Ted Ritzer: EE &Interp Web Links

ZON Dollars Where the Virtual & Real World Collides for Good in the World

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 23:36:47 GMT

ZON DOLLARS CONCEPT-JAN 1, 2007

Dear Google Org, Amazon and Linden Labs People:

I submit this idea for your consideration:

It has been posted to the Internet via Google docs, its URL is:

http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dcjvvpr5_2frhqm6

ZON Dollars Where the Virtual & Real World Collides for Good in the World:

The idea for ZON dollars has its roots in three things I read as the final moments of 2006 played out:

1. Allision H Fine's wonderful new book: "Momentum-igniting social change in the connected age.", which can be purchased at Amazon. 2. Amazon's new project that uses 37signals Ruby on Rails to build a new application called Unspun , which is based on an application Amazon has called the mechanical Turk. 3.An article called: "What is Second Life?" Of course, the reference to a virtual currency comes directly from Second Life's "The Linden dollar".

I guess the challenge delivered by Allision Fine in her book: "Momentum" is how do we harness technology and the economy to do good?

ZON dollars is my attempt at doing just that through the creation of a virtual currency that at its core involves both voluteerism and doing good throughout the world.

ZON dollars can only be earned by:

1. individuals or corporations donating to recognized charities(those that can issues tax receipts) for conversion into ZON dollars, for the sole purpose of motivating people to do good. through the use of those ZON dollars. 2. doing virtual work through participating companies like Amazon's Mechanical Turk Service, a portion, determined by the worker goes to charities in the form of ZON dollars, while the remainder goes to the virtual worker, to be used as they see fit. 3. corporations who are so confident of the worth of their product that they openly invite comparision by consumers, donate ZON dollars to encourge concensus rankings of their product using Amazon's new Unspun service. People are encouraged to vote on the best products i in those categories, and the ZON dollars are distributed to the charity that the sponsoring corporation names when they open the community concensus on their product category.

ZON dollars can be converted to:

1. real currency for use to purchase goods at Amazon.com or via Google's new ecommerce system. 2. they can be converted to Linden dollars for use in Second Life.

So I guess those are my inititial thoughts related to the ZON dollar concept, I will now publish this, and also email the concept to the above named entities that could actually implement the concept, a. Google.org, Amazon's Unspun & Second Life.

As Allision Fine's book title says, I wonder if this concept will:

'ignite social change in the connected age"

Sincerely

Gregers Ritzer-January 1, 2007

Fri, 03 Dec 2004 02:47:40 GMT

At Museums, Computers Get Creative [New York Times: Technology]

Fri, 03 Dec 2004 01:57:17 GMT

BBC: Blog picked as word of the year. Slow news day. [Scripting News]

Sat, 27 Dec 2003 02:54:46 GMT

Nature Netwowrk-webcams of animals from around the world

Wed, 24 Dec 2003 17:54:48 GMT

Merry Christmas from the Accordian Guy worth repeating:

Stole this file from the above site, cause I think it really does capture some of both the frustration and the joy of Xmas.

All the best from WIFLblog and enjoy the Accordian Guy's Christmas story, and don't forget to visit his site:

the Accordian Guy Christmas story now follows:

Merry Christmas, and I mean it in the nice sense of the phrase

by Joey deVilla on December 24, 2003 12:13PM (EST)

This is from last year (with a little polishing up), but it's worth repeating.

While I do believe that some traditions should be put to rest, I also believe that a lot of tradition-bashers are poor-impulse-control cases. Having abandones any actual tradition or culture of their own, they fill the void with a couple of < href="http://www.utne.com/">Utne Reader platitudes, a mild revulsion for anything even vaguely Judeo-Christian, even if it aligns with their beliefs, a pro-pot slant and a half-formed belief in eye-for-eye karmic payback.

Standing for almost nothing, they tend to fall for just about anything.

