Good article ...

"The central process driving this is not globalization. It’s the skills revolution. We’re moving into a more demanding cognitive age. In order to thrive, people are compelled to become better at absorbing, processing and combining information. This is happening in localized and globalized sectors, and it would be happening even if you tore up every free trade deal ever inked."

Is it true?

One of the overriding benefits of the One Long Island series of projects is the gradual construction of a "self regulating" or "self policing" system of information vetting and analysis.

Sites such as this one are useful, but are still dependent on traditional means of gathering and analyzing information. These practices will continue to be useful, but will not be enough as information becomes (or has already become) more voluminous, more nuanced and available in more and different formats. The human brain needs assistance in analyzing information accurately and quickly.

One Long Island attempts to anticipate Web 3.0 technologies even while we work to get the Island up to Web 2.0 standards.

As we've previously stated, a major impediment to creating sound public policy (in its broadest definition) is the lack of flexible, dynamic systems and standards for gathering, vetting, analyzing and distributing information. This is obviously not just an issue for Long Island, but I believe we have the tools on Long Island to create a model for other regions around the world.

If you want the general public, elected officials and other organizations and leaders to "get on the same page" for the benefit of Long Island, we first must have a way to satisfy most reasonable people that the information they have is accurate and has been fairly analyzed in the most complete possible manner.

Because until we can do this, we will always be behind the curve in creating and implementing innovative public policy for Long Island.

The case for Long Island 3.0

"If Web 2.0 is about knowing what citizen's know, want and value, and if the Semantic Web is about government knowing more about what it knows (by making otherwise hard-to-find connections), then the future holds incredible promise and the reasonable expectation of a few bumps along the way. Fletcher, Miri and Chopra would likely agree with what O'Reilly recently told BusinessWeek: "Web 2.0 is the messy way that the Semantic Web is actually happening."

Good article on why the Web 3.0 concept (Semantic Web, Knowledge Web) is important (click for entire article) and, by inference, important for Long Island.

Simple.gov is also a persuasive argument for change and would be a useful tool to use in implementing a portion of the Long Island Congress/Long Island 3.0 project.

Meta-editorialism: Part Five

A logical outgrowth of the Long Island 3.0 concept is a virtual mass communications network.

This would include all of the elements we have previously talked about including LIWIKI, Long Island Metadata Portal, Long Island Alert System(s) and the Long Island Congress (Virtual Community Congress, Long Island Citizen Media Network/Long Island Citizen Alert Network) inclusive) among the major concepts.

What does this mean for the traditional forms of mass communication? As the semantic or knowledge based web advances it obviously allows more choice not only in the type of information available, but how we receive it.

Traditional sources will still maintain a level of respect, but people will expect more from them. As the web 2.0 is beginning to demonstrate, there is an explosion of information and ideas available and the manner in which we interact with one another is becoming more and more sophisticated.

What is needed now is more structure to, what seems to be, chaos. It isn't really chaotic, its just that we have not fully developed the tools or the conceptual approach to use the abundance of information at our disposal in a consistently productive manner.

Long Island 3.0 in all its various current and yet to be developed forms, is an attempt to give some structure to the chaos so that we may use all available information for productive purposes.

Long Island WIKI (LIWIKI): Part Two

We talked some time ago about an advanced Long Island WIKI (LIWIKI) which would be a segment of our Long Island 3.0 concept and pointed to a good initial attempt to create a basic Long Island WIKI already underway.

The New York Times magazine had a good article this past weekend which I encourage you to read. It demonstrates how there is a large, mostly voluntary group of folks who constantly check facts and attempt to block inaccurate information. This, to me anyway, indicates a hunger for the "truth" and the scale of the project demonstrates a dissatisfaction with depending solely on "traditional" sources although they remain a large part of the news gathering effort (especially Google News).

What if we could take the WIKI concept and expand it to essentially create a "universal" information exchange for Long Island? What would we need to do?

As we stated before, multiple open standard data structures are required so that all Long Island data has the opportunity to be included, vetted and analyzed. This does not mean there is only one data method or one main database for the information. As we have stated before, we must make the information exchange flexible and easy to accomplish. I have no doubt we have the brainpower here on Long Island to accomplish this and I know there are models already employed that we may emulate and modify.

If we make the process flexible and easy to accomplish and we get some of the "major" players on Long Island engaged in the process (some of whom have already expressed an interest), we can create the type of synergistic model that will propel Long Island and Long Islanders to create an environment for positive change.

More in part three. Stay tuned.

Another Piece of the Long Island Puzzle

Good article below and well worth reading. Long Island Colleges and Universities must, as we've stated previously, must play an integral role in the creation of any long term public policy solutions and are a major part of the Long Island 3.0 (and New York 3.0) concepts.


