It’s really quite simple: people cluster around success, and the next thing — innovation — isn’t successful. So nobody clusters. So nobody knows.

Until innovation succeeds. And then - WHAM! - everybody finds out. And usually not in a good way. Web 2 is that next big thing, and it is bearing down on your business right now.

So, one day in 1999 I was on an journey from nowhere to nowhere, and I stumbled across Web 2. And I kept right on going, because the next thing I found changed by whole career and, in fact, my life.

It all started with this guy Jakob Nielsen and his site useit.com. It’s a site about usability, the study of how humans interact with computers via the interface - graphical user interface (GUI) or whatever. And don’t let anybody give you their ‘opinion’ on usability. It’s a laboratory science. I had been reading Nielsen’s columns for a while because they were making the website I was working on at the time spectacularly successful. This column was pretty esoteric, but it dealt with a real problem — not being able to edit web pages through a browser.

Toward the end of the column, there’s a link to this post on one of the earliest of what we now call blogs, Dave Winer’s UserLand. Today, it’s called scripting.com. This guy Winer had a kind of software called Manila that let people click a special link on a page, and then edit the page. (That, in a nutshell, is Web 2.)

I pushed the IT guys at my company to check it out, at least experiment. They just laughed at me. “You can’t just have anybody making web pages.”

Anyway, at the very bottom of this second article, there was a link to what some of Dave Winer’s friends were up to, a website and a book called Cluetrain. The people who wrote this book, that whole side of the world called “dot commies” - they saw the big picture clearly, accurately. They saw way so few people controlled so much information. And how that was about to change.

A few of their 95 Theses:

1 - Markets are conversations.

3 - Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice.

39 - The community of discourse is the market.

40 - Companies that do not belong to a community of discourse will die.

74 - We are immune to advertising. Just forget it.

It was this last one that got me. I grew up on advertising, literally. My father was a Mad Man at J. Walter Thompson working on Ford and Pan Am. I knew the inside story on advertising, yet there I was making more than I ever had before writing ad after ad after ad.

Cluetrain opened my mind to the possibilities for my career. Within six months, I had left a job I hated to join a start-up dot com, and I haven’t looked back since. But that’s another story.

Here’s the bottom line: Cluetrain is right.

The proof is Google. They break all the rules except one, yet they make all the money. The one they don’t break: give the people what they want.

What the heck does any of this have to do with Web 2 (and you’ll definitely be asking yourself that question if you take the class)?

Everything.

• Growing traction around sustainable businesses
• We need to train people to solve problems that haven’t occured yet
• Need for efficient use of resources, housing planning needs to include this thinking — same as regulations around various businesses
• Our roads haven’t kept up with our desire to be on them
• New paradigm for business building - don’t build biz around functionality, but passion - needs institutional support (if I care about YOU, then I’ll care about your BIZ) focus on benefit, not output — not the profit, but what the profit can do
• Community - unity needs to come first - is everybody you need to talk to in the room, are they aligned
• Need incentives for green development
• Assets not fully understood or leveraged
• Now is a really great time for the future
• We need to align and connect the ~10,000 non profits in RI to eliminated duplication, leverage their capabilities and compensate them appropriately
• Stay engaged with the community after planning, but into and through execution to be sure projects stay on course, strategies applied in proper conditions
• Non profits need to put “place” in their mission for auto-alignment
• Put non-profits back into neighborhoods
• Some RFPs are requiring multiple non profits to collaborate
• Businesses also have untapped passion and energy for improving place
• Frame desire not in terms of what you want to eliminate/avoid, but in terms of what you want to achieve
• Self-created econ dev project to bring innovation at scale to housing/planning/greening/regenerative-restorative communities

We’ve already gone over our time limit, but the group conversation continues. Your humble (not) scribe needs to ‘itty off on his oddy-nocky and make some pennies for himself.

Next Providence & Beyond event on April 11. Keep an eye out for it.

3: passionate about ideas, as pediatrician/pub health know health comes from social context. existed 150 years ago.

4: passionate about people, assisting people who have gone through adversity. providing with process to become self-sustaining - community organizing - helping people make change in their lives

5: fixing what humans have done to the planet — sustainability, nobody knows what it means. figuring out my connection to the planet

6: leaving footprint in the sand of time - remembered for making a mistake or making a difference - passionate about business development for human empowerment - two paradigms: significance and security

7: combining biz dev and environmental planning - connecting business success with personal success

8: rivers - balance within ourselves - connecting people with their locations/rivers

9: lifelong Prov resident - realness, beyond preservation to sense of place that’s real - not reinvented, not the same soul that it used to have - real places need people to be more real

10: fighting the corporate predators of tobacco control - work with others to leverage the power of beliefs - if unexamined, they can lead to troubles - combining health with people and place, de-medicalizing health, [describes resilience planning without knowing it]

