Friday, November 30, 2007

Evolutionary Long Island: Part Three


What is "Evolutionary Long Island?"

I know, this should have been part one. Sorry. That's just how my brain works sometimes.

"Evolutionary Long Island" is the process that takes hold when the "One Long Island" concepts have become ingrained in the way we "do business" on Long Island.

It is the "self correcting and self adapting" process we've previously discussed that allows Long Island to anticipate change and prepare itself to "take advantage of" the opportunities that change presents. It removes bureaucratic lethargy, "personal agendas" and other non-productive "agents" by focusing on collaboration and results.

If "One Long Island" can help create a "Long Island Philosophy," it can also help put the processes into effect that will shape our region for the foreseeable future. The three elements (plus many others) are intertwined.

Think, collaborate, create, implement, repeat. The "One Long Island Creative Loop."

More in Part Four.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Fluid versus Static Intelligence

"An individual's level of fluid intelligence can be determined based on the degree to which he or she is able to let go of previously held conceptions on encountering reliable information or experiences which show these conceptions to be mistaken or overly simplistic.

At the other end of the spectrum from fluid intelligence is static intelligence.

When those with a high degree of static intelligence encounter information which seriously questions the established paradigm, they attempt to discredit the new information using laws and principles previously agreed upon under the old paradigm. If they fail at this, the new information is then deemed not worthy of study and discarded. At worst, the new evidence is actively attacked as being irrational or unscientific, even though it may be easily verified."

Athens on Long Island?


I was watching a show on PBS the other evening on democracy in ancient Athens.

While it was by no means a perfect system, I found the idea of a broader, more inclusive voting system on issues to be interesting and thought that perhaps it could be incorporated into the "One Long Island" project in some way.

I will explore this concept further as time permits.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Monday comments ...

Thanks to all of you who have called and emailed since the NY Times ran the article on this blog. I'm pleased to say that the vast majority of the responses have been positive.

Some have criticized me for not being "more detailed" or more "opinionated" on specific issues that are of interest to the writers and to specific sections of Long Island generally.

Fair enough, but that isn't the purpose of this site. I do feel we are very detailed on how to construct a process for arriving at good public policy for Long Island. We are probably up to over 200 or so pages of ideas (some more specific than others) to date on methods to construct a more productive system and "philosophy" for solving problems and addressing issues.

Quite frankly, my personal opinion on specific issues is irrelevant to the process or to bringing the "One Long Island" project to the implementation phase. What is important is creating an organizational structure that permits diverse entitles to work together for a common purpose.

We'll get back to work this week on "Phase II" of the One Long Island project.

Please keep the comments and suggestions coming. If there is any part of the project you are interested in becoming a part of (or the whole project generally), please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Thanks to the LI Biz Blog ...

liif.pngLI Biz Blog has been keeping an eye on the Long Island Idea Factory for a while, even listing it in its list of must-read blogs. Though, we have to admit, to call the ideas featured on the site dense would be an understatement.

LIIF, run by Louis G. Savinetti, is a eccentric application of scientific methods to civic responsibility, including meta-charts, wikis and plans for integrating technology into the attempt to fix the woes of Long Island.

And above all, the site wants collaboration, unity, on Long Island, evidenced by its “One Long Island” slogan.

But LI Biz Blog is not the only news organization to track the site. In fact, as of today you could say we’re one of the smaller news organizations to track the Long Island Idea Factory.

Today, The New York Times ran a feature article about Savinetti’s brain-child.

Check out the story. Here’s an excerpt:

Asked to sum up on his blog what it’s about, he wrote: “Simply stated, ‘One Long Island’ is a series of interrelated projects designed to foster productive collaboration on Long Island through the utilization of common technology, interdisciplinary education, public participation and a shared Long Island philosophy. In short it is a way to change the way we solve problems on Long Island in a sustainable manner.”

He figured he needed a reality check before he went too far. “I’m out there writing this stuff, and maybe I’m insane. You don’t know,” he said. So he sent it off to some serious people, who took it seriously.

John Murcott, a successful Long Island software entrepreneur, whose current project, 411Karma.com, is a social networking site for the nonprofit world, and Yacov Shamash, dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Stony Brook University, both said the site filled a void and reflected a logical intersection of technology and public policy.

Dr. Shamash, in fact, is meeting with Mr. Savinetti to forge a partnership with Stony Brook that would build a Long Island virtual think tank with more technological sophistication than Mr. Savinetti’s homemade one. “There are great ideas here, but the question is, what kind of controls are you going to put on, and what kind of structure and organization do you put up around it?” Dr. Shamash said.

(http://libizblog.wordpress.com/2007/11/15/long-island-idea-factory-in-the-news/)




Thanks to the New York Times ...

Our Towns

On the Web With Big Concepts for a Fragmented Long Island

Published: November 15, 2007

OYSTER BAY, N.Y.

