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Hi Folks,<br>
<br>
Perhaps you might be interested in my latest attempt to tilt at
windmills & herd cats - <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://thisoldneighborhood.net"><i>This Old Neighborhood - </i><i>Rebuilding
Suburbia, the Internet Way.</i></a><br>
<br>
Our goal is to channel the energy of crisis mappers, and other
engineers & makers, who are building the growing edge of the
human enterprise, to rebuilding aging infrastructure, dating back to
the <i>New Deal </i>and <i>Post-WWII</i> building boom. The
Magic of the Market is failing us, Government is Gridlocked,
Politics & Mainstream Media have degenerated into an
Infotainment Clown Show. We need to <i>Fix the World,</i> and <i>Rebuild
for a New Millennium.</i> It's time again fo<i>r </i><i>We the
People</i> to take charge of our destiny and <i>Do It Ourselves.</i><br>
<br>
After 50 years of launching & building large systems - including
military & enterprise networks, big chunks of the Internet,
putting the Internet in public libraries, community networks,
municipal broadband networks - I find myself on a board &
long-range capital planning committee for the oldest condominium
complex in Massachusetts - <i>as we face the challenge of giving
ourselves a major overhaul to aging buildings, grounds, and aging
infrastructure.... going green & sustainable in the
process.... and finding a way to pay for it all.</i> An exercise
in herding cats & tilting at windmills.<br>
<br>
At one time, I coined the term <i>civic networking</i> and built <i>The
Center for Civic Networking </i>(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20030207072351/http://munitelecom.org/jmt.html">https://web.archive.org/web/20030207072351/http://munitelecom.org/jmt.html</a>),
and then helped cities & towns launch municipal broadband
projects - actually wrote the book on it (<i>Telecommunications
Strategies for Local Governments</i>, Government Technology Press,
1968), based on a series of case studies collected in the <i>Journal
of Municipal Telecommunications </i>(<a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20030207072351/http://munitelecom.org/jmt.html">https://web.archive.org/web/20030207072351/http://munitelecom.org/jmt.html</a>).<br>
<br>
This time, I'm taking the <i>This Old House</i> approach, scaled up
- setting out to visit & document leading edge projects,
applying that knowledge here at home, netcasting the story to the
world, and developing a <i>home game</i>, so others can follow
along, form <i>Working Groups</i> in their (your!) neighborhoods,
and redevelop suburbia for <i>A New Millennium of Peace,
Prosperity, and Festivity.</i><br>
<br>
We're just getting started, the more the merrier, please join us at
<i><a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://thisoldneighborhood.net">ThisOldNeighborhood.Net.</a><br>
</i><br>
Miles Fidelman, Chief Engineer, <a moz-do-not-send="false"
href="http://thisoldneighborhood.net"><i>Civic.Net </i></a><br>
Building a Civic Internet, a <i>Community Engineering Task Force, <br>
</i>a Network of Neighborhood Engineering Working Groups<br>
Rebuilding <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://thisoldneighborhood.net"><i>This Old Neighborhood</i>
</a>- The Internet Way<br>
<a href="http://thisoldneighborhood.net"><img
moz-do-not-send="false"
src="cid:part7.7FAB6E22.0BBF73C1@meetinghouse.net" alt=""
class="" width="376" border="2" height="243"></a><br>
<br>
<i><br>
</i>
<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>
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