people with a greater context with who they find online? What would this look like? Where would it show? To whom would it be shown? Also, what would it look like if you and others could upload tags/clothing/etc for others to see? What sort of control would you have over your profile according to others? Is that even a concern?

Certainly there comes a point when too much information right off the bat is just not useful at all. But what is that threshhold? Who determines it? What may be relevant information for you in evaulating content contributed by someone online may be worthless to me.

Anyway, lots of thoughts to ponder. Thankfully, it's still early with all of this and we're all just getting started.

back, and almost ready to play

2006-08-21T10:04:00.000-07:00

After a trip to the East Coast to visit family and friends (Boston, NY, upstate NY, Baltimore), I'm now back in Seattle catching up with the latest happenings. Right now, I'm checking out Windows Live Writer, and it seems pretty cool. Supposedly it is well integrated with maps such as ~~Windows Live Local.~~ Let's see if that's the case...

[map deleted]

Apparently it's actually branded as a Microsoft Virtual Earth map, rather than Windows Live Local. Hmmm. Might just be weird branding stuff. At any rate, I think I'll keep experimenting with this tool to see what all it can do.

Update -- Apparently the image upload, at least with this map, is not working though Blogger supports image uploads. I have deleted the map in hopes of publishing this post.

A Netroots Victory

2006-08-09T14:13:00.000-07:00

I haven't followed the Lamont v Lieberman primary race too closely, but from what I understand, there is no denying the impact of the internet in securing Lamont's primary win over Lieberman. This is quite exciting for someone who has followed the impact of online communities on local politics -- it is all about community afterall.

Related links:
CNet -- Lieberman defeat a win for 'Netroots' politics?
YouTube Nedheads group
The Nation -- Ned Lamont's Digital Constituency

The Long Tail on the local level?

2006-08-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

I've been reading Chris Anderson's The Long Tail recently, and I can't help but wonder what the impact of the long tail is on communities, boradly speaking. On the one hand, the whole notion of people finding their niche is a great exaple of communities coming together. On the other hand, if everyone finds their own individual niche, does that encourage balkanization? What happens to communities on the local level? Perhaps the book addresses this later. In the mean time, I'm still pondering how the Long Tail translates on a broader, societal level.

Card readers and eye contact

2006-08-04T13:37:00.000-07:00

Kudos to my wife for pointing this out, but in recent shopping trips at Target, Safeway and QFC she noticed that how card readers were used impacted the amount of eye contact between the cashier and the shopper. Specifically:

In Target, the card reader takes the card into a machine, and gives the purchaser instructions on what to do. The cashier, without anything to do, bags the items being purchased. The only eye contact that may occur is when the cashier turns the receipt to the purchaser (provided it's not placed directly in the bag)

In Safeway, the overall experience is similar. While the card reader machine does not take the card during the transaction, all instructions are posted on the little card reader screen. Interaction with the cashier is minimal, though they make it a point to thank you by name (provided you have one of their club cards). Presumably this is meant to personalize the experience, however if you have a difficult to prounounce name, it becomes more of a hindrance to that personal touch.

In QFC, the checkout experience is most varied. On the one hand, they have the self-check out stands where you do not need to interact with another human being. On the other hand, the check out experience in a line by a credit card is the most personable of the three stores sampled. Instead of sliding the card and following all instructions on a screen, to run the credit card, you give the card to the cashier. The cashier then hands you a slip to sign, and you return it to them. Though it seems to vary on the cashier, whether or not they check your signature, the amount of eye contact, and potential eye contact puts both Target and Safeway to shame.

There are no profound insights here regarding credit card readers, or customer loyalty programs. Rather, the only observation here is on how tech can help or hinder actual interaction between people depending on how it is used.

DOPA passed the House

2006-07-28T08:32:00.000-07:00

Yikes! The US. House of Representatives passed the Deleting Online Predators Act. should this pass the US Senate, this will drastically change the way people connect and share information with one another online.

Seventeen and Myspace team up for CGM, PSAs

2006-07-07T13:00:00.000-07:00

Enough acronyms in there? ;-) Myspace and Seventeen Magazine have partnered to solicit consumer generated media, in the forms of public service announcement videos, on "an issue that's important to you." The winner will be profiled on Myspace and in Seventeen.

With the popularity of YouTube, it's no surprise that people are wanting a piece of the consumer generated media pie. Having it focused on a public service announcement on an issue that the creators care about, that sounds a lot like the Current TV model. More importantly though, the generational target audience of both Seventeen and Myspace have shown to be socially conscious and technically savvy at the same time. I'll even be bold enough to say that more initiatives like this (merging of CGM and a social conscience) will become the norm shortly.

Wikipedia founder moves into poiltics

2006-07-07T12:54:00.000-07:00

On July 4th, founder of Wikipedia Jimmy Wales announced a new initiative to provide wikis for the political sphere.

This website, Campaigns Wikia, has the goal of bringing together people from diverse political perspectives who may not share much else, but who share the idea that they would rather see democratic politics be about engaging with the serious ideas of intelligent opponents, about activating and motivating ordinary people to get involved and really care about politics beyond the television soundbites.

