<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<style type="text/css" style="display:none;"><!-- P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;} --></style>
<div id="divtagdefaultwrapper" style="font-size:12pt;color:#000000;font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;" dir="ltr">
<p><span>Hello. Yes, these are difficult times for communication (when paradoxically we are hyper connected...). At OSGeo we try to keep the flame of collaboration and the defense of the commons alive. But it is not easy. It is a continuous struggle, and today
it is even more difficult because those who promote individualism are very empowered. But we will not give up. Not even when defeated.</span><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div id="Signature">
<div id="divtagdefaultwrapper" dir="ltr" style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, EmojiFont, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", NotoColorEmoji, "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", EmojiSymbols;">
<div name="divtagdefaultwrapper" style="font-family:Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:; margin:0">
<div>Sergio Acosta y Lara</div>
<div>Departamento de Cartografía Digital</div>
<div>Dirección Nacional de Topografía</div>
<div>Ministerio de Transporte y Obras Públicas</div>
<div>URUGUAY</div>
<div>(598)29157933 ints. 20329</div>
<div><a href="http://geoportal.mtop.gub.uy/" id="LPNoLP">http://geoportal.mtop.gub.uy/</a><br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<hr style="display:inline-block;width:98%" tabindex="-1">
<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size:11pt" color="#000000"><b>De:</b> Discuss <discuss-bounces@lists.osgeo.org> en nombre de Miles Fidelman via Discuss <discuss@lists.osgeo.org><br>
<b>Enviado:</b> domingo, 9 de febrero de 2025 14:36:17<br>
<b>Para:</b> xbbn; NCDD-DISCUSSION@lists.ncdd.org; Internet Policy; internet-history@gtaylor.tnetconsulting.net; discuss@osgeo.org; mil-oss; Foundations List; Libre Planet, World<br>
<b>Asunto:</b> [OSGeo-Discuss] How Do We Reboot a Spirit of Cooperation & Collaboration? A Little Help, Please!</font>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hi Folks,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Turning and turning in the widening gyre </i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>The best lack all conviction, while the worst </i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Are full of passionate intensity.</i> ... Yeats</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It strikes me that we - We The People, Americans, Humanity - need an Attitude Adjustment.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>We need to relearn how to think & work together for mutual support & benefit. My best efforts have been to little effect. I'd welcome some suggestions, some support, some participation.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>Herding cats is one thing, but one can only tilt at windmills for so long.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We've networked ourselves together. 6 Billion of us have the power to be anywhere & everywhere, all at once. To think & work together on a global scale. To think globally focus our resources to act locally. So what do we do? We share
cat pictures, watch porn, flood the world with spam, and troll each other with political polemics. We've become the Borg, we're living in the Matrix, and 3-D Printing Westworld around us. Our planet is dying, our infrastructure is crumbling, monsters rise
from the id of our collective consciousness, and we hand the nuclear codes to a "Reality" TV star, with a penchant for firing people & stirring up WWE style mayhem.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Is there some way back to <i>Life Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness, E Pluribus Unum, Truth</i>
<i>Justice & the American Way? </i>Or forward to <i>Prosperity & Long Life</i> in <i>Infinite Diversity in</i>
<i>Infinite Combination, Being All that We Can Be, Being Excellent to Each Other & Partying </i>
<i>On? </i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">----</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At least some of us, here, were involved w/ FreeNets and the early days of <i>Community Memory,</i> bulletin boards, FidoNet, community networks - attempts to build an <i>American Public Telecommunications Network</i> of FreeNets, and an <i>Association
for Community Media</i> for cable access channels. All of that was lost when FaceBook & Social Media & NextDoor & local websites hosted by big ate the world.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My work at the <i>Center for Civic Networking -</i> and now with <i>Civic.Net</i> and <i>ThisOldNeighborhood.Net </i>- is an attempt to recreate a network of public spaces on the Internet - an Internet or Syndicate of Neighborhood Networks
& Civic Forums - but there are not a lot of Neighborhood Networks or Civic Forums to integrate.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It seems like folks don't <i>want</i> to talk with each other anymore. The polarizers, and propagandists, and market segmentationists have done their work all too well. People don't come to town meeting or condo meetings. Everyone wants
to be a rockstar and a solopreneur, rather than part of a team, or a community. Folks flock to the latest personality or fad, a virtual event with a politician or media personality - but actually sit down to think and work together, to mutual benefit - not
so much. Folks will march for this cause or that, work for politicians, buy snake-oil. Some will go to Cons and LARPs, and build a city in the dessert at Burning Man; some will show up for Hackathons, Service Days, <i>Habitat-for-Humanity</i> Builds, rush
off to map crises or jump into fires, but collaborate - think & plan & work together for mutual support & benefit - not so much. We're oh so much better at shouting slogans at each other - than at looking for ways we can work together to mutual benefit.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">---- </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I've been doing my damndest to recruit volunteers to organize local <i>civic networks</i> and <i>community forums</i>- to use platforms they already have to bring people together (the way WBUR in Boston has organized <i>CitySpace</i> as
a venue for events & programs that bring people together. Or the Whole Earth Catalog & the WELL, back in the day. Or what <i>MainVest </i>tried to do as a crowdsourcing vehicle for main street businesses - until their bank failed).</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I haven't been getting a lot of traction. I've got a bunch of followers on <i>LinkedIn, </i>a bunch of (mostly non-paying) subscribers to my blogs - but practically <i>nobody speaks up </i>- either to talk about what they're doing and
seeking collaboration for, or even to ask folks to join with them to work on local pressing common problems. And all the media types who HAVE large audiences, are moving to Substack, spouting the same-old same-old, and inviting people to attend their lectures,
webinars, have coffee with them, send them money - but offering nothing to help people work with each other. All talk, no action.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">---</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It seems like the old line is true - you can lead folks to water, but you can't make them drink.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Whatever happened to the <i>Spirit of America?</i> What will it take to wake people up? To motivate people to respond to a clear & present danger the way they did following the first <i>Earth Day? </i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Please... Speak up. With serious suggestions & proposals. Save the pontification for other threads.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thanks,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Miles</p>
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Aptos;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Aptos;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Aptos;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is. .... Yogi Berra
Theory is when you know everything but nothing works.
Practice is when everything works but no one knows why.
In our lab, theory and practice are combined:
nothing works and no one knows why. ... unknown</pre>
</div>
</body>
</html>