EVOKE

Join in the social innovation game for real world change. Designed by award winning reality gamer Jane McGonigal and announced during her TED2010 lecture, EVOKE let’s you become part of the solution.  Come join me at and we can explore together.

For more on Jane’s work with EVOKE and CryptoZoo take a look here.

via Sreejith K on Flickr

Thanks to a lead from Read, Write, Web another view as to the future of Geolocating.  According to Simple Geo, the start-up is indexing 1 MILLION locations, get this per HOUR.   Just as we’ve taken a peak at Gowalla, Foursquare and My Town (the site to first hit 1 Million users) it will be interesting to follow and perhaps many of you will create just exactly what we do with all of this data.  It does seem a new dimension both in time (real time) and space (location) is emerging.  What do you think it will mean for individuals, social good, business in general?  It will certainly give the term “search” a new meaning.

I look forward to your thoughts.

I proposed last week that we consider the currency of “time” as a medium for improving health.  I’ve been pleased to extend my exploration of that concept and find many further examples of how this idea might play out in our food and activity behaviors. Obviously, Jamie Oliver’s winning the TEDPrize was a wonderful venue to discuss the subject.

Then, in GOOD’s Transparency series, a video on how food consumption patterns have changed with industrialization and potential consequences here:

Now, I’ve gone back to re-read “French Women for All Season” .  While it certainly caters to an upper middle class sensibility, it emphasizes the same issues of good food and taking the time to savor moments.  Thanks also to Frank Spencer, who let me offer a few ideas on Health Transformation in his series at KedgeForward.

WorldChanging also highlights how “Bright Green Cities” might battle childhood obesity and the important interplay of community and financial stability.  (Hat tip to Jody Ranck via FB).

As the search continues, I want to learn about how to use design thinking to make these the default choices rather than a burden, regardless of income levels, gender, race or ethnicity.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts and reflections.

Jamie Oliver wins the TEDPrize 2010 and wishes for a generation of kids who know how to cook and are empowered to eat right.  Join in the wish here. http://bit.ly/bUhlgA

Complex as the entire concept of behavior change from Part 1 is, I want to think about just one aspect for now:  rethinking our ChronoZones.  As long a “fast, quick” are the drivers, we will continue to make our financial, health and environmental decisions accordingly.  We want immediate growth in our  financial portfolio,  a magic bullet for cholesterol and take out food in handy containers.  But another answer may lie at the other end of the continuum—the slowing down side.

Case in point.  I have two sets of friends who have opted to get rid of one car in their two car family; one for financial reasons, one for environmental reasons.  The first adjustment they will tell you about is “time”.  For one friend who must commute from San Mateo County into Alameda, it means carpooling to the BART station, taking the train, and walking to the job site.  That takes almost twice as much time as driving.  For the other friends, they choose where they shop, eat and go for entertainment much more around what is walkable;  but they factor in the extra ½ hour or more on both ends of their outings for the walk time (and now have umbrellas and rain gear).   The “time” factor requires a mental adjustment—no “running to the store”, or “hitting the snooze”.  But the payoffs for them suit a more simplified lifestyle:  less financial pressure,  time to read on the train, the health benefits of walking, the pleasure of savoring moments and their contribution to the environment.

As I explore this idea more fully, I’ll be looking at time as it relates to:

How we eat:

via krash63 on flickr

• Slow Food
• Localvores
• Community
• Home Gardens
• Cooking at Home (actually from today’s Huffington Post)

How we move:

via krash63 on flickr

• Walkability/Bikability
• Mass Transit
• Distance Travel

How does “time” change how we socialize with our family, friends and strangers?  How can we view this idea through the lens of our desires to change our financial, health and environmental present and future vs. social norms that may push against change and how might technology make it better.  Is it scalable, sustainable?

And ultimately, how does the concept of “Patient Capital” play into not only our global philanthropy ideas, but into our lives.

I look forward to learning from your experiences and perspectives and to what we will find, if we take the time to adjust our ChronoZone.

I’m excited to see the topic of geo-locating picking up attention since the first of the year.  With Harvard announcing it’s relationship with Foursquare, the growth of Gowalla and local Twitter trends,  the issue of “Where’s Waldo and What’s He Up To” is going mainstream.  I’m looking forward to WhereCamp 2.0 and Augmented Reality Event on the docket as well.

via simpologist at Flickr

But since that topic is quite well covered these days, I thought I’d take a look at the other end of the “place/time” continuum and consider what I’ve named ChronoZones or our places in time and our time in places.  At one time or another we’ve all felt rushed, that there wasn’t enough time in the day.  However, as I considered how technology enables both the up and downsides of time compression, I wondered:  could technology also enable time decompression, the rethinking of slow to facilitate better choices for our health, our environment and our economic viability?   What if slower is the new “local” and how do they work together for good?

Consider for a moment (or more if time allows) a concept presented a week or so ago at IDEO’s Change+ event in San Francisco.  At a gathering of interested parties in the fields of  environmental sustainability, health viability and economic feasibility, the idea of behavior change was front and center.  But those in the field of behavior change realize that getting and maintaining results has been sporadic at best.  As a construct, IDEO presented what I dubbed the “Perfect Storm of Change”.   Highlighting the convergence of personal experiences in the financial crisis, the health crisis and the environmental crisis, they posit that we are feeling an unprecedented need and perhaps desire, to truly change our behaviors in radical ways to achieve equilibrium.   That change will necessarily require applying design thinking to our environments and experiences to support that change.

