Political bloggers may get federal protection
Political bloggers may get federal protection
Some members of Congress are trying to make sure bloggers have freedom of speech and are not subject to Federal Election laws like PACs.
Can you imaging a blogger being arrested and convicted for doing something online (like supporting a candidate) because they spent some money to build out their site or create a podcast or video endorsing a candidate?
According to CNET:
“The FEC is under court order to finalize rules to extend a controversial 2002 campaign finance law to the Internet.”
Congress better pass this legislation before the courts start restricting our free speech.
Web 0.01 – Engelbart’s 1968 oNLine system being built in 2006! | Web 2.0 Explorer | ZDNet.com
Web 0.01 – Engelbart’s 1968 oNLine system being built in 2006! | Web 2.0 Explorer | ZDNet.com
I just noticed ZDNet is recruiting a lot of new bloggers and they are promising to pay for consistent quality writing.
Also, this post about Doug Engelbart is really fascinating. I got my start in the computer industry in 1988 when my brother Curt hired me at Folio. He had been attending hypertext conferences for a few years and I read all transcripts from those conferences and so I became familiar with the pioneers in this space, including Engelbart. (This is also where I first became acquainted with Jakob Nielsen, now a world renowed web usability expert. He was big in the hypertext world.) So I’m interested in following the new Hyperscope project that has NSF funding and a blog to go along with it.
A highly educational day
Today I heard Kevin Rollins speak in Salt Lake City at a BYU Management Society meeting. My good friend Dave Bryce (Wharton Ph.D. and professor at BYU) got to conduct an interview with him. It was really interesting.
Next, I got to meet with a vice president of a major internet company, several local marketing experts, and a professor and some gradudate students at the University of Utah. We had some fascinating discussions, which I can’t write about.
Finally, I was invited to participate in a discussion about the future of teaching and education — and why it matters so much — with a dozen or so people at the BYU College of Education. The college is named for David O. McKay, a lifelong educator and president of the LDS Church from 1951-1970.
He said, “… the noblest of all professions is that of teaching, and that upon the effectiveness of that teaching hangs the destiny of nations.” (David O. McKay, 1934)
I believe that.
Utah just raised its education budget by 10.9%, the largest increase in a long time. I wish all of it could go to teacher’s salaries. I hope a lot of it does.
I heard once that Finland has one of the best educational systems in the world, with Finnish students ranking first in the world in reading literacy and science and second in mathematics.
I also heard that their teachers all have Master’s Degrees and that the profession is highly regarded and highly compensated.
In the US, a recent study (2004) shows that 73% of the nation’s eighth graders tested below “proficient” in mathematics. The same study shows no connection between standardized achievement test scores and any of the following: 1) teacher to pupil ratios 2) spending per pupil and 3) teachers salaries.
This study makes no sense to me. Maybe it was funded by state legislators who wanted ammunition to argue with teachers who want higher pay. It seems obvious that paying teachers more would attract more qualified candidates and result in less turnover and better teaching.
But my main point is that teaching is a noble profession and ought to be highly compensated in this country so that more talented people can “afford” to become teachers.
Passionate teachers change lives. I owe a lot to some of my AP teachers at Orem High like Dee Allred, Tess Morris, and Marty Monson. Many of my life interests (and much of what I studied in college) were influenced by them.
But as much as I want to see teachers paid more, I also believe in parental choice in education, and I am greatly disappointed that the vouchers legislation didn’t even make it to the house floor during the recent Utah legislative session.
One of the most ingenious ideas I have heard for improving education and raising teacher’s salaries comes from Overstock.com’s Patrick Byrne. His idea is that 65% of every dollar allocated to education should be spent in the classroom (which includes teacher’s salaries).
Does anyone know how many states have passed the 65% legislation that he proposed?
Small Business Loans
Many entrepreneurs don’t know this, but Provo City has a revolving loan fund that typically makes $10,000 to $100,000 loans to companies that are having trouble getting financing. The Provo web site seems to be down right now, but here is a link to a short description of the Provo BDC.
