And the next game-changer is…

While I tend to appreciate Mark Cuban’s writing, his latest post really got me thinking. The internet, he argues (or argued, since it’s really just a highlight of two old posts) isn’t where “the future” is anymore. It’s here. Applications are being built on the internet en masse. And that means it’s a stable platform.

So I spent a lot of yesterday thinking: “What’s the next big game-changer?” What’s the next thing that will shake our society to the bone, like electricity, telephones, cable TV, and even the internet have done?

(It was a good day to think, by the way. Beautiful, crisp, and sunny, I spent the late afternoon on a bench with a newly-purchased copy of “The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci”… what a steal at $5!)

The answer I came up with made me both incredibly uncomfortable and incredibly excited (which, luckily, was what I was hoping to feel):

The next game-changer will open up people like the internet opened up data.

 

Think Web 2.0… but without the permission. Think about being able to reach anyone without anything standing in your way. But then think of the flipside: anyone can do the same to you.

A system — or a protocol — like this scares the daylights out of me because it’s too easy to game. Which is why — like the internet — it will need to start out slow. With people who are excited about the possibilities. With people who want to prove the skeptics wrong. And, ultimately, with people who see the promise to enhance their own lives by being involved.

By opening ourselves to others, by creating a searchable, indexable, and intuitive platform of universally-accessible people, we have the opportunity to enhance our own lives by enhancing everybody else’s. We also have the ability to directly connect and share wisdom with anyone sharing our journey from birth to unfortunate death.

The funny thing is (and this may, unfortunately, sound a bit “May 1968“) that most business executives, celebrities, and others who most of the masses would want to get in touch with right now won’t get involved until it’s too late. But, to be honest, they shouldn’t. We need them to keep society stable until this happens. Or, alternatively, as a fallback plan in case this fails.

No, this platform, system, protocal — whatever you want to call it — will be built, tested, and developed by those of us who aspire to be like them. It will be built by the people who want to reach that level and, by the time they (or we) do, it will hopefully have whatever spam filters are necessary to keep it from negatively impacting their (or our) lives.

Yes, I know Facebook kind of does this. Yes, I know Twitter kind of does this, too. But what they’re really missing is the ability to be accessed. There’s no way to reach someone directly, and they lack proper accountability. I mean, sure, things can be public, but that doesn’t mean that anything you do right will impact you positively (or vice-versa).

Conclusion:

The next big game-changer, at least in my mind, will be a ubiquitous platform that makes everyone in the world easily find-able and accessible, like the internet did for documents. Anyone want to start working on a model protocol?

What’s been keeping me busy

Sorry for the semi-self-indulgence here. If you only care about my thoughts and not about my life (which is totally valid), please ignore this post. It’s nice to get these down somewhere, and I figure that I may be able to help someone with one or many of these (or the other way around).

• Working with Andrew (aka @hyfen), a brilliant friend of mine, on a project called Communitie. We’re setting up skilled professionals who have a bit of extra time (which we see too much of these days, what with layoffs and cutbacks) with local non-profits and community organizations that need their expertise. We set the site up in a night, presented at DemoCamp three days later, and we’re just waiting on approval of our write-up before we post the first project.
• I have some ideas about how the above can scale, but I’m looking into potential business models for it — and applying for some startup programs.
• Continuing to avoid “schoolwork”, since most of my assignments have little to no impact on my personal development, let alone anyone else’s.
• Figuring out fundraiser ideas for the UC Follies. We came up a bit short this year, but Blank Canvas inspired a (similar, though slightly tweaked) spinoff to help make up the loss and make sure next year’s team can work on a show.
• Learning Python. I was falling behind on my ability to talk to programmers, and needed to catch up.
• Getting to know some fantastic people in the Toronto tech and non-profit communities. I’m not going to name names, but search #csiTO and #genyTO on Twitter Search to see what’s up.
• Dreaming of organizing a crowdsourced Tom Waits concert in Toronto.

If you’re in Toronto…

[shameless plug]

Come check out why I’ve been absent from this blog/most of my life for the past two weeks: Urinetown; the Musical.

We can even meet in person in the lobby! And, if you come tonight, you’ll get to see me brave one of my greatest fears: apple juice. I wish I was kidding.

