A Business Plan for The Commons

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As I mentioned, we are moving ahead with the idea of The Tantramar Commons, and the next step is to develop a business plan. Guy Kawasaki’s Zen of business plans, is a perspective that suits me well. I’ve used his short pitch format for business models before and find it’s a good way to focus, not just for investors, but for funders of non-profits.

My aim is to develop a plan for the longer term viability of The Commons. If we are economically sustainable, then we have a good chance for government investment in the necessary physical capital. This is a different perspective than that of a business start-up that has to show a return on investment on its capital. It’s more like the rationale to build interstate highways 80 years ago. We are creating some common ground for knowledge-based organisations that are not focused on short-term profits. One of our aims is to have a culturally, environmentally and economically viable community. Our Commons will be an investment in a garden plot, and members will decide what they plant and care for. The exciting aspect will be the opportunities for cross-pollination. Fiftyty independent organisations, all generating wealth in some way, stand a better chance of survival than one company employing 50 people. The commons is about productive living, not jobs.

Of course, we have to make money and pay the bills. However, The Queen Street Commons is evidence that a work commons can function. Our cultural commons needs to provide the kind of infrastructure that will support early-stage artists and crafts people and help them develop into viable enterprises. Perhaps some form of common teaching and learning space would do it. The environmental commons already has some potential renters but it may also need common space for shared activities. Access to free highspeed Internet seems to be a desirable common good for anyone who visits or stays at the commons, as our connectedness to the rest of the world is essential for our prosperity. Anyway, there are lots of ideas.

I’ve started to collect online resources and examples of commons and bookmark them. I’d appreciate any other information, especially experiences and similar initiatives. I know that there is a group in Halifax considering the creation of a commons as well. I’m sure that we’re not alone, as almost everyone I speak has realised the limitations of our current economic structures in supporting meaningful and productive work.

As knowledge expands

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Christian Long’s post on the required use of handheld computing devices (PDA’s) for medical students is a good indicator of the changing nature of knowledge in all professions:

Sometimes schools get scared and annoyed, banning Google searches and iPods in the classrooms. Sometimes they go the opposite direction, believing that technology may actually make the world a better place one PDA at a time. Over at Brown University, Providence, RI, the second tact seems to be the case.

As an assistant professor at the University of Rhode Island College of Nursing notes :

“If we had students buy a book, by the time the book hits the bookstore, it’s outdated,” Lauzon Clabo said. “And with using PDAs, they can update their software weekly.”

Learners need up to date information and access to knowledgeable people in their own, as well as other, fields. Textbooks no longer meet that need. Unfortunately for specialists and texbook writers, the digital medium is making many of them redundant. The texbook is no longer the primary source of knowledge; instead it’s the messy, disorganised worldwide web. A similar debate of whether experts and school boards should pre-authorise the content of wiki textbooks went on for a while at Education Bridges.

First it’s the professional schools, soon it will be public schools who reject the textbook and the small circle of experts who write and publish them. I look forward to this democratisation of educational resources. The more the merrier.

The Search Epoch

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Few people would argue that the Internet has changed the way we work and live, even though there are some who may not realize how much life has changed and how great the business implications. If you follow Nine Shift, you’ll know that they predict this epochal change to be complete around 2020, when 75% of our discretionary time is different from pre-2005.

Just as significant a change has happened on the Internet during the past five years. That is the advent of Search. Seth Godin highlights how serach has levelled the playing field, making industry leaders less important:

If there’s no search engine and you need a recipe or a pot, you visit cooking.com and they find you the best match on their site. And it goes beyond web companies. If there’s no search engine and you need to buy coffee, you go to Starbucks.com, right? Leaders in every field had no reason to invent for search… it’s not good for them.

In John Batelle’s book, The Search [a recommended read], he notes that:

Increasingly, search is our mechanism for how we understand ourselves, our world, and our place within it. It’s how we navigate the one infinite resource that drives human culture: knowledge.

Search has levelled the playing field but it has also increased our dependence on it. This makes the issue of who owns and controls the pipes & nodes on the Internet exceptionally important. If large telcos and ISP’s can provide faster speeds for preferred clients or influence search engines in any way, then our access to the knowledge that we need will suffer.

Now that everyone recognizes the power of search, this is becoming a battleground for control by multinational corporations. Keep an eye on this field and please get involved where you can, as this will affect how our children work, learn and create.

