Consulting Shaykh Google

Click here to view the video.


Radical Middle Way has a new video up that is worth viewing. It's a discussion about the influence of the web on young Muslims. The UK panel discussion called "Wired Warriors," describes itself like this: "Welcome to Muslim 2.0 – a wired generation whose members would rather pose their tough questions to Shaykh Google than their local Imam and who feel more connected to the Facebook ummah than the congregation at the local mosque. Never has Muslim conversation buzzed with so many divergent, combative and off-the-wall perspectives."

During our research in 2008 for the Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds project we interviewed Mohammed Baba of Dutch firm Mexit Intercultural Management. Mohammed described a dilemma his company faces in their intercultural relations work -- that of young Muslims who are children of recent immigrants "Googling their religion." The power and potential the Internet provides, combined with the fact that teenagers often go outside their family for information about the world, creates a unique challenge to organizations who are trying to provide accurate information about religion and culture. You can read more here.

"Deep Concern" or Rays of Hope?

While the economy continues to slip, efforts to transform it, like 3D Squared's work in Metaplace, explore how we can recover.

NPR Reported today: "President Obama said Thursday he is 'deeply concerned' about unemployment. The remarks to The Associated Press came after the Labor Department said U.S. businesses shed 467,000 jobs in June and that the unemployment rate increased to 9.5 percent." (Website, Shadow Government Statistics says it is actually more like 17%.) For a more detailed examination of why the President has reason to be concerned, see this dramatic series of charts on The Big Picture, illustrating long-term predictions of how the devastation on the workforce is likely to continue well into 2010.

Amidst this sturm und drang, innovative efforts to transform the economy are moving forward. Just last week, our favorite non-profit 3D Squared completed its capstone Digital Workforce Intensive in Lafayette, Louisiana. We have written about the work of 3D Squared before (see two April 2009 articles, "How I Became a Virtual World Believer" in VentureBeat and "Digital Workforce Initiative Transforms Gulf Coast Job Prospects" in the Carnegie Council's Policy Innovations magazine).

Recent coverage of last week's Digital Workforce Intensive ran in the Louisiana's The Advocate, and was picked up by a number of blogs including gaming blogs GamePolitics.com and Destructoid. "With 97% of teenagers playing, games are the future of learning, work and human collaboration."

As Rita J. King put it in her April article:

This approach could be revolutionary for Louisiana because the number one reason students drop out is lack of engagement with the educational system—they simply aren't interested. They are definitely interested in games, and are motivated to learn when lessons are framed in relation to games. In learning how to collaborate on the creation of games, students are being prepared for related collaborative opportunities, such as participation in the state's increasingly robust mixed media and film production industry and the creation of simulated virtual training environments.

In learning how to design games, kids are also learning the most important skills to compete across sectors in the 21st century. Creative collaboration and fluency within the digital culture are modern necessities. Most importantly, people can work within these fields from their own communities without feeling the necessity to leave and find work in cramped urban centers.

Xeni Jardin for #followfriday

Xeni Jardin is an individual who triumphantly navigates a state of conscious transformation and gives us all something to watch and learn while at the same time remaining mysterious. She's not above-it-all--she's in it.

Her tweets from Guatemala were magnificent, and completely different than her tweets from Los Angeles, or, come to think of it, New York, or any other city that she visits. In 140 characters, she paints the portrait of the *tone* of a place on par with Truman Capote.

DIP on Boing Boing (Boinged by Xeni, twice and Cory, twice).

140 Conf Demonstrates "Twitter's Domination & Scope"

Diandra Louarn working at the recent 140Conf.

[Dancing Ink Productions Intern, Diandra Louarn, a journalism graduate student from Paris, France, recently participated and worked at the Twitter-based 140Conf. Her report on the conference follows.]

By Diandra Louarn.

Last week I spent two intense days working as a staff member for Twitter's first “140 characters conference” in New York City. Over 500 people showed up, among them major actors of Twitter's revolution such as Ann Curry, Wyclef Jean, Chris Sacca, Justine Ezarik, Tim O'Reilly, Rick Sanchez along with Dancing Ink Productions' team Rita King and Joshua Fouts.

The format was 10- to 20-minute micro conferences moderated and led by guest speakers expounding on diverse topics related to Twitter's trends and its infinite possibilities. Plunging into this cutting edge and super excited community felt like I had literally jumped into the effervescent heart of the “Imagination Age” for 48 hours. I tried not to drown in the wild ocean of computers commenting – I should say “twittering” - each unique detail of the conference. What a fascinating picture, I thought: All the attendees, eyes riveted on their screens, were interacting with each other through tweet exchanges. Both speakers and attendees were equally enthusiastic and more than willing to connect and share their ideas in an effort to make a difference.

