Wisdom NetworksRequired reading: We need five online networks to solve the worlds problems by 2012 or we decline into conflict for generations ; Online political networks (blog category) ; The rise of online political networks – individual contribution and mass participation ; Project: E-democracy page ; The transition to online networks may take six months or 50 years ;The next four stages of online networks – from tools and solutions to new structures and economic development ; The potential of collective innovation and open source to reshape our world needs to be demonstrated ; People aren’t apathetic, they just don’t have an online network to channel their interests ; Facebook of global government needed – delivery in 12 weeks! ; E-democracy just six weeks away! Political sovereignty exercised directly by citizens through an online political network
Web 3.0 opportunity
The EDemocracy online political network (EDemocracy) is a Web 3.0 online political network (or facebook) which aims to enhance democracy by providing a costless and immediate means to distribute information, facilitate collaboration, exchange content, manage workflow, deliver transparency and allow political sovereignty to be exercised directly by citizens. The content includes profiles, processes and outcomes. Profiles are self-published by each politicians, citizens, government executives and institutions. Process content includes issues (military, economic, social, environmental, etc), Priorities, policies (proposed, pending, current, redundant), Projects (government expenditure, volunteers, partners needed. Outcome content includes announcements, videos, audio, reports (feasibility, economic, financial, environmental, industry, market) blogs, pictures and articles. All content is linked and rated for quality and quantity.
The EDemocracy online political networks applies Web 3.0 online network principles. This includes semantic search, peer to peer networks, communities of common interest focused on a common purpose, comprehensive user generated content, workflow management, scalable open source web applications and cloud computing power from Amazon.
Improves the way news and information are shared within the community
The network provides direct and immediate communication between politicians, government executives, citizens and other organisations. There is no restriction on the amount or type of information that can be delivered between democratic participants. It provides a single information source for local, state, federal and international democratic processes.
Politicians self-publish their profile, process and outcome content at a single location for review by the community. Citizens participate in democracy by reviewing issues, rating content, setting priorities, sharing their knowledge and experience, contributing opinions, linking and volunteering. Government executives can keep citizens informed about the political process directly.
This is new and different from what already exists
The traditional model of democracy determines outcomes based on ideology – left or right. The eDemocracy model allows all participants to see through the community to determine outcomes based on issues.
Information is currently distributed via expensive privately owned channels – television, print, magazines. Communications is limited to a few, short one sided broadcasts. A Web 3.0 network allows people to see through the community and facilitate collective learning, exchange an decisions concerning comprehensive global political information in hours, rather short messages about local politics over a few months. Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank, said recently the world needs a “Facebook” of global economic government: a fluid, interconnected network of international institutions with a flexible steering group of leading countries. With critical mass, transparency occurs and sovereignty is exercised directly by citizens.
Prototype is available for review
The EDemocracy prototype is available for review. An EDemocracy platform could be delivered in 60 days.
EDemocracy 3.0 is part of Economic Development 4.0
Democracy 3.0 posts
-
Peak leadership: the demand for leadership is growing rapidly and supply is declining
The primary function of our political leadership is to safeguard the essentials of our community – our global community. There is action that can be taken on key issues of oil, food, water, climate change, national insolvency and retirement of the baby boomers. There is just enough time for action. The resources are available for most of the pressing issues. However, precious public funds are spent on more interesting ambitions, rather than the fundamentals. If questioned, more complex issues are introduced to defer the need to make difficult, but simple, decisions. The world confronts key challenges. Action on fundamental issues seem to be perpetually deferred until after the next election. Ambitions receive priority. The demand for leadership is growing rapidly. The supply of leadership is in declining. Perhaps, the law of diminishing returns applies to our political leadership.
-
Offshore financial centres were never worthy of their reputation as havens of criminal activity
Offshore financial centres had a reputation for being havens of criminal activity. The following five year old articles show this reputation is undeserved.They suggest that the “persecution of tax havens is not the fight against money laundering but the fight against low taxes”. The persecution of “tax havens” was simply an instrument of the nation state to protect domestic tax revenues from foreign tax competition.
