In response to the  “Blog Talk, Blog Tech" promoted last week on Realneo and held last Saturday at Arabica,  the following blog enthusiasts took the time to attend:

Northeast Ohio bloggers and would-be bloggers - all are invited to Arabica- University Circle(upstairs) this Saturday, the 24th from 1:30 -3:30.   We will help anyone who's interested  learn  technical skills:how to post images, events, use the embedded email program and more.  This is an opportunity for readers and contributors to get to know one another face to face. Complimentary coffee and pastries. An RSVP and/or a submission of suggestions for technical help needed via "write to author" (at the bottom of this post) would be helpful.

Thanks to an anonymous donor, East Cleveland has received some excellent equipment to start setting up a pilot proof of concept wireless broadband mesh network in some part of the city - location to be determined. The donated equipment is from a similar proof of concept deployment in Washington, D.C., and includes several commercial wifi antennas and routers and cabling to set up a small multipoint demonstration network, running the open source CUWiNWare mesh application and wifiDOG contained portal application, all routing to the city of East Cleveland's open source Drupal community portal, at http://eastcleveland.org. All this, combined with other digital divide bridge programs there, makes East Cleveland approaches to information technology some of the most interesting in America.

Thanks to Ed Morrison for sending over a link to an interesting analysis of the value of FLOSS (Free/Libre Open Source Software) for European businesses and society. From the article: "European companies are saving a lot of money on software investment and development, due to the existence and emergence of open-source software, a Commission-funded study finds." An especially interesting observation is that "The bigger a company is, the more likely it is to use FLOSS." I wonder how NEO stacks up in the FLOSS world - use of FLOSS in business and government... training of FLOSS programmers and administrators... marketing and purchasing of FLOSS solutions in the region... number of FLOSS professionals and firms deploying FLOSS solutions? Read more about this movement in Europe below...

Building blocks for bridging digital divide in East Cleveland 

In a recent article on bridging the digital divide in NEO, "It seems time to open up the OneCleveland network vision of Cleveland Heights, to see if there is value for others", I mentioned "An example of a progressive community building a mesh broadband network environment is found in Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network (CUWiN), which is a world- leader in such grass-roots broadband community service and technology. That is a model we are exploring in trying to help residents of underserved communities of East Cleveland and Cleveland secure access to broadband services, as carriers have underserved their neighborhoods, and poverty there is a significant issue."

Well, I was pleased to start the first work-day of 2007 with the correspondence posted below, from the Executive Director of CUWiN - globally celebrated community computing expert Sascha Meinrath - who is helping us center in on a viable model for East Cleveland and other undersupported urban neighborhoods in the region to bridge the digital divide here. Read on, as we are clearly on the right track and farther along than anyone may imagine. I'll add related insight and next steps as they develop.

Since late June, 2006, a growing team of innovative community leaders has been working together with Lamond Williams, the owner of Hot Sauce Williams BBQ, and East Cleveland Mayor Eric Brewer and Community Development Director Tim Goler, and government leadership in Cleveland, to determine how best to redevelop the historic Hough Bakery Complex, formerly the Star Bakery, which Lamond also owns. The objective is to use that redevelopment as a catalyst for transformation of the neighborhoods surrounding that significant property, located on Lakeview, partially in both Cleveland and East Cleveland. On the map above, the Star Complex is in magenta, and the green circle marks a 1/2 mile radius surrounding that - the other colored areas are key neighborhoods and assets within that radius.

Thanks to Brewed Fresh Daily, I checked out an article in the 12/03/06 New York Times magazine section online about "Open Source Spying", which is fascinating in many respects. While primarily an analysis of how top US security agencies are using web based tools like blogs and wikis to integrate intelligence information and sources within the secure environment of their shared role in protecting our "homeland", the observations on culture issues read true for how organizations within Northeast Ohio must look to technology, and the barriers still in place here preventing "open source" information and relationship sharing from having the transformational benefit possible. The problem in NEO is the "Iron Majors" and "Little Barons"... missing are the "officials at the very top... intrigued by the potential of a freewheeling, smart-mobbing intelligence community." Read some insightful paragraphs from the lengthy NYTimes analysis below:

On next Wednesday, December 6, 2006,  it will have been two years since I proposed to Northeast Ohio that we can easily and inexpensively bridge the digital divide for East Cleveland, and other communities in need in the region, by deploying mesh wifi networks here and distributing recycled computers running open source software (see original posting below, and linked with other related files here). I called this vision ECHO - originally "East Cleveland Homes Online", renamed "Extending Community Home Online". While I've driven some ECHO progress, over these years, especially deploying to people in need recycled computers running Ubuntu, the mesh is still to come. The time has come.

I've had many "chicken or egg" discussions about the digital divide with many people over many years. To some, the divide is about economics and access to technology and the Internet. To some, it is about environment and culture. To some it is about usability and functionality. I believe a person's position relative to the digital divide is influenced by all these factors, over time, influenced by personal capabilities, and I tend to view the challenges to be overcome to bridge the divide in about that order, starting with economics and access to technology and ending with functionality of technology, applications and information services. I'll point to my 19 month old tech native son Claes and some friends and family to explore this issue further. 

