heathervescent

GTDing Your Gmail Inbox, part 1.

As you may or not know, I am a big fan and active user of GTD, an organizational methodology by David Allen. I've written blog posts and created five videos on how I use GTD - and how you can use it too. 

The most important criteria for GTD is to use what works for you. If a recommendation doesn't work for you - you don't have to do it! 

I've been on the GTD train since December 5, 2005. So I've had a lot of time to internalize the system and customize it based on my own trainwreck of left and right brain organization. I even stole/modified a note-taking idea from Tim Ferris before his superstardom and use 1 notebook to take notes on ALL my projects, creating an ad-hoc Table of Contents as the notebook gets filled up with notes.

But today, I want to tell you about how I was just able to GTD my inboxes of > 500 email messages (from the weekend) in 20 minutes and be left with just 4 messages in my inbox.

There are three steps

1. Set up your system
2. Use your system
3. Care and feeding of your system

I'll just mention item 1 today. First, you've got to (start to) set up your system. 

@, in_, L:, P:, z

The first thing I did was create GTD specific folders in my gmail.

• @: The "@" / "at" folder. e.g. @ActionItem, @Email, @waiting
  Your "@" 's are where you put emails into general buckets for "actions." Like it an email needs an action items (to be responded to, to be read, to do something and then respond, any kind of action). My @ActionItem folder is like my Todo list in my email inbox. My @waiting is where I file emails I am waiting for a response from (that I want to track). I use @ActionItem and @waiting the most in this category. 
• in_ : I have many email addresses and I filter them all into my gmail account. I filter several addresses directly into their own folders. For those acconts, I preface them with in_nameofemail. I process these folders when I process my "inboxes."
• L: I am on a lot of lists, and some of them I filter directly into their own folders. I often don't go into these folders, but filter them because they automatically get tagged if they also go into my inboxes. For lists that are of similar topic, I just filter them all into the same folder. E.g. All my tech email lists get filtered into L: TechLists.
• P: or the Project "Folders" aka google labels. I was a power Outlook user before I switched to gmail, so I love folders and preface project folders with P:. This makes it easy for me to see my active projects at a glance. (I hide or archive any labels that are not active.)
• z or Archive. When I'm done with a label or folder, I will either roll those contents into another general folder (e.g. zArchivedClients) remove any organizational prefixes and replace with a "z" prefix. I started doing this before they offered the "hide" function. Sometimes now I will just hide the label instead of zArchiving it.

Check out the screenshots below.

  

OK, give this a little food for thought and think about what folders of the above might be appropriate for your own style. Next post, we'll talk about using your system.

Import Goods / Export Ideas

Yesterday, I took the afternoon to explore around Vancouver and ended up taking a seaplane ride around the coast. As we were heading back in, I saw empty container ship after container ship at anchor. I reminded me that the US imports more goods (from China) than they export. But then I realized what the US exports (or what Developed Nations export) doesn't really fit on a container ship.

Developed Nations (and I'm talking about North America, Europe and parts of Asia: Korea and Japan) don't necessarily export goods. They export ideas. And most of these ideas can be exported in a way that doesn't take months to cross the earth. These ideas are exported - shared - via the Internet.

So while the US may have more goods imported from developing nations, it exports it's (our) ideas (and influence of those ideas) far wider and faster than a container ship could hope to.

* photo by jdnx

Future of Alternate Currencies and Transactions

If you missed my presentation at the WFS this morning (and the mimosas as well) or just want to refer back to the slides, the presentation is below.

The Future of Alternate Currency and Transactions

View more presentations from heathervescent

And now with added Video!

The Purple Tornado is...

Five years ago I incorporated a company based on a vision. I named it after the picture in my mind of my two favorite shapes: a spiral and a triangle. I thought, how the hell can a triangle also be a spiral? A spiral is circular, a triangle, well, triangular. I lightly held these two conflicting shapes in my mind, asking how they could be the same. Slowly, the spiral turned sideways and stretched out in 3D space and that is when I saw the triangle. It WAS both a spiral and a triangle! The object was purple, my favorite color at the time, and so I named it The Purple Tornado.

I was so taken with the vision, I immediately knew it had to be a company. What the company was to do/be did not matter. 

With further exploration of the shape I realized it was more than just a tornado, it was also a funnel. Envision the wide top mouth. This reached all the way out into the unknown, unconscious, the potential, the place of all possibilities dreamed and undreamed. The other end of the spiral, the small, compact end, stretched down to earth. It spit ideas into the harsh reality of our world as physical objects, products launched - the idea manifested in material form.

The Purple Tornado is this metaphorical funnel bridging heaven and earth. It is the device I use to reach out into the unknown possibilities and pull them down, manifesting, creating, clarifying, applying the pressure of this reality to manifest, to create a real expression of the idea, an object. The Purple Tornado is an entity of this reality (just ask the IRS) but it is not like any traditional business. It comes and goes as it is needed, much like the blowing and calming of winds. It exists for the sole reason of channeling ideas into reality. Sometimes those ideas are technology products, other times they are experiences and they have ranged from a Debt Auction to a Zombie Cabaret.

Not everyone understands my company. But that's ok. It exists as a metaphor and paying tax entity. But it comes and goes as it's called - not by me - but by the ideas that ask to be realized. It exists to be of service to the possible. To enable these faint baby cries of ideas, of possible futures, to get a chance to exist. The Purple Tornado listens to those cries and whenever possible, helps birth them as best as the resources allow.

The Problem with Paradigm Shifts

Back in 1999, I worked for a small San Francisco start-up. They were primarily a tech group building productivity applications using a new combination of technologies: JavaScript and HTML, which we called DHTML. (Most people know this technology combination as AJAX today.) To this day, I have never worked with software engineers as good as this crew. They are hands down my favorite dev team.

But back in 1999, DHTML was new. No one was using it. 

I had the opportunity to usability test our first product and prototypes: a web-based presentation and a word processing application. Basically PowerPoint and Word for the web. I'm talking about creating, editing ppts and word docs in a browser. Netscape 4 browser. A whole new paradigm. My testers understood the concepts quickly and loved the ease of use. Many got how paradigm shifting this was and loved the idea. The company planned to build an entire suite of productivity applications using this technology.

But then, we got acquired. (Well, it wasn't so simple as that.) And next thing I knew, I was down in Mountain View presenting the technology to large internal groups. My role shifted and in the next year, I must have presented this technology (thanks to the amazing dev team) to over 30 groups inside AOL. Many groups immediately saw the user benefits - stuff that you and I take for granted today. Pop-ups, mouse-over dynamic windows, i-frames, divs. 

Inevitable, the question would be asked about metrics. Back then, all metrics were page refresh based. Ads were displayed based on each page refresh. So if there was no page refresh (because we no longer had to refresh the page each time a user did something) that decreased the number of page views, which decreased the number of ads that could be served. Sure, we'd show that people stayed for minutes on a page, instead of leaving immediately, but even this metric was too new a concept.

Our new technology could not be "successful" in the terms of the old paradigm. Sure, we'd make the application more interactive, user friendly, basically have the user stay in the property using the application a LOT longer and increase usage, but.... it didn't show an increase in metrics that defined success at the time.

And that's because, the new paradigm was not "successful" by the metrics of the old paradigm. The mental mindset had to shift. The definition of success had to shift. And it took 4+ year before that happened.

The success metrics of the current paradigm stifled the adoption of the new paradigm. 

And that's just one challenge when you're working with/creating paradigm shifts.

Best of Houston Futures at the WFS

I'm headed to Vancouver this week to speak at the World Future Society's Annual Conference. I will be on the panel, Best of Houston Futures, 9am Sunday morning, moderated by Peter Bishop, the Director of our program. I will be joined by two excellent colleagues from the program. I've had the opportunity of reviewing Emily Empel's work on the Future of the Sex Industry and it's surprising! I've heard great things about Sara Robinson's work. You won't want to miss our visions of the future. Full panel details are below.

• Peter C. Bishop, PhD, Moderator
• Sara Robinson, The Future of the Progressive Movement in the United States
• Heather Schlegel, The Future of Currency
• Emily Empel, The Future of the Sex Industry

Awarded an Honorable Mention by the APF

The Association of Professional Futurists recently awarded me an Honorable Mention for a paper entitled, The Value Exchange. 

The Value Exchange is an alternate scenario of the future based on my Future of Alternate Currency and Transactions research results. This future world juxtaposes augmented reality, activist web cam monitoring, a weighed value exchange and a group of renegade cacophonists who target those of a certain value score for "re-programming." It's the love story between the cacophonist minion sent to acquire the target for programming, and the target - a beautiful biotechnician, the daughter of Nobel prize winner Janet Hill, founder of Novenify. But of course, not all goes as planned. And not everyone is who they say they are.

Necessary, Possible and Beyond

"Start by doing what is necessary,
then by what's possible
and suddenly you are doing the impossible!"
- Plaque above Walter Wong's Desk (the best Saab mechanic in all of LA)

Announcing: Bitcoin Usage Survey

I've been following Bitcoin since last year as part of my research on the Future of Alternate Currencies and Transactions and boy has the interest, media articles and general discussion exploded recently!

