A Washington State's Dream Team Storytelling Visit

This morning I am thinking about yesterday's great experience, a visit to one of deputy public school superintendent Erin Jone's wonderful Dream Team meetings down in Tacoma, held in a room provided by community-committed Evergreen State College, under the great leadership of Dr. Artie Young...and it all felt just like one big global family... though some newer immigrant community stakeholders were still not a part of this...something they all needed to do further work on.  When I got there, all the folks in the room were already buzzing about their passion for making public schools better for all children, not just for some...and in their own special deeply personal, committed way.

The failure of public school systems to provide a quality education is a huge issue that's been festering for a long, long time, like a huge fire-breathing dragon now terrorizing urban, suburban, and rural countrysides and now more lethal than ever, fueled by the economic crisis and budgetary shortfalls. It feels like the government in its anxiety to cut cost... has all gone mad ...even to the point of stepping on the rights of voters to elect and trust in their own elected official Superintendent of Public Instruction  Randy Dorn. They are talking about putting public instruction under the governor up to cut costs and help shore up a huge budget deficit, which is their short-term fiscal objective. 

The longer term issue ...and objective.. however has to do with improving economic competitiveness, so that Washington State and the U.S. can compete more favorably in a now global marketplace and a now 21st century world.. Talking about this now has to be more than mere lip service. Think about it. e.g. if we can all make more money, then government can enjoy a bigger tax base, but this is not going to happen if fixing public education is not invested in NOW and our students can't compete for jobs that demand a college or technical school education. Education has gotten so bad in this state...and around the country... that even the Army won't take people who can't read and write and do basic math.

So that's at least the beginning of the story....but how will it all play out, and what can we do now in a 21st century world that could help us all slay the dragon? When I was there visiting, I suggested several things... one of which was to leverage the power of the new television for educational innovation so that we can get to the happy ending....and wow did folks in the room pick up on that idea.  There was also some excellent global communications that went on communicating with an online math tudoring services provider...with the presenter "virtually present"... all the way in India....bringing home the point I was trying to make earlier that morning about the value of "virtualizing" physical world meetings. (Step One.)

Now after experiencing the goodwill and brilliance of all these folks, my own feeling is that our own creativity, our own innovation, our own humanity and our own bravery are the only thing left that can  save us now...but after experiencing these folks doing their thing...its really the only thing we really need to drive more support for fresh new directions in education. We just need to get the word out about the fine work they are already doing..and what I do with affordable technology can help do that.

Re-thinking education... and using affordable television and web conferencing... is just part of my strategy for Walking Through The Virtual Door ...See my NWC Overview on YouTube for more details...about what "The Walk" entails...and let's connect if you have some of your own innovative ideas about how to slay the dragon. 425-780-6872.

Its' Now 2011...A Choice - Continue to Be Blown Around By "The Recession"?... or Have Your Cake and Eat It Too?

This morning... what continues to be on my mind is how people and organizations are actually hurting themselves... allowing themselves to be blown around like leaves in the wind supposedly because of "The Recession"...which is actually a low energy mental phenomenon that people are inadvertently resonating... and perpetuating themselves..with low negative energy....when they could instead be flowing  high positive energy and taking responsibility for moving forward ...even in spite of all the bad vibes ... having their cake and eating it too...while attracting more positive high energy..all at the same time.

I really see this when it comes to seizing "net-new" 21st century communications opportunities and how folks tend cling to older-think ways of being doing things and suffering by them, vs seizing newer think ways that could make their situations and their lives phenomenally better.

• IT Infrastructure: "Going Google" is so much smarter end empowering than having file servers go down, buying and upgrading office applications and losing all your data when your hard drive gets to the end of its product life cycle. When you work with a virtual file server and Google Apps instead...you are much more secure and you already have a Virtual Private Network (VPN) infrastructure... a whole suite of Google applications, and a whole Google Apps Marketplace to extend business functionality. ..and Google Sites architecture is also a key part of that. Even the smallest micro-business or non-profit can afford to go Google, saving money...and even making money with a good strategic communications plan that includes other powerful communications venues like a new Google-powered website. See next.
  
