"One Long Island" Metachart 3.25.09

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Green Accelerator progress ...

Nice to see my Long Island Green Business Accelerator idea start to take shape.

Back to the future ...

Two interesting stories in the Long Island Business News today. One on schools and one on making progress changing Long Island's future.

Both make good observations and all involved are well intentioned, bright people.

What is lacking is a methodology for bringing this about.

This is one of the central points of this site since its inception and the impetus behind the One Long Island design which is over 300 pages of ideas and counting.

One Long Island is a methodology for collaborative, sustainable positive change. Furthermore it is dynamic, allowing for the exchange and analysis of diverse views and a way to reach common ground.

Needless to say, I left comments on both sites directing them here.

Maybe someone will call.

Modular Long Island: Part II

Last year around this time we started talking about a "modular Long Island" concept.

In point of fact, all of the One Long Island series of ideas is "modular" in that each idea can stand on its own or easily "integrate" with other elements of One Long Island (or already existing compatible ideas, organizations, systems etc.).

A large problem on Long Island as elsewhere, and one that we've talked about ad infinitum, is the seeming inability to link similar ideas, organizations and programs and further, the seeming inability to understand (or to recognize) the impact of one or multiple actions on the immediate and long term status of Long Island.

Ah ha, you might say, it is impossible to think of everything at once.

Under current conditions, difficult yes, impossible no.

The fact is, we must learn to think differently and on multiple levels simultaneously if we are to create substantive, positive and sustainable change.

Some look at the many levels of government on Long Island as the main culprit in our apparent dysfunction. Certainly this has something to do with it. But the organization of government is merely an outgrowth of how we wish to govern ourselves and more narrowly, to "control" our geographic area and immediate environment.

If we look beyond government, you pick the discipline, not for profit, information/data services, environmental, education etc, we will see the same level of "diversity."

Some see this "diversity" governmental or otherwise as a bad thing. I say it doesn't really matter if there are systems in place to foster simple and effective collaboration. People, no matter who they are or who they are affiliated with, must come to the table willingly and must trust that the process and the information they receive (and provide) is accurate, fair and reasonable for there to be long term sustainable change.

Government and other types of organizations will only achieve their optimally effective size and structure through the type of collaborative and "dynamic" interaction we've advocated over the past year (actually since 1993 with Oyster Bay 2000).

Its almost as if we must break organizations and their respective missions down to their component parts and reassemble them in new, more dynamic and flexible shapes.

This type of thinking enhances opportunity for those currently on "the outside looking in" and additionally, actually assists those who may initially lose some clout and influence they enjoyed under the old regime(s) in having more, if a different type of, influence and opportunity as Long Island creates a greater and more expansive, dynamic environment.

It won't happen overnight, but it will not happen at all unless we try a different approach. This is some of the thinking behind the Long Island Meta-Planning, Meta-Data, Meta-Think Tank etc, etc, etc concepts.

More in Part III.

SUNY Ideas ...

"One argument that SUNY leaders make - and it will be easier to make the case once a new permanent chancellor is finally selected - is that public higher education is never more important than in tough economic times. For one thing, people losing jobs rely on SUNY schools for retraining. For another, the campuses - like Stony Brook, Farmingdale, Old Westbury, and the community colleges in Nassau and Suffolk here on Long Island - have a huge impact on the economy. So this is a bad time to slow that economic engine."

Good editorial above on SUNY.

As important is the need to restructure the way the state allows for the commercialization of research coming out of its system in a manner similar to California and other states.

There is a treasure trove of great ideas and products available to New York coming out of the SUNY system, but there must be a rational incentive for both inventors and the taxpayers of the state.

The "Green Business Accelerator" concept we proposed for Stony Brook is just one model of what can be accomplished.

Opening up the the commercialization of intellectual property coming out of SUNY is a great way to offset SUNY budget cuts, pour money into the state economy, develop new business and new business models, create good jobs among many other benefits.

The current system provides little incentive and too many roadblocks to innovation.

For a state that prides itself on being a world leader in many areas, the current situation at SUNY is a threat to this continuing quest for excellence.

Making the Transition: Part One

The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Meditations
Roman Emperor, A.D. 161-180 (121 AD - 180 AD)

We harp quite a bit on structure the Long Island Idea Factory in the form of the One Long Island series of projects.

Why?

Because without the proper flexible, dynamic structure sustainable positive change is difficult to achieve.

I have my own ideas about what change is important, but so what?

No one person or organization has all the answers. We have to believe that with the correct structure and methodology the correct change will occur, in whatever form that change manifests itself.

So how to go about change? How do we transition from where we are to where we wish to be?

How do we go from mere rhetoric to substance?

How do we create a Long Island "meta-transition?"

More in Part II.

Long Island "Green" Business Accelerator

I've been reading with great interest all the new focus on "green" energy and its possible positive impact on the Long Island economy.

"The Green Guide" and "Long Island's Next Big Thing" among others are great additions to the cause and are doing splendid work in highlighting the issues and attempting to take a comprehensive approach to energy production on Long Island.

I would suggest all involved consider a Long Island "Green" Business Accelerator model along the lines of the Port of Technology in Philadelphia and other business "accelerator" models we've discussed in previous posts over the past year. Here is another example of an "alternative energy accelerator" in Michigan.

I've had some very preliminary talks with some folks out at Stony Brook (a natural location given their new alternative energy center) and other folks in the industry who feel the idea has merit and some potential.

