Al Gore: Web 2.0 Needs a Purpose
"The electrifying redemption of America's revolutionary declaration that all human beings are free and equal, would not have been possible without the additional empowerment of individuals to use knowledge as a source of power that has come with the Internet," Al Gore said during his speech at last week's Web 2.0 Summit.
In the first of three videos (embedded below), the former vice president and chairman of Current TV discussed among other things: World 2.0, politics, the ongoing fight to save our planet, the importance of democratizing the television media, and the significance of "puppies having a purpose."
The Importance of Democratizing the Television Media
Likening Web 2.0 to the evolutionary path of electricity, Mr. Gore pointed out that the newness of a service or product often creates a 'wow' factor that holds up progress until the service is taken for granted. 100 years ago, the early uses of electricity demonstrated the special qualities of the then new conveyer of power; today, it's everywhere, and people pay it little attention. According to Mr. Gore, much the same needs to happen with the Internet; it needs to get to the point of being like "the water that the fish don't know they're swimming in," he said.
How to Democratize the Television Media
Using a story known to most business graduates, the invention of the electric dynamo, Mr. Gore explained change cannot happen until we redesign and "re-architect" the context in which these activities take place - a place he calls World 2.0.
The electric dynamo story goes back to the early days of electricity and the invention of a new electric motor - the dynamo. It was clearly demonstrated that the product was more efficient than the water wheel or steam as a source of energy so many early adopters installed it in their factory and waited. And waited. After several decades the retroactive analysis concluded that the architecture of the factories had been optimized for steam/water wheel power and the potential for the dynamo couldn't be unleashed. Once the factories were replaced with new architecture, there was an incredible explosion of productivity.
Revolutionizing the Public Sphere
Five hundred years ago, explained Mr. Gore, the printing press revolutionized the public sphere. Before that there was a monopoly on information. With illiteracy affecting 99% of the people, information was filtered by the church, the monarchy, all economically, politically and spiritually concentrated; the print press brought radical change.
It empowered individuals to use knowledge as a source of influence and power and a new information ecosystem developed that allowed anyone who could learn to read and write to realize they could have a new sovereign - the rule of reason. According to Mr. Gore, this ability to connect, comprehend and make decisions independently matured into the American constitution.
A Puppy Has to Have a Purpose
After buying a puppy for their young children many years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Gore asked a dog trainer to come in and give them advice. Her first question was "What is the puppy's purpose? Is it going to be a watch dog, is it going to get the newspaper in the morning, is it for the children to play with?"
Much like puppies, according to Mr. Gore, Web 2.0 has to have a purpose. The purpose he urges us to consider is to bring about a higher level of consciousness about our relationship with this planet.
"We have everything we need to save it, and in the process create millions of new jobs, reduce our national security exposure, and solve the climate crisis," he said, but, "just as Barack Obama's election would have been impossible without the new dialogue and new ways of interacting on the Web, the only way this is going to be solved is by addressing the democracy crisis."
Part 1: Al Gore's Speech [16:22]
Part 2: Al Gore talks with Tim O'Reilly and John Battelle [13:16]
Part 3: Q&A with Al Gore [17:39]
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Uh no. Al Gore needs a purpose.
Al Gore is just jealous that conservatives actually have a voice in the internet, compared with television and print media.
I saw the last half of Gore's talk in person and it rocked! Thanks for writing it up here, Lidija!
I really don't have an opinion on Gore, but I think he is one of the last people I would ask about Web 2.0
Jesse W.
http://www.subprimeblogger.com
Typical Gore rhetoric. Is it really newsworthy?
Um, yeah, I'm sorry this is such typical politician talk. This sycophantic nonsense about having to "purpose" technology is moronic. No one tries to give purpose to phones or to email. The human beings who use it give it purpose with how they use it. To compare Web 2.0, which is more of a concept, by the way, to a puppy is also completely offbase. You purchase a puppy; it is your property. Web 2.0 doesn't belong to anyone, because we all use it.
Web sites doesn't have a purpose ? what about comprehension between palestinians and israeli :
http://gaza-sderot.arte.tv/
Well, of all the politicians in the world who make it their core policy to torture the hell out of people, a few guys actually do talk about change.
Al Gore has clearly taken the time and effort to study a little bit of how communication affects individual and collective self-rule.
If he's done that much, being a Presidential candidate, I think it's good enough qualification to pardon him the brickbats.
Please, people, this guy may be a joke, a statesman, a phony, a genius or anything else, but what he's saying makes some sense. Unlike politicians the world over.
Chiefly, he's got a few good points there.
Let's talk of those. Thanks, Big Al.
If this starts a trend of Presidential candidates speaking about technology, nothing like it.
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Oh, wait!
Big Al, why don't you start a portal for "Politicians for a better world" and allow politicians AND CITIZENS from all over the world to participate and share their views?