Some resources:

Michael Geist’s Internet Law Blog (Canadian)

The Cooperation Commons (a venue for discussions)

Oligopoly Watch (keeping watch on all those mergers & acquisitions)

Open Business (open source business models as an alternative to the above link)

Electronic Frontier Foundation (working to protect your digital rights)

Creative Commons (flexible copyright, so that you can use what you find when you search)

UK Debate over Relevance of Curriculum

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The UK Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) is proposing that there be no national curriculum for students under 16, instead opting for a locally negotiated course of studies based on competences rather than specific subjects.

“We need to give teachers the freedom to inspire youngsters so they want to learn, not just pass tests. We also need pupils to have the space to develop as rounded people, and that includes physically, emotionally, creatively, socially and ethically.”

So reports the Education Guardian, but also quotes opponents to this proposition:

But Alan Smithers, professor of education at the University of Buckingham, said yesterday of the ATL’s proposals: “This is disturbing nonsense. The point about testing is that we discovered quite shocking things about how few of our children could handle words and numbers properly at the age of 11. Without that testing we would have assumed that everything was ok.”

I can understand the opposition to this recommendation, in that students may “slip through the cracks”, but Smithers’ remarks are based on a supposition that teachers and the education system know what’s best for students. Here I strongly disagree. The current industrial educational model is inadequate from most perspectives:

  • Schools do not prepare students for jobs, because we don’t even know what jobs will exist in 5 to 10 years.
  • Many universities complain that students are ill-prepared for their first year.
  • About one third of Canadian school dropouts are A & B students, indicating that motivation is a key issue.

The needs of struggling students as well as gifted students are equally ignored by national curricula. Local control means that parents can get involved in discussions about what would work best. As it stands, teachers have no control over the curriculum, and are as helpless as parents and students.

Experts like Smithers do not know what is best for everyone and I question their authority as experts on every learner in their respective countries (see Dave’s post on experts). One cannot possibly set a national curriculum that addresses all the learning needs of every student. I’ve already mentioned how the death of curriculum could mean the rebirth of learning, and perhaps this move by the ATL will open up the debate on the constraints of curriculum.

Further resources on Public Education.

The Tantramar Commons

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Over the past few years, I have been influenced by some thinkers and innovators who believe that business as usual won’t address our needs for life and work in the next century. The open source software movement, Natural Capitalism, Dave Pollard’s work on the Natural Enterprise, Robert Paterson’s Going Home essay and the creation of the Queen Street Commons have all influenced my thinking and now my actions. I’m glad to say that what was once was only an idea is finally getting closer to reality. That is the creation of a new model for a sustainable community – The Tantramar Commons

After two years of discussion and observation we now have an opportunity to fund the creation of a Commons. We know that any initiative of this sort must be financially sustainable but we also know that our community and world must be environmentally sustainable and that a dynamic culture is essential for growth as a community. Therefore, our Commons, a cooperative endeavour, will be founded on three interdependent pillars: an environmental commons, a cultural commons and a work commons.

The core of the environmental commons will be based on the Atlantic Wildlife Institute. AWI promotes learning and awareness about the direct links between environmental health and human wellness through its work in wildlife rescue, rehabilitation, and research. Having recently completed a learning centre in nearby Cookville, at AWI’s 120 acre facility, we are now looking at constructing a new facility in Sackville for our research and networking initiatives. Other environmental organisations have already expressed an interest in joining or participating.

WLC.jpg
Photo: AWI Learning Centre

The cultural commons will reinforce organisations such as local galleries and Mount Allison’s faculty of fine arts. It will provide a focal point for artists and artisans with space for demonstrations and education, integrating cultural expression into the fabric of the community. Several local artists have shown a willingness to support this commons.

The work commons will be based on the lessons learnt by the Queen Street Commons, and here is a quote from their website:

Two hundred and fifty years ago, at the dawn of business, everyone worked at home. People found it convenient to spend the day in the close company of others who shared their common interests. One of the first venues was Lloyds Coffee House. Friends aggregated into booths and then into partnerships with each other. Those who wanted to do business with these “syndicates” wandered around the floor. From this simple beginning arose the world’s most effective insurance business.

Today more and more of us also work from home. While the Internet offers us some community, we can feel isolated and we often find the costs of basic infrastructure expensive. In addition, we miss by our social isolation, the synchronicity of opportunity that arises from meeting regularly in person. Many of us also work in sectors, and on ideas, that are still in their infancy. We are therefore vulnerable to the no-sayers and to the mainstream. This type of work needs the protection of social space where we develop amongst ourselves the trust, the community and ultimately the power, to take these ideas into the light of day.

Why do we need a Commons?

