I thought I'd be writing more from this conference, after all it is about software development! But the facilitator, Gunner, is more focused on people putting down their laptops and gadgets and having interactive group discussions. Gunner is a character of the first order, everyone seems to know him and he makes me want to get to know him after only a few minutes. A good facilitator is rare. A good facilitator with a sense of humor and a relaxed style is gold.

There are 105 people in attendance and everyone has participated in good cheer so far. We are all here because we are interested in social change and recognize that computers and specifically the web, will play a very important role in change. The change that most people seem to be tackling is something more than just incremental changes it seems(although these are important). The change people are talking about is a more systemic and fundamental shift from information control from the few to the many, as the paradigm of the web suggests. The web is getting pretty mainstream, after all President-elect Obama has taken to youtube weekly! But practically, the internet is still the realm of geeks and privileged consumers of novel content(to generalize a bit!). The huge media conglomerates are still very much in control of our situation.

This week I am reaching the hundredth node mark on this site. Every piece of content on this site is considered a 'node' by the core Drupal software. If that explanation is not enough for you, check here, or don't worry about it, it doesn't matter. To humans, content is images, words, sounds, etc. I feel like I am starting to hit my stride with blogging as I understand it's potential and meaning more and more. This is very different from the media consumption I am surrounded by. The internet is about participation and control by the many. Next week I'll be blogging from a technology summit in Oakland, California focusing on the non-profit sector's use of technology.

These are faces of hate. I don't know these people, and I don't care who they are. I figure they are old enough to make decisions for themselves, so they are old enough to be shown to the world in this context. People who hate are everywhere, from a diversity of ethnic backgrounds(here is another pic I shot on the opposite corner; http://plumbob.org/node/97). There is no stereotypical face of hate. In California, on Tuesday November 4th, people cared more to hate, than not to. The yes on prop 8 organizers were the most publicly visible in my area of California, especially the last week before the election. That is scary. I felt scared as I drove past corner after corner of these supporters. What would I say to them out my car window? Would anything make a difference just days before the election? of just throw fuel on the fire. Obviously this issue stems well beyond the comfy confines of 'election season' from our couches, TVs, same-minded camps, and street corners.
read phil's great piece on this; http://plumbob.org/prop8_no

http://show.mappingworlds.com/
This site lets you visualize world stats by showing the country's relative size in relation to the value of the statistic. I see a lot of cool things like this on the internet, and it always amazes me that I can stumble across, for "free"(obviously a relative term), what is obviously a representation of a huge amount of work. I don't know exactly what "free" means in this context, but I do know that probably millions of people will view and play around with this mapping visualizer, and may freely build their own ideas based on this information. I have high hopes that things like this will help spark the light bulb ideas to the solutions of a sustainable economy in this generation.

Alas, I took the typing test mentioned in this post again and failed again. I never really thought I would be able to change my decades old typing habits in 48 hours, but I did hold hope that I could slip past this crazy system artifact easily by just passing the test. But now I have to open my mouth a little wider.
It has been a crazy week of opposing emotions. There were the lows of friends being laid off in dire economic times, and leaving a tenuous and uncertain situation behind for everyone involved. There is my own bewildering flirt with a potentially awesome opportunity working with my alma mater's substitute system which I love so much, only to be served a rejection letter for failing an evaluation test for a skill that is not a significant(if at all) part of the job description. And of course the high high of Obama's landslide victory on Tuesday night. I'm still in complete awe as the weight and meaning of this sets in. I still get the chills thinking about it! There is a common theme here that I keep coming back to; change. We need it!