While there is certainly an audience of wiki-philes and political types (nod to Church of the Customer), what of everyone else? How do you engage the majority of folks who are seemingly too busy or disinterested to bother participating civically? I don't claim to have the magic bullet, but I'm certainly trying a few different things to get folks more involved locally.

Loosely related (nod to Ypulse) here's some recent research questioning whether or not cynicism leads to apathy.

Ken Lay's death and Wikipedia

2006-07-07T12:53:00.000-07:00

This recent article is amusing. Isn't this the point of a wiki? Information is updated as it becomes available. How is this different than say a wire service and it's early reports?

Buffett and the Gates Foundation invests in our future

2006-07-07T12:49:00.000-07:00

Given my community focus, it is hard to not think about all of the possibilities with the recent news surrounding the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Not only will Bill Gates be focusing the majority of his attention on the foundation in 2008, but now Warren Buffett is donating the majority of his wealth to the foundation. Kudos to the Gates' and Mr. Buffett for immensely inspirational work.

Of course, with my great hope for the future work of the Gates Foundation, it also raises many questions as to the changing face of philanthropy in general. Will there be consolidations between foundations? Will others divert their energies to other causes? Will this be a dis-incentive to non-billionaires or millionaires? Or could it inspire more to give?

Can the 800 pound gorilla survive the onslaught?

2006-07-07T12:47:00.000-07:00

With increased scrutiny by media (here and here), Myspace seems to be holding up to the security concerns. They may prove to even withstand election-year politics by Congress. The big question that remains is whether or not they can survive the hackers that inevitably come with being a rather large site with a target on it's back.

Focus on the end game

2006-07-07T12:46:00.000-07:00

I've been working a lot with changing community technology lately, and while I am a firm believer in communities being more than the sum of the technology that brings people together, the tech also matters a great deal. Think of a coffee shop, for example, being replaced by one of those automated coffee machines. While you can still get a cup of coffee, it certainly leaves a different taste in your mouth. Robert Scoble also talks of a similar notion -- of using the right tools for the job, to describe the benefits of podcasting as opposed to say a blog or RSS feed. Why mention any of this?

For anyone looking at technology and community -- pay special attention to your end goals (there are many ways to serve a cup of coffee). Every decision, technical and otherwise, will drastically impact the community in any number of ways.

What is community?

2006-07-07T12:40:00.000-07:00

Working with communities, online and offline, I find it's helpful to make sure there's a common language from which to build. Take the notion of community, for example. What exactly does it mean? For me, community is the end result of purposeful interactions between people over time around shared interests or activities.
I'm curious as to what others think about this working definition of community. Post away in the comments :-)

*Update*
After a conversation with a friend of mine in Chicago, she was quick to point out that that alone will not make a community -- someone needs to initiate. Whether it's asking a question of others or holding some sort of event…something needs to help move the community forward.

i'm not dead yet...

2006-05-16T14:10:00.000-07:00

just been buried. latest projects include wikis, forums, mapping and communities among other things including leadership development, and Seattle Works Day.

there's lots to catch up on -- will be getting back into the mix of things shortly.

Social Software for Social Change?

2006-02-21T21:02:00.000-08:00

Kara Jessella asked recently whether or not sites like MySpace and Flickr can be a valid tool for progressive social change in a recent AlterNet article, especially in light of who may be owning the tech infrastructure behind it.

The more I work with online communities, and the more I explore different technologies, the more I believe it depends on the end goal. How do you define social change? Is it that a certain piece of legislation is changed? Is it a certain political outcome? How are folks defining success when talking about social change? Is it staying true to a particular set of beliefs?

For me, it's really about moving the ball forward. If tech helps you get more supporters, greater visibility, or anything that helps add to the momentum that you have, it's a good thing. Social change is a rather incremental process; it's rarely something that happens overnight, and only with long hours, persistence and dedication will it occur. As we all remember the legacy and incredible work of Coretta Scott King, her work (and that of her late husband) remains unfinished to this day. Yes, advances have been made, and hopefully they will continue, but there was not one isolated event that allowed people to say, "Ok, we're done now."

Tech is great. It makes things a lot easier in terms of communication, organizing and the like. Heck, it already has opened up new ways of organizing. We need not look too far to see how mobile communications have impacted things from politics to terrorist attacks. As with any tool, it can be a good thing, a bad thing, or neutral by design. How we use it will ultimately determine it's worth.

Related link:
8by1 -- think of this as 43things focused specifically on making the world better

If a picture is worth a thousand words...

2006-01-24T19:43:00.000-08:00

After reading Nancy White's post A Few Flickr Flights of Fancy I got to thinking about what thousands of pictures are worth? Too much to think about? How about something more focused on a particular topic or population? After talking with the International District Housing Alliance's program manager for the Wilderness Inner-city Leadership Development Youth Program about the Community Perspectives Project, I started thinking about the power of photo sites like flickr for social, civic, and overall change.

