Wasserperson's Posts - Urgent Evoke2024-03-29T11:00:55ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserpersonhttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2209186650?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=37rjyp0b1g2qi&xn_auth=noThe Distant Constituent Project (an Evokation)tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-05-20:4871302:BlogPost:1535992010-05-20T06:54:18.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
<a href="http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dgc645xk_22c345xv44">http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dgc645xk_22c345xv44</a><br/><br/><iframe src="http://docs.google.com/present/embed?id=dgc645xk_22c345xv44" frameborder="0" width="410" height="342"></iframe>
<a href="http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dgc645xk_22c345xv44">http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dgc645xk_22c345xv44</a><br/><br/><iframe src="http://docs.google.com/present/embed?id=dgc645xk_22c345xv44" frameborder="0" width="410" height="342"></iframe>New (tiny) wonders for old (enormous) wisdomstag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-05-20:4871302:BlogPost:1535322010-05-20T03:00:00.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
<p style="text-align: left;">I painted the backs of these small copper coins</p>
<br />
<p style="text-align: left;"><img alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2146486269?profile=original" style="width: 111px; height: 97px;"></img></p>
<br />
<p style="text-align: left;">to make them unique among the many that are thrown around and away each day.<br></br> <br></br> In this way, I am trying to preserve the essence of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rai_stones">Yappese Raj<br></br>
Stones...</a></p>
<br />
<p style="text-align: left;"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Yap_Stone_Money.jpg" style="width: 262px; height: 212px;"></img></p>
<br />
<p style="text-align: left;">Coins that don't work very well for…</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I painted the backs of these small copper coins</p>
<br />
<p style="text-align: left;"><img style="width: 111px; height: 97px;" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2146486269?profile=original" alt=""/></p>
<br />
<p style="text-align: left;">to make them unique among the many that are thrown around and away each day.<br/> <br/>
In this way, I am trying to preserve the essence of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rai_stones">Yappese Raj<br/>
Stones...</a></p>
<br />
<p style="text-align: left;"><img style="width: 262px; height: 212px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Yap_Stone_Money.jpg"/></p>
<br />
<p style="text-align: left;">Coins that don't work very well for usual trade, but carry value for their <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2006/jun/30/world/fg-yap30">individual history</a>.</p>
<br />
<p style="text-align: left;"><img style="width: 278px; height: 191px;" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2146486244?profile=original" alt=""/></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><br/></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><br/></p>It takes a village to save a citytag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-05-20:4871302:BlogPost:1535042010-05-20T02:18:06.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
My hometown of Oakland California has always had a lot of homegrown solutions. We're practically notorious for it, and if you know what I'm talking about then there you are, and if you don't, I'm not going to link to it because the less said about our more infamous moments, the better. <br></br><br></br>I will say that we've grown up a huge number of charter schools (some good, some not so) and back a couple of decades ago we grew up the historic peace-making agreement between the Blood and Crip gangs,…
My hometown of Oakland California has always had a lot of homegrown solutions. We're practically notorious for it, and if you know what I'm talking about then there you are, and if you don't, I'm not going to link to it because the less said about our more infamous moments, the better. <br/><br/>I will say that we've grown up a huge number of charter schools (some good, some not so) and back a couple of decades ago we grew up the historic peace-making agreement between the Blood and Crip gangs, and we're home growing a lot of marijuana right now to make life easier for some folks.<br/><br/>We've also apparently got a solid program for growing our own citizen's defense corps, of a sort.<br/><a href="http://www.oaklandnet.com/fire/core/index2.html">Citizens of Oakland Respond to Emergencies</a> is our program for training lay people to support first responders. For more than two decades, this program has been educating Oaklanders about self reliance, neighborhood organizing, and emergency preparedness and responses.<br/><br/>I'm going to sign up for their next basic class, and have invited several of my Oakland based friends to do the same. Once I get a few takers, I'll propose a challenge, something on the order of a free dinner to whoever brings the most of their neighbors along with them. I've been meaning to come up with a way to invite the people in my building over for a summer barbecue--maybe I'll run that as a show-and-tell... hmm...<br/>Anti-choice IS Anti-lifetag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-05-20:4871302:BlogPost:1534652010-05-20T01:50:48.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
One of the great schisms of US politics is referred to as the "Pro Choice / Pro Life" divide.<br></br>There's a lot of verbal jockeying from both sides to use different words and reframe the issue in more sympathetic ways. People who believe that all human life deserves government protection, even before birth, want to cast the other side as being "Anti Life." And people who believe that women should have the right to choose what happens to their own bodies, even if that means making a choice to…
One of the great schisms of US politics is referred to as the "Pro Choice / Pro Life" divide.<br/>There's a lot of verbal jockeying from both sides to use different words and reframe the issue in more sympathetic ways. People who believe that all human life deserves government protection, even before birth, want to cast the other side as being "Anti Life." And people who believe that women should have the right to choose what happens to their own bodies, even if that means making a choice to end the growth of a fetus inside them, want to cast their opponents as being Anti Choice. At the far ends, they refer to each other as Nazis or Fascists, with utter sincerity. Both sides are ill served by the reduction of any labeling. "Pro-Lifers" can be painted as caring only about the commitment to life, not the quality (for mother or child) and "Pro-Choicers" can be depicted as caring only about rights, and not about consequences.<br/><br/>But there's a very clear "consequence" based argument in favor of procreation rights. According to the United Nations Population Fund's <a href="http://www.unfpa.org/public/cache/offonce/news/pid/5552;jsessionid=A0E818FFD7D166D41C1208D639BD1D38">Dispatch on Contraception</a>, access to birth control is significantly correlated to improved outcomes for both women and children. The dispatch also states that 200 Million women have access to birth control in the form of the Pill, and that an equal number have no options. That leaves around 3 Billion women somewhere in in between, if I'm inferring the venn diagram correctly, and can rely on the <a href="http://www.geohive.com/earth/pop_gender.aspx">gender/population numbers from this website</a>.<br/><br/>And there's a very clear "commitment" argument against restricting procreation rights. If I can trust the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_causes_of_death_by_rate">global mortality rates from wikipedia</a>, more women die as a result of childbirth each year than the deaths from drowning and war put together. Given that, according to another <a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=34617&Cr=mdg&Cr1=">UN Dispatch (on the need for midwives)</a> many of these deaths are preventable by modern methods, it would appear that forcing women to give birth is not simply making a choice to preserve the (foetal, unborn) life, it's actively choosing against the life of the mother.<br/><br/>So I've tipped my hand, now, if the title of this post didn't do it already.<br/>There's plenty of evidence showing lasting effects from the choice to end a pregnancy. <br/>There's no question in my mind that a fetus is a presence in the world, and that women do feel some powerful kind of something that begins with the quickening.<br/>But there's no sense I can see in any government taking the choice of what to do about that fetus out of the hands of the woman. If we care about the whole of life, from start to finish, shouldn't we trust most the person responsible for the first 9 months?<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=34617&Cr=mdg&Cr1=">http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=34617&Cr=mdg&Cr1=</a><br/>A swift wish list for the next iterationtag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-05-13:4871302:BlogPost:1494002010-05-13T05:33:31.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
