GLOBAL NETWORKS | We Live NY Summit
March 25,2011
Paul Treadwell
LOCAL IMPACTS
Harnessing the power of connectedness
LIVING IN A CONNECTED WORLD.
In the U.S. 79% of adults use the internet (as of May, 2010)
Worldwide mobile phones = 5 billion +
Facebook has over 500 million active users
More access, more information, more…
GLOBAL CONNECTIONS
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have
opened access to new content and audiences across the
globe.
Geographic boundaries have become porous on the internet
Research, collaboration and cooperation are facilitated across
boundaries.
Your networks can be embodied, local, virtual and global
LIVING IN MULTIPLE WORLDS
Regardless of the virtual/embodied distinction, your social
identity is built on the 3R’s:
MANAGING THE ECOSYSTEM
Seeding and cultivating your social identity helps establish:
Trust
Boundaries
Authority
Reciprocity
With the goal of:
Using our reputation
To build relationships
To access resources
SEEKING ASYMMETRY
A small circle of friends is always good, but
Expanding vision
Building new relationships
and
Discovering innovation
Push at the comfortable edges of relationship.
Asymmetries in your network represent learning nodes
You should know people you don’t know
PRODUCERS AND CONSUMERS
Social content opens the cycle of production and consumption
Youtube, Wikipedia, etc have altered traditional patterns
In social networks, contribution is the coin of the realm
There is a, potentially, democratizing of production and
consumption
Is this a façade?
SOCIAL NETWORKS AS LEARNING
NETWORKS
Change and innovation rise from learning.
Social networks can provide:
Access and connections for informal learning
Testing grounds for new ideas
Peer learning and informal mentoring
EVERYTHING CHANGES
Vital communities, whether online or off, evolve
Not every relationship is active, all the time
As you interact you change
This is a Good Thing.
SOCIAL MEDIA – TANGIBLE ACTION
Beyond the personal, the technologies of social networking
can be used to reconnect with the world. (the real world)
The power of connectedness is realized in our lives, where we
live, work and play.
This should not lead to schizophrenia (an online vs offline
identity)
Tourism or …..? (It makes sense, really…)
HARNESSING SOCIAL TECHNOLOGIES
FOR LOCAL IMPACT
The tools, and processes, of social networking online can be
brought to play in physical communities.
Participatory budgeting is one example
Community networks, community telecenters – precursors to the
current web2.0 technologies
WEB 2.0 COMMUNITIES?
Can we envision (do they already exist) face to face
communities that embrace the best of web 2.0?
Peer production
Rapid innovation
Entrepreneurial
How do we maintain the character of local communities while
engaging the global marketplace of ideas and innovation?
COMMUNITY INFORMATION TOOLKIT
From the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Provides templates, scorecards and instruction on assessing an
creating a plan of action to facilitate the development of “stronger
communities through information exchange.”
“LEARNING REGIONS”
From “The role of ITCs in Facilitating Regional Development: Some
preliminary findings.” Toland and Yoong, 2007
REFERENCES AND LINKS
Pew Internet and American Life:
http://www.pewinternet.org/
Community Information Toolkit
http://www.knightcomm.org/the-community-information-toolkit-version-1-
0
/
Toland, J. & Yoong,P. The Role of ICTs in facilitating Regional
Development:
http://www.ccnr.net/prato2007/archive/TolandYoongPratoRevised%2014
2%20.pdf
CONTACT
Paul Treadwell
[email protected]
@ptreadwell
http://www.facebook.com/ptreadwell
http://www.linkedin.com/in/paultreadwell
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