Notes from a Sustainopreneur | on Sustainability Entrepreneurship

[coverage] We-think, We are Smarter than Me, The Long Tail - about Collaborative Book-writing

I see snippets of a huge sea-change come in to play, where the concept of "Book" is about to be socially deconstructed, delearnt, relearnt, and reconstructed. Imagine such an intro to a book, would you put down the book immediately and say - "oh, my, that was a heavy digest - too deep - demands too much of me in my reading - I am too lazy/too buzy/too fixed in my world-view/too whatever to read more".

Maybe I have lost you - as a reader! - already now.

Maybe you don't read books at all, anymore.

Maybe just Harry Potter is a bestseller of huge event-marketed proportion at release.

Maybe.

Or Maybe NOT.

Because - in a time of alot of "maybe's" there are some modes of the process of book writing turned upside down.

• Pioneering experiments - where I participated, Seth Godin's Crowdsourced "What Shall Google Do?".

• The Long tail - Chris Anderson writing a book through a blog, sourcing input from his readers before the first (needless to say, bestselling) print.

• We are Smarter than Me - a book written through a Wiki about how business can approach new social media forms emerging from the CCI @ MIT as a research experiment.

• We-think, on Wikia - with an igniting intro by Charles Leadbeater (who are one of the pioneering authors in the Literature Review in my Master Thesis on the emergence of the concept sustianopreneurship with his book the Rise of the Social Entrepreneur) - through @alheri • Lilly Evans :).

And, of course, the King of Kings, the Queen of Queens - Wikipedia with all the siblings, daugthers, sons and distant relatives in the whole Wikimedia Family, proximate and distant projects hosted on the MediaWiki platform, and complimentary Wikifying of all domains of human (inter)action on all Wiki-platforms. And the rest of eco/biosphere, cosmos and beyond...

We need a new conceptual framework on the process of authoring "books" of these collaborative kinds, but it already happened in a sense with the sixties "happening" - the Audience is on the Stage.

I shut up here, and encourage you all to make yourself able to say - "I am not reading books. I write them" ;).

Punch-line, ad lib, fade:

Feel free to join the "Chris Anderson Model" of book-blogging, which I tentatively have called "Pro-Active Crowdsourcing", in a response to Jimmy Wales, the King of Wikipedistan, and his critique of the concept crowdsourcing, where I add pro-active, in the write-up of "Sustainopreneurship - Business with a Cause. The Whys, Whats and Hows of Entrepreneuring for Sustainability" - but the proactive peer2peer crowdsourcing of that book already have changed the sub-title from the original "The Why, What, How of Creative Organizing for Sustainability". And it can be changed once, twice or maybe three times more. Or a Gazillion :). 11 people have joined the potential process of adding their input to it in the Group at the Sustainopreneurship Community. Three have used their sphere of influence already. Thus, the change!

I set example by deeds, not words.

Go to the Book Peer2Peer Review Group on Sustainpreneur's Café to see the evolvement!

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Post Scriptum: Time to reveal my motive for the categories bracketed in the subject lines, introduced on this blog just some weeks ago - they correspond to Book Parts, where the outline already is out, uncommented, on the Book Group ;). I will return here with a post blogging away the semi-final results when the convo over at the group have made their input at next stage - the Outline leading to a Synopsis, leading to a re-visiting to Older Texts, re-edit, recycling, revolving, revolutioning and ...reconstructing them into a new context, in which also a new context is introduced, new content is created, new concepts are constructed and new cases are crowd-sourced - pro-actively.

Thus will this text form some/any part of the Part Zero: Part 0. The Coverage. An intended kind-of intro chapter, where I believe this will be the chapter that is authored and putting final touch to latest in the process before the book goes in print...

[comment] Facebook will die...

...in the mid-term run, since they don't allow us to pull feeds from the streams. Command and Control to the level they get stiff. Wonder what CSI's Gil Grissom will find when examining the corpse: Murder or Suicide?

Wondering: Why are 20c mindsets of Command and Control governing the 21c businesses in a world in Chaordic Change with an increasing number of Collaborating Free Spirits?

"Data is the New Intel Inside", yes. And Open Syndication of Data is what made the final success of the UN Data extracted to be understandable through Gapminder.org.