1. Challenges<br></br><br></br>In season 2, I'd like EVOKE to directly engage climate change, in three areas<br></br>-Advocating/innovating harm reduction strategies<br></br>-Preparing for the big disasters to come (already present in season 1)<br></br>-Opposing the large corporate interests and other factions that are forestalling significant progress<br></br><br></br>2. Locations<br></br>-China<br></br>-The deeply partisan political divides, including the USA and other first world countries<br></br><br></br>3. Who should…
1. Challenges<br/><br/>In season 2, I'd like EVOKE to directly engage climate change, in three areas<br/>-Advocating/innovating harm reduction strategies<br/>-Preparing for the big disasters to come (already present in season 1)<br/>-Opposing the large corporate interests and other factions that are forestalling significant progress<br/><br/>2. Locations<br/>-China<br/>-The deeply partisan political divides, including the USA and other first world countries<br/><br/>3. Who should play?<br/>-More students, please?<br/>-Better ways to promote the game to college and high school groups<br/>-Better integration with facebook (I don't like their privacy policies but they are the big name in town)<br/><br/>4. Game changes/new tools<br/>-Challenges that incorporate group work<br/>-Reward system for commenting<br/>-A way to spend Evoke points<br/>-A better mentoring system. I never did figure out how ours worked, really<br/>-A better comic viewing system. It's quite annoying having to scroll up and down each time, and skip back from page 7 when I skip to a new episode. Plus, a way to link to individual pages would be great.<br/>-More mysteries to be actually solved from the episodes<br/>-Time estimates on each mission/quest. This would help a lot in promoting to teachers and involving students<br/>-A much simpler mission/blogging/tagging system. This one was very chaotic<br/>-Some kind of future-casting fiction-building system like the one used for the signtific.org cubesat game<br/><br/>5. What will bring me back?<br/>-Some kind of future-casting fiction-building system like the one used
for the signtific.org cubesat game<br/>-Probably I'll be back no matter what.<br/><br/>Thanks to all the architects and players for an engaging time!<br/>Deep down at heart... people are... stupid.tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-05-13:4871302:BlogPost:1493782010-05-13T05:14:32.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
Many of the secrets of crisis communication involve managing people's knee-jerk, self-defeating tendencies. We've got a lot of instinctive crisis response strategies that are highly self-destructive when practiced in unison by large groups. That's no surprise--I'd wager that when most people think of "emergency response," they would be quick to put down "crowd control" as a related thought. <br></br><br></br>Roadside accidents, generally, don't cause traffic because of the blocked lane. The traffic…
Many of the secrets of crisis communication involve managing people's knee-jerk, self-defeating tendencies. We've got a lot of instinctive crisis response strategies that are highly self-destructive when practiced in unison by large groups. That's no surprise--I'd wager that when most people think of "emergency response," they would be quick to put down "crowd control" as a related thought. <br/><br/>Roadside accidents, generally, don't cause traffic because of the blocked lane. The traffic comes from the instinctive desire of each driver, at the end of the bottleneck, to slow down and look at the accident, instead of speeding up right away.<br/><br/>So of course crisis communication involves many approaches to talking people through their panic, or speaking past their distrust... But I'm interested in the one strategy that encourages taking advantage of our (stupid) instinct to hate. <br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic;">Having somebody you hate, or maybe a virus you hate, can enable you to
bear your fear and hang in there without tripping the circuit breaker<br />
into denial.</span><br/><br/>This is using one kind of stupidity against another--if I understand correctly, denial is dangerous because it postpones panic, and while panic early can result in more attentive, involved and responsive people, panic late in the game causes riots and other craziness. <br/><br/>So using the galvanizing power of hate might bring people to a rally instead of a riot, where information could be dispersed... Or more simply, admitting that our instinctive response to threat is to identify an enemy, public leaders should be prepared to get out in front of that. Pick a useful enemy, before more atavistic organizers take advantage in a more destructive way...<br/>You own all the places you can walk to.tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-05-13:4871302:BlogPost:1492852010-05-13T04:17:12.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
I'm adding the <a href="http://www.barefootcollege.org/">Barefoot College</a> to the list of amazing programs that Urgent Evoke has taught me about... Or, rather, encouraged me to go learn from.<br></br><br></br>Their own self description expresses the most important lesson:<br></br> <span style="font-style: italic;">for any rural development activity to be successful and sustainable, it
<br />
must be based in the village as well as managed and owned by those whom<br />
it serves. Therefore, all<br />
Barefoot initiatives…</span>
I'm adding the <a href="http://www.barefootcollege.org/">Barefoot College</a> to the list of amazing programs that Urgent Evoke has taught me about... Or, rather, encouraged me to go learn from.<br/><br/>Their own self description expresses the most important lesson:<br/> <span style="font-style: italic;">for any rural development activity to be successful and sustainable, it
<br />
must be based in the village as well as managed and owned by those whom<br />
it serves. Therefore, all<br />
Barefoot initiatives whether social, political or economic, are planned<br />
and implemented by a network<br />
of rural men and women who are known as ‘Barefoot Professionals’.</span><br/><br/>That philosophy captures my own version of anarchism, as well as an important anti-colonialist message for would be reformers from the so called first world, like me.<br/><br/>The idea of an organized grass roots educational collective, with ecological and social justice purposes, has enormous potential. Here in Oakland, where we may be facing a union/management deadlock in our public schools, and teachers' strike in September, I wonder if there's a way to organize "Barefoot Middle Schools" or the like..?<br/>Calls to actionstag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-05-13:4871302:BlogPost:1492632010-05-13T04:02:57.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
Living a stone's throw from the mecca of the digerati, I'm sure the question of how to locally deploy a multi-channel crisis response system like Ushahidi has been answered by much smarter and wiser folks then myself...<br></br><br></br>For my humble pair of pennies, the best application wouldn't be our life or death emergencies (fire, earthquake, flooding), but rather the emergent challenge of voter education. Oakland and several other local cities are beginning to use Instant Run Off Voting, which I…
Living a stone's throw from the mecca of the digerati, I'm sure the question of how to locally deploy a multi-channel crisis response system like Ushahidi has been answered by much smarter and wiser folks then myself...<br/><br/>For my humble pair of pennies, the best application wouldn't be our life or death emergencies (fire, earthquake, flooding), but rather the emergent challenge of voter education. Oakland and several other local cities are beginning to use Instant Run Off Voting, which I hope will be part of a big push for electoral and political reform. The systems are hard to use, though, and represent a big learning curve... And we've already been through about 5 different voting systems in the last 10 elections. Right now, the Alameda County Registrar conducts day-of-voting trouble shooting by drop-in inspections and cell phone relay systems. A comprehensive approach to allowing anyone to raise a red flag, and for volunteers to coordinate responses, might make a big difference in reducing confusion. <br/><br/>In the 2008 Presidential primary, I helped a man cast a provisional ballot for McCain, that wouldn't be counted, but would result in him being re-registered for the Republican party... and I know that's not what he wanted, or what he thought would happen, but I had no way of translating into Chinese the explanations I wanted to give him. Democracy is a pretty ridiculous way to make decisions (except compared to all the others).<br/><br/>I'm not sure how Ushahidi could be directly adopted by the County (although the price would be a big draw) but it might be used just as well by a poll-advocacy group. With our upcoming mayoral election due to have at least 3 major candidates, and ballots in 5 or 6 or more languages, it would be a big help...<br/>One woman, one worldtag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-05-13:4871302:BlogPost:1492022010-05-13T03:12:02.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
Last week, I was the early bird that got the worm of making the first donation to <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Annie-Bacon-Her-OSHEN/42881884478">Annie Bacon'</a>s Kick-Starter project to fund a full recording of her <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/anniebacon/lets-record-the-folk-opera-0">Folk Opera project</a>. This kind of crowd-sourced entrepreneurialism is getting more common, and it's going to breed more and more diverse media from people like Annie. That is to say,…
Last week, I was the early bird that got the worm of making the first donation to <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Annie-Bacon-Her-OSHEN/42881884478">Annie Bacon'</a>s Kick-Starter project to fund a full recording of her <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/anniebacon/lets-record-the-folk-opera-0">Folk Opera project</a>. This kind of crowd-sourced entrepreneurialism is getting more common, and it's going to breed more and more diverse media from people like Annie. That is to say, intelligent people with interesting messages who are outside the narrow band of manufactured mainstream media. <br/><br/>Annie's music gives voice to her own womanhood, and a wide range of other ideas and viewpoints. The Folk Opera has songs of longing and learning from several generations of men and women, and Annie's other music does the same. It's a much more powerful blend than the usual "I want to date you / I want to dump you" power ballads coming from the highly publicized women of music today.<br/><br/>I recognize that this kind of project is not quite as socially and globally conscious as this mission intends (although Annie's music is pretty conscious), so I'm going to meet up with her and let her pick one of the projects from the global giving list for me to make a matching donation to. And maybe spread the call through her own network?<br/>A Humble Trading Boxtag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-05-13:4871302:BlogPost:1491802010-05-13T02:46:59.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
It hasn't gotten much use yet, but I've resurrected my old art project from a decade (!) or so ago--a simple trading box in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluxus">Fluxus</a> tradition.<br></br><br></br>It's a tin box, 3 inches by 6, containing a variety of trinkets--a vial of glitter, and old wristwatch, a metal spinning top, and so on--and a ledger.<br></br>The trinkets are the kinds of things that accumulate in our purses and drawers, little items of arguable value that accumulate in the back…
It hasn't gotten much use yet, but I've resurrected my old art project from a decade (!) or so ago--a simple trading box in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluxus">Fluxus</a> tradition.<br/><br/>It's a tin box, 3 inches by 6, containing a variety of trinkets--a vial of glitter, and old wristwatch, a metal spinning top, and so on--and a ledger.<br/>The trinkets are the kinds of things that accumulate in our purses and drawers, little items of arguable value that accumulate in the back corners of our lives.<br/>Well, in the lives of those of us that live amongst mass manufactured flotsam and jetsam. I wonder, do people in more rural villages have similar collections of hand made items?<br/><br/>At any rate, the box is for trading--you pore through other people's items, find something you'd like, trade for something you have, and record the swap in the ledger. It acts minimally to keep some eclectic things out of the trash, and gives people a reason to reflect on the significance of what they're carrying... And for me, has reduced over time my tendency to waste money on acquiring more little trinkets. Not that I don't, but I do less of it.<br/><br/>Now I just need to encourage more of our guests to spend time with the box, and maybe find some places around town to plant new ones..?<br/>Everybody needs money--that's why they call it money!*tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-05-13:4871302:BlogPost:1491712010-05-13T02:38:30.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
In his book <a href="http://craphound.com/down/?page_id=1625">Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom</a>, Cory Doctorow postulates a reputation economy where everyone's access to goods and services above a subsistence level is based on a qualitative score of their personal acclaim by others, named the Whuffie.<br></br><br></br>Do a good deed, write a good blog post, do your job well, and you accumulate Whuffie, by means of the augmented reality hook-ups in everyone's heads. Now, this implementation depends…
In his book <a href="http://craphound.com/down/?page_id=1625">Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom</a>, Cory Doctorow postulates a reputation economy where everyone's access to goods and services above a subsistence level is based on a qualitative score of their personal acclaim by others, named the Whuffie.<br/><br/>Do a good deed, write a good blog post, do your job well, and you accumulate Whuffie, by means of the augmented reality hook-ups in everyone's heads. Now, this implementation depends on neural computing and the eradication of death, which are out of reach of our current technology, but still, there's people working on bringing the basic concept to life:<br/><a href="http://thewhuffiebank.org/">http://thewhuffiebank.org/</a><br/><br/>Honestly, I think their odds of success are long, unless they get picked up by facebook or google for reasons unknown... But at the same time, the monetizing of acclaim is already at play when bloggers use adwords (or adsense or whichever) to make advertising money from google. Write good things, get good links, rise in the google ranks, and sell space through the very same company that calculated your worth in the first place..!<br/><br/>Somewhere between the interminable bureaucracy of large scale socialism as we've seen it, and the utter barbarism of free markets, I hope for a stable state where we guarantee subsistence, and have a competitive but non-destructive system for rewarding merit above and beyond that level...<br/><br/>*Courtesy of David Mamet's Heist, delivered by Danny Devito<br/>Don't drink it... breath it!*tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-05-13:4871302:BlogPost:1491502010-05-13T02:20:49.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
Impressed as I am with the Story of Stuff people for their work on <a href="http://storyofstuff.org/bottledwater/">Bottled Water</a>, I've signed up both to be a social network repeater for them, and to host a screening party.<br></br><br></br>I'll go through their donation links as well and choose one to help fund.<br></br><br></br>Their clever, accessible, and informative propaganda does a great job of explaining how our desire for bottled water was manufactured to sell goods, in a way that ends up producing…
Impressed as I am with the Story of Stuff people for their work on <a href="http://storyofstuff.org/bottledwater/">Bottled Water</a>, I've signed up both to be a social network repeater for them, and to host a screening party.<br/><br/>I'll go through their donation links as well and choose one to help fund.<br/><br/>Their clever, accessible, and informative propaganda does a great job of explaining how our desire for bottled water was manufactured to sell goods, in a way that ends up producing scarcity and worsening the quality of the commons, both the water we drink and the air we breathe... And how limited a solution "recycling plastic" is...<br/><br/>Their approach also feeds into my own interests. So many of us Americans are so involved in the massive over-consumption that is accelerating the world's decay. But around me, every one is working pretty hard at reducing harm. There's lots more to do here (I could bike more, eat fewer processed foods, oh, let's not keep listing) but the real challenge is converting the people that right now just don't care or don't think in terms of limited resources at all.<br/><br/>How do we reach past the converts and widen the choir?<br/><br/><br/><br/>*With apologies to Rocky Horror Picture Show fans for riffing on the lyric to the finale serenade...<br/>Convenience isn't convenienttag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-05-13:4871302:BlogPost:1491282010-05-13T02:09:14.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
