Leadership in a Connected Age

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As the State of Vermont approaches its goal of 100% digital connectivity, business and community leaders must constantly adapt and change the way they communicate, get work done, and participate in the public life of their communities.

Half day workshops
April 28, Lyndonville
May 12, Springfield
May 19, Montpelier
May 26, Middlebury

Full day conference
June 9, Burlington

Steve Shepard explains the series in 90 seconds here.
Steve Shepard talks about Google Voice here.

Weigh in on the State budget for fiscal year 2010!

I just found this on Front Porch Forum's Neighborhood Volunteers forum. A great resource. I haven't participated in a Vermont Interactive Television meeting yet, so maybe this is my chance.

PUBLIC HEARING
Joint Public Hearing on Fiscal Year 2010 budget on Vermont Interactive Television

Appropriations Committees
Monday, February 9, 2009, 4:30 - 7:00 p.m. - The House and Senate Appropriations Committees will hold a joint public hearing on Vermont Interactive Television (V.I.T.) to give Vermonters throughout the state an opportunity to express their views about the State budget for fiscal year 2010.

All V.I.T. sites will be available for the hearing: Bennington, Brattleboro, Castleton, Johnson, Lyndonville, Middlebury, Montpelier, Newport, Randolph Center, Rutland, Springfield, St. Albans, Waterbury, White River Junction and Williston. V.I.T.'s web site has an up-to-date location listing, including driving directions, addresses and telephone numbers, http://www.vitlink.org/.

For information about the format of this event, interested parties may call the House Appropriations Committee office at 802/828-5970. Requests for interpreters should be made to the office by 12:00 noon on Friday, January 23, 2009.

Great things from CCTV

I just have to write something to celebrate all the wonderful work being done by CCTV in Burlington. I won't attempt to cover everything here, but there are two things I want to share with the readers of this blog.

Under the Dome. Have you heard? CCTV is broadcasting coverage of everything from opening ceremonies to public hearings to interviews with members of our fabulous citizen legislature. And you thought you were going to miss the boat...

Communications Security Meeting #2. I know, you are wondering about meeting #1. If you weren't there, never fear - attend meeting number 2 on January 22! I was at the first meeting and am already registered for the second. It's about making sure that our telecommunications infrastructure is constructed, owned, and managed in a way that benefits all Vermonters. Additionally, CCTV has been asked to contribute feedback about internet policy to the new federal administration. So, join in, educate yourself and make your voice heard!

October Events

There are a few events happening in October that look really exciting.

First, the Rural Telecon '08 Conference at Smugglers' Notch on Oct 5 - 8. If you are interested in what's going on as Vermont becomes an e-State, this line should interest you:

"The conference will showcase innovative approaches to building local capacity to improve the quality of life for people in rural communities."

This is exactly what many of the e-State Action Teams have been discussing. They've got some amazing speakers on the docket and it's not too late to register.

And, the second installment of the wildly successful Creative/Tech Career Jam is being held on October 25 at Champlain College. There are no fewer than 12 different panel discussions planned. Should be quite a gathering!

Institutions to Individuals

I went to the Northern New England Planning Conference in Woodstock on Friday. One of the workshops I attended featured Lorie Loeb, a Dartmouth College professor. Her students in the computer science department won a prize from Google after they had worked day and night to draw their entire campus in three dimensions using Google Sketchup. 3D Dartmouth is now featured on Google Earth due to their efforts.

Lorie is a engaging speaker. She described the process of recruiting students to work on the incredibly ambitious Google project. Lorie had gotten a little bit of grant money, and decided to use it to buy a refrigerator for the computer lab. Then she’d put some (cold) cash in the fridge for students to use to buy food for themselves. “At least I will feed you!” was her mantra. Lorie also cites good tools (computers, cameras) and good people (students who have that special something) as critical elements in the success of the team. It was obvious from watching her present at this workshop that her contagious enthusiasm and warm personality were an important ingredient as well. Lorie felt that an important outcome of this project was the community-building that occurred between the students and faculty members on the team.

Lorie’s work at Dartmouth also includes a Real Time Energy Display Project, in which dorms and other campus buildings are wired to provide energy use data. An animated polar bear frolics happily on the ice if the energy use is acceptably low; the ice cracks and the bear unhappily falls through if energy use is too high. Students can close a window, adjust thermostats, or take other measures to see if the polar bear will be affected. It’s a wonderful concept! I wasn’t able to find a link because I think it is still in the early stages. Please, readers, let me know if you have more info.

Allison Fine, author of Momentum, was the keynote speaker of the day. She talked about the “shifting of power from institutions to individuals” and the fact that so many young people are exemplary “social citizens” with high volunteer rates and dedication to charitable causes. I knew Allison was delivering a convincing speech when a friend turned to me and asked, “Do you think I am making a mistake to forbid my teenagers from creating their own Facebook pages?” Allison predicts that within 18 months a new tool will have taken the place of Facebook for the college crowd. We thirty and forty-somethings on Facebook will probably stay where we are.

One of Allison’s more important points as far as I was concerned was her advice to organizations and institutions in the age of individual power: Listen. Let the public help guide your work. You might think you don’t have time to process comments, suggestions and feedback from your constituents. But make the time, says Fine, because it is probably a better way to spend part of the day than some of that other stuff on your To Do list.

VPT Public Square: Add your comments

Vermont Public Television will be broadcasting a show about the Snelling Center e-State Symposium on Thursday, August 21 at 8pm. They are hosting a live, online chat as well. You can add your thoughts and comments right now by clicking here. I encourage you to participate and make your voice heard!

Growing Up Digital

Hello everyone,

I'm sure this will be a very worthwhile event. Please consider attending and pass it on to friends and colleagues.

-Karyn

HOLD THE DATE!
Friday, September 26, 2008
sponsored by ACME Vermont

Growing Up Digital: Kids, Commercialism and New Media Culture

Bishop Booth Conference Center at Rock Point 20 Rock Point Circle Burlington, VT

REGISTER TODAY! (click)
Friday, Sep. 26, 2008 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Keynote Speakers:

Josh Golin, Campaign for Commerial Free Childhood

Lauren-Glenn Davitian,CCTV Center for media & Democracy

Workshops include:

Social Networks and New Media-Sheryl Rivera and Adam Kenner.

Packaging Girlhood-Sharon Lamb

Media Literacy Through Media Production-James Valastro

Disney and the marketing/ morphing of Child Stars-Sheryl Rivera and Adam Kenner

Why People Under 40 Don’t Follow the News-David Mindich, SMC Journalism Dept.

Blogging, Screening, and Print In-Betweening: Reinventing Journalism for the 21st Century

Internet Safety-Sgt. Carlson, Crimes Against Children Task Force

Teacher 2.0: Literacy and Learning in a Digital World-Tre Redmond and John Henson