  
• Google-powered website:  Google website architecture is marvelous. e.g. It's way easier and less costly to to manage that even WordPress Open Source architecture that is supposedly "free" but has hidden costs because it is not easy for a non-technical person to implement, administer, manage or further develop. This makes you "WordPress consultant dependent". I recently ran into a non-profit that was presented with a $15,000 proposal from one of these consultants for a WordPress website with all the go-gas that functionality-wise actually delivered less functionality and less value than a robust full-blown Google Apps direction ...complete with virtual collaboration...and even a television channel on it...costing less than half as much! Of course the non-profit didn't have the $15,000 so they just sat there.. missing their high activity season... letting opportunity pass them by and using the economic recession as the excuse.  WordPress was an older-think solution... that they clung on to and suffered by...in a low negative energy field...and attracting more of it.
  
  
• The New Television: This is a biggie and a HUGE opportunity. For the first time in the history of the world, folks using low cost pocket video and smart phone technology can create their own television programs...even their own television channels using the Internet and mobile as a vast Internet-work. Television done right is powerful and in a class all by itself. With the right mindset and approach...to producing quality television programming, we could have our cake and eat it too...or we could just use our pocket cameras and smartphone video for the occasional birthday party and go back to work..remaining miserable ...continuing to be like leaves blown in the wind....waiting for the recession to be over.. but actually perpetuating it...because of our "lack of confidence"...which is how pundits explain the prime cause of economic recession.
  
  
• Web Conferencing and Webcasting - This could be used to extend peoples business reach across entire states, across the nation  and across the world. One doesn't not have to be rocket science to do the math in terms of time and money savings, and in terms of creating net-new streams of revenue through increased business and increased membership. The technology is affordable and some of it is even "free" (if you can live with ad-supported services.) See my post about webcast we recently did...pushing the envelope using a mobile 4G smartphone-based WiFi hotspot.
  
  
• Re-thinking Transportation, Architecture...and  Walking the Walk for phenomenal advantage:  Once folks make a choice not to take this "recession" lying down... there are some marvelous things that can be now done to make ours a better world - See my NWC Overview on my website  for more info. 

The choice is yours. What do you want?...being blown around like a leaf..or having your cake and eating it too?... and when would you like to have it? Call me and let's connect if you like me you are moving forward to have it..NOW...coming blasting out of the chute for 2011.  425-780-6872

Here's a Playlist. Documenting our MLK Day Webcasting Experience... That Witnesses Greatness in the Making

This afternoon I am thinking about an amazing experience yesterday as a member of a team of talented people who all came together ..pushing the envelope... to make a grassroots webcast happen supporting a great physical world Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day event put on by amazing Bettina Carey of Women's Empowerment Summit and by equally amazing Dr. Melody Ivory... in freezing cold and with a whole lot of technical, organizational, and economic challenges that we all stepped up to the plate to address.

We deployed multiple technologies at once, the most remarkable of which was using a 4G Android smart phone as a mobile WiFi access point that videographer Giorgio Brown provided us with. This allowed us ..right in the middle of Westlake Park plaza ...to connect to Ustream.tv's free ad-supported webcasting service, stream up to the Internet, and reach a global audience interested in the remarkable front-running work that Bettina Carey and Dr. Melody Ivory are both doing here in Seattle. Ustream.tv webcasting service even has a recording capability as well. We also had a crew of three higher-end camera persons recording the event on-site... and me deciding to shoot a mini-doc of the event with my Flip... right on spot. Doing this was much better than thinking about how cold I was!

Here is  event...in all its still unedited splendor from beginning to end compiled as a playlist and captured with my Flip. See how it all came together complete with soulful street musician and flash mob... with folks celebrating Dr. King in their special, diverse way. 

Wow did we all come together... during those nippy few hours... that ended up greatly warming our hearts and spirits...witnessing how community can come together to do some remarkable things. Call me and let's connect if you today are interested in pushing the envelope like we did. 425-780-6872.