Most of what I have seen covered in the media channels is not what I find most interesting about Bitcoin. Additionally, the perspective is from a non-user. The researcher in me wants to know the perspective from the inside. To do that, I have released a survey exploring Bitcoin usage. Like my past survey, I will release the results to the community and it will be anonymous. 

If you are a participant in the Bitcoin economy, user of bitcoins, mine bitcoins; would you please take the survey here: https://bitly.com/kMkYHJ

I sincerely thank you for your time. 

Community Garden Side-Effects

Earlier this year, I was a lucky lottery winner in the new West Hollywood Community Garden. I'm a big fan of urban gardening and have been doing my best at container gardening; but was there's just so much you can grow in a container. 

So one bright morning I sat in a room with a bunch of other people competing for one of 30 spots in the new garden. I was trying to cool my competitive air saying, that if I get it great, if not, I'll just expand the containers. However the turn-out was so low that everyone in the room got a plot!

Fast forward a month or so and I'm finally breaking ground and planting seeds. With every visit to the garden I get to know my fellow gardeners and we strike up conversations about plants, gardening, the neighborhood. It's a fun and relaxed community. But it's not limited to the garden!

I'm starting to see my fellow gardeners around the neighborhood. Just yesterday, while I was walking the dog, I ran into a gardener who I was having a conversation with just the night before. She lives less than a block away from my house. And just across the street is another gardener. What a small world!

Who would have thought I would get to know my neighbors by participating in the community garden. It just makes me love my community even more. 

Martial Training

"You can take the girl out of Aikido/weapons training class, but you can't take the weapons training out of the girl." -moi

A surprising facet of myself made an appearance at a party this last weekend. I was excited to don a new persona: The Luchador! for a friend's Lucha vs Quinceanera Party. I crammed by body into as much spandex as I could find, braided up some pigtails and donned several masks.

I was having a grand old time imbibing the wonderful Margaritas and talking with people who didn't recognize me (nor I them), when we were alerted that it was Pinata Time! A huge Tecate pinata had been strung up outside and the party filtered out around it. A broom handle was brought out and turns were passed around. I was wearing my double mask from Peru.

 I swear I was just standing there, innocently watching the attack on the Tecate Pinata, when all of a sudden the stick was thrust into my face. What could I do, but take it and step into the circle. The blindfold was applied over my two masks - it's not like I could really see out of them anyway. Spun away I was left discombobulated.

With the staff in my hand, something beside my brain took over: it was body memory. Body memory over a decade from my Aikido Weapons Training with Jo (Staff) and Bokken (Sword). The next thing I knew, I was performing Katas and thoroughly destroying said innocent Tecate Pinata. Empty beer cans flew from the destroyed pinata and I was reminded of skills I had long forgotten.

Heathervescent's Los Angeles

Yesterday I spent an hour on the phone giving an introduction to cool things and areas in the City of Angeles. In preparation for the conversation, I pulled out my Google Map: Heathervescent's LA. 

For the first 3 years I lived in Los Angeles, I explored the city. Every day I was in awe at what I would find. Los Angeles was not only the stereotypical brand. There was so much to discover, so much real and authentic and unexpected. I came to fall in love with my city. 

Back then I started this map. There was  no Yelp. User generated content lived on blogs or forums. I did all my local reviews on my blog or blogs I was writing for, and was very active in the blogging community. So it was a lot of fun to go back and update a few spots on the map. 

If you're new to LA - or just looking to explore our city a little more - you might enjoy checking out Heathervescent's LA. 

Hands and Eyes, My Critical Interface

People talk a lot about user interfaces, designing good interfaces, testing interfaces. I've had my own share of user interface discussions during my career (having done usability testing, product management and reading Jakob Nielson since 1996). Despite the focus on software interfaces, the most important interface is not on a screen, it's the keyboard.

As a creator with words, the keyboard is my one-way input device. It is the human-computer interface where the electrical signals in my head turn into the electrical signals in the computer. The software of language is used in my brain - as well as mimicked in the computer.

Touchpads are on almost every devices today. My laptop has had them for, I don't know, 10+ years, and I've always ignored or disabled them. I tried to switch to a Mac 5 years ago, but the crummy keyboard and forced touchpad sent me running back to my ThinkPad. And here I will state my opinion: the ThinkPad has the best keyboard/human interface hands down.

Before I switched to ThinkPads exclusively, I the keyboards and mouse interfaces physically debilitated my body. I ended up with a problem in my right shoulder, arm and fingers. I went to 10 or 15 different doctors, physical therapists, massage therapists, acupuncturists, chiropractor, etc. Finally, someone was able to make it go away. My point is that the keyboard interface was really bad. The tool maimed the user. I wasn't about to stop typing, so I went on a mission to find a good interface. 

This is when I found the ThinkPad. From the moment I put my fingers on the keyboard, I felt like they were sliding into a moist, slick, organic interface. It's something about the shape of the keys, the response of the them. IBM (the original owners of ThinkPad) were known for making excellent keyboards - and it shows.  The red button (which is my mouse) is navigated by by right pointer finger - as an extension of my finger on the screen. When I put my finger on that red button, it becomes the mouse on the screen. My (finger) self becomes the cursor on the screen.

Recently the boyf surprised me with a new ThinkPad. I was ready to upgrade from my T61 and had been watching the new ThinkPad models. The T420s showed up one morning with a major improvement: a nubby touchpad. 

From the moment I saw this improvement, I knew why I hated touchpads of the past, and why this one was very different. The problem with touchpads (and smooth as glass interfaces) is there is no feedback. Smooth as glass is a one way input device. It can not respond to you like a key popping back to an unpressed state. 

But the feedback from nubby touchpad? As your finger moves around, you know where you are on the flat space. On a smooth surface, there is no context. The nubby touchpad reminded me of a research report I read several (10?) years ago, that reported that men prefer a smooth surface to touch perhaps because women's skin is smooth; while women preferred a rougher surface, maybe because men's skin is rougher. 

I always watched the user interface for gadget device manufacturers with this in mind. I certainly prefer a rougher surface, in my mind to recieve feedback of my input. I recently switched to an android touchscreen phone from my Blackberry. I must admit the smooth touch screen is very disconcerting. I don't like my finger slipping and sliding all over the glass. And I hate typing hunt and peck with my pointer finger. I learned to touch type 20 years ago.

Perhaps I'm showing my age with my preference to well made keyboards and interface mechanisms that give you feedback. I do know, that a well made keyboard interface can be a pleasure to interact with - and for me, there's no more important interface that quickly allows me to transmit the electronic signals in my brain, to the electric signals in the machine - for easy replication so that you can receive these same electrical signals in your brain, via computer-human interfaces.

Barcamp LA 8 Financials

The Barcamp Org team wants to be transparent with our numbers, and we've finally had a chance to reconcile the expenses for Barcamp LA 8. The good news is: all our costs were covered and we even have a surplus of $992.80. This money will be used to produce Barcamp LA 9.

As someone watching the ticket sales, getting sponsors and managing the budget, it was not obvious we would come out in the black until a few days before the event. We got some last minute sponsors and there were a fair number of last minute and on-site ticket sales.

Most importantly to note, this event would not have happened without the ticket sales. From the Income data below, you can see that ticket sales were 60% of the income. 

Square was the onsite ticket sales.  We had a total of 8 sponsors ranging from individuals who gave $100 to companies donating up to $500. Tickets cost anywhere from $25 to $55. People who bought tickets when we planned to have the event back in January for $35 were offered a second ticket at no extra cost as a thank you for their support. We did refund tickets for those who asked - and there were several people who did request this. Many people waited until the last minute to buy tickets - making the logistics more difficult - but also allowing us to cover costs and add lunch (pizza) both days.

Now let's look at the expenses. Because of the venue we selected (Mt Washington Elementary School) we did not have to pay for Insurance - usually a $700+ cost, but the trade-off was crummy Internet. 

Because of the last minute ticket sales and sponsorship, we were able to add sponsored breakfast both mornings and a lunch of pizza's both days. We had really wanted to provide meals, but our earlier budgets did not allow. When we saw (the day before Barcamp) we would have enough funds for lunch, we added it.

All in all the organizers were very happy that Barcamp LA 8 came out in the black. Since this was a successful event, we expect to be able to engage additional sponsors with the intention of lowering the cost or even making it free to attend. The organizers wish to thank each and everyone who bought a ticket. Your support really mattered in making this community event happen. We hope you will spread the word about BarcampLA 9 (not yet scheduled) and help us continue to have this community supported event in Los Angeles. 

Bitcoin: Values in Currency

Bitcoin may be a tragedy as it tries to bootstrap itself as a new currency, reflecting changing social values.

I've been following Bitcoin since late last year as part of my research on the Future of Currency and Transactions. Bitcoin in itself is an interesting concept in currency, self-organizing and do-ocracy. However right now, it's attracting a lot of speculators, which while are driving up the price and attracting a lot of media attention, are not helping spread the core ideology of the currency.

You see, Bitcoin is a currency that sets itself apart because of it's philosophy AND the application of technology to encode this philosophy in the system itself.

I see Bitcoin as a currency ahead of its time as well as reflecting shifting values of our time. Time will tell whether or not it will survive - and how much governments and banking institutions see it as a threat and want to "crush" it. 