"Information wants to be free" /EFF ...

Knowledge and wisdom should also be liberated all the way. And trapping it and not letting users being able to take it with them wherever they go is shooting yourself in the foot and digging your own grave. http:// was 20c, rss is 21c. And a bunch of other Open Formats - http://www.dataportability.org. The Syntactic Website is dead - Long Live the Semantic Web!

[#changeblogger] Changeblogger Meme - version 2.0

Since last time I wrote up the #changeblogger meme response, so many things have changed, that even the write-up two months ago have become obsolete in some sections. This brings me to a total extreme write-over, first and foremost to increase clarity that has come from interaction from some of my deep peers and key-connections, in plain English called friends - for real! Ah, and yeah, things changing all the time for a changeblogger? Well, naturally, of course ;).

What is one change - big or small, local or global - you want to see in your lifetime?

Seeing millions of sustainopreneurial ventures and events take place, big and small, local and global, virtual and physical, for the benefit of the billions of people, everywhere. With the largest number being small, local and offline with a big, global and virtual connection and mindset. Sustainopreneurship is ALL about change to make the world a better place - so it is all the way reflecting the spirit of the meaning of "changeblogger" when blogging away this topic! The agenda is big enough to create millions of businesses for the benefit of the billions of people - and planet - to turning the world's biggest problems to even larger business opportunities. If I need to prioritize within which areas, I would refer to my SEEDS Model - Strengthening of Health, Education, Entrepreneurship, Digital Unification and Sustainable Distributed Energy and Mobility. Poverty. Climate Change. Water and Food Security. Health issues at large - reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, sleeping disease, preventing pandemics. Clean production, consumption, tech, water, energy. Communication for all. You name it. Solutions are captured within these SEEDS areas. Maybe to call it The Business of Peace-making in the end, tackling all the root causes in a broadest applied spectrum at deeply rooted local level?

Who is already working this issue that you think others should support?

I am all living, breathing, dreaming, acting, networking, branding, creating, enacting, empowering, entrusting, enjoying, exploring, experiencing, proliferating, facilitating, writing, doing, sleeping, eating, burping, laughing, playing, smiling, sweating, venturing, campaigning,  soundtracking, enlarging, making, being, yes really being - did I say living, living, living? :) - this issue 24/7/365. Being, yes. Being the Change I want to See.

So support me ;).

And that is not an act of shameless self-promotion, rather to support the work I do to make leverage to the sustainopreneurial movement at large, e. g. things I focus and point to with those making a change already - change makers I find along the way and blog about. Help them out. Blog their work. Use your sphere of influence to give them a helping hand. For some inspirational case stories, see the SEEDS Innovation Fund web. And that is so far beyond 'me' it can be. 'We'. For real. The Family of Humanity.

How are you going to use your Web/tech/marcom skills to further this cause? (Or, what are you already doing that works?)

I have defined six action areas with ventures rolling out in part parallel, part serial process, with my own practical down-to-earth contribution. The prioritized, here and now -

to get the primary SLICE Service and Publishing ("Sustainopreneurial Lecturing, Inspiration, Consultancy and Events" - my freelancing brand at http://www.slice.nu) project focused reaching success - getting the virtual freelancing platform and space Ki-Work Category Marketplace Sustainability Entrepreneurship empowered with 75 Category Experts (see press release).

to have the research venture ÆREAS ("Association for Enactive Research, Education and Application of Sustainopreneurship") constituted, finding 150 Founding Members, with the Virtual Community "Sustainopreneur's Café" as its home, with http://www.aereas.nu and http://www.sustainopreneurship.org as the two destinations for the web and community for the interim association, and 

In the central, though, in order to get even more leverage, spread, speed and power for the issue through my SLICE-Published blog; Notes from a Sustainopreneur - the blog you're reading now - covering the Why, What and How of Sustainopreneurship. And where I will use ALL thinkable and unthinkable social media tools and approaches both in spreading the idea and concept (e. g. spreading it through a Conceptual Campaign), developing (writing up a book through some tools) and concrete venturing (using collaborative tools and communication engines in the process, internally and externally). Social media is a key to create leverage for the movement!

That's it!