Of course there may be multiple "accelerators" so long as they work collaboratively (this is the meta acceleration we spoke about previously) and for a common purpose. There should also be "cross pollination" of ideas and business among and between accelerators engaged in green energy and accelerators and incubators engaged in different but potentially mutually helpful work.

Depending on governmental resources to launch this initiative into high gear is, perhaps, dooming it to at best mediocrity. Again, it must be a "dynamic" process, not the stagnant "static" process which has formed so much of our current policy.

We need all the resources at our disposal to create a "green" Long Island.

A brief intermission ...

Sorry about the lack of posts recently.

I'm actually engaged in attempting to put some of the "One Long Island" theories into practice.

I should have a few updates soon.

Good article on "Meta-leadership"

"Meta-leadership" refers to guidance, direction and momentum across organizational lines that develops into a shared course of actions and commonality of purpose among people and agencies that are doing what appears to be very different work."

More here.

Another energy idea ...

A friend of mine directed me to this site recently. Personal wind power (no jokes please).

One is apparently installed at the Stony Brook Southampton Campus. It would be interesting to see how effective it is.

How about we put these right down the spine of the LIE? On existing water towers and smoke stacks? On light poles? On all compatible public property? How effective would it be?

Add that to the SunEdison concept and other "complete solarization" ideas and the Plasma Converter projects we spoke about earlier and where does that get us?

What if all the garbage/solid waste companies and municipalities on Long Island got together and built one Plasma Converter in Nassau and one in Suffolk? How much energy would it create? How many landfills could be reclaimed? How much less gas would be used? What about (you fill in the question) ...

How about energy from the ocean ? How about an earth battery ?

How many cost effective megawatts can we really generate from alternative sources if we put our minds to it? When you give the public accurate data about the cost benefit analysis and impact on the environment, then they can make rational choices about aesthetics and other issues.

The point is, unless you ask "out of the box" questions, maybe even seemingly "crazy," creative questions and then do the analysis, you never really know what is possible.

What is known is that we will have to make major changes to the way we create and consume energy on Long Island if we are to have energy that is remotely affordable.

Alternative energy, another good candidate for our "One Long Island" metadata analysis concept.

"Dare to be Different."

A couple of quick points ...

First, we are assembling a good team of highly competent diverse folks for the implementation phase of the "One Long Island" series of projects. If you are interested in participating please contact me.

Second, I won't publish comments on this blog without knowing who is making the comment and having a way to respond to them. I invite criticism and alternative views, just not anonymous criticism and alternative views.

There are plenty of other sites for that and they do serve a purpose by letting folks vent and to opine without any repercussions. Its part of the "rich tapestry of life" as they say. These sites generally don't hurt and some good ideas sometimes rise through the fog, but if you're not willing to stand behind your convictions, in the end, what have you really accomplished?

"One Long Island" is all about collaboration. Collaboration is at the very least however, a two way street between folks trying to work through and solve difficult issues.

"One Long Island" is also, among other things, about building bridges between issues, individuals and organizations. It is not about one single issue. It is not about the promotion of one view or organization over another. There would be no point to the project if it was.

Are all the ideas here winners? Of course not. But I hope it helps in some way to encourage others to have the courage of their convictions and to publicly express your advocacy in a positive, collaborative way.

Long Island needs teamwork, not individual heroes. No one person or organization has all the answers. With the "One Long Island" project we are trying to assemble a "critical mass" of folks who wish to collaborate in a positive way on Long Island.

If we are successful things will change for the better, and will change for the better pretty quickly.

Long Island Internet Public Library: Part One

Based upon this idea and really just another way to conceptualize our Long Island Metadata Portal project.

Although the more I think about it, I suppose a good case could be made for the Long Island Internet Public Library being a sub-component of the Long Island Metadata Portal. Something similar here but I can't quite determine the scope of the project. Might be a useful building block in the overall "One Long Island" project however.

We'll explore that idea in later posts.

Long Island Dublin Core Metadata Initiative: Part One

"The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative is an open organization engaged in the development of interoperable online metadata standards that support a broad range of purposes and business models. DCMI's activities include work on architecture and modeling, discussions and collaborative work in DCMI Communities and DCMI Task Groups, annual conferences and workshops, standards liaison, and educational efforts to promote widespread acceptance of metadata standards and practices ..."

We've referenced the "Dublin Core Metadata Initiative" in a number of our previous posts as one possible way to help "tie all the information" together on Long Island (Long Island Metadata Portal etc.).

It seems to be a good fit for our "One Long Island" project in that it has a track record of success and is based upon an open architecture.

The key to "bringing Long Island together" is not through mandates, but rather, as we've stated before, through collaboration and flexibility.

A sort of "make it available and easy to participate it and they will participate" approach.

It looks as though Dublin Core can help us achieve the type of large scale data coordination we are projecting in "One Long Island."

We'll follow up to verify.

Also, here's a nice site explaining Web 3.0 (LI 3.0).

Good reading ...

"A range of organisations - with direct experience of working with diverse groups in society - has produced guidance or can offer advice on how to effectively involve different groups in decision making." (click for entire article)

On point editorial from the Long Island Business News ...

"That’s a hard sell here, in the shadow of the Capital of Capitalism, but it’s exactly how we need to start thinking. Long Island leaders and residents must be willing to compromise, to see the bigger picture, to endure bottom lines that are not as fat as they might be.
It’s not as easy as buying the local pub, not here. But if we can craft a regional plan that makes optimal use of our population and potential, there may be a future here after all."

(Click to read entire article)

Accelerate Long Island, a Long Island Meta Accelerator: Part II