Digital Village History Tour 1998

This picture is from Loviisan Sanomat November 13, 1998. I’m speaking with Annika Malms-Tepponen about Wirby the Global Village a few weeks after the Galaxia Gala event.

Else-Maj Stenvall, the local teacher, and my father Otto Keitel are framed in the picture below.  They both passed away a few years after the 1998 historical Galaxia event.

Irja Kallio and myself returned back from France November 1997  and we were eager to make a contribution to the local development in my home village and in Ita-Uusimaa.

Today, Viirila is a part of the greater Loviisa area, and Ita-Uusimaa as an independent region doesn’t exist anymore.

What started as Wiirila Werkossa Wiikoittain, continues as a second life project 550 kilometers up north, in Sotkamo, as Wuokatti Werkossa Wiikoittain.

Digital Villages as a concept is still figuring in the background. KK-Net still uses it as a service design and community development platform. But we’re looking for an area or region where it could lead to a more permanent existence.

We still curiously look forward to a re-vitalization of some most intriguing digital traditions.

Trends are short-lived. Everything around us is in a continuous motion. Change is such a vital part of everything. It’s fifteen years to those pictures. Life continues, but some of the participants are looking at our thrivings from the heaven.

I’m grateful to everything that happened in my small home village.

Dear friends and fellow villagers, have a great summer, until we meet again ;)

Decreasing the remoteness of Distance Work

It's such a wonderful thing to have all these high-tech gadgets and tools available for the masses, supporting global networking and creative collaboration.

But we're also living confusing times: we've not yet really mentally moved out or away from our  local villages or narrow definitions of space.

There’s a broad gap, and troubled waters, between the immense opportunities created by Internet, Facebook, Twitter, G+, and the myriad of other Web 2.0 tools.

While living in Alsace, during the 90’s, we stayed in touch with our friends in Finland  with a FAX based “news-flash” with the name JataNews. And then came the world wide web and Internet. That was a huge step forward.

Today, with so much better networking tools, I still wonder how slowly we adapt to long-distance collaboration. Most of us rely on face-to-face meetings and common experiences. The traditional office does still have a meaning as a working space, and the coffee machine functions as a social bonding device.

It’s a huge mental and emotional challenge to feel “close and friendly” with people and colleagues working at the other side of the globe, unless they are relatives or friends from your local village.

We don’t even remain in close contact with some of our school friends.

Toys and children plays are predicting our future

Toys are telling about our history. Now kids are playing with video games. Drawings and cartoons are low-cost items that also can be used to sketch coming times.

I work with the future idea of Eco City along with the concept of Digital Villages.

Let’s take a look at very ordinary everyday tasks. Going to a bank teller to pick some pocket money is a routine operation but it hasn’t been around for more than twenty years.

Phone boots were located all around cities but I suppose there aren’t a single one in Finland anymore.

My view about Digital Villages has changed during the past ten years. The first ideas were drafted over twenty years ago but Wirby the Global Village became the first prototype 1998.

We’ve much more experience and better tools and networks for distance work. The idea of networking villages emerged 2001 to 2005 but the realization of all the ideas is more realistic today. It takes years to work out and test a new community concept.

I’ve seen ET on the Road

I’m still experimenting with Paint.Net and became interested with picture manipulation again.

I’ve Photoshop on the other laptop but the Samsung PC-20 is my on the road laptop.

The above pictures have been taken with Nokia E71 mobile phone camera.

Mobile phones do not produce the best quality pictures but with some layer playing it’s possible to create new things.

Augmented digital reality can be produced with simple tools. Meeting ET on the road is possible for the average person today. I know how to improve the picture at the left, but wanted to show this early creation.  I know how take away the shades but it’s nice to see early bird test works.

Managing business and other processes

We’re great process managers and should take advantage of the national heritage of ultra-rapid industrialization and modernization of the society.

There are billions of people around the world that could take advantage of the silent knowledge of how to make rapid societal changes. Do we understand the potential of what lies behind all this. 

Knowledge Intesive Distance Work

A "better idea for distance work" has been on my agenda for two decades. Facebook might be one of the platforms that could help to take knowledge intensive distance work to a new level. Sometimes I feel that Distance Work doesn't appeal to companies, the concept isn't understood and individuals aren't always prepared or motivated. The basic idea should be easy to take into local practice with extensive availability of broad band services, but we are still in the very early stage of grasping the idea of KIDW.

Hirosato Matsuura wrote 7:35pm May 8th: "To all facebook friends. In Japan there will be an event called "Facebook developer garage Tokyo". (Monday, May 19, 2008 7:00pm - 9:00pm at BakeryCafe632 Harajuku / Jingumae 6-32-10). I want to appeal as a one of developer in Japan to Japanese developers, web-based movement such in facebook can make social change in various category human-beings facing (poverty, global warming, wanter, medical...). If you know some techniques to appeal developers who are not aware about web-based power, or some good example in other country, please email me at facebook or facebook-matsuura.at.adgj.net)"

I wrote: "Thank you for the information. I'm in Finland and it's a long way. Are you webcasting, podcasting or twittering the event?"

There was a reply from Michael Wolff 7:31pm May 10th, "Well, what we are attempting with knowledge intensive (KI) work is about social change, by aiming to become the web platform for online work. Currently the market supporting this is highly fragmented, but once someone cracks how to provide a service for online workers that is every online workers first port of call (just as Google is the first place for search) then significant social change is possible. On the environmental side we see online workers as having an average annual saving in carbon of one ton. We see the demand for online work growing to in excess of 100 million online workers within ten years. So work it out. Then, on a more subtle level, online workers need to work collaboratively in order to succeed. 100 million people relating in this way can be a power for change..."

• Knowledge
• Intensive
• Distance
• Work

I need to write more about my practical experiences. The big picture is clear and promises lots of advantages for individuals, enterprises and the society, but the practical arrangements are not well managed even though we've all the necessary tools for this trade.