Movin' and shakin'

Corina Lang made the pages of Yellowmoon Cafe blog, having ". . . come up with a wacko idea to write Ellen Degeneres a letter to see if Ellen will sponsor her driving and dancing across the country. . . ." Her plan is described in more detail -- including the need for a video of her dancing (which I went ahead and captured when I spotted Lady Lang a dancin' and a prancin' to the roots rock alternative music of Dutch Henry at Thursday's Sunset concert.) (about 6 meg file).

Another example of surf meeting turf.

Voices of Carbondale -- Carbondale Historic Preservation Commission

Voices of Carbondale -- Volume One

This is our first recording of a public meeting. It was inspired by our interest in the old Bank of Carbondale building -- a great old building that's in serious trouble.

The recording lasts about 40 minutes. Enjoy.

My Phone Company's Computer is Bigger than Yours

According to Top 500 Supercomputer Sites, Verizon's SuperDome 1 GHz/HyperPlex is the number 399 most powerful computer in the world with a very sexy Rmax of 1313.30. And their SuperDome 875 MHz/HyperPlex is number 434!

So, sorry about last month's bill, Verizon. And that email I...er...someone sent you? I'm sure they were just kidding. Don't go Skynet on me, pretty please.

Big Mouth, Small Bandwidth

The good thing about not knowing what you are talking about, is that other people do. Which is why when one of our alert readers pointed us to an effective alternative to the top-down model of municipality-directed wireless access, we stood up (translation: shifted our butt on our chair), paid attention (stopped playing with our hair) and checked it out for ourselves (put down our cheeseburger). Meanwhile, in another part of our brain, certain organic synaptic encrypters were engaged in effectively preventing us from consciously admitting that "one of our alert readers" is really our "only alert reader" or -- more accurately -- our only reader, alert or otherwise. Note to selves: organic synaptic encrypters are demonstrably ineffective. And have the troubling side-effect of crippling our ability to speak of ourselves in the singular.

Anyway, thanks to one of our alert readers (ahhhh. There go the organic synaptic encrypters.) we humbly suggest the possibilities of a free, volunteer-based, community-driven model of providing Wi-Fi access. There's the very interesting Austin Wireless project described here. Or the geographically-proximitous Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network here.

Our personal feeling is that there is no reason such a project could not work in Carbondale. And yet, we do not share others' feelings that local government has no legitimate role in helping bring access to its citizens. Ultimately, we believe the best way to connect your citizens in the age of web-empowered democracy is to use the method that connects your citizens in the age of web-empowered democracy. Pilot project or community activism, the best solution is the right one, and not the other way around. Or vice versa.

Small Town, Big Bandwidth

In towns such as ours, with its crazy quilt of ways of jacking in to the net, wireless fidelity -- or Wi Fi as it is generally known -- is a luxury. This is because many of our connections have not fidelity -- in the sense of always being there wherever and whenever we need them -- nor are they wireless -- in the sense of being readily affordable and available without strings attached. So, when we hear about "Wi Fi" we tend to think of exotic places like St. Louis or certain of the more enlightened regions of New Jersey (speaking as one who chooses to judge such things on a sliding scale of relative enlightenment).

But hold on baby -- because now there's something meatier, and I ain't talkin' 'bout Sizzlean (though I know I should be). To be more precise -- as if that were a problem for this author -- Marshalltown, Ia recently began a pilot program of providing free wi fi to its entire downtown. (Granted "entire" and "downtown" are words that don't generally inspire awe among Marshalltown's residents and visitors. Unless you are inspired by its proximity to rural farm cooperatives. And some -- it must be admitted -- slightly above average soft-serve ice cream.)

Marshalltown is but one of many communities -- small and large -- exploring ways of connecting its citizens via the internets. And it is part of an ongoing conversation on how to treat higher-speed web access. Is it a basic utility that should be available to everyone at a nominal fee? Or is it just merely one of many telecommunications options that should be made available only when and where market forces demand it?

Some cities such as Marshalltown, looking for a way to stand out from the crowd, are trying to leapfrog their neighbors in bridging the digital divide between the metro and the retro. This is a small investment, they say. It will bring attention, they say. Economies and workers are becoming more connected, they say. If they can live in a small town with its lower costs and slower pace and still work as though they're in the big city with its intellectual stimulation and creative cross-fertilization, surely some in the creative class will take a chance on a place like us, they say.

