I want to see what new types of wealth can be created by trans-disciplinary discourse (co-operation) as described by Rheingold

Having recently heard Howard Rheingold’s talk on co-operation for the second time, I picked up on something I missed first time around. The phrase ‘a little more co-operation’ has been bouncing round my brain as I think about the place of the *Read/Write Web in the world of scientific research.

As an active participant on the Read/Write Web, I can see great potential for improving the way scientific research will evolve to address some really big issues. It seems clear to me that evolution is speeding up and will continue to do so, with or without my help. The Read/Write Web is providing us with some early model tools of co-operation, I intend to become skilled in their use and to apply those skills in some emerging field of research (hopefully nanotech, biotech or materials science). Rheingold does an excellent job of articulating stuff I have experienced in that talk – using anthropological instruments such as the prisoner’s dillema and the tragedy of the commons as a guide. He goes on to describe early attempts at creating new wealth through co-operation from industry and philanthropy.

I think that I am figuring out a place to start

I think ‘a little more co-operation’ is key to figuring out a way forward in the near term. I used to think that if I could only help a researcher to publish small pieces of work frequently to the Read/Write Web (I call this ‘researching out loud’) that things would improve rapidly in line with my own experience of innovation over the past few years. Looking at the diagram below, one might think of moving the ‘slider‘ (think of a sliding volume control on an amplifier) just slightly to the right (in favour of more co-operation).

However, words like patent, trademark and litigation soon appear in conversation, pouring cold water on any enthusiasm. In order to begin innovating using the potential of the Read/Write Web for scientific research, we need to separate out pure research from the commercialisation of product. This separation allows us to hold a more healthy tension between ‘litigation and co-operation’. It would be very smart to be an early adopter when it comes to increasing co-operation in areas of pure research, carefully disentangling the creative types from a mess of secrecy and unhealthy competition. When it comes to the practical aspects of bringing a commerical product to market competition is the name of the game and only the fittest will (and should) survive.

My current plan is to get involved with areas of research projects that are able to be made very public that can be discussed freely and find ways to build networks of interested parties through simple tools like weblogs and podcasts in the first instance. That is to facilitate new media activities in the top right quadrant of the diagram above.

Wish me luck!

Seyfang – ‘A little less litigation, a little more co-operation please’

*Read/Write Web:
The term I will use when referring to ‘Web2.0, New Media, Digital Literacies, Social Networking etc.’ that is to say anything from blogs and podcasts -> MySpace and YouTube -> ReMix culture.

Fang – Mike Seyfang

technorati tags:seyfang, mikeseyfang

Unfortunately the last update (to v ) just turned it from great to bloatware.  Too many features, too much integration T O O O O  O    O   S L O W.

What a pity – I just loved they way I could start a blog post by dragging any flickr photo of my friends from the toolbar to a blog post and save it locally to my disk as a .html file.  The integration with wordpress was cool with handy dandy technorati tag creation at publish time.  But alas the performance sucks so badly since the last upgrade I just cant use it.

Enter ScribeFire – (aka Performancing) add in for FireFox.  Not perfect but just good enough as a HTML editor that can save ‘Notes’ (wherever they go, not .html files in my documents).  Good tag integration with technorati and even better Wordpress integration.  AND – nice an zippy – fast, lightweight.

Sold
Fang – Mike Seyfang

If you are wondering why blog posts have been few and far between, it’s not just because twitter and facebook are absorbing my keystrokes!  I have been beavering away with various co-conspiritors on two projects:

1. POI – The Process of Innovation

After several delays and unforseen obstacles, Andy Delin and I have finally got our little blog that will chronicle our journey and learning about the process of innovation.  We hope to bring you a post or two most weeks. 

2. EELs – Biff Naked -> BlueMan

The most recent episode of the extraordinary every day lives podcast was a corker (again).  Join Kent, Dave and I as we chat with long time reader/listener Biff Naked about his plans for open messaging.

Fang – Mike Seyfang

Over the weekend, that fine band of old Geezers (for whom I play guitar) played a fun gig for Jane’s 50th. We had a blast and I discovered two excellent treasures from our Barossa Valley, here in South Australia.

