Monthly Archives: June 2005

“reforming into thousands of cultural tribes”

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Chris Anderson, in his latest post, “Massively parallel culture” says:

…Rather than the scary fragmentation of our society into a nation of disconnected people doing their own thing, I think we’re reforming into thousands of cultural tribes, connected less by geographic proximity and workplace chatter than by shared interests. Whether we think of it this way or not, each of us belongs to many different tribes simultaneously, often overlapping (geek culture and Lego), often not (tennis and punk-funk).

What’s interesting is that the same Long Tail forces and technologies that are leading to an explosion of variety and abundant choice in the content we consume are also helping to connect us to other consumers, whether through Amazon and Netflix reviews, blogs, p2p networks or playlist sharing.

Here goes how I see it: Web 1.0 technologies helped us to define our own personal niches by letting us filter: find and consume entertainment, goods, services information exactly to our liking. This empowered us to focus our attention and consumption to our own idiosyncratic tastes. Web 2.0 technologies enable us to communicate and connect with others who share these preferences, concerns, and joys – but only if we are so motivated.

Left Self Correcting?

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Chris Bowers of MyDD posts a roaring call to arms and announces he is going local – he wants to pursue reform of the local Philadelphia Democratic party.

He’s joining the terrific group Young Philly Politics that have been pursuing the same.

Meanwhile, Shelley Powers, a writer whose opinion I respect, declares she’s going Green.

I just mentioned three Democratic leaning bloggers pushing for either reform of their own party, or leaving it all together.

How much of this is blowback from November? How much of it is because we feel empowered to make change? Or maybe more precisely – how much of it is because we don’t feel empowered – that we don’t feel a collective ownership of the party?

A commenter in the MyDD thread rebuts that instead of forming whole new organizations that maybe we should be working actively to change what is already here: “If you want to make changes, contact your committeeperson, say you’d like to go to the next ward meeting and get involved, then go. Being a footsoldier in local politics is a thankless job and volunteers for it are few – you won’t have much competition. Or volunteer to work at the polls. Don’t know how it is in other wards, but after the election, all the pollworkers in my ward are invited to a post-election party where one can smooze and network.”

Getting College Dropouts Back To School

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Philadelphia Inquirer | 06/13/2005 | Hope for Phila. in college dropouts:

“These are people who might have 20 or 40 years left in their careers, who have already demonstrated some interest in college,” said David B. Thornburgh, executive director of the Pennsylvania Economy League. “You can make a substantial difference in someone’s life and in the economic vitality of the city if you can get that 25-year-old back to school.”

Getting working adults, many with family obligations, to reenroll is no easy feat, which Thornburgh and others who worked on the report concede.

But compared with other workforce-enhancement alternatives – such as massive improvement in Philadelphia’s K-12 education or stanching the “brain drain” of college graduates – reaching out to comebackers could prove a relatively quick fix, said Sallie A. Glickman, executive director of the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board.

The tentative goal, Glickman said, is to coax 12,000 dropouts back to school by 2010, which would fill a projected gap in Philadelphia’s demand for college-educated workers.

“We want people to just zero in on that ranking: 92d out of 100,” Thornburgh said. “I mean, this is all hands on deck. We’re just not going to build a new economy with that kind of a labor force.”

An initiative called Graduate! Philadelphia, led by the report’s author, Hadass Sheffer, seeks to raise the alarm.

Sheffer’s plans include a “reengagement center,” where returning students can receive counseling and help in navigating red tape, and a “cohort” approach, where comebackers take courses together to provide positive peer pressure.

The report calls on schools and employers to do more as well. Comebackers need flexible schedules on the job and night and weekend courses from schools. Tuition and fee breaks, help with child care, and paid time off for classes were also recommended.

Milestones and Shout Outs

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Congrats and good wishes to:

Dave who earned his second degree black belt.

Bill who is selling his house. If you’re in the Bay Area, check it out.

Cameron Barrett, one of blogging’s originators, whose blog turns eight.

Shelley who has redesigned Burningbird to be more… conservative.

Garret who has redesigned dangerousmeta! and migrated to the latest WordPress. Correction: – Garret has taken on a new look and feel temporarily while he completes his upgrade.