realNEO Matters - April 2011 web statistics of primary economic development portals in Northeast Ohio

Since the 1990s, my personal professional mission has been "To Optimize Information Technology for All".

I've helped the world's greatest organizations optimize IT for all their stakeholders, as a consultant working around the globe, and I am enabling Ohio and the world to optimize IT for all citizens, as an information technology innovator in my home of Northeast Ohio. One important expression of my mission to optimize IT for all is realNEO.US - Regional Economic Action Links for North East Ohio - which I founded in 2004, moved into the dysfunctional but living Real Coop co-operative owned structure a few years later, and have since used to transform the information, technology, insight and action of the people of the world interested in Northeast Ohio, and the world.

I recently received an email from Bill Densmore, co-director of Journalism That Matters, inviting me to "Create or Die 2", offering a nice global opportunity to share the realNEO story more broadly. Journalism That Matters is "an evolving collaboration of individuals supporting the pioneers who are shaping the emerging news and information ecosystem" - Create or Die 2 is about "Disrupting the Status Quo with Journalism Innovation and Entrepreneurship" - and I can't imagine initiatives that fit better with realNEO and my mission.

At the time these photos were taken, 08/04/10 between 8-9 pm, Cleveland air pollution monitoring
reported PM 2.5 of 13 - "GOOD" Air Quality - when it was clearly Unsafe

Owned by the members of Real Coop, leveraging Drupal and other Free/Libre Open Source Software (FOSS/FLOSS), realNEO.US makes a unique statement on the world-wide web that is sustainable, has lasting significance, and is transforming social computing and Ohio to the core, by challenging polluters and government corruption, to say the least - I don't know of any other free, open, public applications of such technologies that may make such claims, over the better part of a decade, and are owned by a cooperative of all people.

The story of realNEO is certainly one of "Create or Die", as shortly after I founded the realNEO.US portal, and that started changing the community for the better - especially in raising awareness among victims of our lead poisoning crisis here - we were attacked by some of the most powerful leaders in Ohio... enabled by lawyers at Jones Day, one of the world's most powerful law firms, which defends lead poisoners against citizens... and which unfortunately performed the legal services to found our virtual world, and saw us become a threat to THEIR STATUS QUO and BIG clients... and Jones Day took serious and harmful steps to shut realNEO down and destroy my life... around five years ago, now.

Homes of Holmes and the people who have attempted to destroy realNEO, as reported on realNEO for survival

As the technologist who created the portal transforming Northeast Ohio for the better - under attack from some of the most powerful "powers that be" in Ohio, who do not want to be transformed at all - I had the choice to create or die, and I created. I'm still alive today, as a result... thanks to realNEO, which provided me public shelter from this private storm.

It is very risky to kill anyone in the broad daylight of open social media, as Jones Day and their stakeholders have clearly learned. I'm still typing, and breathing, thank God.

Mittal Steel, which Jones Day helped create, is Cleveland and Cuyahoga County's deadliest polluter.

Short realNEO ambient music video, filmed in the Cleveland Flats, of pollution from the Arcelor Mittal Cleveland Works steel mill, in the Cuyahoga River Valley, Cleveland, Ohio - this is Cleveland and Cuyahoga Countys biggest polluter. The video image track was turned upside-down in production. In the background is playing the opening chords of "Shine On You Carzy Diamond, Part 1", by Pink Floyd, on the car radio. A screenshot of the edit window for this video is featured as the 2010-01-21 realNEO.us header of the day.

realNEO ambient music 4
Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part 1, 1 Starring Arcelor-Mittal Cleveland Works, 1,000s of Mutant birds, and the following pollution:

1,355,080 pounds of particle pollution,
1,781,800 pounds of sulfur dioxide,
3,637,640 pounds of nitrogen oxides,
37,047,800 pounds of carbon monoxide,
194,760 pounds of organic chemicals.
23,576 pounds of zinc,
3,246 pounds of manganese,
1,396 pounds of hydrochloric acid,
363 pounds of lead,
99 pounds of vanadium,
72 pounds of chromium,
40 pounds of copper,
33 pounds of barium,
22 pounds of cadmium,
08 pounds of mercury
... dumped into Clevelands air in 2006
... probably higher levels in 2010

Producer Norm Roulet. Location: Bowels of The Flats by ArcelorMittal Cleveland, Ohio, realNEO. Date 2010-01-06. Time 11 AM. Format 1080i upside-down. Camera: Panasonic AG-HMC40PU

I have jumped at the opportunity to attend Create Or Die 2 to share my experiences innovating social media here with other IT experts from around the world, and I have offered to host a table there to present our work optimizing IT for all here in Cleveland. As I am in the process of developing the open source United Cannabis Exchange (UCANX) for the world - which is a highly IT-intensive undertaking that will transform Earth for the better - I expect many such opportunities ahead... to meet up with other global information technology innovators, and recruit more supporters to realNEO.

I look forward to sharing "Create or Die 2, the conference, with create or die, the community... the real Northeast Ohio... the realNEO.

Others interested in Journalism that Matters should look into this event and join me there, if you share my passion to create or die - see Journalism that Matters for more details - watch realNEO in early June for more of the create or die world on the world-wide web.