4 posts tagged “north carolina”
I spend a great deal of my life online and for the past few months I've been a devoted follower of Twitter. (For those not in the know ... see here re: Twitter). Two of the people I've really enjoyed following on Twitter are Wayne Sutton and Ginny Skalski. They are both located in North Carolina and when I first became interested in social media, I definitely gravitated toward people who were from my region of the country. Besides I had thought seriously about moving to North Carolina before moving to New Mexico.
Wayne Sutton and Ginny Skalski are Online Community Content Managers at WNCN-TV - NBC17 - mync.com. It should be noted that Wayne is a self described "Social Media Strategist, Technology Evangelist and Mobile Consultant" and I have dubbed him the "hardest working man in social media" and if you know anything about social media Wayne Sutton is everywhere. Both Wayne and Ginny have their own personal web presences with dynamic and wonderful sites---Wayne's and Ginny's. Nonetheless what I've always admired about both of them is their connection to their communities and their promotion of what's happening in the Research Triangle area of Raliegh/Durham, NC where they both live.
Recently Wayne and Ginny collaborated to form a new web site called 30THREADS which is all about news and events from the web that have to do with the Triangle community in NC. For more see here. The site is very well done and if you are interested in or find yourself in and about the Research Triangle area, Raleigh/Durham , I highly recommend 30THREADS to you. Bottom line is both Wayne and Ginny are passionate about social media and community and it's quite obvious once you visit their site.
If you're interested in joining Twitter you can find 30THREADS here and you can follow me here.
I am deeply concerned about access to high speed Internet. The limited choices among Internet service providers and the rates that most telecoms demand for high speed broadband are pretty much a joke for the average citizen of the United States. What is even more concern to me is how little attention the average American pays to issues regarding the Internet, new media, and technology which are in a revolutionary framework at present.
I have not had a chance to deeply delve into the issue and status of access to broadband services here in Albuquerque (I am aware of Comcast, Qwest, numerous WiFi "hot" spots in ABQ, and talk of a universal "free" access pilot project in ABQ) but I need to start putting my ear to the ground and keeping my eyes open a little more on the subject. I have blogged here before about my complete fascination with Brian Russell and Ruby Sinreich in Chapel Hill, NC. they provide a very concrete model of the online presence and type of civic engagement that I would evenutally like to get to for myself here in ABQ.
See Brian's recent post at Yesh.com regarding the development of WiFi "hot" spots in Chapel Hill. Kudos to Brian and Chapel Hill for progress.
Here are a couple of good resources related to broadband access that I really need to start paying more attention to:
Speed Matters - http://www.speedmatters.org/
MuniWireless - http://www.muniwireless.com/
I was very pleased to click on my Google Alerts yesterday for the keywords "John Edwards" and discover that Edwards voiced a very strident response to the acquistion of Dow Jones and Company by Rupert Murdoch. Here's what Edwards had to say:
"News Corp's purchase of the Dow Jones Co. and The Wall Street Journal should be the last straw when it comes to media consolidation. The basis of a strong democracy begins and ends with a strong, unbiased and fair media — all qualities which are pretty hard to subscribe to Fox News and News Corp. The reality is that Americans deserve more news outlets — not fewer. It's time for all Democrats, including those running for president, to stand up and speak out against this merger and other forms of media consolidation.
"Moreover, given Fox News' consistent efforts to demean Democrats — they have attacked the character of Senator Obama, Vice President Gore, and many others — no Democrat running for president should accept campaign money from top News Corp executives. So, today, I'm challenging every Democratic presidential candidate to refuse contributions from News Corp executives and return any they've already taken, beginning with Rupert Murdoch. The time has come for Democrats to stop pretending to be friends with the very people who demonize the Democratic Party."
I've previously shouted out Ruby Sinreich of Chapel Hill, NC as a person that I admire now I must do the same for her husband/partner Brian Russell of Yesh.com. I always check in with Brian for issues related to public broadband and universal access. It's amazing how many people don't seem to be informed about the varied issues related to new media and the Internet that will ultimately effect their lives. Brian is a good advocate for bringing technological literacy to the people.
Before I began blogging I spent a great deal of time online reading other people's blogs. Before I moved to Albuquerque I was considering moving to Chapel Hill, NC. During that time I became familiar with Ruby Sinreich who has just the kind of web presence and career trajectory that I would like to develop for myself one day. She was one of the major inspirations for my blog.
I was reading through my Google alerts just now and hitting all of those that pertained to Lawrence Lessig who I blogged about recently. It seems like Ruby and I are on the same page as I discovered she is a fan of Lessig as well and had just blogged about him too.
Ruby Sinreich calls herself a "progressive activist, local politico, professional organizer, and compulsive blogger". She lives in Chapel Hill, NC and kicks much ass. For more information about her please go here and here.
