be.app edit

focus measure potential loss

creativity
math PISA entrepreneurship
(Zhao)
happiness

-½ unemployed have
-jobs
money college degree
-debt
-college debt surpasses
credit card debt

focus cost potential loss

public ed $1.3 curiosity,
trillion adaptability

standardized $20-50 the human
tests billion spirit

pub·lic concerning all the people

ed·u·ca·tion learning experience

We are seeking to redefine it.

re·de·fine make something different

pub·lic concerning all the people

ed·u·ca·tion learning experience

Don’t worry if you like it as it
is.

We don’t plan to get rid of
anything.
We imagine facilitating
everything.

It’s public education.

Perhaps, our only negative element is

.

Compulsory. choice
Stay in the lines. whimsy matters
Be quiet. cha os
Orderly. rhizomatic
Efficient. breathtaking

Pyramid has a foundation. Network does not. You can start anywhere.
- David Weinberger, Too Big To Know

No compulsion?

We know that will be messy.

how to ground the
inevitable and encouraged

…?

We’re suggesting an app to
ground the chaos as we
transition toward this
redefinition.

So say, we change the law, we redefine public ed:

#1 - everyone is known by someone

#2 - everyone talks to themselves daily – initially into this app

Imagine we set an
entire city free
to experiment.
Even if just
100 people
are game
... chaos.

We’re planning to create and prototype an app that
would be available for free on the device of your
choice…

Of note: This app is nothing special, in fact, success will be that we no longer need it in a year’s time. There are
amazing things going on everywhere, they currently however, are just not equitable. *As in Dewey’s definition of
public ed: a democratic society.] Rather than waiting for all the current incredible innovations to scale, and even if
they did would that suit everyone, why not scale each individual. Why not set individuals free to be their own start up.
Perhaps that’s the equity we’re seeking.

We're imagining this app could facilitate three things in particular:

1. People talk/text into it, to themselves, daily, asking themselves
if they are doing what matters. Self-assessment vs standardized
assessment.

2. That thinking becomes data.. used to connect people in the
city that are noticing, dreaming, connecting and doing the same
things.

3. That thinking and those connections aggregate into a mesh
network.. with the person as the center node. A potential future
intention economy, where credentialing comes from a networked
individualism expanded/grown over time as a footprint or trail.

1. People talk/text into it, to themselves daily, asking themselves if
they are doing what matters. Self-assessment vs standardized
assessment.

noticing the unlikely?
dreaming boldly?
connecting people and ideas?
be you site
detox

2. That thinking becomes data.. used to connect people in the city
that are noticing, dreaming, connecting and doing the same things.

Jerry’s brain

instagrok

A match.com or linkedin - ish - but via passion/intention.

ie:
if... like tags are found within say 10 nodes from the center,
then.... connect these people (or ideas/things even) via [text #, some notification -
perhaps meetup.com-ish?]

3. That thinking and those connections aggregate into mesh network,
of intentions/passions/connections, with the person as the center
node. A potential future intention economy, where credentialing
comes from a networked individualism [presence sensing (Scharmer)]
expanded/grown over time as a footprint or trail.
[more on intent (Searls), than on present, honest signals & idcubed (Pentland)]

see Jerry’s brain

via Joh

via John T. Spencer
more web visuals

at a rough
be app take 1 on sketchfu (video)
be app flow p1 (drawing)

or read through the following slides…

Opening app would give you the option to jump in or get a little help.

then
if

If you know what to talk about, the next option you’d get would be to:
talk into your device (say you don’t like typing at all)
text (say you are in a space where you can’t talk)
type (say you prefer a laptop over small device)

then
if

If you don’t know what to talk about, the next option would suggest elements of
self-directed learning:
notice the unlikely (what have you noticed)
dream boldly (what are you dreaming about)
connect people/information/ideas (what/who have you connected)
do what matters most (are you doing what matters)

then
if

Say you pick notice, you would be given the option to jump in, or get a little help.

then
if

If you know what to talk about in regard to noticing the unlikely, the next
option you’d get would be to:
talk into your device (say you don’t like typing at all)
text (say you are in a space where you can’t talk)
type (say you prefer a laptop over small device)

sam on noticing
al on noticing
then
if

site on noticing
If you don’t know what to talk about in regard to noticing the unlikely,
the next option would offer you help with:
how to notice, and
why noticing matters

then
if

Then you get the offer to go on noticing again, or get more help again. You can be done, or
go back and talk about dreaming or connecting or doing.