A couple of years ago, I ended a summer program for kids with two flats of bottled water in the back of my car.<br></br>This seemed like a great solution to my hydration problem--I knew I ought to be drinking more, and being able to reach behind my seat any time and grab the equivalent of a glass or two was splendid. <br></br><br></br>Of course, as soon as I mentioned this to one of my more ecologically informed friends, I was suitable chastised and chastened. The global cost of those bottles was…
A couple of years ago, I ended a summer program for kids with two flats of bottled water in the back of my car.<br/>This seemed like a great solution to my hydration problem--I knew I ought to be drinking more, and being able to reach behind my seat any time and grab the equivalent of a glass or two was splendid. <br/><br/>Of course, as soon as I mentioned this to one of my more ecologically informed friends, I was suitable chastised and chastened. The global cost of those bottles was horrifying to the point of absurdity.<br/><br/>But it's easy! But they're recyclable! But dang it they're cheap!<br/><br/>I did the research to figure out that yes, my friend was right, my actions were utterly unsustainable, but when the next summer came around, I struggled with explaining that to the kids I was working with. Foregoing bottled water meant relying on tap water, which they were enormously resistant to. <br/><br/>Now, thanks to the clever people behind the "Story of Stuff" project, there's a simple, funny, and devastatingly effective video that I can use to make the point. Happy squiggly lines are far more eloquent about this sort of thing than old camp counselor fuddy duddies...!<br/><br/><a href="http://storyofstuff.org/bottledwater/">http://storyofstuff.org/bottledwater/</a><br/>The loins, they give me light...tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-05-13:4871302:BlogPost:1491062010-05-13T01:48:52.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
One of my guilty pleasures is bacon. <br></br>I buy it organic, farm raised, from <a href="http://www.nimanranch.com/index.aspx">Niman Ranch</a> which is pretty good as meat-raisers go, but still, it's not very healthy and not very sustainable and such a shame that it's so very very delicious.<br></br><br></br>Like anybody who cooks bacon, or other greasy delights, I've puzzled over time about what's the most responsible way to dispose of the grease. It shouldn't go down the drain, it doesn't really belong…
One of my guilty pleasures is bacon. <br/>I buy it organic, farm raised, from <a href="http://www.nimanranch.com/index.aspx">Niman Ranch</a> which is pretty good as meat-raisers go, but still, it's not very healthy and not very sustainable and such a shame that it's so very very delicious.<br/><br/>Like anybody who cooks bacon, or other greasy delights, I've puzzled over time about what's the most responsible way to dispose of the grease. It shouldn't go down the drain, it doesn't really belong in the garden, it can go in the compost if we're talking industrial scale...<br/><br/>But now I've figured out it can go right up into the air. A month or so before White Castle came out with their strange new product, I'd figured out for myself how to make bacon fat candles:<br/><br/>1. Pour bacon grease into a small glass (2 inches wide, 4 inches tall)<br/><br/>2. Take a spool of wire, and bend a G shape that will rest at the bottom of the glass, with the inner end bent to rise (perpendicular from the bottom) straight up.<br/><br/>3. Take thick twine, and tie one end to the corner of the G and the rising bit<br/><br/>4. Twist the twine around the rising bit as many times as possible up to the top.<br/><br/>5. Fold the top of the rising bit over just enough to create a loop, to which you can tie off the twine.<br/><br/>6. You've now made the wick... Sink the whole thing into the grease, and you've got your candle!<br/><br/>7. If you live in warmer climates, a few pieces of actual candle wax can be melted in to keep the candle solid at room temperature.<br/>The Fossil Fool and his Cool Toolstag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-05-13:4871302:BlogPost:1490942010-05-13T01:39:48.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
I'd circled around the clever gentlemen who goes by <a href="http://fossilfool.com/">Fossil Fool</a> for a year or three before I really understood his project. The idea of entertainment powered by exercise showed up in a Wired Magazine future forecast awhile before that, and I'm sure that wasn't the first place. I don't know where he got his inspiration--it may be that he's just one of those born tinkerers who kept putting 2 and 3 together until he came up with the perfect 23. What he's…
I'd circled around the clever gentlemen who goes by <a href="http://fossilfool.com/">Fossil Fool</a> for a year or three before I really understood his project. The idea of entertainment powered by exercise showed up in a Wired Magazine future forecast awhile before that, and I'm sure that wasn't the first place. I don't know where he got his inspiration--it may be that he's just one of those born tinkerers who kept putting 2 and 3 together until he came up with the perfect 23. What he's arrived at now is an amazing blend of bike-modding and energy-resourcefulness, that is exciting and hip and inspiring and educational... Just the kind of blend Urgent Evoke seems to be about, which is why I wasn't surprised to see a very similar idea put to work in one of the comics here. <br/><br/>Imagine the joy and fun and learning that happens when the Fossil Fool bikes up to a crowd, brakes to a halt, and starts blaring happy music out of the giant speaker molded to the back of his bicycle... and while everyone starts to groove, he raises up the double sided kickstand, so folks can take turns pedaling the wheels and generating more electricity to keep the party going. He's a bona fide local rock star, providing his very own super powered fusion.<br/>Extending Food Securitytag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-05-13:4871302:BlogPost:1490772010-05-13T01:22:33.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
Three steps I've taken since accepting this mission:<br></br><br></br><span style="font-style: italic;">1. Helping the people who moved into the apartment above me build out a garden in our back yard:</span><br style="font-style: italic;"></br><br></br>I'd started a compost bin (really a luggage trunk), which they dug into the soil. And I happily donated my lawn chairs to their garden area. I've since moved out of that place, but I'm very happy that the big lot, empty except for grass for so many years,…
Three steps I've taken since accepting this mission:<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic;">1. Helping the people who moved into the apartment above me build out a garden in our back yard:</span><br style="font-style: italic;"/><br/>I'd started a compost bin (really a luggage trunk), which they dug into the soil. And I happily donated my lawn chairs to their garden area. I've since moved out of that place, but I'm very happy that the big lot, empty except for grass for so many years, finally has seed beds and rows... And though I won't be around to enjoy it, what grows there will feed them well.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic;">2. Attending a master composting final class:</span><br/><br/>Two friends of mine have completed their certification as master composters through this program--<br/><a href="http://www.stopwaste.org/home/index.asp?page=170">http://www.stopwaste.org/home/index.asp?page=170</a><br/>And I helped by attending their presentation/final project. And as soon as they get through a wedding and a couple of other endeavors, I'll be having them over to start a worm bin at my apartment... Helping them carry on what they've started, spreading the seeds of self-sufficiency back to me!<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic;">3. Continuing to buy local and buy strategically</span><br/><br/>I've moved from the eastern end of town towards the urban center, much closer to easy access to groceries at big corporate stores. I'm still shopping twice a month at what used to be my neighborhood market, which is one of the only sources of fresh produce at that end of town. Fortunately, my work takes me past there at least once a week. Now if I can just map out what's cheapest, where, so I can be socially strategic and thrifty too...<br/>Food Security in Oakland, California, UStag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-05-13:4871302:BlogPost:1490682010-05-13T01:12:14.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
For a couple of different reasons, this was the mission where my motivation and momentum petered out.<br></br>Picking it up now, on the last day (not an uncommon phenomenon for me) we'll see how far I get.<br></br><br></br>I found a 4 year old report on Food Security in my hometown, commissioned by the previous Mayor:<br></br><a href="http://oaklandfoodsystem.pbworks.com/">http://oaklandfoodsystem.pbworks.com/</a><br></br><br></br>It's a broad based survey, but the big picture conclusion appears to be that the major…
