Pino Forastiere House Concert - Saturday November 19, 2005
In Rochester Hills at The Barn (private residence of Jeb and Betsy McIntyre)

Community Building is really what this site is all about. If any of you have further interest, take a look at some of the links below. Tor Hought from Edict.com suggested these links as a good introduction to the web-based community building concepts.

Community Building on the Web http://www.naima.com/community/

Cluetrain http://www.cluetrain.com/

David Wineberger http://www.hyperorg.com/

Doc Searls http://www.searls.com/

Christopher Locke http://www.rageboy.com/, Gonzo Marketing

Derek M. Powazek http://www.powazek.com/zoom/log/, Design for Community: The Art of Connecting Real People in Virtual Places

Web Log Resources http://www.informationweek.com/blog/resources.htm

Here are some interesting thoughts from Kelly's website on Thanksgiving...

People in Europe were living in squalid conditions, battling hunger and the aftermath of the plague, were being terrorized in the name of religion and came to America, the land of opportunity, in the hopes of building a new and better life. These immigrants, called Pilgrims, were welcomed by the inhabitants of America, the Indians, who were hospitable to the newcomers in every sense of the word. How is it then that the descendants of the Pilgrims managed to take over all the land in America and banish the Indians to hot, arid reservations in the middle of nowhere? Somehow, that has never felt right to me. Do the Indians celebrate Thanksgiving?

Whenever I gather with my family on Thanksgiving Day and give thanks for the wonderful gifts of life and health, I cannot help but feel guilty. I feel guilty because there are so many people in our wealthy country who have no homes at all and are living on the streets. I feel guilty because in this land of plenty, there are so many people, especially children and the elderly, who have nothing at all to eat and go to bed hungry every night and cry with hunger pangs every day. I feel guilty because I have a family and there are so many in hospitals, institutions, and nursing homes who have no one and have to rely on veritable strangers to remember them for special occasions. I feel guilty because I have a job and although it is very difficult, unfair, and nearly impossible at times, there are people who cannot find employment anywhere and have families to support.

You know, I don't know how to change any of this except to step outside of myself and the comfort zone in which I live and try to be sensitive to the world around me. I thank God I have the inherent ability to empathize with those less fortunate than I. Heaven only knows, I haven't much money, but I am very wealthy in family, friends, and faith. I thank God, too, because I have not become indifferent and callous to the plight of humankind and because He allows me to find beauty intermingled with the hardships in life.

Celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday however you choose but remember to be thankful for whatever it is that you call your life for there really ARE things for which to be grateful. I admit that sometimes one has to search very hard to find something of value. When Corrie Ten Boom, author of "The Hiding Place", and her sister, Betsie, were being held in a Nazi extermination camp for women in a flea-ridden cell in Ravensbruck, Germany, and were being persecuted by the cruel Nazi guards, the other women prisoners were extremely surprised one night to hear Corrie and Betsie thanking God for the fleas. Fleas, for heaven's sake! When questioned about the prayer, the sisters simply replied that the fleas were responsible for keeping the guards away from the women's cell and, therefore, were a blessing for which to be thankful.

Life can be very trying. When your child is hungry, your body wracked with pain, or you have no idea where you and your family will find a place to sleep, it's hard to find something for which you can be thankful. So, for just a few minutes on Thanksgiving Day, step outside your situation and just "be". Find something, no matter how small, to be thankful for because in giving thanks, you will be lightening your load, even if for only a moment.

Ad legend David Ogilvy treats his fans to three classic anonymous ditties in Ogilvy on Advertising:

Thousands of Blogs Fall Silent 

By Michelle Delio  |   Also by this reporter Page 1 of 1

12:00 PM Jun. 15, 2004 PT

Ivan Delman has an interesting analogy comparing mass marketing with niche marketing.  He concludes...

"So, why would you want to advertise your services to a niche market over a mass market?  In other words, why would you want to target a smaller segment of your community over the entire community?  Simple…It’s more effective, less costly and produces better results."

Read here for his ballparket analogy...

If you want to see where you fit in the context of the history of advertising, you must see the Advertising Age website on "The Advertising Century".  Here you will find the Top 100 Campaigns, the Top 100 People, the Top 10 Jingles, the Top 10 Slogans and the Top 10 Ad Icons.

If you're a history buff, you will be amazed at the Advertising Timeline that stretches from 1704 to 1999.

Carnival of the Capitalists does a weekly summary of the best business blogs along with some commentary devoted to:

• Economics
• Investing
• Entrepreneurship
• Marketing
• Business Trends
• Management
• Miscellaneous

Here is one of the posts with a heads-up for software developers, like our friends at Edict Inc.

"MicroIsv tells us that the money is in the niche for software
developers.

The biggest opportunities for micro ISV’s today exist in finding a niche that isn’t being filled by one of the big software companies. The best part is that many of these companies are betting that you’ll do exactly that."

Drilling down into the story...

"Because most big software companies design applications to appeal to as many people as possible, many small software companies and micro ISV’s are able to find a niche by adding features that don’t currently exist or by developing a complementary product. A recent Business 2.o article highlights several companies that were purchased because of the success they had in filling such a niche. According to the article, Symantec employs a group whose job is to find companies to acquire. In the past year, they have “been making an acquisition every two months, usually of startups barely out of the garage stage.” By acquiring a small software company, startup costs and risk can be decreased significantly. Especially if the product already has a small but established user base.

As technology grows and matures, niche opportunities are going to become more and more prevalent. Those who recognize these opportunities will be able to become the next success stories in the software industry. The key is simply to get started. Look at what you do on a day to day basis that causes you to say “I wish this software could…". Those are the magic words that should get the ball rolling."

Is this a strategic pathway for EdictSpaces or future Edict projects?
 

Rick E. Bruner has a very interesting and successful blog called BusinessBlogConsulting.com. 

"Business Blog Consulting is a site devoted to demonstrating how effective weblogs can be for communicating with customers and marketing to new customer prospects. You will find here lots of examples of business blogs, as well as resources to help you learn more about the topic."

Rick has been so successful with the site that DoubleClick has offered him a permanent job as Research Manager and he has decided to take it.

"Anyway, thanks to all my many (several?) readers who seem to have found value in this site over the last few months. Anyway, this isn't goodbye, it's just hello steady paycheck."

What a concept...land a permanent job by demonstrating your skills and talents through building a successful weblog!

Kieth Robinson of blogsite Asterisk weighs in on the question of what makes a successful blog...

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School has launched a very interesting project in community building...

"The H2O project is building an interlocking collection of communities based on the free creation and exchange of ideas.

The H2O system consists of two components -- the Idea Exchange and the Rotisserie. The Idea Exchange includes all features necessary to host a course entirely on H2O, including resource (readings, notes, videos, etc) uploads and traditional, adhoc discussion boards. More interestingly, the system now facilitates the collaborative development of course syllabi, allowing project leaders not only to upload course materials to the site but also easily to browse, search, and import the materials of other projects into their own projects. Since all syllabi created on the Idea Exchange are covered by a Creative Commons license, project leaders are free to share their ideas with others and thereby to create a community around the free exchange of educational syllabi and content.

The Idea Exchange projects include support for Rotisserie discussions in addition to traditional, adhoc discussion boards. Rotisserie discussions represent an innovative approach to online discussion that encourages measured, thoughtful discourse in a way that that traditional threaded messaging systems do not, in the process solving some of the universal complaints about online discussion boards: that the substance of discussions is poor, that participants post quickly rather than thoughtfully, that participation is uneven (most people lurk, and a few posters dominate the rest), and that discussion forums are segregated into balkanized communities of people with similar thoughts and beliefs.

The best way to learn more about how H2O works is to join some projects and participate in the discussions. Here are some interesting public projects that you might consider joining:

• Internet & Society Project"

Kelly Dragoo at Alexa has a great graphic showing the "Daily Traffic Rank Trends" for the online networking sites including: orkut.com, myspace.com, friendster.com and tribe.net.

It's all about the traffic.

The Michigan Fingerstyle Guitar Society Presents
Laurence Juber in Concert
Oct 9th, 2004 @ 8PM 

Where
First United Methodist Church
22331 Woodward Avenue (just south of 9 Mile Rd)
Ferndale, MI

When
Saturday October 9th, 2004
Doors open at 7pm 
Show starts at 8pm

Cost
$15 at the door; $10 for seniors/students/members; or online at www.Fingerstyle.org  

Sponsored by:
The Michigan Fingerstyle Guitar Society
A non-profit organization
180 High Oak Rd. Suite 100
Bloomfield Hills, Mi. 48304
248 646 4030 Phone
www.Fingerstyle.org

About Laurence Juber

Laurence Juber has been playing guitar for close to 40 years, and was the lead guitarist in Paul McCartney's band, Wings, winning a "Best Rock Instrumental" Grammy for the song, "Rockestra". However, Laurence, best known to his fans as "LJ", has since established himself as an artist in his own right, and has recently extended his catalog to TEN acoustic guitar instrumental cd's, all featuring his unique fingerstyle technique and extensive use of alternate tunings. A favorite amongst fans is his CD, "LJ Plays the Beatles", featuring Laurence's arrangements of Beatle songs. 

In a world filled with guitarists who gain success by mastering one style or genre, Laurence Juber is the exception - a jack of all trades and a master of all.

As a solo artist, Juber has enjoyed a three-decade career recording and performing on acoustic, electric, classical and 12-string guitars. He has distilled this wealth of experience into his solo concerts and guitar clinics as well as his original compositions.

Inspired by the explosive British pop scene of the early '60s, Juber first played an acoustic guitar at age 11. He still considers it his most personal form of expression and has chronicled his musical experiences and influences in nine collections of original acoustic guitar compositions. SOLO FLIGHT(1990), NAKED GUITAR (1993), L J (1995), WINTER GUITAR (1997), MOSAIC (1998), ALTERED REALITY (1999), L J PLAYS THE BEATLES (2000), THE COLLECTION (2000),  DIFFERENT TIMES (2001), THE GUITARIST (2003). Fusing folk, jazz, pop and classical styles the albums have received rave reviews from such guitar oracles as Acoustic Guitar, Guitar Player, Guitar International and Fingerstyle Guitar. 

A native of London, England, Juber entered the music business in his early teens, and quickly established himself as an accomplished and versatile musician. He was a featured soloist for the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, and earned a music degree at London University while also playing guitar in such West End musicals as Jesus Christ Superstar. Juber became an in-demand studio player, contributing to many recordings including The Alan Parsons Project, the seminal dance artist Cerrone, and the soundtrack to the motion picture The Spy Who Loved Me.

In 1978, Juber won an audition to become lead guitarist for Paul McCartney's Wings. He recorded and toured for three years, earning rave notices for his work on the hit singles "Goodnight Tonight" and "Coming Up", and on the album BACK TO THE EGG, winning a Grammy award for Best Rock Instrumental for the track "Rockestra". After McCartney folded Wings in 1981, Juber relocated to the Los Angeles area to raise a family and to concentrate on composing and studio work.

The Michigan Fingerstyle Guitar Society
"Promoting the appreciation of fingerstyle guitar through concerts, workshops and goodwill"

Chris Pirillo is a powerful young voice in the new media...

Putting a Face on Technology

"In the race for digital dominance, what is the key ingredient that many businesses are missing to make themselves truly powerful players in today's economy?

Chris Pirillo, best-selling author and creator of the award-winning Lockergnome series of online publications, has found the answers to harnessing the potential of technology. Profiled by such publications as The New York Times, Fortune, and Inc. Magazine, Pirillo has made the corporate and electronic elite stand up and take notice with the technical tips and trends built into his ventures. Pirillo continues to attract hundreds of thousands of readers and viewers, including some of Silicon Valley's highest profile innovators. He's found advertisers in thought leaders, including Google and Microsoft.

Ranked #1 on Blogrolling, #76 on Daypop, #15 on Feedster, #40 on Popdex, #84 on Technorati, and #39 on Bloglines, Chris, above all else, is full of passion."

A recent proposal at pc4media, explores the concept of "distributed novel writing". 

"...want to explore whether this can be done via weblogs and with multiple authors.

Here's how I think it could work.
1. Someone starts a story on their weblog.
2. A person reads that story and decides to continue it on their weblog.
3. They use trackback and/or leave a comment with something to the effect: "If you'd like to see Joany break up with Johnny, read this. (link)"
4. Original authors can update their post with pointers to the alternative next steps.

Of course, the story would grow in lots of directions, which would be cool. Most likely, the blog posts that took the story in the most 'popular' ways would get the most traffic and would have the most people build off of it.

I know a wiki could accomplish a similar objective of distributed authorship, but I think this proposal is different in the following ways:
- Authors still have ownership of their pieces.
- Unpopular or poorly written excerpts are routed around. (Kind of like a self healing network.)
- People don't have to go to a centralized place to do distributed authorship. (Seems more natural to me.)
- This is a cool way for aspiring authors to show off their talent. (which would be lost in a wiki)"

Jim MacBeth at Blackfrogcreative thinks "this may be a great idea for creating the next "trunk monkey"! Imagine a virtual blog advertising agency using this technique to create a proven, blog tested advertisement...only the most entertaining creative material would prevail.  The blog traffic would point in the direction of the winning storyline."

My friend Nick Gaydos from http://Edict.com posted this, and I copied it. A great find for those with serious ideas worthy of a wider audience, and those with interest in great ideas. This is an excellent example of Viral "marketing" - this time around thoughts rather than products. Thanks Nick.

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