“Rewilding” the political party system

What if we didn’t have two political parties?  What if we had a million parties?  What if we had one party?  What if the number and makeup of the parties changed in real-time?  What if party members could join, leave, merge, secede, delete, etc their parties as easily as they change clothes or even websites?  What if users were able to make a case for their views and support those views with evidence found online or put online?  What if other users could engage in debate/dialogue/reasoning to persuade others to join their party and vice versa?

What if we created a clean slate  or “rewilded” the political party system.  Everyone is an independent to start.  Anyone can create a party.  Anyone can join a party (but only one party at a time).  Anyone can leave a party and join another party.  A group of party members could decide to merge with another party or persuade another party to merge with their party.  A party could decide to change its name or views or not.  A party could decide to disband or delete itself.

What would be the point of this system?  Ultimately, to create a political system that the people want it to be, one that has its rules written by its constituents.  A system free of the shackles of the past (and tradition).  A system free of its corporate, union, and $$$ masters (of course anyone will be able to participate in this new system however).  It will start as a social and political experiment but could it eventually become more?  Could it influence real candidates?  Show them that the only safe harbors are not simply A or B.

This new system would be one of conversation not marketing (Cluetrain).  It would be open and nimble and owned by its users (currently reading What Would Google Do by Jeff Jarvis).  It would hopefully be a platform for true discourse.  A market of ideas.  A network of constantly changing niche networks (again Jarvis).  The antithesis of the talking heads in the mainstream media.  A system based in the ideals and values of the open source movement.  Currency would be information, ideas, and reputation.

The tools of this system would be the current and future social and construction tools that are being made possible by the Web and the current generation of internet companies.    News, information, and data shared thru Delicious, ad-hoc networks created on Facebook and Twitter, collaborative position papers and platforms hashed out and published in Google Docs, Audio and Video shared via Youtube and other sites, and new ways of cooperating in Google Wave.

We will need someone to launch this system.   We will need a person or group to set up the basic rules.  A group to build the basic functinality of the system and unleash it to the masses (and make sure it is open sourced and freely distributable).  From there it will need to be governed by a neutral body interested in refereeing, maintaining and even innvoating in a way that is lead by the users but that maitains fairness across the system.

I see no reason why this could not be done by a handful of political junkies, passionate human beings, AJAX coders, and some recession provided free time.  Anyone care to join me?

Mashup: Gmail and Twitter

I have to say that I still have mixed feelings about Twitter. On the one hand, I see it as a powerful tool harnessing the ideas of crowdsourcing. As a way to add email one-to-many and many-to-one functionality. On the other hand, I find it yet another fire hose of information coming at me at a time when I am not thoughtfully considering my other fire hoses. If it can become an asynchronous tool (not IM) to reach/leverage many people/thought leaders that is integrated into my personalized main knowledge tool of the time (Gmail), I am in! LINK

I see a few specific benefits of using Gmail as my Twitter client:

1) One tool for multiple modes of communication (email, IM, Tweets, voice-mail?, etc)
2) The ability to “thread” the tweets I follow (inherent to Gmail)
3) The ability to archive and search threaded tweets (some clients probably do this all ready???)

Can someone (Google? Other?) Make this happen, please.

“We Think”

“Steal This Wi-Fi”

Count me in as a supporter of open wi-fi!

Link to Wired article “Steal This Wi-FI“

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CLUMPC

Q: What is a CLUMPC

A: Cheap Linux Ultra Mobile Personal Computer

EeePC and the Rise of the CLUMPC

I personally own the Asus EeePC and feel as if I am using the first real device that can make it to the mainstream American classroom.  Linux is the key to making it cheaper (no MS Windows tax saving 20%-25% and cheaper components that Linux runs on just fine). FOSS is the key to making it usable (free software that can be installed with a click or two).

Will Asus dominate or will other (OLPC) take market share?

Will they run MS Windows or Linux?

Will they get bigger screens and larger solid state memory?

These are important questions but ultimately not the most important.  What is critical is how will instruction change (or will it) when for the first time most (if not all) students will be able to have a digital, Internet connected device at their finger tips 24/7.  The “CLUMPC” helps to solve part of the equation but certainly not all.