"Economic growth, university-style, on Long Island
By Robert A. Scott
Friday, June 8, 2007 (LI Business News)

Imagine a community chamber of commerce that decided to start a strategic planning process for economic development, including the following principles and priorities.
First, they want to recruit an enterprise that would produce a product or service of which everyone could be proud. Second, they want an enterprise whose employees are highly educated and willing to be active in community organizations. Third, they want an enterprise that is respectful of the environment. Fourth, they want an enterprise willing to partner with schools, the civic community and businesses. Fifth, they want an enterprise that would have a significant and positive impact on the local economy through taxes paid and both operating and capital expendures.
On Long Island, that enterprise is higher education. There are 19 colleges and universities here with combined annual budgets totaling over $3.2 billion – that easily translates into a $4 billion economic impact, and this does not count the effects of more than $1 billion in capital investments committed for the next five years.
Nor does it count FICA, federal and state income taxes and other taxes collected. And when one adds in the restaurant, hotel and other expenditures of those who visit campuses during the year (for homecoming, reunions, cultural events, graduations and sports events), the economic impact grows even larger – and we haven’t even mentioned the expenditures of nearly 175,000 students and 38,000 employees.
Universities are teachers, models and partners in economic and community development. We use our intellectual, cultural and capital assets to prepare professionals, managers and artists; to contribute to the quality of life that attracts and sustains businesses; and to create jobs and wealth. This is economic development, university-style: the community developer’s dream partner."

Robert A. Scott is president of Adelphi University in Garden City.

Some additional interesting thoughts:

Newsday 6/8/07 Letters to the Editor

Use Avis site for affordable homesIt is common knowledge through the work of the Long Island Association and the Rauch Foundation's Long Island Index that Nassau and Suffolk counties lack adequate supplies of affordable housing for young professionals and service workers. As a consequence, businesses, schools and colleges find it difficult to recruit those with critical skills. The challenge for the business sector is so severe that we now refer to the "Top 75" public companies, not the "Top 100."Too much of new housing is for those 55 and older with no school-age children. Rental apartments at affordable rates are hard to find.County, state and federal properties no longer used for their public purpose should be zoned, in whole or in part, for multiple-dwelling workforce, or "starter," housing.Now on Old Country Road at the site of the old Avis property in Westbury, we have an opportunity to build housing for young professionals and others who could fill critical job needs and become the consumers and taxpayers Nassau County needs.With some imagination, special zoning and Hempstead support, a new housing development could help revitalize an area that could easily become blighted if attention is not given to our highest priorities.Surely, this must be of interest to the county executive, the Town of Hempstead and Simon Properties, owners of nearby Roosevelt Field Mall.

Robert A. Scott Editor's note: The writer is president of Adelphi University.Garden City

More on building trust ...

Good article on what it takes to build trust and get things done in a "knowledge economy."

Trusting the "process" is essential in building a Long Island 3.0 model.

Long Island Decision Model: Part Three

Here's a good article on something called "Boyd Cycle Theory" and how to anticipate and react to changes in your environment.

While not exactly on point for our purposes, it does offer useful guidance in the area of how to create good public policy in a rapidly changing environment.

This is also an interesting article on the use of artificial intelligence and the creation of public policy.

Meta-Editorialism:Part Two

A preliminary diagram (I'm sure I missed something).

Word and other types of filters are critical to the end user's ability to access the great amount of information available. This information will only grow with Web 2.0 and the advancements of the Semantic (Knowledge) Web or Web 3.0.

We'll explore this in future posts.

Semantic Web Blogging

Good article on blogging for the "semantic web." This is also interesting reading.

Long Island 2.0: Part Two

How should Long Island 2.0 (on our way to Long Island 3.0: a Semantic Web) be structured?

Some of our previous posts have suggested a methodology, and with New York State's new focus on creating greater governmental efficiencies perhaps the time is drawing near for a comprehensive approach to problem solving. New York State's appointment of a panel of "governmental experts" is a good first step like some of the bi-county commission projects recently proposed, but without an overall systematic approach to problem solving and without the inclusion of a wide range of experts we may not advance as quickly or as thoroughly as we would hope.

Long Island, indeed, New York State, has some of the brightest people on this planet. The goal is to get them all working in a coordinated manner for the public good. Although we are attempting to create a dynamic and "virtual" method to address issues, our existing universities and library systems will play a vital role in the accumulation, categorizing and analysis of information both for public access and for public policy analysis and debate.

All "preconceived" notions of what government should be, how public communication and information should be transmitted and how public decisions are made (among only a few issues) should be placed to the side as we attempt to design a method for Long Island's (and New York State's) future.

As we have stated previously, there is more than enough funding in "the system" to accomplish this task. If designed properly, it will remove the barriers between organizations and foster a competitive environment for innovation and the "marketing" of Long Island and Long Island services and products as a region and a destination.

Long Island must make sure that its unique needs do not get consumed by the needs of New York State as a whole. Innovative thinking will allow regional autonomy on Long Island and for Long Island in any New York State plan. Any plan which disregards the public distrust of "government" (the bigger the government the greater the loss of control and trust) and seeks to unreasonably limit local autonomy is destined to encounter severe trouble and possible failure. It may be harder to allow autonomy within a larger system, but it also promotes diversity and innovation. A "one size fits all" approach rarely works.

Perhaps a "Long Island 2.0" or "Long Island 3.0" Commission is something our state government could address in the near future. The world will change with or without us, so why not be proactive?

Long Island 2.0: Part One

Great article on how Web 2.0 concepts are changing education and society in general.

Many of the ideas contained in this article are important as we head towards an integration of knowledge and technical sophistication on Long Island: Long Island 2.0.

We've explored some of them already and will continue to try to bring it all together in a practical and simple manner.

LIWIKI Update

I came across this idea for a secure peer-to-peer WIKI Engine which may be a good model to use as a basis for a Long Island WIKI.

Peer-to peer WIKIs may be integrated into standard WIKIs as well as other web-based and xml based solutions including the Semantic Web.

I'll keep digging. The answer is out there somewhere.