[/shameless plug]

I’ve got some thinking points to write about, but I’m rarely around a sustainable internet connection anymore for more than 5/10 minutes. And, for some reason, I just don’t write like I should when I’m writing in Word/any offline writing software that I could draft a blog post in.

Get ready for a return to a semblance of regularity this Sunday/Monday, folks.

“Musings” on people-power

As I was about to go to bed (I know it’s late… and I have a meeting in less than 6 hours!), I noticed that Charlie just posted on Hoehn’s Musings about ABC ripping off a Youtube parody of Lost — and suggested that ABC should have instead thanked, acknowledged, and possibly even recruited the parodists, The Fine Bros.

My suggestion would have been the same, but in different words: to harness/use the available people-power. People-power is what I (and others, albeit with a less catchy name for it) see as the pinnacle of word-of-mouth: people not only evangelizing your product/brand, but actively working to make it better.

Why aren’t you cultivating this yet? The tools to find your people are out there!

“Listening is the first thing and the last thing”

I don’t normally post images/videos/audio clips on this blog, but I’ve got a video for you today that I really think is worth watching. Dan Barber explains for 20 minutes how an ethically (and unconventionally) produced foie gras is the best he’s ever tasted:

I originally checked out the video, intrigued as a foodie-by-association, but found a lot more than just interesting food knowledge. Dan offers a phenomenally interesting example of someone going against so-called “conventional wisdom” in a field that’s incredibly resistant to new processes.

I wish I could source the quotation I used for the title, but it’s something the Director for the musical I’m producing (on now, by the way, at Hart House Theatre in Toronto) offered as a motto for the cast.

Where aren’t you listening? Why don’t you start?

Playing the “people-power” game

Chances are that if you’re doing something worth doing, others are doing something similar too — probably not the same, but close enough. Or maybe they’ve found out about you and are trying to raise money/awareness for you without your knowledge…

Are you doing anything to help them help you?

I was talking to a friend of mine earlier tonight about his work with Journalists for Human Rights, and he let me in on a little secret: they had no clue that this was going on a few weeks ago until virtually after the fact. I’m also pretty sure that Sketch had no clue about the production of The Ugly Duckling that I financed back in November with the clause that at least half of any profits would be donated to their organization (the rest would fund the cast/crew wrap party).

How much clout could JHR have given to the Varsity’s “Rock Show” if they showed up with banners? Or maybe a rep from the UN-funded non-profit could have given a speech, schmoozed, and found a new intern (which I know they were searching for) there! Could Sketch have brought someone who’s found success through their program to Duckling to thank everyone for their donations?

These are just the two examples that are coming to mind right now. But it seems as though groups focus their support on their own initiatives, not those of their supporters. Seems like a backwards way to go about things, n’est-ce pas?

Like I said before: if you’re doing something worthwhile, then someone, somewhere, is doing something similar, supporting it, or at least talking about it. Are you making it easy for them yet?

Imagine a world where your government shared alpha and beta releases of their projects and policies with the interested and affected public. All of which were updated every week or two based on relevant feedback from the users.

Now that’s representative democracy I could stand behind.

There’s a reason I love getting to know policy geeks, web/software developers, active citizens, and dreamers: they’re the people who tend to have fantastic ideas for where society should go — and they also tend to start the ball rolling.

I had the good fortune of meeting a ton of these people at this past weekend’s ChangeCamp. And, in my discussions over the course of the day, I came to realize how significant agile programming methods could be in the political and social realm. (And yes, I know what I’m about to describe isn’t entirely “agile”, but I like to think that it stays close enough to the spirit of the process)

Imagine, if you will, a government that publicly acknowledged — and thrived on — its likelihood to make mistakes. One that focused more on putting something out in a timely fashion for its people (and smoothing out the kinks later) than on perfecting every solution. One that used its representatives almost entirely as  mechanisms for feedback that will be quickly taken to heart.

Imagine how much quicker we would get our answers. Imagine how many more people would be actively involved with their government. Imagine (in Canada, at least) how many more people would start voting for their MPs, not for their PM.

How much faster could you be if you shifted your focus from perfection to iteration? Is it worth the potential sacrifice in performance?

Even Evolution seems to have taken the agile route — as Gary Marcus argues in his book Kluge — with our minds (and not just our bodies). And, while I’m sure my memory could be better, I know that it was at least successful enough to let me share these thoughts with you — and let you share your comments with me.