To understand the thinking behind this, it probably helps to understand a bit more about the Community Perspectives Project. Briefly this project was to engage stakeholders of the International District (residents, youth, visitors, business owners, etc) in a dialogue about their perspectives of the neighborhood. The role of technology came into play through ComNET and Photovoice. ComNET stands for Computerized Neighborhood Environmental Tracking. Photovoice is a tool that gets cameras into the hands of people often left out of the decision making process. Surveys, focus groups and community presentations were also a component of this project. My main interest in this project centers on how they essentially repurposed the tech towards an engaging, social project. (I also think this is just a great idea in general)

Now does it make more sense about where I'm going with the whole flickr notion? The possibility that I see with Flickr has already been realized to an extent, given MoveOn's forray into this. I'd be curious to see what would happen if you take it a step further -- do something like Photovoice where the photographers collaborate, put their thoughts, visions and such into their own words and visuals. Have them go through a vetting process and the like to determine which is the best photo, and all. It's not so much about the tech, but how people interact with one another as supplemented by the tech. Have debates, have discussions about which photo should be selected for a wider viewing, or whatever else is appropriate. Really it's bringing people together, with the assistance of tech, and the end result of building community.

Another way of looking at this is how any photo sharing service plugged into a blog or something could be a new iteration of Photovoice or the family photo albums that users upload on the original Sims site? Not only would the groups who created the pics be able to share, but others can chime in with comments and all too. It becomes more of a dynamic conversation rather than static images. Images are powerful because of how they affect us as individuals and as a community.

oops...

2006-01-17T15:23:00.000-08:00

it seems in my excitement around Benjamin Franklin's 300th birthday, I got a little excited and jumped the gun last week. oops. at least i get another chance to do good.

Turns out i didn't do any good that day anyway, at least not in the Benjamin Franklin sense. Today is looking better so far. Getting a project up and running to 1) find out what people would most like help with, and 2) pairing them up with folks in the community to help them. I know there are lots of sites that help with this already -- showing you your goals, people with similar goals, and also those who've done them. This is sort of in that vein, but smaller in scale, and more of a personalized touch to foster maximum interaction between the parties involved. Should be an interesting little experiment. I'll report back as things get going.

Later today, I'm also meeting with someone who ran a program connecting youth, tech and seniors in Seattle. Go here for a video summary of the project (real). More detailed description below:

International District Housing Alliance Community Perspectives 6/27/2005
A story of how WILD (Wilderness Inner-city Leadership Development), a youth program within the International District Housing Alliance program has used technology and a partnership between local youth and elders to strengthen the voice of residents in the international District neighborhood. In an approximately thirty square block neighborhood where more than forty languages are spoken, historically it has been difficult for residents effectively speak for themselves in the larger City system. See how local youth and elders use photography, multi-language interviews, and Personal Desk Assistants to use diversity as an asset and work toward removing language as a barrier to democracy.

A Day On...

2006-01-16T15:35:00.000-08:00

First off, I fully admit I've been a hypocrite today. As many in the US today recognized and celebrated the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a day-on, I was at the office.

Regardless, I applaud everyone who is honoring King's legacy by volunteering in their community today. There can be no greater tribute for a man who not only worked towards civil rights in this country, but later on in his life saw the need to oppose the Vietnam War, and start a campaign against poverty. I'm not a historian, nor am I an expert in all things related to Dr. King, but to me his work seems to be that of love for this community we call humanity. Regardless of color, or social status, etc, his words and actions show an incredibly deep love the human family. By giving back to our local communities with a day on, you too can honor this legacy.

Some relevant links for today's MLK Jr. Celebrations:

Heed Dr. King's words, Atlanta mayor urges
Stanford University -- Articles by the Staff of the
King Papers Project
MLK Jr Speech, "I've Been to the Mountaintop" (text and mp3)
The King Center
I May Not Get There with You : The True Martin Luther King, Jr. reviews

Happy Birthday Ben!

2006-01-10T11:41:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of this space, I want to wish Benjamin Franklin a wonderful 300th birthday. While none of my accomplishments are even remotely on the scale of his, it is good to know that we both seem to have a passion for technology and civics. Here's an article from the Seattle Times talking about celebrations planned in his honor.

Also, I thought this was a nice little blurb about Benjamin Franklin and civics in general:

Civic Visions tells the story of Franklin’s involvement with the founding of several key philanthropic, educational and civic institutions. From self-improvement, Franklin turned his attention to improving the community around him, asking himself, “What good shall I do this day.” Franklin, and a group of eleven working-class friends, known as the Junto were at the core of several Philadelphia institutions that were founded in the mid-18th century on behalf of the citizens of that city. Many of these institutions, such Pennsylvania Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania continue today, and the account of their founding will be told in this section, focusing on the universality of this group of new institutions— basic to any new, rapidly growing community.

from http://www.franklin300.com/exhibit.htm

What good shall I do today?

On the tip of my brain

2006-01-04T16:11:00.000-08:00

It's one of those times again when the forces that be are throwing things at me hoping I get an "A ha" moment. Whether or not this is the right "A ha" remains to be seen, but this broad notion of creativity is hitting me like a hammer lately.

