An overview of ChangeMedium - a charitable initiative - dedicated advancing public micro-messaging as a medium for change.

1. ChangeMedium
Advancing
public micro-messaging
as a medium for change.
ChangeMedium is a charitable initiative dedicated to advancing public micro-messaging as a
medium for change.

2. Introduction

3. “Twitter is just
the beginning of this
real-time internet
-
the simplest manifestation of
this long term trend
-
that spells the end of
communications
and start of an
interaction
society.”
Om Malik April 14th, 2009:
As Om Malik observed:
“Twitter is ... the start of an interaction society.”

4. Already people are talking about it topping Google

5. "They announced they were going to shut
down their system for maintenance, and
we asked them not to,"
one official said,
adding that the discussions were meant to
"highlight to [Twitter] that this was an
important means of
communication, not with us but
horizontally in Iran."
And already it is becoming essential public infrastructure.

6. We’ve seen this before
We’ve seen this before

7. Printing Press
Printing press

8. Telegraph
Telegraph

9. Telephone
Telephone

10. Radio
Radio

11. Internet
Internet

12. Web
Web

13. This time is different
This time is different

14. “I no longer
understand my
own creation”
~ Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of the Web
In July 2008 at a Nesta Web Science event Sir Tim Berners Lee, inventor of the web, said...
“I no longer understand my own creation”
He also implored the audience...
“Ask not whether we're asking too much of the web, but whether we're asking too much of
us”
Indicating that what this is and where it’s going is about people.

15. Simple
It starts with being simple.
A text message of not more that 140 characters.

16. So simple that grandmas can use it.

18. Accessible
Being sms compatible, it can be used anywhere, anytime from mobile phone

19. or the web.

21. Public
And being public

22. each message is a message everyone can read.

23. AND

24. Participatory
People, are meaningfully participating

25. many - many

26. and 1 - 1

27. But hold on, there’s more

28. It’s clearly not about the single message

29. like shaq coaching oprah

30. it’s more about the context around the people...

32. ...around the links

33. ... and topics

34. Which leads us to...

35. “A unique publishing medium
that’s rewiring the web for
real-time,
interest-driven,
discovery... ”
An unique publishing medium that’s rewiring the web for real-time, interest-driven,
discovery...

36. ... creating the most accessible, participatory,
public medium in history.
One-Many
Radio
Public Micro- Messaging Web
TV
E-mail
SMS
One-One
Tel.
Pot.
Restricted Emergent
Reach
creating the most accessible, participatory, public medium in history.
Public micro-messaging merges the extensible/emergent nature of the web with the 4B
person reach of SMS.

37. ChangeMedium
Advancing
public micro-messaging
as a medium for change.
ChangeMedium’s mission is to advance and
optimize public micro-messaging as a medium
for change.

38. Signals

39. Personal,
interest-
driven,
discovery.
It is unprecedented for personal, interest-driven discovery.
So if I like “So you think you can dance”, I can follow a producer/judge - as a person.

40. Or I can follow my more productive interests for links...

41. and connections.

42. Exposure, Transparency
& Reporting
It also enables unprecedented reporting...

44. That’s changing how we engage in current events.

46. Flash Mobilization
& Collaboration
And finally we have unprecedented opportunities for flash mobilization like #hohoto where,
in 18 days, over a dozen people came together over twitter to co-led the creation of a sold-
out party to 600 people which raised $25,000 and 2t of food for the local foodbank.

47. Shortly after, Twestival raised $250k in less than a month for Charity water through close to
1000 volunteers hosting events in over 200 cities around the world in which 10,000 people
attended.

48. So...

49. 15+ Million Users
If most of this happened with less than 5million users...

50. 1B Users?
100M Users?
15+ Million Users
What happens when we reach 100m or 1b users?

51. Problems

52. Fractured Data
So where do all those public messages sit?
- in Twitter’s private servers
And for how long?
And what what if I want to use a different service like Identi.ca?

53. Incompatibility
And what happens when there are more services that we want to use?
How do we access all these public messages?
How do we search for everything everyone is saying about the next major event?

54. Disruptions
And what happens when Twitter goes down - again - and again.

55. Solution

56. Research
Researching what makes the medium work

57. Network-Grade
Infrastructure
Building a network-grade infrastructure

58. Labs
And convening labs to experiment and evolve the medium for maximum public benefit.

59. Scope
We’re scoping that out some more...

60. Research
• What is unique about this medium?
• What new does it make possible?
• What aspects and attributes are essential
to its potential?
And are interested in...
- what is unique about this medium
- what new it makes possible
- and what aspects and attributes create its potential

61. Network-grade
Infrastructure
• Processing infrastructure
• Common standards
• SMS gateway
While not simple, building out a network-grade infrastructure is not only possible, but
represents an extraordinary cost/benefit argument.
When has it been possible to build a public medium that the US State Department starts
considering essential, global, infrastructure for a few million dollars?
Initial scoping of this infrastructure includes:
- an interoperable message processing infrastructure operating at a level below Twitter
- common standards optimized for public benefit
- and a global sms gateway to streamline public micro-messaging growth and application.

62. Labs
• Experimental applications
• Infrastructure development
• Public benefit partnerships
And finally, given the emergent nature, one of the best ways to learn is to actively
experiment.
Through internal and ad-hoc labs, Changemedium is considering:
- experimental applications to advance the application of the medium for public benefit
- developing the infrastructure, and
- supporting public benefit partnerships.

63. Team
ChangeMedium has come from...

64. Michael Lewkowitz
- for-profit/for-benefit entrepreneur
- with venture capital experience
- immersed in social and the social web

65. Contributors
•Peter Flaschner, Design (Web dev and design awesomesauce)
•Ryan Coleman, Communications (Startup, community, and viz)
•Dan Williams, Developer (hard core craftsman coder)
•Joseph Dee, Architecture (web science, agency, social techie)
•Matt Nish-Lapidus, Interface (UX specialist)
•Taylor Davidson, Strategy (Mobile, investment, startup guy)
•Tim Scollick, Developer (Interface developer)
And a cadre of contributors...

66. Accomplishments
We have successfully...

67. Developed two prototypes
testing the technical and social
dynamics of the public micro-
messaging medium.
developed 2 prototypes testing the technical and social dynamics of this medium - readying
for the next build.

68. Current Status
Change medium is...

69. A north-american,
donation eligible,
charitable initiative.
a North-American, donation eligible, charitable initiative - hosted at Tides Canada
Foundation.

70. Next Steps
We are currently

71. Seeking seed funding
and partnerships
seeking seed funding and partnerships to scope and launch the initiative.

72. Conclusion
In conclusion...

73. “A unique publishing medium
that’s rewiring the web for
real-time,
interest-driven
discovery... ”
we are witnessing the emergence of a unique publishing medium that’s rewiring the web for
real-time, interest-driven discovery...

74. ... creating the most accessible, participatory,
public medium in history.
One-Many
Radio
Public Micro- Messaging Web
TV
E-mail
SMS
One-One
Tel.
Pot.
Restricted Emergent
Reach
which is leading to the most accessible, participatory public medium in history.

75. ChangeMedium
Advancing
public micro-messaging
as a medium for change.
Our mission is to advance this as a medium
for change...

76. anywhere...

77. and everywhere.

78. ChangeMedium
http://changemedium.tumblr.com
michael@igniter.com
@igniter