Now, tagging! Karin Johansson, Naima Benali, Jack Yan, Chris Heuer, Johnnie Moore, Tim Kitchin, John Caswell, Chris Macrae, Mostofa Zaman, Sofia Bustamante, Sadiq Baig, Ed Daniel, John Dierckx, AainaA Ridtz A-R, Lilly Evans, Don the Idea Guy, Ben Koot, Jozefa Fawcett, Richard Gatarski, Simon Warrick, Fabian Pattberg, George Pór, Vincent Wright, Steve Purkiss, Anna Dani, Ed Mitchell, DK, Scott Allen, Tav Espians, Tracy Ann Sheridan, Yvette Dubel, Takuya Misawa, Dennis Barker, Daniel Westergren, Kerry Santo, Josef Davies-Coates, Margaret G Orem, Linda Pierre, Karl Goldfield, Frauke Godat, Patrick Moore, Tom Ball, Johan Thomas, Tim Sandgren, Nick Clayton,  Niclas Ihrén, Christian Conrad, Zach Lane, Cristina Andersson, Curt Rosengren, Paul Arthur Smith, Ahmadou M. Sall, Therese Weel, Inger-Mette Stenseth, Marcus Berneström, Dave Hampton, Simon Sharp, Richard Nelson, Steve Brant, Celine Ruben-Salama, Christine Crowstaff, Annie Berger, David Bowman, Curt Beckmann,

[contemplations] Some Thoughts on the (Potential) Power of Blog Memes

Blog memes are usually quite pointless, as concluded in my last post.

But - when it comes to one aspect of the potential full power of Blog Memes, we see the Power of We in living vibrancy here. There are much to add here of insight from the phenomenon as such, but I will keep that for the Essay Blogs in the analytical and conversational part for my book to come (see sidebar), blogged away later, since I elaborate in my latest publication on researching sustainopreneurship (a book chapter that will be separately blogged soon in relation to a Conceptual Campaign started beyond the Wikipedia article on Sustainopreneurship), a contribution on the power of social media to "collapse the degrees of separation" in between sustainopreneurs specifically, also applicable for change agents for a sustainable world in a more general sense as well.

About half of the top ten of the world's most popular sites are all social, and all in the top ten do have deep social dimensions, or have direct social web affiliations as parts of their brands! Memetic power environments, right?

So, do get out and socialize in the new media spheres - you never know what happens :). Especially if you want to change the world for the better! The Key Element on that, to make it a lasting experience that changes 'us', I believe is to blog yourself - both your 'self' and blogging on your own, in conversations with others - all the way, ongoing. And now, with microblogging, you don't even have the barrier of locking your up in keyboard anxiety of the Writer's Block. You can write an SMS, can't you? Then you can at least Microblog!

This brings me to the reposting and reediting of the #changeblogger meme as such, to continue my direct participatory and inclusive interactive ("enactive") research on Phenomena That Matter. Separately posted, to give it respect :). And adding key elements of events changing the path towards a more detailed level, with even more clarity.

I firmly believe we have not reached the full potential of Blog Memes. I will soon play around and create my own for the Conceptual Campaign I have initiated, that presently only is aired out through Facebook and my Twitter account as a part of this "enaction", on a meta-level a big experiment on Conceptual Diffusion (or Perpetual Confusion ha ha :). See the Twitter, Facebook and Friendfeed streams on the sidebar here for that!

I will blog about this Conceptual Campaign soon, to collect some initial experiences of that! And happily concluding, that this blog post now is below 500 words :). "It's getting better" as Lennon/McCartney wrote up in their lyrics ;).

[chronicles] The #Changeblogger Meme - RE:VISITED

Soon two months ago, I went astray to tell a story of many inter-twined stories, in need of editing and wrapping up in my Future Book, that will be blogged here.

It was my RESPONSE to the STIMULI of a MEANINGFUL BLOG MEME with QUESTIONS THAT MATTER.

It is time to make that maxi version and mash-up of many inter-related events thrown into that long story, into the short, edited version (similar to the Dance Version with two minute intro and two minute outro with six minutes of beats and melodies signifying the tune in eight minutes you have on the dancefloor when DJing Live, and the Radio Edit in four minutes flat for Radio and MTV...).

So I will give you the Short Edit. I will begin by Copy&Paste, and meeting the Aim - 500 words or less for the full post... ;).