First -- I've been reading The Big Moo ever since Jackie Huba and Ben McConnel sent me an unexpected copy of the book. Basically, the two of them along with 31 other thought leaders submitted essays on how to be remarkable. Many of the essays also focused on this notion of creativity.

Second -- Working with a casual game community, I can't help but follow happenings with community and games. ARGs is probably the best manifestation of this that insprires me to dream. In my opinion, play goes hand in hand with creativity. And with the growing influence of entertainment in day to day life, this sort of thing will be even more relevant.

Third -- The latest Fast Company has an article on something called Breakthrough Cafes. Some related information can be found at Idea Champions. This sounds a bit reminiscent of discussions I've had around the notion of Mind Camp, or some sort of conference a la the Pyramid-type events put on by Seattle Works.

So...all of those things coming together around the same time makes me wonder...how can I take it to the next level? There are certainly opportunities with Seattle Works, ACLF, or the Guiding Lights Network. And no doubt there are countless more opportunities. It's just a matter of focusing on a handful, be successful, and move from there.

Politics and Media

2006-01-03T20:43:00.000-08:00

It's amazing what slight differences there are between Seattle and Vancouver, BC. The other week, my partner and were up there to get away for a few days. We met up with some of her friends from school and ate well as usual.

What was interesting about this trip was that it was in the middle of campaign season for Canada's government. I don't know if this only happens during elections, but I found it fascinating that while channel surfing late at night, I stumbled across a channel devoted to campaigns throughout the provinces called CPAC. Think of this as a mix between the History Channel, CSPAN and a cable news station. From a casual observation of the programming it was a mix of debates, features with potential voters, and candidate interviews. The reporters asked substantive questions and there was enough information to provide some historical context. Makes me wonder what something like this would look like in the States?

Also related to media and campaign coverage, while reading the paper in a cafe, I stumbled across an interesting assertion in The Globe and Mail (reg required):

Internet blogs also seem to have less influence in an issues-based campaign. Blogs thrive in negative campaigns. They counter misleading statements by politicians, challenge party advertising messages and expose media manipulation, bias and errors. Highlights from their postings can end up influencing coverage in the mainstream media.

So far, it seems there's less for blogs to chew over when policies dominate the campaign and media coverage.

All this suggests there's enough different in media coverage of the first half of this campaign that, if the parties focus on the negative in January, they may be surprised to find it less effective than in the past.

Not following Canadian politics all that much, I can't speak to how accurate this statement is, though it does seem to make sense. That is, if a campaign or it's supporters aren't playing defense or offense the whole time, and instead focusing on the issues at hand, the tone of the conversation is vastly different. Now wouldn't that be novel!

Consolidation can lead to consumer wins

2005-12-19T13:25:00.000-08:00

It seems like the frenzy over AOL has finally ended with exclusive deals with Google and AOL. This isn't quite like the Googlezon as predicted in EPIC 2014 (and EPIC 2015)but it certainly bears watching.

Indeed, Wired has a recent article on Who's Afraid of Google? Everyone. Sure, much of this is probably competition, some likely has to jealousy...but suffice to say the landscape has changed dramatically from just a few years back.

I have no idea what the future holds, but as more companies like Microsoft introduce services like Live.com to better compete against Google, ultimately it seems that the end user wins. As more folks find tools that help amplify their voice, the better. As more folks find others with similar ideas, the better. The challenge will always be how do you balance empowerment, self-selection, community and a vibrant marketplace/diversity of ideas and voices?

Not ready for prime time -- wikipedia

2005-12-19T13:24:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while -- I have to remember -- not everyone is online as much as I am. Lots of folks do not know the difference between a wiki and a blog. Likewise, many do not see what the fuss about podcasts and RSS is all about. By and large, these incredible tools still seem to be in the early adopter phase.

Sure, mainstream journalism is talking about this stuff a lot more. Go to any website for a major metro paper and you're likely to find some reference to a blog, feed, or even podcasts. Still doesn't mean the average person gets it, or knows what to do with it.

A prime example of this would be the whole hoopla over Wikipedia and the JFK assasination. To recap briefly, there was a prank done on wikipedia related to the JFK assassination. No one let the person indicted in the prank in on the joke, and they responded with an Op-Ed to the USA Today. Much controversy arose, many wrote about it, even Nature got into the fray.

This whole fuss reminds me of a previous post on wikis. Currently, it seems that wikis are best used in certain circumstances with the right expectations from all users/consumers. The LA Times experiment was a prime example of what can go wrong with a wiki, while Esquire seemed to do all right. Additionally, the whole Seigenthaler issue seems to be one of not really understanding what a wiki is, or can be.

Until a *much* broader segment of the users on the web understand what any of this stuff (wikis, blogs, etc) can do, I would not be surprised if more flare-ups such as this one occur again.

Bowling Alone no more?

2005-12-08T08:47:00.000-08:00

This may be a bit of a stretch regarding what most consider to be "technology” but it does relate to community and game play.