If they can do it, why not us? Marshalltown's initial investment wasn't all that big (30 k) and it surely doesn't have the luxury of tapping the resources of a academic institution the size of SIU. How about a trial run, Carbondale? A modest proposal? electric kool-aid acid test?

You can bet I'll use this space in the future to look at other communities' responses to this call. And I'm not saying the utilitizating of web access is necessarily the answer to rural connectivity (or lack thereof). I am saying that when the farmer down the road starts using a seed that's cheaper and more productive than the one you are using, if you don't start think about switching seeds, you'd better start thinking about switching careers.

If there's one thing that Iowans know -- its that if you build it, they will come.

Why Not Here?

Last weekend, Surf and I met up with "Murph" at Longbranch to conduct a podcasting test. Podcasting combines the immediacy of the weblog with the intimacy of radio. The three of us conversed for about one hour, discussing how downtown Carbondale can be improved and how to get a podcast radio show "on the air."

Our conversation rambled and coalesced around the idea of using a podcast to make Carbondale (especially downtown/town square area) more attractive. Murph (a recent transplant from California) offered observations on downtown redevelopment. The tinkling in the background was caused by interaction of wind and chimes on the porch of Tropicana (behind the Branch).

Sample Podcast

Today, we are road-testing our syndicational powers with the first test podcast by the Carbondale Podcasters Union (CPU). To automatically detect the presence of and to download this podcast, you need to have a reader like ipodder and to subscribe to our feedburner feed (see the chicklet on the right hand border below).

The following audio was excerpted from about one hour of conversation on the porch of the Tropicana Vintage Clothing shop behind Longbranch.

Witness the transformative power of technology by clicking the link here!

Historic Historic Preservation Commission meeting

Monday night, there will be a meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission of the City of Carbondale to include, among other things, a demolition permit review and discussion, as well as report from Commissioner Gail White. Perhaps this blog can demo podcast a portion of that meeting, which would be a first.

Another interesting podcast would be brief interviews with members of the Town Square business owners, including the Bank of Carbondale . . . on the question "if there were a way to save the historic and aesthetic aspect of the old building, while increasing the economic benefit and eliminating safety issue, would you be interesting in hearing more, or seeing what I have in mind?"

Surf, I'm calling you out(-side from my cell phone).

Podcast, Multicast, Roadcast ... Localcast!

The prefixes will vary, but the common suffix of some of the more interesting developments for individuals intent upon making their mark upon the web is "casting". This humble blog has brought up the possibilities of "pod"casting in the past. We have also noticed the recent touting of HD radio and of "multi"casting -- a technology that may become a commercial radio alternative to satellite. There's even something called "road"casting, wherein cars equipped with special wi fi-like setups become their own radio stations, streaming audio content to other nearby vehicles.

This is the age of self-syndication. Don't have a conventional outlet for your viewpoint? No problem. RSS, my friend. Can't find an audience for this viewpoint? Er, well, we haven't quite solved that one yet. Perhaps in the future our society will need designated, paid, professional "readers" whose job it is to be an audience for the millions of voices on the net. It's a tough job, but with millions of consumers creating their own content, somebody's going to have to do it.

However, that's still in the future. Today, we -- we as in the people behind this blog -- are currently embarking on an as-yet-unnamed project that will produce other forms of original media content for our community via the web. Hopefully, there will be more on this soon. The bottom-line for us is NOT a particular political or cultural agenda beyond creating a space for conversation on local issues. My own personal feeling is that these issues -- and this project -- will promote the values of the TEC triangle (Transparency, Engagement, Collaboration). But we'll see.

One form of casting we do not approve of is "type"casting. Because we know that when you reduce issues -- and people -- to simplistic caricatures, the possibility for real conversation and real understanding is lost.

Haven't you Heard? I Can't Write an Original Headline

Is Carbondale trying to tap in to the power of smart mobs?

Not really. But word on the street is that the city IS trying to create buzz around its newest slogan, "Haven't you Heard?" (This is old news for readers of another blog in town.)