That’s the app idea so far.
Emphasis on user friendliness and on usefulness via optional looping to whatever degree.
Main drive, getting people to talk to themselves, to start thinking for themselves, to learn
how to learn, become usefully ignorant.

a few
Joe & Miguel
• Joe, age 15, uses the free wifi from the wifi bank and his free recycled cell, he texts one
morning:
I notice we waste water every time it rains. The public sprinklers keep running. I would
love to fix that.
• Miguel, age 72, a retired teacher, uses his laptop and types that afternoon:
I noticed the sprinklers in the city run when it’s raining, I’m imagining saving tons of
taxpayers money & water by fixing that, I want to connect to city people or whoever to
figure out what can be done
• That evening, Joe and Miguel receive each other’s text #, with the topic that connected them,
other numbers if others mentioned the same/similar, and possibly a suggested location for
meeting up.
• Joe, would already have a mentor/facilitator (#1 be known by someone), but it may have
initially been by appointment (ie: if everyone in our district was freed right now, 1:8 ratio, so
we’d connect 8 kids to one adult just to get rolling). Joe & Miguel could hit it off and Miguel
could become Joe’s person, or they could just fix the sprinkler problem and that would be it.
• Depending on how things turn out.. one of the nodes on Joe’s future mesh network could be
the company he started for sprinkler systems, or that he got into programming from this
initial venture.

(cont)
Julia & Vicki & Tom
• Julia, age 12, uses a donated/recycled laptop and the donated wifi from wifi bank, to voice
record the following before she goes to bed:
I noticed a lot of my friends’ parents have cancer. They keep talking about early
detection. I asked my mom and she said if you find out early on, the cancer can usually
be cured, but that not enough people find out early. I also watched a video of a 17 year
old that wrote a recipe to cure cancer and is now working at Stanford. I’m dreaming
about finding ways to improve early detection. I want to connect to people who are
experts at this and see what I can learn from them.
• Vicki, age 25, uses her iphone and texts while waiting at the doctor’s office:
I just found out my mom has cancer. They told her they didn’t find it soon enough and
that it’s spreading too fast. I’ve got to research myself, find out some other answers for
her.
• Tom, age 7, uses his mom’s ipad and his family’s wifi access, to record the following:
My mom has been doing this healing stuff my whole life. I’ve never believed in it before.
But she started doing it with me, because I have/had asthma, and now I don’t have it
anymore. I’m really interested in seeing if it can help people with cancer.
• The app connects them in similar fashion as Joe & Miguel.
• The mesh network created for each of these could have one small node representing their
intense curiosity and that’s it. Or, it could be the start of an offshoot node, as they advance
into the study of health and medicine. Either way, this cancer node could be detected by the
app in a couple weeks by someone else talking to themselves about the same things and then
they all receive notification of another potential connection.

(cont)
George
• George, now age 8, using donated device and wifi, talks daily about (you fill in the blank:
building a treehouse, soccer, dancing, music). Everyone is sure he is doing nothing, that he will
get behind (at math, … you fill in the blank), but we just let him keep talking and connecting.
George ends up connecting to some amazing community people that help him (you fill in the
blank: build a treehouse, build a soccer field or just play, learn to dance or play the piano or
sing). Being known by someone sets George free and he starts to believe he can do anything.
• George, now age 18, has a mesh network from the last 10 years, filled with all the amazing
thinking and doing and connections he made. George knows what he wants to do next, and
the last 3 years of his mesh network shows how he has prepared himself. Even better, because
George has learned how to learn in the process of following his curiosity, he can handle
anything he sets his mind to. Future employer, college admission, angel investor, et al, can
access a more authentic and humane documentation of this if they so desire. Perhaps, the
beginning of the intention economy (Searl).
• Or better yet, perhaps George’s city is now so healthy and alive, that that is enough of a
recommendation for him to get in places, if he so desires.