I was recently in a Barnes and Noble or Borders the other day and I was surprised to see an inordinate amount of games for sale alongside the best sellers. Sure, finding books on poker, crosswords and sudoku are to be expected, but actual board games such as Age of Empires or World of Warcraft (games that are traditionally computer / internet based games)? Not only that, but there were a lot of niche board games that I would only expect to read about on boardgamegeek.com All of this was rather unexpected. Of course, favorites such as Monoploy and Scrabble were readily found.

Maybe it's my naivety, or maybe it's been a long time since I set foot in a bookstore like that, but regardless, I think this is a good thing. Games are no doubt close to my heart -- perhaps more so after working with the casual game community for several years. There's something quite wonderful abut challenging oneself (in terms of things like crosswords and sudoku) and also about playing with others in games like chess, Monopoly or whatever.

A few years ago, Robert Putnam wrote about the decline of social capital in Bowling Alone. I don't know what the recent statistics are for bowling, but if the amount of games sold in stores is any indication, I would think that Putnam was wrong.

changing workforce demographics

2005-12-05T12:52:00.000-08:00

As baby boomers begin to retire, and those in Gen Y enter the workforce, a whole variety of issues can manifest in the office. A few weeks ago, the USA Today did a story on Gen Y in the workforce. More recently, Business Week is getting into the game.

Loosely related, this reminds me of a recent conversation with a friend of mine who's worked with youth over the years. She discussed the ever changing role of tech -- how email is not too efficient in reaching youth, but IM and mobile phone use was. Also, we talked about some new studies looking at how people use their thumbs. For example, did you know that there's been studies showing that people are now favoring their thumbs when ringing a doorbell?

Seems to me that to really look at how tech and community intersect, I need to focus on what is going on with those still in middle school. (note to self, read Ito's research on mobile culture) Though they are already a force to be reckoned with, watch out when they take the international work/political/social world by storm.

out of the ordinary

2005-12-05T09:43:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about this topic for a bit -- this notion of surprise, and how what is unplanned can be a good thing in terms of community.

My first example would be at MindCamp and the lack of internet access. Though it was billed and planned as having a mesh network, things didn't work out as planned at first. Partly due to tech, partly due to lack of nodes in the mesh network, there just wasn't any connection at first. Though this did seem to put a hamper on things, I would argue that this fostered community because 1) people were forced to focus on the topics at hand 2) people had to interact with one another 3) you had an instant ice breaker of "gee, it sucks that there's no internet" 3a) shared, common experience. Apparently, others also believed the lack of access to the internet to be a good thing as evidenced by some feedback here on the wiki.

Another example of how the unexpected can be a good thing would be what happens in Seattle when it snows. First, it rarely snows, and if it does, it rarely sticks around. So it is not that surprising that people in this city get all "weird" when it comes to snow. For days the top news story was the snow. This overall weirdness though, is somewhat unique though. At work last week when it snowed, the focus of everyone in the office was elsewhere. People worried about how to get home, some had to get their kids from school, others looked in awe at the big fluffy flakes falling from the sky. Regardless of how individuals reacted, there was this overall giddiness in the office. Likewise, it seemed that there was this sense of wonder for all experiencing the snow. Just a few years ago when it did snow heavily and stay, the city of Seattle literally shut down. Hills turned into ski slopes. Neighborhood restaurants never looked so packed. The place down the corner from me turned into a ski chalet, offering free hot chocolate to those braving the weather.

In both scenarios, this notion of surprise and shared experience seems key in terms of bringing people together. It seems to shake people momentarily from their day to day routine, and we are all then able to look at the world with a sense of wonder, possibility and play.

A new kind of philanthropy

2005-11-16T08:13:00.001-08:00

This has been brewing for some time, but it seems that people are wanting much more of a hands on approach when it comes to philanthropy. This is clearly evidenced by all of the ad-hoc Katrina relief efforts that Nancy White documented, and now it's getting some nice play in the New York Times. As if that were not enough, NBC Nightly News did a story last night on a teacher inspiring kids to give back, not just through money, but with their own time and energy.

"the kids realize, dollar for dollar, their money is going to be spent where they intended — to buy cows"

This whole notion of getting more hands on, of directing and driving where the money goes specifically illustrates how much people want to get involved and give back. Going back to my MindCamp experience, people are wanting to work on citywide Wifi plans to democratize and empower people with information. Others are wanting to provide tech assistance to nonprofits. All of these are very hands on means by which a person gives back to the wider community. Indeed, it's a model not unlike Social Venture Partners where people who donate become partners in the organization and then help nonprofits with different projects.

This drive for more of a hands on approach to connecting with communities is interesting. In some ways, it seems to be a response to the cynicism that has pervaded previous generations in that it says, "Ok, we don't trust the institutions but we trust that we can do this ourselves, and possibly even better." Call it one part exuberance with one part entrepreneurship. No matter what you call it though, it is a very powerful mix.

Implementation matters

2005-11-16T08:13:00.000-08:00

OhmyNews has an article on "How Myspace.com Trumped Friendster" (via Influx Insights), underscoring the importance of implementation. In the case of MySpace and Friendster, here you had two services that were essentially the same. How each of them chose to implement their offerings varried, and ultimately determined their fates. It's interesting to think that in spite of the potential of Friendster, it basically came down to marketing, tapping into the most influential users, and nurturing that community. There, MySpace succeeded where Friendster failed.

