People: Alfie

How about you? I asked.

"Me? More brothers and sisters than most and none of them talk to me and the missus."

That must be hard.

Not really. It runs in the family. My parents hardly ever talked.

"You can't choose your family, but you sure can choose your friends".

My Dad [efn_note]A long time ago[/efn_note]

Thinking Allowed

This is a People First post that was originally on the People First domain. It has been moved here as part of my domain consolidation program. It’s a steady and slow WIP as I check each entry, so do please bear with me.

People: Semera

He looked at me. Eyes piercing my skull.

“Yes - I have heard of it I replied. An African nation … right?”

African yes.

"I’m sorry, I can’t place exactly where in Africa - but, my memory tells me in the North .. near Ethiopia?”

You do indeed know my country. He gave me the biggest smile.

And then this young man from Eritrea launched into the story of his journey from Africa to San Francisco. Not harrowing … though if you know anything of that region, that is more surprising than if it was.

I won a scholarship to America. I am a musician. I came here ten years ago.

Read More →

🚧 Our Greatest Assets

Our fourth Newsletter just dropped. The focus this week .. People!

Hamid Ulukaya - founder and CEO of 'Chobani Yoghurt' presents his plan - 'the anti-CEO playbook'. A fascinating journey through the early days of the company - and how it's success can be reduced to .... people!

Secondly, A reminder that when you build systems and make changes in your organization, it's

Finally, for a while now, I have been writing about why we should stop using the word 'Content' to describe our ”book, novel, short story, article, white paper, promotional piece, advert, painting, sculpture, song, opera, photograph …. you get the point.

This week Om Malik and Khoi Vinh have both written about that very topic. Personally delighted if finally this message is catching on and gettingg through.

As long as ‘we the creators’ fall into the trap of using ‘their’ words to describe our work, our soul, our passion, our beliefs as ‘content’, then our work will continue to be viewed as ’free - to - cheap - to - low - cost, homogenized, non differentiated, interchangeable fodder’.

John Philpin - People First

Humanity

Newsletter Three from People First just launched. The theme for this week's edition is 'Humanity’ including me spotting this in a clothing store recently. I didn’t buy it - but I sure was tempted, as I ready myself for October’s IIW. (more)

Language - One Of The Eight Pillars

It's funny how things work out sometimes. Since the beginning, 'language' has been a core pillar of People First. I've written about it from time to time, but was not intending to get into the meat for a while. Then - after last week's newsletter, I received an email that resonated in so many ways, that this week's newsletter morphed into riff on .... Language.

And then this morning, I was just browsing through some of my draft posts deciding what to publish next - and up pops this from Hugh Macleod and Gaping Void.

Why Words Do Matter

In other words, successful CEOS tend to 'get' the culture idea that language is the foundation of culture.

Hugh Macleod

Talk about the universe working in mysterious ways. Needless to say, we agree.

Now we just need to ensure that the corporates don’t takeover the language of culture as they have changed our day to day language, with their militaristic business jargon.

The Anti-CEO Playbook

I am not usually slow in attacking the nature of business, but not sure the 'Anti-CEO' playbook is exactly the right angle here. That said Hamid Ulukaya's points are excellent. How he built Chobani is a fascinating story. And at one point I was very much reminded me of a couple of People First tenets.

[youtu.be/SGTMSV8QU...](https://youtu.be/SGTMSV8QUrs)

You Build Bridges From Both Sides

I am often asked what People First is about and how it differs to everything else that goes on in the identity/data/self-sovereign/blockchain ... blah blah blah space? I was asked again this morning. I replied, but as so often happens, the essence of the message was not specifically 'private' - and so this post emerged.

If you check out The DigLife Collective, The Me2B Alliance, The People Centered Internet, The Internet Identity Workshop, The Indie Web Movement, Human First Tech ... even the IEEE to name just a few organizations [efn_note]These organizations are top of mind as I type, there are many more.[/efn_note] that tangentially relate to People First ... they all seem to be feeling their way around the elephant and interpreting the trunk, tail, tusk, foot accordingly. Nothing wrong with what they are doing ... all focussed on their individual missions.

In my email exchange, I was taken by one phrase;

"It really has to do with bridging that chasm between technology makers and people."

That idea is often referenced, with variations of actual words used. The meaning is constant. The visual is instant. Or is it?