With some Background and On-Issue thoughts of Blogging as a Tool for Change in general, copied and re-edited, from last post, as well.

The definition of "Changeblogger" is dead simple. A Changeblogger is:

"A member of the blogging community who is using their blog, podcast or vlog to raise awareness, build community, and/or facilitate readers/listeners/viewers' taking action to make the world a better place."

(posted in the original Britt Bravo post, "Changebloggers. Using Social Media to create Social Change").

Beyond email, I coin blogging to be one of the most simple and most straightforward of all internet-traveling media and communication formats. Just get you out there, share, in all transparency beyond your little mail inbox to the big, big world.

So, why not use the media in itself to transform and accelerate the change in the McLuhan spirit of 'the medium being the message'? Now in the days we really experience the Global Village: in order to unite and connect, in order to create peace, in order to gain momentum of the movement towards a Sustainable World - why not use a follow up of the original changeblogging post, where the action creates meaning in itself, and where the concept of changeblogging is lived and done 'being the *change* we want to see' through a blog meme? That was the initial response that fired my soul on this.

Usually blog memes are quite pointless, and just seems to be a simple way to generate traffic and reconfirm blogrolls to each other, where you get tagged with ego questions like what you had for breakfast and what you plan to do tomorrow. See the Blogging 101 chronicle on Blog Memes with a full tutorial to even create your own.

But, as the Changeblogger Meme starter Qui Diaz pointed out when launching the Changeblogger Meme (my bold);

"The ChangeBlogging meme has arrived. On a meta level - not just the three question blog-a-long at the end of this post. Eyes are shifting from the internal “me” meme to a season of “we” and “us.” The winds of change are welcome - and overdue."

This was the reason for my Spirit to be Ignited on this Blog Meme in the first place. And, now disciplining myself towards keeping below 500 words or less per post, which I got beyond one more time, helpless me - aiming for 350 at large future-wise, promise! - I shut up and rewrite my response in a new version, in a Radio Edit Length post :).

[press release cross-posting] "Sustainability Visionary Joins The Ki Work Leadership Team"

ki work is privileged to announce that Anders Abrahamsson has joined our team as the category leader in Sustainability Entrepreneurship

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) – Oct 20, 2008 – ki work, the online marketplace for the remote and virtual workforce, welcomes Anders Abrahamsson to the category leadership team. Anders is a Sustainopreneurial Facilitator and a Global Knowledge Nomad Networking with Intention and Quality, who runs/develops six ventures; SLICE Services and Publishing™, DJ Anders, ÆREAS(i), Club2Club, Ignition® Communications and SEEDS Innovation Fund.

Sustainability Entrepreneurship, or 'Sustainopreneurship', is a concept that has been developed by Anders in conjunction with world leading scholars in entrepreneurship research. Beyond peer-reviewed research the concept now is defined in a Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainopreneurship), ready to be intensified in its proliferation in both idea development and application.

Sustainopreneurship differs from entrepreneurship in general in two main points. Practically, for the “why” dimension, the purpose, motive and strategic drive, it means “entrepreneurship and innovation for sustainability” - using business as a means to solve sustainability-related problems such as health issues, water and food security, illiteracy, poverty, lack of communication and energy. They vary in kind and nature globally, but maybe the greatest (business) potential resides in the “base of the pyramid” - the four billion people living below $4 a day. Sustainopreneurial opportunities lies within e. g. micro credit, clean tech and water solutions, and innovative ways to deliver Internet and mobile phone access. The “how” dimension of sustainopreneurship implies creative business organizing and “acting outside the box”, as it is with all entrepreneurial endeavors. But, at the same time, the business is conducted in a way that secures the possibility for all present and coming stakeholders of the venture to get their needs fulfilled, with respect for all life support systems.

The ki-work category of Sustainability Entrepreneurship is here to empower sustainopreneurs – to support projects of this nature, and those who want to offer (virtual) services associated with proliferation of primarily start-up ventures for sustainability, as well as deep strategical transformation of established companies and corporates, “sustainability intrapreneurs”. All in all to be a part of creating global sustainable prosperity. Ki-work in itself, the venture as a whole, thus is a part of the solution – reducing needs for transport, working more freely to induce good working health and creativity, and in the long run reducing the needs for building and warming up big office complexes by getting out from the cubicle, and untap the immense opportunity working as if there were no borders and distance in between us.