Bunker Roy’s TED talk – The Barefoot Movement – models this credentialing via your community, how well are the people around you
doing.
Deb Roy’s TED talk – The Birth of a Word – models the idea of tech helping us get back to us, it models our vision of a collaboratory space
– and tech-infusing conversation so we can listen more deeply.
Chimamanda Adichie’s TED talk – The Danger of a Single Story – models the need for conversation, being known by someone.

So what do we need – for this app aspect of the quiet revolution?

web access via phone, ipad, laptop, html – wifi bank?

low cost/google/raspberry pi/olpc – recycles?

perhaps offered as a gift from google or facebook,
useable on any device

So what do we need – for this app aspect of the quiet revolution?

And then..

..to meet up and decide/do what you can’t not do.

…who can’t not do that same thing.

…needed to do that thing.

high level concept
The main aspiration of the app is to get people talking to themselves.

The main function of the app is to then use that aloud thinking as data to:
• Create (or help co-create) an ongoing mesh network for the individual.
• Facilitate initial (& perhaps ongoing) connections within a community.

The main benefits of the app:
• As people are freed up (ie: from the compulsory aspect of public ed),
the initial chaos can be grounded by tech’s ability to facilitate and
connect mounds of data.
• People will be connected within a community in order to do
(create/discuss/learn about/etc) things that matter to them.
While the app can facilitate people learning how to learn, (people pick - not sure) we do believe that people, w/o any
prep or training, will sustain this ongoing connectedness. People are doing good and amazing things all over. People
have amazing capabilities. Cognitive surplus (Shirky) abounds. Learning/curiosity are natural (Mitra). People do
however, need time & space to connect per choice. And perhaps this grounding of chaos during this initial freedom.

(cont)

so say
• a person wakes up, (or does it at night, whenever)
• does this self-reflection, via this app, what they are noticing, what
they are dreaming about, who/what they want to connect, what they
want to do, if they are doing what matters

imagine
• by noon they get 5 text #'s back, people in their community with
similar thinking
• they choose where and when to meet up
• they get the stuff done that matters to them, in a
day/week/month/year
• their tech/self/mentor-automated mesh network leaves a trail of
their thinking/doing/connecting

Just by us locally - ? If so, team, design/engineering/ project manager
[road narrows, armory, kirill, lab people, …+

Or work both virtually and locally, a team here connected to experts from all over
[pentland, scharmer, anderson, michalski, …+

Or offer selves as alpha and beta test site, to someone like google or facebook or
or codeforamerica or techstars or.. ?

We have a live first

Thanks to the brilliance, expertise, passion and love coming from Michael & co...

http://beta.iguata.com/
We would love feedback:
what intrigued you about using iguata?
what did you want to be able to do, but weren't?
what could this do for you over time?
please email feedback to me: monk51295@gmail.com
or Michael: michael@igniter.com

my feedback
and perhaps – a clearer vision of what we’re thinking the app might do

How do we get people?
In our district alone, there are 15,000 students, 2000+ adults in school buildings 7
hours a day. Many are there only because it’s compulsory. If we redefine public ed
to be: #1 be known by someone #2 talk to your self every day, we think we will find
several players.
Whoa, 15,000 even.. you think one app can ground that chaos?
Yes we do. We’re thinking that’s what tech really wants to do, get us back to us. We
think we are more capable of this at this point in time, because of what the web
can do, what a network means, and what we’ve already seen with tech - take in
huge amounts of data and facilitate that in ways we choose. [ie: Everest:
http://evr.st/ - is currently the closest example of our dream app, but the phone
service, and google, et al, have been using tech for this.. just not always/generally
per our choice.
However, we don’t really think it’s about an app or tech. The focus of being known
by someone is at the core of what it means to be human. We can go way back in
history, or scan the globe to see people practicing that. We see the app as a
temporary jolt back to the natural. So say we divide our district out, it’s about 1
adult to 8 kids. Here’s a vision (see the pod starting at 2 min in) of what the current
school buildings (or any space) could become to facilitate that at the onset.