In her Southern article on the "'phenomenon'", (Since I quote a word that was itself quoted, I put in an extra set of single quote marks just to be safe.) Nicole Sack writes that, "If imitation is the best form of flattery, the campaign is on the right track. Copycats of 'Haven't you heard' have surfaced since the unveiling in August." Sources close to the latin proverb in question indicate that imitation is actually the "sincerest" form of flattery, not the "best". Unless you think E.D. Hirsch is a punk. In which case, I'll have no truck with you.

A question is raised: Can Carbondale's buzzmakers point to an article about their buzzmaking as another sign of how much buzz is being made? It's like that old saying: If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears the sound, how many flyers with "Haven't you heard?" printed on them can you make out of that tree?

Which brings us back to the city's new slogan.

At this point, it looks as though Carbondale and its slogan are a brand in search of a metaphor. As local leaders seek to accrue rhetorical significance around their new branding, why not web-empower that search? It's the next step in collaboration technology, so says an article from BusinessWeek Online.

I suggest creating a website that lets users write their own answer to the city's evocative question. Perhaps as part of a contest to find the best one? Winner gets her own, personal TIF district!

My contribution? "Haven't you Heard? Carbondale had me at hello."

Carbondale, throw in a package of sea monkeys and I'll come up with something better.

City of Quartz/City of Carbon

L.A. may be the source of everything cultural that makes our midwestern butter churn up rancid, but they do have the podcasting thing down. Par example, L.A. public radio station KCRW currently podcasts 22 of its locally-produced shows. No music shows however, due to the music industry's ongoing kerfuffle over copyright issues.

The station has that demystifying thing down too. Here's its explanation of just what-in-the-world-of-Dr. Alex Delaware a podcast is:

A podcast is a MP3 audio file that can be automatically downloaded to your personal computer and in turn transferred to an iPod or other MP3 player. In order to do this, a podcasting application is used to "add" a podcast. The program checks the site regularly and starts a download whenever it finds a new MP3 file. KCRW.com is offering downloadable MP3 podcasts of all its locally produced talk programs.

Maybe WSIU should podcast its locally-produced talk shows like ... and then there's ... well, there's always ... ok, how about ... oh, nevermind.

Technology winners

Five technology firms share Southern Angels business plan prize honors including:

Clipius Technologies, first place: The company uses a "think-tank" business model and provides high-tech solutions in application areas including biomedical, defense, homeland security and the aerospace industry. Product lines include hardware, software and service solutions. Second place went to Fluid Measurement Technologies, Inc., which supplies instrumentation and measurement services to analyze contamination in high-purity water, a vital service for the semiconductor and pharmaceutical industries. Third place to Microlution, a Glen Carbon firm developed new micro-manufacturing systems that are many times smaller and less expensive than existing equipment. Other finalists were Interactive Video Sports, a Carbondale start-up firm will market proprietary software designed to train rapid recognition skills in a variety of sports, including baseball, softball, tennis and other racquet sports, hockey and soccer and Advancement Technology Partners, a Carbondale company which helps educational institutions and non-profit organizations effectively manage information.

I [he]art your website

From the form follows function department: You must see SIU artist Cheonae Kim's website (not to mention her art).

Who knew black and white boxes could be so dynamic and fascinating? Not to mention the funky font (Now with scrambled code-breaker motion!)

On a non-intellectual level I dig her art because it reminds me of the old computer game "Life", or the game we used to play on long car rides as a kid where you'd take turns marking over the line segments on a sheet of graph paper, trying to form boxes (and writing your initials in them when you made one) until you would run out of lines. The person with the most boxes would win. Yes, I grew up in the age of paper.

Cheonae says the site was created by a Japanese designer-friend. So not local talent. But he's got mad skillz.

Unfortunately, I don't think Cheonae worries a lot about keeping the site updated. Still, as a crazy blend of her art and someone else's design, it's chimera-licious!

Will the Revolution be Digitized?

From the blurb department: A New York Times article that describes how a music blog broke an indie band (registration required). For a non-registration summary, you can go here.

Is this a sign of the death of the old economy? Netizens sidling up, Oliver Twist-wise, and humbly asking, "Please sir, may I undermine your business model?"