For a couple of different reasons, this was the mission where my motivation and momentum petered out.<br/>Picking it up now, on the last day (not an uncommon phenomenon for me) we'll see how far I get.<br/><br/>I found a 4 year old report on Food Security in my hometown, commissioned by the previous Mayor:<br/><a href="http://oaklandfoodsystem.pbworks.com/">http://oaklandfoodsystem.pbworks.com/</a><br/><br/>It's a broad based survey, but the big picture conclusion appears to be that the major challenge is distribution. I live in a very fertile area, with many transportation systems for imports and exports and plenty of capital to justify the movement of goods.<br/><br/>However, there are large areas of town with minimal access to fresh produce, or even healthy staples of any kind. Areas where you can get eggs and milk and sugary juice at gas stations and liquor stores, but no broccoli or grains or even flour.<br/><br/>The major solution to this is constant attention from the city planners (the Mayor, the council, the business development bureau). In the years since the report was drafted, one major new local food market has been opened in the eastern/southern end of town, more are being recruited, along with three corporate groceries in areas that were already well served.<br/><br/>For my part, even though I the big name stores are more convenient for me, I make it a regular practice to shop further in the east, to support the stores out there. I'd like to find a place in the west end of town to, but I haven't yet.<br/>Trust the one you're with (?)tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-25:4871302:BlogPost:624772010-03-25T02:15:48.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
At the moment, based on the community so far, <b>I trust the network.</b><br />
Evoke consists of an ever growing number of dedicated, passionate, well informed and well connected individuals who are demonstrating high motivation to work together and solve global and local problems in every direction.<br />
<br />
At the moment, based on the story so far, <b>I don't trust Alchemy.</b><br />
I'm suspicious of the difference in tactics between…
At the moment, based on the community so far, <b>I trust the network.</b><br />
Evoke consists of an ever growing number of dedicated, passionate, well informed and well connected individuals who are demonstrating high motivation to work together and solve global and local problems in every direction.<br />
<br />
At the moment, based on the story so far, <b>I don't trust Alchemy.</b><br />
I'm suspicious of the difference in tactics between <a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/rio-a-failure-on-tokyos-terms">Tokyo, London, and Rio.</a><br />
I'm unsure of who Alchemy is accountable to.<br />
I support Evoke's purpose, and its principles too...<br />
But I am leery of putting so much faith in the actions of an independent team of "action heroes."<br />
<br />
How does Alchemy set priorities?<br />
Who controls the profits?<br />
Are there any safeguards other than Alchemy's own morality?<br />
If not, why do we <a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/per-occultus-illustro">trust Alchemy to guide our network?</a><br />
<br />
I don't distrust, yet. But I am concerned.<br />
I'm posting this in my own blog for anyone who would like to make direct answers to me...Per Occultus, Illustrotag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-25:4871302:BlogPost:624602010-03-25T02:00:00.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
<div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Per occultus illustro; per obscuro verus.</span><br></br></div>
<br></br>The old crypto-anarchist's maxim floated into my thoughts as I pondered Alchemy's request.<br></br><br></br><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">"Someone's playing us against ourselves, and we need to know who."</span><br></br><br></br><div style="margin-left: 40px;">Alchemy gave me an embarrassingly large dataset to fold, spindle, and mutilate until I found the…</div>
<div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Per occultus illustro; per obscuro verus.</span><br/></div>
<br/>The old crypto-anarchist's maxim floated into my thoughts as I pondered Alchemy's request.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">"Someone's playing us against ourselves, and we need to know who."</span><br/><br/><div style="margin-left: 40px;">Alchemy gave me an embarrassingly large dataset to fold, spindle, and mutilate until I found the answer. Embarrassing because I had no idea Evoke was keeping that much data... <br/>And I hardly knew what to do with it.<br/></div>
<br/>Thousands of members and their "friend" linkages, hundreds of thousands of posts and comments... That was par for the course for social graph analysis, though the granular precision of the timing logs surprised me. Alchemy must have expected to be concerned with a close accounting of how information spread across the network. What made this dataset utterly unique was the peculiar praise system of "Evoke Power Voting." <br/><br/><div style="margin-left: 40px;">I'd seen social network sites that tracked their members up/down and like/dislike voting trends, but I'd never seen a dataset that revealed all those actions. Combined with the timing logs, and cross-referenced against the full archive of personal messages (another surprise), this dataset was a nearly perfect record of every action across the entire network since it began. <br/></div>
<br/>Somewhere in this vast dataset (which my inner privacy watchdog was barking at ferociously) was the evidence that some of us had begun working at cross purposes to the rest of us.<br/><br/><div style="margin-left: 40px;">Never mind finding a needle in a haystack. <br/>Try diving into a swimming pool of needles to fish out a paperclip.<br/></div>
<br/>So I made a few calls, and began to chop up green peppers, onions, and olives. I sliced my way through a few of the stranger gourds from our CSA box, mixed the pulp in with the cornmeal dough, and began to knead. By the time the pizzas were ready to come out of the oven, four of my old students were gathered around the kitchen table, and while they hadn't found the answer, they'd come up with a good algorithm.<br/>Where Facebook meets Evoke...tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-18:4871302:BlogPost:449322010-03-18T19:20:42.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
Breaking news today about the new social network from one of Facebook's founders:<br></br><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jose-antonio-vargas/jumo-chris-hughes-faceboo_b_503720.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jose-antonio-vargas/jumo-chris-hughes-faceboo_b_503720.html</a><br></br><br></br>It's not open yet, but Chris Hughes has apparently designed his new venture, <a href="http://www.jumo.com">www.jumo.com</a> , as a way to use the best practices of social networking to connect people for civic…
Breaking news today about the new social network from one of Facebook's founders:<br/><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jose-antonio-vargas/jumo-chris-hughes-faceboo_b_503720.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jose-antonio-vargas/jumo-chris-hughes-faceboo_b_503720.html</a><br/><br/>It's not open yet, but Chris Hughes has apparently designed his new venture, <a href="http://www.jumo.com">www.jumo.com</a> , as a way to use the best practices of social networking to connect people for civic improvement.<br/><br/>The full site launches in Fall, but you can register for email updates and take a short interest survey.<br/><br/>Looks like it overlaps with Evoke's purpose..!<br/>Rio: A failure on Tokyo's terms...tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-18:4871302:BlogPost:427192010-03-18T03:30:00.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
We're moving very fast, and either I've lost the plot, or it's left me behind...<br></br><br></br>Why were we in Rio in the first place?<br></br><span style="font-style: italic;">Edit: Six months of power failures, riots over oil in the favelas; thanks <a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/CianGregoryAccuardiShelley">Cian!</a></span><br style="font-style: italic;"></br><br></br>I grant you, it's a great laboratory for some of our more innovative solutions. <br></br>Is that what Evoke is about? Finding…