Media coverage has really heated up in the past 4-6 weeks starting with this sensational (as in sensationalized media) piece by Jason Calacanis

I generally love Calacanis's work, but he poured gasoline on the fire there. Attracting the wrong kind of people to Bitcoin. I inwardly groaned when I saw this come out. It didn't help attract the type of people who could help Bitcoin grow to be a viable currency.

ArsTechnica came out with a more well rounded article on Bitcoin which I recommend. 

And the Economist had an article a few days ago, with shocking news of a first hack at the end of it as of today (6/15/2011). 

I myself, have watched this question/discussion on Quora (which includes my answer and my perspective). It's been interesting to see how the responses have heated during the media hype time.

My comment on Bitcoin from Quora

Bitcoin is one example of a decentralized currency created with values encoded in the "DNA" of the "currency." It is "good" if it aligns with your "values." It will be used by those who ascribe to the values encoded in the currency. It is one of many emerging alternate currencies with specific values encoded in the currencies "DNA." If you don't like the values encoded in Bitcoin (anonymity, peer-to peer, disruptive, tech-inclined, early-adopter bias, scarcity); there are many other emerging peer-to-peer, disruptive currencies you can also participate with, e.g. "influence" tracking, time banking, local currencies, etc. that have different values encoded in their "DNA." Bitcoin is not unique in it's execution of the values it ascribes to

My post explaining three concepts I'm use more to think about currency and transaction mechanisms: Efficiency | Resiliency | Anti-Fragility explains the structure in which I think about emerging alternate currencies. Bitcoin emerges distinctly in the Resiliency bucket encoded with technocrat values. 

But here's the problem. The Bitcoin system has attracted a bad element - speculators among one. Anyone who does community development knows you have to be careful who you include in your early adopter community if you want to create a specific type of community. Speculators are not there to help you build your anything. Speculators don't care if you (or your company or community) is devastated and left for dead once they've got their cash out (or barely keep you alive while they can get their cash out).

What we have here is a clash of social values in an economic system. A system was created with certain values encoded in them, but those values are being watered down with the current use. But Bitcoin won't be the only currency with these values encoded in the "DNA" of the system, even as they are the first.

End of an Era

The jagged hills hold back the horizon. Jet fighters outlined in the sky. All is dust. Temperatures well over 100. I descend from the sky into a town a have come to love. Stepping in the space between the airplane and jetway I am assaulted with the heat. I breath deep. My pores open. We navigate to the hotel. I recommended my local favorite - which happens to be almost 100 years old with a lot of history. We check in, collect our brass keys and meet Tiger, the bartender in the Tap Room. 

Later in my room, I'm finishing up the collage. I have looked through these pictures for hours the past two weeks. Meeting a different side of my aunt - who was like another grandparent to me. 

Chapel Service. White marble mausoleum. The sound of birds chirping in the heat. The priest arrives, dons his white robes. His sunglasses left laying on the altar. Candles are lit. I sweep my eyes across the lawn of green dotted by brown stone and colorful vases. I pause upon the names. I quietly consider some for my screenplay characters, names from a different era. 

A bird flys in, swooping low and then up. It's then I notice the tiny bird screeching. There's a nest of baby birds in the (open air yet shaded) chapel. I see their triangle beaks opening and closing as momma bird returns to feed them. 

It's a solemn moment. The music stops, the service begins. So many metaphysical thoughts. Conflicting philosophies. Beliefs. Yet all exist simultaneously. I look at the faces of those around me. I surprisingly recognize many from the pictures I have studied. I'm happy to know so many of them have pictures in the collage.

The ceremony closes. We say our last goodbyes. Beliefs thick in the hot air. We have our final celebrations. Return to our air conditioned cars, then the airport. The runway blurs under acceleration. The lift. Off the wing, a full moon rises in the desert dusk. Pale ivory in the pastel sky. (Nothing can compare to a full desert moon rising in the dusk.) Jagged desert mountain ranges silhouetted in the falling light.

The desert has recieved her and shines bright on a full life.

Writing Again

Letting the creative juices out. Spending mornings at my computer with coffee. Taking time off twitter. I feel I am most who I am silently composing these words. Read by some small group of people. These words are mostly here for me. The act of creation, the laying down of gems - of excellent adventure stories, memory jogs of direct experiences. To not forget my awesome life in the mundane day to day. 

Hollywood Wild Life

Imagine the scene from 12 Monkey's. That Terry Gilliam Sci-Fi film. Not the ones underground, not the final climax shot, not the crazy cackling Brad Pitt - the one with the animals running free in urban streets. The surface scene of wild animals taking back the city - a city void of homo sapien. Now put the people back.

A few days ago, my blogger pal, William Campbell shared a photo of a hawk in his backyard. It was a gorgeous photo of the same species of bird I have found in my own neighborhood Jacaranda Trees. In the five years I've lived in West Hollywood, it is getting increasingly wild - and not of the human sort. Wild animals find themselves cohabiting in the urban environment. I've seen coyotes (full grown and babies), a family of raccoons, parrots, mockingbirds, crows galore and I can't forget the time the dog pull a possum out of the bushes (he played dead of course). And of course the hawk - all within a block of my house. 

I love this increasing wildlife! And immediately had a vision of special "wild animal" parks - off limits to humans at night, open space, wild areas. Bulldoze a block of houses, let it go back to seed. Let the animals move in. Enough with the manicured parks. Let the earth be wild in urban areas.

 

Judgement, Hierarchy and Jumping the Stream

As part of my "light summer reading" I thought I'd dig into some more Ken Wilbur and his Magnum opus: Sex, Ecology & Spirituality. I've read some of Wilbur's other works, notably A Theory of Everything - back when it first came out and I lived in Berkeley and more recently toward the end of last year when he came up in one of my courses.

Since I am already familar with Wilbur and his concepts, SES is not challenging in shifting my worldview and understanding, but more in it's comprehensive and methodological unpacking of these concepts. Shining the light into every dark corner, opening closet doors, looking behind that wall of boxes to find yet another door - with another perspective, or understanding or way of looking at the world.

It's not shock that I've been obsessed with awareness, self-awareness, observation and so called "enlightenment" for decades. It's really tied into my desire to take full responsibility for who I am - including making who I am - which includes unmaking the person the world makes me be. 

So when I found Wilbur's levels of hierarchy/worldview explanation, it was a few years after I had crossed over beyond the judgemental, my way is the right way perspective. Oh - don't get me wrong - I do digress from time to time, but that's to be expected - I'm merely human. It's a strange detachment when you can see the world from "conflicting" perspectives. 

It was painfully obvious as I tried to read David Mamet's new novel - a massive raspberry in liberal thought. As I choked my way through three chapters last night over dinner, I couldn't shake the self-importance. OK, Mamet, go enjoy your mid-life crisis, but why don't you add some Ken Wilbur to your reading of Hayek. Also, just because you read Hayek, and are no longer a liberal, doesn't mean you are a conservative - there's another word for people like that - they're called Libertarians.

I should probably finish reading the book before attempting to review it further, lest I consider Mamet a genus in retrospect, but the substunce of his material was thin and read more like notes. Nassim Taleb, a thinker I adore, also has a difficult writing style. But where Taleb wins me over is his substance. Mamet, I don't know, I wish you the best in your self-understanding, but it as far as I can tell, you're re-categorizing things using different words, different judgements. You've cut off the head of one philosophy/political belief and replaced it with another - which has in no way transcended either philosophies/politics. Which is exactly the path that Wilbur paints. 

At a certain point, level, you jump ship, you cross the water. To a place that can hold the validity of various view as valid (maybe not equal) - including the view that all views could (or not) be valid. Oh what I tricky mobius philosophy!!!

For me, I find it more interesting on the other side of the bank, holding my mind open (it's damn hard at times) to see the validity of any particular perspective. When I'm alone, it's often a lot easier than when I am around others, with their various influences. But what fun is it to hold your worldview in a room of your own - alone? 

Years in the Future

One of my favorite times in Los Angeles, was when I lived on Future Street. I'd come home and turn off Division onto a one-way alley that shot straight up the hill. I lived in a house hidden behind 2-3 story high Cypress trees, switch backed on the street. My pardner was a vivacious woman 20 years my senior whom I met when I sublet her Venice house - my first place in the City of Angeles. She was writing her first US book (having been a successful Italian Fashion Writer for decades).

Those years in the future I was pro-active about my life. I was focused on actively _creating_ the life I dreamt. Living in the future gave those activities power. I literally and figuratively lived in the Future. It delighted me to no end.

But I knew those days would come to an end. And they did all too soon. I returned to the present and my rose colored glasses got somehow packed away in the move. I came to love my new city, especially the Jacaranda trees, walks with Romeo J Puppernut and a friendship that could not have developed in the future. But I missed the blue sky and blazen possibilities of the future. So I created an artifact, an entity that could bridge the present and future worlds. A funnel. Reaching into the future, existing in the present. Pulling from the undefined, nebulous possibility and manifesting a product reality. And, of course, incorporated with the IRS.

Recently, I have been returning to those future days. I was obsessed with game levels at that time. Life was a DiabloII quest, finding gems, fighting the good fight. But I also left gems, treasures. Returning to those writings, that mindset, those goal lists, the "hidden" treasures are in full light. A perfect example of my mobius self: my past self living in the future, talking/leaving messages to my future self living in the present. 