MLK Jr. Day 2011 A - New World Learning Institute & Conference Center Webcast Today Jan 17, 2011 at 2:00pm PST

This morning, what's on my mind is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and what his courageous dreaming...and brave front-running action  has done for me and for world humanity. I will never forget the day that he came to San Jose, California where I grew up and I got to shake his hand. Fast-forward to now... so here I am in a 2011 21st century world with my great friend and colleague Dr. Paul Jackson about to support a webcast of rising stars Bettina Carey of Women's Empowerment Network & Summit and Dr. Melody Ivory ...first African-American woman the U.S. to receive her PhD in Computer Science from UC Berkeley ...my alma mater.. reading her poetry... in Westlake Park at the very epicenter of downtown Seattle....and streaming this using one of the resources at my disposal via my online New World Learning Institute & Conference Center.

Wow does supporting what Dr. Martin Luther Jr, and these powerful women are about...doing this event... fire my own dreams about using intelligent communications and learning to make ours a better world. So watch this window from my blog today at 2:00 PM (Pacific Standard Time) to experience a remarkable, historical event and please comment below to let me know what you think.

Thank you Dr. King for your courage and for your unconditional love for all humanity in this Earth upon which  we all live.

For more information about services and resources of New World Communication and our virtual New World Learning Institute & Conference Center call me and let's connect at 425-780-6872.

Thoughts right before going into a Community-based Television communications and learning opportunity

This morning I am sipping some espresso in nice cafe across from Burien Library with wonderful thoughts on my mind about upcoming free Community-based Television workshop I will be teaching...one hour from now. First thing in my mind is how wonderful powerful information shared with genuine love and caring is. People attending will be small businesses and entrepreneurs with big dreams on their mind and much passion in their hearts... so my own consciousness is telling me to do what I can help folks get to what they deeply care about and how the new television can be practically applied to help them get to that.

Although I will be sure to cover the basics of providing a great overview of where the new television  is going, and will do some "hands-on" television programming and video production training during this three-hour workshop... the real center piece to this is what is going on at people's very center...what they are deeply passionate about.  Perhaps putting the technology right into their hands and having them speak out about that, while the camera is rolling will capture some of that.... Yes... that's what I will do. ..keeping my own overview short... investing more time in them.. and asking them to tell a brief three-part, "before-during-and-after-story about what mastering the new television would mean for them...personally.

That's what I will do... What story do you need to tell about what the new television might be able to do for you...once you have mastered it? Call me and let's connect about this...in the service of truth, learning, hope, and personal accomplishment. - 425-780-6872.

Google Apps for Non-Profits: There is a Life Beyond WordPress Webmaster Dependency

This morning, after viewing this web television piece about how this non-profit has benefited by taking a Google Apps direction, I am reflecting about the great conversation I had with a lovely person I met yesterday that I started connecting with over at one of the several espresso cafes where I work.  She overheard my phone conversation raving about the advantages of a Google Apps for Non-profits direction that I was taking with my client, and she got interested herself. 

Hers was a familiar situation that I've seen several non-profits faced with: They get to a certain stage in their development where a new website with additional functionality is in order, but they get stuck because the WordPress site with plugins that has been proposed by the local WordPress "guru"...costs an arm a leg in consulting time and they don't have the money. And so they sit, needing to raise more money to pay for a complicated WordPress implementation...the next year... that th3y belatedly discover they can't easily manage themselves, and this causes them additional organizational and  money headaches. They in effect, become "WordPress guru dependent", wasting more time and money than they need to.

Luckily, I was able to help her by letting her know that there is now a life beyond WordPress webmaster dependency, especially when you see and understand the advantages of what a Google Apps for non-profit direction provides. Here are just a few of them:

The first major benefit is Operational Infrastructure... not just another website with more "bells-and-whistles":

• A robust Google-architecture direction, most of which is free or low cost - It all starts with a Gmail account that you discover is the door way to multiple free applications that you don't have to pay for. Google Docs is wonderful. You can even develop a Google Site that hosted for free if just use a Gmail email address. If however you need to have a domain name e-mail address, then a Google Apps Premier edition account is only $50 a year per domain name e-mail account...and Google then becomes your IT resource...and supplier of robust applications that allow your organization to grow...virtually... as you extend your business reach in ways limited only by your imagination.
  
  
• With your Google Premier edition account you also get your own Google Video account with better control over who views your content, and better control over the kind of content you need to upload.
  