No. It's simply a matter of an old economy industry co-opting the toys of the new one. An interesting story, then, but one that is, technologically speaking, a bit of a wash.

The blog its bad self? Here.

Casting meetings upon web

Talk about "podcasting" has got me envisioning digital webcasting public meetings . . . as they do in Bloomington, IN.

Currently, City Council meetings are broadcast on Cable Channel 16, through agreement with MediaCom, or you can purchase videotapes of meetings from the City Clerk (free, if you bring your own tape), but webcasting would make more meetings available to more residents, at a fraction of the cost (I think). Stay tuned.

Papers podcast

Echoing what Surf was saying about Podcasting, NPR reports: a few Newsapers are Podcasting: "A growing number now offer Internet radio programs, producing their own Internet radio shows sending stories from their pages, for downloading via special subscription software called RSS to iPods and other players. . . .

Media analysts aren't sure whether podcasts will ever make real money. But most agree that at the early stages, revenue isn't the point; it's important for news outlets simply to be visible in a new arena, and to be prepared to cash in on it if ad money starts to flow."

Angel angle

Southern Angels Business Plan Contest winners will be announced on Friday by angel investor and online art purveyor Peter Gregory, along with state and university representatives.

Site So Ill

Since I recently wrote about looking for the "face of southern Illinois" on the web, it's only right that I mention AccessSI, "your southern Illinois community resource directory!" This is a site that deserves greater visibility, in spite of that exclamation point.

I first heard about AccessSI a couple of years ago when I was involved in an advocacy group that was looking to publicize itself and its activities. I met the coordinator at an event at SIU. She was tremendously open and helpful. Unfortunately, a few months later she had already apparently moved on to something else. Still, its hard to criticize when my group didn't last much longer than that.

My impression, then, of AccessSI is that it is both underused and under-the-radar. A great idea -- and a tremendous potential resource -- that needs a higher profile. It also has, in my humble opinion, one of the more awkward interfaces around. I know what you are thinking. It's not about flash; it's about finding information about community organizations. And for that, there is little else like it in the area.

I guess I'm just a nitpicker, but I'm sort of left dreaming about what the site COULD be -- so much so that I tend to forget to value it for what it IS. Here's an unfair -- but for me, unavoidable -- comparison: AccessSI vs. Hands On Atlanta

I lived for a very brief time in an apartment north of Buckhead (Atlanta's version of Carbondale's ... actually, there is no comparable area of Carbondale). During that time, I was looking for volunteer opportunities. I discovered this group that would match me with the organization that best fit my interests. It was called ... (I'll bet you don't know what it was called!) Hands On Atlanta! (That was a surprise, wasn't it?)

They list agencies in need of volunteers; they train volunteers; they match volunteers with agencies in need. This, to me, is the very definition of a great idea.

Great comparison, you say. Nothing like picking an area with similar resources to ours, you say. Fulton county has a population of 814,438, Jackson county 59,612, you say. All is true, I say. I already admitted it wasn't a fair comparison. But a boy can dream, can't he?

If nothing else, Hands On Atlanta's website -- and their agency interface -- doesn't look beaten with the ugly stick. You, AccessSI, I'm sorry to say it looks as though your interface married the ugly stick and had ugly stick children.

Sorry about that one, AccessSI. But like Shaw said, a critic is someone who leaves no turn unstoned.

Still, could you tweak the thing, just a little bit?

TEC/Tech

As I write this, I'm listening to NPR's Diane Rehm Show and a discussion with journalist Joel Garreau about his new book, Radical Evolution. Here's a blurb about Garreau's book from his own website:

In Radical Evolution, bestselling author Joel Garreau, a reporter and editor for The Washington Post, shows us that we are at an inflection point in history. As you read this, we are engineering the next stage of human evolution. Through advances in genetics, robotics, information, and nanotechnologies, we are altering our minds, our memories, our metabolisms, our personalities, our progeny--and perhaps our very souls.