Last year, things changed. I returned to the Future with professional aspirations. I was ready to accept that I was a "Futurist" with all the baggage of failed jetpacks, incorrect "predictions" and a Hollywood vision filled post-apocalyptic BladeRunner possibilities. I embarked on a study to prepare myself to be a professional futurist. (Don't get me started on the amateur and pop futurists).

So here I am. Back in the waters of the future. Back to the Future!

The Tang of Housing

There's been an idea that's been constantly vying for attention in my mind. I haven't been giving it much attention, since it's outside of my current focuses, but it's gotten more and more insistent over the past few days. I couldn't put it off any longer.

Welcome to another installment of Heather's Intuitive Future Forecasts, this time, talking about building material and the future of housing.

The Tang of Housing: Space Development driving the Future of Housing on Earth

We're going to see a dramatic change in the materials we use and way we create shelter.  First, the housing many of us in the US live in are coming up on 100 years old. Even craftsmen houses are ageing. This was not a style of house that was built to last for 100+ years. (The Victorians on the other hand, with their plaster and lathe are a different story.)

Homes built in the past 20 years have even less longivity. Many were slap-dash thrown up during various housing building bubbles. (I can't imagine the state of the lofts in Potrero Hill building in 1999 that were occupied by a startup I worked for.)  Thus we're going to see the decaying of the existing housing stock. Which, frankly is fine. Because technology is changing and evolving faster than the existing housing infrastructure can deal with. And people want different things anyway.

Here's the math equation:

Innovations in material sciences

+ the desire for flexible application to technology

+ gamification/quantification trend

+ limited/reducing resource use

- 70s modern design models  

+ space travel as a weak signal.

You might ask, what does space travel have to do with housing?

A lot actually. A space travel industry could be jumpstarted by a revitalization in the earth housing industry. Many of the materials, modularity/repairability/extensibility needed for space, can be much simpler applied here on earth - for rapid prototyping. Our current housing stock is based on a paradigm of expanding resources that is just no longer the case. And with developing nations evolving into the developed - dense urban capacity is important more than ever. 

Think Tang for the Housing Industry.

Here's the vision of the house of the future. 

Using new materials developed for space use, prototype houses that have an electronic nervous system aka computer system. Walls and spaces must be flexible to allow for upgrading/switching/changing the infrastructure as the infrastructure is evolved. (Infrastructure = water, electricity, gas, air, internet/communication, waste and ??? else).

Additionally there will be tracking mechanism, although they will maintain privacy - we're not going to have Keeping up with the Jones changed to Competing with the Jones. This will monitor use and harvest/mining of resources. I see an integration with more urban gardening/green spaces plants: internal and directly external. Grass yards may be replaced with different types of plants.

There needs to be a way to recycle/evolve your living space, without having to be wealthy: permits and construction need to stop being available only for the wealthy. Government infrastructure and bureaucracy need to evolve to encourage the recycling of decaying homes utilizing old infrastructure to new homes that will pave the way for space development, travel and eventually living.

Engaging people to re-create their living spaces, while user/product testing materials, designs and mindsets that engage everyone to making the dream of space a reality. 

Use this housing development improving living on earth as a base to slingshot ourselves ad astra, beyond our dreams and desires.

With that, small insistent idea in the back of my mind, you have been set free into the world.

Efficiency / Fragility | Resilience | Anti-Fragility

From my research, I've come to think of the economic situation, included the expression of new currencies as these three ideas. 

Efficiency aka Fragility

When you optimize something for a specific output, it can become extremely efficient - but only in the way that it has been optimized. While this is great for achieving the task you have designed it for (perhaps product output) it can not necessarily withstand shocks to its system without receiving some damage or losing its integrity. You could say that this highly efficient system is also fragile. 

Resilience

While not the most optimized, something that is resilient can withstand shocks without losing its integrity or functionality. Resilience also includes diversity, options and variety. A resilient entity can withstand shocks.

Anti-Fragility

This is a term coined/defined/invented by Nassim Taleb, author of The Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness. He describes Anti-Fragility as something that benefits from shocks to itself/the system. An example of anti-fragility is bug testing new software. I see my work with the Cacophony Society as an expression of anti-fragility to social culture. An interesting thing I've noticed about anti-fragile things, is that at some point, something that is anti-fragile, becomes (more) resilient. Return to the software bug example, as you pound on the new release, finding (and then fixing) bugs, the software becomes more resilient.

And....

I see these three concepts as ideas that are moved between on a continuum. From my research on the Future of Alternate Currency and Transactions, it seems to me that the explosion in alternative currencies and transaction platforms is an emerging phenomum coming from the resilance bucket. Because the traditional economic system has been manipulated for hyper-efficiency. Many of the developments in alternate currencies are bottom-up, emerging from communities and individuals who are looking for more stability and security in the economic system. These are a direct response to the manipulated hyper-efficiency. (I alluded to it in this post, Why Alternate Currency Economies are good for the Traditional Economy.)

Now, these concepts are pretty raw, and the application of them to economics even rawer, so I'd love to hear your thoughts.

 

Note: The ideas of efficient, resilience and anti-fragility are not my own. I have been significantly influenced by this paper from authors Lietaer, Bernard., Ulanowicz, Robert E., Goerner, Sally J., McLauren, Nadia. "Is Our Monetary Structure a Systemic Cause for Financial Instability? Evidence and Remedies from Nature" in the Journal of Future Studies.

Additionally, conversations with Dr. Oliver Markley and his work on resilience and wild cards have directly influenced my thinking as well as ideas written and spoken more eloquently than I, by Nassim Taleb. I am also very much influenced by Theodore Modis's work on S and Bell Curves and Harmonic Substitutions/Transitions.

What I have done, is take these concepts and braided them based on observation, intuition and results from my research on Alternate Currencies and Transactions of the Future.

Thanks to Sanjay Sabnani for the anti-fragile example of bugs in software. Many thanks also to my professors Andy Hines and Peter Bishop for their continuing support and dialog.

The Glue that Dries Clear

"If I've done a good job, no one will think I've done anything. I'll become the glue that dries clear."

It's beautiful when it happens. You see the tightening effect of the glue as it pulls the parts together, uniting the components, seamlessly. The solder that becomes part of the circuit. A composite whole, the individual parts easily identified, the wireframes, the code, the bugs, the screen designs. Or maybe it's the costumes, the props, the music, the lights, the make-up, the location, the audience.  Or maybe it's the glue that pulls together a community of people.

Being the glue isn't a visible role. Besides, you don't necessarily want to be visible, because you've failed the project if your seams shows, pieces fall out. But it's a double edged sword, because while the strength is in the invisibility, success is not explicitly obvious and rarely acknowledged.

Diamonds and Jacarandas

"May the four winds blow you home again."

Mornings are cool, moist breeze if I'm lucky. Colors psychedelic purple, vibrant green, magenta. Natural colors be-speckling the grey sidewalks, the black pavement. Trip-trotting four paws, black tail, white tip. Sniff.

I've set off on many adventures since moving to Los Angeles a mere 7 years ago. I arrived with a carload, a one month sublet and no plans, job or friends. All I knew is that Los Angeles wanted me. Adventures ensued. I've painted many canvas's of my identity here in this city of possibilities.

Seven years later, I know the curves of my city, caressing them with each kiss of my comings and goings. Fresh paved Hollywood Blvd, Sunset Blvd, dodging potholes on Olympic. I keep on dancing up and down the gears with the green and red. But what she has in store for me, is always a surprise. 

Today I was making room. Saying good-bye. I packed away all my performance equipment. Costumes, props from my Zombie Cabaret Troupe. Man, that was a blast! How many people can say they had a Zombie Cabaret Troupe in Hollywood? But that's in the past, for now at least. Packed up in boring brown boxes, taken up the industrial elevator to my storage unit in Hollywood. Surveying the stuff, I am reminded of these seven years. Each packet an icon, a symbol for the event, the moment, a memory trigger. I am not yet ready to release these items from my self. But I need the room for new projects, new adventures, new identities, so I pack these away for another day - if only a day for memories.

E.F. and I chat as I make room. We've gotten to know each other over the years. He's always saying something profound, something perfect for the moment. And no different today. Today, I brought him a copy of The Heart's Desire.

And you Nuestra Senora our Queen of Angels? Thanks for a roller-coaster seven years. It's not always easy and it's sometimes hard to be thankful living a self-actualized life, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  Let's keep on flying and pull the net ever higher.

Recalibration

During a conversation, a good  friend recently said something like, "People don't change. At our age, we're pretty much who we're going to be." And while this is indeed the case for most, it doesn't have to be. This is/can be a key difference, expression of Free Will.

Recently, I've mentioned to several friends that I am "recalibrating my personality." Yes, I am actively readjusting my personality. Not just the external "personal brand," but indeed changing who I am. Nothing dramatic mind you, just small things. But the small changes expand into dramatic differences. 

Recalibrating my identity/personality is not a new activity for me. Just look at the title of my blog and you'll get an idea of how I see my life. "I am a blank canvas, my life is the painting." And while I may utilize the same medium (homo sapien vida), I can change the scene, use different colors, try different mediums.

I go back and read blog posts from 2005 or my journals from 2003 or diaries from the 90s. I laugh. I remember who I was. I remember who I thought I would be. And I am who I am today. Different from all.

My recalibration today is a challenge in braiding some of my most favorite identities. I love being an academic. I love walking the edge of cacophony. I love the stability of organizations to think long term. I love the support of a community. I love having goals. And I love living life by the seat of my pants, following a path with heart. If they look like contradictions, you're just limiting yourself to seeing one side of the coin.

Since I'm gonna change and evolve, I figure why not change and evolved to what I want to be, flexing my free will.

(I am) The Net

I'm reading James Ogilvy's Living without a Goal - in a way to remind myself of more carefree times in my life when I let life happen, when I was less fixated on success and achieving goals. 

It's been a good reminder. A return to well worn but overgrown paths. This morning, while enjoying my coffee, I came across this line:

After all, how could you ever fall through this immense net when you are part of that very net.

What a wonderful perspective! Of course, I always have thought of my own safety net, and many times I have helped lift others up. Right now, there are friends and colleagues that are helping me in ways that I have done for others. I guess you have to get out of your comfort zone to activate the net.

But that what life is all about. Getting out of your comfort zone and flying. Not to worry that you will get what you need in the time that you need it. And you will provide what others need, in the times that they need it. 

A Prayer for my Great Aunt

It's a trip I know was coming. I got the text. Then made the call. The timing is uncanny. Five years ago, about this time, I flew back to the midwest to say goodbye to my grandmother - the most important person in my life at that time. To say good-bye. For the last time. 

This time I'm driving. Freeways I've traveled for decades. Feeling bruises from long ago slug-bug games with my brother. We loved our California summers, not just because we'd trade the Iowa mosquitoes for SoCal's beaches, but it was great for our slugbug scores. 1000 points for the converted slug-bug truck. You'd never see one of those in Iowa.

I'm remembering these slug bug games on this very bit of freeway. I'm passing the McDonalds where my brother sprayed ketchup packets on the wall. But I'm not seeing grammy today. I'm 25 years older, driving my own car, the top down, sun burning the tops of my shoulders where I missed the SPF 70.

I smell the ocean. I see the Pacific Coast Highway exit. Dana Point. And I remember the last time I was down here. A sea funeral for my grandfather - the brother of my great aunt. The person I go to see today.

Aunt Ruth.

I'm mentally prepared for what I see, but it's never enough. The room is dim, light coming through the curtains, but no lights on. My throat catches, I hold back tears. I distract myself showing her the fragrant flowers I've brought. Deep purple stock and bright yellow sunflowers. I picked stock because I know it's very fragrant. I wonder if these stocks come from the field in Half Moon Bay.

I bring them to her face and she smells. A great big smile breaks across her face. I pull one from the bouquet and lay it on her chest, the rest go into a vase. 

It is such a short time I spend with her. Talking is difficult, but she's all there - cracking jokes and smart alec comments. But she's tired. Oh so tired. She's had a long life. She just wants to be done. She wants to see her husband, decades long gone. I give her messages from family that can not be here. I sit with her. And then she wants to sleep. And I say my goodbyes.

I wish you well on your travels Ruth. You've been the best great aunt. Inspired me more than you probably know.

Protopian Futures

I'm coining a new word: the Protopian.

Tired of the dystopian/negative futures and well aware of the naive polly-anna limitations of Utopias, I hearby name the protopian: a positive portrayal of the future. 

Protopians differ from utopias in that they deal with difficult problems without succumbing (and limiting themselves) to negative portrayals. Protopians are fundamentally a positive portrayal of the future with both style and substance. Protopians are both stories and people who think positively about the future. Problem solvers who don't shy from big problems, nor limit themselves to solving problems with existing tools, mindsets and paradigms. 

ps. After writing this post, I did a little research on this term and found that KevinKelly recently wrote a post on it. I swear I did not see this until after I wrote to above. Excerpted:

I think our destination is neither utopia nor dystopia nor status quo, but protopia. Protopia is a state that is better than today than yesterday, although it might be only a little better. Protopia is much much harder to visualize. Because a protopia contains as many new problems as new benefits, this complex interaction of working and broken is very hard to predict.

I would be more radical about my definition of a protopia and not limit the definition to being just a little bit better than the present.

pps. I got my inspiration for this post in composing a tweet about an upcoming future project.

Beatnik Dodge

I admired your black classic Dodge. It must have been from the 60's or early 70's as you pulled behind me in the gas station. I don't see guys like you in LA. I don't even know how to categorize you. Beatnik? Richard Brautigan style? That high whiny voice. But soft, gentle. Counter-culture, when there was just one culture.

You were pissed, and rightly so. The traffic was a clusterfuck. The gas pump was out of order. I had to back my turbo in wrong-way to reach pumpside. I heard you cursing. I'm just one of the young-ones. Ruining the memories of the past, I think, as I start speaking. Telling you I was almost finished, that I can back out, that you can have my pump in a moment.

At least this gas station has invested in the super fast pumps. A few more miles of my magical elixir are transferred into my exobody. I wave off the others trying to block me in. Lying. You and your black Dodge are a picture. I skim my eyes over it, lest to stare. But it's like water to a sponge. Those few moments, I can't forget.

And then I'm gone. A final glimpse of you pulling forward, as I back out and onto 19th Ave traffic. The shiny black and chrome. From another era. 

San Francisco Reflections

I knew it would be true. San Francisco_is_ a great city to come back to. But her streets, although burned in my neural pathways, are faint, forgotten except for muscle memory. My car, as extension of this muscle memory, surfs the pavement, my body leans in the curves, even as I strain to read the street signs. My objective, the ocean. Revisiting a place. A lookout. A memory. The divergence of life from ordinary to extraordinary.

I sit on these high stones. It's a gorgeous day. A cool breeze comes off the ocean. I watch the waves in their green and grey. White effervescence paints uneven horizontal lines on the sand and in the sea. I remember this same place, dark one night. I was cold after riding Lady Knight through the fog, chasing something ephemeral through the streets. A glimpse of something unknown. I caught it here. (Or perhaps, it lead me here to be caught.) In this space, I stood facing it. Facing my fear. Opening the crack, stepping through, and into a different world. A world of my own making.

Sometimes I reminisce of that world. The one I left behind. All around me, untouchable, unlivable. It was the choice I made. A choice to choose. Never undone, as much as I might forget or deny. I had forgotten. But the memory is fresh now, in my mind.

Why Alt Currency Economies are good for the Traditional Economy

It's no surprise that the traditional economy doesn't like these new economy (alt currency) upstarts. They are a potential threat. But not really.

The traditional economy is broken. If the traditional economy was fixed, well then, the competition by these alternate currency economies would be reduced dramatically. We didn't see much innovation or development of alternate currencies back in the boom years. It's because people had enough money to get their needs met through the traditional economy. But now, no more. But people won't go without, so they are getting creative. We shouldn't be surprised by this. Human creativity should be expected.

So if you're a company or government that doesn't like these alternate currency economies or feels threatened by the development of them - there's a really simple answer: fix the damn traditional economy. But if you can't, it's no big deal, there are plenty of people/companies that are going to try. You just won't have a piece of that pie.

Evolution of Currency

I don't write about my research enough on the blog, mostly because I have so much to say on it - where to start? But today I want to share an analogy of how I think about the evolution of "currency." 

I've started explaining these thoughts with an analogy. Start by thinking back to a plot or story line of a movie made in the 70s (or TV show). Most of those stories had very simple to follow plot lines: a single developing plot lines. Contrasted that with films and TV shows today which are filled with multiple main characters and complicated weaving story lines. Steven Johnson makes the point in his book "Everything bad is good for you," that these more complicated stories have made us smarter. 

I think these complicated story lines have developed our attention as well. It's no longer difficult to follow multiple streams of content - asynchronously. It's not just challenging, but fun to follow multiple storylines in the same story. We expect it. We've trained ourselves to do it. And it's not just film/TV. It's with the internet, tabbed browsing and multiple apps. Multi-tasking and ADD/ADHD. We context switching and following these streams more than ever. And by increasing our participation in these activities, we're training our attention, we're changing the way we use our brain.

My research found five major trends impacting the Future of Transactions

1. Mobile Transaction Technology is exploding. This not surprising to anyone following this industry. But we're watching the explosion of the hype-curve.
2. Alternate Currencies (including gaming currencies like WoW Gold, corporate currencies like frequent flyer miles and social capital "currencies" like reputation and wuffie) are being used in their own niche communities. And some of these niche communities have very high transaction rates.
3. Communities are being created around transactions. Whether this is in these niche communities with an alternate currency, within forums or craigslist for traditional economy transactions or non-financial transactions; communities are being/have been formed around transactions. The couch-surfing community is one example. Craigslist is another.
4. Non-Financial Transactions create stronger bonds. When you have a community that is formed around non-financial transactions (like time-banks or swap/barter/pay it forward) the transactors create stronger bonds than if the transaction was only a financial transaction. Take the couch surfing example. You're more likely to become friends with someone you're staying with (whether they started out as a stranger, weak-link friend or strong-link friend) than not. If you're already friends, your friendship, most likely, gets stronger. I've watched this happen with me, personally; as well as found this theme run through my 1:1 interviews.
5. We want to communicate more information with each transaction. We're rating our restaurant experiences on Yelp. Writing recommendations on LinkedIn. Giving feedback about people on Honestly. And the technology products for more fine grained  communication about each transaction is getting developed. We want to share more information about each transactions we have - regardless of the kind of transaction. 

