Yi-Tan Call 254 – High-Performance Organizations –

Between social media, crowdsourcing, amateur participation, prize challenges, open content initiatives and other novel ways of coming together and taking action, the rules of getting things done on a large scale seem to be changing.

What does it mean to be a high-performance organization today? Is Wikipedia high-performance? Is it an organization?

Looking beyond the poster children of innovation (Apple, Google, Whole Foods), let’s dip into business (REI, Trader Joe’s, Zappos), the Commons (PLoS, Arxiv.org) and the social sector (Acumen, Ashoka) for inspiration. Please think of your favorite examples.

Together, let’s discuss:

• What organizations seem to be thriving these difficult days?
• How are they different from others? What do they do that is special?
• Can we derive any trends or lessons from observing the high performers?

Yi-Tan Tech Community Call 254 – High-Performance Organizations -

Yi-Tan Tech Community Call 253 – DIYcity -

John Geraci has been fascinated with how technology can be used to improve city life for a long time. His most recent project,  DIYcity, is a platform atop which volunteers can create their own projects to improve cities.

DIYcity chapters have started in several cities and DIYtraffic, a crowdsourced traffic-monitoring system, is under way. So is a big rev of DIYcity’s site and capabilities. Here’s a short article.

With John, let’s discuss:

• What aspects of DIYcity have been the most fruitful so far?
• How are teams and projects coming together? What limitations are evident so far?
• What are the lessons from and for other open civic and government efforts?

Yi-Tan Tech Community Call 253 – DIYcity -

Yi-Tan Tech Call 252 – Windows 7 –

The official launch date for Microsoft’s redeemer operating system, Windows 7, is October 22. Are you throwing a launch party? (Have you seen the bleeped versions?)

In the MS-DOS days, I remember marveling at how an operating system that wasn’t useful unless you bought several other products (QEMM, NetWare, Norton) could win in the marketplace. But it did.

Somehow, Microsoft kept its momentum through Windows 3.1, NT, Win95, 98, 2000 and WinXP, until Vista caused general grumbling.

After struggling with Vista Ultimate for too long, I installed the Win7 beta and have been much happier. Sleep and wake-up happen quickly. Devices install transparently and actually work. Networking is much simpler. But what happens next?

Together, let’s discuss:

• What really matters about Windows 7?
• As things move to the cloud, are operating systems still needed? How long?
• How do netbooks factor in?
• When might we see the next step forward in OSes? From whom?

Yi-Tan Tech Call 252 – Windows 7 -

Yi-Tan Call 251 – April 2010 –

Now and then we take a look into the not-too-distant future together, making predictions about what tech topics will be hot in six months.

These days, many topics are simmering — the real-time web, tablet computers, Twitter, Android phones, Google Wave, Windows 7, Twitter, netbooks, an uptick in tech acquisitions, the semantic web, Twitter, the death of news — but few are really hot.

Together, let’s look ahead six months to April 2010 (doesn’t 2010 sound far away?) and discuss:

• Will any of the topics I just named have a burst of energy and sizzle?
• How will the tech world change over the next six months?
• What’s the change we can’t see? the one that will blindside us?

Yi-Tan Call 251 – April 2010 -

Yi-Tan Tech Community Call 251 – April 2010 – 1:30pm EST, Monday October 12, 2009 Inbox X Reply | Jerry Michalski to Yi-Tan show details Oct 12 (1 day ago) Greetings, (A schedule conflict has us postponing the Participative Medicine call for a few weeks.) Now and then we take a look into the not-too-distant future together, making predictions about what tech topics will be hot in six months. These days, many topics are simmering — the real-time web, tablet computers, Twitter, Android phones, Google Wave, Windows 7, Twitter, netbooks, an uptick in tech acquisitions, the semantic web, Twitter, the death of news — but few are really hot. Together, let’s look ahead six months to April 2010 (doesn’t 2010 sound far away?) and discuss: Will any of the topics I just named have a burst of energy and sizzle? How will the tech world change over the next six months? What’s the change we can’t see? the one that will blindside us? As always, an IRC Chat will be available during the call, here. Tweeting has taken a big step forward: we’re now @yitan! Please follow us, and let’s also continue using #yitan. This page is on a wiki, here. Date:    Monday, October 12, 2009 Time:    10:30 PST, 1:30 EST Dial-in Number: 1-270-400-1500 Participant Access Code: 778778 Wiki goodness at www.yi-tan.com Please feel free to forward this note to people you think would be interested in these calls. Talk to you on the call! Bestest, Jerry Reply Reply to all Forward

Yi-Tan Call 250 – On Security and Risk –

Say the word “security” and every person immediately has an idea of what you’re talking about. But security is different things to different people in different situations. There is no one grand unified security for all.

Security is many product categories: it’s a feeling you get returning home after a rough day, it’s a sub-category on your bank’s web site, it’s the assurance of a recent promotion. It’s almost-but-not-quite synonymous with stability, reliability, privacy; it’s engendered by trust and a sense of safety. And it’s never the same thing for very long.

