Conversation Starting Point:
Afghan Self-stabilization from Below – and Above
Who’s Who in Peace Intelligence: Lee Felsenstein
Who’s Who in Peace Intelligence: Dave Warner
Monday 12 July 2010 (Read from Bottom Up)
DAVE TO LEE
hi lee…
thanks for the note….
interesting set of techno-social -cyber -cultural intersections…..
from burning man…to inveneo ….and comms and sustainability and stability
id bet more –given hackers and other roots…
i think there are several interesting opportunities we may want to explore ..
…… so…. what would you suggest as next steps
save the willing first
davew
LEE TO DAVE
Dave,
Very, very interesting. Looks like you do things with telemedicine, virtual reality, GIS and graphic data representation, situation monitoring in civilian and military environments, and developing internet access in remote locations.
I note also your Burning Man photos. The GSM homebrew base stations were demo'ed there in 2009 and 2008. My contact with that project is David Burgess, PhD, an expert on DSP whom I met at Interval Research Corporation in the '90's. His company is Kestrel Systems and he's on Facebook. You might have met him at BM if you checked out the cell phone tower.
I'm an engineer who came up with the understanding that information technology offers the opportunity to empower human society to reorganize itself for sustainability and stability – if used well. I've taken as my portfolio the design of said technology so as to make it much more probable that it will be used well. I could lay claim to having designed the architecture of the personal computer, including its “conviviality” (which might be defined as “approachability and accessibility”), but that wouldn't get me money in the mail even if the claim were accepted.
I made my suggestion thinking about my family's branch in the Ukraine who were wiped out when the Nazis overran them. I can't help them, but I can try to do something for other people who find their protectors pulling out. Old, centralized systems of support for civilization will increasingly fall short, it seems, and I'm convinced that the right tools, capable of support without much structure, can make the difference between barbarism and the next level of civilization.
The situation is urgent, I believe, and we have only just enough time to begin to implement a solution. As I said to Robert, I don't care if I get credit for anything – I want to see this idea implemented and implemented broadly so the network effect is manifest from the start. That, IMHO, will take participation from our military and government.
I don't know if you've heard of Inveneo (<www.inveneo.org>), who took over my Laotian project and have been building and selling systems for use by NGOs, mostly in Africa. They hooked up the NGOs in Port-au-Prince starting a week after the shake. They have lots of tools, products and experience, though it wouldn't be central to my idea, and I would use them as a resource for this kind of project.
If you could suggest anyone who could provide credibility for the idea I'd like to know.
Lee
DAVE TO LEE
thanks robert…
hi lee
i read you paper…
i agree that comms to the people is the ONLY way to make the future of afghanistan livable
i have several projects ongoing over in the region…
i live in san diego… work in dc and do ops in afg
san diego is sister city with jalalabad afghanistan this provides a very unique opportunity for actually getting interaction in ways that the machine will never have… some rotarians went over in 2002 and made friends ..and the sister city program grew out of those friendships….
(google san diego jalalabad sister city) ..
my team – the synergy strike force — has been putting comms in the hands of afghans… schools hospitals and private citizens..and ngos and pvos we work in the gap between civil and military activities
we also worked on some crowd sourcing efforts (sms and twitter , email and web form) for monitoring election fraud
i have been over there 13 times in the past 4 years and am headed back in a month…
i run a guest house in eastern afghanistan i would welcome you or anyone else who would want to come and help….
i am gonna attach a couple docs … so you can get a flavor of our efforts…
i look forward to any interaction that will help make the world a better place..
..here is the photo blog from the past couple of years….
you will see a wide dynamic range
http://picasaweb.google.com/fobtaj
i go because i believe can make a difference….that makes a difference
here is a link to a visual history of what was into …(up until i started going to Afghanistan)
http://projects.mindtel.com/2005/1101.serious-games/sgsdc05.html
more fun soon save the willing first
davew
ADMIN
Dr. Dr., Lee Felsenstein is one of the original home brew garage folk, I have had the privilege of getting to know him via the Silicon Valley Hackers/THINK conference started by Stewart Brand and continued today by Glenn Tenney. You would fit in better than I.
See http://phibetaiota.net/?p=26288. This is something you could propose for pilot funding in AF, believe everyone wins. Over to you.
Robert
Dave Warner at Phi Beta Iota: http://phibetaiota.net/?s=Dave+Warner
Lee Felsenstein at Phi Beta Iota: http://phibetaiota.net/?s=Lee+Felsenstein
Going to create Who's Who for each of you. Please give me permission to record and post the conversation.
