Thanks to my piss-poor organisational skills, a forgotton Christmas pageant and some unseasonally hot weather, I managed to turn a proposed meeting with Nancy White and Dave into a last minute public ‘tweet-up’ which failed to attract a single person via twitter. What happened instead was a wonderful gathering of fascinating people with amazing connections to networks that LifeKludger has been trying to find and engage with for ages.

Lets start with a description of what happened before I try to analyze what I think happened.

When Dave and I heard that Nancy was coming to Adelaide, we thought it would be great to catch up and reflect on what we have learnt since our first meeting in Dave’s office just over three years ago. A few tweets were sent, a blog consulted and a loose plan to catch up on Saturday morning began to hatch. Due to a crazy work week (and the fact that Dave’s airconditioned office in the city dissapeared along with his job thanks to economic rationalism) I suggested 9am in the Adelaide central market where Nancy and I first met. By Friday night it was obvious that it would be just too hot and too hard for Dave to make it, so we threw it open to the entire twitterverse. Nancy asked me to email some guy called Mark and I rang a chap named Chris who had expressed an interest in meeting Nancy.

At 8.00am on Saturday it was already hot enough to boil a monkey’s bum, and while I was loitering about the house my wife pointed out that it was the day of the Christmas pageant and that my plan to drive to Uni and catch the tram from there was not gunna fly. She kindly drove me into the central markets and I went straight to the ‘Providore’ stall to see if there was still a chocolate fountain, and if some kind of ‘flash-mob’ had assembled. Turns out there were two chocolate fountains, and not an iPhone totting twitter mobster in sight. Nancy arrived and we had a quick chat before John arrived, then Mark followed by John’s business partner, Chris. So, who are these people?

Chris and John run a local consultancy called ‘Helpful Partners’ who specialise in making complex information clear and accessible.

Mark is the ‘old tool’ responsible for the awesome ‘Institute of BackYard Studies‘ home of shed culture and master of the great Australian piss-take. Someone I’ve been wanting to meet for a long time (thanks GB) Author of fine books like :

• Blokes and Sheds
• Henry Hoke’s Guide to the Misguided
• Makers, Breakers and Fixers
• Rare Trades: making things by hand in the digital age

How does this connect with LifeKludger?

As we talked around the table about who we are and what we do, I found myself gushing forth about my desire to grow an ‘ecosystem for enriching human life‘ and listening to amazing stories of connection with networks of ‘makers‘, ‘givers‘ and even ‘suppliers‘. Mark ‘I tinker therefore I am’ Thomson spends a lot of time connecting with and documenting some of the most amazing makers on the planet – who have used ingenuity to survive, nay thrive in the harsh land of Aus. As we discussed tinkering projects from ram-jets to hand-held gene sequencers Nancy bought us back to earth with wonderful stories of soapbox derbys and slow food. Chris and John described some ideas they have for clients in the health sector, many of whom are givers seeking to extend their caring over the spectrum from individual to (online) networks. All very ‘LifeKludger ish’ if you ask me. (Dave, plan for a long Skype call – I ain’t gunna try to write it all down).

How did Dave elucidate my scattered thoughts by NOT being there?

I sent this tweet just after I listened to Nancy’s keynote on my way into the IPAS launch (which, according to Nancy, ‘nailed’ the thesis of her kenote addressing the spectrum from individuality through community to networks):

fang #edayz09 a community would notice @dnwallace is not here, the network simply drops the (weak) connection … @nancywhite keynote reflection.

You see, Dave knows a thing or two about community, especially online community. He is also a world leader in online social networks. Talking with Nancy, Mark, John and Chris I could literally see some of the interesting connections and nodes – people like Genevieve Bell, Beth Kanter, Marnie Webb, Doug Jacquier and many, many more. As he so dramatically points out through his own experience – most of the online activity people like to call ‘online community’ is not community at all. Communities notice when somebody goes missing or falls upon hard times. Dave has been out of work for a long time now, thanks to some excessively brutal economic rationalism at the State Government level. LifeKludger blog posts are few and far between, our extraordinary everyday lives podcast is losing momentum and the twitterverse has simply routed around the loss of @dnwallace lurking and tweeting. Networks scale and route around damage – communities need a sense of place (or at least centrality) and do not scale.

