Today I was excited to speak at BoCo, a great new conference developed by the Boulder Tech Community, especially Andrew Hyde. Rick Turoczy was there, among other awesome Portlanders, San Fransiscans, and Boulderites. It  was a sunny day and there were beautiful mountains all around. The morning sessions dealt with food and music and were very wonderful to listen to.

I spoke about Cyborg Anthropology, which is the study of human computer interactions and how technology affects the way in which we communicate with one another.

We Are All Cyborgs

When you read this, you are acting as a low-tech cyborg, because you are using a computer to view text that I have written. My writing is stored here in my website, part of my actor network of external technological devices that, when taken together, comprise my technosocial self. As cavemen, we began skipping evolution by crafting spears instead of growing teeth. We began making hammers as extensions of our fists.

My social self is part technology and part human. My technological self does a lot of networking for me through my social networking profiles and my Google search results. So do yours (if you have them). My technosocial avatar of a self networks for me when I’m not there.

Distributed Social Selves

Each piece of my distributed social identity leaves a geological trail of past self that my present self can interact with. These all comprise my future self, which your future self or selves will most undoubtedly interact with. The online optimization of self, when coupled with the analog optimization of self (i.e. real-life networking, person to person) is the creation of a stable identity that is uniformly distributed and presented all over the web.

Technology Resembles Magic

Technology is almost magical. Like the scrying pool of the past (or of fantasy novels), the iPhone or computer monitor allows us to view anything anywhere in the world through YouTube and Twitter, News sites and Facebook. We can summon up an image with a simple spell (a simple text entry into Google search or Twitter search) and we can extend our speech and ears across very large distances in seconds with the mere touch of a button.

Technology Gives Us Superpowers

Technology, when used well, gives us amazing superpowers. We are like gods, until we forget to charge our batteries. We are like gods, until we forget to upgrade our devices to the most recent operating system or device number. Our external prosthetic devices turn against us when they get old. Our old clothes go out of style. Our brick phones make us get laughed at in the streets.

From Physical Transportation to Mental Transportation

In the same way that cars transport our physical bodies, computers and cell phones transport our spiritual bodies. Don’t like the word spiritual? Use the word mind instead. We’re increasingly entering into a world of mental machines - mental transportation devices. These devices transmit our thoughts invisibly to others. They are taking up smaller amounts of space, until vehicles, who require increasingly large highways.

Mental Traffic Jams

We have traffic jams, too. Mental traffic jams. Jams on Twitter. Twitter fails. Rush hour around important events and deaths and wars and crises. We can now have multiple views of the same event.

Telephonic Schizophrenia

When telephone technology first came out, people felt it was crazy. The idea of going into a room and speaking into a machine sounded schizophrenic.

More

There is more: enough to fill up a hour and a half speech, but I’ll leave that to you to see the next time I speak. Until then, you can follow me on Twitter @caseorganic, or you can check out BoCo.

Doug Fieldhouse of Vesta, ClearEdge Power, ID Experts, nLIGHT and BRING Recycling Are Selected as this Year’s Award Winners

Sept. 18, 2008, Portland, Ore. — The Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN) announced the winners of the 2008 OEN Tom Holce Awards for Entrepreneurship during its 15^th annual awards ceremony on September 18, 2008. The ceremony, held at the Oregon Convention Center, honored finalists in four categories: Entrepreneurship Award for Individual Achievement; Development Stage Company of the year; Working capital Stage Company of the year; and the Growth Stage Company of the year.

Doug Fieldhouse of Vesta received the 2008 Entrepreneurship Award for Individual Achievement. “Doug exemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit that we celebrate with these awards,” said Bob Sternberg, judging chair for this year’s awards. “He thinks big and looks for ways to make a tremendous impact, and he has the ability to execute on those ideas in ways that scale up effectively. His success with Vesta is just one example of his ability to change and jump into new opportunities and persistently grow the business over time.” In addition, he has a long history of mentoring and coaching young entrepreneurs.