Notes from (Mind) Camp

2005-11-08T21:18:00.000-08:00

Hello Mother, Hello Father...greetings from (er, following) Mind Camp...

Yes, I was also a Mind Camp 1.0 attendee and participant. Several have already provided some nice summaries of the event (search for mindcamp1.0 tags at del.icio.us or technorati) so I won't dwell too much on them. It did intrigue me however that there seemed to be a great deal of folks interested in this broader notion of "community" or overall common good, through tech. If anything, that right there is worth the notion of holing up in an office building with 150 strangers for 24 hrs.

The first session I attended was on a discussion on the role of location based technology and community. Specifically, Kevin Moore from Microsoft wanted to know how to find interesting people with similar interests in a given area. Understandably, dodgeball, plazes, tribe, upcoming, tagging and city specific sites like Seattlest cropped up. The discussion then flowed to topics of data control, privacy, but also to what end do we want to use this information. Is it just for pure pleasure? Is it to help us have a better sense of who's around us by having a pseudo-bumper sticker of our interests and the like? Perhaps it's more purposeful than any of that by driving a community-driven marketplace for civic good, or combating our social dis-ease with one another. Or maybe, it's really a combination of all of this and other things not discussed like Playtime Inc or unimagined. At any rate, after the 45 minute session, I was intrigued at the possibilities for the rest of the event.

Later in the day, I pulled together a discussion on the role of game play, civics and technology. We started off the event with a round of Massively Multiplayer Thumb Wrestling just to get the energy flowing. What ensued after was a discussion that looked at flashmob-like events, the role of authenticity of message, organizations vs communities, reputation, surprise, play shifting expectations, and finding bridgers to connect otherwise unjoined networks...you know, just a few minor topics ;-)

Another session of note was Shelly Farnham's presentation on collaboration in the Katrina aftermath. Formerly of Microsoft Research, Shelly discussed the impact of Groove and the humanitarian relief efforts that followed Katrina in New Orleans. Some of the points focused on the intersection of the ad hoc and official relief groups, collaboration (or lack there of), and the *BIG* role of social capital were of special interest to me. The social capital aspect struck a chord with me; that people literally called those they personally knew for assistance to get something done was both exciting and sad at the same time. It's great that people connected with one another to get the assistance they needed. It's sad that the system failed to such an extent that people were left to fend for themselves. The question of how can technology help amplify the social networks of people with the end goal of assistance is a fabulous research direction. The role of helping to ensure those with limited social networks can also be effective is another key area in my book. Whether it's from the view point of those who need assistance and ensuring that they have the same opportunities and benefits as those with vast social networks, or whether it's from the standpoint of a relief worker who is new to the scene and needs to get something done...leveraging social networks for all is extremely important.

The other session that underscored community and the common good was wifi as a potential democratizing element. Korby Parnell and Jennifer Batten(?) talked of the possibilities of rolling out wifi in cities, partnering with libraries to essentially free information and overall help bridge the digital divide by making information and access more widely accessible. First, I love the concept, and I would personally like to have wifi wherever I go. I also love the intent of freeing more information, and helping people by getting information out there. However, I do not agree that these acts in and of themselves will make the divide disappear though. To me, providing the tools like wifi and access to solve social problems such as the digital divide is like saying providing a hammer and building materials will solve homelessness. Social problems facing our society, while they can certainly benefit from technology, cannot be solved by tech alone. Systematic issues as Nancy White raised, or the human factors as Liz Lawley pointed out, must be accounted for and built into the overall solution if we are to make headway on a rather complex social issue. I was a bit surprised at the level of defensiveness of some in the room at the notion that tech alone can't solve it, though at the same time, if one's experience is living proof of the bootstrap model, I can see how one might feel attacked by such an idea. Ultimately though, I was pleased that people are wanting to work towards solutions such as this. I am glad to know that there is this notion of common good and helping others in an increasingly fragmented world.

Aside from those sessions, it seemed others had this notion of connecting with others and helping people. For example, it was great to hear that folks like Kuang Chen and Alice Lin are also interested in using tech to help others in ways similar to NPower Seattle or OneNW. Through countless discussions with folks, it seems clear to me that there is this hunger for connection, for utilizing tech knowledge and expertise to help others, and simply put – community.

Overall it was a great conference. I liked the whole open space notion of it – you really get what you put into it. I met some wonderful people, and learned (unfortunately, after the fact) of more folks I'd like to talk with in greater detail. Thanks to the lock picking folks too -- great session. Now where do I get a kit? ;-) Anyway, I look forward to the next Mind Camp!

Community Design for Civics?

2005-11-02T15:45:00.000-08:00

Jane McGonigal from Avant Game posted her ARG presentation from the Austin Game Conference.

In reading through the presentation, one particular item caught my attention:

Community design is the practice of creating new metaphors for collective experience in real life.

