Community Mobilization

Dr Len - Cancer Blogger

I am very excited to announce that the American Cancer Society has launched its first sanctioned blog regarding cancer and current medical advances.  You can Find Dr. Len Lichtenfeld's blog at www.cancer.org/drlen.  I have been working with Len a bit on his 'voice' and on his approach to blogging and I am very impressed.  He is a consummate medical professional making informed and educated commentary on the current advancements in oncology medicine, and even on his own experiences. 

Len's posts are long and full of real useful information.  Moreover it is awesome to see the ACS making a move to get into the blogging game and participate in the online discussion of cancer.  I think they picked a great person to write the blog - he has personality and he is an expert in the field and that is all we can ask for in this cry world we call the blogosphere!

FAMU Marching 100 at Battle of the Bands

FAMU Marching 100.jpg
Originally uploaded by randalcmoss.

Over the weekend my wife decided that we should go and see the Battle of the Bands - which is an annual event where Historically Black Colleges and Universities bring their marching bands to compete. We had very good seats in the club level although I wish they were more centered.  The event was so much fun and as a former band nerd I was very happy so see some of the premier bands in the country. In particular I enjoyed the FAMU show.

Lazy Monday - Business Impact

This is blog post to anyone who does not thing that the Blogosphere holds any water or has any impact business.  Hot on the heels of the SNL rap 'Lazy Sunday' (Chronic-what-cles of Narnia) comes a west coast response titled 'Lazy Monday' (Color Me Mine).  See them both at Narniarapbattle.com.Below is an except from an executive of Color Me Mine pottery stores.

1/23/06 - We are contacted by a Color Me Mine executive. She says:
"Ijust wanted to let you know that your Color Me Mine rap has now infiltrated the
private message board of all 150 Color Me Mine franchise owners and the
staff of the Corporate Offices.  We absolutely love it!!"

Naysayers you have been warned.

Second Life presentation

Wired has a piece on the success of the Democracy Island
project and more specifically the exceptional speakers that are coming in and
presenting.  The venue and technology are exceptional for bringing
together people for special interests and special events. I actually just got
out of a Second Life Future Salon meeting given by SnoopyBrown Zamboni and Lyre
Caliope on real work in Second Life.  It was a very neat presentation on
the direction of work in SL and the possibilities of the metaverse.

Virtual Philanthropy and Volunteering

The Chronicle of Philanthropy has an eye opening article titled Volunteering Goes Virtual, describing how volunteers are finding new and highly productive ways to volunteer from their homes.  Volunteers are knitting blankets for mothers in need and even writing grants from the comfort of their own homes.  Volunteermatch.com has seen a sizable increase in the number of volunteers who are interested in using e-mail and the Internet to benefit charities. Even more beneficial is that the volunteers can be situated anywhere, and their collective powers can be brought to bear on a single topic or case.  The utilization of the Internet is multiplying the impact that a single volunteer can have by giving them the opportunity to work in a number communities from their home.

Briding world Culture Through Synthetic Worlds

Edward Castronova - of the infamous Edward Castronova paper on virtual economies - held an on-line chat session recorded by the Washington Post.  One particular question focused on the use of games, and virtual environments as a location to encourage democracy, and build cultural ties and understanding.  I applaud the effort and think that part of the power of the Internet and worldwide broadband access is the spread of cultural understanding.  In the same way television and movie fascinated us with pictures beyond our boarders broadband and virtual worlds may give us an even richer cultural experience.  A snipet of the dialog on this topic is pasted in the extended post taken form the Washington Post article.

AMA Social netwok map CHicago

AMA Social netwok map CHicago
Originally uploaded by randalcmoss.

This is the Social Network connectivity map we drew at the group producing their social network connectivity map at the AMA Hot Topic event in Chicago.  Thanks to Chris Carfi for the great photo! The people there were really up on the technology and very sociable.  I enjoyed this event and felt my presentation found its mark.

Even funnier was the plane ride home.  In the seat in front of me was a fellow who was friendly with a few colleagues in my office, and two seats down was a fellow flying in to sell software to another set of folks in my office.  A very small world indeed ... considering the guy next to me was hitting up the guy in front of me for a possible job lead.  That was a great example of small world / strength of weak ties phenomenon in practice.

Hello Chicago

So I am here in Chicago for the AMA 'Hot Topics' event at the Gleacher Center. I feel really excited because these folks get it.  The vast majority read blogs, and listen to pod-casts ... but only one actually participates in social networking systems.  Ergo I am pumped to give my presentation. At any rate Stowe is at the podium a the moment and he has the funniest shirt on.

"Caution! A-List Blogger.  You may be blogged."  looks like it was produced by my friend Toby Bloomberg from Divamarketingblog.com.  I will certainly post a photo as soon as I can get my camera phone from my coat. Stay Tuned!

Google Maps and Roof-Top Adds

Boing Boing reports that a number of businesses have painted advertisements on the tops of roofs so that they can get indexed by the satellite maps.  I have to comment that I have seen rooftop ads for years ... long before Googlemaps or any other popular satellite mapping application.  I saw these ads on buildings adjacent to airports while on departure or arrival.  A unique way to use real-estate to its ultimate potential and the initial investment seems to be paying off as satellite maps become more pervasive. 

The Flickrization of Yahoo!

I know I am behind on my reading but I just caught up with the Business 2.0 article on The Flickrization of Yahoo!  I am very impressed specifically with the push on the metataging effort and the creation of a human edited web.  Yahoo was all about creating a human edited web and not relying on some sort of computer to determine the relevance of articles and pages.  By picking up Flickr.com Yahoo has a  start on creating the tagging culture needed to produce the user edited and annotated web.  I think the next project to be approached is Del.icio.us.