Chris Baldwin's summed it up pretty handily -- and perhaps unintentionally -- in a Bruno comic from last year:

To borrow the line about Klansmen and Martin Luther King Day: C'mon, Bruno, how hardcore a secularist must you be to not want a day off?

Of course, those of us who celebrate Christmas would argue the exact opposite: here we took a beautiful Christian holdiay and destroyed it through corportization and "We're white, we're straight, we're sorry!" guilt.

(There's a Randroid who would take another tack and say "here we took a beautiful commerical holiday and destroyed it in usual religious fashion." Haven't we developed some kind of Ayn Rand repellent yet?)

In the end, I believe that intent counts.

I'm certain there is no malice, no implicit "convert or die" message and no forcing of one's beliefs on others when someone wishes someone else a Happy Chanukah, Eid, Diwali, Kwanzaa, Saturnalia, Tet or even Festivus, the actions of certain vicious zealots notwithstanding. Balanced minds do not see any implied Hitler overtones at Oktoberfest nor Hirohito/Tojo insinuations at the sushi house, and neither do they see the Crusades in Christmas.

When people say "Merry Christmas", most of them are really saying "Happy Holidays, and I'm celebrating them Christmas-style. You do your thing, and I'll do mine. Come by for drinks."

That what I'm really saying, anyways.

No matter what you believe, enjoy the break from the hustle and bustle of 21st century life. Be nice to each other. Hug someone you love.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Mon, 22 Dec 2003 18:54:42 GMT

		ìWe conducted a very comprehensive evaluation, and Dot Hillís SANnet was the best performing, most cost-effective solution for our requirements." -- Joseph Anino Technology Director
American Museum of Natural History New York, NY Largest Natural History Museum in the World Located in Central Park in New York City, the American Museum of Natural History is the largest natural history museum in the world with over 32 million specimens and artifacts. It is home to vast collections of insects, invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, anthropological artifacts, and more fossil mammals and dinosaurs than any other museum in the world. The museum employs over 200 scientists and has one of the largest natural history libraries in the Western Hemisphere.

Digitize the entire museum collection. They are creating electronic records of archaeologistsí journals and notes for the past 100 years.

	Scalability-need to grow from 1TB to 35TB as entire collection is catalogued Heterogeneous environment using Solaris and NT Cost-effective with high performance

SANnet 4220 storage system and expansion chassis in a heterogeneous storage area network with Sun servers running Solaris and other servers running Windows NT.
	Excellent price/performance ratio Scalable, modular architecture to add capacity with virtually no downtime
SANpath storage networking software
	Ensures continuous data availability through parallel active storage paths Peak performance through load balancing capabilities
SANscape SAN management software
	Powerful easy-to-use GUI Manage SAN from a single console

Sat, 13 Dec 2003 07:38:37 GMT

Workshops and Events [NAI Certification Program]

Sat, 13 Dec 2003 05:37:26 GMT

The Amateur Scientist. Classic experiments still worth doing [Cool Tools]

Sat, 13 Dec 2003 05:36:49 GMT

The Amateur Biologist. Kitchen sink biology [Cool Tools]

Mon, 08 Dec 2003 02:18:55 GMT

First Ever Lawsuit Filed By Non Profit Environmental Education Foundation [Environmental News Network - ENN.com]

Sun, 07 Dec 2003 18:57:39 GMT

University of California Musuem of Paleontology. University of California Museum of Paleontology [Recently approved feeds from Syndic8.com]

Wed, 03 Dec 2003 02:15:23 GMT

ECOLEX: WORLDíS LARGEST ENVIRONMENTAL LAW DATABASE LAUNCHED ON THE WEB [IUCN - The World Conservation Union]

Sat, 29 Nov 2003 04:54:54 GMT

ìHeritage Through My Handsî event at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump [News - Government of Alberta]

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 14:28:49 GMT

Cool Science, for Adults Only. Hands-on science museums are generally aimed at children. Not this one. London's Dana Centre wants to make science so interesting that Londoners will head there, instead of the pub, after work. Well, one can always hope. [Wired News]

Sun, 16 Nov 2003 07:33:20 GMT

World Heritage News [World Heritage News: UNESCO Culture Sector]

Meetup-for think global meet local

Fri, 07 Nov 2003 16:31:10 GMT

Meetup

from their website blurb: Meetup is a free service that organizes local gatherings about anything, anywhere.