UPDATE:

CLOSEDvOPEN – A funny thing happened on the night of the party. I noticed that the winery had wifi so I got the idea to take some pics and upload them to flickr during the night (mainly because my wife couldn’t be there due to some unexpected day surgery – and she is a flickr addict). I checked with the owners and the birthday girl and everybody was cool with the idea of some ‘live blogging’ and flickr pix (turns out many potential guests live in scotland and were unable to make the trip out and the small business owners could see the value of some extra google juice). Here comes the funny bit – the gomersal wifi network has a WEP key – and nobody could remember what it was (the IT person was uncontactable that night). We tried guessing everything they could think of (now there is a real security threat) but no luck.

When we arrived at Abbotsford House I noticed there was wifi there too, and with no WEP key – OPEN by default. Hey presto, the e/mails I had sent found their way to flickr and my blog. So I grabbed the vid of Steaming Dave and uploaded it to YouTube. I took some more pix of Abbotsford (including a nice promo shot of their brochures) and blogged away.

There, my friends, is the subtle difference in the default of CLOSED v OPEN.

gomersal geezers

Gomersal Winery

The ‘barrel room’ has capacity for up to 200 guests and is a ripper location for a party that really ‘goes off’. Saturday night’s affair was much more intimate than that, but the hearty Scottish contingent (and friends) put in a sterling effort on the dance floor for the final two sets. So much so that Dave (our drummer) was, quite literally, steaming!

Barry and Gabriela White really looked after us – I’m sure they would make your event a special one too. [if you ask nicely, you might even get access to their wifi internet connection so you can flickr those special moments in real time]. If you are anywhere near Gawler or Tanunda you really need to spend an hour or three at Gomersal.

Abbotsford House

After the gig / party it was back to Abbotsford House, where Jane and Julian made us feel more than welcome. Their website has all the guff on the beautifully appointed rooms, magnificant lounge area with crackling log fire, but, to mee the centrepiece is the Kitchen:

Not just because it is a magnificent kitchen, but because of the abundant provisions and help yourself attitude. Wasn’t long before Dave had whipped up a bunch o bacon sammies to chase away those 2.00am hunger pangs (yum – bread AND lard). And, if I remember correctly, Julian ascended from his magnificent cellar with some teriffic bottles of conversation enhancer.

The rest of the night is a bit of a blur – unfortunately too short to spend quality time with our other kind hosts. This is the view I woke up to: [no Dave, I didn't collapse under a tree - but I actually don't know where I stayed or whose place it was - can someone fill me in?] Turns out it was Annie and Brian’s house – many Fanx.

Later that morning we returned to the Abbotsford kitchen for some recovery time, lashings of brekkie cereal and toast with good coffee. A fine way to prepare for the journey home.

p.s. Just had a geezers praccie in which we enjoyed a fine bottle of ‘Cimicky’ Red Blend thanks to Russell and Marion.  Very much appreciated.

Fang – Mike Seyfang

technorati tags:seyfang, mikeseyfang

technorati tags:gomersal, abbotsford, barossa, wine, wines, gomersalwines, abbotsfordhouse, geezers

On Goal Tag -

1. Build a NanoBot
2. Splice a Gene
3. Make something with a 3D printer

So over to your Dave, Roy, Graham, Josh and Robert.

And as a bonus – here is a cool way to find good blogs Grant.

Fang – Mike Seyfang

technorati tags:seyfang, mikeseyfang

http://www.archive.org/download/AdelaideFestivalOfIdeasPodcastFeed/afoi.xml

Fang – Mike Seyfang

technorati tags:adelaidefestivalofideas, afoi

For the first time ever, I’m actually in my hometown of Adelaide during the Festival of Ideas. As a service to my clued in expat friends who miss the event, I will try to find and blog about interesting information from the event. And, of course, I will try to find a way to get some of the audio to you in the form of podcasts.

The website is pretty good for those who want to attend in person, with well organised information about schedule and speakers. But, the real jewels are cluelessly buried in obscure places. For example, thanks to Tim Dunlop’s blog I found three audio files on the ‘Hilights from 2007′ page under the ‘About’ menu. Let’s see if we can find or make some more and get them to you via some sort of podcast feed.

So, if you want to keep up with the stuff I find from the festival, subscribe to feed.mikeseyfang.com and keep an eye out for posts that start with AFOI.

Fang – Mike Seyfang

technorati tags:seyfang, mikeseyfang, afoi, adelaidefestivalofideas

I found out about Pat’s return to Microsoft at the end of a rather bizzare day of internet connections with my past.