This last trend is very important - and one of the most subtle. It goes back to the point I made earlier. It's the key understanding in the second half of my analogy. 

We have our 70's plot line of making transactions. It's the money transaction, whether we make it in cash, credit, paypal, etc. But we've got this extra mental bandwidth available, bandwidth that we've been increasing in ourselves because we use it in other parts of our lives. We're no longer satisfied with the binary transaction (money flowing one way or the other), what I call the 70s single plot line of transactions. We want to share more information about these transactions - AND 1) we have the mental bandwidth (which we've trained on other activities I mentioned above) to pay attention to it and 2) we have the technology that enables us to somewhat track some of these things.

Those with extra bandwidth (more attention streams) have the desire to collect, cultivate, track and use these additional "currencies." 

These currencies will not and do not replace the existing traditional economy/transaction mechanism. I do not believe the old model will be replaced by any of these new models. Instead, these additional currencies, embrace and extend meaning and value of the transactions.

I can't cash out my LinkedIn recommendations to pay my rent. But, those recommendations do/will/might influence my traditional economy cash flow (e.g. how much I get paid, the number of jobs I get, increase or decrease opportunities, etc.). Those recommendations are a piece of the transaction-data. Some transaction-data can't be cashed out in the traditional sense. Others might and do.

The key points to get here are

1. Transaction data is an additional layer of information of the "financial" transaction.
2. There is a strong desire to share/create transaction-data (it's all user generated content).
3. This desire seems to come from both our increased mental bandwidth and shifting cultural values (let me get all spiral dynamics on you next time).

Add a crummy economy after a boom time, where people are creatively looking for ways to get their needs met and you have a perfect storm for creative currencies. What we're watching happen here is the evolution of currency. But it's not evolving in one direction and there are other things influencing this space. This is just the first of many growing pains as these concepts grow, mature, fracture, devolve and just maybe evolve into something that currenly doesn't exist.

NOTE: I would like to thank Art Brock, Stan Stalnacker, Tara Hunt, Micki Krimmel, Anna Metcalf, Eric Harris-Braun, Danger Ranger and Autumn Rooney for their contribution to my research. Conversations with each of these people have significantly influenced my thoughts in this area.

Bushwacking in the City

Deviating from the usual push up the hill, we splashed through the stream into the grove of live oaks. The cool breeze rustled the leaves. The stream trickled over rocks and leaves. We followed the faint trail through the high grass into another grove. Gnarled bark, twisted branches, thickets of thistles, their prickly flowers closed tight, showing just a mohawk of purple. 

Hanging from a branch was a board threaded with rope. The packed earth below gave way to the stream. I remembered rope swings of the past, the feeling the same at any age. Back-kicking to gain more speed and using trapeze leg swinging techniques to gain more lift. 

Leaving the shady grove, we twisted through the chaparral filled with all kind of prickly plants. Rounding a bend, we came upon a hidden valley. It was filled with the buzzing of bees pollinating the wild sage covering the hillsides. I love breathing in the hot sweet smell of the chaparral. Resting in silence on a rock outcropping, I took in the moments. A buzzing and chirp alerted me to the hummingbird quietly sitting on a bush branch nearby. Gnats and bugs were buzzing everywhere. Pup and I sat back to back taking in the view. Silently sitting, moving only to breath. (Have you felt the descent of non-movement, pure silence taking over your body?) Observing, fully connected. 

A perfect (jaunty) view of the Hollywood sign, just beyond the hillside of yellow daisies. The wildness unbroken by the helicopter and private jets taking off from Burbank over the hill. I am amused, as I always am in these moments, at the pocket of wildness in the middle of the city.

Returning to the path for a mere moment, we splash in the stream, paws wet running along the edge, jumping from rock to rock. I remember the streams in my Iowa wilderness as a teenager. The fields I'd find past the treeline. Our cat, Roadha June, sleek and black who would come on these hikes to caves and cemeteries hidden on hillsides.

Those paths are deep in the past. Today I have visited a hot hillside, filled with buzzing bees, blooming sage, a resting hummingbird and groves of Live Oak. We trot back to the car and dry off our paws. Five minutes later, I'm in the thick of things on Sunset Blvd. 

Los Angeles has many costumes in her wardrobe, and this is why I love her.

The Future of Collaboration

Collaborating can be one of the best things to experience and recently I have had some new mindmelding group borg collaborative experiences - mostly due to technology.

Google Docs: The collective editing experience

My colleague and I were editing/creating the same google doc. We were exploring/creating/clarifying a project/article we decided to work on. We're on different sides of the country, three time zones apart and yet when were working on the document at the same time, I felt closer, able to collaborate more effectively than had we been in person.  We were interacting fully online - with a text chat/discussion and the document editing and creating. Our places in the document were identified by different colored cursors, but there was not change tracking mechanism. We also did not stick to certain sections of the document. We skipped all around, I working on one section for a bit, then him jumping in (reading) commenting, editing/wordsmithing. The end product was one of the most collaborative documents I have co-created.  And I might mention, this is with a colleague I have never met face to face.

 

Barcamp: Ad-hoc Do-ocracy

Myself and a team of ~8 co-organizers have been bringing back this favorite technology un-conference to Los Angeles since late 2010.  What has been interesting to watch is the changing group of active participants.  Although I feel there is one person driving the team (with a light hand) the experience I have had is one of "picking up the balls." Meaning, whatever needs to get done, ends up getting done by whomever can do it. Everyone has contributed their skills and expertise when it was needed. This has been a great experience in ad-hoc do-ocracy.

 

FutrChat: The fastest hour on Twitter

I had not participated in many Twitter Chats before participating in #futrchat. Futrchat is was started by Cindy FrewenWuellner and Jennifer Jarratt for the Association of Professional Futurists (APF), of which I am a (student) member. Each month a new topic around the Future of ____ is chosen. Some framing information is shared before the chat to set the stage. Then the firehose is turned on at a specific pre-scheduled time. In 3-5 minutes, my twitter stream goes from it's usual ticking of random information to lighting up across the globe. Futrchat participants tune in from Australia, UK and all across the US.

Then the hosts begin to pose the questions. (Each chat has 3-6 questions we explore in the hour.) And then the 50 or so conversation participants begin to answer them. In the answering, people respond to each other, chasing down an idea or querying for additional information. And all this is done within 140 characters.  If this was a verbal conversation, it would be cacophony, everyone would be "speaking" at once. And online, in text, everyone is speaking at once. But because text has the ability to be linear and allow multiple responses in the same timespace, no one "interrupts," no one has to be silent to allow others their turn. Your turn is always, if you choose to take it.

Of course, one is not always "talking." There is the time needed to read (listen) to other's answers. To see who is responding to you. To think about what your response is to what you are reading (hearing). (And yes, I hear these people's voices in my head as I read their tweets.)

Although, it is generally just me, in my home office with my favorite furry companion during these #futrchats, I feel more stimulated than going to a conference. I'm in the comfort of my home, with high speed connection, able to quickly type, with my dual monitors to have various screens open to slice and dice and display the chatting data in various ways so I can follow and track the "radiowaves." This is ebonding. The intense human interaction that causes you to learn, understand and share more of yourself and others. For that hour, I am in an auditorium, that is can be filled with the voices of many people talking about things I find interesting. 

And then the hour passes, and the energy and space dissolves, the twitter stream returns back to it's usual bubbling. The channel has closed, for the moment, but it always accessible.

A quick note about participating in these chats. There is no specific location we go to to have these conversations. It's not like we go to a specific chat room, or IRC or private label login. Yes, we are all on twitter, but besides that, the only thing you need to do to participate is to use the hashtag: #futrchat. It is like tuning into a radio station, but instead of only receiving, you can also send.  Additionally, the technology of twitter, allows for both the sending and receiving of the information being sent on the wave (the hashtag #futrchat). 

 

In Closing

Technology is facilitating a way for the individual, completely and fully as an individual - I, to participate in a collective activity - a community - WE - if only for moments. These collaborations facilitated by technology are profound shifts in how individuals and communities form each other and participate with/in them.

Religion and the Road

My guilty pleasure on roadtrips (besides high speeds) is listening to religious talk radio. Upon writing that sentence, maybe the two are linked...

Don't make the mistake that I'm a true believer. I believe in eating at others tables. (Did you catch the esoteric reference?) There's something about being in the countryside, hearing a preacher preaching. I believe it's important to understand others perspectives. To jump into their mindset groove; regardless of my own judgements. More often, the challenge is how long can I stand listening to the station before twisting the dial to find a classic rock station with CCR or Mick Jagger.

Racking up over 3000 miles in the last month I did a LOT of listening to religious talk radio. So much so, I started recognizing the preachers names. It gave me new insights - and disgusts. 

Have you ever spent time in the wilderness? Out and about. All alone. In a car/truck 30 miles off pavement where you could die if you were stupid? Or on a roadtrip through empty landscape. Have you lived in rural america, where the nearest town is miles miles miles away. And there were no cell phones? or Internet? Have you been lost in the woods?

Out there, in the wilderness, you need some comfort. You need to know you're not alone. You want to know there's someone watching over you. You need to know there is a reason to go on. Otherwise, one might go crazy. The self-responsibility necessary to live without God is huge. It's utterly terrifying. Much easier, more comforting to live with God. And why not? It's a compassionate perspective. It makes this hard life on earth a little softer. It's a good reason to believe in God. 

