Thought Flickr's

DemoCamp Value (?)

David Crow our good old T-Dot trouble maker has once again raised a very valid question. What is the value to the Audience in a DemoCamp.

"I’m sick of product pitches. [..] I am interested in their design process, technology lessons learned, new techniques and tools that improved development, etc."

I kinda agreed with Dave Statement and continued to  following the conversations happening on his post. Here's a couple of comments that worth considering;

Rob Hyndman : Is there value in showcasing to people who aren’t?  Media, VCs, potential strategic partners, and the like?

John Kopanas  : I MCed DemoCampMontreal and felt the local did not really create, for me, the right ambience.

Ryan : Another option would be to reserve a spot for a theoretical presentation by a prof or other luminary that would address larger issues that are (or should be) relevant to this community.

Derek : To keep the quality of the demos high and on interesting topics, you could let the community vote and pick the demos they want to see from a list of proposed presentations.

Mark Kuznicki : The authentic sense of wow comes from a show of acrobatic ingenuity, the dramatic stories of challenges overcome.

Thomas Purves : I still prefer the idea to let the community vote on presentations digg style in advance of the event.

Kieran Huggins : reformat it to more of a BarCamp format where we have several (or all) demos going concurrent and for longer periods of time.

I have been to a couple of these camps. At times participated in sleuth mode, just stand at the back and listen. Other times, hang around and chit chat over beers. I have seen some incredible stuff happening and great interaction with the tech community at these events. However, after  nearly 1 year of  democamp's, there is a tone of discord begining to araise.

I normally   do my own diggin in terms of what demo's are slotted. If there none that really interest me, I just don't go to the event. I really think that demo's should be left to the side and not included.
Rather just "A talk"  on technology by somebody - a good solid 30 minutes spill. If ppt needs to be used so be it. Another thing that I would like to see, is an open floor for questions from the audience to the audience. At times, its easier to get the ears of 100-150 peeps with simple open questions.  Create a discussion, at the event. There is no such thing as a silly question. Just give a 45 min slot and pass the mike around.. people raise their hand to ask the question. Let the audience respond. If the discussion becomes to heated. A Mod cuts in and a gong gets hit !! yeah, we dont need a Jerry Springer show happening correct ?? Or Just have the audience throw in their questions into a hat and then they get pulled out read out to the particpants. This may ensure anon mode of raising issues/ questioning too !! 

Q: Why don't more people contribute?

A: They either (a) want to withhold value that they may cash in later or, (b) they are not sure if they will get credit for their contribution. One of the most important things you can do if you manage community-based ecosystems is to highlight and thank those who particpate and give credit where credit is due.

Right now the audience believe , they are present to see a demo and hear another person's spill /pitch.  Whereas, they are have to come to the event thinking-- here is what I need to share, or here is what I need to ask. The value is the audience. IF they  interact in a manner and mode which creates value,then that becomes their take away !!

 

 

Light to Unite

Oh , this is so kewl !! Thanks for sharing Randy

"Bristol-Myers is donating a dollar to AIDS every time someone goes to their website and moves the match to the candle and lights it. Please forward this to your friends"

yeah , spread the light and create a blog post for yourself, get the word out !! My Candle number is 398086 !! :)-

Native American Day - Sept 22nd

Se:kon/Boozhoo  which mean's Greeting !! in the Seneca and Ojibway language, pronounced 'saygo' and 'booshoo' !!

The Native Indian Day is coming up soon- Sept 22nd.  I have a close relationship with the Native Indians', I trace my maternal roots back 1728 - the Mayan Indian in Yucutan.

Before America was America, this land was comprised of various tribes and tongues that were (are still are) as diverse as our modern-day melting pot. September 22nd is recognized as Native American Day this year, and though Native Americans take pride in their heritage on any occasion, this day gives reason for celebration and education. Whether you're an American Indian or not, take some time to learn more of our history pre-Columbus and take part in Native American culture.

Meegwetch ( thank you !!)

Reputation Economic's

As the world becomes flatter and as technologies spin the web, Reputation is now one of tenants of economies. Without it, nobody will listen. If markets are conversations, then reputation is the glue that will attracts these conversations.

Having played in the reputation sandbox within the omidyar network,  I can certainly say its hard to build  matrix's blocks for this vital aspect of today's commerce.  Tara has her own thoughts within this paradigm and community fostering.  In a recent reading  of the book  "your Management sucks", it begins with declaring constructive war on oneself. One must challenge the how and why of what is being done. I think that Pinko does that very effectively.