How do we get people to talk to the app everyday?
Again, take the 17,000 ish people in school buildings 7 hours a day, that now have
permission to play, ie: this app is their ticket out the door, we think people will
start talking to themselves. [And with reference to last question, the group each
person belongs to would encourage that daily, at least in the beginning.]
And maybe we can’t get people to talk to the app everyday. Maybe this doesn’t
work. That’s what we want to know. This is a prototype of an idea. We’ve gyrated
through different experiments over the last four years (me-videos, google doc,
video recording), ways to journal or log thinking. This may not work, it’s just our
next best idea. We would love to get feedback, especially on what might work
better.
What if people just go through the motions of talking to themselves?
Say someone says they notice a fly on the wall, every day. Over time they could
get bored, which is fine, we’ve found boredom to be a first step to detox. They
could see that we are connecting them to entomologists and start wondering
what might happen if they talk about what matters. They could (appear to) do
nothing, which is fine, we believe there is never nothing going on. We believe that
the world could change if people would start talking to themselves, at whatever
level, and that the greater risk, is anything that keeps them from that.

(cont)

How do we fund it?
I have started a kickstarter project to potentially fund this or at least kick it off.
For tech - they do need a prototype, not just a rendering. Their site reads:
Looks like you're building a Design or Technology project. Cool!
Kickstarter requires additional information from projects in these categories so that backers
can make informed decisions about the projects they support. To launch, you must include:
Who you are. Projects are about people. Let backers know who you are, especially your
experience and background. The project video, project bio, and project description are good
places to highlight this.
A functional prototype. Projects in the back-of-a-napkin or 3D-rendering phase are too early
to raise funds on Kickstarter. Have a prototype? Showcase it in your project video and with
images in the project description.
A clear plan. How and where will you be making your project? Share the details on how you
will complete it. This must be established prior to launch.
We hope to have this in use this fall. The more expertise and/or sharing
and/or backing we can get, the sooner we can prototype. We’ve had rough
estimates of 300,000 to 500,000 and 3 months.

And we do have this listed in funding via our collaboratory doc - which is
written with the idea we would get 20 mill-ish of no strings attached moneys.

(cont)
How do we keep people safe?
Anyone participating and not already in the public ed system, would have gone
through the district’s volunteer screening. These spaces would be within school
buildings and/or designated meet up spaces downtown (ie: maker space, writing
lab, video/graphic/photo lab, pi lab, etc.) so they would already be populated with
other volunteers and/or district employees.
I must add, I don't see the app as special or even long lasting. I see it simply as a
means to bump us out of the classroom and out of the curriculum, without people
freaking out about the danger of randomness. I don't think I even see the app as
facilitating our learning how to learn for very long. I do believe that is natural.. if we
just stop all the busy-ness, and start talking to ourselves, listening.
I guess I'm thinking if the fear of people dying from the randomness is alleviated, for
even just a short period of time, just long enough to see the capabilities of people,
we will be blown away and sold out to the naturalness of it. We will be ready to risk
more. Every day. For it.
In fact, I think we will realize what a risk we have been taking everyday for many
years now, in not encouraging people to think for themselves, to connect per
choice. So ironically, I see the app as a means for us to get out of an incredibly
unsafe environment. The human spirit is at great risk. No?

