Civil libertarian John Gilmore today challenged as unconstitutional a secret federal rule that requires domestic US travelers to identify themselves. Thanks, John. Announcement. Complaint. FAQ.

Next Bay Area Futurist Salon is the coming Friday the 19th of July. One theme is copyright law and the consequences for the future described in the book from Lawrence Lessig 'the future of ideas'. Second theme is what are the consequences of ever cheaper surveillance technology. Will we have to choose between freedom and privacy as David Brin covered in his book: 'Transparent Society'.

You don't have to have read the books to take part in the Salon, just bring your open mind :-)

Location:

Barnes and Nobles bookstore at the Hillsdale Shopping Center just across the San Mateo Caltrain Station. Map (The star is a bit misleading. The Shop is right at the El Camino across from the Caltrain station.) 11 West Hillsdale Blvd., Hillsdale Shopping Center San Mateo, CA 94403 Tel: 650-341-5560

When: 7:00 to 9:00 pm, 19th of July 2002

As always please join us also for dinner afterwards next door at Romano's Macaroni Grill.

See you there, Mark.

The Utah State CIO made this Offer to Utah State IT Employees.

I believe that the 900 or so IT employees of the State of Utah would benefit from speaking and listening to each other more. I think we need groups of specialists inside various departments to communicate with others in their specialty and without.  Consequently, I'd like to see more people writing blogs and communicating their ideas through an open forum like the one blogs engender.  To that end, I'm willing to pay the licensing fee to Userland for the first 100 employees who start a blog.  Here are the conditions:

1. Download the software and begin using on the 30-day free trial.  I'd like to see you get a start before I pay the fee.  Let me know when you're up and running.
2. I'm biased toward IT employees, but other are welcome too, particularly if they're interested in eGovernment.
3. You're responsible for what you post.  If you're going to talk about things that shouldn't be public on Userland and need to be kept behind the state firewall, let me know and we'll set up a place inside the state network for that.  We could even set up an authenticated area, if needed. 

"It is good to be king." Royal suggestions cut through all kinds of trust issues and formal decision making. I've been asking for prerequisites to success on various knowledge management lists. Uniformly the top answer is "senior management endorsement, buy-in, enthusiasm."

UserLand's hit a sweet spot too.

1. Low price point cuts risks of trying and eventual rollout
2. Newbie-friendliness gives immediate satisfaction (egoboost, social affirmation)
3. Syndication/etc. amplifies social networking effects, reinforcing current participation and bringing in new users

One other thing: you can see from Windley's post there is something real about the sense of ownership and control you feel when the tool and your writings are on your desktop. Radio gives you this. The tradeoffs of remote access and managed desktop are also real, but have much less emotional investment. These feelings of control worth of attention as the klogging meme spreads.

Curiouser! via Mike's Radio Weblog:

Terry at Blunt Force Trauma writes on The Synchronicity of Klogging Culture. He highlights how klogging raises our awareness of new ideas by (1) giving us more than one chance to see them aka not letting them fall through the cracks, and (2) letting other people's perspectives shed extra light on the same ideas.