Aside from a similar naming convention to Social Design, there's something quite intriguing about this notion. Something about ARGs has always left me with a sense of possibility. After all, here are collective experiences that actively engage people from all different points of view while fostering creativity, play and fun. You have the active participants, the teams (as applicable) the game makers and the passerby-ers. In many ways, this is not unlike the current political or civic realm in our local communities.

That being the case, what can the civic realm learn about play, excitement, and creativity from ARGs?

Beyond "clicktivism"

2005-11-02T08:10:00.000-08:00

The other day, I wrote about online petitions. Related to that, there is this broader notion that some might call "clicktivism." While I haven't found a formal definition, let's just say for the sake of discussion this is some sort of web element that gets people more involved. Generally, users are encouraged to donate, write a letter, or sign a petition online.

While it has been proven that this form of engagement can be very effective in raising money, writing letters or signing a petition not much seems to be done to tie it to the local level.

Writing letters, donating, and contacting elected officials are just a few ways of getting involved in the civic arena. What about attending public meetings to speak about an issue as illustrated in Norman Rockwell's painting? Don't want to go alone? What about enlisting a friend or a new acquaintence that you met while volunteering at a local organization?Alternatively, you can even just connect with strangers and talk about it with others as in the Conversation Cafe or Meetup model. While the last two do not really involve direct action, it does connect people within a community and lays the foundation for action by virtue of illustrating that you are not alone in your interests, and beliefs. You can then turn around and get some of them to go to an event or public meeting, or you can work on a project like, such as those run by youth at DoSomething.org.

If you are like me and want something more tangible than clicktivism, I encourage you to try any of the suggestions above. I'd love to hear how it goes for you, and also any other suggestions people might have.

What is your pain point?

2005-10-27T13:09:00.000-07:00

Amit Asaravala makes a great point about not buying into the hype of new techology when working with clients.

The theme I keep arriving at over and over when I come across new Web 2.0 technologies -- or any new technologies for that matter -- is this: What is the problem I'm trying to solve in the first place?

This is a great warning of keeping the bigger picture in mind when working with a client to meet their goals. Whether you're working with a business, nonprofit or other entity they all have particular goals they want accomplished -- they all have particular pain points to address. Don't throw tech at a problem and expect them to be all excited.

Take wikis for example, they do a lot of great things. But are they right for all clients? Just look at the difference between Esquire and the LA Times with regards to wikis.

Looking back, the key takeways from the wiki examples still ring true for me. I also would add that in addition to knowing "the pain points" one must also have keep the bigger picture in mind: institutional buy-in, a plan, and ongoing refinement.

Tech and the bigger picture

2005-10-27T13:02:00.000-07:00

With all of the energy around new tech nowadays, it's important for all of us to remember that tech is only part of it. As with any tool, it's success is dependent on a variety of factors including:

the institutional buy-in driving the project
the plan
and ongoing refinement

Institutional support is by far one of the biggest drivers of success of any implementation of technology. Corporate intranets are a prime example of this. For example, if your boss and their boss do not participate, why would you? According to my cousin who works with a university partnership with city schools, if there is no institutional support on the part of city schools, the projects by and large fail.

As for tech being only so good as the plan, this is pretty basic. An organization might say, "I want to buy xbox 360s for everyone on my team." Well, unless there is a reason, cost justification, overall plan to use them in relation to the function of the job and the like, it's simply not going to fly.

Ongoing refinement. As anyone who has ever used technology knows, the second you buy it, there's a newer and better product on the market. This is not meant to say that you must always buy new tech (though upgrades should be part of the standard operating process), however, there needs to be someone, or a team of folks constantly evaluating the existing tech, what's out there on the horizon, and overall, trying to get the most out of what tech you do have as it relates to your work. In many ways, this step is essentially ongoing management; it stresses the importance of ensuring that the current goals are met, while evaluating what's out there to make things even better for you and the organization.

the role of tv news and a democratic republic

2005-10-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

Am I starting to sound shrill about this whole TV thing? I don't know. All I know is news portrayed on television is a powerful force. Here's a recent op-ed from the Seattle Times that talks of this. Also, here's a link to a speech that Edward R. Murrow gave in the 1950s that seems just as relevant today. Ok, I'm done now. Back to your regularly scheduled weekend.

web != boogeyman

2005-10-22T07:55:00.000-07:00

I don't typically read Time Magazine (in print) nowadays. So imagine my surprise when I read about a neighboring city to the North in an article on fluoride.

Why even mention that here? Well, I was taken aback by this statement, "All this makes for a potent mix, especially when filtered through the Internet, where health-safety concerns tend to get amplified." Uhm, where did that come from? Yes, the chaff from the wheat is difficult to sort out on the internet, but then again, I would argue it's also true for other forms of communication. As to health-safety concerns getting amplified, doesn't just about everything get amplified if you shine a bright light on it? Perhaps that has something to do with that whole repetition, repetition, repetition thing?

At the very least, the article marginally redeems itself by saying how effective the web can be in terms of motivating people. You'll get no argument there.

TV as a community building tool

2005-10-22T07:41:00.000-07:00

It's rather telling that TV Guide advertises one of their site features as a means to "join the conversation" at the water cooler. To me, that's the power of television in a nutshell -- it helps people find a common frame of reference from which relationships can be formed, grow and all that good stuff we expect from communities. Television can be trivial as a passing conversation in the hall, or it could unify a nation, however briefly it may be.