  
• You have no in-house mail server, file service or web server to go down!  Instead you get an elegant virtual file server managed by Google with 99.9% uptime... nothing like the horror that most non-profits that have in-house mail servers and file servers continue to experience...and at the worse time....typically right during the height of a major fund-raising campaign.
  
  
• No Office applications, and firewall gateway software updating costs or upgrading hassles to pay for. Instead you get virtual office applications that are elegantly simpler to use - word processor, drawing application, spreadsheet, forms, and presentation applications... that are automatically updated by Google with new features coming out all the time. Google Voice also has some interesting phone routing applications that distributed workers can take advantage of it. 

Now about a Google Apps website direction itself :

• Google Sites architecture - Compared with the WordPress administrative "back-end" that forces all users to work at the HTML layer, Google Sites architecture is elegantly simpler. With Google Sites architecture, even non-technical, non-HTML saavy folks can create and edit pages, add pictures and even embed advanced functionality... and Google Apps... "talks" to Google Docs documents. You can even give content contributors their own Google Docs "page" that can be embedded on Google Sites page.  You don't have to be "webmaster dependent" because the architecture is so intuitive and easy to work with. Google Sites architecture...designed by Google itself... the king of search...also indexes phenomenally well .
  
  
• Google Apps Marketplace - In addition to all the free applications, Google has been working with hundreds of third-party developers who have been writing apps that integrate with Google Apps/Google Sites architecture if you need to further extend the functional of your non-profit Google Sites-based website. See how many third-party applications there are.
  
  
• It's the entire systems integration piece that makes the most sense - For me personally, and as a television person, the entire Google Apps for Non-profits direction makes powerful good sense to me. Google's Chrome web browser is marvelous as is having more choice over where you upload your videos and Google Android operating system on smart phones and on Google TV potentially provides non-profits with a lot more power than merely taking a WordPress direction does. I could go on and on... about all the great Google applications most of which are free.

Therefore, before biting the bullet and going down a surprisingly expensive WordPress road and discovering it's many hidden minefields of WordPress webmaster dependency... at least learn more about the advantages of  Google Apps for Non-Profit direction first, because it will deliver for more power for the money invested. This is what I was able to share with her. Call me if you have similar challenges - 425-780-6872.

Getting All Your Horses Pulling Together: Here's a Limited time by January 15th Special Offer...A Robust Google Website ..and 3-7 minute Promotional Video Offer Designed to Help You Do That

Limited Time Only Special offer of $2500 for a Robust Website...and 3-7 minute promotional video if by January 15, 2010 - This morning what's on my mind is getting the word about  a great way to "get your horses all pulling together" marketing communications-wise via a robust website limited time only special offer using new Google Apps/Google Sites architecture that's designed to do just that - See our own New World Communications website as the concrete example of this - www.newworldcom.com

• Web Presence - "Going Google" is the best website direction you could ever take. The architecture is elegant and easy to work with. Updating your website is a breeze... and there are literally thousands of ways to extend the platform using both Google's robust suite of applications as well as an entire Google Apps Marketplace. Hosting can even be free if you use a gmail e-mail address.. or for just $50 a year for a Google Apps Premier Edition account you can use domain name e-mail as well as get to upload to your own business Google Video account.
  
  
• Television Channel and Promotional Video - That's right. You can have your very own web television channel that can stream powerful programming all the way to mobile devices and to HDTV sets (using powerful new Google TV). As part of the deal, we'll even produce a 3-7 minute promotional video for you.
  
  
• Blogging Campaign - You can do it like we are doing it right from your website and easily "share" your post on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites in just a few clicks.
  
  
• "Virtualized" meetings - Through a shared web conferencing license, you'll even be able to meet with and coach local, regional, national, and even international people "inside" your website...for phenomenal business reach.
  
  
• Critical Conversations  - These will be a series of high-powered web conferenced conversations that we can include you in. Getting ramped up now doing the web conferencing will get you ready for that. Our shared web conferencing capability can also do virtual focus groups for phenomenal revenue-generation potential.
  
  
• Virtual Conferences & Trade Shows - Over time and working together... these can even be accessed from "inside" your website. This most probably will be Facebook Group-related and will leverage your web television and your remote consulting and e-learning capability. We can do all this with zero carbon footprint and no physical world travel expenses, hotel or convention center costs.
  