I am serving on the BDC committee. We meet every month or two to consider companies that qualify for these small loans. Roger Andrus works for Provo City and helps companies prepare for their presentations to us.
I wonder how many cities in the country have small business development funds that most entrepreneurs don’t know about.
Does anyone know of an online directory of business development loan funds?
US Patent Applications
My brother pointed out to me that my name shows up (finally!) on a US patent application search.
At MyFamily.com we had many ideas and applied for multiple patents. I’m not sure any has issued yet; but at least one is now visible at the USPTO web site.
The patent advanced search engine is highly fielded but has one of the worst interfaces I have used in a long time. I finally figured out how to query it to find our application on what I call the “Visual Next Click Analysis Tool” that we used in-house.
This is much like the Omniture Click Map feature, which I love.
A patent attorney friend told me that only 3% of all patents that are issued actually generate commercial value.
Another patent attorney recently showed me a patent on a way to comb your hair from four different sides to cover up male baldness. So some patents are silly.
But it is still nice to see your name in lights, er, online, every once in a while. 
(Note: I left MyFamily.com in Feb 2002 and haven’t been directly involved with the company since then. I am not a company insider.)
The Vision of Grow Utah Ventures
Filed under: Angel Investing, Government and Technology, Startup Capital, Utah Entrepreneurship, Utah Jobs, Venture Capital
I’m sitting inside the old greyhound bus station on Ogden’s infamous 25th street.
But it isn’t a bus station anymore. Utah visionary Alan Hall and his team at Grow Utah Ventures have purchased the old bus depot. They are renovating it and today are christening it the “E Station.”
E, of course, stands for entrepreneur.
Alan Hall’s vision is for Grow Utah Ventures to be the most influential private sector force for economic development in the state of Utah, with a focus on Northern Utah.
In the next five years Grow Utah Ventures plans to launch 100 new companies, invest $15 million in entrepreneurs, and create over 2,000 good paying jobs.
The E Station will be a launch center for new companies, providing low cost office space, mentoring from GUV Advisors, and sales and marketing assistance.
GUV companies will also have access to expansion capital because GUV is closely allied with many angel investor groups in Utah, including groups in Salt Lake, Weber, Davis, Cache and Washington Counties.
The E Station ribbon cutting starts in 10 minutes.
It is conveniently located a block away from MarketStar, a global sales and marketing outsourcing company which helped its clients sell more than $8 billion in products last year.
I love Alan’s vision. I believe the economic impact from funding 100 companies and mentoring hundreds of entrepreneurs will be vast. It will be part of his lasting legacy.
At a time when people worldwide are complaining about slow government response to every external event and disaster, I love watching private entrepreneurship and philanthropy having such a major impact on the world.
From Larry and Sergey’s incalculable effect on the worldwide diffusion of knowledge, to Clara Barton’s Red Cross, which provides relief to millions, to Habitat for Humanity’s vision of providing homes to the needy, and on and on. These things come from individual initiative, not government fiat.
Remember JFK’s powerful words: Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.
Think of the kind of world we would create together if all of us tried to answer that question.
Thanks, Alan, for answering it with this wonderful Grow Utah Ventures initiative!
Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.
The Power and Speed of “We The People”
Last week I blogged about how individuals and communities can solve problems faster and better than government agencies can:
“we the people.” We have never hired our central government to take care of all
of our needs. We are a free people and a generous people. Our history is filled
with examples of private individuals caring for one another through private
charity, churches, and organizations. We can solve problems and create
solutions. We the people can do more than we have done to prepare for the next
tragedy that strikes our people.
I hope Americans and our media will stop
blaming the central government for their failures and instead spend more time
and energy donating to and promoting and volunteering in organizations and
churches who do so much good at times like this.
The American Red Cross
was not formed by the U.S. Government. It was founded in 1881 by Clara Barton
and other humanitarians. Funding came from John D. Rockefeller and many
others.
According to Wikipedia, the American Red Cross
responds to 67,000 disasters per years. It’s one million volunteers and 30,000
employees assist victims of disasters throughout the United
States.
Churches and non-profit groups abound in this country, and they
are all pitching in, giving aid and comfort to those who have lost loved ones
and property.
