Archive - 2008
April 23rd
Changemaker of the Week at Change.org
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 05:59Yesterday, I was found out that change.org has named me their ‘Changemaker of the Week’. I was pretty excited about that.
Change.org is a social activism portal aimed at connecting people with similar interests so that they can work together for more effective actions. When I stumble across a cause that I’m interested in, Change.org is one of the first places I go to look for more information about the cause and who else is interested. In addition, when someone contacts me about an issue I try to help them connect with others on change.org
I guess it is this approach that has helped me become the Changemaker of the Week, because I don’t do anything out of the ordinary in my activism. Yet perhaps, that is an important part of the message. Meaningful activism can be very simple changes; letting other people know about good causes and good organizations trying help these causes, and then making small changes that combined with the actions of others can have a big effect.
One example is Project Laundry List.
Project Laundry List uses words, images, and advocacy to educate people about how simple lifestyle modifications, including air-drying one's clothes, reduce our dependence on environmentally and culturally costly energy sources.
Other actions have been as simple as letting people know about interesting organizations, like Council for a Livable World or Great Strides Therapeutic Riding.
Whatever change you would like to see in the world, Change.org is a great place to start.
April 22nd
Mark Kingdon to become new Linden Lab CEO
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 04/22/2008 - 19:58At the Metanomics session Monday the 21st, Mitch Wagner of Information Week and Gartner Fellow Steve Prentice expressed concerns about the future of Second Life. As a business collaboration tool, it is loosing ground to competitors like QWAQ.
Yet the back channel seemed more concerned with whether or not Mitch at Steve were analyzing Linden Lab properly. Is Second Life an application that needs to be constrained? Is it a platform that can serve many applications? Is it a community based upon a platform? Much of this will be questions that need to be answered by the new CEO.
Today, the new CEO was announced. His name is Mark Kingdon. He has been CEO at Organic, a leading online marketing firm, since 2001. During his time there Organic doubled in size.
Everyone is pouring over comments Mark has made, blog posts, interviews, etc., to get a sense about what he will bring to Second Life. Yet the view of what Linden Lab was looking for can be found in an interview Philip Rosedale did with Reuters in March where he said they were “someone who has experience with and a passion for growing this type of company — a software platform company.”
Presently, residents of Second Life expressed cautious optimism, waiting to see what sort of changes Kingdon will bring. Some of this reflects the different views about what Second Life is all about that different residents have.
A good summary of Mark’s background, and some of his articles can be found at ClickZ
The blog post from Linden Lab about Mark can be found here.
Doc Wiley
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 04/22/2008 - 10:54I originally set up Orient Lodge to be ‘A literary outpost on the Internet’; a place where I would post not only commentary and news, but also fiction and poetry. Over the years, I haven’t written as much fiction or poetry as I would like. Yet last night, a story came to me, which I’ve written down this morning. All the standard disclaimers apply. This is a first draft. It is loosely based on real experiences I’ve had, but it is a work of fiction and any resemblance to real people is coincidental.
Upcoming Events in Connecticut
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 04/22/2008 - 09:14Tomorrow night, West Hartford Democracy for America and Connecticut Common Cause will show the movie “Democracy in America” with a discussion to follow at the West Hartford Senior Center, 15 Starkel Road starting at 7 PM.
Saturday, starting at 1 PM, the Human Rights Torch Relay will come to the New Haven Green.
On May 15th, the Woodbridge CT Clean Energy Initiative will host the seventh event of its year long lecture series. The lecture will be about how simple conservation efforts, costing less than $100 can save people up to $10,000 over the next five years. It will take place at the Center School Building at 7 PM.
On May 28th, David Sirota will be discussing his new book, The Uprising, at R.J. Julia Booksellers at 768 Boston Post Road in Madison. The event will take place at 7 PM. David will be joined by Ned Lamont, and they will talk about “Connecticut's 2006 senate race and how it contributed to the populist movement in America”.
Protests in Second Life
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 04/22/2008 - 08:19(Originally published at SLNN.COM.)
Last week, residents of Second Life grappled with their views of the Second Life value proposition and how they felt that Linden Lab was doing to defend the value proposition.