11: connecting soul to work

12: from real estate POV, planning is wasteful - we need to be stewards, not abusers - not just develop housing, but develop communities

13: don’t believe that for-profit puts profits before people - supports the ability of private sector to make change for the better - seeks to take Prov to “next level”

14: passionate about the future - taking responsibility for the future - family is important, reminds us of our responsibilities to the future

15: passionate about improving quality of life - transitioning housing stock to healthy, affordable

16: 2 questions - what constitutes home for a person? what constitutes home for a community

17: passionate about people and how they interact as a community, business career ultimately didn’t satisfy - sold biz and went into community development

18: passion = adventure - prefers the dark, exciting path other avoid, finds excitement through education, history, business…

19: living the love demonstrated by Christ

20: passionate about being passionate, web 2 and helping Davey beat Goliath

21: people and place - most focused on 5 themes — the greek Agora/Spynx dicotomy — resurgence of debate in public school — a regenerative economy — systems where waste becomes food — the next generation

9:00 — Intro: Robert Leaver reads a poem by Rumi, tells a brief history of this project from “A Year in Providence and the Region” 2006 to “Providence & Beyond” 2007 and 2008.

Fred Presley gives an update on our colleague Larry Quick who is in Australia recovering from treatment for leukemia. Before his diagnosis, Larry said, “2008 will be the year of resilience.” How true? Fred and Larry work in the field of ‘resilience planning’ which seeks to take planning out of the reactive mode and into the pro-active mode — to see issues as they forming, not when they become real problems and position ourselves and our communities not just to survive, but to thrive in these changing conditions. Analogy: surfer.

Michelle Gonzalez brings people up to date with New Commons, our upgraded website. Then I’m supposed to talk about the new blog and our soon-to-be social network.

End segment one. I gotta go talk.

Three posts, 60+ comments. That’s just a preposterous ratio. Completely unsustainable. A fourth post yielded a paltry 9 comments so far. On average it’s still 17.5 comments per post.

For reference, on my little Bucket Blog, I recently set a new record for comments at 13, but several were me chatting up my readers.? On this social media blog, it’s all reader comments.

This blog does have some things going for it that I don’t. The author, Catharine P. Taylor, is a legend in the advertising trade press. A key player in AdWeek’s 00’s resurgence and founder of their AdFreak blog, she was pushed aside last year, leading to the title’s decline many say.

Her name alone is not enough to generate this kind of interest. Indeed, her own blog that covers the general NYC/USA advertising industry enjoys good engagement, but not like the social media blog.

My take-away is that this is a critically important area of the marketplace. Companies are asking their ad agencies to guide them into these market-converations, but it’s really a case of the blind leading the blind.

Hence the explosion of comments on this blog. Also, the quality of the discussion on the social media blog is similarly exceptional. Very smart, very experienced marketers are realizing that their entire way of doing business — their unique value equation — is changing in front of their eyes.

This new world is a much more difficult place to “create interest” where there is none, to “build a brand position” that doesn’t fit the facts. At best, you can fool some of the people some of the time. At best.

So agencies are being asked by their clients to lead those clients to the place where the agency is no longer relevant.? Now that’s entertainment.

Participate in Collaboration in Action: you can register for one day or the entire conference at:

Join us in creating a dynamic Collaborative Action Center at BE’08.

We believe that projects that intend to address whole systems require the integration of interdisciplinary thinking and experience. Therefore we believe collaborative practice is an essential foundation of sustainable practice. We are creating a common area at NESEA’s Building Energy 2008 to support Collaboration in Action, with resources and activities that support our purpose. These include a resource map that helps NESEA members recognize regional relationships, a skills exchange in which NESEA members can identify potential collaborators or job employment opportunities, design charrettes, activities for NESEA Chapters and organizations allied with NESEA’s mission, and facilitated activities to help those present to identify and link with others.

Activities will take place between sessions on the first floor across from NESEA’s Bookstore, facilitated by volunteers. You can elaborate on the ideas we’ve begun with by way of this Wiki site.? To see a full schedule and to register please go to NESEA BuildingEnergy08 Conference schedule

Fortunately, Rhode Island mandate of Title 16 (signed in 2005) is doing its part to help school districts to meet a new provision in the Federal Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004. What that means is all school districts start a Wellness Committee to make positive changes through a nutrition & physical activity policy and get our schools to be healthier learning communities! Wow, first there is the data, now there is legislation, and plenty of public health organizations working on this, but it just isn’t happening.

The issue is implementation: it is difficult to change a system that depends on school lunches, candy/ cookie drives, for revenue. It is challenging to change our American culture and people who are brought up eating products rather than real food. And it is tough to get rid of the companies that supply “products” for profit out of the schools. And that is where Amy’s film comes in- to showcase the battle and that we are not alone in wanting this change to occur soon…it will take two million angry moms before systemic change is made, but we can do this locally one at a time! That is what her film demonstrates though facts, following another woman’s campaign to get her school to change, and the determined teachers, parents, administrators and food providers who get on board to offer real solutions.