• Discovering Jim McCarthy’s podcasts via a collaboration with Andy
• Being asked to consult for a former employer from over 20 years ago
• Launching an independent music venture with some friends
• Talking with Laurel and Dave about a Web2.0 bust and the birth of Web3.0
• Finding out that Daniel is about to launch a startup that smells v.Web3.0
• Having lunch today with a former client who was with me in London when I had my Web2.0 epiphany, and in Seattle where I made my first ever blog post from Microsoft’s visitor centre.

Something just went blip in the ether.

To me, it looks and feels like the first shoots of green coming out of the soil after two years of scratching about in the hard, dry ground. Maybe my MSFT stock will be worth something substantial again (work hard Pat, Andy, Frank, Nick and colleagues, follow Ray Ozzie’s lead). Maybe some of this crazy stuff I have planted will bear some fruit.

Fang – Mike Seyfang

technorati tags:munge, soa, ogm, onegm, poi, innovation

The last two festivals have left a somewhat nastier taste in our mouths, nurturing my cynical rather than humanistic tendencies.  Last year, I couldn’t quite put my finger on the issue, this year it resonated with something a new friend said several months ago that disturbed me: “future wars will be fought not over oil, but water”.

Sure, I might be over-reacting to the drought that has seen my garden die due to water rations.  Sure, the parklands became a dry grass and dust driven engine for hayfever.  So, there were only two publicly accessible water taps where people could fill their water containers, and the queues for $4.00 per bottle water often led to dissapointment.  And, you might remember my whinge about Mandy’s crook stomach caused by accidentaly filling her bottle with bore-water, just after remarking to our State Premier (who is often in the crowd at womad) that there should be more water at an event sponsored by ‘United Water’.

And this, my friends, is the point:

The sign, almost dripping with irony says “United Water 2007 WOMADelaide Major Sponsor”.  It would be funny unless you combine scary reality of the effects on privatisation of our water (and power) infrastructure with this world-class event that exudes social responsibility in a living and almost prophetic way.  After all, Womad has proudly led the way in environmentally friendly, sustainable, zero waste, no smoking event management that actually works – without making one feel oppressed in any way. 

That was, up until this year.  The long queues for sequential (serial) access to the hopelessly inadequate water supply, and creative stunts by crowd members to gain more equitable (parallel) access sent a shiver down my spine.

As always, I left WomAdelaide feeling that I had given my children a little fore-taste of a possible future not dominated by mindless consumerism and passive media consumption.  However, instead of marvelling at the sight of my tiny daughter in her muddy hippie-dress and bare feet, I am plagued by the vision of my son on his seventeenth birthday being forced to don a uniform and fight in a war for water.

Fang – Mike Seyfang.

technorati tags:water, womad, womadelaide

Anyone looking for a role-model in how to deal with adversity?

Want to be convinced that postitive attitudes and lots of effort can make a difference?

When I dropped Jamie off to spend the day with Miles yesterday I felt that I had been through a time-machine. The photo above was taken exactly a week yesterday – a pre-emptive head shave prior to surgery. Turns out that the mohawk is not a bit more extreme and the 32 staple scar looks like a bloody great nasty question mark. I suggested a quick trip to the airport to frighten the security guards at the metal detector before the staples are removed – the reply being that there is no rush because the rivets in his skull would still set off the alarms!!

After Miles answered the door, we stood around talking for a while – what were we doing this time last week? Answer: we were in the surf at Middleton together on a stinking hot day thinking how bizzare – in the waves less than 24hours before major surgery. That event seemed like an eternity ago.

So what did the boys do for an entire day, less than one week after the surgery?

They played music, and chilled out, like usual – and were thrilled to confirm that the freakish ability to play drums, guitar, whatever is still there. It was on report of that news yesterday that I finally ‘exhaled’ for the first time in many weeks. Jamie says it ‘was pretty sweet, still exactly the same sort of drumming and everything – and that felt good’.

So with that milestone under our belt I am pleased to announce:

Happy New Year!

With a hearty round of applause for team Sly and the supporters.

Fang – Mike Seyfang

Mandy saw Miles yesterday and reports that even amid some very nasty swelling things continue to progress well.  The swelling is likely to get worse before it gets better and there is some risk of seizures, so it is best not to try and visit the hospital until further notice.  Will update this post with any major news, but watch my personal blog (http://mikese.spaces.live.com) for more frequent news.