For What its worth, me is just catching idea's within the  "butterfly net" - the term I use as the next level thought process that orginates as the web spirals its way into the future.   

VC funds going to Jerusalem!!

Even VC money wants to go the "Kingdom of Heaven" - Jerusalem !!  There's an investment of $10M being seeded into Isreal for an "Internet Lab" for WEb2.0 Companies.

"Two venture capital funds, one Israeli and one American, are joining forces to set up an "Internet lab" to invest a total of up to $10 million dollars in 10 Israeli internet start-ups.

Menlo Park, Calif.-based Lightspeed Venture Partners and Herzliya-based Gemini Israel Funds, which also has an office in the Silicon Valley, intend to focus the investment in second-generation Internet initiatives, knows as Web 2.0, over the next 18 to 24 months, whether content, marketing or mobile applications"

Via :JPost

The Magic Middle- Part#2

I did my first posting on the magic middle here. I am supposed to be in the magic middel catogroy.  But Hugh points me to a nice summed up comment by Fernado; who asks -

"It is also where I would like to see us ask theological questions. Instead of being in thrall to power, to A-lists and to top -down hierachies, maybe we should start by looking at what is going on in this magic middle."

I speak for myself here and what I do. I think, I quickly and seamlessly enter into small communities of work practices and social values. I enter because I found a nice discourse happening. At times I link to them and throw my own Thought Flickrs , but am equally as comfortable with just going to these blogs and commenting on them often. Once I have completed my discourse  and am finding no new value, I exit and move away to another forum /group.

There are those short and intense conversations that occur and in the bargin, this kinda throw's one in the magic middle.

Darwin once said, "the most intelligent of the species does not survive- its the most responsive to change that does" - This is the same in Blogsphere, to live in your own echo chamber or be an A-lister then you are zombified already.  I don't ask for links or props. I just be myself  and I find it kinda works its way out !! 

Notes from Naked Conversations !!

I ordered 6 copies of this book by Robert and Shel.  Their First Podcast on this book is here.

I like these tidbits of converstaions;

in the blog they talk about their dreams, their hopes, their failures, their solutions, maybe people comment in and send solutions in.

So in a naked kind of conversational way, the fully clothed versions are the overproduced stuff, and the naked versions are the raw truth.  The endorsement side of it.

The customers would leave and they would tell others that they had a good deal or a bad deal.  It was a personal endorsement from someone you know and trust.

use blog search engines to read everybody in the world who says something about your company which is really powerful.

I memorized 3000 SKUs in my store and I memorized them twice.  Once for my store, and once for the competitor  [liar liar pants on fire.. Robert could you reproduce this ??? after all your memorized it.. it cant be forgotten :)-!! ]]

One simple rule for doing it right is “Be Real.”   If you are going to blog, be authentic. Keep your conversations naked.  Let people know who you are and where you are coming from. We call if being transparent. 

“the audience is smarter than I am, more connected than I am, wealthier than I am, more educated than I am, and comes from a problem from a lot more viewpoints than I do.”  They make me smarter by participating in that.

Sometimes they were very kind, and sometimes they gave us what the blogosphere calls “tough love”. 

He was naked at that point.  The audience pulled his pants down![Joe Nacchio, right?  ]]

It is like a brawl…a brawl for the truth. [John's Comment !!) so, kewl..he knocks me off me seat laughing... yeah its the brawl of truth !!

The way I know a company really “gets it” is when they start listening to their customers and start building better products based on the conversation that they are having with their customers"

A lot of companies come into the blogosphere and do press releases on their blogs

When I asked him the most important thing about blogging he said, “Listen, really listen.” 

Because I write on the web everyday.  What a bizarre way to meet people.

Any final parting comments ?

About the book?  Nah, that’s too commercial.

A good Conversations happening here. This is the live verersion of the ClueTrain Manifesto actually happening, its kinda funcky business

Mobile Convergence is happening !!

Everryone is going Mobile. A long time ago there was an exchange of email. I wrote;

""Does this make sense ?? I am hearing googs chatter that sez:
> "Mobile Data System v4.1, includes XML Web Services among its methods for integrating mobile applications with back-end servers, and supports the Microsoft .Net and Java 2 Enterprise Edition environments. "
>
> This means that googs is moving away from the desktop and totally into widgets that can be locked into ajax type interface on moble devices !!  Imho a mind blowing landscape changes. No more desktop- only handhelds !!!
"

I was then asked : "Can you explain Peter?" , I then replied.

"The first wave of the networking revolution was laying the infrastructure to connect people and businesses together. Now the next phase of this revolution comes from adding new intelligence and services to the electronic "plumbing" that now envelopes the very way we conduct business. From the Web to wireless, a new level of intelligent infrastructure is fast-changing the business landscape."