Back to our Soul at Work cafe: The movie inspired an intense conversation among the diverse women in the audience, who included mothers, teachers, nutritionist, school wellness committee members, entrepreneurs, and other “self-starters”, as Amy observed. The topics discussed uncovered so many important issues that mattered to these women:

• How to make change within a resistant school system
• How branding yourself as “Angry” can really make a splash and gain attention
• Why food is thy medicine and how connecting with food source can lead to a renewal in our lifes
• What resources are available to parents and those within the school system to help facilitate change to a healthier menu
• When you combine your talents and your passion, you can find your life purpose.

A feature of the Soul at Work Cafe is to highlight women leading in their own way, as Amy did by making her film. A benefit is that the women who attend leave inspired, educated, and connected with a few more women who can help them along their unique paths.

Soul at Work cafe attendees wanted to continue the conversation here! Regardless, if you attended the cafe or missed it, give us your comments, recommendations, insights and aspirations to the following:

• Upon seeing the film or listening to Amy’s story what were your A-ha! moments?
• What are your next action steps?
• Link other books, films or sites that you resonant with this topic?
• How did Amy’s persistence and approach in showing solutions inspire you in your work? What are you talents or capabilities and if linked with your passion what purpose would unfold?
• Tell us about an important food memory for you?

If you missed the event, take peek of a film clip in our media section or go to Amy’s website for more viewing and resources on the movement to make our schools healthier learning communities.

 

Comments from migrated blog:

• Frymaster // Mar 6, 2008 at 8:33 am

  Here’s a blog post by Amy on Huffington Post!

  Gotta show you how to make links. It’s easy.

• linda dewing // Mar 6, 2008 at 6:42 pm

  hi all,
  an aha moment for me was seeing how the kids in the schools with the changed lunch programs looked so healthy and glowing. what a treat that is!

  i also highly recommend two books: In Defense of Food by Michael Pollard, showing the movement in our country from thinking about food to thinking about products. and the Food Revolution, by John Robbins (Baskin and Robbins, but what a different view point!). he is meticulous researcher and really tackles, Nader -style, some major food issues in the US and world wide. he is a great writer, also.
  Linda

• Gerri Bain // Mar 7, 2008 at 3:34 pm

  I so enjoyed the evening with everyone, especially Michelle who is a wonderful facilitator and Amy who did a magnificent job of creating a significant, American documentary. Corporate America has done a disservice to our most precious commodity - our children. And it is a disgrace.

  As a grandmother and wellness advocate, my work centers around helping people to feel better. Eating fresh fruits and vegetables at home at any early age is critical. Advocacy starts in the home. Adults can help children embrace better nutrition and better food choices leading to better long-term health.

  Virtually any health status, good or bad, can be improved by better nutrition, because what you eat affects every cell in your body. Contact me if you’d like to begin the process of ensuring that your family is eating as healthy as possible under the tremendously challenging circumstances of the current market.

  In my own small way, I can help you make the segue to better health with nine simple ways to a healthier family diet.

  Let the nutritional advocacy begin in the home first and foremost!

• Michelle G // Mar 10, 2008 at 2:28 pm

  Check out what Kiersten had to say on her blog. She has an amazing blog called, Kmerica.com Post about Two Angry Moms and what she is going to do in Cranston, RI

• Dale Ddonnelly // Mar 10, 2008 at 11:11 pm

  I am not a Mom. I am very involved with food in my adult life and was taught about food growing up with a Foods and Nutrition Major from Cornell U, my Mom. Food is and always was an important in our home.
  I had no idea that food in schools had become soooo processed. My schooling days was in the 50s to the early 70s. I have very few questions now as to why there are so many problems with behavior in schools these days. School food is a large part of the problem and a major part of the answer. Amy Kalafa has given us some stellar suggestions as to how to correct our school food programs without breaking the school budget.
  Another part of what I grew up with was that my Father was a great gardener. He literally grew up on a dairy farm. They produced most of what they ate year round. Which brings me to another thought as to the correct food getting to the kids at school.
  If the school kids can learn to eat healthy, can’t they learn to grow healthy food? My suggestion is that there have to be plenty of interested gardeners out there that might want to help kids get to know what it takes to achieve the goal of feeding themselves. Yes, it is a lot of work. Yes, it is dirty. Yes, it is very satisfying to sit down to a meal that you grow and cook yourself. This may be beyond the curriculum of what many schools want tackle.
  One of the things that Amy talked about was living in New York City and starting a garden on the roof top to grow food for themselves. Maybe you can’t create gardens for every one but maybe you can create a teaching model….with help from the kids.