We're moving very fast, and either I've lost the plot, or it's left me behind...<br/><br/>Why were we in Rio in the first place?<br/><span style="font-style: italic;">Edit: Six months of power failures, riots over oil in the favelas; thanks <a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/CianGregoryAccuardiShelley">Cian!</a></span><br style="font-style: italic;"/><br/>I grant you, it's a great laboratory for some of our more innovative solutions. <br/>Is that what Evoke is about? Finding communities <span style="font-style: italic;">in crisis</span> to test our methods?<br/>Were we called into Rio, or did we go on our own?<br/>We didn't fix the Favelas. Maybe we couldn't--we certainly aren't the first to have tried.<br style="font-style: italic;"/><span style="font-style: italic;">Edit: We may have stabilized power consumption, and put some exciting pilot technologies out into the field</span><br/><br/>In Tokyo, we answered the government's Evoke, and averted imminent hunger riots.<br/><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Was there an imminent crisis in Rio?</span><br/>Can Evoke be effective without the pressure of a looming catastrophe?<br/>Did we learn enough to justify the time and energy and money spent there?<br/>Did we risk too much exposure?<br/>Did we do enough for the local community to justify using them as our laboratory/workspace/testing ground?<br/><br/>My own (somewhat overlapping) set of answers to Alchemy's question, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Did we fail?:</span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic;">Whether we failed in Rio depends on why we were there.</span><br style="font-style: italic;"/><span style="font-style: italic;">By the standards of the Tokyo intervention...</span><br style="font-style: italic;"/><span style="font-style: italic;">-We did demonstrate a new, promising and creative solutions to the existing problems</span><br style="font-style: italic;"/><span style="font-style: italic;">-We have not institutionalized those solutions</span><br style="font-style: italic;"/><span style="font-style: italic;">-We have not distributed the knowledge to put those solutions to work (yet)</span><br style="font-style: italic;"/><span style="font-style: italic;">-We have not acted under the radar--in fact our best success was very high profile</span><br style="font-style: italic;"/><span style="font-style: italic;">-We did not avert the crisis...</span><br style="font-style: italic;"/><br style="font-style: italic;"/><span style="font-style: italic;">Seems like a failure, but I have to ask... were we trying to pull off another Tokyo? Who called us to Rio in the first place? Were we responding to an external Evoke? Cruising on our own success/hubris?</span><br style="font-style: italic;"/><span style="font-style: italic;">Or going out into the field for more experience?</span><br style="font-style: italic;"/><br style="font-style: italic;"/><span style="font-style: italic;">From the field-testing perspective, we gained new insight, new allies, and the exposure doesn't hurt us if it's not undermining the self-empowerment of the local government/community...</span><br style="font-style: italic;"/><br style="font-style: italic;"/><span style="font-style: italic;">So if our goal was a socially beneficial learning opportunity for our network, we succeeded, even if our interventions don't take root.</span><br style="font-style: italic;"/><br style="font-style: italic;"/><span style="font-style: italic;">The question in the end, Alchemy, is how much time do we have to learn from trial and error? And does an appearance of fallibility harm us in other ways as well?</span><br/>Who is Citizen X?tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-18:4871302:BlogPost:423482010-03-18T01:01:45.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
My broad theory at the moment:<br></br>Citizen X is us, whenever we act as information repeaters instead of as responders.<br></br><br></br>The Evoke network is about using information and connections to organize intelligent, effective responses to crises.<br></br><br></br>Citizen X is about exploiting access to information for (anonymous) glory.<br></br><br></br>From this week's episode, it appears that:<br></br>1. The Citizen X community is interested in any information that others might value--celebrity gossip, credit card…
My broad theory at the moment:<br/>Citizen X is us, whenever we act as information repeaters instead of as responders.<br/><br/>The Evoke network is about using information and connections to organize intelligent, effective responses to crises.<br/><br/>Citizen X is about exploiting access to information for (anonymous) glory.<br/><br/>From this week's episode, it appears that:<br/>1. The Citizen X community is interested in any information that others might value--celebrity gossip, credit card numbers, actual citizen journalism<br/>2. The Citizen X community runs through some kind of online network for rebroadcasting information<br/>3. They value anonymity<br/>4. There doesn't appear to be any overlap between their usernames and Evoke usernames... Yet! And that might be a function of the 24-36 hour refresh delay on member/post searches.<br/><br/>Here are the names we've seen-- Did I miss any?<br/><br/>Cipher<br/>Anon<br/>Nobody<br/>Sirnonymous<br/>Mrnobody<br/>Zilch<br/>Upstart<br/>Nought<br/>Upstart<br/>Nullity<br/>Evoke is run by earnest amateurstag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-17:4871302:BlogPost:420742010-03-17T23:27:43.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
1. Typos scattered around, including in the text of the second quest:<br></br><span class="question" id="Q_13" style="font-style: italic;">Who or what you really care about? Try
to analyze your “big day” for at least three things it reveals about<br />
what really motivates you.</span> (The word DO is missing...)<br></br><br></br>2. Blocky interface--important indicators like your inbox, your pointscore, new posts, and new comments, are all scattered around in different spots, and all quite small compared to…
1. Typos scattered around, including in the text of the second quest:<br/><span style="font-style: italic;" id="Q_13" class="question">Who or what you really care about? Try
to analyze your “big day” for at least three things it reveals about<br />
what really motivates you.</span> (The word DO is missing...)<br/><br/>2. Blocky interface--important indicators like your inbox, your pointscore, new posts, and new comments, are all scattered around in different spots, and all quite small compared to various banners.<br/><br/>3. A URL typo in the mass email for the week 3 update. So every player gets a "server not found" error...<br/><br/>These aren't complaints, just observations. At the moment, the lack of polish gives me more faith that this game isn't just a credibility whitewash for the World Bank...<br/>Urgent Evoke Facebook Grouptag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-11:4871302:BlogPost:299832010-03-11T03:20:29.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
I've created a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php#%21/group.php?gid=352407064951">facebook group</a> to facilitate playing the game...<br/><br/>What would you like to see it used for?<br/><br/>-Finding friends<br/>-Collecting information<br/>-Commenting on challenges<br/>-?<br/><br/>I was surprised there wasn't one already... I haven't done much with facebook groups before, so I welcome all suggestions.<br/><br/>How will you use facebook to learn how to save the world?<br/>
I've created a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php#%21/group.php?gid=352407064951">facebook group</a> to facilitate playing the game...<br/><br/>What would you like to see it used for?<br/><br/>-Finding friends<br/>-Collecting information<br/>-Commenting on challenges<br/>-?<br/><br/>I was surprised there wasn't one already... I haven't done much with facebook groups before, so I welcome all suggestions.<br/><br/>How will you use facebook to learn how to save the world?<br/>Feature Frustrationstag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-11:4871302:BlogPost:298162010-03-11T02:00:55.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
Our network has some structural problems. Information is too scattered and fragmented. I'd almost suspect it of being intentionally alienating, if I didn't have so much faith in the architects. This is a quick note, not a complete list...<br></br><br></br><span style="font-weight: bold;">1. We can't find contacts easily</span><br></br><br></br><div style="margin-left: 40px;">--every other social network allows fast look ups through email. <br></br></div>
<br></br><span style="font-weight: bold;">2. We can't make…</span>
Our network has some structural problems. Information is too scattered and fragmented. I'd almost suspect it of being intentionally alienating, if I didn't have so much faith in the architects. This is a quick note, not a complete list...<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold;">1. We can't find contacts easily</span><br/><br/><div style="margin-left: 40px;">--every other social network allows fast look ups through email. <br/></div>
<br/><span style="font-weight: bold;">2. We can't make friends easily</span><br/><br/><div style="margin-left: 40px;">--see a comment you like? It takes three clicks to add the author as a friend... <br/></div>