Analysis – what I think happened:

Last week was a huge one for me with two events (the #wine2030 BlueSky2009 conference and launch of IPAS ) at which I wove some online social media magic. The IPAS launch on Friday 13th clashed directly with the edayz09 event that I wanted to be involved with, and was, thanks to the skillful weaving of Kerry Johnson. In particular, Nancy White’s keynote presentation was scheduled for the exact time at which I had to make most critical preparations for the IPAS launch. Because of this, and the fact that Dave was not going to be able to play the role of ‘remote podcast producer’ and record it for me, I decided to record and publish an .mp3 file of her keynote from the #edayz audio stream.

more yada yada…

You know, if I try to write down all the connections and thoughts that fired during this tweetup I will never finish the post. Speshully if I bang on about the trip home, post pageant apocolypse, the pint of kilkenny and kerfuffle that followed. So, I’m gunna publish it now, half finished half-arsed and I bet nobody notices. Did you really read down to here or did you scroll down! Shame on you ;-)

http://tr.im/postpageantapocalypse

http://www.slideshare.net/choconancy/should-we-use-community-edayz09-keynote
http://kerryj.com/2009/11/12/covering-edayz09-todays-coveragetomorrows-schedule/comment-page-1/#comment-2485

<<<note to self send mark lifekludger and mecart pics and links + letterbox photosynth

Fang – Mike Seyfang

technorati tags:seyfang, mikeseyfang

lifekludger, ibys, tinker, maker

why?

tinyurl.com/lkp001

what’s that all about?

For several years now I have been working with Dave (LifeKludger) Wallace to envision a way to use the social web to improve people’s lives through effective technology hacks. We can see and almost taste a world in which networks of ‘livers’ emit ideas or issues they are facing and with the help of networks of ’suppliers’ and ‘givers’ end up with pieces of technology modified by ‘makers’ that improve their life in some way. All totally scale-able, all powered by the social-web.

So our little ‘lkp001′ experiment is our first dabble into the world of social-web powered micro-finance and it is showing a lot of promise. We have shown that it is indeed possible to have a single project funded using the social web without creating too much fuss, admin overhead or any potential bottleneck to scale.

what’s next?

To see if we can demonstrate scale through networks of networks without placing any burden on our initial round of supporters. Here is the plan:

• Ask people who contributed, or thought about it to ask 2-3 people from their social network to do likewise for the next project.
• Run a batch of around 10 projects to see what issues / opportunties emerge
• Develop plans to scale from 100’s to 1000’s of projects with an increasing level of difficulty
• Build LifeKludger into a global community that self-promotes, montoring for and healing any dodgey practices that emerge.

Our humble first experiment has emboldened us to think of LifeKludger growing into a network with a strong reputation for enriching human life, affording great confidence for all stakeholders to articulate their needs, dream up new possibilities, raise funds to source, modify and deliver kludges that will make a difference.

further details and thoughts

Here is the LifeKludger open spreadsheet (so you can see where the money goes)

Beth Kanter (who inspired our fundraising effort) points to some even more ‘micro’ finance tools we might try:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/bethblog/~3/461381603/twitpay-but-what-about-twitdonate.html

The tool I really needed was a way for Kevin to simply twitter his $10 donation to the Sharing Foundation.  But, now he can – with a new tool called Twitpay.  According to Killer Startups, will enable anybody send payments using the popular micro-blogging platform via pay pal. (Hat Tip PlanetNelson)

Killer Startups describes how it works:

This is implemented in the following manner. First of all, you have to fund a Twitpay via PayPal. The amount of this account can vary between 10 and 50 US$. Once the account has been created, you can make payments to any person simply be tweeting. That is, if you want to pay Mark Wolffe $2 all you have to do is enter a message like “@MW twitpay $2 for services rendered” and the corresponding amount will be debited from your Twitpay account.

On the other hand, to see if someone has paid you using Twitpay all you have to do is keep an eye open on the replies tab of your Twitter stream. The site also includes a balance page that will provide you that information.

My initial question is .. hmm how will they avoid fundraising scammers? I’m sure they thought about that?  How do potential donors do their due diligence in 140 characters?

Is Twit2Donate too far behind?  Maybe by 2012.  Peter Deitz has a post called “How Will Your Nonprofit Raise Money in 2012?  He acknowledges the bad economy and it’s impact on fundraising, but makes the following point:

Fang – Mike Seyfang

Living through the birth of the open source movement and the rise of Linux in particular seemed from my perspective to be somewhat galvanised by a common hatred or at least contempt. From the reaction of Stallman to not being given code for a printer, to the Microsoft bashing I endured from the most enthusiastic code cutting geek to the ‘anything but Microsoft’ CIO, there was unity around a common foe.