(cont)
It appears all these connections will be from like-minded thinking, what about the
possibilities of connecting adjacent or random thinking?
The app is simply to jumpstart connections. We’re thinking people will be blown
away by the like-minded thinkers/experts in our own town, and that will allure
them to continue talking. If we get people who can also program randomness into
the app, super. That is where magic happens.
We do have a local event, via our homeless collective, in November, that is seeking
the same goal: being known by someone. We’re thinking the timing is perfect to
play out, face to face and random connections, just to see where they lead.
Do you have an executive summary?
Am working on a short version statement/summary in doc form. Any one want to
help with that?.. : )
How can I help?
Offer insight, connect us to people, help with funding (kickstarter when we launch)
or donations (recycled devices, donated bandwidth). Help us prototype when we
have a prototype app. Help us offer up examples of individual mesh networks, (like
i am doing on the brain via Jerry’s brain) by starting today to create your own mesh
on whatever works for you. Maybe you already have one and you could send a
link. (monk51295@gmail.com) grazie guys.

live links here

already exist that might be of help
• hourschool - alex pappas and ruby ku
• insta grok - kirill kireyev
• project m - marc obrien (pie lab) & john bielenberg
people: • playborhood
• kosta - started ahumanright.org – • neighborland
palomar5 – wifi bank • i wish this was
• gregory hill - st louis – wifi • myblocknyc
poverty-stricken - the disruption • seeclickfix
dept • carpooling.com
• pentland – sociometer – honest • code academy
signals • skillshare
• scharmer –theory u - • popuphood
http://www.presencing.com/pres • tradeschool
encing • scavnger
• optimizely - dan siroker from • meetup.com - ish - to facilitate ongoing gatherings
google, seth bannon – amicus
instigator collective - more links to connections/ideas
gregory - 7 tools to build apps
Jodhbir - http://monkblogs.blogspot.com/2012/07/malte-spitz.html
G couros – possible webs - visuals

more From Rob – live links here
And some inspiration for further steps, examples of some of the above (almost all of which, if digital, is free):

A few questions: 1. Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's "Oblique Strategy Cards"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_Strategies
1. How about an analog option http://stoney.sb.org/eno/oblique.html
to the digital app (some http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/oblique-strategies-cards/id495669106?mt=8
examples included in the
inspiration list below)? 2. IDEO's Method Cards
http://www.ideo.com/work/method-cards/
2. How about pushing the user http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ideo-method-cards/id340233007?mt=8
away from the app as much as
possible? Send them to an 3. Drift Deck
interesting Twitter account http://driftdeck.com/
(from a set of curated feeds) or http://nearfuturelaboratory.com/projects/drift-deck/
push them to another app for https://vimeo.com/29902692
recording thoughts, collecting
bookmarks, taking pictures, etc.? 4. SuperBetter
https://www.superbetter.com/
3. How about having the user co- http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_the_game_that_can_give_you_10_extra_years_of_life.html
create the app by reconfiguring
it in some way or another 5. A variety of Situationist-inspired and related apps:
(adjusting the font, the color, the Serendipitor http://serendipitor.net/ and http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/serendipitor/id382597390?mt=8
order, the start page, etc.) or by Drift http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/drift/id524083174?mt=8
actually constructing it on their WalkSpace http://www.walkspace.org/
own (not exactly sure how that Crowsflight http://cwandt.com/#crows-flight
would work with the digital, but Wanderlust Stories http://wanderluststories.com/
I've been sitting on an ide for Situationist App http://situationistapp.com/ [Banned :( ]
giving people a candy tin (like Blockboard http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/blockboard-san-francisco/id424012571?mt=8
Altoids) and having them add
things to it like a library card, a 6. Even though I know you already know it and have it, Keri Smith's How to Be an Explorer of the World:
museum pass, a tiny compass, a http://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Explorer-World-Portable/dp/0399534601
map, a little notebook, a
personal totem a la Inception, 7. Animal Superpowers
etc.)? http://chriswoebken.com/animalsuperpowers.html

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