It dawned on me ...

When engineers build bridges, they always build from both sides.

When Building Bridges - You Start From Both Sides

My ah-ha moment ... was understanding that the technology makers recognize the need to cross the chasm - but all seem to be building from the 'Tech Side'. People First is building the bridge from the 'People Side'.

Does anyone know of any other organization that is building the bridge from the 'People Side'? I sure would like to talk with them.

The American Dream

All that is needed ... just three minutes of your time. A little more 'political' than the usual People First posts ... George Carlin - Life Is Worth Losing.

Released January 10, 2006
Recorded November 5, 2005, Beacon Theater, New York City, New York

[youtu.be/KSuEa2xPd...](https://youtu.be/KSuEa2xPdYo)

Thirteen Years Ago ... needless to say - nothing has changed, other than more people are aware ... hoping that this will make even more people aware ... and then we do something about it.

Thinking Allowed

This is a People First post that was originally on the People First domain. It has been moved here as part of my domain consolidation program. It’s a steady and slow WIP as I check each entry, so do please bear with me.

People Matter

[youtu.be/lKx3MUqzC...](https://youtu.be/lKx3MUqzCcQ)

Thinking Allowed

This is a People First post that was originally on the People First domain. It has been moved here as part of my domain consolidation program. It’s a steady and slow WIP as I check each entry, so do please bear with me.

Who Is The REAL Taron Egerton - And Why Is He Welsh?

I had cause to look up Taron Egerton on Wikipedia (do you need to know why) … where I read …

”Taron David Egerton (born 10 November 1989) is an English-born Welsh actor.

… which to me at least doesn’t make sense - so I checked out some more … my bold

”He was born in northern England but raised Welsh. Egerton’s parents, who are both British, moved from Cheshire, England to Wales when he was a baby. “All my friends are Welsh, I speak Welsh, and I feel very Welsh,” he said.

So if I ‘feel' European … do I have to worry about Brexit? Assuming I speak German or French or one of the other ‘Euro' languages?

Seperate fact - at one point he did live in Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch - take note @derekpeden :-)

His grandmother was born in Wales - so I guess he is at least 25%.

More On Brian Warren's New Page.

Daniel Jalkut talking about Brian Warren’s Mac Open Web and if you want to see what he is talking about go here

I agree with Daniel - it’s a nice list. It might not have everything you think should be on the list, but that’s ok - because all you need to do is email Brian with what is missing - and if it ‘fits’ - the product gets added. And added to it has been … almost twice as many things listed now than when I first saw the list a week ago.

I just counted. I have 16 of those apps running somewhere on my machines/devices … and I can now quickly spot ‘indie compliant’ alternatives for things I have that aren’t there.

I thought Feedly should be listed, but Brian explained why he thought it shouldn’t be there …

“I don’t think Feedly would fit. Sure, it’s a web-focused service, no real proprietary formats, but it does require you use their app on their server.”

Meanwhile, Flickr is on the list. I wasn’t aware that you could use different apps to talk to the Flickr servers … you see how much you can learn?

I also think it would be useful for a link to be added at Indieweb.org - another great resource if you are thinking of dipping your feet into this burgeoning movement.

Bottom line - great idea and nicely done.

My Exchange With Stowe Boyd and A Postscript.

How It All Started

 

A Stowe Announcement Last October (ish)

”I am working to move all the old newsletter issues posted at Substack and even earlier tools over to here, at workfutures.org on Tumblr. I am dating them as they were published, so you can access them using the Tumblr archives feature or the Tumblr tag: workfutures.org/tagged/daily.”

JohnPhilpin To Stowe:

”Tumblr … Owned by Yahoo … Owned by Verizon … Have you a back up plan if Verizon decides to close Tumblr down? I hope / presume / assume that all of your IP in Tumblr is already stored on places that you control and own …. And if it is … how about moving it there now … and then cross posting it from there to Tumblr, Twitter, Medium as and when you feel like it?
Think what Medium just did to their self hosted model.
From someone who does not see RSS as old school. More ‘retro’ … And very much ‘now’. 😀”
<If all thought through - then who am I? … but to me, basing your entire IP in a platform that may or may not survive … you need a plan B. Or maybe it does survive …. but decommissions support for personal domains like Medium did recently. Then what?

Stowe To John

”I can export from Tumblr if that happens.