  
• Twitter Marketing - Again our blogging capability can easily post there as well.
  
  
• Facebook Marketing - We have stepped up to the plate and have launched several groups on Facebook... all designed to help you grow more business.
  
  
• Physical World Marketing - We are also designing and creating  special business networking and events that will help you grow business in the physical world...as well as online.  Doing a website with us will be the doorway to this. 

A $5000 value... yours for only $2500 if you move forward by January 15, 2010 

For lower budget folks - Also talk to us even if your budget is more in the $500 range ... we also have a $750 value special offer for $500 that can at least get you started fleshing our your own Google website that we can you set-up with, and get you started...going down the right road. The deadline for that is January 15, 2011 as well.

What ever you decide to do. Call us today and let's talk about getting you get started ... blasting out of the chute in 2011 with a new website using powerful new Google Apps/Google Sites architecture - 425-780-6872.

This How in 2011 ...with a little Angel investment...We Can Use the New Television, the New Web Conferencing, and the New Social Media to Change the World

What's on mind this morning is how...with a little angel investment...we can leverage the new television, the new web conferencing, and the new social media to change the world in a most positive way. What's really on my mind is applying this community-based model to public education first, because it would represent the best return on investment an investor could make. Here are the basic pieces to this:

• The New Low Cost Accessible Web Television Technology - I'm talking about grass roots video production here...community-based television programming produced by the people.. using revolutionary one button Flip camcorder technology to produce programming uploaded right to YouTube. This would.not be another slick hollywood film approach like "Waiting for Superman"...but with television in our own hands, we would actually change education ourselves. All the latest Flip camcorders are even in a manageable high definition (HD) format and under $200 and come with basic FlipShare software that allows you to make a "movie", grab snapshots from frames, make video postcards, and upload to YouTube. You can even do fancier editing online for free using www.Jaycut.com or use Adobe Premiere Elements 9 video editing software ($149) if you need even higher production values. All it takes is learning how to produce quality community-authoring programming. See next section.
  
  
• Best Practice Community-authored Programming - What's great is that there are already front-running models for community-based programming...to learn from "bubbling up" across the Internet. We are even seeing models coming from the poorest nations first. What's key to the success of these best practices examples is the leadership and the organizational capacity to consistently crank out decent content. See the recent post I did about this. We are also teaching community-authored programming as part of our 3-hour video production workshop that can help get you started.
  
  
• The New Big-reach, Learning-rich Web Conferencing - Using the new web conferencing we can even e-meet and e-learn locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally with people as well as "roll" on the best practices community-authored programming that we produce. It's part of an ultra-green communications and learning platform that we have developed that has a "zero carbon footprint" that can be scaled up to even do multi-day virtual conferences and trade shows on any subject we choose..like reforming public education and bringing folks up to speed quickly like Sir Ken Robinson does with his innovative approach in re-thinking public education e.g. Changing Educational Paradigms that I recently blogged about. We could wrap one of special "view-podding" sessions around this.
  
  
• Internet Television ...even on home HDTV screens - The web television "channels" that we can now create...such as a progressive education channel... or even a entire progressive educational network of channels will even show up on HDTV screens ...and it already goes to mobile devices if we upload to YouTube and Facebook social media sites. See "What is Google TV?" on my New World Television Channel page for more info.  Also see my New World Communications Overview 2010 on YouTube while you are at it...for the big view of where I am going with all this stuff. ..."re-thinking" transportation and architecture and changing the world the world with it.
  
  
• "Virtualized" global meetings...using multiple communications venues - Never before in the history of the world are we able to so much with just a modest budget. These can be linked right into Facebook and we can even live webcast events through Facebook groups now. See my recent blog about Ustream.tv's low end and high end webcasting service.
  
  
• Strategic Communications Planning, Budgeting and Program Development - The last piece to this , which actually should come first ... is to approach the entire initiative as a program that needs to be planned, funded on a year 'round basis, and staffed with a few talented people to pull the whole thing off. All it takes is just a little angel investment to cover the costs. If you are interested, let's connect and start moving forward with this. Call me at 425-780-6872 or e-mail me at artatnwc@gmail.com.