Twitter is establishing a new set of rules, which are reminiscent of innovations, improvements and changes that arose earlier in the 20th century, after the Great Depression. Depressions, crises and recessions often bring a deep need for cultural evolution. It follows a theory I believe in called Kondratiev Waves. The theory argues that capitalist societies cycle in 50- to 60- year waves. Viewed through this prism, Twitter is earning a legitimate spot within the current global transformation that is shaking the economic, politic, cultural, and communication models of today.

How 140 characters can matter

Throughout the 140 Conference, people expressed a strong desire to build something serious together and using Twitter to define these new rules. There was no need to convince any one of Twitter's impact. The critical role of Twitter was demonstrated during the first panels of the conference, which discussed Twitter's possible role as a communication tool during the civil unrest following the Iranian elections.

The “Twitter as a news gathering tool” panel with Ann Curry of MSNBC and Rick Sanchez of CNN attributed Twitter with playing a fundamental role in their work as journalists. Rick Sanchez expressed that social media is not a gag, rather it is a tool to change the world. Ann Curry added that, now, news that would not otherwise be available or accessible in mainstream media becomes accessible because of Twitter. It is the chance to know what is happening now, accurately. She also noted that this is only the beginning and we all need to take responsibility, step up and care about the things that really matter.

These examples make me believe that the potential of Twitter is endless and hopeful. Further, because it has an international context, Twitter will likely continue to grow over the next few years.

Conversely, many of the 140 Conf attendees were critical of Facebook, not only because it is a competitor and the leading social network, but because they couldn't see any serious and professional aspects to be developed within Facebook community. It didn't seem to bother anyone that this so-called "unexploitable community" represents over 200 million people while Twitter, despite an amazing monthly growth of 1382%, remains under 10 million. This makes it seem like challengers to Facebook or Myspace will only be more carefully considered for their grass root potential. But I think the revolution of social media has to be considered in the wholeness of its movement. Twitter and Facebook are, for me, interconnected and they don't serve they same purposes, much like two different TV channels.

I don't believe it is necessary to place such a heavy burden on social media and denigrate its social nature. Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and their competitors became famous, first and foremost, because they were playful. Their strengths come from people's desire to connect regardless of any cultural, political or social criteria. Most of these people aren't concerned about current issues of the day, and yet these people constitute what makes social media so successful. This extraordinary diversity makes the social networks stay social and avoids turning them into restrictive professional networks only.

Because we are local and global citizens

Social media, more then ever, has the extraordinary capacity to give a global echo to ideas created by ordinary citizens. I feel lucky to get to live such an immersive experience in the US. The 140 Conf reminded me that everything I like about the US is how citizens are able to federate behind social and cultural values. I had the opportunity during the two days of 140 Conf, to meet extraordinary journalists whose values and ethics increased the passion and interest I have for journalism. When I return to France in a few months, I will keep my experience as a true gift influencing my personal leitmotif for the basics and ethics of my future profession.

Each internet user doesn't necessarily have something to say or feel like stepping up to make a difference but, from now on, what matters is that we have the tools of expression and change at our disposal.

In the end, 140 Conf was not only about Twitter even if Twitter is currently seen in the US as the new leader influencing news gathering new procedures and stakes. It demonstrated its strong impact and bright future more than once during diverse international crises, where Twitter basically built the bridge between citizens and information at the global scale.

To me, the most significant aspect of those 48 hours remains Ann Curry's statement in which she said that says that American and international news judgment is dramatically evolving. I think she artfully raised the question: How are new communication and interaction tools redefining the world?

Other 140 Conf panelists discussed whether or not Twitter's disruptive breakthrough was a positive change for US news judgment. I think this is an amazing and genuine attempt to open minds and bring awareness to an evolving subject. As a foreigner, I am always surprised by the organization of news in the US shows that seems to prioritize local news and barely pays attention to international issues. Yet Twitter redefines the rules by creating a buzz that allows any kind of information to reach global audience and eventually end up on the news anchor's desk. Judgment is not taught; it is continuously changing, partly because the world is getting more and more connected and each local citizen can bring something unique.