And ideas that get rated by viewers' comments!
Totally Wikinomics-style.
You could start with this format:
Problem #N:
[Problem description goes here]
[Related problems: #M, #O, #P, #L]
More tools (toolbar):
[Copy Problem]
[Copy Problem for different continent]
[Copy Problem for different country]
[Copy Problem for different age-group]
[Copy Problem for different section]
[Copy Problem for different demographic]
Solutions:
#1 submitted by user123:
[yadda yadda yadda ]
Solutions toolbar:
[+1][-1][comment]
[Copy Solution]
[Copy Solution for different continent]
...
#2 submitted by user456:
[yadda yadda yadda ]
Solutions toolbar:
[+1][-1][comment]
[Copy Solution]
[Copy Solution for different continent]
...
[Users who are affected by this problem]
[By Location][By Country][By Age group] [...]
Related items:
Users:
Links:
Audio/Video:
Images:
History2.0 is a good add-on.
A study of history and of civilizations and how they prospered and floundered.
SocialPrinciples2.0:
Quotes from leaders, IN CONTEXT.
Civic and Social studies as taught in curricula across the world.
Analysis of Ethics Systems
Analysis of Ancient Civilizations.
Lots of things that can be done to change the status quo.
In one sentence, crowdsource and open up the field of Social Studies and Civics.
Hint:
"Revealicious" is a very useful thing because of tag maps
It's not going to be easy, but it's going to get everyone involved and it will be a damngoodthing2.0 .
***********************
PS:
Keep a strict privacy policy.
PPS:
Does this compromise users' security living under cruel governments?
Good that politicians realize the need.
I have similar thoughts...so started creating Kreeo , still a WIP :)
"global knowledge deserves better management"
Al is right, web2.0 needs another purpose besides being a get-rich-quick scheme for VCs/enterpreneurs/developers. While many of them claim noble purposes such as wanting to change the world, what they mean by this is finding a way to go live in the bahamas sipping cocktails on a silver-plated yacht before they reach 30. There is nothing wrong with that, of course, just don't expect the web2.0 crowd to care about their carbon footprint or the living conditions of anyone else on the planet.
IMHO the world is changing with or without web2.0, technical innovation is nothing without social innovation, and the later takes much longer to happen than the former.
You could argue that technological innovation sometimes induces social innovation but many other factors are usually at play, political, economical, cultural, and so on; nothing that a VC would care about though.
Maybe what web2.0 needs is government-funded startups with a public purpose, for example helping find homes for the 4M people who lost their homes with the credit crunch.
The beauty of the Internet (and Web 2.0) is that it lacks the ability of politicians to state its "purpose."
The Internet is the closest thing left in our economy that resembles an unfettered (and self-regulating) market.
No surprise to see a politician say that it needs a (i.e., his) purpose.
@PointingFingers 9/10! Right on!
No full screen? Come on... please...
If Al Gore said sacrifice children to calm global warming, some of you fools would do it.
Thanks for writing this up here
I'm really most interested in the idea of democracy which is finding it's own renaissance with web 2.0 tools. When individuals have a voice and use it, politicians need to pay attention.
Unfortunately, the digital divide keeps many people from participating in this web of participatory democracy. The have-nots who lack high speed internet, or the understanding in how to use these tools have no clue that this discussion is going on. They have no clue that they have a voice.
I hope we start to see a wider distribution of access to the Internet to all classes of people regardless of whether or not they can afford an iphone or an Internet connection.
Once we put digital cameras and the tools for telling stories online into the hands of the masses, true democracy will come to America.
I also wrote a piece about Al Gore's presentation which gives some context to this story. Interested? Have a gander:
http://www.tourismkeys.ca/blog/2008/11/al-gore-addresses-web-20-summit/
If the sun remains on it's present course of inactivity, it will be cold enough real soon, that even the dumbest amongst us will recognize Al Gore is a crackpot.
BAM! Telecommuting, Solved...
Dropping oil prices make a problem for alternative energy projects... the motivation becomes lower... I am publishing this comments at commentino with the tag "Gore Green", if you do the same, we will have one aggregaed page for the web discussion about this.
my comments at http://www.commentino.com/orim
Al Gore is just one of those people that attracts trolls whose only rhetorical facility is the Ad Hominem.
"Uh no. Al Gore needs a purpose."
Ad Hominem.
"Al Gore is just jealous that conservatives actually have a voice in the internet, compared with television and print media."
Ad Hominem.
"I really don't have an opinion on Gore, but I think he is one of the last people I would ask about Web 2.0"
Apologetic Ad Hominem
"Typical Gore rhetoric. Is it really newsworthy?"