There’s the Long Island Plasma Converter Project, the Long Island Innovation Council and the Long Island 3.0 Open Code Library, which is not to be confused with the Long Island Internet Public Library or the Long Island Info Grid. There’s the Long Island Idea Bank, the Long Island School of Meta Interdisciplinary Studies, the One Long Island Virtual Constitution and {hellip}well, you get the idea. There’s a lot more.

Of course, to be technical, none of it actually exists outside the brain and Web site of Louis G. Savinetti, an unpretentious Long Island native with gray hair and glasses, and family roots in Sea Cliff, Locust Valley, Glen Head and Glen Cove, who is a former member of the Oyster Bay Town Council and now serves as the town’s human resources commissioner.

But sitting at Taby’s Burger House, with its antique map of the Long Island that was — “Large Estates Here,” “Good Swordfishing Here” — you quickly realize that there’s much to be learned about Mr. Savinetti, about Long Island, and about the political potential of the wired world in his somewhat quixotic Long Island Idea Factory Web site, longislandideafactory.blogspot.com.

Mr. Savinetti, 52, came out of C. W. Post College thinking he wanted to teach and compose music, but soon ditched that and later got degrees in public administration and law. Along the way, he picked up the habit of scribbling down ideas in notebooks, which piled up in the basement of his house. About a year ago, he decided to do something with them online as an abstract intellectual exercise — “sort of the way other people do crossword puzzles” — and as something with public policy potential.

And so, in March the Long Island Idea Factory was introduced as a way to throw ideas out into the public sphere and to offer online avenues for people and institutions to share information, data and ideas about Long Island, a place sorely lacking in unifying structures. Its catchphrase is “One Long Island,” and it reads like half eccentric fantasy baseball for tech-savvy policy wonks and half serious virtual forum for tech-savvy policy wonks.

Asked to sum up on his blog what it’s about, he wrote: “Simply stated, ‘One Long Island’ is a series of interrelated projects designed to foster productive collaboration on Long Island through the utilization of common technology, interdisciplinary education, public participation and a shared Long Island philosophy. In short it is a way to change the way we solve problems on Long Island in a sustainable manner.”

He figured he needed a reality check before he went too far. “I’m out there writing this stuff, and maybe I’m insane. You don’t know,” he said. So he sent it off to some serious people, who took it seriously.

John Murcott, a successful Long Island software entrepreneur, whose current project, 411Karma.com, is a social networking site for the nonprofit world, and Yacov Shamash, dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Stony Brook University, both said the site filled a void and reflected a logical intersection of technology and public policy.

Dr. Shamash, in fact, is meeting with Mr. Savinetti to forge a partnership with Stony Brook that would build a Long Island virtual think tank with more technological sophistication than Mr. Savinetti’s homemade one. “There are great ideas here, but the question is, what kind of controls are you going to put on, and what kind of structure and organization do you put up around it?” Dr. Shamash said.

With its label clouds and meta-charts and other buzzy features, Mr. Savinetti’s site might not be for everyone. He’s quick to say the site doesn’t reinvent the wheel and instead uses many ideas from other sources. But he likes to think that in its own way it still gets at something intrinsic to Long Island, with its hundreds of towns, villages, special districts, school districts and very little that ties them all together.

“When I was growing up, Long Island was open space, a clean environment, small communities,” he said. “Now it has an identity issue. What do you think of when you see Long Island in the news? I don’t know. Joey Buttafuoco. The Hamptons. Now maybe illegal immigrants, the license issue.

“It doesn’t seem like Long Island is something or a series of somethings that add up to one thing. I guess that’s why no one ever used One Long Island before.”

And, whether or not the site creates a useful virtual Long Island, he figures maybe it will help him at home in the real one.

“I thought it would be nice for my son to see I wasn’t a complete idiot and that I had an idea every once in a while,” he said. “You know how kids are.”

(http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/15/nyregion/15towns.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin)

E-mail: peappl@nytimes.com

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Garbage to Energy ...

Another interesting article on "plasma gasification" here.

A follow-up to this post.

Seems to help solve, at least in part, two of Long Island's biggest concerns.

Friday, November 9, 2007

More on the way ...

I'm in the process of setting up a number of meetings to begin the implementation of some of the "One Long Island" concepts. I'm also supplementing and refining a good portion of the material.

Additionally I'm reviewing my notebook(s) of ideas to see where the next "suite" of concepts fits into the overall "One Long Island" game plan.

Thanks to all of you who have offered advice and support.

I look forward to a productive remainder of 2007 and an even more productive 2008.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

One Long Island - Virtual Constitution Wiki


I created this One Long Island Virtual Constitution Wiki and got the ball rolling. The Password is LIIF. Put your own user name and email in.


Please feel free to join in. Please keep it positive.


We'll see if this wiki software suits our purposes.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Something different ... update

OK, so I'm going through boxes of my old music and I think I found all the parts to my orchestral study "Locust Valley by Moonlight - Part One" and "Locust Valley by Moonlight - Part Two" ... give a listen when you have 30 minutes or so to spare.

Back to the work at hand ...