Coalition of the Willing

[Michael Maranda]

Greeting all,

The ambitions of an Open Sustainability Network have long been aligned
with mine, and my thoughts frequently return to models and strategies
for the emergence of something in this spirit.

Recently I have connected with the author of a short film you may have
encountered online "Coalition of the Willing" http://vimeo.com/12772935

The film addresses Environmentalists and Climate Change activists in a
post-Copenhagen world. It proposes a three part model for
coordination of knowledge, attention and effort and builds a narrative
for a new model of cooperation and collaboration.

The issues it raises are not new to the people on this list and
likewise the solutions proposed are familiar to us here.

However, one thing we should bear in mind: every day people are being
turned on to the "open" meme -- via open source, open space, open
architecture and standards and all other varieties of open culture.
In the open realm, people are coming up with similar ideas all the
time without much awareness of precedent -- the challenge is figuring
out how to build upon that rather than be caught up in original
ownership or competitive mindsets.

The makers of this film are reaching new audiences, but they aren't
selling a pre-baked solution or platform. (unlike lots of other
initiatives that seem to have energy or funding.)

I've already had several extensive conversations with the lead author
and he has been very open to ideas I know are dear to this community.
I believe there is an opportunity here to build momentum for the OSN
vision, and I am signing on to the team the coalition is assembling.

Is anybody with me on re-activating our OSN efforts?

Highest regards,

Michael Maranda

[Lonny]

HI All,

Michael... I think that putting more into developing OSN is a great idea.  Synchronistically I am doing a small Open Sustainability MiniConference today in Chiapas, Mexico.

I have been very remiss on posting my various OSN efforts... here are a couple examples:

OSN - MidMissouri 2009 http://www.appropedia.org/OSNCamp_Mid_Missouri

• This open sustainability network meeting had some really great results... my two personal favorites:

1. The breakoff group on green roofs decided that it was an idea that should be generally abandoned for Mid-Missouri given their steep roofs and ample arable land.
2. The breakoff group on a software package for community currency, created a swap luck (where people come together with stuff and skills to trade once a month) because they realized that people wanted community currency because it builds community In Real LIfe.

Community Created Humboldt 2009-2010 http://www.appropedia.org/Category:Community_Created_Humboldt

• This series has been really enjoyable and changed its name from Open Sustainability Humboldt to Community Created Humboldt because it turned off less of our constituents while still saying what we are.
• The January 2010 meeting has the most results posted at http://www.appropedia.org/Community_Created_Humboldt/Jan_23_10.
• At least 8 other meetings were spun from this in 2010 with focuses on agriculture, corporate personhood, etc.

So... in whatever we do, I think we need to develop the mechanism of reporting back.... Or, at the minimum, I really do.

Thank you,

-Lonny

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[Ben de Vries]

WIsh I could have forwarded your announcement sooner.

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I find it rather easy to portray a businessman. Being bland, rather cruel and incompetent comes naturally to me.
 - John Cleese

Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake: One of her characters asks, "As a species we're doomed by hope, then?" By hope? Well, yes. Hope drives us to invent new fixes for old messes, which in turn create ever more dangerous messes. Hope elects the politician with the biggest empty promise; and as any stockbroker or lottery seller knows, most of us will take a slim hope over prudent and predictable frugality. Hope, like greed, fuels the engine of capitalism.

[paul horan]

Thanks Michael,

I just shared this "Coalition of the Willing" link w/ 2 collaborators of mine via email and also just posted it via facebook.

YESSS, we can!!!

paul

[Mark Roest]

Hello Michael,

I am interested, and have specific ideas on how to do it. I am also in a solar start-up and pressed for time, and wonder how I can efficiently contribute.