The NY Times has caught on to what I've been proposing to NEO leaders for two years as a cluster for future economic and workforce development here (don't expect this story in the PD). Can we now show some common sense and give smart IT a try here - connecting social computing, artificial intelligence and cognitive science within our context of regional development... read on and read all the historical links throughout the TOPSOIL area of this site, and let's move on to be leaders in this important sector of the global economy.

Two weeks ago saw the second birthday of REALNEO. I started REALNEO in October, 2004, to provide “Regional Economic Action Links for North East Ohio” and implement for the region some exciting open source social networking technology. While the outcomes have not been entirely what I expected, and these years have in ways been rough, I've been thrilled to help drive and support some great developments in the community.

I'm sure everyone who follows news and current events knows about Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez' speech at the UN, declaring US President Bush the devil. In today's NY Times there is an insightful expansion on this story, as they report that during Chávez' speech he held up a copy of retired MIT Professor Noam Chomsky’s book “Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance,” a critique of American foreign policy, and urged his audience “very respectfully, to those who have not read this book, to read it.” The NY Times reports sales in America of the book have since spiked - I certainly now plan to read it. Hegemony is preponderant influence or authority over others. Chomsky writes: "One can discern two trajectories in current history: one aiming toward hegemony, acting rationally within a lunatic doctrinal framework as it threatens survival; the other dedicated to the belief that “another world is possible,” in the words that animate the World Social Forum, challenging the reigning ideological system and seeking to create constructive alternatives of thought, action and institutions. Which trajectory will dominate, no one can foretell." Another quote from the book, and the NY Times article are below...

By lucky coincidence, I was in Toronto on international Software Freedom Day and so had easy access to Ubuntu today, right when I needed it, and lots of Ubuntu and FOSS experts, and got to meet the cool people in Toronto who run the Toronto Ubuntu and Linux User Groups, and the Linux Caffe, and the awesome Center for Social Innovation... this city rocks in every way.

An especially exciting project 7GEN Canada is undertaking is the transformation of the premier gallery of the glass art of Canada, Material Matters, into a virtual community. In doing this, we are taking a physical gallery at 215 Spadina Avenue, in Toronto (which 7GEN also calls home), and transforming that into a community of all Canada's glass artists, and a global marketplace for their art.

As real NEO is a huge place, with years of content or every sort on a broad range of subjects from 100s of sources, I thought I'd share some of my experiences navigating this community.

First off, remember you can simply "Search" the site for any keyword... go to SEARCH here.

If I'm browsing rather than searching, the first thing I check out is the center column of recent posts to see what's new - always surprising.

Then, I watch the blocks... in the right margin top are comments - those are always fascinating, and I like to interact with the other members here.

Then we have today's popular content, and below that is especially revealing... "Last Viewed".

It is time for major transformation and transition for REALNEO, and I invite you to help make that happen. REALNEO is a free open source software (FOSS) social computing environment developed by a collaboration of members, and they own their information, and maintain a copyright in all their postings on this site. At this time, there are 100s of members and 1,000s of postings, and 1,0000s of comments, representing significant intellectual property of lasting value  on the Internet and to this community, in every context. I launched REALNEO in October, 2004, and many people have been instrumental in developing value here. It has always been the understanding in this community that REALNEO would reside in the public domain and operate as or within a non-profit entity. At this time the ownership of the tradename REALNEO must be transferred to the public, and it is well past time for REALNEO.US to move to a sustainable technical and social platform.  I am open to all partners interested to lead future development of REALNEO, and there are many reasons this will be an exciting process.

Now that I must waste much of my time and energy preparing to sue Robert "Okihawk"/:NEOhawk" Hawkins I must conduct discovery determining the many ways to diverted business from his employer, REALinks, LLC, and acted against all stakeholders. One place where his record is told is on REALNEO, and so I am preserving his strings of inputs here.

The origins of REALNEO.US live at http://clevelandcause.tribe.net/ where I first organized this revolution, while I was based in Northern California and fighting to help the real NEO economy from afar. Read the manifesto that was the CAUSE for REALNEO.US  below... the very first copy sent to my friend and co-conspirator with REALNEO.US, Louis Carl Edwards, via Tribe.net on December 21, 2003 at 4:19 AM, West Coast time:

I've certainly paid much more attention to my alma mater, Tulane University, and home for many years, New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA), since hurricane Katrina hit last year, and what I have seen is inspired regional planning combined with collaborative community building, from which we in NEO stand to learn many great lessons.

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

The Ohio LinuxFest 2006 will take place on September 30, 2006 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. The event is free to attend. We are accepting submissions for presentations, and sponsors who wish to exhibit and show their and support for the community may sign up now as well.

Location

Here are two more listings of free (public domain) images. The licenses vary from site to site, so you'll have to pay attention to any restrictions.