Bottom line for Garreau? Researchers are today finding ways to give us the powers of the comic book superheros. He opens his book with the story of the telekenetic monkey. That's right. A monkey that controls things with its mind. It lives in a lab at Duke University. And in the interview, Garreau discusses "silent messaging" -- which is like instant messaging only it is done telepathically. Can't be? Garreau reports in the interview that a researcher has already sent the first ever message using only his brain (and some carefully implanted electronics). Don't believe it? Garreau would not be surprised. According to him, "This gulf between what engineers are actually creating today and what ordinary readers might find believable is significant."

From Genetics to electronic enhancements to nanotechnology, we are seeing incredible leaps of human development in our lifetimes, in our recent experience, every single day.

What does this have to do with us locally? Well, Garreau makes the point that as these changes are speeding up, so is our potential for dealing with them. The fourth plane hijacked on 9/11 is an example. Here a group of passengers, empowered by cell phone technology, discover a problem, diagnose it and take steps to solve it with tremendous speed and at tremendous personal cost to themselves. Without that technology and -- more importantly -- people willing and able to absorb and act on the advantage that technology gives them, that plane likely reaches its destination. And cell phones are only a 20th century technology. Our local information web can empower us in a similar fashion, on things that concern us locally, and at a much less severe personal cost.

We should put more pressure on ourselves and our governments to take advantage of that empowerment -- and to support improvements that speed up the time it takes us to respond to local events. I attended last night's Park Board meeting and listened to a presentation about building an outdoor public pool. The board decided to create a task force to examine the idea in more detail. Had I been thinking as a web-empowered individual, I would have taken my digital voice recorder to the meeting, recorded the event, transfered it to my computer, exported it as an MP3, and posted it on the web. Voila! Instead of reading someone else's description of the event in the Southern, you could have heard it for yourselves. But I wasn't thinking as a web-empowered individual. Perhaps next time I will.

Our government could assist us in thinking as web-empowered individuals by providing their own podcasts of public meetings. I call the process of enabling individuals and communities by using technology to increase the speed and comprehensiveness of our responses to important events, the WET index (for Web-Enhanced Transparency). Carbondale government's WET index is low right now, perhaps a 2 or a 3 (out of 10). But with a small investment of time and money, this could shoot way up. A fully WET government gives its people the power to stay up with the kinds of changes that Joel Garreau is writing and speaking about. And that increases the chances that we can influence the direction of those changes in ways that are both ethically palatable and socially beneficial.

But perhaps transparency is not enough. NYT editorial writer Thomas Friedman has written about how, globally speaking, technology puts us in each other's faces -- and our anger is sometimes transmitted more quickly than our compassion. He writes, "Maybe the Internet, fiber optics, and satellites really are, together, like a high-tech Tower of Babel. It's as though God suddenly gave us all the tools to communicate and none of the tools to understand."

Still, WET government is a good place to start. And on a local level, the chances that we all share common goals and ideals is much greater than civilizations at the level of Friedman's global technological babel. Our shared goals and understandings give us a leg up and a greater chance for putting technology to good use.

This is why I suggest, humbly, that we adopt three pillars for developing the local information web: Transparency (already discussed), Engagement (the desire to identify and work on key issues facing the community), and Collaboration (the process of and technologies for working with others who share core concerns).

Collectively, I call these three pillars the TEC triangle. And I say, somewhat glibly, that there is no good from tech without TEC.

The Craigslist business model

Carbondale, Illinois does not yet have free web-based classified ads, but elsewhere, more than 120 cities world-wide use Craigslist, a free community-based web site for market and personal exchanges now being imitated by Ebay. It's tempting to quote the entire New York Times article, but some highlights:

"Until recently, Craigslist was the overlooked underachiever from that fertile class of 1995 start-ups. Like eBay, it began as a free community service that year, a little experiment in applying technology to community-building, not profit-seeking. Craigslist initially provided online listings of local events in the San Francisco Bay Area, the kind that could be found in an alternative newspaper. Visitors were encouraged to contribute, and they added the online equivalent of the mainstream newspaper's classified section. . . .

. . . Craigslist thinks and acts locally, organizing listings city by city for merchandise, jobs, real estate, personals, events, volunteer opportunities and discussion forums. . . . Today, 99.2 percent of Craigslist advertisements remain free.

If you're the publisher of a local newspaper, you're spending a lot of time thinking about Craigslist. Traditionally, local newspapers have derived 30 to 50 percent of their advertising revenue from the classifieds. . . .

