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Net Neutrality 11-28-2006

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Net Neutrality Links

I’m adding this link to the Net Neutrality Page.

Wake up, Neo

Breaking the Matrix is my column in the October issue of Linux Journal. It goes beyond Net Neutrality arguments to explore the possibility of (nay, the need for) a truly open marketplace for connectivity. Some excerpts:

Far more powerful is a belief, held by nearly everybody in the developed world, that the best markets are captive ones. In the Free Software and Open Source movements we call captive markets “walled gardens” or “silos”. But to most producers in the developed world, these are ideal. And to most consumers, they are business as usual.
Even after the Net obsoleted closed on-line systems, Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft continued to silo instant messaging inside their own walled gardens. In 2006, there should be no excuse for this.
Yet there is. We continue to believe, as both producers and consumers, that silos are okay. And worse, that a “free” marketplace is one where you get to choose the best silo.
We see this in the US today with our “choice” of services from phone and cable carriers. We even think the Net itself is a grace of telecom and cablecom carriage. After all, those are the guys we pay to get it. Those are the guys who have gradually increased our connection speeds.

[ . . . ]

These carriers can no more appreciate a truly free market than an agent in The Matrix can imagine a world not run by machines….
You have to be free to see how absurd silos can be. You have to see markets as wide-open spaces opened by ubiquitous relationships, and potential relationships, between digital devices and the human beings who use them. You have to see unrestricted possibilities for the people and organizations putting those devices, their applications and their data to work. Those possibilities lose their limits once you set your mind free of the notion that a free market is just a choice of silos.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

Michael Vizdos Is a B.A.D. Blogger!

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Blogger A Day Call: Hello is Mike there?

If you go on Amazon, you’ll find that Mike Vizdos wrote a book with Scott Ambler and John Nalbone. The Amazon bio also will tell you that he’s a certified Scrum Master.

Mike told me that Scrum is a way of teaching development teams to manage chaos when every team member has conflicting needs. What does Scrum stand for? Scrum stands for Scrum — the letters have no meaning. I heard it from the master.

Mike and I had fun discussing the kinds of issues he faces teaching folks in all kinds of business to work together in teams. He said that often teams sabotage each other. We discussed the problem of middle managers, who learned to lead by giving orders rather than asking folks to solve problems together.

Mike says he has a better chance at making headway with the idea of teamwork because he’s from outside the culture. I said that I could see that. My thought was that ideas give people power — he’d be leaving and that would take away the threat. We talked about how the company culture often undoes what he worked to get started.

The heart of this part of the conversation was that as much as they talk about teamwork, organizations often reward heroes. So there’s no payoff to working with and for each other when one role has a paycheck or gets credit. Mike teaches the value of giving up that world view. He tells folks if they love working 100-hour weeks, they shouldn’t expect their teammates to do the same thing. I could almost hear him saying that life is about living.

Our discussion wandered into family, kids, neighborhoods, travel, and homeschooling. Mike has the advantage of being able to take his two sons and his wife with him when he works in other countries. We talked about the educational units they prepare for their kids so that they’re always learning.

I have a feeling Mike’s the same way. . . . always learning and always curious. When we talked about the things his teams do to form relationships, he told me in detail about the IT department that formed a knitting group. Now they all have long scarves they don’t know how to finish off.

Maybe Mike and I can get some folks to start a HELP DESK for IT Knitters.

B.A.D. Blogger Quote

It’s amazing to see when people start going home to their families and things just happen. —Mike Vizdos

Stop by Mike’s Blog, Implementing Scrum, and say hi!

Thanks, Mike, you B.A.D. Blogger!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Want to be a B.A.D. Blogger see the. . . a B.A.D. Blogger? page in the sidebar.

Bloggy Question 31: Do You Send Away the Idea of a Lifetime?

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What Do You Say to the Guy Who Can’t Pay?

For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week. I offer this bloggy life hypothetical question. . . . posed ito me in another way by Drew McLellan the other day.


You’re making a living at your own business, but you’re not rolling dough. In walks a propsective client. You hit it off from his first smiling and intelligent conversation. What a powerful team you would make! He has the vision and a great idea. You have the experience and skills that fit right next to his.

The client’s idea is intriguing. It’s an idea that you find exciting and immediately inviting. It’s one in million and you’d die to work on it. Already you’re starting to think about the direction that you would take the planning and the action. The problem is that the client can’t afford to pay you.