We are witnessing a shift in how the world works, as we move out of the Industrial age into the Internet age. Today, the manufacturing sector, our major source of wealth for the last century, is shrinking, much as the agricultural sector shrank 80 years ago. At some point in the future, knowledge workers will outnumber manufacturing employees. However, knowledge workers are different from the salaried employees that we have become used to for the past 80 years.

According to the authors of Nine Shift, knowledge workers:

  • Are paid by their outcomesa and what they produce; not by the time they put in.
  • Knowledge Workers bring something unique to the organisation for which they work.
  • Their value is not in being like other workers, but in being different.
  • Knowledge workers have a marketable set of skills.

In the near future, knowledge worker incomes will be a major source of revenue for many municipalities. Most knowledge workers will be paid by organisations from outside of the area. This income will be a net input of revenue into the community, as opposed to money that just changes hands locally. However, these knowledge workers will have their choice of where to live, and cities and regions will start to compete for them. Therefore, we need to develop our community infrastructure so that it is attractive not just for work, but as a healthy environment that also provides cultural stimulation.

To foster inter-sectoral cooperation, we need some common and neutral ground where we can start to have conversations and develop real understanding. This will be necessary to overcome traditional power relationships, especially for those who feel under-represented in our current political and economic structures.

I think of the Commons as a garden where members can plant and grow what they want, in a fertile environment that also encourages cross-pollination. The Commons will become a diverse community eco-system that will be more sustainable than the traditional factory or business. If one organisation in the Commons fails, it will not bring down the entire structure. Compare that with a mill closing in a similar small town in New Brunswick.

What do we hope to accomplish?

  • The Tantramar Commons will be a focal point for the new Wildlife Emergency Response Network, which will bring in visitors, researchers and more like-minded organisations.
  • It will be a home for non-profit organisations where they can concentrate on their programs.
  • The Commons will be a welcome place for innovative start-up businesses.
  • It will be an intersection for dialogue between sectors, such as between local farmers and environmentalists.
  • Working from the Commons will allow the network effect to exponentially increase the power of each member.
  • It will be a showcase for Green technologies at a local level.
  • The Commons will provide more work options for our youth – a place to try out new business models in a supportive environment

I’ll be posting much more about the Tantramar Commons [a working name for now] as we develop the business model and the plan. I appreciate the support of many community organisations and individuals who have helped with this initiative and would like to recognise them, once I have their permission to do so.

Webcast Academy

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Following up on my last post on becoming a Net radio host; perhaps I should go with a lower cost option and join Jeff’s Webcast Academy:

Welcome to The Webcast Academy Open House. The Academy is a hands on, collaborative training center for people interested in learning how to produce and host live, interactive webcasts.

The goals of the Webcast Academy include

  • increasing the number of people who are capable of producing live, interactive webcasts
  • applying the open source community approach to skill development
  • creating a place that formally recognizes proficiency, excellence, and innovation in these new media skills

Sounds like fun :-)

Or, I could turn my blog into a podcast, using Feedburner.

To be, or not to be a Net Radio Host

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Voice America Internet Radio

I never really considered becoming a talk radio host but when the opportunity was presented last week I was quite interested. Perhaps it really appealed to my vanity ;-)

I received a call informing me that my blog was considered to have material that would be appropriate for a radio show. I was asked if I would be interested in hosting a 13 week pilot program of Voice America’s business network. The producer said that a recent post where I had stated that, “my clients are all across Canada and my long-term strategy is to grow my network outside the country”, was what piqued his interest.

I fancied the idea of increasing my reach and trying out a new medium (though I have been involved in several podcasts). My main concerns were the amount of preparation time and the actual delivery of a good quality one-hour show each week. Each show averages about two hours prep time, I was told, so hosting a show would be a significant commitment; but it would be possible to pre-record a couple of shows. Unless I wanted to do all of the talking (boring), then I would also have to find interesting people to interview. Opportunities for co-marketing were discussed too.

I listened to some of the existing Voice America business radio shows and found some mediocre ones, but also good programs like Anita Campbell’s Small Business Trends Radio. Anita is quite positive about her Voice America radio hosting, which she does in addition to her Small Business Trends site and newsletter. Anita’s show has attracted sponsorship from Six Disciplines as well.

I couldn’t find out much else about the company, so I considered the pros and cons for a couple of days. About a week later, I was contacted to discuss the business details. During this second conversation, I was made aware of the “production, promotion, training, marketing, internal web-site development, archive hosting, personnel overhead and bandwidth expenses“, and that in order to ensure that hosts will stay committed, an up-front fee is required. This fee equated to the cost of hosting this blog — for twenty years.

