Tech Tribes For A Pioneering Culture

Ins_and_outs
Ins and Outs

Image © Alice Merkel on Flickr 

Matthew Theobald (1970-2010) Founder, Internet Search Environment Number (ISEN) and CEO, Internous, talks about how he got started as a student with the idea of creating the "Database of all Databases" or ISEN - Internet Search Environment Number - and building his company, Internous.

The Internous project represents enormous opportunities for every individual and organization to not only search the deep Web, but to create personalized databases to strengthen individual connectivity and enterprise opportunity.

You can watch the educational video Internous ISEN Animated Video (2009) here, a system for intelligence gathering and organization of data in the Deep Web. "The database of all databases, what it is and how it works. The Internet Search Environment Number is a unique ID with robust metadata for describing and authenticating the location of millions of databases across the Internet," said Matt Theobald of the introductory film.

Read more about the history of Matt's education and lifework to advance the development and application of standards for content management for the semantic Web on his Google Profile page here. 

But best of all, learn from Matt himself in the video below as he talks about his journey designing standards for efficiencies in data management. He shares experiences about the people who shaped his life - his "tribe"- and who ultimately guided the path of his creative development.

Tech Tribes for a Pioneering Culture from I-Open on Vimeo. 

Learn the wisdom of civic leaders across these I-Open communities:

Copyright 2011 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 2563 Kingston Road Cleveland OH 44118 Phone: 216-220-0172 Web: http://i-open.posterous.com/

 

Creating Small Actions for Profound Change

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Color Stump Pattern 

Image © Alice Merkel on Flickr

Curt Lindberg, Learning and Science Officer, Plexus Institute, teaches leaders to make large change by encouraging small actions.

In this interview contributed to I-Open, Curt shares research insights about complexity science, new areas for research exploration, and new knowledge learned by nurses and doctors across the globe combating Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a bacterial infection that is highly resistant to some antibiotics.  

Curt talks about the Plexus strategy for research and reflects on the ability of social networks and stories to create a different and unique picture of each and every culture. 

Learn more about the Plexus Institute's work in health care around the world. 

Small actions for profound change from I-Open on Vimeo.

Learn the wisdom of civic leaders across these I-Open communities:

Copyright 2011 Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License Betsey Merkel and The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open), 2563 Kingston Road Cleveland OH 44118 Phone: 216-220-0172 Web: http://i-open.posterous.com/

 

Generate Better Futures: Focus On The Present

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Roof Garden 

Image © Alice Merkel on Flickr 

Curt Lindberg, Chief Learning and Science Officer, Plexus Institute, shares insights into the role of complexity science and positive deviance in the 21st Century.  

Curt talks about the power of stories and one in particular, the story of "The Palmer Method" - a small creative action that has lead to large positive change in global health care.

By learning what is working now, communities and organizations can align knowledge and resources to become resilient and sustainable.

Learn about the Plexus Institute's work around the world.

Generate better futures: focus on the present from I-Open on Vimeo.

Learn the wisdom of civic leaders across these I-Open communities:

 Copyright 2011 Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License Betsey Merkel and The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open), 2563 Kingston Road Cleveland OH 44118 Phone: 216-220-0172 Web: http://i-open.posterous.com/

Open Conversations in Regional Economic Development

Soil
Soil

Image © Alice Merkel on Flickr 

Since 2003, I-Open has partnered with technology businesses and college and universities to build neutral civic spaces convening open, guided conversations for regional economic development. I-Open incorporates this process in it's collaborations.

We've learned in networked economies people move in the direction of their conversations. For this reason and because of the need to strengthen and accelerate innovation and entrepreneurship, the communities and regions that move ahead quickly and are not left behind will be those who invest in open conversations.   

The questions we ask determine the direction of our conversations and where we place our attention. In regional economic development attention can translate into millions of dollars of funding. The strategic attention of a small or medium business will determine the difference of a company's success or failure.

