Digital City Project

Its about generating jobs

The Old and the New

• Old World• Workforce

development• 40 hour work week• The office or factory• Unemployable or

5 years of experience• Rapidly decreasing,

moving “off-shore”

• New World• Tech skills• Part-time, any time, r-t• Virtual environment• Anyone can learn, social

media is the vehicle• Rapidly increasing,

worldwide normalization

Catalyst for Change

• Moved to Cleveland, living in Shaker Sq.• Youngstown Business Incubator portfolio comp• Big Idea for a Big problem• Providing Open platforms• Teaching @ CWRU• Meetings folks, building relationships• Shovel ready project• PeopleAggregator social networking platform

Three areas of focus

Innovating Workforce Development

• Connecting Cyberspace to Meatspace• Producing Interactive Multimedia Content• Virtuous circle of volunteerism and training• Dashboard software• Software Infrastructure• Sustainable Business

Model

On-line world connects to Real world

• Getting people comfortable with computers• All jobs in the future will require tech skills• Learning by doing• If they can:– play videogames– use an ATM or remote control– program their mobile phone

Social Media as a vehicle

• Social Networking• Blogging• Activity Streams• Meetups• Flash Mobs• Groups

Haves helping the Have Nots• Volunteers operate Live Video Help• Mentors intern Mentees• Anyone can Volunteer for local events or

organizations• Everyone gets points• Social media the vehicle

Sustainable Business Model

• Partnerships with non-profits apply for funding from government and foundations

• Digital City Mechanics is a new kind of system integrator

• Use the money 3:1 ways:– Build out the MM Content and Services– Train workers in the skills necessary to do that– Create and maintain Open Digital City platform

What kind of jobs can we generate?

• Traditional Businesses: embed interns• Independents: on their own• Startups: new ideas born

Digital City Mechanics

• Develops and operates the Digital City project (DCP)

• New age system integrator– Will need employees– Will run ‘digital bureaus’– Will run training and virtuous circle process– Will produce content, customize the Digital City– Will ‘open source’ the ideas, give them away

The DCP will create all sorts of jobs…

Associated with putting on Live Events

And Mentoring works really well

Multimedia encyclopedias are coming

The DCP will need LOTS of employees!

The Haves will help the Have Nots!

And we’ll make sure to cover Health!

We’ll do all sorts of viral marketing…

And teach you to run your own network

And feed yourself and your community

Everybody needs great sales people

And software dev skills are golden!

Running this whole system and promoting from within will be key.

5 year goals

• 5,000 new jobs in NEO• Phd. from CWRU• Connected Cities Institute• Digital City Mechanics hired ‘round the world• Open Mesh of inter-connected cities• Open Standards based on ‘dashboard’ containers

1,000 Office Jobs

• 450 Embedded social media ambassadors• 250 Digital Bureau employees• 100 Digital City Mechanics employees• 75 BizDev/Technology transfer experts• 50 eCommerce experts embedded in corps• 50 Training experts embedded in corps• 25 Travel experts embedded in corps

1,000 Independent jobs• 200 Independent Sales people• 150 Work-for-hire Office managers• 150 Independent Marketing/PR consultants• 100 web site production• 100 Independent sysops/sys admin/support• 100 Ops, logistics, live events, transport• 75 Independent Photographers – hard copy• 50 Independent trainers• 50 Independent music recorders/mixers• 25 Volunteer coordinators/Community liaison

1,000 Startup jobs

• 200 Viral Marketing/PR employees @new firms• 200 Video Help operators• 150 Urban farmers• 150 Operations, HR, Legal, Acct, PR• 100 Sales and Marketing• 100 Digital Labels/Digital Studios• 50 Technology support/Network operators• 50 Incubator/VC jobs

1,000 Multimedia production jobs

• 250 Videographers, Editors, Audio, Photos• 150 game developers• 100 Documentarians: writers, editors, camera• 100 Production management, Producers• 100 Interactive multimedia content designers• 100 Asst producers, docs, scripts, PA• 100 multimedia business development• 50 researchers/casting• 50 touchup/effects experts/makeup/props…

1,000 Health and Wellness jobs

• 400 Medical records digitizers• 300 medical/bio technology lab experts• 250 Concierge/hospice workers• 50 Doctor/Nurse support staff

Free Dashboard software

• Social Networking• Activity Streams• Blogging• Media Sharing• Live Video Help• Points• Volunteerism• Training• Facebook Import

LiveVideoHelp

First we need to overcome a lot of resistance

…and get them to sign up!