Postscript

Today’s Newsletter From Stowe

Beacon NY - 2019-05-16 — Yesterday evening, without any prior notice or previous discussions, Tumblr ‘terminated’ my stoweboyd.com account. So, if you browse to that URL you’ll see Tumblr’s landing page, and none of my 13,000+ posts.
Strangely enough some of the blogs associated with the account can still be viewed, like workfutures.org. I was working on that blog yesterday just prior to the ‘termination’, so maybe it’s related.
At any rate, this brings back into high relief the question of whether I should abandon Tumblr. One of the issues is that I have so many posts there most import tools don’t work. And Tumblr offers no export, any longer.
More to follow on that front.

… and ‘Tumblr offers no export, any longer.’

My Conclusion is no surprise ... but you can only go there so many times.

Move To Micro.Blog

Smear To Sneer ... It’s A Well Practiced Tactic.

And a counter balance from our friend @Gruber quoting the BBC Julian Assange, Houseguest From Hell

Kind of like the politics we see from the current Whitehouse … don’t bother with policy, the principals, the main story … instead smear to sneer at the individual.

Why now? What is the backstory? Who’s putting in the pressure? What was Ecuador threatened with?

That all said … if all of the smears are true … I fully expect an insanity defence.

People First Now Available On Apple News

I just wanted to let readers of this blog know that if you are an Apple News user, I have set up a channel on Apple News specifically focussed on People First.

You can find it here.

Right now there are some historical posts from a while back that I am flushing out, whilst making sure I retain anything relevant and pertaining to People First.

Going forward any and all posts to this blog will be routed to here - Aswell as other relevant writings that appear on other platforms such as BizCatalyst.

Well She Loss By Less Than Last Time ... But Still One For The Record Books

  • Theresa May has suffered another shattering loss in parliament after lawmakers voted against her Brexit deal by 391 to 242.

  • Lawmakers have been promised another vote on Wednesday, in which they can decide whether the UK should crash out of the EU without a deal.

  • If that, too, is rejected, parliament could then vote on whether to request a Brexit extension.

  • The United Kingdom is due to leave the European Union in 17 days.

Get the extension … go back to the people … this is the deal …. up or down.

People: Benjamin

Stood to the side of the road, walking stick supporting him. Well kept. Elegant even. Just standing. The traffic constantly passing him by. No slowing down, but then no attempt by him to get them to either.

I slowed down to let him cross. No movement.

I opened the window.

“Would you like a lift?”

“Thankyou.” he said. “Thankyou very much.”

Slowly walking towards the car, he gets in.

“Much appreciated.” he said. “I’m going to 4th street … is that ok?”

"No problem. Which cross street?"

“It doesn’t matter. Anywhere on 4th. I’m going to the bank.”

Read More →

Words and Pictures ... There's Room For Both

In my world, there is even a space for both!

Pictures - they say - are worth a thousand words.

Words however are very specific and in many ways less open to interpretation (lawyers aside!!)

So, I am going for both.

Here on my muttering stream - i have oft’ referenced the closing down of my different social spaces, so might I welcome you to :

Words - now Archives - the lead content on this space are words - sometimes supported by pictures … but not always. (UPDATED LINK)

and

Pictures - now Archives- the lead content on this space are pictures - sometimes supported by words … but not always.

Both are based on Blot.IM

I will also publish a picture of how it all connects on … where else … Archives !

Also to come soon … Sounds.

UPDATE 2024 04 22

More broken links identified in the archives.

Consolidating Yesterday To Tell A More Connected Story Today.

I attended this yesterday …. a 1 day (actually closer to two days squeezed into one day ) event feauturing Tim Berners Lee, Vince Cerf, Professor Wendy Hall and a veritable host of others.

During the day I posted a series of images and comments in separate posts, today I am consolidating them into a single post to bring more of a story together.

In chroniclogical order »

Kick Off

… with Ray Wang, Mei Lin Fung

… and Vint Cerf

Later In The Morning

Vint Cerf and Tim Berners-Lee … who didn’t invent the internet or the www (respectively) … at least according to them.

TShirt Proof

Dame Wendy Hall …, with Sir Tim listening quietly in the background.

Sponsors For The Day

Vint and Ray Wang

World Economic Forum

Hashtag for it all : #OurDigitalFuture