Open conversations are important because they build social networks for business development and act as a tool for entrepreneurs to spot new opportunities quickly they might not ordinarily know about. 

Open conversations build transparency and trust. Transparency  by informing everyone present and enabling  anyone with initiative to participate. And trust by observing standards of civility respectful of commentary and accepting of constructive criticism. 

Northeast Ohio Solar and Wind Entrepreneur, Bill MacDermott offers this description from his experience:

"We all have our own unique perspectives. We need to be willing to respect another person's perspective if we want our perspective to be respected in turn. That to me, is an open conversation."

 Ohio's extensive network of colleges and universities are home to a large community of positive change research leaders and consultants. Appreciative Inquiry, developed at Case Western Reserve University  in Cleveland, Ohio is a practice adopted by some civic leaders to guide open conversations and accelerate positive change. Open conversations cultivate deep reflection, rich insights and fresh perspectives on entrepreneurial innovations. 

 Gloria Ferris, Partner, Meet The Bloggers, is one such civic leader. In the video below she teaches us about the value open conversations bring to regional prosperity. Gloria has led many Northeast Ohio I-Open Open Conversations and is considered a valued guide in the civic community.

Where are open conversations happening in your community?

Energy Efficiency Enterprise in Collaborative Innovation Networks

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Basket Abstract

Image © Alice Merkel on Flickr

James Flock, energy entrepreneur, Cleveland, Ohio, describes his enterprise solution - the socialization of energy - focused on personalized Energy Services (like the emerging personalized health care industry) in networked economies.

As an RF engineer, Jim's work experience is deeply rooted in MRI, Antennae and Radio Frequencies. He's applied his expert level skills to understand how communities can fine tune resonance to create signal and optimize energy delivery to only where it is needed.

Jim has thought through how value-based brands with services defined by community can lead to energy efficiency techniques. Understanding how corporations and homeowners prefer to experience energy as members of dynamic community systems, personalized energy delivery can be optimized and precise, efficient techniques developed. Ultimately, brands play a pivotal role in the embodiment of a service provider's energy efficient community culture.

In this in-depth and expansive interview, Jim describes project investment, construction methodology, and deliverables. In addition, Jim shares personal philosophies on information sharing, habits of collaboration, advice for youth working on the web, the value of sharing in networks for the purpose of "giving ahead", and how his enterprise will positively affect education, economic and workforce development, and sustainable communities 50 years from now.

Energy Efficiency Enterprise in Collaborative Networks from I-Open on Vimeo.

You can connect with Jim at his blog Global Definition and on LinkedIn.

Learn the wisdom of civic leaders across these I-Open communities:

Copyright 2011 Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License Betsey Merkel and The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open), 2563 Kingston Road Cleveland OH 44118 

The Short Bus by Ralph Solonitz

"The Short Bus" is special story that reflects the culture of the Northeast Ohio region.

It was contributed to I-Open for sharing by Northeast Ohio illustrator, Ralph Solonitz.

"The Short Bus" falls into I-Open's investment category of Branding Stories, from the Innovation Framework, a heuristic model of investment for individuals, organizations, and businesses in Open Source Economic Development.

There are five categories of investment in this road map to prosperity: Brainpower, our most competitive asset; Innovation and Entrepreneurial Networks, the civic infrastructure needed to translate creativity into transformative initiatives; Quality, Connected Places, the importance of investing in cool places to live, work, and play; Dialogue & Inclusion, the value of creating new points of access for civic leaders to share information and create knowledge; and Branding Stories, the importance of investing in storytelling to amplify a community or region's cultural assets.

Link: Innovation Framework at I-Open on Scribd

What stories do you share in your region?

 

"The Pattern of Renewal: What to Look for and Help Bring Forth" by Christopher Reynolds

Chris Reynolds, teacher, musician, and traditional healer, writes about the regional economic and cultural transformation already taking place in Northeast Ohio at its centers of creativity, spirituality, and healing. 