• Allan T. // Mar 14, 2008 at 10:41 pm

  Michelle, what a great topic for Soul at Work and for RI. I too have been unsettled by the complacence with which we accept the marketing of the lowest order of “food” to our kids. I saw a special on a public school in the Midwest that brought in an executive chef to do organic, local, healthy food that kids loved, and that came in at the cost of the pre-cooked stuff from Sysco. That opened my eyes that the rationale that public
  schools can’t afford to cook healthy is a load of hooey.

  I’ve always wondered why, with J&W in our front yard, we couldn’t do a similar thing with the Providence school district. A matter of will?

  On the positive tip, I’ve been very impressed with what I’ve read about Daren Bulley and the “KidsFirst RI program”. Check them out.

• NCAdmin // Mar 15, 2008 at 3:18 pm

  Hi Allan,
  So glad you posted. Yes KidsFirst is great: I have seen both Dorothy Brayley and Karin Wetherill tirelessly working with RI school district to implement the wellness committee, helping many school cafeterias make the changes the law mandates, helping to train school administrators on what they can do, and basically offering solutions. Because of them I am now on our existing Providence Wellness Committee. Cool!

  On March 27, Karin and staff from FirstKids have been invited by Donnie Evans (Providence Superintendent) and the Jose Gonzalez, Jose Gonzalez, Director of Special Projects in Providence and District Wellness Leader, to conduct a Wellness Workshop to all the Providence Principals. My understanding is that the intent of the workshop is to increase the Principals Food IQ, and clearly define what is law and the implementation policy the Wellness Committee has written. Now getting that into action is the next step, and the meeting will showcase alternatives and solutions.

  “3/27/08: Providence Schools Leadership Team Attends Superintendent Wellness Workshop
  Superintendent Donnie Evans and Jose Gonzalez, Director of Special Projects in Providence and District Wellness Leader, have invited Kids First professionals: Mary-Elena DeLuca, Sandy Sepe and Karin Wetherill, to conduct a wellness workshop for all of the district’s top administrators. This workshop is an interactive program that helps participants improve their own nutrition and food safety habits, and increase their daily physical activity. Workshop topics include “Sweeten Up Your Life Without That Extra Sugar” and “Turn Household Chores into an Exercise Program.” The participants will discuss their district’s wellness policy, learn about the RI Law regarding healthy beverages and snacks in school, obtain great ideas for fund raising and classroom/school celebrations, and hopefully begin to realize that building a district culture of wellness begins with each of them. ”

  Check out their calender for more upcoming activities and workshops as they move to get healthy foods into our schools. by the way they need support on this, including funding. So do support them! Here is the link to learn more

  As a parent I am going to see what unfolds and how I can further help in moving this forward. Anybody else have more to add?

• Sally // Mar 15, 2008 at 5:57 pm

  sounds like a great night- I am sorry a missed it. I loved the bit of the movie on your website. one “AHA” for me was realizing how scary that moment must be when you realize that your kid is eating tater tots at school. And that your best intentions and all the good food and good influence at home can all be for naught when public policy is working against you.

 

I talk about it in my New CommonsAcademy class. I talked about it at the NewB camp. I’m going off about it on the UrbanPlanet boards. I can’t find enough blogs where I can talk about it. And now I’m gonna write a post about it on this blog. Not like I don’t have my own blog.

So, yeah, I can get a little sick of it. Until I read a story like this one in Salon about how web 2 isn’t really democratic at all, but just a small number of people behind the scenes. Then I remember how much work there is to do. Understanding is not widespread. Salon is web-only magazine. Web-only!

They should have at least some clue. But they have no clue. And it’s not like the Cluetrain isn’t going through there on a regular basis.

Let’s take a look as some facts that Salon should have uncovered. First of all, we’ve known for a long time about the number of people who “lurk” vs. the number of people who “post” vs. the number of people who post incessantly. (That’s us.) Per 1,000 users:

• 959 will only read (lurkers)
• 59 will mostly read and post occasionally (kibbitzers)
• 15 will post
• 5 will post like crazy
• 2 will be complete jerks

It’s no surprise at all that 80% of Wikipedia edits are done by 20% of the users. It’s actually way above average.

But Salon also assumes that the number of educated edits is the same as the number of times a page is edited. In reality, the page is edited every time it’s read. By reading and NOT editing a page, expert users passively approved the content. “Looks good to me,” is the tacit approval.

Salon found a piece of information, thought they understood what it meant and wrote a silly, pointless article. The lesson is: don’t take what you read at face value. Everybody who can is talking or writing about web 2. Are they expert enough edit the web 2 page on Wikipedia?

*These two sentences, written exclusively in the passive voice and using no fewer than four unidentified pronouns, are dedicated to Robert J. Leaver.