UPDATE #1:

Miles went into surgery yesterday with a very positive attitude and supportive family. Just got an update from Dave to say he made it through a successfull 4 hour procedure and is in intensive care. The signs so far are good, scroll to the bottom of this post for more detail. A hearty round of applause from team Fang (and subscribers) can be heard in the distance.

This is the view from the drum-kit of young Miles who is fighting (another) battle for life. We are all thinking, praying, rooting and working hard for him.

More Detail:

After the longest day, we have good news to share.

The surgeons performed 4 hours of brain surgery on Miles this morning, and
successfully removed all of the AVM (abnormal vessel mass) that was the
cause of his problems. The surgeons called us from the operating room to
confirm their success after conducting an angiogram to see pictures of his
“new” brain, and then proceeded to piece back the part of his skull they
punctured and stitched him back up.

The anxious part was still to come – whether the surgery had affected any
part of his brain or mechanisms. Sight, comprehension and especially speech
were the big danger areas. Another 30 minutes later the anethesist called to
say things had gone very well, and then he passed the phone to Miles who was
still in post-op and spoke to us. It was the most amazing, euphoric and
overwhelming moment. Tears of joy, shock, pain and relief surged through us
to hear him – we knew that he was OK. They only drug him lightly for such an
operation because they are keen to get him conscious again quickly to test
his responses. All good.

We waited forever for an available bed in Intensive Care Unit so that he
could be transferred from post-op, and it wasn’t until four hours after the
phone call that we finally got to see Miles. He’s in very good shape,
considering they’ve drilled a hole in his head. He’s got a bit of an extreme
mohawk shave on the left side, but still enough shaggy fringe to cover most
of it once the bandages come off. Swelling is not too extreme at the moment,
all contained to the back left of the skull, but we’ve been warned that the
worst will come out in the next day or so before receeding.

The most amazing and inspiring thing is Miles’ strength and calm through all
this. He went into today’s operation feeling secure and confident, and
almost serene in his belief that things would go well. He was similarly calm
and composed from the time he regained consciousness, resting peacefully and
even managing sympathetic smiles at my pathetic attempts at jokes to
alleviate the tension. He’s made of tough stuff. Very inspiring and
uplifting for mere fragile mortals like Inga and myself.

The road ahead will now probably be very slow. Another day for Miles in
Intensive Care, drifting in and out of sleep between constant observation
checks, then about a week in the Neurology wing at ACH (Ward R5 North Wing),
though I suspect the first few days will mainly be in a sleepy fog until the
swelling and initial pain subsides.

I appreciate that so many are keen to see Miles and pass on their love and
best wishes, but I feel his ability to rest solidly in the first few days
will be of invaluable benefit to him. I’ll keep in touch with you as to his
progress and when he’ll be ready for visitors to break the boredom.

For your love, prayers and strong bonds of friendship, the Slys cannot thank
you enough. There’s still not much we can do except will this amazing young
fighter back to speedy good health.

With love, cheers and deep gratitude

David, Inga, Lucas – and especially Miles

Last time I sat here in front of my computer was a few days before Christmas.  Since then I have spent many pleasant and almost timeless days with friends and family – far from the ‘lure of the inbox, RSS tap or any other form of information delivered via that series of tubes’.  If all goes to plan this state of calm will continue through to the end of January.

Mandy’s flickr is probably the best source of information from the Seyfang clan until then.

Take it easy (I am),

Fang – Mike Seyfang

PLEASE make sure you are SUBSCRIBED to:

http://feed.mikeseyfang.com

(Otherwise you may well miss the most interesting stuff from me if I move)

While I love and want to support edublogs.org I cannot ignore:

- erratic posting behavior from flock

- invisible to technorati

- partially invisible to google blogsearch and still my old posts have more google rank!!

- unable to do custom HTML

- no access to some of the cooler plugins like sXore

Fang – Mike Seyfang

Fanx

Fang – Mike Seyfang

http://extraordinary.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/10/27/extraordinary-everyday-lives-013-nancy-white-australian-october-in-adelaide-with-mike-dave/

technorati tags:australianoctober

And if that’s not enough, Mandy and I will be there from 7.00pm so stop by for a beer and chat to keep us company.

tMeTheGov.JPG

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