How to Use a Smartphone During a Meeting

Alex Williams wrote "At Meetings, It's Mind Your Blackberry or Mind Your Manners" for the New York Times.

Is it really either/or?

Williams describes a person who took up space at a meeting thumbing away for an hour and a half, playing a racing game. This type of person, I suspect, will soon be rendered moot in the hungry riptide of savvy, talented and creative people who are starting to shape the Imagination Age.

The article goes on to review the mix of reactions various companies have to the use of iPhones and BlackBerrys. One company advises its clients to have its employees turn off devices during meetings (strategic error--why not try taking breaks for checking smartphones periodically instead of cutting employees off from any and all chance of attending to business and/or achieving a work/life balance?)

This made me laugh:

"Beyond practical considerations, there is also the issue of image. In many professional circles, where connections are power, making a show of reaching out to those connections even as co-workers are presenting a spreadsheet presentation seems to have become a kind of workplace boast.

Mr. Brotherton, the consultant, wrote in an e-mail message that it was customary now for professionals to lay BlackBerrys or iPhones on a conference table before a meeting — like gunfighters placing their Colt revolvers on the card tables in a saloon. “It’s a not-so-subtle way of signaling ‘I’m connected. I’m busy. I’m important. And if this meeting doesn’t hold my interest, I’ve got 10 other things I can do instead.’"

Like the cocky thumb-racer on the edge of extinction described above, this kind of worker will soon also be baffled, on the sofa, wondering how it all went downhill so quickly. The point of smartphones is not braggadocio, although we've all seen the type, as if touching a device connotes someone-more-important on the other end. Sometimes this type of person seems like Tom Cruise playing Ben Stiller in a movie, or the other way around, I often find.

The point of devices is the depth of the connections that get facilitated by their existence. The people who understand this will dominate the new economy and culture through authentic engagement.

As for the meetings where speakers are being drowned out by typing--you'd better hope your audience is tweeting your comments and giving you your own hashtag, otherwise maybe they really aren't interested, and its time for new content.

*Artificially High Savings*

Jon Taplin asks: will the politicians listen to the people?

I just came across this intriguing post about the implications of an increase in American savings at the individual level.

This issue requires serious immediate consideration when new economic models and projects are measured for sustainability and value in The Imagination Age.

On November 24, 2008, I attended this event:

State of the World: Asia
insights on key priorities driving consumer behavior and policy decisions in Asia

November 24th - 8:30 a.m.-10:30a.m.

Ritz Carlton 50 Central Park South, Salon One

The leadership discussion will center on the findings of the Gallup World Poll Asia:
a 3 year analysis of the priorities and challenges facing consumers and citizens
across Asia from Gallup’s unique network of frontline pollsters.

The briefing and discussion was led by Dr. Rajesh Srinivasan, Gallup Senior Scientist Asia and Markus Jaeger, Deutsche Bank, Global Risk Management Team.

Dr. Srinivasan used a phrase that day when presenting the findings to describe rural Chinese thrift: artificially high savings.

Artificially high savings? Can savings can be "artificially high?" And if so, what are the implications, benefits and pitfalls of such a condition?

Life is Either a Daring Adventure or Nothing

What if there were interesting places that everyone could go to, interesting activities that everyone could participate in . . . everyone but you? How would you feel? People with disabilities find interesting ways to do things to overcome obstacles just getting through every day. You may not be aware of it, but if you’re active in Second Life, chances are you interact with someone with a disability.

Helen Keller Day in Second Life is a 24-hour event that will be held on Saturday, June 27 at the four The Ye, Olde, Supporte, Faire sims.

Contact person: Saxet Uralia

Linden Lab is collaborating with and assisting Virtual Helping Hands and a coalition of community volunteers who are proud to announce Helen Keller Day in Second Life. Helen Keller Day is a community-event exploring how and why to employ, educate, entertain, and engage everyone through virtual worlds.

Helen Keller Day is a day that is set aside for information acquisition, education, exploration of employment opportunities, social engagement, and enjoyment of arts and entertainment… There will be vendors, employers, presentations, and pure, unbridled fun.

It’s a day dedicated to raising our level of awareness for our fellow Second Life residents who cope with disabilities. At some time in our lives, we’ve all felt what it feels like not to be able to participate… not to be included. Knowing how to include someone with a disability, and make them feel welcome, is an important social skill, and a small but significant kindness that we can all benefit from and feel good about.

Participants will meet people learn things, get freebies, and be entertained for their efforts.