“In an effort to deliver options beyond today’s business-as-usual thinking,” Shares Anders, “my goal is recruit 75 World Changing Category Experts to the Sustainability Entrepreneurship Category. We want to support those with business goals of improving our relationship with the planet and peoples, as agents of change, making meaning and money at the same time; by turning the biggest problems of our world to even larger business opportunities. In short – businesses with a cause.”

“To have a change agent like Anders join the group is tremendous,” says Michael Wolff, CEO and Founder of ki work, “his desire to improve the lives of his fellow man is truly inspirational.”

With ki work growing at a rate of 400 new professionals a day, organizations seeking remote workers are quickly seeing the potential. As our concerns with the current economy couple with energy issues, remote and virtual workforces are becoming more and more attractive. Teams that can quickly come together with no concern for geography will become valuable assets to organizations trying to stay competitive.

What is ki work?

ki work (http://ki-work.com) is the online marketplace for those looking to outsource or find online work. With over 450 categories managed by leaders, there is a greater transparency and development of trust for those looking to fill projects. There are no fees for  registering, listing projects, or winning bids. The network is designed to help the right person find the right worker at the right price.  

Contact:

karl goldfield
vp of sales and marketing
[email protected]
http://www.ki-work.com/ki-profile/goldfield

[chronicle] Sustainopreneurship - Now on Wikipedia!

I spent the afternoon yesterday, making the final edit for the since-long-way-back intended Wikipedia Entry on 'Sustainopreneurship'. In some ways possible to do ever since I got published with my contribution to the VHU conference proceedings published 2006, making it formally researched and peer-reviewed by senior researchers in that volume. But I awaited two authoring rounds more, before firmly finding it able to publish to meet the rightfully high standards of Wikipedia - especially on new concepts (as some referred to as neologisms before entering mainstream vocabulary). The tentative definition in the VHU publication was tried-and-tested through the Master Thesis in 2007 using the Enactive Research approach, and then followed by a conference article on prospective future research on Sustainopreneurship. This last article went into the loop of post-editing and peer review to finally be published in a book, printed and delivered September 15, 2008 (that will be blog covered separately).

This last event was the turning point for me - now I had a firm foundation of three rigorly scrutinized academic publications, feeling comfortable enough to defend the article, and activate my account on Wikipedia. As expected, a quick note from a seasoned Wikipedian beyond the publishing (those citizens who contribute to the living dynamic community-authored encyclopedia) tagged it with the "original research" stamp, since a quick read of the article make the Master Thesis an all too dominant part of the core content on the conceptual development, making it look like I want to popularize the Master Thesis. No, that was not the case, and I objected on the talk page, stating 1. The term was not coined by me. 2. There are two ISBN-catalogued and peer-reviewed books containing my contribution meeting academic standards. Beyond the editing (I shortened the notes on the Thesis to make it more proportional in the chronology of events in the development section, and I replaced the direct link to the Master Thesis with the Google Scholar Search on Sustainopreneurship, and added ISBN numbers together with direct links showcasing the two books), I took away the template and tagging of the article.

Beyond this, it has been untouched and not questioned, and I hope it will stay that way. Now, 24 hours later, it has been viewed 54 times.

At the publishing moment, I was listening to the end of the first hour of Markus Schulz Internet radio show Global DJ Broadcast from October 9 [tracklist - download], Deadmau5's version of the Title Music from A Clockwork Orange movie by Stanley Kubrick, originally the Funeral Music of Queen Mary II by composer Henry Purcell. Aptly titled "Clockwork" [YouTube].

The drama of that song, and the Anthony Burgess original dystopia with the term Ultra Violence coined, made a great illustrative turning point to the historical moment, where the "hive mind truth" and common sense meanings of the world we have been trying to understand the last 200 000 years as Homo Sapiens reflected by Wikipedia recieved my donation to the knowledge of humanity. Where I want to turn the state of Ultra Violence towards ourselves and our planet to Ultra Peace.