Why Linux is better than Windows (working draft)

I have been asked quite often over the past week why I went to a free and open source conference.  Usually I end up talking about Linux and usually I am then asked why I would use Linux over Windows or Mac OS.  This is why I am making the switch:

1) No proprietary lock in: will my music and video collection be free in the future?  I want to use free and open file formats
2) Security: better data privacy, no viruses, no spyware….and a community to stop all of this when it does come up!
3) Cost savings for software
4) Cost savings for hardware life extension
5) Cost savings (free Apps) when proprietary software (tries to) stops piracy
6) No degradation of system over time due to “bit-rot” (Users want a system that “just works” all the time)
7) Easier to install/maintain versus Windows (arguable) results in time/cost savings for users
8. System and App update system is centralized and practically (one click) automatic
9) No product activiation (see Windows Vista)
10) DRM (Digital Rights Mgmt) is anathema to the LInux ethos of user freedom (this means YOUR music and software can be moved, shared, copied, etc)
11) When I have a problem I have many, many avenues to find the solution both paid and free from the community
12) I can share my customized Linux distro with my friends (PCLinuxOS with mklivecd or Kubuntu with remastersys)

Please comment with your own thoughts!

NOTE: Many of these ideas were made clearer for me after reading Con Zymaris’s article on Computerworld.com called “Desktop Linux is a Reality Now”

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Content filtering Web 2.0 style…please

This is a request to all of the Web 2.0 developers out there.  As a parent with a 6 year old who is becoming more and more interested in the Internet by the day, I am looking for a hosted content filtering service that I can point my son’s browser thru.  The service should be free (or low cost for advanced features).  I want as many proxies as I can manage each with customizable settings (if I want one for my four year old daughter and one for my six year old son).   I want to be able to choose to filter by content type and/or a white/black list.  I want full reporting of what traffic is requested and passes thru the proxy.  I want to be alerted via my choice of messaging service when a site is blocked.  I would even like the service to summarize in general terms the types of content and types of topics that are going thru the proxy.  This service could be advertised thru schools.  This service could also be pre-configured in freely distributable customized copies of your favorite Linux distro.  When the right developer reads this, let me know and we can get started!!!

Thoughts on Windows Home Server

First of all, part of the marketign for this product (http://www.stopdigitalamnesia.com) has to be the worst/cheesy/boomer/junk advertising I have seen in a long time.

That being said, I am impressed with the promise of the new Windows Home Server in what it can do (backup, sharing, ease of use?, etc).  Would love to see an open source project build off of this concept!?

BusinessWeek helps us overhaul the K12 health curriculum

On my way into work this morning I was listening to the Business Week cover story podcast. The subject of the episode was health care in US corporations. Specifically, it was about how Scott’s Miracle Grow is cutting health-care costs and creating healthier employees.

Their strategy, in a nutshell, is to provide advanced health screening for every employee and to provide resources in the form of a health plan and health coaches, free gym membership, nicorette gum, etc. Employees who adopt the screening and plan see their out of pocket health expenses go down. Employees who do not adopt the screening and/or plan see their out of pocket expenses go up and face possible termination.

This approach will obviously test some legal questions specifically an employees health privacy. My gut reaction, however, is that if a company is paying part of the health costs for an employee that do need to be part of the decision making process.

This story led me to think we could use a similar plan in our K12 schools. What if health teachers became health coaches. What if students were provided with advanced screening options that included work with mental health professionals, PE teachers, and the school nurse. What if students discussed what the definition of a healthy person is, set goals to achieve that definition, and monitored their progress. What if we as educators helped students learn about health in a personal, practical, and authentic context. Think of the benefits….better sports teams, fewer visits to the nurse, cost savings for parents, cost savings for health providers and insurance companies, and healthier kids that grow up to be healthier adults. Who loses??? McDonald’s, Phillip Morris, Coca Cola….oh well….

One more Wii thing…head mounted Wiimote!

As I was going to bed last night I couldn’t get the Wiimote video out of my head (see last post). I was also thinking about Phillip Torrone from MAKE Magazine and the work he has done with Second Life regarding virtual glasses (ie monitors in wearable glasses versus a typical monitor)  and other hacks.

The thought that I couldn’t get out of my mind was…

What if we found an elegant way to strap the Wiimote onto ones head….keeping the other end of the Wiimote in your hand. One would then navigate the Second Life environment by simply turning your head while viewing the world in some sort of glasses/monitor. Head movements would guide looking up down left right, turning etc. The other controller could handle flying, interacting with objects, etc. And instead of the keyboard we could possibly integrate Skype for communicating with others as well as the interface via voice commands.  I would love to see the Makers out there (in addition to the good folks at Linden Lab) to take a shot at this.

BTW – Can you please throw in Hero Protaganist’s Librarian while you are at it!!?!?!?