In light of this fee-for-service, in addition to what I had already considered to be a significant work effort, I began to lose interest. However, Voice America in total has about seven times more readers than this website does. Therefore, I could have a chance to increase my audience; but how many of these would become paying clients?

What I sell are intangible and usually complex services, with a proposal submitted only after having spent a fair bit of time with my client. Could Voice America radio hosting for 13 weeks help me with this? I’m not sure. Furthermore, my clients are usually referred through my network, and some clients check out my website before contacting me. There are two years of my comments and perspectives on this website. Should I reinforce this archive with audio? Again, I’m not sure. Anyway, I decided to decline this service primarily due to the cost, but also because of an uncertain return on investment.

SEC Filing

Further investigation into Modavox, the parent company, yields this information from the NASDAQ [2006]:

Modavox produces weekly talk radio content programs that are distributed 24/7 on the Internet through its flagship Voice America channel at WWW.VOICEAMERICA.COM. The company derives its revenues through production fees received from hosts featured on the talk radio content programs and recently sponsor fees received from sponsors of certain of these programs. Production fees are generally sold in 13-week segments and are generally prepaid. Sponsor fees are generally split with the host. The company has also developed an e-commerce technology that will now allow host and sponsors to sell products and services on their programs. In future periods the company expects to earn revenues through the use by hosts and sponsors of this e-commerce technology. The company has also recently begun to market its patented Metaphor technology on a platform that will allow business and specialty and affinity groups to communicate live and stored voice and video content to intended audiences over secure internet channels.

I think that this medium, live Internet radio, has advantages for certain types of businesses, especially those selling a product/service mix or for someone who has a good sponsor that matches the program. As an open source evangelist and a provider of technology evaluation services, I try to be vendor-neutral. This makes sponsorship a difficult issue, because I cannot endorse any single product to the exclusion of others. Perhaps sponsors would flock to my door, but I doubt it.

• Did you find this post useful? Check out the perpetual beta series

Skills for the New Workplace

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Skills needed by the current generation of students when they enter the workforce:

Because at the end of the day, the future belongs to those who can tell a great story, demonstrate passionate interest combined with the ability to problem solve and ‘figure it out’ on the fly, and who have the audacious ability to care enough to ‘go after it.’

Are we helping them prepare?

From Christian Long, Think:Lab – who hasn’t stopped blogging yet ;-)

How does an unknown student get published?

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Mr. McNamar, a teacher with a blog – The Daily Grind, has just read an excellent essay from one of his students and thinks that it is of a quality to be published, but he doesn’t know who to contact. Can you help him?

“I read an essay, the likes of which I have never read in a Pre-College class. This essay has a future, should it find its way into the right hands. It is an essay that, when I finished reading, I felt like I had just finished reading an essay in a respected magazine or anthology. I once had a professor tell me a sermon I wrote for a Homiletics class could be published, but he never helped me. I want to help this kid. If you know of a way to get work published, please let me know. Here are some excerpts:”

Black community–grammatical error, or bad combination of words?

“Imagine taking a one thousand piece jigsaw puzzle nearing its completion, and wiping it clear off the table, sending the pieces scattering–in other words, imagine the Black community. A group of people who once shared, participated, and had fellowship, now kill the memebers of their own communit at extreme rates–the Black community is imploding. Once a group that would fight against all odds, they now will fight anyone who doesn’t wear their colors. During the Slavery Era, these traits could breathe, create beautiful music, and throw a knockout punch; it acted as a true community.”

With the Web and blogs, this student has a better chance of getting exposure than in the days of mass media control of the electronic medium. That’s a good thing :-)

Changing Platforms – Reality Check

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Just about a month ago I changed from Drupal to WordPress; partially at the request of my service provider and partially as a result of all of the spam that was getting through. So far I like WordPress but it doesn’t give me all of the extras on formatting and presentation that Drupal did. The move has greatly reduced what I thought was my readership though.

I used to think that all of those lists of subscribers in Bloglines and other aggregators were people who actually read my blog. It seems that most readers haven’t noticed that there have been no new posts on the old RSS feed since I announced the move to WP. The old RSS feeds do not work, but almost nobody noticed. Oh well, I’ll just keep posting for myself and using my blog as a personal knowledge management system – its main purpose. I do appreciate the comments from the few who do read my “new & improved blog” though – thanks.

BTW – the new feeds for this blog are: http://jarche.com/?feed=rss2 and http://jarche.com/?feed=atom