Regards,

Mark Roest <MarkL...@gmail.com>

[Joshua Pearce]

Michael

I am of course in -- I really like the Coalition of the Willing video
-- I think the only fault is the lack of pointing people in the
direction of the next steps. The three pillars of infrastructure that
they identify are good and would argue we largely have the tools to do
the three already -- but what we lack is scale and sort of a loose
agreement that everyone will centralize their main efforts in three
locations - one for vetted info, one for experimental/design, and one
to network. At this point I don't really think it matters that much
which three spots are used as long as we can work to get everyone of
similar mindset to begin contributing to the sites -- and pull their
info off of the many smaller sites and place it into the fab 3. It has
to be done in such a way as people can still keep their 'brand' or get
credit -- but we really need to pull people together -- lots of good
stuff going on -- more like bees working randomly in a field - rather
than a full swarm....Any ideas on how to pull everyone together and
get some scale?

Thanks,
Joshua

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Joshua M. Pearce, Ph.D.
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Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Queen's University
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[Mark Roest]

Michael and Joshua,

The fundamental way to organize information, that leaves search engines' million hits to a query in the dust, is to categorize information by the ecosystems, cultures, AND problems that it is known to support. Using the World Wildlife Fund / National Geographic Society map of 667 ecosystems, developed with the help of ~1200 ecological and other scientists over 18 months or more to refine the boundaries, gives you a huge head start. Now when you do a query, you only get the results that are at least categorically likely to be relevant to your search. This is especially valuable for people serving communities and the environment who did not have major social, economic and educational advantages.

Then, since there are 6000 languages left in the world, there are effectively 6000 cultures, but for purposes of developing sustainable economies, we can start with those with whom we are already networked for participation. Many of them are reduced to a few survivors; holding them in mind in the process enables us to design the knowledgebase to easily hold all the information we are able to get from them before they die. That serves those who try to carry on and keep the languages and cultures alive despite being raised in a dominant culture.

There are particular programming languages that are suited for this work. There is also a community of digital earth imaging professionals and advocates large enough that almost 400 of them gathered from around the world in June 2007 for the Fifth International Symposium on Digital Earth <www.isde5.org>, including sizable contingents from NOAA and Worldwind.

I have to get going for now. More later, and preferably in dialog with feedback, to focus on what you can get the most value from. I am also a friend and supporter of Lawrence R. Bosch, inventor of the Bosch Captive Column <www.captivecolumn.com>, the highest strength to weight structural geometry in existence (on a macro scale). I am part of a renewable energy start-up, SV Green Tech Corp, and a co-founder of Design Earth <www.designearth.net>.

Regards,

Mark Roest

[Chris Watkins]

Hi Mark,

Some good thoughts on organizing info. 

On Wed, Aug 4, 2010 at 22:41, Mark Roest <markl...@gmail.com> wrote:

The fundamental way to organize information, that leaves search engines' million hits to a query in the dust, is to categorize information by the ecosystems, cultures, AND problems that it is known to support. Using the World Wildlife Fund / National Geographic Society map of 667 ecosystems, developed with the help of ~1200 ecological and other scientists over 18 months or more to refine the boundaries, gives you a huge head start. Now when you do a query, you only get the results that are at least categorically likely to be relevant to your search. This is especially valuable for people serving communities and the environment who did not have major social, economic and educational advantages.

Then, since there are 6000 languages left in the world, there are effectively 6000 cultures, but for purposes of developing sustainable economies, we can start with those with whom we are already networked for participation. Many of them are reduced to a few survivors; holding them in mind in the process enables us to design the knowledgebase to easily hold all the information we are able to get from them before they die. That serves those who try to carry on and keep the languages and cultures alive despite being raised in a dominant culture.

There are particular programming languages that are suited for this work.

Not surprisingly,  I'm a fan of the way a wiki lets us do this right now - these and any other relevant categories can be added. 

You're right about a search engine's results being less than satisfactory. But when a very large and well structured site links internally, from relevant text to the corresponding articles, and has a comprehensive and detailed category structure, the search engines love it (as they love Wikipedia). That's a bonus on top of it being a usable and flexible site that people will find useful. 

I'm happy to see the interest around the Coalition of the Willing. I look forward to seeing more of the vision. I'll continue to put my energy into building that pen source knowledge bank, and probably engage more with the COTW as I figure out what's going on, in concrete terms. 

--
Chris Watkins

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