Archive for the ‘civic entrepreneurship’ Category
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
Tonight we convened the first Chicago Net Tuesday at “The Point” at 600 W. Chicago… thanks Aaron! We had a great turnout by Meet-Up standards… (somewhere around 30 people) … we’re shooting for the second Tuesday of each month.
The metaphor of the mash-up is perfect for our vision. We want to bring together the talents and assets and interests and needs of Chicago — Chicago techies and community activists, NPOs and others ready to give back to the community and grow the network. Fundamentally, our perspective is that while NPOs are addressing deep needs in the communities they serve, our city and the neighborhoods and professions and trades are full of resources and talents that we have but to put together in new and exciting ways. This has been my credo for some time … this perspective informed the efforts of the Chicago Digital Access Alliance and our campaign for Digital Excellence (in the context of the Citywide Wireless Initiative that wound up stalling out).
We started off the evening with an invitation to everyone to step up and join us as co-convenors for this effort going forward… we all introduced ourselves to the group and then we sunk our teeth into our first big question about what Chicago Non-Profit’s really need.
That is an important question, to be sure, but I’ve reached the point where I want to start from our strengths and assets. We need to figure out how to share our skills and talents. We don’t have to start from a scarcity mindset.
More important than the answers to the question we started with, or any alternative positive framing I might offer, is the question of conversation and story, and widening the circle of participants. What questions do we have to ask? What are the big questions that will open some real conversation for Chicago? Who do we address the big questions to? Can we ask ourselves the really hard questions?
For myself – the issue of new social technologies leaves me rather ambivalent. We have to start from our purposes, and not from the faddish new tools. We have to get clear about what we want for our city. Let our technology choices and investments stem from that vision.
Posted in civic entrepreneurship, commons, community, community informatics, EFN, ethos, excellence, flow, gift economy, GIO, grassroots, Illinois, Internet, open space, public, social justice, social source, tech development, wireless, wireless chicago | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
Philadelphia’s model has come undone. What lessons can we draw from this? The purveyors of Networks have lost all credibility. it’s time for communities, citizens, cities to build and own their own networks, grounded in open standards based technologies so we are not tied to any one vendor at any point in the process – and more than that – as I am sure Breitbart has stated much better than I – we need a much more open political planning process from the get go.
Chicago – let’s wire (and unwire) ourselves.
Posted in civic entrepreneurship, commons, ethos, excellence, grassroots, Internet, network, open source, process, public, social justice, wireless, wireless chicago | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Let’s think for a moment. Have there been any moments in your life when you have felt shame or disappointment at your/our country, or in reaction to the history of our country? is blind pride in the nation something to be praised, or is it a fatal flaw?
Surely, in our history we as a people have committed grave errors, and errors and crimes have been committed in our name, even when without our consent (and sometimes without sufficient protest).
Our public servants, our brave citizen-soldiers pledge their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. The Constitution is not “my country right or wrong” – the Constitution, and the processes and balance of structures it defines (not enshrines) are founded in values. They are an expression of values – they contest with each other to guard against corruption and to establish firm foundation for the rule of law. Extension and upholding of the rule of law is the deeper question of our global civilization.
Dissent, it is said, is the mother of assent.
We must retain the freedom to criticize our government. These freedoms are enshrined in the founding documents of our nation. This is the deeper love I have for my nation, my people. This is what our soldiers defend, This is the love our people must share with the peoples of the Earth.
Posted in aphorisms, blogospheric, civic entrepreneurship, commons, community, EFN, elections, excellence, grassroots, politics, process, public, social justice | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
G I O – Get Illinois Online. We’ve been hosting an email conversation for several years. Join the conversation.
There is also a more Chicago-centric mailing list, here:
Posted in civic entrepreneurship, civic garden, commons, community, ethos, excellence, GIO, grassroots, Illinois, Internet, network, open space, politics, process, public, social justice, strategic roadmapping, wireless, wireless chicago | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 30th, 2008
I composed a short list of some essential readings that reflect a world-view appropriate to the Internet Era, I shared it with friends studying Community Informatics and Civic Entrepreurship, two domains seeking a better world. Since I recently catalogued (part of) my personal library using LibraryThing, it makes sense to share these here as well (as they are part of my virtual library).
These writings provide a conceptual matrix for an interesting breed of Civic Entrepreneur- (it’s a partial list) … really a new model of Citizenship and Society/Polity. They aren’t new to a lot of you – and if you have other works that you think really need to be on the list, please let me know.
Movement as Network, by Gideon Rosenblatt, also: The three pillars of social source
David Isenberg’s Rise of the Stupid Network
Pushing Power to the Edges (pdf) by Jillaine Smith, Martin Kearns, Allison Fine
The Cluetrain Manifesto (Doc Searles, et al.)
Cory Doctorow’s Down & Out in the Magic Kingdom
Coase’s Penguin: (by Yochai Benkler … his book The Wealth of Networks is also recommended. There’s a wiki inviting discussion of his ideas.)
The list doesn’t represent any hierarchic ordering.
Posted in books, civic entrepreneurship, commons, community informatics, education, ethos, excellence, gift economy, grassroots, green, Internet, media history, network, open source, open space, philanthropy, politics, process, public, social justice, social source, theory, thoughts, tools | 1 Comment »