Ad Hominem
and so on. Come on guys, I'm quite willing to believe that Al Gore is speaking nonsense, but you are just.not.making.the.case. I don't care who's making the claims, george bush, al gore, ghandi, or hitler. Whether it's bullshit or not has nothing to do with who's saying it, and everything to do with what they are saying. Try addressing the actual topic of the speech next time, so I don't have to gouge my eyes out from the stupidity.
kthxbye
this seems interesting:
http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2007/02/07/work-from-home-campaign-is-launched-in-north-61634-18587393/
Another good idea is to get someone like Will.i.am to start a video/music campaign like "inmyname" - http://www.whitebandaction.org/
asking governments and corporations to replace commuting requirements with work-from-home tasks. Many products and services involved in office-building and corporate-image are a waste of money for the corporation.
People who sell office goods to large corporations are far from poor. The employment they generate is not that great - and the work force definitely not such that it cannot be trained to take up another industry quickly.
Just some more thoughts about this:
What we need is to run the country like a business, but in the right way - identify what corporations or businesses are high-profit without adding great value to the economy. Where the ratio of employees to employers is smaller than others too, and shift those employees to real-value-businesses. This ensures that those employees have valuable skills that cannot leave them unemployed for long.
The $3000 3D printer is the totally awesome thing that will help many small businesses which provide real value - modeling of stuff.
Of course, Solar panels, open-source or open-design hybrid and electric cars are the chief hope.
What you also need is a solid intermediate technology to help mega-corporations that resist change to quickly switch production/assembly lines to the newer technolgies - something like Microsoft is trying to do by cutting out the flab in Vista.
The car/mech tools counterpart of the change from Windows Vista to Windows 7.
Likewise, from guns to drilling machines, army jets to civilian aircraft and so on. Those are the industries that will block any move away from petrol.
*************************************************
They need a technology bailout, not a financial bailout.
*************************************************
Keep them earning good money, but make their products different - ones with actual ecological (and economic) value.
Revolutions are always short-lived while transformations last much longer - see IBM for instance.
We've got to IBM-ize the auto and construction business.
Same money, same profits, but new, positive technology products.
Back to the main theme - reduce commutes - increase work-from-home.
There's a lot of support staff out there who lose jobs if office-admin goes away. But these same staff can start their own companies offering services to megacorps to transition from "everyone works here" to "office only two days a week" the rest at home. That's consultancy - telling businesses what part of the their business can go over the wire and what needs to stay on premises.
These "office-admin startups" can partner with cloud computing providers to make programs to manage this transition from full-office to part-office, part-home.
"Scheduling managers" maybe?
For this, we need bigger pipes. Wifi enabling the vast mass of semi-urban and rural America is another new sector, apart from solar cells.
Are mobile luxury homes (hacked up buses/trucks) useful?
Railroad businesses have a horrible corporate legacy. They would have been a good candidate to save petrol.
Maybe magnetic rails like the French?
That's one thing corporations might consider seriously.
Bicycle-only routes in cities..? Bicycle lanes like in some Scandinavian countries? Keep the cars but dont use them often.
Biker Club Networks.
"Stay Fit Bikers Club" - Dont use pills, use pedals!
Electric Bikes are an intermediate technology that can qualify as a technology bailout - can carry 2-3 people, is clean, light, affordable and healthy too!
Electric bikes are the transport version of the walking-helper robot making news.
Solar panels + electric bikes = ?
Buy 2 bikes - use alternately instead of cars.
Fuel-fungus plantations in the semi-arid border regions of the great deserts?
Hemp?
Genetics and BT not for food grains, but for cleaner oil plants?
Grass-roots irrigation-systems around the semi-arid desert boundaries.
Interlinking of rivers, streams, canals with this irrigation system? This is useful if you need to divert flood waters quickly. It's not impossible if you start pumping out rainwater *throughout* the rains (24x7), across the counties, across states.
That's one place all your mechanics and technicans can go - irrigation networks, telecommuting, solar/wind energy and electric vehicles.
The same networks can be used to set up other networks in their vicinity later on in the century.
Lot of things you could do.
Actually, BarackObama.com could start a "model my new economy" portal where open-minded experts in the respective fields could accumulate and analyze logistical data and devise optimum solutions by presenting all calculations, openly for debate. The corps trying to establish local monopolies, if given a stake in the process, might be helpful too. Inclusive, not anti-free-market - a transformation, not a revolution.
Four years is too short to undo what eight years have deliberately screwed up.
Brainstorm the whole transportation2.0 system keeping all interests entertained, not pampered.
It's possible extreme right-wingers will oppose transformation even if it is beneficial to them, because transformation is permanent.
If only they could be a little less rigid! Anyway, that's a level 2 problem, out of my scope :-)
Looks like the republicans know how to build a website too. I'm sure RWW will not get so over excited about this one, it's not from Obama. By the way he is as busy scrubbing his website as he is adding to it. First he changed the "required" wording for community service to "do" and now he removed 4 pages of information on his tax plan and replaced it with a couple of paragraphs.
http://www.republicanforareason.com/intro.aspx