Google and Yahoo and Motorola; Yahoo Go . Google Pack etc are all mobile convergence in the happening. I am not even taking into consideration the list of gadgets that are being luanched at CES2006 !!

What is a personlity ??

On Joi Ito blog he mentions that he will stop blogging about WOW.

"I'm going to stop talking about Warcraft too much on my main blog. If you are interested, I suggest visiting Jonkichi's blog where he will be talking about his adventures. (Jonkichi is my character in WoW.) For other interesting blogs, I would suggest Kazpah's blog and Bastiana's blog."

Now, this is interesting. Not only Does a person' s personlity gets exposed on the net via a blog, but another blog represents the person who is, in the entity of a player in an on Multi User Online Game.

Heres a snapshot
Bastiana and our party pwning some BRD trash mobs.of Jonkichi's blog , which is actauly Joi's character on WoW

Question in play, will fictious blog characters have more crediablity then the real characters ??? can this ever be ??

Predications of 2500

These are my predications. Please feel free to cast your comments :)-

Predications for 2500

1. 0 Health Science

Life Expectancy will be extended. Insurance policies will be taken out, based on what part of the body you want regenerated by DNA cloning Techniques. That is, if I want a new kidney, I take an issuance policy against that part. When the time comes, I’ll be donor for that part of my body. Insurance company will regenerate that part and implant into me.

2.0 Technology Communications

Wrist Devices will be de factor accessory for everyone. A Wrist type of watch equipped with broadband, high speed Wireless. The Watch will be digitized with a miniature video camera, which will permit live face to face chat. The Device will also enable smart enough to translation and lip reading with face recoginzaation intelligence. This will permit me to speak Spanish to my counter part who speaks Japanese.  The Device will also double as a music player, a Live media channel. It will a like a wrist watch strapped onto your write with a plasma display of 2 x 2 inches !!

3.0 Designer Cloths 

All Cloths will be standard white, track pant and shirt issue. This specialized cloths will generates a holographic image over it. To Activate a type of cloth /style, you plug in a cartridge. The designer stuff will be sold in cartridges, which plug in. So if you want Bermuda shorts and Hawaiian t-shirt just plug in the designer cartridge. Under all that camouflage the root cloths will be common. A plain looking white track pant and top. If you don’t want a design, you will walk around looking -as if you were in long johns !!

4.0 Social Behaviour

Your Social behaviour will be determined based on personalized profile patterning. Based on your past events, the grid will supply to you whatever you have a tagged as interesting or attended. For example, I may be walking down a street and walk past a store which has the latest nokia type gadget that I has tagged earlier, I will get bleeped down and notified of the existents of such an item Event driven notification message systems will occur based on your own trends and patterns of behaviour.

5.0 Belief’s

Value and beliefs will not change much. There will be two belief systems. One, where there is judgement after death. (The Judaism, Islam and Christine doctrine) . The second will be where the person believes in being at perpetual development (the Buddhist and Hindu type doctrines). There will be man flavours of either of the two. Yes, jus think of it- it exists one way or the other today !!!! However, in the future it will be harmony and peace. Neither belief’s will deny anything which thought to be true and holy.  They will adhere for the good of humankind.

6.0 Family

Family and its creation will be based on normal procreative methods. That is good old –plain making love type of school of life. Children will become totally independent by the time they are 7 yrs old. All learning would have taken place via various schools of thought immenseness. At birth, the parents will take a sample DNA strand and figure out what best their child is suited for. This will enable them to plan the type schooling, belief system and health insurance that they will need. Adults age limits will be dropped to 11 yrs. They will be able to vote. They will elect people who are all in their 20-30 yrs of age. Parents will have only 10 yrs participative lifestyle with their siblings.

7.0 Humankind

Life expectancy is increased by approx 25-40 years per person. Life on earth is Crowded. Colonization at the inner satellites will take place. Massive programs will be in existence to sustain humankind. Along with humankind, will the floral , fauna and other hierarchal life force will also be space lifted. (Yeah, I am not leaving for the Moon, without my puppy dog !!). Humankind will move to the next level of existence which will sustain life as we know it. . Remember DNA stranding here- by that time we will carry plants and dogs as DNA strands, my whole home will fit into a test tube !!!

As the new year passed in,  I noticed a lot of chatter on 2006 chatter. I find it strange that most only looked a a year ahead. So I kinda flung my mind deep into the next 494 years of future :)- 

You heard it here first !!