The Future As Seen By Me In 2010

Image
Well looky here, things one has scanned in eh. (ignore the photo, that's some guy that made some accounting software, not sure what became of him ;) MIKE RIVERSDALE is fuming. The expensive headphones he bought in Sydney three weeks ago have just died. His first reaction is not to randomly spill expletives into his coffee, but to use his iPhone to vent his frustration to his Twitter con- tacts, under the moniker Miramar Mike. "I will also put, 'What should I do?' It's a conversation. I'm reaching out to the people following me." The council predicts hand-held digital devices such as smartphones will rule the world in 2040. They already rule the life of Mr Riversdale, whose company WaveAdept helps businesses adapt - their computing sys- tems to allow staff to work from anywhere - and with anyone. In order of fre- equency, he uses his iPhone to tweet (1136 followers; 8363 tweets since joining), e-mail, make phone calls and use online services, such as checki
Reply

Why Am I Running "It's Not About You"?

By /
It's part of Hack Miramar to be open source, transparent and inclusive - that comes from who it is and the people that make up the community*. To that end I have always thought that we should share the "how" we do things - not thinking for one moment it is better than others, THE way or even the best way, but most certainly "a" way.

I also have an experience in being parts of a few tech communities over the years, from agile, e-government, barcamps, open data, tech meetups and even the odd hackfest now-and-again. I've seen a trend in all of them.

So how to share my thoughts alongside Hack Miramar's experience?
Five ways:
  1. An open manual (most definitely a WIP)
  2. A series of workshops
  3. A video
  4. An online course
  5. A book
BUT why, what is the desired outcome from all of these things?

Some background ...

An attribute of all "movements" is that they are, initially, personality driven - there is a leader that stands up and proclaims a better world ahead, "Follow me!" And I love these people (might even be one). They show no fear, see no barriers and certainly know the right rules to break as they herd us all across the bridge to the greener grass on the other side.

BUT ... and there is a massive, huge, gigantic but. They are only people and they have lives to live, families to love, friends to hang out with and other passions to follow. When, for whatever reason, they move on from that particular calling more often than not the community stumbles and whilst the topic of succession planning is never uppermost in the thoughts of a loose collective it should be.


My "why to do this?": to arm community leaders (tech or not) with the tools to ensure their passions last more than they do. To enable people to take the "make a difference" spark and not just light a fire but grow a movement and make a difference outside their immediate circles, to give their community a chance of surviving them.

And that's why I call it, "It's not about you".


What will you get out of this programme, reading the manual or any of the follow-up malarkeys?
I trust you will get a solid understanding of why you want to do what you want to do, what that means to others, practical tips on running a lot of activities and how to ensure YOU can become an excited member (not leader) of your own sustainable community.

We all want to make communities we're proud to be a part of, it's just sometimes we have to be the spark go get it going first.

Join me in this adventure!

These initial sessions are priced $25/each and will all be held at The BizDojo, Wellington [map] as part of the ColliderWgtn programme

  • Monday 3rd April, 11.30am - 1.30pm
    Session 1 "The Why"
  • Wednesday 5th April, 11.30am - 1.30pm
    Session 2: "The Who, What & How"
  • Friday 7th April 11.30am - 1.30pm
    Session 3: "The Where and When"

*A light lunch will be provided midway through each session

Buy tickets


 * It's not a company, enterprise or even a movement - it's a community of people**
** An anarcho syndicalist commune if you will

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular articles

The Future As Seen By Me In 2010

Image
Well looky here, things one has scanned in eh. (ignore the photo, that's some guy that made some accounting software, not sure what became of him ;) MIKE RIVERSDALE is fuming. The expensive headphones he bought in Sydney three weeks ago have just died. His first reaction is not to randomly spill expletives into his coffee, but to use his iPhone to vent his frustration to his Twitter con- tacts, under the moniker Miramar Mike. "I will also put, 'What should I do?' It's a conversation. I'm reaching out to the people following me." The council predicts hand-held digital devices such as smartphones will rule the world in 2040. They already rule the life of Mr Riversdale, whose company WaveAdept helps businesses adapt - their computing sys- tems to allow staff to work from anywhere - and with anyone. In order of fre- equency, he uses his iPhone to tweet (1136 followers; 8363 tweets since joining), e-mail, make phone calls and use online services, such as checki

Knowing good info from bad - how do we?

This posting inspired by the latest Gerry McGovern newsletter - read it for his views We vote. As an example, that's the power of Google search - it uses the concept that web pages with the highest 'vote' get put at the top of page 1. The 'vote' is a weighted one using the number of pages that reference it multiplied by a lot of clever algorithmic type activity - highly technical insight from Google themselves . In essence you voted me top of the "mike riversdale" Google list by linking to me. However, voting is spreading through the web in many more ways than simply linking to pages and I believe the driver is that people are starting to use the tools to group themselves into communities. In the good ol' days before " Web 2.0" (say before mid-2005) there were many informal methods of finding the 'best* content' - we would send emails to our mates pointing out cool sites, read about it from dedicated "Best of the Web ..."

Which Laptop Should I Buy?

MiramarMike.co.nz is very nearly wired up with equipment and needs one last thing - the laptop. And for those that have given advice, thanks and please bear with me just a little longer :-) Everyone tells me to get an Apple MacBook Pro but it's a darned expensive beastie. Having said that I am willing to pay a little premium for the ease of use over and above Windows Vista and Ubuntu. Also I have a mate currently traveling the US who's willing to pick up a laptop over there but I'm sure how much cheaper they actually are. And so, three questions I'd love some help with: Should I go for an Apple MacBook Pro no matter what (and why?) Should I get my mate to buy the laptop (any make) in the US? If not buy in US where in NZ/Wellington would you recommend? What do you think - leave a comment My calcs. You can edit this spreadsheet with more options at: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pmxKow-YfvkpQWjvBfAcpVw

How To Facilitate A Barcamp/Unconference

Image
I have been privileged to help create a number of successful barcamps ( Wikipedia ) alongside an ever growing number of committee members here in Wellington over the past few years both public and internally at client sites. I've also attended others around the country which have been mostly awesome but sometimes missing a certain "something". During this time I've managed to crystalise what I believe helps create and facilitate (NOT "run) a successful barcamp - here it is, by all means share it around. Oh, one more thing - barcamps are traditionally held within the realm of the geeks but there's NOTHING about a barcamp that limits it to such an industry and, much like you can hold a traditional conference on any subject under the sun, so you can with a barcamp. What do you need for a barcamp? I've always said you only need the following to get have a barcamp A venue A date A logo People On reflection I should also add, "a need" - dur. The date

3 Actions For Those Being Made Redundant

Image
It sucks out there in Wellington and around the country at the moment as the Government, tech, and media industries cull roles in wide ranging and sweeping actions. No-one except you know how this feels, and only those close to you can understand the impact, but know this, you will survive. 1: Understand, YOU are not redundant. Your role is being made redundant, you are not. For whatever reason the role you've been filling is deemed no longer viable within the organisation you used to work within.  You are not redundant, your role is. This is isn't about you, don't take it personally, this is not a reflection of you. Of course the impact on your life and those you hold close is very personal, but the reason it has happened is not about you. (as a side note, you are not merely your role anyway, you are way more than whatever work thing you were doing) 2: Do not panic! If you can, take time to re-evaluate what you do before shotgunning your CV out to every recruitment agency