You will hear keynote speakers Keller Johnson Thompson, the great grandniece of Helen herself and Linden Labs Education and Healthcare Developer, John Lester, aka Pathfinder Linden. You will hear from experts in the fields of virtual education, employment, social engagement and entertainment. There will be building contests featuring skilled builders doing accessible builds before our virtual eyes. There will be a world premier “movie” featuring “Max,” the virtual guide dog developed in Second Life for SL users who are blind or sight impaired. Also featured will be an exhibition of Max's abilities, a fashion show, chess, a Braille chat display, dancing, singing quests and storytelling... even a virtual goldmine!

There will be experiences designed to spark the imagination and “see” and “hear” the world with all the senses in new and thought provoking ways. Join the pioneers in virtual worlds who are inspired by the spirit of Helen Keller to explore ways in which everyone can participate…and create a world that richer for all.

Please come and learn, connect, explore, be entertained, and pick up freebies while sharing this positive and uplifting experience with us.

SL is about as “barrier-free” an environment as it gets - People who cannot walk in real life can fly and teleport here in SL. Some, however, are not as fortunate: Deaf and hearing impaired people can be unwittingly excluded from voice chats, and people who are blind or visually impaired still face massive challenges in being able to use the highly visual 3D environment at all – Which is why Helen Keller Day is coming to Second Life, Saturday, June 27th. It’s a day that is set aside for 24 solid hours of information, education, exploration of employment opportunities, arts and entertainment, and social engagement, at the four The Ye, Olde, Supporte, Faire islands. There will be vendors, employers, presentations, and mainly… fun.

Throughout all that, Helen Keller Day is about consciousness raising.

Video of 140Conf Panel in Digital Diplomacy & Cultural Collaboration

Jeff Pulver has posted videos from the two days of the 140Conf, including our panel on Digital Diplomacy & Cultural Collaboration, which is embedded above. (Yesterday we posted the transcript of Rita J. King's speech.) Thanks again to our panelists for participating.

We were the warm up act for Wyclef Jean, who did not disappoint. His yarn about a persistent fan named Hector is laugh-out-loud hilarious. I'm posting his video below.

So Farsi Good

My #followfriday recommendations:

@mashable: Facebook Releases Persian Translation

@TimOBrienNYT: Google will now translate between Farsi and English.

The Ethics of Changing Your Twitter Location to Tehran

At the #140conf in NYC yesterday I served on a panel moderated by Joshua Fouts, Digital Diplomacy and Cultural Collaboration. 44 tweets and retweets were generated by the comments, and I received several requests for fielding ethical questions related to the use of Twitter as well as the publication of Twitter names in a major publication. I wrote a statement prior to the panel, and while I didn't deliver directly from the written comments, that statement, which sums up my position, is pasted below:

Twitter’s #iranelection demonstrates that the digital culture is tied irrevocably to the physical world. The digital is real.

The developing ethics of cultural collaboration can help us avoid turning this magnificent tool for greater understanding into an instrument of further destruction through misinformation, a tragedy made all the more ironic for its motivation: the desire to meaningfully connect with others or, in the case of #iranelection, to participate in the world’s first digitized revolution.

Understanding issues related to anonymity and the creative construction of digital identities is critical. In 2001 I wrote a cover story for the Village Voice, “Terms of Service: Sweaty Scenes from the Life of an AOL Censor.”

“Just as playing Dungeons & Dragons doesn’t turn a kid into a wizard, pretending to be a homicidal maniac on line doesn’t make a man a killer. But what it does make him is one of the greatest ethical dilemmas facing modern society.”

Last night one of my friends called after midnight because she needed to know how to use Twitter so she could follow #iranelection. “What is RT?” she asked. “What is RT?”

“It means retweet,” I said. Then I explained the hashtag, and the etiquette of including handles in a retweet, and editing to stay within the 140 character limit.

“People are switching their locations to Tehran,” she said, “to protect protesters.”

I've been hearing people suggest this constantly in the last day, but is it the right thing to do? It might serve a purpose, but won’t it also deliberately obscure the ability of Iranians to communicate with one another? And won’t it give the impression that more Iranians are tweeting at a time when many people have reported that Iranians they follow have stopped?

Is switching your location to Tehran if you’re really not in Tehran ethical?

“But people are dying,” my friend said. “Look, is it unethical for a person in Second Life to create an avatar that can walk if that person is really in a wheelchair in the physical world? In that case, lying serves a purpose, to transcend limitations.”

