Don't know, will check on it.  I commented to the post last night and mis-spelled Gonick.  Norm, it seems the post has been removed...know why? who removed it?

I didn't remove the original posting - I thought it had some great comments. I'm registered to attend the Web 2.0 forum and believe it is still open... contact  Lora [dot] Veselsky [at] case [dot] edu to confirm. Iill see you all there.

Disrupt IT

Despite feeling ill for the last several days, I managed to get to the event. I hope Sudhir and Derek will write in with their thoughts.  It was kind of like a buffet though we all got the menu with introductions made by each person attending who also shared their affiliations and their two ideas. Then, charette style, we separated into groups according to where we had placed our ideas.

 

I had come into the big meeting room in Dively a little late and found a chair, just as the event was beginning.  I happened to be seated next to Ed Morrison.  He reminded me in an aside that Alvin Toffler had just visited Youngstown.
Here's a link to the write up on Toffler's appearance there.
Here's a highlight:
"‘‘You can’t transform the economy without transforming the community,’’ he said.

New technology can’t be separated from the economy, from society or from the political reality. As the economy and society speed up, the mass-production system cannot be reformed, it must be changed, he said.

Today’s schools are as obsolete as the closed steel mills, Toffler said.

What the new institutions will look like will be determined through lots of experimentation. There will be many failures, but laughing at those with what seems like crazy ideas will reduce the willingness of others to try something new."

Interestingly this sums up the afternoon's event.  There was plenty of buzz and good ideas were flying. Lev addressed the issue of access -- all that fiber and how we cross the digital divide with devices, signals, etc.  He noted that Michael DeAloia had taken many arrows on that front and asked Michael to speak.  Basically, patience is a virtue.

 

There is a major effort to recycle devices from major institutions and anyone else (certified that the drives have been wiped clean of any and all data (this has been a stumbling block for corporations apparently) and can be reused -- I think he said RET3, but he was talking fast, so correct me if I am wrong).  I also need to check on my city's computer recycling to see what they do with the machines and the data as Cleveland Heights also offers curbside computer recycling now. Maybe they take them to RET3 Job Corp.

Anyway, I am not fully healed and perhaps thing will come into more focus as we continue this conversation.  But before I head back to bed, I just wanted to reiterate this quote from Toffler for our consideration, "There will be many failures, but laughing at those with what seems like crazy ideas will reduce the willingness of others to try something new."  I am excited to be a part of the effort, however late, however stumbling, however imperfect, however flawed.  Here in my glass house I am not prepared to begin throwing stones; I just don’t know enough. Maybe we are being suckered, but the energy of possibility and the sentiment of doing good (and well) was infectious.  Now… I hear the Epsom Salts calling…