Late last month, Knight Ridder Digital announced its plan to finesse the challenge of free classifieds: it dropped fees for ads for merchandise posted on the Web sites of 22 of its newspapers. When you visit one of these sites and prepare to submit an ad, however, you must navigate past pitches for various fee-based upgrades. . . . . What part of 'free' is difficult to understand?"

"Five years after the technology bubble burst, the success of Craigslist shows an enduring public appetite for online offerings that closely complement life lived off line. Being 99.2 percent free doesn't hurt either.

. . . In February, eBay started Kijiji, a set of more than 50 international sites providing free classifieds, similar to Craigslist, in cities in Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. . . . In some cities, Kijiji and Craigslist co-exist, with Kijiji offering the local language and Craigslist offering English-only listings.

Would Craigslist (by another name) work in Carbondale? In Southern Illinois? This would be an interesting marketing project for university students looking for real world experience. . . . Professor Clark . . . are you reading this?

Virtual Regionalism

Turf highlights a telling footnote in yesterday's Southern Illinoisan article about the recent regional economic summit held at John A. After the obligatory sunshine-and-flowers quotes from participants touting the value of meeting and sharing ideas, visions, plans for growing local economies, the blurb from a pol-ad with the Illinois DCEO: "Many communities are eliminated from competition [for economic development] without even knowing it" because "eighty-five to 90 percent of site selection begins on the internet."

It's hard not to get the impression from the article that our communities are like isolated tribes lead by people who occasionally scuttle out from their house-holds to hold council in uneasy alliance with neighboring groups, but who would prefer to remain safely within the warm glow of their own village fires. And that meanwhile the world outside is flitting back and forth, doing business and living life on streams of electrons, streams that also flow through this region but go unnoticed.

Then I thought I'd check on something. Who, I wondered, owns "southernillinois.com"? Turns out that domain is the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce. "Southernillinois.org"? West Frankfurt. "Southernillinois.net"? Some kind of "illinois alumni directory". Ok, ok, then "southern-illinois.com"? Seems to be someone's personal site. I was running out of variations.

Where is the regional face of Southern Illinois on the web? I couldn't find it in the most logical places. All I found was the smoldering fires of those isolated tribes. And for all their helpfulness with highlighting the importance of a web presence, it can't be with the DCEO. Because the DCEO promotes the governor's "Opportunity Returns" plan, a plan that divides Southern Illinois into several subregions based upon geography.

In making his economic plans, the governor doesn't see "Southern Illinois": he sees individual communities to be arbitrarily divided in whatever way makes the most political sense. We often talk as though Southern Illinois is more than that, more than politics, more than the sum of individual communities. But in Chicago, where many of the electron streams originate, they can't hear this kind of talk. And we aren't putting our own boats into that stream to change their minds.

So if we want our region to exist as something more than jargon for public officials and economic professionals we are better off imagining that the web/broadband/wireless is like the other basic public utilities we depend upon to make our communities go.

And then, instead of occasionally "getting together" to "share ideas" at a regional summit, we will never be apart. Our ideas will flow to each other like a boat always going downstream.

And when that happens we'll be the ones returning opportunity to our Northern neighbors. Even if it hurts their egos a bit to take it.

Location, location, location

At a recent economic development meeting : "Josh Weger, policy adviser to DCEO's director, spoke about a new economic development tool available to help developers market locations to manufacturing and business site selectors. Location One is a Web-based tool, available through the DCEO, that provides worldwide exposure of buildings and locations ripe for development, as well as offering other information for site selectors such as community profiles.

'Many communities are eliminated from competition without even knowing it,' Weger said. 'Eighty-five to 90 percent of site selection begins on the Internet. If you don't have information on a site, you are at a considerable disadvantage.'"

In the New York (as opposed to the Carbondale) Times, Stephanie Rosenbloom reveals how to Loosen Google's lock on your past: "The most effective way to define and control your digital persona is to start a blog or put up a home page.

'Web logs come up very high in a Google search,' someone from Harvard said. 'By creating a personal Web page, particularly one that has lots of links to lots of sources, you can create a gateway to your online identity.'"