Let’s all give what aid we can, let’s use our energy and
resources to assist the victims, to help them rebuild their lives, and to return
the Gulf Coast areas to their former beauty.
Rather than blaming the
President, the Governor, the Mayor, or anyone else for what has gone wrong, and
rather than expecting our government and military to provide all the relief in
times of crisis (although thank goodness for what the military has done!), let’s
hope that God will inspire Clara Bartons everywhere to step forward and support
organizations that give aid and comfort to millions now and in the future.
Little did I know that some Utah web designers had launched Katrinahousing.org a few days earlier. Americans have offered more than 130,000 beds to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
And through KatrinaCaravan.org volunteers are providing free transport for hurricane victims. The two sites have already partnered.
The actions of a few creative people can mobilize thousands more, and
so much good can be done. Please check out these two web sites and help
out if you can — it’s not too late to help provide long-term support
to those displaced by this horrific storm.
iProvo: Fiber Optic for a City of 100,000
Provo, Utah, a city of more than 105,000 has owned its own power plant since 1940 (see Provo Mayor’s message: November 2000). In 2000, Mayor Lewis Billings began discussions that resulted in decisions to deploy a city-wide fiber optic network called iProvo.
The city owns this network, but leases it to companies who will provide telecommunication services to Provo residents and businesses.
Larry Lessig would be pleased. He slammed the private sector in a Wired magazine article last year for failing to deliver broadband services quickly enough in the U.S. This nation has fallen from 1st place to 13th place in broadband deployment in the last few years.
Today I checked the map to see when my neighborhood will get the services. We are in one of the phase IV sections, so service will get here in July 2005. The entire city will be finished by mid-2006. iProvo claims speeds that are 100 times faster than cable and 250 times faster than DSL. I can’t wait. I’ve had high speed internet since I bought a DirecPC satellite dish in the fall of 1995, but I’ve never had speeds this fast, even at work.
Novell is making 25,000 sq. ft of space available in one of its buildings for an incubator of open source software companies. All the businesses who locate there will be hooked into the iProvo fiber network, given them tremendous bandwidth at a very reasonable price.
Meanwhile, UTOPIA, the largest municipal fiber optic network in the country is now available in Orem and will soon be available in 14 other cities who voted to participate in this project.
It’s nice to live in such a forward looking state. First the Utah pioneers developed irrigation techniques in 1847 so they could raise crops, even in a desert.
In the late 20th century we invented computer graphics at the U. of U. (Evans and Sutherland), digital audio (Tom Stockham), word processing (WordPerfect), and computer networking (Novell.) We also lead the nation in entrepreneurship, with more Inc. 500 companies per capita than any other state.
Now the UTOPIA project and iProvo will help ensure that we maintain an edge in innovation.
Thanks Mayor Billings and whoever championed UTOPIA. With our fastest internet speed, highest birth rate, and the biggest population under 18, we’re going to be a force to be reckoned with for generations.
Getting on the GSA Schedule
A friend of mine wants to get his web application listed on the GSA Schedule so he can sell to federal customers. There are apparently 8,600 approved vendors on the GSA Schedule. I found this link to the GSA web site, with typically hard-to-understand instructions.
Do any of my readers know the fastest way to get approved by GSA to sell to government agencies and federal customers?
iCount
Filed under: Government and Technology, Politics and the Internet
I’m working with a team on an experimental political web site called iCount.com. We’ve done a soft launch and are getting some traffic from Google. There are big plans for this site (inspired by the Dean campaign, Meetup.com, MoveOn.org, and other cool and effective political sites) and motivated by a love for the greatest democratic nation in the history of the world, and a hope to keep it that way. (Our voter turnout is horrendous–13% in our recent Utah Republican primary, and politics has become a top-down raise-money-and-spend-it-on-tv-ads game that is sickening to watch.) Many Americans just don’t care and don’t think they can make a difference. Our long term goal is to help individuals organize themselves effectively and make a difference on issues that matter most to them.
View my political profile at iCount.com where ONE makes a difference
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