One of the major issues in technology is how to make services available to the less knowledgeable, making them so-called "grandparent compliant". In addition, consumers continue to look for ways to get what they need from businesses, rather than accepting a model based on a broken customer management system. Britt Blaser of Open Resource Group and Doc Searls, senior editor for Linux Journal, join Phil, Matt, and Scott in a discussion of the new paths of technology and how they relate to the average consumer.
ORG is developing a "community management system", a way for groups to join together and exist without the technological complexities of the current social networking sites. Britt gives a detailed overview of the current state of things and details some of the principles guiding the work.
One of the offshoots of this work was the desire to create a "Vendor Management System", a way for consumers to get businesses to respond to their needs, rather than having to be put into marketing controls. Doc discusses the concept and gives a number of real-world examples showing how the customer would be able to take control of their own needs.
The group also discusses Bruce Sterling's book, Shaping Things, a look at design and how it relates to information technology and the future. They also review current situations that point towards a vendor management future.
Britt Blaser founded and serves as CEO of Open Resource Group, LLC, a developer of a comprehensive content management system for spontaneous community-forming. The architecture and user orientation is based on lessons learned from the Howard Dean campaign and the Spirit of America project. ORG's clients are communities that want to grow and organizations seeking to inspire and support a dynamic community around their efforts.
For 35 years, Britt has been forming companies and organizing projects to seize opportunities dimly glimpsed by others. Britt has an eclectic background: Patrol Leader, Colorado Outward Bound School (climbed five of Colorado's 14,000 ft. peaks); USAF combat pilot in Vietnam (awarded 2 Air Medals and 3 Distinguished Flying Crosses); ski instructor; Trustee and Development Director, Colorado Academy (Colorado's largest independent school); Trustee, Colorado Children's Chorale; Author, Xpertweb peer-to-peer reputation protocol; Senior advisor for Internet strategy for the Howard Dean Campaign; Senior architect for web strategy, Spirit of America; Widely read blogger at "Escapable Logic".
Doc Searls is senior editor for Linux Journal and a leading figure in the Linux and Open Source software movements. He is co-author of the business best-seller The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual. In the book, the authors suggest that the Internet has done two things that fundamentally change our way of doing business. First, it radically shifts the balance of power between supply and demand, giving the demand side (customers) far more power. Second, it turns markets into conversations, where supply and demand is only a handshake apart, emulating pre-industrial marketplaces. Companies that remain disengaged from their markets, and continue to assault them with unwanted "messages," are in trouble.
Doc also has an extensive background in publishing and broadcasting as well as marketing, public relations and advertising. The company he co-founded, Hodskins, Simone and Searls, became one of Silicon Valley's top high technology advertising and public relations agencies. Searls' work has appeared in OMNI, PC Magazine, The Industry Standard, The Sun, and many other publications. He has also appeared on ZDTV, CNBC and CNET Radio, along with many other radio and television stations, networks, and programs.
Co-host Matt Asay is vice president of Business Development for Alfresco, the leading open source Enterprise Content Management company. Prior to Alfresco Matt co-founded Novell's Linux Business Office, founded the Open Source Business Conference, and ran embedded Linux vendor Lineo's Network & Communications division. Matt earned a JD from Stanford Law School, where he spent two of his three years studying open source licensing under Professor Lawrence Lessig. He serves on the advisory boards for SugarCRM, JasperSoft, Bungee Labs, MuleSource, and Specifix, and on the board for OSI.
Co-host Scott C. Lemon is CTO of MediaForge - a next generation viral marketing and web enhancement company - and founder of HumanXtensions - an Internet R&D company. Scott's recent history in the computer industry include several small start-ups, along with being Chief Technologist at SCO, Chief Strategist at Vultus, and holding numerous positions during his four tours of duty at Novell. Scott's expertise ranges from computer and wireless hardware technologies, to networking and distributed software applications. As a futurist studying the patterns of evolution, his past experiences in operating systems - CP/M, DOS, Windows, OS/2, NetWare, UNIX, Linux and others - is allowing him to explore the new levels of abstractions provided by the Internet.
Resources:
Disclaimer: Phil Windley serves with Doc Searls on the board of advisors for Open Resource Group.
This free podcast is from our Technometria with Phil Windley series.
For The Conversations Network: