ChangeMedium

ChangeMediumAdvancing

public micro-messaging as a medium for change.

ChangeMedium is a charitable initiative dedicated to advancing public micro-messaging as a medium for change.

Introduction

Om Malik April 14th, 2009:

“Twitter is just the beginning of this

real-time internet -

the simplest manifestation of this long term trend

- that spells the end of communications

and start of an interaction

society.”

As Om Malik observed:“Twitter is ... the start of an interaction society.”

Already people are talking about it topping Google

"They announced they were going to shut down their system for maintenance, and

we asked them not to," one official said,

adding that the discussions were meant to "highlight to [Twitter] that this was an

important means of communication, not with us but

horizontally in Iran."

And already it is becoming essential public infrastructure.

We’ve seen this before

We’ve seen this before

Printing Press

Printing press

Telegraph

Telegraph

Telephone

Telephone

Radio

Radio

Internet

Internet

Web

Web

This time is different

This time is different

“I no longer understand my own creation”

~ Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of the Web

In July 2008 at a Nesta Web Science event Sir Tim Berners Lee, inventor of the web, said...

“I no longer understand my own creation”

He also implored the audience...

“Ask not whether we're asking too much of the web, but whether we're asking too much of us”

Indicating that what this is and where it’s going is about people.

Simple

It starts with being simple.

A text message of not more that 140 characters.

So simple that grandmas can use it.

Accessible

Being sms compatible, it can be used anywhere, anytime from mobile phone

or the web.

Public

And being public

each message is a message everyone can read.

AND

Participatory

People, are meaningfully participating

many - many

and 1 - 1

But hold on, there’s more

It’s clearly not about the single message

like shaq coaching oprah

it’s more about the context around the people...

...around the links

... and topics

Which leads us to...

“A unique publishing medium that’s rewiring the web for real-time, interest-driven, discovery... ”

An unique publishing medium that’s rewiring the web for real-time, interest-driven, discovery...

Pot. Reach

Restricted Emergent

One

-One

One

-Man

y

TV

Radio

Tel.

Public Micro- Messaging

E-mail

Web

SMS

... creating the most accessible, participatory, public medium in history.

creating the most accessible, participatory, public medium in history.

Public micro-messaging merges the extensible/emergent nature of the web with the 4B person reach of SMS.

ChangeMediumAdvancing

public micro-messaging as a medium for change.

ChangeMedium’s mission is to advance and optimize public micro-messaging as a medium for change.

Signals

Personal, interest-

driven, discovery.

It is unprecedented for personal, interest-driven discovery.

So if I like “So you think you can dance”, I can follow a producer/judge - as a person.

Or I can follow my more productive interests for links...

and connections.

Exposure, Transparency & Reporting

It also enables unprecedented reporting...

That’s changing how we engage in current events.

Flash Mobilization & Collaboration

And finally we have unprecedented opportunities for flash mobilization like #hohoto where, in 18 days, over a dozen people came together over twitter to co-led the creation of a sold-out party to 600 people which raised $25,000 and 2t of food for the local foodbank.

Shortly after, Twestival raised $250k in less than a month for Charity water through close to 1000 volunteers hosting events in over 200 cities around the world in which 10,000 people attended.

So...

15+ Million Users

If most of this happened with less than 5million users...

15+ Million Users

100M Users?

1B Users?

What happens when we reach 100m or 1b users?

Problems

Fractured Data

So where do all those public messages sit?- in Twitter’s private serversAnd for how long?And what what if I want to use a different service like Identi.ca?

Incompatibility

And what happens when there are more services that we want to use?How do we access all these public messages?How do we search for everything everyone is saying about the next major event?

Disruptions

And what happens when Twitter goes down - again - and again.

Solution

Research

Researching what makes the medium work

Network-Grade Infrastructure

Building a network-grade infrastructure

Labs

And convening labs to experiment and evolve the medium for maximum public benefit.

Scope

We’re scoping that out some more...

Research

• What is unique about this medium?

• What new does it make possible?

• What aspects and attributes are essential to its potential?

And are interested in...- what is unique about this medium- what new it makes possible- and what aspects and attributes create its potential

Network-grade Infrastructure

• Processing infrastructure

• Common standards

• SMS gateway

While not simple, building out a network-grade infrastructure is not only possible, but represents an extraordinary cost/benefit argument.

When has it been possible to build a public medium that the US State Department starts considering essential, global, infrastructure for a few million dollars?

Initial scoping of this infrastructure includes: - an interoperable message processing infrastructure operating at a level below Twitter- common standards optimized for public benefit- and a global sms gateway to streamline public micro-messaging growth and application.

Labs

• Experimental applications

• Infrastructure development

• Public benefit partnerships

And finally, given the emergent nature, one of the best ways to learn is to actively experiment.

Through internal and ad-hoc labs, Changemedium is considering:- experimental applications to advance the application of the medium for public benefit- developing the infrastructure, and - supporting public benefit partnerships.

Team

ChangeMedium has come from...

Michael Lewkowitz- for-profit/for-benefit entrepreneur- with venture capital experience- immersed in social and the social web

•Peter Flaschner, Design (Web dev and design awesomesauce)

•Ryan Coleman, Communications (Startup, community, and viz)

•Dan Williams, Developer (hard core craftsman coder)

•Joseph Dee, Architecture (web science, agency, social techie)

•Matt Nish-Lapidus, Interface (UX specialist)

•Taylor Davidson, Strategy (Mobile, investment, startup guy)

•Tim Scollick, Developer (Interface developer)

Contributors

And a cadre of contributors...

Accomplishments

We have successfully...

Developed two prototypes testing the technical and social dynamics of the public micro-

messaging medium.

developed 2 prototypes testing the technical and social dynamics of this medium - readying for the next build.

Current Status

Change medium is...

A north-american, donation eligible, charitable initiative.

a North-American, donation eligible, charitable initiative - hosted at Tides Canada Foundation.

Next Steps

We are currently

Seeking seed funding and partnerships

seeking seed funding and partnerships to scope and launch the initiative.

Conclusion

In conclusion...

“A unique publishing medium that’s rewiring the web for real-time, interest-driven discovery... ”

we are witnessing the emergence of a unique publishing medium that’s rewiring the web for real-time, interest-driven discovery...

Pot. Reach

Restricted Emergent

One

-One

One

-Man

y

TV

Radio

Tel.

Public Micro- Messaging

E-mail

Web

SMS

... creating the most accessible, participatory, public medium in history.

which is leading to the most accessible, participatory public medium in history.

ChangeMediumAdvancing

public micro-messaging as a medium for change.

Our mission is to advance this as a medium for change...

anywhere...

and everywhere.

ChangeMediumhttp://changemedium.tumblr.com

michael@igniter.com@igniter