But the disgust is equally there. I mean, WTF is up with literal interpretation? I caught one snippet, where the preacher's point was that anyone could go out and talk to god. His example was taking the bible with him on a walk at night and reading the scripture by the light of the streetlights. He suggested everyone should do this. As if reading the bible is the only way to "talk" to "god." I was saddened and amazed at the missed point. Disinformation.

Driving through the high desert, listening to religious talk radio, I equally gave up on humanity and held compassion for our situation. Life is hard, and who can blame it if we sometimes we need a little comfort?

My Favorite Roadtrip Moment

There is one single series of moments that is always my favorite in every roadtrip.

Most of time I'm a solo individual on the highway. I admit, I tend to drive towards the faster end of the spectrum. My recent roadtrip to Texas cajoled me into a high speed comfort zone. Here's the vision: me in my swedish "born from jets" black turbo convertible winking at the pickups. If one passed me, I'd peer up to see what was on the dash. I had to give up the Valentine One when the boyf got the speedier vehicle, but I can recognize the device. When I'd see one in a truck speeding by, I'd increase my speed and fall into their groove. There's a sense of camaraderie driving with a pack at [redacted] speed. The creation of an ad hoc community formed by the shared value of speed. Individuals identified only by make, model and color. A vehicular tango.

I am always filled with sadness and spent adrenaline when our paths inevitably part.

I had a particularly wonderful engagement with a pickup in Colorado several years ago. We zipped through the rockies, threading the needle with the slower cars. I was hours ahead of schedule. Just after we crossed into Utah, he headed south while I continued west. As our engagement ended, we rolled down our windows and waved as we drove further apart. Although I never knew his name and we never spoke a word, hell - I never saw what he looked like; we connected on another level. Our tires tread the same hot pavement. The memory of those moments are as fresh as yesterday.

Goodbye stranger, it's been nice. Thanks for joining me, for miles in paradise.

Thanks to Jordan for this lovely picture.

Speaking Alert: Web 2.0 Expo

I've been added as a last minute speaker for Web2.0 Expo in San Francisco next Wednesday, March 30 at 1:15pm. I will be sharing my research results on Trends Shaping the Future of Transactions. 

What does the future of transactions look like? Researcher Heather Schlegel has fresh data on the future of currency and alternate transactions. In this session, she’ll share her findings, including current behaviors around transactions, emerging payment options and three invisible cultural trends that will shape our transactions. Among the critical questions she’ll answer:

•  
  • What are people using today to make transactions on and offline?
  • How are people using alternate currencies (game, reward/frequent flyer miles, wuffie)?
  • How people are using mobile payment technologies?
  • How are people participating in alternate economies (barter, gift, favor, etc)?
  • What are the most frequent methods of transactions used?
  • What payment options are the most controversial?
  • How will these trends manifest in the future?
  • What you can do with this information today?

If you plan to attend Web 2.0 and are interested in the Future of Alternate Currencies and Transactions, you won't want to miss my talk.  Please come by!

Updated: Transacting Together: Trends Shaping the Future of Transactions

Monday, Feb 28th, I had the great opportunity to share a first look at the results of my Future of Transactions Research at the Future of Money Conference. My presentation shared the results of my research (survey and individual interviews) providing the answers to:

• What are people using today to make transactions on and offline?
• How are people using Alternate Currencies (game, reward/frequent flyer miles, wuffie)?
• How people are using mobile payment technologies?
• How are people participating in alternate economies (barter, gift, favor, etc)?
• What are the most frequent methods of transactions used?
• What payment options are the most controversal?
• Why time banks may become important?
• Introduction of Three Invisible Trends that I believe will have a bigger impact on the Future of Transactions than the technology innovations.
• Future Visions: How these trends could manifest in the future?
• What you can do with this information today.

If you were unable to attend or missed it, you can purchase the presentation with detailed notes and 1 hour of my time. Very shortly I will have this research available in a report form. If you are interested in the report, please email me.

If you have a group, community or conference that is intersted in these trends, I would be happy to come speak to you and share my results. Please contact me to arrange. 

It is my intention to make these results as widely available as possible, while supporting the additional research plans. If you are a company working in this space or a thought leader, I would very much like to speak with you to include you in my next round of research. Please get in touch!

I want to extend a big Thank You to Brian Zisk for giving me the opportunity to share this research at his conference. It is up to us to use it to create the future!

San Francisco like Old Times

Farley's is always the last place I step on San Francisco ground before I leave the city - and yesterday was no different. It's a nod to my first step in San Francisco last century. 

As I got on 280 and sped south, I spied the Sutro tower and remembered it as I saw it each morning. My mind was thinking about the weekend. A woven braid reflecting my various selves. Dinner at a notorious restaurant, when in a previous life, an event occurred that catalyzed the falling of dominoes that ended in Los Angeles. The oak trees on 280. A favorite viewpoint and rest stop. Walking up the stairs of a San Francisco Victorian, which was like stepping into another century - a familiar one from my childhood. The booming devo-esque music from a San Jose club. Japanese. Conference rooms, panels, presentations and lots of really interesting people. Names I knew, now met. Faces I've met, meeting again. Stepping on the stage, microphone in hand, the fear of sharing something new, paradigm shifting dissolving as I spoke. Calling for collaboration, for mutual positive exploration. Satisfied with the results. Opening possibilities.

My favorite part was spent in a Western styled Victorian parlor getting to know two people better. Sharing books and ideas.  Cut from the same cloth. The uncertainty of the unknown provided nothing but magical possibilities. Everything worked out wonderfully. Thank you to all.

Why I focus on the Positive Future

It seems that often, when I read news articles or scenarios or forecasts about the future - they are negative. Not to mention that Hollywood loves making doom and gloom and destruction and Apocalypse movies about the future. 

And as a futurist in professional training, if you look at the data, it tells a pretty bleak story. (Just google Limits to Growth and Vital Signs.) Across the board. We humans are screwing shit up. Bad. For our future. (Because as a geologist once told me, The earth always wins in the end.) But I don't see much benefit in focusing on the negativity. I don't believe in fear tactics as a motivating force. Let me tell you a story that explains why I focus on positive futures.

About a decade ago, I decided to get a motorcycle. I lived in the Bay Area, did tons of commuting and was tired of the parking challenge. A motorcycle got the benefit of using the carpool lanes, lane splitting and rock star parking.  But the most important benefit was a technique I learned hugging the curves on Lucas Valley Road in Marin County.

As I wobbled my first-time bambi motorcycle legs through those curves, the fear of driving off the road was unbelievable. Moist spots challenged traction. Wet leaves could equal a wipe out. 

Safely speeding to Tomales Bakery my fear was replaced by adrenaline. While chomping on the last of the cinnamon sticks and coffee, I asked my motofriends about driving off the road, and they shared a technique I've used ever since. "Look where you want to go."  "If you're coming through a curve too hot, if you look at the gravel at the edge of the road, guess where you'll more likely end up? If you shift your gaze to the center line (if there happens to be one on the patchy mountain road you're screaming down) you may just keep your self on the pavement, tires grazing the gravel."

I learned this indeed was true, on Mt Hamilton road.  The curve sharpened and I was going too fast. There was a sheer drop and I thought, this is it - my crash - but refusing to give up,  I locked my eyes on the center line, painting a lazerbeam of focus,  relaxing the throttle and leaned. I felt the slight shift of my back tire as it traced the edge of the pavement, teasing the gravel. My heart raced as I prepared to enter the next curve - albeit much slower. 

This works when you're driving as well. Or when you're executing on lifestyle changes. Or business strategy. It's certainly not guaranteed to keep you on the road, if you're already in it too hot, but it increases your chance of staying on the pavement. And you're not limited to use this technique when you're already in over your head - although it can be a life-saver.

So what does this have to do with my focus on positive futures?

The negative futures are easy. It takes little to no energy to formulate a story about all the bad stuff that could happen. Being negative about this kind of thing really doesn't change it. Or stop it from happening. Telling people how bad it is to do blahdeblah thing doesn't stop someone from doing it. Doom and gloom is merely paralyzing. 

It's a rare individual who acknowledges the challenges (seen by others as the negative), but does not react from the negative perspective. It takes ENERGY to think positively. It takes balls to acknowledge unintended consequences staring you in the face. Hard Problems. WICKED PROBLEMS. 

However, these wicked problems do have solutions. But they can only be found when you release the grip that negativity has on your attention.  When you "human-up," take responsibility for driving a little too hot, and shift your vision to the place you want to be. That positive future.

I don't know if the human species can survive what we've challenged ourselves with - and frankly, I don't give a damn about our survival. It means nothing in the scheme of the universe. (And yet, everything.)  These are the cards we have dealt to ourselves.

However, it's a lot more interesting, to play some small tiny role, to attempt thankless efforts to shift the thinking that pulls us out of this tailspin of human devolution. To keep us focused on the place we want to be. We can be. There is no greater challenge for humanity. And THAT is why I am a positive futurist.

Criticism of the Invisible Gorilla Experiment

I was recently watching the now famous Invisible Gorilla experiment. When this came out I loved the experiment and what it said about perception and selective vision. Watching it again - just now - I actually tried the experiment - counting the passes by the light colored team players, and in doing so noticed a fatal flaw in the experiment. 