Today, the majority of financial centres are well regulated and well respected. The also offer companies and investors the opportunity to reduce compliance costs and take advantage of countries dedicated to servicing their needs. Some countries are focussed on attracting a specific type of company. They enact legislation that is necessary to provide a respectable base for specific types of business. For example, the Isle of Man is focussed upon attracting EBusiness. These smaller financial centres are likely to be significant beneficiaries of the globalisation of financial markets. Business owners and entrepreneurs may choose to incorporate in these centres and derive significant benefits. They will need to pay taxes on any foreign income they derive or is attributed to them by their tax laws. The majority of financial centres are havens for business, rather than a means to reduce taxes.
-
Will the open source model of software development transform other industries?
The Open Source model of building software harnesses the collective knowledge of a group of volunteers to build complex software. Over the next few years, collective knowledge networks like the open source movement will move beyond developing open source software, to manufacturing and distributing products products and services in other industries.
-
The first few steps in the marathon battle for the search user will transform into the battle of online social networks toward 2010
The “battle for search” users is likely to move very quicky to a battle of online social networks in key market verticals. These verticals will be based around information with intrinsic value in existing industries.
-
Short videos as a viral marketing and education tool
” …it’s a different world out there. A world where anyone’s ideas can quickly spread if they happen to strike a chord. Where you don’t necessarily have to have a large company or a huge public relations effort to make an impact (although that still doesn’t hurt).”
A colleague forwarded me a link at a video. It presents some key facts and music in a presentation style format. It is very effective in communicating the rapid and accelerating change that is occurring in the global community. It is more effective than the numerous articles that I have written here, and much more concise. The original author has made this available under the most permissive Creative Commons license. The powerpoint slides and music are available to change. I plan to take key messages from my web site and place them in my own short video.
-
Phase in online networks … phase out intellectual property
The patent system emerged to motivate business to organise people to develop new technology. Without providing an exclusive opportunity for profit, business would not assemble the structure and people necessary to create new technology. Technology means ways of doing things. This includes information technology, biotechnology and healthcare. If the global objective is the creation of new technology, then there is another way to organise.
-
The rise of online political networks – individual contribution and mass participation
The reasons underlying the rise of online political networks are similar to the rise of industry networks. Technology advances have not been applied to distribute the quality of information demanded by each individual. A significant proportion of the community is dissatisfied with the quality of information they receive, or the operation of governments. These individuals will be inspired by recent events to establish, participate or contribute to online political networks.
There are, arguably, online political networks. Many are staffed by small groups of volunteers. My reference to online political networks refers to a Linux type network which uses the available technology to capture the interest and energies of their audiences and direct them toward a singular purpose. I can not think of an online political network which meets this criteria. Online political networks rivaling the Linux community will emerge. The kernel for many of these networks are likely to be an existing web site or small group. These online political networks will only prosper if they service the unique needs of their constituents and apply principles of “open source” and “free software”.
Online political networks will increase supply by encouraging more “representative” behaviour from elected representatives and may be a means for new politicians to acquire political support without need for corporate fundraising. Online political networks are likely to deliver improvements to all political systems in use today. For representative democracies, they are likely to make the systems more “representative” of their constituents.
-
Peak leadership: is the demand for leadership outstripping supply?
The world confronts key challenges. Demand is outstripping supply of food, oil and water. Many countries are insolvent through unrestrained consumption, unserviceable debt and unfundable promises. Countries are unable to communally agree on measures to reduce environmental impact of human activity. The action that needs to be taken is generally agreed by independent experts, but political leadership is keen to defer implementation for a few more years, or require others to bear a disproportionate burden. Like Peak Oil and Peak Food, the global community suffers from Peak Leadership – a rapidly increasing demand for leadership, and declining supply.
-
The average US citizen can double their retirement savings by committing to free software over their lifetime
Open Source software is a viable alternative for nearly every application – business and personal. There is, however, a strong view that the installed base of the proprietary software industry is not likely to shift significantly to free software. The reasoning seems to be the inertia the industry and staying with something familiar. There is, apparently, not a significant reason to shift. I provided an overview of some of the potential reasons in Linux or windows: a decision based on cost, security, convenience, stability, innovation or religion? Or am I just stuck with Windows?. I will offer another. The opportunity to double your retirement by allocating the money you would have spent on proprietary software to your retirement. The cost savings are numerically significant, but the present value of the cost savings is roughly equal to the average retirement savings of a US citizen – about US$60,000. The debate over Linux versus Windows is a luxury for a minority. The majority need to adopt free software to contribute to their retirement.
