Eric Magnuson

My unique intersection of cooperation, sustainable business and local living economies.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Local online advertising and VC dollars

Through a link from New Media Musings I found Terry Heaton's paper titled "TV News in a Postmodern World." I'm not sure what the title is about because the paper mostly looks at why VC dollars avoid localized web2.0 media ventures. Having recently gone down this road and found the same to be true, I am pleased to find someone who has done their homework on the issue.
By continually supporting only those business models that attract large numbers quickly, they are forcing basic top-down (1.0) laws on those of us who see greater value at the local level. So while the web and all that it offers is moving to a one-to-one or bottom-up paradigm, the world of the dollar continues to draw its influence and power from the top-down. This is beyond ironic, especially with venture capitalists who tout Media 2.0 applications.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Eat Local Now!


Coming up this Thursday March 30th is Eat Local Now! A Ballard Food Fest, an event I am helping to organize. Its a join effort between BALLE Seattle and Sustainable Ballard and its a good thing we have two groups putting it on because its a lot of work. We are planning to feed 200 people with food donated from nearly 30 different local farms, CSAs and manufacturers. Seven chefs will take all that food and homefully create some amazing dishes. We have over 50 groups contributing something to the event.

I can't wait to eat.

UPDATE: The event was a huge success. We fed more than 240 people. Read more here.

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Penguin Day Seattle

Yesterday I attended Penguin Day Seattle down at the lovely Hotel Ă„ndra. Lots of the geeky nonprofit tech folks were there. It was a bit of a Web of Change reunion for me.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Creating group blog momentum


Recently, I decided that the Bainbridge Graduate Institute community should be publishing a group blog. What better way for the community to get its ideas out into the world and for the BGI brand to get exposure in channels it wouldn't normally. While my initial goal for the blog is to be a marketing tool for the school I am beginning to realize how it can also be a powerful marketing tool for the individuals who contribute. For the students, faculty or alumni who choose to participate, their blog posts can serve to help them establish a name for themselves on the web in association with (sustainability) topics they may not normally be associated with. This gets to people's Google ranking and its importance, especially for burgeoning business people looking for jobs in a new field.

I am finding that building momentum towards participation in a group blog is a complex social problem. No answers yet, however I am working with Dawn Danby of Worldchanging who is helping me understand just how difficult coordination and motivation around a group blog can be.