<br/><span style="font-weight: bold;">3. We can't find anything easily</span><br style="font-weight: bold;"/><br/><div style="margin-left: 40px;">--our information is sorted by tags, and by power ratings, and by some other star system I've seen, but when I look up a new contact and want to review their evidence, I have to find one tiny link on the right side that shows how many blogs they've posted.<br/></div>
<br/><span style="font-weight: bold;">4. Everything we do, we have to do again</span><br style="font-weight: bold;"/><br/><div style="margin-left: 40px;">--Add a piece of evidence, then tag it, then go back and log it if it completes a mission, then go publicize it if you want it to be noticed... And apparently there's a whole parallel monitoring system for tracking the feeds of the people you choose to mentor..?<br/></div>
<br/><br/><br/><br/>I love the purpose and potential for our network. But I have misgivings about its design.<br/><br/><br/>When the phone rings...tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-10:4871302:BlogPost:277712010-03-10T21:41:39.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">When the phone rings, it's a an actual phone. <br></br></div>
<br></br>An actual, plugged-into-the-wall, mono-functional, analog-only telephone. A rotary, telephone, in fact, an archaic bakelite rotary monstrosity, squatting on the kitchen counter between the bacon-grease-splattered panini grill and the stainless steel industrial strength vegetable blender, under the window looking out onto the garden, where the boys are pulling weeds and hucking dirtclods at each…
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">When the phone rings, it's a an actual phone. <br/></div>
<br/>An actual, plugged-into-the-wall, mono-functional, analog-only telephone. A rotary, telephone, in fact, an archaic bakelite rotary monstrosity, squatting on the kitchen counter between the bacon-grease-splattered panini grill and the stainless steel industrial strength vegetable blender, under the window looking out onto the garden, where the boys are pulling weeds and hucking dirtclods at each other.<br/><br/><div style="margin-left: 40px;">I know these days most of the fixitkids on Alchemy's speed-dial have their Evokes routed through the CubeSats to whatever console or station they're hovering over. <br/></div>
<br/> I don't have that luxury, because when I'm teaching, I can't tolerate the distraction, and when I'm not teaching the boys, they're in the garden and need to be watched constantly, and anyway Rachel won't let me have display communications inside the house. Not even a nano-cloud display. She works with screens all day long, she says, tracking incidents and taking statements and filing reports and placing orders for removal or returns... and after all that, she says, she wants a home that's just a place, free of representations. <br/><br/><div style="margin-left: 40px;">I stay home all day with the boys, teaching them their lessons in the library and then keeping them from savaging the garden while they try to raise up corn and tomatoes and rabbits. <br/></div>
<br/>I do have my shed, out back behind the compost heap, where I've got four different current systems and a dozen or so archaic ones, a matched pair of high-speed datalinks and CubeSat view-stations, a power-generator-exercise cycle, and a cot to sleep on when the occasional long contract (or, twice now, an Urgent Evoke) keeps me busy overnight. Mostly I go there to binge on hyper-connectivity on Saturdays while Rachel takes the boys around town for their visitations. It never feels like enough--I have to set three alarm clocks to go off at once in the afternoon, to pull me from my hyperconnected trance of observation and inquiry and data-tracing, and I always have to rush to save all my sessions and set the drives spinning down and get outside in time to chain the shed door and fasten the lock and sprint back into the kitchen to make lemonade. Rachel knows where I spend my Saturdays, but the boys don't--it goes against the ethos we try to impart upon them through the garden and the library. With mulch and dirt and math and drills and plants and poetry, we try to get them to fully invest in the visceral moments of our house and garden. The here and now is a shelter from the past, and all our boys come to us from pasts that chase them into their dreams. <br/><br/><div style="margin-left: 40px;">My habitual escapes into the virtual world of information and representation are hypocrisy, and mostly our boys need a lot of simple (remedial) lessons about human relationships, before an advanced seminar in double and triple standards of adult lifestyles. Also, though the chain on the shed door is thick and the lock is strong, some of them would be tempted to try one more smash and grab and run if they knew what was inside. <br/></div>
<br/>Of course, the rotary phone on the kitchen counter would be worth more than all my screens and systems, at the right pawnshop, even with the light retrofitting I've done to fit in a modern circuit board so it can operate as a voicelink to CubeSat relays and CloudSourced applications. <br/><br/><div style="margin-left: 40px;">The vegetable blender doesn't have any hidden extras, but it's worth a lot of cash too. I don't worry about it, much; if our boys were that smart about stealing and selling, they wouldn't have ended up under our care. <br/></div>
<br/> That antique bakelite frog trills a low and rolling chime, and I know it's Alchemy calling for me. <br/><br/><div style="margin-left: 40px;">The first time I received an Urgent Evoke, I was already in the shed, working on a contract during Oakland's latest municipal effort to incorporate Piedmont. Two city councilmembers were paying me a pretty penny to get the Piedmont Fire Chief on board with their campaign. It was a very sweet deal, three months worth of pay just to analyze and exploit one public officer's history of policy statements, political alliances, financial reports, web presence, and social graph, and win them an endorsement. Actually, I suspected the councilmembers were paying me to keep me from taking on a contract for the School Board Charter Renewal measure. It wouldn't do them any good though; it's an open secret that I only take one contract at a time, but these days I've got a half dozen "graduated" boys who came back around after college, and were savvy enough that I could take them out to the shed and give them an apprenticeship in my "other job." <br/><br/></div>
My interns learn realpolitik electioneering through deep web research, social graph analysis, basic cyber and meatspace hacking methods, security and counter-security techniques, and my idiosyncratic versions of praxis and professional ethics. I don't let them take on their own contracts until they've bought their own machines, and I don't use them for my own work. I pay them good money to find campaigns to volunteer for, and one of the oldest was working on the School Board Charter Renewal. I'd never have to touch the campaign, but I knew it would succeed. <br/><br/><div style="margin-left: 40px;">So that first time, with the only issue I cared about taken care of, and the only issue I was being paid to take care of a foregone conclusion, I welcomed Alchemy's distraction. <br/><br/></div>
Just as well; Alchemy's Urgent Evoke froze two of my consoles. Both had been running a specialized datamining browser with one too many efficiency tweaks. "Spontaneous function calls are the bane of efficacious multi-tasking, I always say," (when I want to be obscure, and at that moment it kept me from cursing so that's exactly what I said). On the unfrozen screens, Alchemy seemed to shrug in the snowy little video chat window, but it might have been an artifact of the static creating the appearance of shoulders under a dashiki under that strange mask. <br/><br/><div style="margin-left: 40px;">That first time, Alchemy asked me to analyze a dataset from the Somali Pirates. Ship movements, freight records, crew lists reconstructed from CubeSat imagery, all cross referenced in database that could, theoretically, reveal to the hidden influencers who would be most interested in a "golden parachute" retirement offer, and could bring the largest number of compatriots along. <br/><br/>I said no.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">"We need this information. You've agreed to trust my judgment."</span><br/><br/>No. And yes, I have, but No.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"The task is within your expertise, and the situation requires a resolution."</span><br/><br/></span>No. I'm not going to tell you who the most popular kidnappers and rapists are. A lot of the pirates aren't that kind of criminal, but the ones who can be bribed into retirement will be. And that's not the answer you need. <br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"Oh?"</span><br/><br/></span>The stupid approach is to retire the worst. The smart fix is to hire the best. <span style="font-style: italic;"><br/></span><br/><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">"Ah."</span><br/><br/>Search the dataset for the crews with the capacity and character to become Somali's own merchant marine. You get a reduction in piracy, the people get the jobs they need, and the commercial enterprises that have been exploiting their waters trade pillage for a protection racket as the cost of doing business.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">"Mm."</span><br/><br/>Do you need some names of people to do the analysis?<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">"You won't?"</span><br/><br/>You need someone who speaks the language. I don't. Translation programs are no good for this kind of nuance. And... You knew that. Was this just a hypothetical? A test?<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">"The Urgent Evoke is real. We've already done the analysis, but we need someone to run confirmations by the numbers. And we don't trust our datasets to people who don't see things... Our way."</span><br/><br/></div>