-
People aren’t apathetic, they just don’t have an online network to channel their interests
The problem with the world today is that there is not an convenient and effective means to aggregate and distribute the unique contribution of each individual. This is particularly true where problems may rest with government and large corporations which are perceived to have unlimited resources for “public relations”. Without an effective and convenient means to contribute, each individual quite rightly assesses any contribution to be futile. It is highly unlikely their activity will result in the desired outcome.
The internet offers a new means to overcome the futility of contribution. The rise of online industry, social and political networks will provide all individuals with the opportunity to make a contribution. We will be surprised at the phenomenon that will reshape the world over the next twenty years. As the real underlying problems of the world are publicised, collective communities will assemble to solve them.
-
The potential of collective innovation and open source to reshape our world needs to be demonstrated
The potential of open source software, open source principles and collective innovation is significant. They could change the world. They should, at the very least, change information intensive industries. These assertions are largely an intellectual argument. The thoughts of an individual. The compelling value of open source and collective innovation as a solution needs to be demonstrated.
-
Hackers shall inherit the earth
My definition of the word hacker has evolved. From programmers cracking computer security (called crackers) to my modest efforts to improve my golf and, now, to skilled people contributing to online networks that reflect their passions and interests. A hacker has the tenacity and persistence to solve problems, often for the sake of solving it. They have the vision of architects, the skills of engineers and empathy of a mother with her upset child. They make significant sacrifices in pursuit of their goal. They navigate around, or though, barriers in their path. They do not rest (if inspired) until the problem is solved, or the challenge is overcome. If only my golf, could be described in these terms.
Online networks will be an essential tool of hackers. The will capture and focus the unique contribution of other hackers. Collective talent, energy and innovation will reshape industrial, social and political frameworks over the next decade.
-
User generated industries will combine user generated content and infrastructure
The next evolution in economic development and the evolution of the internet is likely to be user generated industries. This will move beyond user content to valuable industries which distribute valuable information. Online industry networks will facilitate collaboration and distribute information. Small groups may specialise in the manufacture of information. They will rely on online networks to distribute it. Consumers of information will increasing source their products from online networks.
A user generated industry combines user generated content and user generated infrastructure to distribute products and services from individual manufacturers to individual consumers. There are significant economic and social benefits for the individual manufacturers and consumers of information. Individuals can focus on their unique speciality, work from home and be their own boss. Customers obtain the convenience of online delivery and lower costs. Organisations that have only served the community by distributing information are likely to be rendered redundant by technology advances. These will need to find other means to add value to the global community if they are to survive. Some will not.
-
The next four stages of online networks – from tools and solutions to new structures and economic development
The objectives of open source will change over time. As open source evolves and proves its capability, it will move beyond technology, beyond specific industries, to all other aspects of our society. This has been suggested in the past. However, existing organisations are not sufficiently motivated to apply advances in technology to promote development. Business, social and political entrepreneurs that establish online networks are likely to be the primary force for change.
This article outlines the first four stages of the development of online networks and the .Net boom. The objective of the online network in each stage is identified.
-
Dan Rather: “too many journalists have become lapdogs to power, rather than watchdogs”
Dan Rather: Journalism has lost its guts, Cnet.com news, 12th March 2007
Extract:During his hour-long keynote address Monday at South by Southwest Interactive, Rather opined at length on the state of his profession, in which too many journalists have become lapdogs to power, rather than watchdogs.
“I do not exclude myself from this criticism… By and large, so many journalists–there are notable exceptions–have adopted the go-along-to-get-along (attitude),” he said.
Rather left CBS last year in the wake of a scandal surrounding questionable documentation for a story accusing President George Bush of being absent without leave during his military service. Today, Rather works as a journalist for entrepreneur Mark Cuban’s HDNet network.… -
What if Moore’s law rates of innovation could be applied to the world’s problems?
