Archive by Author - Craig Newmark

At #rebootbritain: tech and risk taking can help restore a gov’t and an economy

by on July 6, 2009 at 2:12 pm

07062009012 Okay, I was on a panel involving serious use of tech for innovation.

Long story, but my focus was on how a lot of people in the US, gov't and private industry, know how to get stuff done.

That's equally true of the UK.

That is, there're already a lot of solutions out there, but getting people to work together is required.

Online social media can be used to do that.

There are many other issues, and one bears more discussion later. The deal is that in Silicon Valley culture, failure is accepted as a normal stage in business.

That's not the case elsewhere, at least as much as needed, like the Boston/Rte. 128 corridor, Washington DC, or like I'm being told, the UK.

More later.

(depicted outside the meeting space is the LOST character, Faraday, the quantum physicist.)

Mind The Gap!

by on July 5, 2009 at 11:00 am

07052009004 Heathrow Express to Paddington.

Hey, didja know they drive on the wrong side of the road here?

Brought to you by the Traveling Geeks

On my way to London and Cambridge, part of Traveling Geeks tour

by on July 4, 2009 at 3:23 pm

Hey, here I go, the next Traveling Geeks tour

(remember, I'm more of a nerd, becoming a bit of a nonk, nerd+wonk)

first up, a Tweetup at JuJu in Chelsea

then, we do Rebooting Britain

A little more about the Traveling Geeks UK trip

by on June 26, 2009 at 2:01 pm

Okay, to view this in context, check out this Backstage Pass by Sky (Jim Schuyler) who's the Chief Technology Officer of The Dalai Lama Foundation.

A little Q&A re Traveling Geeks tour to UK and my thing

by on June 23, 2009 at 5:13 pm

Well, they asked questions regarding all my service stuff and perspective, so maybe worth mentioning a little from the Econsultancy Q&A:

You founded craigslist in 1995 and took it to the web in
1996. That's almost a full decade before 'Web 2.0' really went
mainstream in a big way. What has it been like to watch Web 2.0 emerge
and grow into a mainstream, global phenomenon?

In the sense that Web 2.0 is about collaboration, it feels really good, maintaining and increasing my confidence in humanity.

It may be hard for many people to believe but you still do
customer service for craigslist. Obviously you could have someone else
do this so I'll ask the question: why do you do it?

It feels right, in terms of my commitment to our community and to public service.

It also helps me stay in touch with what's real, which is the same reason a President needs to keep his Blackberry.

You're passionate about open government and have written quite a bit about it. What is open government and why is it important?

Very
long story, but it's about genuine grassroots democracy complementing
representative democracy. People talk, figure out what matters, then
government listens and acts.

It also involves the government telling us what it's doing, so that it can be held accountable.

“Traveling Geeks” to visit London, Cambridge

by on June 22, 2009 at 11:09 pm

Hey, last year a bunch of talented bloggers, and also me, visited Israel as part of the first Traveling Geeks tour.

This year, we visit London and Cambridge.

Me, I'm hoping to get a better sense of British culture and history. I have a real interest in the way modern representative democracy was kind of invented there in 1688.

Also, hoping to talk with some UK leaders about what they're doing regarding Government 2.0, or eGovernment, or networked grassroots democracy, whatever you like to call it.

More to come…

Tweet up for “Traveling Geeks” in London

by on June 21, 2009 at 9:18 pm

Last year, I was part of a group of Traveling Geeks visiting Israel, and this year, the UK.

jujuThe Geeks will be attending a TweetUp on Sunday, July 5th at London’s JuJu on King’s Road. Half priced tickets end on June 26th, so if you’re in London or know someone who is, please let them know.  You can register early here.  Sponsors include The Conversation Group and NESTA.org.

(Words mostly stolen from Renee Blodgett)

Good recap site for our trip to Israel

by on April 19, 2008 at 12:00 pm

The Traveling Geeks group blog helps remind me that these folks are really good writers and photographers, check out the slideshow.