What-topics

Where?

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Meetup Example

for all you Edmonton based Goths, try this

WIFLblog nominated to BlogsCanada Top Blogs list

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 01:43:25 GMT

WIFLBlog nominated to BlogsCanada's Top Blog list

so the little banner with the maple leaf represents that latest honor, and the following email was what notified me of this honor, thanks BlogsCanada!

"Hi Ted,

In October, WIFLblog was nominated to BlogsCanada's Top Blogs list. The November
2003 top ten list has now been published and your site is included. Congrats!

The Top Blogs page is at http://www.blogscanada.ca/topblogs/.

Best Regards,

Jim Elve
www.blogscanada.ca"

As is appropriate you will also see Dave Pollard's How To Save The World, another Canadian Salon blog, has also been nomiated to BlogsCanada's top blog list. I must admit to stealing a number of Dave's great articles and reposting them on WIFLblog. Check Dave's blog out for yourself at:

http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/

Sun, 02 Nov 2003 18:54:44 GMT

Australian National heritage course now online

The Australian Heritage Commission, in collaboration with Curtin University and Open Learning Australia, introduce the online tertiary and professional

development course

Protecting Heritage Places: An introduction to planning for the conservation of natural, Indigenous

and historic heritage.

A preview version of the course is available at: www.curtin.edu.au/learn/unit/php/

To register or simply to read more about Protecting Heritage Places (Unit Code - CUL11) visit Open Learning Australia at www.ola.edu.au or call an OLA

Student Adviser on (03) 9903 8955. The cost of the unit is $435.

Who the course is for

The course complementary to tertiary courses, training packages and programs in land management, parks and wildlife, heritage conservation, environmental

studies, history, planning, local government, interpretation and heritage tourism.

The online program in best practice natural and cultural heritage management can be undertaken by students, employees and others across the country and

overseas. The unit also addresses the needs of students in regional and remote areas who are unable to attend on-campus lectures or intensive courses.

What the course covers

The course introduces students to the principles of natural and cultural heritage management as set out in the Protecting Heritage Places: Information and

Resource Kit. Students will be supplied with a Kit to work through its ten key steps to develop a best practice management plan for a heritage place of their own

choosing.

The course and the Protecting Heritage Places Kit draws on best practice charters such as The Burra Charter: The Australian ICOMOS Charter for Places of

Cultural Significance, the Australian Natural Heritage Charter for the conservation of places of natural heritage significance, Ask First: A guide to

respecting Indigenous heritage places and values, and the award-winning Protecting Local Heritage Places: A Guide for Communities. The course

gives students the opportunity to become familiar with and apply these professional tools and resources in a way most relevant to them. The structure of the course

enables students to learn about sound approaches to both natural and cultural heritage conservation and how to balance the conservation of all heritage values of an

area.

How the course is taught

This unit is taught via the Internet and utilises online learning technologies, such as live chat sessions and an electronic bulletin board, while a Perth-based tutor

corresponds with students throughout the length of the course. The unit is taught over thirteen weeks and students will need access to a computer with internet and

email facility. Students have the opportunity to apply the information in the course to a real example or workplace project.

More information

A preview version of the course is available at: www.curtin.edu.au/learn/unit/php/

To register or simply to read more about Protecting Heritage Places (Unit Code - CUL11) visit Open Learning Australia at www.ola.edu.au or call an OLA

Student Adviser on (03) 9903 8955. The cost of the unit is $435.

Further information is available through the Curtin University Distance Education contact (08) 9266 3400 and the Curtin University Protecting Heritage Places

online course coordinator on (08) 9266 4066.