What if we did have cars that cost $25 and got 1,000 miles to the gallon? What if the Moore law rates of innovation and improvement could be applied to the world’s problems. What if Moore’s law rates of improvement applied to aircraft engines, car engines, carbon dioxide emissions, industrial pollution, cures for disease, energy and minerals usage, education and leadership. Our world is evolving. Advances in technology present new ways to organise. Online networks are likely to be a step forwards. An expansion of intellectual property laws is likely to be a step backwards. If there was a new way to deliver greater rates of innovation, we have a compelling need to solve specific global problems. We need to question that our underlying assumptions of how to organise.
-
Build an ebusiness on your desktop and drag it onto Amazon’s elastic cloud
Amazon web services are pioneering essential building blocks for economic development. These blocks will provide a foundation for the next phase of online networks which will pioneer new structures. They reduce processing power and information storage to basic utilities, just like telephone, gas and electric supply. The storage service (S3) and web hosting service (EC2) cost less than 50% of traditional approaches and are more flexible and simpler to use.
Hackers can design their online network at home and simply drag and drop it onto the Amazon cloud. The conventional approach would require a large number of employees or consultants to deliver equivalent functionality. Ofcourse, a significant amount of time was required to raise capital from investors to pay for it. Today, a hacker can create an application on the (free) Linux desktop and an open source development platform. A major ebusiness could be built by a hacker with less than US25k in external development. If you are not a hacker, then you will need to raise some serious capital because you will need significant support to navigate unfamiliar ground and achieve your outcomes.
-
How to participate, contribute and prosper in an online network
Prosper means different things to different people. It may mean more income, peer recogntion, more time with family or a sense of satisfaction in making a contribution. The ability to prosper in an online network has one common attribute – the ability to generate traffic. Traffic will reflect your participation and contribution to online networks. It will, ofcourse, also reflect the value of your service offering and demand by customers.
-
Need a solution … it is in the clouds
Open source communities have developed a critical mass of tools and are beginning to morph into the development of solutions. Amazon’s elastic cloud is a critical building block that will support the next wave of economic development. Moore’s law has been improving information technology at a rapid rate for more than 40 years. In isolation, each technology advance represents a rapid advance in a technology area. The combination of these technologies can now deliver a paradigm shift which presents new opportunities for economic development. This article is focussed on how elastic clouds and open source communities can provide virtual building blocks for business and social entrepreneurs building tomorrows disruptive structures.
-
Information can now be free to make humanity wealthier
Information technologies which capture, store, process or transmit information double in performance or halve in cost every 18 months. Moore’s law has been working patiently for 40 years. In an information economy, this should have had a dramatic effect. However, political, industrial and social structures largely remain the same. Advances in technology have not changed the fundamentally way that our society or economy has operated. The right information in the right place at the right time will transform the world. This transformation will only start now. This article will discuss why such a process should only begin now and what role information is likely to have.
-
The transition to online networks may take six months or 50 years
Online networks which embody every facet of industrial, social and politcal aspects of our modern society are inevitable. They simply offer a superior way to interact and transact. The transition to a global community based around online networks will take six months, sixteen years or fifty years. The timeframe will depend upon the outcome of three epic battles. The battles are economic development vs geostrategy, community knowledge vs intellectual property, and online networks vs closed systems. Online industrial, political and social networks which are involved in these battles could be delayed for decades.
-
We need five online networks to solve the worlds problems by 2012 or we decline into conflict for generations
We need to deploy five online political, industrial and social networks to avert disaster by 2012. Existing structures that rely on proprietary ownership of information, distribution channels, institutions and regional approaches are unable to solve our most pressing problems. Even if they could solve the problems, they are simply unable to coordinate a global endeavour in a rapidly closing timeframe. I had previously written that online networks could be delayed for up to 50 years by three epic battles. In some aspects of our global community, we can wait 50 years (and there is only an opportunity cost). However, for some specific problems, online networks need to be built, acquire a significant audience, and achieve their objective by 2012.
-
Can an individual ego destroy relationships that could deliver a sustainable future
The primary ego on the world stage today is the US – its excessive consumption, insolvency, military aggression and use of 60% of the world’s savings make it the world’s most gluttonous consumer. Its military acquisition of the worlds resources may be the greatest strategic move in history. It provides resources to pay back unserviceable debts and leverage other countries on the global stage. However, the destruction of relationships in the process will crowd out an opportunity to deliver a sustainable future for the planet. Unrelenting ego by the US may win the resource wars, but the destruction of global relationships in the process sacrifice the opportunity for a sustainable future. An online network may not save the world, but could a collective conscious network.