Beyond the adding of the knowledge to the hive mind, announced through a Tweet stating it as my Gift to Humanity on World Poverty Day, four minutes after the publishing, and adding my instant defense of the article at the Wikipedia Talk Page, I was resting and listening to the news. To my surprise, I saw a news flash from the Traditional Circle of Elders meeting at Flathead Lake, Montana from Swedish TV4 - and I realized when looking at the website today that they were the only TV Broadcasting Company allowed to be there [report here - swedish narration, but interviews with chiefs and leaders in english]. Traditionally, these annual meetings of all the tribe and spiritual leaders of the Native Americans dating back over thirty years, have been closed for "the White Brother Man" as they say, but some years ago they decided to open up and share. The increasing concern with Global Warming and the nature catastrophes increasing in intensity and numbers of later years made them decide to share their message with the world and the white man. Oren Lyons was there [interview, longer and in English, with Oren Lyons from TV4 and the meeting], who I had the honor to meet at the big Envisions conference in Västerås 2002. Back then he ended the whole 500+ peeps conference with the words "Action Speaks Louder Than Words".

And that wraps up my posting on the story on my Wikipedia Entry. It started out as action without words by the turn of the millennium early 2000, then I stumbled upon a concept illustrating my deeds in 2003, and now, 2008 beyond three crucial publications, it is time to take this word even further in proliferation. Not focus on the talk in the spirit of the word, but to actually shut up and do something. A concept is a concept, and an idea is an idea, and nothing is as practical as a good theory. But what matters is how we apply it. Also, what I have learned, is that it is by hands-on application and action we can learn a lot more about the concept.

Now walking my talk, by exactly shutting up, and end with a link.

You know which ;).

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NOTE: This post a part of the Book Blogging, see sidebar. Intended to be included in Part I of the book, outline and synopsis of the book to be published separately. Categorized accordingly.

BLOG ACTION DAY 2008: What is Poverty? - and 'Giving a Concept to the World'

Poverty is a complex concept, not to say the least culturally defined. What we should talk about is life quality in terms of happiness. And here lies a paradox. It seems that the moving from absolute poverty at survival level to the next signifies a strong increase in happiness, but when you slide up the income scale there is no direct correlation in between an added dollar and an extra smiley face. Reducing marginal returns. In this context, maybe the developed world has something to learn from the developing, with their often hard living conditions, often need to keep their spirit and creativity levels high, and ingenuity to fix the situation and then making you see another day makes you happier. I've seen this power first-hand during my stay in Uganda 2001-02. Spiritual Poverty is also worth considering a change!

But, if we talk about strictly financial poverty, there is a multitude of complex cause-and-effect loops in a systems dynamics making it hard to know where to begin. But here lies the clue - it is with this complex interdependence of mixed root causes you have to solve it in a multi-dimensional way, with many simultaneously operating sustainability innovations. Look at it this way. HIV/AIDS takes away the bread winner of the family, the teacher from the kid and the doctor from the town in Sub-Saharan Africa. Global warming and Climate Change leads to increased floods in Bangladesh and droughts elsewhere. Inequal distribution of risk capital leads to a vicious circle of low wage - low savings - low financing of ventures. Low access to Internet and cell-phones leads to extremely high transaction costs for the locally operating micro-entrepreneur and cash crop farmer. All this contributes to the status quo of an absolute poverty level kept high.

So, at the same time, we need a HIV/AIDS vaccine, distributed renewable energy, cellphones, a $100 computer not just for the school kid and micro credit. And especially a combination of all these.

And millions of sustainability innovations and ventures beyond this, both in number of innovations, and in the ventures deploying the already found innovations, franchising everywhere, to every community. Thus, my premier gift to the humanity is the development of a concept focusing the business organizing taking these problems and turning them into business opportunities: Sustainopreneurship. Business with a Cause!

On World Poverty Day, October 17, a special publishing will be done of this concept - be sure to return to this blog to see a great event, where the concept is given to the public domain in a very special context making it flourish from a very specific spot freely accessible!

A last word: Blog Action Day for this blog with the themes environment last year, and poverty this year is extended to All Media Action Year for me, since I am devoting all my days to the development and further flourishing of this concept in the virtual world and in real life - Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Sustainability - with aims to solve sustainability-related problems such as climate change and poverty.

And from now on, this blog will be starting to tell the story leading to the book (see sidebar), marking this blog as a starting point! Look out for the first post soon!