The second time Alchemy sent me an Urgent Evoke, i was free of contracts and enjoying my Saturday afternoon in the shed, chatting with seven friends from college, and grad school, and watching newly posted episodes of police procedurals from the late 90's. Alchemy's mask emerged out of the wrinkled forehead of an angry detective Sipowicz, and assigned me a task I could handle directly. California finally had its Constitutional Convention, and had a chance to fix the budget problems that had crippled it for years. The ratification would be close, though. Alchemy asked me to find local candidates and ballot initiatives to promote across the state that would function as indirect Get-Out-The-Vote campaigns for supporters of the constitutional reform. I had all my graduates working on that one. Our proposals helped win the day for the golden state, and coincidentally brought in a wave of greener policies and politicians. And, not coincidentally at all, a few of those policies included the grant programs and subsidies that helped Rachel and I buy the houses on our left and right, and merge our gardens, and take in a lot more boys.<br/><br/><div style="margin-left: 40px;">The third time, I was adding dandelion and grapes to the jicama, carrot and spinach in the blender, and about to call the boys in from the garden, when the Urgent Evoke was routed through to the rotary phone.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">"We're going into Tokyo. I need you to identify some likely resistors."</span><br/><br/>I can do the after-the-fact, but for first analysis you need someone who speaks the language again. There's no reliable algorithms for rendering Japanese into English.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">"It's not local resistance. I'm piping our dataset to your shed now."</span><br/><br/>Not local--you expect hostile NGO's? Or are you saying China is a player?<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">"Yes to both, but no. I'm sending you</span> our <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">dataset. <br/>Someone's playing us against ourselves, and we need to know who."</span><br/></div>Change in the Beck Yardtag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-09:4871302:BlogPost:261362010-03-09T21:32:45.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
I'm following <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#%21/robinbeck?v=info&ref=nf">Robin Beck, Organizing Director</a> for <a href="http://www.change.org">Change.org</a>, because:<br></br><br></br>1. I like his politics and his praxis.<br></br>2. I've shared dinners and a visit to a hot spring with him.<br></br>3. I've been meaning to learn more from him.<br></br>4. His new job involves posting to facebook.<br></br>5. His old job involved planning crimes.<br></br>6. He is involved with online outreach to communities that…
I'm following <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#%21/robinbeck?v=info&ref=nf">Robin Beck, Organizing Director</a> for <a href="http://www.change.org">Change.org</a>, because:<br/><br/>1. I like his politics and his praxis.<br/>2. I've shared dinners and a visit to a hot spring with him.<br/>3. I've been meaning to learn more from him.<br/>4. His new job involves posting to facebook.<br/>5. His old job involved planning crimes.<br/>6. He is involved with online outreach to communities that are already saturated with online appeals. I'd like to learn from what he's working on, towards some of my own ideas and proto-projects...<br/><br/>I've set up an account at Change.org (should have known about that before now anyway) and will follow his posts there, and through facebook. And I'll have him over for dinner if I can, seeing as how he's moved into my fair city recently.<br/><br/><br/>Culture is the weapon, not the battle groundtag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-09:4871302:BlogPost:260362010-03-09T21:00:00.000ZWasserpersonhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/Wasserperson
Of the 33 secrets, #2 (The first #2) stood out as best and most true for me:<br></br><span style="font-style: italic;"><br></br>Don’t fight culture (If people cook by stirring their stews, they’re
not going to use a solar oven, no matter what you do to market it. Make<br></br>
them a better stove instead.)</span> <a href="http://go2.wordpress.com/?id=725X1342&site=designinafrica.wordpress.com&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ethanzuckerman.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F10%2F17%2Finnovating-from-constraint%2F">--Ethan…</a>
Of the 33 secrets, #2 (The first #2) stood out as best and most true for me:<br/><span style="font-style: italic;"><br/>Don’t fight culture (If people cook by stirring their stews, they’re
not going to use a solar oven, no matter what you do to market it. Make<br/>
them a better stove instead.)</span> <a href="http://go2.wordpress.com/?id=725X1342&site=designinafrica.wordpress.com&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ethanzuckerman.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F10%2F17%2Finnovating-from-constraint%2F">--Ethan Zuckerman</a><br/><br/>I couldn't agree more. Culture isn't an obstacle to be overcome on the way to changing people's behavior. Culture is the actual process by which people adopt new habits and shed old traditions. <br/><br/>I haven't done enough thinking and talking on this topic to be as thorough and concise as I'd like, and <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">unfortunately I can't find a link for</span> I'm heavily indebted to the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pro-Gordon-R-Dickson/dp/0812535758/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268168920&sr=1-1">Gordon R. Dickson book "Pro"</a> that informs a lot of my ideas. Here goes anyway:<br/><br/>Yes, Culture is the accumulated amalgamation of behaviors that have become ingrained, reflexive, and self-perpetuating... But each of those behaviors is the medium for messages that can confirm, challenge, and sometimes even change the others. If you want to shield your children from Disney, you're going to have to keep them out of McDonald's. And if you want to shield your children from fast-food, you're going to have to be very restrictive about their play-dates. On the other hand, if you want to equip your children with their own defense mechanisms against corporate consumer Culture, well, a TiVo and a bunsen burner and a good grasp of Socratic method might provide for some useful dissections/deconstructions/dialogue. Rigid discipline might forestall the encroachments of corporate consumer Culture for awhile... But a family Culture of critical thinking and analysis will probably do more to develop resistance.<br/><br/>While the election of an African American President in the United States can be viewed as an enormous change in Culture, it's really a triumph his campaign organizations direct use of Culture. They didn't mount a "race relations" campaign. They didn't go after any values and morals re-education agenda. The Obama campaign used the current cultural tools of emails, social networking, text messages, etcetera, to run a very traditional grassroots populist Democratic campaign. They also paid extremely close attention to the codified Culture of the Democratic party, via its primary voting rules. That's Culture as the weapon for change, not the battle ground.<br/><br/>There's a tendency in education reform to talk about "changing the Culture," and I presume that the trope shows up in other reformist circles. I understand that what's meant is "let's change the self-defeating ideas," or thereabouts. I'm far more interested in using Cultural practices to distribute change. You can't fight Culture directly, but you can use a group's Culture to enact change on itself. In fact, (and there's a whole other post here that I may not be smart enough to write) <span style="font-style: italic;">enacting change upon itself is the true purpose of Culture.</span><br/>