Looking at the output and analysis of last week’s VRM (Vendor Relationship Management) conference in the States, three people I respect highly have made me think even deeper about the nature / role of the common foe.

Doc Searls (whose very presence indicates the value of a charismatic leader to a movement) has always been about the return of voice/power to the disenfranchised masses. From his brilliant riffing on ‘Public WiFi and Toilets in hotels’ to the subtle undertones of ClueTrain, his interest in VRM seems inexorably linked with a return of power to a market that is sick an tired of being ‘handled’ (by things like CRM).

Christopher Carfi provided early and comprehensive coverage and summaries of what happened at the VRM event. This list absolutely reeks with a sense of uprising from people who have had enough. Almost every statement suggests empowerment of individuals and subservient compliance by vendors.

JP Rangaswami chimes in with his razor sharp insights cleverly disguised as ‘lazy musings’. His musing about open source initiatives being better suited to the generic than the specific or unique resonates with this idea – it is harder to identify a common foe in specific or unique challenges. I would submit that focus on / development of the common foe may well be the kind of laxative catalyst that can really get such projects moving.

So, as I watch the fledgling VRM movement begin to mushroom and think about my own efforts with LearnDog and my ham-fisted attempts to help Dave with LifeKludger, there is much for me to consider and learn. Thanks, once again Doc, JP and Chris for your insights, leadership and willingness to connect with us crazy Aussies on a mission.

Therefore, being driven by a common enemy or complaint can be a key ingredient in starting a movement.

Fang – Mike Seyfang

technorati tags:seyfang, mikeseyfang

Keep an eye out for episode 36 of extraordinary.thepodcastnetwork.com which should be posted soon.

p.s. congrats to our guest and her man!

Dave and Mike preparing to Podcast

]]> http://mseyfang.edublogs.org/2007/10/12/dave-and-i-recording-eel036/feed/ 0 http://mseyfang.edublogs.org/2007/07/09/what-dave-said/ http://mseyfang.edublogs.org/2007/07/09/what-dave-said/#comments Mon, 09 Jul 2007 01:18:50 +0000 mseyfang http://mseyfang.edublogs.org/2007/07/09/what-dave-said/ I was planning a more considered response to Laurel’s request for input to a seminar she will be attending. But Dave said it all (and then some).

OH – and speaking to Dave reminds me about BARRIERS:

- like DRM

- like Passwords in RSS feeds

- partial (not full) feeds

- anything else that prohibits free flow and remix

All these things are bad for accessibility.  Don’t!!

Fang – Mike Seyfang

I want to leave a somewhat circular trail of breadcrumbs for Nancy – links to things we discussed and saw today. So here goes:

(Nancy, I will UPDATE some of the links over time – wanted to post something tonight)

The earliest connection we could recall was with people at TechSoup – either Marnie Webb or Beth Kanter started the ball rolling by sharing information about an upcoming presentation they were preparing. There was an overlap between their presentation and one Dave and I were working on for CISA’s ConnectingUp2006 conference.

Shortly before our presentation in May, 2006 I left some audio feedback with the NetSquared podcast, which Britt Bravo kindly included in their next episode – forging a link between our event and theirs. If you check out the youtube video of our presentation, you will notice I am wearing my EvilGeniusChronicles T-shirt and talk about my connection with Dave Slusher (about 17mins in).

Around that time I had hooked up with the EdTechTalk (Dave Cormier et al) crew as part of my work with LearnDog. They were very excited in one of their podcasts to be speaking with Nancy White – some sort of legend in the online community world.

Dave and Beth Kanter had been exploring Second Life – in which Dave asked for a virtual wheelchair (that started some interesting discussions). Dave tried to introduce me to a very busy Beth at TechSoup’s mixed reality event in secondlife – after which Beth kindly appeared as a guest via skype in our extraordinary everyday lives (eel) podcast. All this mixed reality stuff got me interested in making some machinima remixes of Lawrence Lessig, Stephen Downes and the Popular Science / Creative Commons music gig in secondlife.

While doing some consulting work in the Education sector, a blog post by Beth Kanter informed me of a podcast by Nancy White about a paper she had written for her upcoming visit to Australia in October. This paper was published by the Flexible Learning Framework people in the knowledge tree publication (that Stephen Downes sometimes links to).

Having left a few comments about Nancy’s podcast a connection began that led me to attending an online event hosted by Nancy prior to her trip, in which I presented her with some virtual chocolate – which Beth Kanter found somewhat amusing.