I do not believe that creating an environment in which a paraplegic’s avatar can walk is the same as listing one’s location as Tehran. Human beings are well capable of suspension of disbelief, which amounts to trusting one another to create a collaborate narrative that highlights the most authentic aspects of how we see ourselves and one another, to explore, to push the boundaries of what it means to co-create the mixed-media, mixed-reality world in which we live.

Twitter is important. Clay Shirky just gave a TED talk to the State Department, and the State Department asked Twitter to postpone a shutdown to keep more Iranians communicating.

TED founder Chris Anderson said,"Spend half an hour looking at the #iranelection stream on twitter and browse some of the vivid individual accounts of what's happening on the ground. Then see how a massive number of non-Iranians have begun declaring their solidarity. Feel nothing? (Are you human?!)"

We will move from here toward augmented realities and telepresence. We cannot go backward from this evolution in human consciousness, but the road ahead will be dangerous as the shift occurs. We are forming a sense of global ethics that sits like an overlay map on a three-dimensional framework of different rituals, customs and systems of belief. We are doing this together.

New British Council Report: "Breakthrough Cities"

The British Council, one of our collaborators (see Rita J. King's 2008 essay "The Emergence of a New Global Culture in the Imagination Age") has just released a new report called "Breakthrough Cities" about how to mobilize creativity and knowledge in cities. The report explores a number of different options for facilitating this, including games, and centers around a concept they call the "Urban Ideas Bakery," which is "a 2-3 day creative process for the developing of innovative solutions for social and urban challenges."

It's an easy-to-read report with some good ideas and a refreshingly global perspective. We will follow it with interest.

Thanks Andrew!

Olivier Knox

Olivier Knox covers Congress and Politics for Agence France-Presse, the world's oldest and third-largest news agency.


I received the below invitation today in Second Life, and if not for the fact that I'm already committed at that time I'd definitely go to this event.

You are invited ....

Event title: Washington Political Correspondent Olivier Knox Live in SL
Sponsoring/hosting institution: Virtually Speaking
Date: Thursday, June 18
Times: 6pm - 7pm SLT
Locale - InWorld Amphitheater

Olivier Knox covers Congress and Politics for Agence France-Presse, the world's oldest and third-largest news agency.

This is a very timely moment to speak with him. AFP has been providing breaking in depth coverage of the situation in Iran. We'll also chat about the impact of twitter on breaking news and social organization have come to the fore.

Olivier was an AFP White House correspondent from December 2000 to January 2009, operating out of the veal pen-sized workspace where they kept him so he didn't develop any unsightly muscle mass. (not from RJK: This is exactly what the press release said. I suggest that if you only skimmed the last sentence, you might consider reading it again).

Prior to chronicling President George W. Bush's tenure, Olivier covered then-vice president Al Gore's White House campaign. From 1998-2000, he covered the US Congress, including then-president Bill Clinton's impeachment and subsequent Senate trial. Before that, he was an editor/reporter on AFP's English Desk in Washington, a job he took after graduate school. Olivier is the son of a French mother and an American father whose French astounds native Francophones. He grew up in Middlebury, Vermont and Paris, France.

Virtually Speaking with Jimbo Hoyer is a regular public affairs program of Inworld Studios, featuring live, in-depth, intelligent conversations with opinion leaders before a virtual studio audience. Programs are simulcast on Blog Talk Radio. CS Kappler is the alternative show host. Widget Whiteberry dresses the set and promotes Virtually Speaking on the net. Pebea Quandry creates avatars for our guests. Dire Lobo manages tech and the site.

Bookem Streeter stocks the books at Jackson Street Books online , Pb Recreant provides support - and DJs afterwards.

Iran, Twitter, Ethics and the Virtual World

Our panel (Evan O'Neil of the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, me, Josh [we are both Senior Fellows at the Carnegie Council] and Andrew Kneale of the British Council) had to rock at the #140conf in NYC today--we were opening for Wyclef Jean, who made it known just how far he'd go for a fan. I didn't chase him into the bathroom to get the below picture but if I had, I have a hunch he would have posed on the throne, and signed an autograph on a square of paper to boot.

Josh moderated the panel. I spoke about the evolution of ethics within the digital culture. 44 tweets and retweets resulted, including one very compelling ethics query related to the use of revealing Twitter names in a major publication.

Dancing Ink Productions was well represented! Our intern, Diandra Louarn, worked at the #140conf and will be writing about her experience.