Relationships Don't Always Go Green

This article is more personal (man, woman, and green) in nature so if you are looking for a technical stimulant, you'll want to take a pass on this one.

Not too long ago I met someone new, in an attempt to explore building a relationship with someone.  She is an amazing individual with a list of accomplishments and a sense of independence and determination that would rival any over achiever.  I am honored to share a part of my life with her.

As most new relationships go, we had a conversation about attributes we appreciated about one and other as well as expectations.  Within this context, she expressed concern about her personal lifestyle and not wanting to be pressured to change.  This came on the heels of a statement about my commitment to sustainability as my lifestyle relates to it.  My lifestyle by far exceeds her level of commitment to sustainability, which forced her to share that such a chasm could very well be too much of a hurdle to overcome.

It is very early in the relationship so there is no real level of commitment at this point, this can also be known as the discovery period.  You learn about the other persons habits, lifestyle etc. and determine if going forward makes sense.  The other good thing about these tougher conversations is that you are not too engulfed in the relationship that you can't see daylight on the other side because all that seems to matter is how caught up you are in the moment of emotions, like you wound up and twisted in a potpourri of your favorite chocolates.  It is great that our more sensible/ mature side has prevailed.

My response to her concern was simple; as a grown woman, I don't expect her to change her lifestyle rather I believe my lifestyle habits might encourage her to change her own after seeing the ease of sustainable adaptations.

I do what is good for me and the environment; my hope is that my behaviors and lifestyle choices will influence people in a way that encourages them to make significant changes- of their own volition.  Such changes will likely have a more profound impact not only on the environment, but will also systematically foster changes in people who are not as committed, to shifting lifestyle impact on climate change.  So while I don't expect her to change her lifestyle, I do expect that my choices will encourage her to make lifestyle changes.

My lifestyle choices have evolved over time.  Because of my circumstances or personal choices; making the adaptations have been profoundly easier for me than such changes might be for virtually all other people.  This does not make me a super hero (except perhaps in my own mind), but stands to explain how I have positioned myself for success relative to environmental sustainability issues and that I can continue to do so- a priority in my life.  Just as one must position themselves for financial success by strategically positioning specific actions and objectives, so have I done with sustainability.  Each day I grow better at what I am capable of doing because of my intentions.

Where does this leave our relationship, I cannot say with certainty, but choosing to broach the conversation positions each of us to make well informed decisions going forward and it will not be a hurdle that was stands in the way of our pursuit of happiness.

Crowdsourcing and Collective Intelligence

by Scotland Willis

As I continue to work on my book "Peering Into the Future"; it is impossible to avoid the events that are unfolding like the advancements in technology itself.  It could be that social networks are advancing so rapidly because the ability to participate in change events are multiplying exponentially.  Crowdsourcing and peer to peer (p2p) networks are very much related.  How people communicate, socialize and accomplish tasks is an intricate network of interconnectedness of nodes and ties that help demonstrate how crowdsourcing is occurring.

Crowdsourcing, by Jeff Howe, of Wired Magazine, explores the power or crowdsourcing and its relationship to business, and how the business model is changing.  Several excellent observations and empirical data capture the essence of what is occurring in crowdsourcing. His investigation into experts who exploited the early stages of what evolved into what is now known as crowdsourcing, is compelling.  There are some important connections which I will mention here, that in some way relate to the work of business leaders in the computer field.  My additions then might reflect the model of Ned Gulley and his work at MATLAB.  I see what exists, have insights that might improve the observation, and will present it here.

One observation we can make about human learning, is that what we produce is based on what we have experienced or been exposed to in the past; a kind of next step linkage if you will.

I'm not as interested in TopCoders, as much as I am in the social science of it; as a visitor and myself were having dialogue about sub atomic particles to help rationalize the orthodox and unorthodox view of scientist perspective about attracting of such particles, as a means to examine complex social networks, what really interests me is the evolution of social behaviors.  With that, my observation into crowdsourcing.

In the chapter titled The Most Universal Quality, there was a comparison that stood out for me; the issue being addressed was the importance of experiential diversity.  Howe made a point to delineate between political diversity and that which he was conveying; for this reason I identify his form of diversity as experiential diversity.  In experiential diversity, we contribute to crowdsourcing by being enabled by our experience to influence outcomes outside of what might be considered our traditional realm of expertise for a specific project, which would require perhaps years of education and training, i.e., our social/ academic/ experiential exposure-- one might even identify it as psychological diversity (the different modalities of cognition in among a large group).  We become experts at being who we are, and that attribute can have a profound affect on a project being crowdsourced.  Thus there are multiple ways to contribute to a project 1) technical expertise and 2) organic experience that provides a new element to traditional thinking.

Diversity does not stand alone as an attribute in crowdsourcing, in fact in Howe's book, one argument is that attributes are not the key in crowdsourcing.  I would argue that attributes absolutely are a key in crowdsourcing; along with attributes is experiential exposure.  The two make up a primary component to how crowdsourcing will continue to function and prosper going forward.  My skills as well as my experience will have a more profound affect than either one standing alone- you cannot exempt one any more than you can exempt man from being human.  Experience and attributes work hand in hand.

Note: If you have additional thought about peer to peer networks or crowdsourcing, I invite you to dialogue or email me with additional insights.