He writes,

In our time, the general pattern is that the world, as perceived by the orphan, is much more expansive, meaningful, loving and merged with spiritual realities than the “real” world as delineated by the current family, educational, religious, political, scientific and technological systems. 

The resultant isolation and suffering brings the orphans to a crisis point that many do not survive. The individuals who do manage to find the healing information for their lives, usually through a form of death and rebirth experience, are now gathering in greater numbers at our local creativity and healing centers.

Chris writes further,

The renewal our region is seeking has already been quietly underway for some years now. This essay is a Calling in itself to those who would be leaders to invite those centers and individuals who have been living in this renewed, holistic manner into public awareness.

There is an astounding amount of wisdom for our times waiting to be welcomed home and permitted to share what Joseph Campbell in the Hero of a Thousand Faces called, “The Boon”, with the culture at large. 

Time, money, effort, generosity invested in the wave of renewal I described opens a better way forward for the future generations.

Who is the orphan in your community and how will you welcome their creative, wholistic insights?

 

 

The Passion of the Western Mind

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Homework from Chris Reynolds - teacher, musician, and traditional healer - in this collection of his favorite books connecting the power of creativity and the power of one's ties to the land, both integral to the economic and cultural renewal of regions.

…so I would like to introduce you to a thinker named, Richard Tarnas, and in particular, his book, “Passion of the Western Mind” which is followed by “Cosmos and Psyche”. For Tarnas, the falling apart that we’re doing right now is the end of a twenty-five hundred year arch. And for him, the passion of the Western Mind, what he calls the ‘Western Development’ has been predominately masculine, predominately male.

And the proof he uses for it, is the names of the human being in all languages in the West are, ‘man’, ‘lum’, ‘wom’ – it’s all, when we talk about a human being we say, ‘man’. For him, at this time in history, we are going through the end of man.

That doesn’t mean the end of human beings; it means the end of a way of life. And for him, the future looks like a completing of the masculine in the feminine or a sacred marriage where there is a balance between the two.

And I like to think of what we’re going through now in those terms. If you look through our culture through that lens, you will see all the qualities that were cultivated over the last twenty-five hundred years have reached a point where they no longer work. There’s this old way that’s dying around our feet and at the same this new way is rising up.

So, I would like to say again, the way it looks regionally is, where the new ground is breaking through, through what’s falling apart, is these healing centers, these places where the people who fell apart and who are coming back together. So, it’s right in our midst. The important thing for us as leaders is to be able to allow what wants to die, to die. And that which is being born, that’s where we would place our interest.

Learn more from Chris about the relationship of creativity, traditional rites of passage, and the cosmos to mindfullness, passion, and meaningful civic engagement at his page on I-Open.

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Copyright 2010 Betsey Merkel http://www.betseymerkel.extendr.com/ and I-Open http://i-open-2.strategy-nets.net Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 4415 Euclid Ave 3rd Fl Cleveland, Ohio 44103 USA

The Village: A Microcosm Economy of Culture

Melissa Daubert, Experience Artist, Cleveland, Ohio, introduces us to local Zimbabwe paintings and provides a tour of "The Village" a collection of idealized architectural structures from her experience living in Zimbabwe as a Peace Corps teacher educating students in metal working.

Village pieces embody what is important to people, the community, and the economic way of life. From Melissa's experience, values and investments focus on health care, education, environment, commerce, gender equality and empowerment of women, and addressing daily living needs.

"The Village" is comprised of several works --

The Tongue Wagger, the Cooking Hut, the Pit Toilet and Bathing Space, The Sleeping Space, The Sausage Tree, the Look Out Tower, and the post-Zimbabwe piece, All American Ants.

Each each structure tells a story about its relationship to local culture and community. You can see objects close up and learn the story about each at this I-Open Flickr set http://www.flickr.com/photos/iopen/sets/72157623225592857/

Learn more about what's happening in Open Source Economic Development:

Copyright 2010 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 4415 Euclid Ave 3rd Fl Cleveland, Ohio 44103 USA