I am really appreciative, this morning. After posting what was certainly the saddest news I can imagine, about the hardship my staff has suffered as a result of a lack of appreciation from my former business associate, Peter Holmes, I opened up this week's CoolCleveland and found that their crew had featured TWO postings from REALNEO. I am very touched and thankful to Thomas and his team for noticing REALNEO and taking an interest in the thoughts posted here - thank you. Please show appreciation back to CoolCleveland... if you are not a member, see what you've been missing... subscribe at CoolCleveland - all free - this is a real NEO must,  and send feedback to CoolCleveland letters at the links below, and supporting the upcoming CoolCleveland/Tech/Ingenuity party at Fat Fish Blue, July 13, and the Ingenuity Festival, as described below... but first, here's the nice write-up about REALNEO from CoolCleveland today, July 5, 2006:

 The following story with its links ran in CASE Daily (Case's online newpaper) today. Do feel like you have entrepreneurial genes? I think I do! Please post your thoughts
"Do genes influence who will be entrepreneurs?"

ABC News (Reuters), June 5, 2006
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2041245

IT Industry Clusters In the global knowledge economy, developed and developing regions worldwide are being challenged, as never before, to strengthen and sustain their economies by stimulating innovation, entrepreneurship and cluster development. Many regions focus on information technology as a key enabler in this endeavour. This seminar will present informative case examples, from Asia, Latin America, the EU and the US, of successful and challenged Public-Private Strategies for Cluster Development in the Global Knowledge Economy.
World Congress on Information Technology

!!! WCIT2006 participation now US$ 695 for participants in the Seminar !!!

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I've thought for some time about the issues facing East Cleveland, and thought deeply about the potential we have to uplift an underprivileged community by applying a concerted eco-development strategy.  Here I outline some of my core thoughts as framed by our six-sphere model:

Ohio Congressman Bob Ney is certainly entitled to have the facts proved before he’s considered guilty, but it’s a disservice to voters to claim the charges against him are “just politics” or “the way things work in DC.”  By asserting that these allegations are “the way things get done,” supporters drag politics and government lower and give disgusted voters more reasons to give up on government.  To really understand the accusations and why the allegations are more than routine, readers need to understand the nature of the charges and the facts at hand.

Inputs and outcomes from the January 24, 2006 Excellence Roundtable at the City Club featuring East Cleveland Mayor Eric Brewer.

Over a period of roundtable "world cafe" discussions, participants at the Storm the Palace table wrote the following summary ideas on a flip chart or post-it to the idea wall - each idea is being posted to the "Community Forums: Technology" on REALNEO focused on this category... read on:

Public comments are being accepted by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) on a draft plan for conserving the remaining open spaces and natural areas in the Lake Erie Region. In addition, as part of the state's efforts to meet eligibility on the federal Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program, Ohio will hold two public meetings in November to solicit feedback on the draft plan.

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The Ohio Community Computing Center Network, the umbrella organization for free public computer centers and teaching centers, has provided testimony to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio stating that the SBC/AT&T Merger and the Verizon/MCI Merger are not in the best interests of the public.   The following is a summary, raising the concern that further telecom consolidation will reduce vital high-speed Internet opportunities for low-income urban and rural areas.  Today, high-speed Internet is critical for education, work and other activities of daily life.  While technological advances in more robust networks, immense Internet speed and additional services are exciting, if only a portion of spciety can participate in yet another technological evolution, Ohio will again be left struggling.  The testimony called for efforts to reduce the divide that finds low-income and rural communities with lower levels of broadband access and an end to telecom efforts to limit the rights of cities to invest in broadband services directly, on behalf of their residents.

On Election Day, I stood at a polling location on Cleveland's eastside and talked to voters about Reform Ohio Now (RON) and issues 2-5 on the ballot in November. The voting location was JFK High School, one of the largest polling stations in ward one, the wealthiest and biggest voting ward in the African-American community. I was the one who learned a lot.

Earlier this month, REALNEO IT Analyst Derek Arnold attended the O'Reilly Open Source Convention and Drupal Conference in Portland, Oregon, and he brought back more than new code, knowledge and relationships - he brought back the State of Oregon's vision of being "an epicenter for Open Technology (Linux and Open Source-enabled hardware, software and services)". The State of NEO needs to embrace such a vision!

Calling All Luddites - Thomas L. Friedman - NY Times

I've been thinking of running for high office on a one-issue platform: I promise, if elected, that within four years America will have cellphone service as good as Ghana's. If re-elected, I promise that in eight years America will have cellphone service as good as Japan's, provided Japan agrees not to forge ahead on wireless technology. My campaign bumper sticker: "Can You Hear Me Now?"

 Our Lips Are Sealed? Journalists and Confidential Sources
Linda Foley, President of The Newspaper Guild, and Irwin Gratz, President of Society of Professional Journalists

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 Congressman Barney Frank
Massachusetts 4th Congressional District

Congressman Barney Frank, representative of his district since 1981, is the most prominent openly gay politician in the United States and is known for his witty candor and his dedication to liberal causes.

Frank had been in Washington six years before he “came out� to his colleagues and the nation in 1987. Frank’s constituency has voted him back into office 12 times. Most recently he has introduced legislation that would allow unmarried federal government employees to apply for benefits for their domestic partners.

As a Jewish American, Frank believes in making a commitment to achieving peace in the Middle East that will fully protect Israel’s right to exist as a secure, Jewish democratic state. He also supports direct aid to the Palestinian Authority.

As the senior Democrat on the Financial Services Committee, Frank’s big issues include the GSE bill and housing policy generally, predatory lending, OCC preemption, data security and consumer protection.

Prior to the U.S. Congress, Frank was a Massachusetts State Representative and an assistant to the Mayor of Boston. He has also taught at several Boston area universities. Frank received a BA and his JD from Harvard University.

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The Community Technology Centers'
Network (CTCNet) was founded on the recognition that in an increasingly
technologically dominated society, people who are economically
disadvantaged will be left further behind if they are not provided
access to and training on information tools. CTCNet envisions a society
in which all people are equitably empowered with these tools and is
committed to achieving this end.

NYC provides excellent virtual community capabilities worth accessing here in NEO - consider the following bulletin from their department of health and mental hygiene on choosing a day care provider. Helping residents make smart decisions is one of the greatest values of eGovernment. If you need daycare services in NEO, take some advice from NYC.

 

The REALNEO team is very pleased to anounce new COILs for the City of East Cleveland - http://eastcleveland-org.bryght.net - and their senior citizens department and Helen S. Brown Senior Citizens' Center - http://hsbc.realinks.us. In each case, these social networks provide valuable virtual services where there were none, to organizations and people excluded from the new economy by the digital divide. In launching these initiatives, the REALNEO team has collaborated with many inspiring East Cleveland community leaders who know and love their community well - in the process, the REALNEO team has been amazed by how remarkable a place is East Cleveland. How well do you know your region? Visit http://eastcleveland-org.bryght.net and http://hsbc.realinks.us  to observe much more!

Following several months of meetings and discussions, the East Cleveland ECHO - Extending Community Home Online - initiative is making great progress. A strong and diverse team of volunteers has come together to develop for East Cleveland a virtual comunity where there was not one, and we'll begin distributing donated computers to area organizations and residents the week of April 18th, starting with the Helen S. Brown Senior Center and next flowing to students at Shaw High School. Computers will run free open source software, making everything we distribute free for recipients. All related developments, ECHO public meetings (usually Wednesday at 9:30 AM), and other East Cleveland events will be highlighted at the new East Cleveland portal, currently being developed at http://eastcleveland-org.bryght.net - check in often!

An insightful opinion editorial in the 04.15.05 New York Times declares "Bush Disarms, Unilaterally", claiming over the past few years the US has abandoned the new economy war. The author states what he "can't figure out about the Bush team is why an administration that is so focused on projecting U.S. military strength abroad has taken such little interest in America's economic competitiveness at home - the underlying engine of our strength" - ultimately the question posed is why Americans are allowing ourselves to fall behind the rest of the world in deploying information technology research and access to our masses. The same reasoning can be applied to our homeland economy for Northeast Ohio - why do we allow 100,000s of area residents to stagnate in the old economy, divided apart from the digital economy?

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Case's Weatherhead School of Management Center for Regional Economic Issues (REI) and other community leaders support an initiative to distribute used computers and ease access to free or low cost Internet access for area residents in financial hardship. The first community being supported through this vision is East Cleveland, where REI drives ECHO - "Extending Community Home Online" - as part of an East Cleveland 2010 community redevelopment initiative. This effort is not in social service for the poor of East Cleveland but a critical initiative for economic development for this entire NEO region.

In October 2004 the personal identity aggregator and broker ChoicePoint was defrauded and gave con-men access to 100,000s of Americans' records - 1,000,000s of records - perhaps your social security number, and financial history, and medical files. You wouldn't know, unless you've experienced irregularities - ChoicePoint chose not to notify their victims, except in California, where state legislators have had the wisdom to require their citizens are notified of such fraud... but even there it took four months for ChoicePoint to mail notice to those 35,000 victims. If this sounds pathetic, it is. More pathetic is that we allow companies like ChoicePoint to aggregate and broker our personal identities. Is this what you want? Read on and realize this is not what you want. Keep visiting REALNEO to learn the alternatives... coming soon.

The “right� to vote, the subject of nonviolent protests, bloody confrontations and solemn pronouncements by Supreme Courts and Congress for centuries, is very much in doubt. Like a desert mirage, the image of an effective election, with widespread, universal voting looms before us, but always out of reach. In a practical manner, the right to vote is defined, not by the United States Constitution or the lives lost to ensure a vote, but by the amount of money legislators, Governors and other state officials are willing to spend to implement fair elections.  The President and Congress should treat the right to vote as a full entitlement, guaranteed by the Constitution, and provide the money needed to ensure accurate elections.