Wigley and Associates

I did a video tele-conference presentation on community/citizen journalism this morning for the Blandin Foundation’s Broadband Initiative program. Audience members were primarily coordinators in rural Minnesota whose communities had recently gotten broadband internet access with Blandin’s help.

A handful of people gathered at the Northern Dakota County Chambers of Commerce office in Eagan where I did the presentation. Another two dozen or so were scattered about the state in a half-dozen locations. Click photos above to enlarge. The photos were taken by Gregg Scott, CTO for InfraSupport, who handled the tech setup for the video conference.

My presentation focused on the history of Northfield Citizens Online (the nonprofit) and its website, Northfield.org.

See the PDF of my Powerpoint presentation (41 slides). Or view this slideshow.

I’ve been working with author and long-time blogger Kent Nerburn and family (Wolf nor Dog Enterprises) the past few weeks to help them put up web pages for some new products: “Heart of the North” gift boxes (Native American theme) and a  â€œQuiet Moments” gift basket. He blogged it last night: Holiday Gifts for Friends and Family.

I was invited to a Blandin Foundation brainstorming session today on the topic of rural communities and the development of broadband infrastructure, online content, and civic engagement. We met at the home of Bill Coleman in Mahtomedi, where his mailbox and backyard wildlife (click photos to enlarge) made for a unique setting.

Left photo, L o R: Tim Erickson, e-democracy.org; Ann Treacy, Treacy Information Services; Bill Coleman, Community Technology Advisors Corp.; Bernadine Joselyn, Director of Blandin’s Public Policy and Engagement Program; Jane Leonard, Minnesota Rural Partners.

Left center: Becky LaPlant and Mary Magnuson, Program Assistants in Blandin’s Public Policy and Engagement Program; Steve Clift, Publicus.net.

Right center: Patrick Marx, recently a senior staffer at Blandin, now a consultant to them; and Jane (see above).

Right: Bill and Bernadine (see above). Click all photos to enlarge.

History and connections were rich. I’ve recently collaborated with Tim on a St. Paul edemocracy outreach project; with Steve on many issues and projects, including civic leadership blogging in the UK and the ReadMyDay project; Jane and Ann I’ve known since way back in the MRnet and gofast.net days — and Jane came to Northfield 18 months ago to speak at an NDDC forum on wi-fi. I’d not met Patrick but first heard about him from Sean Kershaw at the Citizens League (a blogging client) and more recently, because of his involvement and support of Bill Densmore and the Media Giraffe Project. He knew all about the Atwater video that Bill and I have been working on. But the most startling connection was when I mentioned how my involvement as the Salonkeeper with Utne Reader’s Neighborhood Salon Association back in the 90s was instrumental in the formation of Northfield Citizens Online and Northfield.org. Bernadine blurted out: “My mother joined an Utne Salon when they first started and their salon is still going on!” That’s 15 years and counting. Cool beans. One final mention: a tip of the blog hat to Mike O’Connor who couldn’t be there today and who was instrumental in my getting an invitation. Thanks, Mikey. All the way with Y2K!

I met Russ Schoen at Heartland Circle’s Happy Hour back in May and we chatted informally about the work I’d been doing with leadership blogging and small business blogging. A couple months ago, he contracted with me to help him get set up with a blog and a website.

It’s now up: Russ Schoen: Deliberate creative thinking tips and other shenanigans and he’s blogging regularly. Russ works “… as a facilitator, trainer and speaker in the areas of productive thinking, innovation, and leadership.”