A few blog posts, emails and one phone call later – Nancy, Dave and I find ourselves at the same space-time coordinates and make a little podcast to capture and celebrate these connections. Only on re-listening to this did I figure out that Nancy and Beth collaborated on that first presentation which started this little chain of events – somewhat circular eh?

Some other things we saw / talked about:

- Geotagged photos by blogging Adelaide teacher Al Upton at Glenelg Oval, very close to my house. Al, Graham Wegner and I hook up at a talk by Barbara Ganley. A local community of blogging educators sprouts some leaves.

- myPLE, the Glenelg foreshore where I scan large amounts of audio while riding my bicycle. This is the heart of my self directed, re-education.

- More geotagging experiments, including a diagram of my windsurfing trails and recent shark attacks.

- photos of other Adelaide landmarks (I will try to remember to tag them with AustralianOctober).

Here endeth the trail of breadcrumbs.

Fang – Mike Seyfang

technorati tags:australianoctober

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8410419606448518266&q=seyfang

Dave (LifeKludger) Wallace and I talking at the Connecting Up 2006 conference back in May. Notice the EvilGenuis T-Shirt (has become my ‘good luck charm’ for any public address on podcasting). I regularly draw strength from the connections I have made through podcasting and other ’social web’ interaction.

Note – near 17:20 I shout out to Dave Slusher – EvilGenius during the talk.

Fang – Mike Seyfang

technorati tags:podcast, pme, evilgenius, evilgeniuschronicles, daveslusher

Last night Dave posted about his recent ‘breakdown’ to which I responded with a comment along the lines that to me, Dave’s worst attitudes appear better than the best of much of the population (including myself).  Thinking about this overnight, I was reminded of something I heard in a podcast that explored what the world would be like if people had nothing to struggle against – pretty bloody shocking I’d imagine.  I reflected on the strange negative effect my current easy-going circumstances have had on my own attitudes.

This morning Cam posted an insight using words I wish I had found:

Dave the lifekludger can’t help himself. He *thinks* he’s been having an emotional breakdown. But what he was *really* doing was re-inventing an entire industry

Read the whole post – it describes something I have seen Dave do many times, instinctively – when you run into an obstacle, study it, think about it, kick it a few times, solve it, then smash through or drive around it.  Good observation Cam – thanks for sharing it.

But wait, there’s more.  What about the stuff that Cam and the rest of Dave’s link-lovers can’t see.  What about Dave’s amazing family who have been with him through the thick and thin of it all.  Their lives are dramatically different than they should be.  So many of their plans have had to take a back-seat to the critical care Dave needs to get through each day.  And many of Dave’s carers who work so hard to be as invisible and flexible as possible – sometimes I quite literally forget they are there when Dave and I get started on a rant or plan of subversive skull-duggery.  Which brings me to my final point (since it is TLAPD after all)

Dave finished his post with these words:

All part of what Jackson Browne sings as being “caught between the longing for love and the struggle for the legal tender“.

So, if you are reading this because you are part of Dave’s ’social network’ – how about sending him some link love on this special anniversary day.  Not just love, but suggestions (and help with)  ways Dave’s incredible value to the blogosphere and world in general can be converted into legal tender.

Fang – Mike Seyfang

technorati tags:pirate, tlapd, anniversary

It’s Dave’s one year anniversary today.  So why not find a way to say ‘gidday’ to him.  Maybe wander over to lifekludger.net and drop a comment, or write your own post and tag it lifekludger, or trackback to this post….

For a treat we had a little party inside Second Life at TechSoups mixed reality event.

And Dave,

Well done on your first year of blogging.  It is an honor to call you my mate.  You are busy ’sowing in tears’, doing the hard yards.  I look forward to sharing in your ‘reaping with joy’ phase.

Fang – Mike Seyfang – (WhiteFang Shiras)

technorati tags:lifekludger, net2, mixedreality

And below is a RockYou slide show of some of those photos (kudos to graham for his RockYou example)

[rockyou 30215210]

technorati tags:dircsa20, disabilitysa, eteachersa

UPDATE:

Subscribe to http://feed.dircsa.org.au for podcasts of today and more goodies as we document the history of disability in South Oz.  You can find out more about the project here.  Get involved – start collecting pictures, stories, whatever you can about the history of disability in South Australia NOW – just tonight my Dad was telling me tonight about mum’s auntie ‘Vi’ who is still alive (>90yrs), had polio as a child, and can remember the local blacksmith at Maitland making leg irons!  (we gotta get some audio stories from her – priceless).

Fang – Mike Seyfang

technorati tags:disability, dircsa, disabilitysa