Complex as it that entire concept is, I want to explore just one facet of what I see as a fundamental shift required to facilitate success:  rethinking our Chronozones.  As long a “fast, quick” are the drivers, we will continue to make our financial, health and environmental decisions accordingly.  We want immediate growth in our  financial portfolio,  a magic bullet for cholesterol and take out food in handy containers.  But another answer may lie at the other end of the continuum—the slowing down side.

If I ride my bike to work, it takes longer, but I save money, don’t pollute and get healthier.    If I cook at home, it takes longer than the drive-through, but I can support local farmers, cut down on paper waste and eat a better diet.  It’s the economic exchange I make for my time.

In Part 2, we’ll take a look at more specifics.

Very interesting post from CitizenTube (highlighted in last week’s post below) on working through 24 years worth of Drone Video and how the military is using YouTube like tools to keep track of it all.

The wonderful thing about exploring is that you often don’t know what path you will take and what you will find along the way.  I set out this week to discover more about the Power of Video.  My interest was prompted by the September report from Institute for the Future on the Future of Video and by the explosive fascination with the high quality video content produced by TED.  I found some great resources and examples for further study, a few of which are shared below:

• Video Gives A Voice:
  • CitizenTube Whether you agree or disagree with the content shared, the fact is that video is a powerful form of communication especially in the hands of real people.
  • VideoVoice Collective is putting video and voice to work to empower people, from Indonesia to San Francisco, to New Orleans.  Here’s  ”A Sneak Peek at Army Street”, a teen filmed video where they tell you about what it’s like to be a teen living in the projects, what changes they would like to see in the neighborhood, and where they see themselves in the future.  ,
• Video Informs, Entertains and Amazes
  • The Visual MD provides a beautiful set of videos and visuals that bring our health, our bodies to life in completely new ways.   I especially like “The Perfect Cardiovascular System”
• Video Content Becomes “Searchable”
  • Google Goggles takes tools like these and allows video and visuals to be converted into searchable content.  Now that brilliant part of the YouTube video you saw isn’t “lost”, it’s searchable in context.
  • And YouTube has turned on the “captions” option to foster video search as well.
• State of the Vloggersphere 2010 report from Mefeedia
  • Video and mobile are the fastest growing markets and even mobile streaming video is available from UStream and QIK.
• Other news:
• Avatar grosses $1B+ setting new directions for the Future of Video
• ESPN and Discovery announce 3-D Television and Mashable posted this interview with the  IMAX CEO discussing the future of 3D
• Cisco brings video conferencing home

So, that leaves even more questions for exploration

How can video:

• give voice to your constituents
• make your content or messaging more intriguing
• bring quality video content to light through search
• combined with mobile,  open new doors

The journey continues…

Eclectic curiosity opens the door to many fascinations, often the “oooh shiny pretty” syndrome.  Although there is no known cure (at least I hope), I’ve assembled some “topics of interest” to provide a measure of guidance for my work this month and this year.

• Design. Design principles as a method of innovation and strategic thinking, design of places, design of experiences.  How can design thinking improve our lives, our health, our world? Here’s one of many articles on design, this one around social change.
• Video.  The future of, power of video.  Video search, video advocacy, video gaming, video.   Actually, anything “visual”.  What can video do for you? Thinking about video
• Play. Play is good, laughter is healing, gaming matters,  ”Gross Happiness Index”.   How can we harness the power of play to imagining a happier, healthier place?  If you haven’t seen the piano staircase, this will get you thinking.
• Place/Distance. From geolocating, hyperlocal, hyperglobal to virtual presence, global communications and even physical location.  What is this “space/time” continuum all about?  I look forward to lots of input here.

And there’s social entrepreneurism, philanthropic capital, untethered , the list is endless for listening, exploring, collaborating, provoking and story telling.  Join in the fun.

It seems appropriate for my first blog post beyond the 140 character kind, to take on a 2010 challenge with a fresh outlook, courtesy of a few days of rest, relaxation and independent thinking.  I said in an early twitter posting today that in 2010 I want to be part of things amazingly wonderful.  After a few false starts, I’ve settled on a vision, (to be tweaked I’m sure):

To imagine, build and nurture better places and experiences for my world, my communities, my family and myself.

In order to start this journey, I realize there are certain attributes I must work at with diligence over this next year:  to be positive, present, proactive and persistent and thanks to a suggestion from a friend, we’ll add “playful” as well (well and probably those of you who know me would say patient is a MUST, not a want).  

And as a framework, I’ve adopted five “personas” that help define my roles in this journey:

• Listener: one who makes a concious effort to hear; who pays close attention to;
• Explorer: one who investigates foreign or unknown areas;
• Collaborator: one who works with others in joint intellectual (and hopefully practical) efforts
• Provocateur: one whose ideas or actions challenge conventional thinking or norms (might as well shake things up a bit)
• Ambassador: one (authorized or unauthorized) to share a message
• Storyteller: A relater of anecdotes, a teller of tales. (upon reflection, better than ambassador)

All in all, these persona hopefully combine to become a catalyst, a basis for change to achieve the vision.

It’s just a thought–for now.