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Blueair.tv’s Cyrus Huffhines interviewed Alexander Rose, executive director of the Long Now Foundation, in Second Life this afternoon. Alexander described the upcoming 77 Million Paintings exhibit by Brian Eno and its relationship to the philosophy of the long view.

[excerpt from interview]

“[14:50] Alexander Rose: Its [the Long Now Foundation] more about finding some of the issues that are more necessarily long term. The story of the beams at New College Oxford is one of the best examples…

[14:58] Cyrus Huffhines: told by Danny, right? can you tell it?
(board member Danny Hillis)

[14:58] Alexander Rose: The hall there was built in the 1300’s when it was the “new college.” 50 years later when they needed to replace the beams they could not buy them readily in Europe anymore. However when they talked to the school forrester, he said “we have the trees you planted”

So they were able to replace these beams with the trees that were planted 50 years before. It was this type of thinking that our founding board felt was not happening anymore. Something as simple as throwing down some acorns, solving a truly unsolvable problem if leveraged correctly. So problems with the environment, hunger, education all have this feeling of being unsolvable now. But in fact if you look at them much longer term they can become tractable”

For further information:

The Long Now Foundation
blueair.tv

A customer contacted me asking how the junior Circa notebook inserted into the junior meeting master currently on sale in the latest catalog.

This was actually something that we learned about through customer feedback. Although the intended capture function of the folio was via the top-loading letter pad, the side-loading notebook works well in tandem with the pad.

Note: Since this wasn’t part of the original design of the folio, the Circa notebook is limited to 1″ rings or smaller for the folio to close.

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I spent the better part of this morning inside of Second Life speaking with Ducce about creativity, mass collaboration, and tapping the hive-mind. Before the conversation took too many turns, we agreed that a trip to the International Space museum was necessary to keep the brainstorm sparking.

CathMac on Thu, 2007-06-14 17:13 asked:

[...]do you know where I could find a picture of the Fielding Passport Journal that shows the inside right (as opposed to the inside left, which is shown) and perhaps another picture of the middle section which is partially obscured?

I have seen it in person but I can’t remember the details. In particular I am wondering if the right side could be used for a top loading 3×5 “PDA”. Is there a slip pocket there?

After shooting several photographs at different angles and elevations, I realized a video would be a much more effective method for answering CathMac’s questions.

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Included are two separate hacks for incorporating both a vertical Circa PDA and a horizontal 3×5 Circa notebook.

A GTD meme was started over at marvelz.gtd.com titled, “Your Killer GTD Setup.” Circa appeared within a few of the respondents’ systems.

Lifemuncher

CrankingWidgets

HDBizBlog

Stephen of the HDBizBlog uncovered the following.

“Liz shared some discussions she has been having with Doc Searls about
how the shift to a conversation age is also impacting commerce. And
that we are moving back to a direct interaction between product
creators and their customers. And it struck me that this is tied in
with the discussions above.

Could it be that the future of “advertising” or “marketing” is to work
with our customers to actually design better products? (As opposed to how to position, market or package them?)”

– Sean : Craphammer

**

A new collaborative E-book, The Conversation Age, is close to publication. 100 marketing and public relations voices speak of participatory consumerism and (as illustrated in MDAS’ “The Break-Up”) the requirement for companies to listen to and openly engage their customers online.

The following is a clip from my own submission. Instead of focusing on consumer generated marketing, I advocate open engagement for the creative advantage it generates. Opening new product development up to customers provides the end-users with the opportunity to co-create products that they actually desire, and provides companies with a source for swift innovation harnessing the wisdom of the crowd.

“The method for engaging this pool of creative talent will vary by industry, but the most important thing to remember is that it should be done soon. A social media strategy will only be as effective as the rate at which it can convert and build the loyalty and trust of the community. The best method for doing this is to dive into the conversation with a personal voice and vulnerability that invites notice.

Transparency is paramount. As quick as a community will be to welcome a representative that is willing to listen and learn, they are just as apt to sniff out traditional marketing maneuvers and react to the intrusion.

The risk of requesting feedback in an uncontrolled public setting is often the leading inhibitor for companies to join in the discussion. However, the loyalties made now will become the backbone of your future brand image as participatory consumerism and social medias topple traditional models of business-centric customer relations. It is not enough to simply listen.”