Learning with the Fang

Just returned from the mysterious ‘PlanetMuse’ party at the Underground in Adelaide, supported by the LearnDog foundation. If you know me will you will understand this is of great interest to me because I left a great job at Microsoft and a 25 year career in I.C.T. to spend a very difficult year (2005/06) as the inaugural product manager of LearnDog. In that time I worked with founder Mark Keough to envision a media company that could help kids through recognition of their vocational skills. We developed a great vision with some lofty goals that I am very proud of and believe will stand the test of time. Times were tough, funding dried up and I had to go out consulting to pay the bills.

What Happened

A few weeks back I recieved an invitation from Dean Eaton to attend a party for planet muse, supported by the LearnDog foundation. I had noticed that learndog.com has changed and includes reference to this planet muse. So, tonight I attended that party keen to meet Dean, catch up with Mark and find out what is going on.

• I got to catch up with some of the early supporters of LearnDog – Rory, Cathy, Bill, Michael, Bruce, JvR, Janine and many more.
• Dean Eaton introduced us to the plan for planetmuse at the underground during weekdays for the rest of the year. He provided some printed information and an invite to drop into one of the public information sessions over the next four Tuesdays.
• Mark gave us a very moving glimpse into the painful events that continue to drive his enduring passion for LearnDog to continue forward as a living memorial to his son Tom. Reminding us that pain never really goes away, not to sweep awkward issues under the carpet and to keep striving to do what we can to help people who have ‘lost their place’. He then gave his customary ‘pitch’ for support / funding (more on that later).
• Nick Xenophon ‘Senator for South Australia’ then gave a short and insightful talk linking LearnDog and Planet Muse with tipping points and Winston Churchill’s black dog. He then officially launched Planet Muse. (My greatest dream for LearnDog is that through whatever emerges, we will find a ‘tipping point’ on the social web that will enable kids to work out their own cures for depression).
• Finally, I got to meet Andrew from the Underground to tell him how much of an impact his 12 years of tireless work at this great venue has done for my kids (and their parents). We spent many evenings helping our under-age kids start their bands by sneaking them into various pubs and clubs, but they were able to run their own gigs at the Underground. This is where the Milton Experiance truly began to soar and give my son a solid foundation for his musical pursuits. (While waiting around to pack up drums, amps and assorted equipment Dave Sly and I decided to start our own band – the adelaidegeezers).

What Happens Next

• The plan is to run two ten week terms of creative engagement based around music. There will be continuous on line involvement and live sessions at the Underground Mon to Fri 10 am to 4 pm.
• There will be public information sessions at the venue at 10am and 7pm on Tuesday 16, 23, 30 June and 7th July.
• Participants need only a passion for music or the media that supports its creation.
• Enrolments are limited and cost $10k AUD per participant.
• Scholarships and funding support will be provided through the LearnDog foundation (who would dearly love to support and mentor young people who have become dis-connected or who have lost their place).

Some Patterns

• Sen Xenophon’s talk and reference to tipping points (media := newmedia) and the idea of LearnDog chasing away Winston Churchill’s ‘black dog’.
• Being at the Underground (where my kids launched their bands and found their place – 4 doing music tech at uni).
• My early experience with fotopedia and its ‘recognition services’ for photographs – feels very much like the type of infrastructure I thought we should build for LearnDog.
• Networks, connections, and scaling this up globally. Before attenting the launch I wrote this little blog post from LearnDog to Planet Muse suggesting scale could be achieved through digitisation, online publishing with open license and building communities of recognition.
• Music therapy as a starting point and my own ‘retirement plans’ with family therapist wife. Too long to explain here but there is a plan.

How we can get involved

• Attend one of the public information sessions on a Tuesday in June or July 2009.
• Spread the word, encouraged young people who may benefit from this wonderful experience to seek enrollment.
• If you like what you see, help with fundraising for the LearnDog foundation so it can indeed provide the scholarships and sponsorship required to give those who most need a programme like this the chance to participate.

I will keep you posted with my thoughts after I attend one of the public information sessions. If everything checks out and there is at least one deserving candidate, I plan to try an online micro-finance fundraising campaign for that candidate. (If that happens you will definitely be hearing from me ;-)

Fang – Mike Seyfang

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