Now, of course, the content on TV is fair game in my book. For example, do I really care what happens on the next episode of "Joey" when I didn't like Friends in the first place for it's dismal portrayal of a rather diverse city? Heck, no. And that's why I don't watch it. Decrying the entire television medium though, as the source of the decline of society or something like that is equivalent to saying the people who deliver mail should be fired because they delivered you junk mail.

Slight non-sequitor...all of this has me recalling all the talk of the fate of network news with Rather, Brokaw and Jennings gone from primetime. It was often cited (though I haven't found too many sources) about the population of those watching network news is much greater than those watching cable news. For those interested though, some info can be found at Journalism.org's State of The News Media report. In short, all the hype about the rise of cable news seems to be just that -- hype.

Another slight non-sewuitor -- if we are to "Get your news only through the radio and internet. (My personal choice is NPR.)" as suggested by Kathy Sierra, do we not run the risk of achieving the fictional future portrayed in epic2014? There's quite a lot of partisanship and talk of red and blue states (is that why we have purple mountain majesties"?). It's happening with our sources of information as well. Should this continue, what does that mean for this representative democracy of ours? Do we really live up to "E pluribus unum" or will we die like a chopped up snake?

Killing TV, Kills Common Experiences

2005-10-19T08:01:00.000-07:00

Just finished reading Kill the television, keep the shows from creating passionate users, and I must say that I disagree.

The main thrust of the article is that watching TV mindlessly does a lot of bad things, but a TV can also foster good things like watching dvds, playing games, etc. I would argue that TV is much more than that. TV's, by virtue of the fact that they are one of the most basic plug and play devices out there, help to facilitate a common experience for an otherwise fractured and increasingly disconnected society.

Two cases in point. Katrina and 9/11.

Starting with the most recent, Katrina was a horrific event that put a spotlight on the the tragedies that happened following the devastating hurricanes. Not only that, but it shamed many in the nation to realize that poverty, lack of basic needs, class inequalities -- all exist in a society that was mesmerized by the round the clock coverage on TV. While radio and the web certainly played a large role in what happened post-Katrina, it was the presence of live images that grabbed the conscience of a nation, and briefly woke it up from a haze.

Likewise, following 9/11 this country was glued to the TV, as was the rest of the world. Personally I could not bear to watch much of the coverage, knowing those impacted, and having walked many of those streets day in and out years ago, but still, the images on TV humanized, personalized, and unified the experience who would not otherwise have known the full scope of the destruction. Print can sorta do that. Radio can also do that to some extent. The power of images, combined with voice, sound, and words though allows tv to trump other forms of media.

True, moments such as these (thankfully) do not happen often. When they do, however, TV is the messenger that unifies this country. This power of the news, when broadcast on a television is an incredibly powerful force and should not be underestimated, especially in times of crisis, tragedy, and the like.

One of the challenges to those of us interested in using technology to foster greater civic engagement -- ie, community action -- as I see it is how do you take the best of what broadcast journalism is without the worst of scenarios that lead themselves to great coverage?

Lee LeFever Interviews Steve August, KDA Research

2005-10-19T07:58:00.000-07:00

This is interesting. Lee from commoncraft, used IM to interview Steve August, a research with KDA Research, who uses blogs to conduct research. Here's a little excerpt:

Lee: You mentioned how your new site would tell the KDA story better. What is the KDA story?
Steve: KDA Research focuses on helping companies understand their customers' world - meaning we focus on understanding how a particular product or service fits into the wider context of peoples' lives. We use a variety of research methods to do this, all based in a sociology/anthropology framework. So offline, we'll do ethnographies or on-site studies where we go out into the customer’s environment and observe people to discover opportunities for developing new products or improving current ones.
We've now started to take that ethnography framework and apply to research we conduct online.

Here's the rest of the interview on commoncraft.

Talk about using tech in different ways to further one's core mission!

Petitions online just the first step

2005-10-17T16:09:00.000-07:00

Take-Two Interactive is underfire again for one of their games -- Bully. This time, there's even an online petition hosted at petitionline.

All of this got me wondering about the effectiveness of online petitions. On one hand, it's great in that it generates press like that Business Week article. On the other hand, at least for me, I have absolutely no investment with whatever the issue is after signing a petition. How exactly does that raise civic participation? How does that get people more invested in their communities?

Back to the bully petition for example. While I can see the intent, what is being done in that particular state with regards to bullying? Some states look at anti-bullying legislation. Even on the federal level, this comes up now and again. Couldn't resources be directed towards enacting these laws locally and nationwide? If that's too broad, what about something on the local school district level?

If you choose to use an online petition to raise visibility of a cause, that's great. But remember to build from that and give people the option to do something more tangible, local and realistic to their own experiences. Whether (in the case of bullying) it's attending a school board meeting to talk of bullying, or volunteering at your kids school, etc, there's a lot of ways in which you can build greater civic engagement in addition to signing an online petition.