Even worse than that, the project really calls for someone just like you. Everything about you wants to help him get going.

The thing is that the client’s idea is so rare and unsual that you don’t anyone who to send him to — the people that he can afford wouldn’t know how to do the idea justice. Those who would see the value would be just as expensive as you or even too expensive and too busy.

How do you respond?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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Bloggy Life Question 30 — How Does He Get the Book to Readers?
Bloggy Life Question 29 — Will You Sell the URL to the Porn King?
Bloggy Life Question 28 — The Prince and the Pauper in the Blogosphere?
Bloggy Life Question 27 — Can You Spare a Ten?
Bloggy Life Question 26 — Do You Wish to Comment?

Katiebird Is a B.A.D. Blogger!

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Blogger A Day Call: Hello is Katie there?

Katiebird has been incredibly busy at work for at least two months. She’s oveseeing the content revision and revamp of a nearly 3000-page WEBSITE that was built in the late 1990s. It’s getting a design, new navigation, and rebuilt with cascading stylesheets. Whoa! Exciting! Whew! Some work!

Oh did I forget to tell you where she works and what her role is? Katie is Librarian and Database Programmer for an urban library in the midwest of the USA. Yep, that’s right a library, and there’s 25 librarians working on the project. If you haven’t been to a library lately . . . keep reading libraries are really cool.

Half of our conversation was Katie bringing me up to speed on what’s going in libraries. Her library website is filled with pages of crafts, and games, and recipes, and booklists, and book reviews. One particular craft she mentioned, a paper flower designed by a library staff member, gets 10,000 hits a month from all over the world. That’s as many hits as the card catalogue, which is doing well, thank you.

Katie and I discussed how libraries often aren’t thought of being on the edge of technology and how that perception conflicts with reality — that libraries and banks have actually pushed programming forward in some ways. She pointed out that if you go to a library you’ll see a sea of people on computers. Katie also told me about the Database at Home service that allows folks to use the library offsite, and how that’s going to grow in new ways as they integrate electronic books into their services. I was thinking, if people only knew . . . There’s so much to be explored and used.

“It’s an exciting time to be in a library. . . . It’s an exciting time to be blogging.” Katiebird said. “Oh yeah,” was the only appropriate response to that!

When topic turned to blogging, Katie wondered with enthusiasm at this medium that combines the advantages of so many others, bringing people together, making brilliant new kinds of connections. We talked about the people who self-select to become bloggers. She said she was surprised to find how meaningful blogging quickly became. We discussed the communities that form, that links are more than they appear, and how we come to make our blogs our own. Yes, we did say the word addictive, but we meant it in the most positive way. . . . I’m guessing that urban library is going to have a blog when that web site is finally done.

When we finished the call I couldn’t help but think This isn’t your father’s library. This isn’t even the one from college.

Then I wondered how Meredith Wilson would have rewritten Marion, the librarian, if he were commissioned to update his 1957 musical play, The Music Man.

B.A.D. Blogger Quote

I didn’t realize when I started a blog, that I was joining such a strong community of people . . . You’re talking to people who are there every day. You get to know them, their thoughts, and they become dearest friends, yet you’ve never really met in person.–Katiebird

Stop by Katiebird’s blog, Eat4Today, and say hi!

Thanks, Katiebird, you B.A.D. Blogger!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Want to be a B.A.D. Blogger see the. . . a B.A.D. Blogger? page in the sidebar.

Let’s Help Delaney Find Great Books on Organizational Behavior

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Dr. Kirk Doesn’t Want to Use Textbooks

At Tuesday Open Comments Night, Delaney Kirk told us that she was going to teach her classes using business books — not textbooks. She asked our suggestions and we mentioned some powerful selections.

On Saturday morning, Delaney and I continued the conversation. We talked about books and blogs that also could be useful.

Dr. Kirk still has time to put her list together. Won’t you join us in helping her? The topics include:

  • Leadership
  • Motivation
  • Communication
  • Organizational Change
  • Teamwork
  • Power & politics

You can catch up on what books we’ve recommended and get the details by clicking the title below.

Take a look at your shelves and your bedside table. Check your briefcase, your desk, the arm of the couch, wherever you keep business books you might have. It’s also a great excuse to visit your favorite bookstore. You can always say you’re helping the college kids.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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