Sun, 26 Oct 2003 01:56:00 GMT

The Green Volunteers:

If you would like to volunteer for some international conservation projects check out The Green Volunteers at:

http://www.greenvol.com/index.html

Fri, 24 Oct 2003 05:07:05 GMT

Love nature? It's in our genes [Environmental News Network - ENN.com]

Thu, 23 Oct 2003 13:22:37 GMT

Business and Biodiversity [IUCN - The World Conservation Union]

Thu, 23 Oct 2003 13:21:33 GMT

This is a link to info on Biodiversity and economics, focused on providing the rationale for why the private sector should support biodiversity efforts.

Download the handbook [IUCN - The World Conservation Union]

Thu, 23 Oct 2003 13:19:49 GMT

Biodiversity Handbook for the private sector. This provides info on the economics of biodiversity.

Biodiversity Network Japan [IUCN - The World Conservation Union]

Thu, 23 Oct 2003 13:15:27 GMT

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, FORESTS AND EDUCATION AT THE CORE OF LATEST IUCN UNGA ADDRESS [IUCN - The World Conservation Union]

Tue, 21 Oct 2003 19:56:36 GMT

Hinterland Who's Who spoofs

These 60 second wildlife videos were broadcast in Canada for decades, they were so well known, they spawned their own spoofs.

Try them here, caution not suitable for young children:

http://www.hww.ca/media.asp?mcid=4

I think my favorite is the Canadian Mountain Kangaroo!

On the other hand both the old and the new real CWS Hinterland Who's Who are completely suitable for children, try them out at:

http://www.hww.ca/media.asp

Or if you would like some audio clips of wildlife, primarily birds try this link:

http://www.hww.ca/media.asp?mcid=5

NPR Expedition to Alberta Lesser Slave Lake in the Boreal Forest

Wed, 15 Oct 2003 01:42:07 GMT

NPR's Radio Expedition to Alberta's Lesser Slave Lake in the Boreal Forest

Elizabeth Arnold's National Public Radio and National Geographic combine forces and lead a songbird expedition to Alberta's Boreal Forest to Lesser Slave Lake and Calling Lake.

http://www.npr.org/programs/re/archivesdate/2003/oct/boreal/index.html

Kinda cool to see our truly beautiful boreal forest being recognized in North America as a key source of North America's songbirds!!!

Don't miss the White Throated Sparrow songs, a real distinctive call of the Boreal Forest!

Sun, 12 Oct 2003 22:07:06 GMT

Greening the Ivory Towers [OneWorld.net -]

Mon, 29 Sep 2003 13:45:41 GMT

Young Canadian Leaders [Welcome to IISD]

Powerpoint Switch Story

Fri, 19 Sep 2003 01:51:18 GMT

I wrote a short story on my recent experiences with Visual Commuincator, that have made me switch from Powerpoint.

Check it out at:

http://blogs.salon.com/0001455/stories/2003/09/18/goodbyePowerpointHelloVisualCommunicator.html

Wed, 17 Sep 2003 16:00:53 GMT

Letter From GLOBE Director To GLOBE Leaders [GLOBE: Special Events]

Kinkajous to you too!

Tue, 16 Sep 2003 16:30:46 GMT

Kinkajous

This ia a National Geographic photo story about the cute little noctural mammal from South America, the Kinkajous. The photo essay is produced in Flash and runs for 10 minutes, but time flys when you are viewing great photography of a new animal! Well worth checking out!

nocturnal world of kinkajous [National Geographic Magazine @ nationalgeographic.com]

Fri, 05 Sep 2003 13:33:06 GMT

Museums and Visitor Centre Variation

one pontential twist on the following application would be to translate from English to foreign languages, so that existing museums or visitor centres in english speaking countries could offer visitors who are not fluent in English some options.