-
Virginearth.com: a Linux style collaborative community to pursue/deliver climate stability?
There is an opportunity for a Linux style online community to coordinate the individual contribution of scientists, government, corporations, philanthropists and the community to pursue/deliver climate stability. Virginearth.com would be an ideal forum for this initiative. Richard Branson and Al Gore could inspire an global online community and encourage government and corporations to contribute essential intellectual property to a solution and deliver climate stability.
-
Can a Linux style online network focus the global consciousness and accelerate solutions to global problems
I recently read A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. “At the core of the teachings lies the transformation of consciousness, a spiritual awakening that he sees as the next step in human evolution. An essential aspect of this awakening consists in transcending our ego based state of consciousness. This is a prerequisite not only for personal happiness but also for the ending of violent conflict endemic on our planet” (Inside back cover, A New Earth ). This has prompted the following question? Could a open source style online network, like Linux, focus the global consciousness to accelerate the solutions to immediate global problems. How would the online network be structured? How many people would be needed? Can this right brain global consciousness be just another resource or function of a left brain information distribution and collaboration online network?
-
A 10 year world economic depression … demographic and exacerbated
The 2009 demographic depression will be exacerbated by a food and energy crisis, the decline of the USD dollar in value, the decline of the USD as the world’s reserve currency, a global credit crisis, the world’s central banks pursuing inconsistent policies, competing interests in the Middle East and other challenges now confront the world at a singular point.
-
The era of transformative online social networks begins
The era of online networks which manage information of no value is ending. The era of online networks that manage valuable information and reshape industry is beginning. The foundation for online networks has been building for decades. The most recent milestone may have been 90% broadband penetration rates in the major economies. The next generation of online social, industry and political networks will deliver unprecedented transparency, liquidity and accessibility in all aspects of society.
-
Online network building blocks: automatic scaling of web servers, persistent storage and MySQL management
Rightscale and Amazon Web Services now offers essential features not previously available – automatic scaling , Manager for MySQL and Persistent Storage. The Amazon Web Services platform empowered the entrepreneur, but advanced technical skills were still required to solve storage and scalability issues to create a truly scalable application. These latest developments are critical building blocks of transformative online networks and bring the power direct to the entrepreneur. This power is available by using the Rightscale dashboard/service. They charge USD2,500 to setup your server and USD500 per month to use the dashboard. This is a fraction of the cost of a comparable web hosting configuration five years ago, assuming a comparable web hosting configuration could be built. Competitive advantage can no longer be derived from the prohibitive cost of web hosting or ability to scale a web application. Unlimited storage and global scalability is now available to the entrepreneur (that is a hacker).
-
E-democracy just six weeks away! Political sovereignty exercised directly by citizens through an online political network
An online political network can replace expensive proprietary distribution channels and with a virtually costless channel that provides a superior means to deliver the primary objective of democracy to ensure “political sovereignty [is] retained by the people and exercised directly by citizens”. Democracy is entirely based upon information and could be facilitated by an online political network. Our politicians make choices about economic, social and industry policies and implement them with laws. Citizens choose politicians based on information. Online political networks provide internet applications to facilitate the exchange of information, collaboration and the political process between citizens, government executives, politicians and other stakeholders in the politcal process. This article offers a potential structure for this network. I have also developed an initial prototype of this web application that has the global scalability of the Amazon Web Services cloud. The web application may be available in six weeks, but the transition to this online network may take six months or 50 years In Politics 3.0, individual transparency through online networks and internet traffic to a politicians profile may be determine whether a politician gets elected or not.
-
Scalr is an open source server farm management application for Amazon EC2 and is a fraction of the cost of Rightscale
Rightscale offers to manage a farm of servers to automatically scale the processing and storage capacity of a web application to service growing, or declining, demand from internet users. Rightscale costs USD500 per month plus a USD2,000 setup fee (last time I checked). Scalr is an open source application that performs the same function as Rightscale. You can implement Scalr yourself from here or use Scalr’s USD50 per month paid version (with no setup fee).