Security professionals and ordinary mortals see security quite differently. Let’s ponder some of the trends in information risk and security, and understand what we can do for non-experts who would benefit if we designed products and services with security in mind.

But let’s also look outside of the box. What affects security in our daily, office-bound lives? What can we easily do to improve it, what can we easily do to undermine it? What kinds of security aren’t we thinking about at all, just because they haven’t occurred to us.

And not to sound Rumsfeldian, what about the stuff we don’t know about yet? What can we do to guard against getting into trouble in the future because of poor decisions made today?

With Stephan Somogyi, who generated these thoughts, let’s discuss:

• What do security professionals see that normal folks don’t?
• How can we broaden our view of security? Prepare for the unexpected?
• What are the low-hanging fruits? The low-hanging beams? Can we fix them?

Yi-Tan Tech Community Call 250 – On Security and Risk -

Yi-Tan Tech Call – Imma Let You Finish –

It was tempting to title this call “You lie!” Without reading too much into this trend, let’s investigate the recent burst of public outbursts from celebrities and politicians:

• In center court at the US Open, tennis ace Serena Williams first bashes her racquet, then threatens a line judge; the penalty costs her match point.
• Representative Joe Wilson blurts “You lie!” after President Obama makes a point in his address to Congress, breaching Congressional etiquette.
• At the MTV Video Music Awards, rapper Kanye West interrupts singer Taylor Swift as she gives her short acceptance speech.

Of course, other uncivil things happened in Darfur and the Congo, but they didn’t get as much ink (do we say ink anymore?).

Together, let’s discuss:

• Is civilization simply coming to an end?
• Are we less civil than before, or is this just a blip? Are we immune to real tragedies?
• What (if any) lessons might we take from these incidents? (besides the value of better impulse control)

Yi-Tan Tech Community Call 249 – Imma Let You Finish -

Special one-hour Yi-Tan Call 248 – Unschooling –

Our primary and secondary educational systems are controversial, to put it mildly. John Holt, Grace Llewelyn, Paulo Freire, John Taylor Gatto and others have done a fabulous job pointing out how deficient the existing systems are, as well as lighting a path forward.

One growing alternative is unschooling. Unlike the popular home-schooling stereotype of parents sharing “classroom” duties at home, unschooling is mostly student-led (and I wince using the word “student”). Explaining it in any depth is beyond the scope of these lightweight invites, so please join this call and explore with us.

We’ve invited a wonderful group of deeply experienced unschoolers, adult and adult-to-be, including Tammy Takahashi, Sandra Dodd, PS Pirro, some of our Yi-Tan regulars and their kids.

With this awesome posse, let’s discuss:

• What is the range of unschooling practices? How quickly is it growing?
• How does the rest of the world respond to unschooling? Is that changing?
• What are the main benefits the Net brings unschoolers?

Special one-hour Yi-Tan Call 248 – Unschooling

Yi-Tan Call 247 – Peter Kollock’s Work –

Last January, our friend Peter Kollock passed away unexpectedly, leaving a legacy of great work on cooperation and collective action, where he examined markets, exchange dynamics and the creation of common goods.

Marc Smith, a deep analyst of participation in online communities, was a student of Peter’s at UCLA, then co-authored Communities in Cyberspace with him.

With Marc, let’s discuss:

• What made Peter’s approach and insights special?
• Why does it pay to be good? How do minorities move majorities?
• What motivates people to create common goods? When does cooperation fail?

Yi-Tan Call 247 – Peter Kollock’s Work -

Yi-Tan Call 246 – Sex, Lies and Capitalism -

The First World used to have the lion’s share of business; not so much anymore. In 2000, 75% of world GDP came from the industrialized countries. By 2050 that number’s expected to tumble to 32%.

Chris Meyer is writing a book about these shifts and what they mean for innovation and for capitalism itself. He’s not writing about serving the Bottom of the Pyramid, but rather about the many forms that these markets take, including the role of government.

With Chris, let’s discuss:

• How will business be different in emerging economies?
• What might First-Worlders learn from Third-Worlders?
• What should Chris title his book?

As always, an IRC Chat will be available during the call, here.

Yi-Tan Tech Community Call 246 – Sex, Lies and Capitalism -

Yi-Tan Call 245: WaterCredit in East Africa

April Rinne showed us how small loans are meeting major money markets in Microfinance Goes Macro.

Three months ago, she joined Water.org as their Director of WaterCredit, which puts microcredit tools to use in the water and sanitation sector.

April’s first trip in this new role was to East Africa, where she met with MFIs (microfinance institutions), NGOs and CBOs (Community Based Organizations) to gauge their interest in watsan (insider jargon for water & sanitation) projects. They’re interested.

She also saw a variety of urban, peri-urban (think slums and informal settlements) and rural water programs in action first-hand, and spoke with their clients.

With April, let’s discuss:

• What is WaterCredit? How is lending for watsan work different from “traditional” microlending?
• How did the various East African countries differ from a WaterCredit perspective?
• What were your most eye-opening experiences on this trip?

Yi-Tan Tech Community Call 245 – WaterCredit in East Africa -

Yi-Tan Tech Community Call 245 – WaterCredit in East Africa –