Automatic sign translation. HP is working on prototype of an iPAQ Pocket PC that uses a digital camera attachment to automatically translate signs that are in foreign languages. The only catch is that the Pocket PC has to have a high-speed wireless connection at all times for it to work, because the actual translation is being done over the Internet. So you might not want to throw away that phrasebook just yet unless your next vacation happens to take place entirely within range of a WiFi hotspot. Read... [Gizmodo]

Wed, 03 Sep 2003 22:17:26 GMT

Boise's Environmental Statement Sets New Industry Standard [Environmental News Network - ENN.com]

Wed, 03 Sep 2003 22:12:03 GMT

Smokey Bear's squirrelly sister [Environmental News Network - ENN.com]

Wed, 03 Sep 2003 04:40:27 GMT

Public needs more sustainable choices, says report [Environmental News Network - ENN.com]

Mon, 01 Sep 2003 20:28:43 GMT

World Heritage sites announced as ìno goî areas for its oil and gas exploration and development [IUCN - The World Conservation Union]

Sat, 30 Aug 2003 05:07:49 GMT

John Muir Day Study Guide [Environmental Education Main - Sierra Club]

Sat, 30 Aug 2003 04:57:21 GMT

Inner City Outings Program [Environmental Education Main - Sierra Club]

Thu, 28 Aug 2003 03:39:56 GMT

Handhelds for kids. If pre-teens are going to start carrying cellphones, they may as well have PDAs as well. BusinessWeek has a roundup of some of the more "educational" handheld gadgets for kids out there, like Leapfrog's iQuest (pictured at right) and Franklin's Speaking Homework Wiz. Speaking of handhelds for kids, it's not particularly educational, but whatever happened to the Cybiko? Read... [Gizmodo]

Tue, 26 Aug 2003 12:01:46 GMT

Announcing the 2003 Teacher's Guide [GLOBE: Special Events]

Redwood Reality Tour

Mon, 25 Aug 2003 19:53:56 GMT

Behind the Redwood Curtain [OneWorld.net -]

Behind the Redwood Curtain is a 'reality tour' which examines the plight of the California Redwood forests. It takes particpants not only to the Redwood Forest the the reality tour includes opportunities to meet representatives of all stakeholders that effect the redwood forests, whether environmentalists, loggers or First Nations people affected by logging.

Guess I should do some more research on Reality Tours!

Sat, 23 Aug 2003 22:01:14 GMT

UK Cutting Edge EE Projects:

My favorite of the projects listed is Ambient Wood, where students use technology in creative ways to monitor a woodland.

http://www.equator.ac.uk/projects/index.htm

there is a story posted on this at:

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/press_office/bulletin/11jul03/article3.shtml

this experience was also featured on the BBC Online site at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3035372.stm

Sat, 23 Aug 2003 21:32:52 GMT

ATCO Tyrrell Learning Centre officially opens [Royal Tyrrell Museum - ...celebrating life]

Fri, 22 Aug 2003 17:35:31 GMT

Calendar of World Heritage Events [World Heritage News: UNESCO Culture Sector]

Fri, 22 Aug 2003 01:53:28 GMT

Online Exhibits of the Museum of the History of Science
http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/exhibits/index.htm
Current exhibits include The Geometry of War, The Technology of Photographic Imaging, and the Oxford Virtual Science Walk.

Permalink

Fri, 15 Aug 2003 09:14 AM

Thu, 21 Aug 2003 22:10:52 GMT

IAA National Conference [Interpretation Australia Association]

Thu, 21 Aug 2003 21:52:20 GMT

Environmental Education and Training Partnership (EETAP) [GCRIO Global Change Gateway - Environmental Education]

Thu, 21 Aug 2003 21:26:53 GMT

EPA Global Warming Kids Site [GCRIO Global Change Gateway - Environmental Education]

Thu, 21 Aug 2003 21:26:15 GMT

Common Questions About Climate Change [GCRIO Global Change Gateway - Environmental Education]

Thu, 21 Aug 2003 21:25:45 GMT

Environment Canada Kidzone [GCRIO Global Change Gateway - Environmental Education]