Technology and Social Movements

“We are the ones we have been waiting for." — Hopi elders

Relevant Experience

Technology Focus...Private Client Investment advisory and Investment Banking

Scotia McLeod: Private Client investment services for 7 yearsBig Cap tech focus... Intel, Cisco, OracleParticipated in dot com explosion!

Catalyst Capital Partners: investment banking and strategic advisory services for 5 yearsRaised $1,000,000 for several early stage tech

companiesVOIP infrastructureWirelessDid M&A transaction for mobile messaging

platform

OpenKollabExploring the power of open collaboration

Global virtual community of 280+ technologists, academics and change agents

Co-founded with two others...Discussion space to network, exchange ideas

and stimulate projectsResulted in several innovative models/projects

Concept of EcosystemEcosystem Pooled FundProject Matching architectureOpen Manufacturing Ecosystem

Current Context

Technological TransformationThe Forces at Play

Broadband Proliferation

Increase in Processing Power

Decrease in Cost of Memory

Real Time Infrastructure

Power at Edge of Network

High VISIBILITY and Connectedness

Simultaneously...

Values TransformationThe Forces at Play

Climate Change

Financial Market Collapse

Alienation and Fragmentation in Western Culture

Discontent!Shifts in Global Balance of Power

Absence of Holistic/Spiritual Context

The Tipping PointThe Forces at Play

Values Transformation

Technological Transformation

The Tipping Point!!

So What Now?

The New ParadigmWhere we are going and where we need to go

OLD NEW

Hierarchical Flat

Closed Open

Centralized Decentralized

Privacy Transparency

Self- Interested Cooperative

Competitive Collaborative

Isolated Connected

Corporations Social Ventures, Co-Ops

Insular World View Holistic World View

Compartmentalization: mind, body, spirit

Integration: mind, body, spirit

Fixation on financial capital

Broader definition of capital

How Can We Think About Revolution?

Visibility, Representation and Group Consciousness

Is there a virtual analogue?

Imagine this number being 100,000,000!!

How, you ask?

Highly Scalable Mass Collaboration Platforms... Two different approaches

Open Project

Infrastructure

•‘Bootstrapping’•Platform

Ecosystem Rollout

•Platform

Open Project Infrastructure

Need to solve two problems...

Bootstrapping...

Project Matching

Collaboration

How Does Matching Work?

By analysing projects, we plan to develop project meta-

data analogous to the personal meta-data used by dating

sites

Project Matching via Meta- Data

MissionGoalsLeaderTeamMilestones

AgeSexHeightInterestsHobbies

PROJECT META-DATA

PERSONAL META-DATA

Note that Visible Personal Meta-Data is a recent phenomena. Why not Visible

Project Meta-Data?

Open Project ArchitectureMultiple Platforms... ‘bootstrapping’

Workstream 1

Workstream 2

Workstream 3

Each workstream is supported by a set of virtual tools

•Google Group•Skype Chat•Wiki•Facebook Group

Workstreams... A real example...

ProM has three workstreams each with a

particular mandate and set of interaction spaces

enabled by certain tools

MetaDataOutreach Technology

Mandate is to identify the meta-data that can facilitate matching

Mandate is to identify

candidate groups for

matching and to develop

engagement strategy

Mandate is to both identify and test tools for internal

use as well as support ProM

platform development

Ecosystem Rollout

Forestry

Project 1Project 2 Project 3

Land UseProject 1Project 2 Project 3

Oceans

Project 1Project 2 Project 3

Climate Change

What might a ‘Facebook like’ platform that

connected ecosystems look

like?

What Is An Ecosystem?

Current ProjectsIsofractal...

IsofractalTeam: Curtis Faith, Kenny Kasajian, Suresh

Fernando‘Cloud Operating System’ for mass

collaborationApplication development frameworkBased on ecosystem modelWill roll out within ecosystemsInitial Ecosystem Focus

Social FinanceLocal Foods

Corporate Structure

Current ProjectsPartyX

PartyX... A few details...

The problem(s)Democracy is a flawed mechanism for

reflecting the ‘aggregate satisfaction’ of large numbers of people

We need decision making models that work across organizational boundaries (trans organizational collab.)

A new model (set of algorithms) for collaborative decision making

Will involve a ‘movement building’ aspect

CrowdsourcingThe Evolution of TribeSourcing

Crowdsourcing... Initial thoughts

Why crowdsourcing?... No money for high risk social change projects (period)

Hard to get money from institutions if you are a change agent trying to change the institutional framework

Myself and my partner, Joe Brewer, raised $5,000 to draft a paper on “Crowdsourcing Social Movements”