There are six players and one gorilla. The light colored team wears jeans and light colored shirts. The dark colored team, has one player wearing jeans and a dark shirt and two players wearing black pants and shirts. These two players, when diffused in your perphial vision (not focused) don't look much different from the gorilla - black fur pants and top, dark hair.

This appears to be a fatal flaw in the experiement. For it to be as scientific as possible, the light and dark team should have all players wear the same color jeans, and the appropriate colored top. Additionally there should be the same sample of dark and light color haired players across the teams.

I would expect that if the above conditions were met, the gorilla would be most distinguishing. 

I'm not disagreeing with the hypothesis that we miss stuff because of a variety of reasons (it matches other stuff, we're paying attention to other variables). But I do think this landmark experiment could be improved. It's got biases built into it.

 

Encolpius

I love this scene.... especially the end. And the chanting. Caro Minotaur!

Zone Trip

What is a Zone Trip?

We stopped and got out of our vehicles. Michael took a stick out of his car and walked along, marking a long, straight line on the playa floor. This was an old Cacophony tradition of entry into an unknown territory. When the line was long enough to accommodate everyone, eighty-nine people joined hands, and as one, stepped across the line and into The Zone.  (source - scroll all the way down)

It is the entrance into a different world. An alternate reality. One that diverges from this one, in minute, yet instrumental ways.

It is also know as a Temporary Autonomous Zone, as defined by Hakim Bey.  (read the book)

Retrospective 2010: the year I ran out of time/did too much

A LOT happened for me in 2010.  Looking back in retrospect, it was a year I did too much - and my nerves really frayed. (One thing I learned about nerve fraying situations - if you have a team that you trust, that works together and believes in you/each other, things DO work out.)

• Started my advance degree in Strategic Foresight. Gave up my weekends and social life for studying, research and writing papers. The work paid off as I got A's.
• Became absolutely crazy working full-time at financially constrained, geographically dispersed startup. Course, I did take on Eng Mgr roles and 8 product release - including (depressingly enough) some of my best work that will never see the light of day.
• Broke radio silence on my thoughts about identity co-creation and technology at H+.
• Became surprisingly obsessed with what started as a flippant research exercise and turned into The Future of Transactions report (forthcoming).
• Published my dusty manuscript, How to Get Your Heart's Desire in Six Steps - and showed it off at the WeHo Book Fair (in 110+ degree heat). Also built and launched this website in a weekend.
• Revised and launched Purple Tornado's fun website. (Course, now I want to redesign the thing over again.)
• Did more than dip my toe in the futurist water by attending the yearly APF gathering, twitter chats and completing a Certificate in Strategic Foresight. 
• Sam and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary, 3 of those with pup.
• I channeled my inner Victor Frankenstein raising the Cacophony Society with several events: Brides of March, Caveman Picnic,  Xmas in July, the Zombie Marathon Stop and Santacon - which was the largest, most headachey and memorable one.

Moving into 2011, I am holding the concept of "Relaxed Awesome."

A Year Off

It used to be, most mornings as I took the pup out into the moist California air, I would greet a certain someone.

I didn't know his name. (I still don't.) We spoke only 2 words.

Let me explain. I live in a neighborhood mostly populated with Russians who arrived in the 80's.  That was a crisis time in the gay community. HIV was decimating it. The Russians were arriving - to cheap empty apartments. My neighborhood, although officially in boy's town, today is like a suburb of a foreign country.

In the evenings I see the retired women walking and talking. I hear Russian TV, Radio out of the apartment windows. At the park, the men stand around the picnic tables not-gambling. (I talked to an FBI agent in that park once.) I have to mention the pawn shops. Then there are the sex stores and adult theatre, although whether their clientele is gay or Russian, I would not know. I wonder about some stores. Those most likely fronts. The women's clothing and perfume store open at 7pm on Sunday or midnight on Friday. For what? Money laundering? Gambling? Human trafficking? 

One can only guess what goes on behind these doors.

And even on the sidewalk, it's questionable. While I nod to the retirees, their grandchildren pull up in black Mercedes, high-five friends. Smoke cigarettes on the balcony.  Less so the medical smoke - my musician/actor neighbors prefer as their "cure."

It had been almost a year since we saw each other. I was off to my office most mornings before we'd pass on the sidewalk.

It was several years before I knew which apartment complex he lived in. These mornings I find him standing outside it. He's recovered much in the past year, but still walks with a cane. I whirlwind past him with my dog, we echo our morning greeting. My hair much longer, not as purple. I wonder if he looks forward to it as much as I do. 

It's not as if we have ever uttered more than 2 words to each other. We probably do not even speak the same language. I suppose there have been stranger interactions.

To me, it's just a delight in my morning routine. Why not? Who says I have to live by any rules of convention?

A Sucker for the Impossible

Order and Chaos have been on my mind quite a bit. I do not lend allegiance to one side or other exclusively, rather play on/for the weaker side. For a lot of chaos - you have to set up a playing field of order for the cacophony to emerge. When the cacophony pulls too much weight, well then, that's where you have to bring the order back.

It's an exercise in surfing a waveform. The line between order and chaos. The place ripe for possibilities.  Playing an instrument. Creating art on a mutable canvas. 

For me, it's about holding the space for the truth, essence to emerge. My ego is in the boundaries, but clear of the spotlight. As a futurist and forward thinker, I have often thought about many, many possibilities. So the surprise. The delight. When what emerges is not something I could have ever planned. Thought. But in retrospect - and a split second - is not merely probable - but reality. I can't stop turning the wild card over in my mind. 

What a piece of magic.

Welcome

I am a professional social scientist who studies future trends to help people understand and take advantage of change.

Frying Pan Salad

The headlights barely make out twenty feet into the mist filled darkness on enchanted forest road.  We've spent all day getting here. On airplanes, in cars, across the great water on a ferry filled with cars. We end up at a remodeled fishing cabin, waves lapping upon the rock beach.

The night is pitch black. The moisture sucks the light. Unlike my clear desert nights, full of sharpened stars. The moisture permeates everything. Seafoam green moss drips from bare trees, vibrant green moss grows up tree trunks and across forest floors. 

I spend time in kitschy cabins. In one, a brass eagle, wings spread, escapes from a frame. In another a giant 3 feet diameter "frying pan" hangs near the wood burning stove. The kitchen is a challenge. At least 4 cooks prepare contributions for the group meal. Two of us rummage through the cabinets for a bowl big enough for an 18 person salad. None is to be found. 

Suddenly, the three foot diameter frying pan appears in the kitchen. It's been removed from the peg on the wall. We clean it as best we can and proceed to fill it with lettuces, tomatoes, peppers, avocados and other veggies. It takes up a good third of the Thanksgiving sized dining table.

Outside, the grass is moist and cool. Fresh and clean. My skin soaks in the water. My soul soaks in the expansion. I can't help but think about the future.  Watching the ripples in the water. Shades of grey in an overcast sky. Green-black mountain outlines.  A black  bobbing head. 

Something inside me has changed. I've got new focuses for 2011. Echoes and voices I've suppressed - put off. Things must shift and change. And they are.

A Box of Journals

I was moving things around in the storage unit last night. Box after box, I was reminded of who I was - who I am. Things I put in storage "just for a while" until I got settled down. Well.... 5 years later, in the short-term place I moved into ... the reminders of my identity are still in boxes.

One box was like slicing into the raw. It was my box of journals. I found three from 2003, 2004 and 2005.  Opening them, I was thrust into a very hard edged heather. Reading my own words, handwriting that no longer matches my own (I change it on a regular basis) I was shocked. Shocked and suprised by what I wrote. Who was this person I was reading? Who was this person I had become?

Back in 2003, I was so different. Cut. Edge. Ruthless. Completely and totally ruthless with my life. It was as if, I walked out the dojo (and I did metaphorically) and into the world. And in doing so, I was changed. And I changed (as in forged myself).

I need to study this past self. I still feel the echos and reverberations of her. And yet, I am still her. I remember speaking to her as I am today. And how she laughed, but also enjoyed the thrill and freedom. I don't remember her words to me. I think she had turned her back on me and walked out into the world, to see what she could become, knowing she's be here at some point.

The Secret Life

My sharing activities have shifted this year. I used to share lots of things everywhere. I've written thousands of blog posts on multiple blogs. I used to present (and attend) at lots of events. But this year, that changed.

My circle of trust and sharing, while expanding via social networks, is also narrowing. The things that are important to me, I do not share as much. Yesterday I was interviewing someone for my academic research on the Future of Transactions, something I have actively studied for 10 months. And until a few weeks ago, no body knew. That's so not heathervescent. Or is it.

You see, the identity that's here on the Internet, is not my full or complete identity. That's no surprise, I suppose. Whereas many people keep their personal identity private and their professional one public, I and just the contrarian. And while I do make remarks from time to time about my 5 hour engineering meetings, or stressing out over bug testing, or how I feel I've did some of my best product design this summer... I don't actively talk about that.

Nor have I necessarily talked about my Impossible Futures, a project I began last spring. Nor about my academic research that I plan to make public early next year.

It's a strange thing. And I should begin to remedy it, because the world will be better with these shared futures.