Then we have to acclimate user’sto computers and social media

…and make them feel comfortable!

Then we have to get them toparticipate

…and have fun using computers!

Then we give them the option of choosing their own Job

…and hopefully it’s about something they enjoy!

I used to be famous• 22 years ago I said I wanted to build

Multimedia Encyclopedias

MacroMind/Macromedia

• 1st multimedia player = 1984• 1st multimedia authoring system = 1985• 1st author once, playback on many platforms =

1988• Helped build a Billion $$ industry = ‘multimedia’

Multimedia Revolution interrupted

• Between 1990-1994 85% of CD ROMs were created with our tool - Director

• 25,000 titles, only room for 300 in the channel• Then the thin straw came along (dial-up Internet)• We went backwards (no more video or photos)• 15 years later we’re right back to where we were

Wikipedia is bricks & mortar

• Text + Photos• Community creation• Web links• 3M entries• But the old school form of

knowledge and education

Multimedia Encyclopedias

• Animated Charts of battles• Videos and exploded annotated diagrams of

Green Jobs skills• Interactive simulations of Polymer Engineering• 3d Visualizations• Interactive games

Interactive On-Line Multimedia Content and Services

• Picking up where the Multimedia Revolution left off in 1994

• Video, simulations, annotated diagrams, animated charts, visualizations

• Multimedia Encyclopedia is how people will learn and knowledge will be stored

• Every Foundation, Government and Brand has a topic or issue they’ll sponsor

Virtuous Circle

• Utilizes live Video Help to intern and train• Volunteerism• Training• Points• Live Events• Project management and coordination• Based at digital bureaus

What is a Digital City?

• In the 90’s = access, wifi, digital cafes• In the 00’s = social media, email• In the 10’s = software infrastructure

Software Infrastructure

• Open Digital City platform• Shared servers – two-way APIs:– Digital City ID– Regional timeline of historical events– Jobs, Events, Business directory– Webcam and location pages

• For others to build on top of• Open Standards – Open Stack – Open Ideas

Software as infrastructure• Dashboard is persistent, throughout the region• Dashboard adapts itself to the city it’s in• An ‘operating system’, that knows it’s context• Features and services available to all

Hardware, Bandwidth, Servers, Access

Applications and Services

Solutions, Compelling Experiences

A Day in the life of a Digital City

Webcams and Location pages• See top 16 webcams, editorially selected– Rotate throughout the day

• Click on webcam, go to a location page• Location pages:– Who lives by– Photos, videos– Other webcams– Leave comments,Reviews, Media, Links

• On shared servers

Baby steps in 2010

• Hessler Street “Beta Block” project• iDEA Institute network• Parents Network• “Some” big project

• Apply for grants• Build relationships in community• Help out where I can (GCA, SC19, G-Networks)

Regional Alliance• Based upon using PeopleAggregator • Collaborative platform• Act as a new kind of system integrator• Mesh of Networks/Alliances• iDEA Network• Hessler St – University Circle Innovation Zone• CCDA (Culture, Creativity and Design Alliance)• Parent’s Networks• COSE• Local community organizations• G-Networks

Digital Bureaus• Digital Bureaus are the nodes in a distributed

architecture• Build on the strength of many:– Cleveland– Akron– Lorain– Youngstown– Columbus

• 20 employees, 100 trainees per node• $75k per month

More than just Creative Jobs

• Wide of range of jobs interned and trained• Sales, Marketing• Ops, Live Events• Urban Farming• Health-Wellness• Media Records digitizing• Management

Advisors/Supporters• Lev Gonick – CWRU• Gary Wnek – CWRU, TiME, iDEA• Jim Cossler – YBI portfolio company• Joel Rube - NanoComponent• Patti Chobby – Cobalt group• Joel Elvery - CSU• Frank Kelley – Dean Emeritus, UA Polymer Center• Ed Morrison – Purdue Center for Regional Dev• George Nemeth – Social Media maven