Seattle Initiative 103: Limiting Corporate Rights and Elevating Peoples' Rights

May 15, 2012 - 1:16am — Marty

Initiative 103 will change the law in Seattle to:

  • Ban corporate spending on elections, reversing Citizens United
  • Ban corporate lobbying except in public forums
  • Strip Corporate Personhood and judge-made corporate "Constitutional" rights
  • Establish a Community Bill of Rights for Seattle which includes Rights for Workers, Rights for Neighborhoods and Rights for Nature to protect our environment. Learn more...

via envisionseattle.org

The Agitator Recap on Mobile 2012

May 14, 2012 - 1:58pm — Marty

Check out the recap and overview of the Neilsen and Pew findings on Mobile over at the Agitator.To apply mobile strategy to social change, I  also recommend following the ongoing great work of the team at www.mobileactive.org . 

“Some 70% of all cell phone owners and 86% of smartphone owners have used their phones in the previous 30 days to perform at least one of the following activities:

Yochai Benkler. Keep Watching. We will Catch Him Someday. Foldit

April 29, 2012 - 4:38pm — Marty

Compound Bow, Longbow and Bowling Balls. Network-Centric Advocacy: Potential Energy with the Advocacy Movement.

April 27, 2012 - 3:49am — Marty
Compound bows maximize the energy storage throughout the draw cycle and provide let-off at the end of the cycle (less holding weight at full draw). A traditional recurve bow has a very linear draw force curve - meaning that as the bow is drawn back, the draw force becomes increasingly heavier with each inch of draw (and most difficult at full draw). Therefore, little energy is stored in the first half of the draw, and much more energy at the end where the draw weight is heaviest. The compound bow operates with a very different weight profile, reaching its peak weight within the first few inches of the draw, and remaining more flat and constant until the end of the cycle where the cams "let-off" and allow a reduced holding weight. This manipulation of the peak weight throughout the draw is why compound bows store more energy and shoot faster than an equivalent peak weight recurve bow or longbow.

via en.wikipedia.org

The rules of potential energy tell us an object can store energy based upon its position and structure.

Maid Serives, Nail Salons, Taxi Cabs, Issue Groups and Complex Problems for Organizing Change.

April 27, 2012 - 3:19am — Marty

We operate in a sector that has no profits, no barriers to entry, little overhead and low labor costs.  In every other sector like our own, the dominate model of operations becomes small independent operations or very lightly controlled franchises. The world of issue organizing is joining the ranks of barber shops, landscaping, maid services, truckers, taxis, newspapers and nail salons.   This shift threatens the core business model of important groups but it also gives rise to new models and services.  

The life-cycle of a movement usually starts as an issue emerges inspiring individuals to act and organize. Founding groups in a movement are organized (NAACP, wilderness society, Teamsters, Amnesty International) get formed and grow.  The new groups recruit talent and pulll together power to create change. As staff increase in skills, build personal and professional networks and talents, a percentage of the talented staff, Board members or funders get increasingly frustrated by the decisions of managers (boards, brands, etc) or politics (wrong message, wrong focus, to conservative or to radicle) so these talented staff split off to create splinter operations that compete directly for media, members, attention of policy makers and funders.

"Choices Reveal Who We Are" & Who We Are Is Shaped by our Choices.

April 27, 2012 - 2:12am — Marty

I always enjoy Valdis Krebs' perspectives on networks. The way Valdis sees the world is interesting and this riff is no different.  Getting the data on what users hi-lite is in a way like a peek into a deeper  level of our behavior than just the books we follow and the friends we keep but gets at a level of data that may reveal why we like that book, or maybe why we like those people.  

It is not just the also-bought data that matters (which books bought by same customer), it is what we specifically find interesting and useful in those books that reveals deep similarities between people -- the hi-lites, bookmarks and the notes will be the connectors.  Our choices reveal who we are, and who we are like!

via www.thenetworkthinkers.com

When the choices available are shaped by our culture and policy, the reverse of this statement starts to become haunting.

The choices we have available to us, reveals who we are and who we can become. Working to shape fair choices, healthy choices, and uplifting choices  is at the core of lots of policy and social advocacy work. 

 

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