In the Development category, ClearEdge Power of Portland, Oregon is this year’s winner. ClearEdge Power is a pioneer and provider of ultra-clean and efficient on-site energy generation systems. They have a substantial market opportunity and are professionally managed, well funded and are making substantial progress with product development and early adoption customers.

ID Experts of Beaverton is the winner in the Working Capital Category. ID Experts provides identity theft protection services for individuals, corporations and the public sector. They have successfully adapted to the changing needs of the market when required. Their painstaking and labor intensive process to restore customers’ identities will make it difficult for other companies to compete successfully against them in this marketplace. Due to these efforts, they have a 100 percent success rate restoring identities.

The winner of the Growth Category is nLIGHT Corporation of Vancouver, Washington.

nLIGHT develops and manufactures photonics modules for industrial, defense, and medical applications. The company had the vision to intelligently re-invent itself in the early stages of the collapse of the telecom bubble and the temerity to implement that new strategy under extremely difficult circumstances. It applied its skills and ingenuity in the marketplace to create, shepherd and grow a novel mentoring program (MAPS—Mentoring for Advanced Program for Students) that is having a real impact on local education and the future of this community.

BRING Recycling is this year’s winner of the Non-profit Award. BRING Recycling collects and resells low-cost used building materials as well as provides deconstruction and recycling services. Revenues generated fund conservation and education programs about the best way to reuse and recycle. BRING Recycling was selected for its organizational and entrepreneurial strengths overall, and how the organization was able to change course to meet changing demands in the community. BRING Recycling received a $5,000 award from the Meyer Memorial Trust at the Awards Ceremony.

“The recipients of this year’s awards have been successful because of their determination, independent thinking, and their ability to change direction and chart their own course.” said Linda Weston, executive director and president of OEN. “From clean power to identity protection, these Oregon and Southwest Washington companies are making innovative contributions that make a difference in our communities and beyond.”

The winners were chosen from 14 finalists by the OEN award judging committee, chaired by Bob Sternberg. Companies from throughout Oregon and Southwest Washington were nominated for the Awards, and were narrowed to the 14 finalists after hundreds of hours of due diligence, including site visits and face-to-face interviews. A comprehensive list of winners and finalists follows this release.

Individual Category

Doug Fieldhouse, Vesta - Winner
Ray King, AboutUs.org
Susan Sokol Blosser, Sokol Blosser

Working Capital Category

ID Experts- Winner
Beaverton, OR

Pop Art, Inc.
Portland, Oregon

PV Powered
Bend, Oregon

Growth Category

nLIGHT Corporation- Winner
Vancouver, WA

HemCon Medical Technologies, Inc.
Portland, Oregon

Timbercon
Lake Oswego, WA

Development Category

ClearEdge Power- Winner
Portland, Oregon

AboutUs, Inc.
Portland, Oregon

Jama Software
Portland, Oregon

Plas2Fuel Corporation
Chris Ulum
Kelso, WA

About OEN

Founded in 1991, the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to providing opportunities for Oregon entrepreneurs and improving the business climate for emerging, growth-oriented companies statewide. The organization has members throughout Oregon and southwest Washington. For more information about the OEN, visit its website at www.oen.org.

For more information, press only:
Jessica Foote
OnPR
503-802-4406
jessicaf@onpr.com

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Congratulations to all of the winners! Thanks for helping to put Oregon’s Entrepreneurs on the map!

Amber Case is a Cyborg Anthropologist and Social Media Consultant based in Portland, Oregon. You can contact her by E-mail or @caseorganic on Twitter.

Volume Four of Portland’s Pecha Kucha Series was held last Tuesday, August 12th, 2008.

This particular session was located on NW 8th and Couch Street in artists place that was currently under construction. There was a random amalgamation of wooden benches on the floor facing a large presentation screen. The event was free, and so was free wine and beer. Not bad for a Tuesday night of entertainment!

At 6:30Pm the room was already filled to capacity. There is a large oriental carpet in front of the large projection screen, and the audience overflow is sitting on it.

What is Pecha Kucha?

Pecha Kucha is a Japanese word for the sound of conversation, or chit chat.
It is a presentation technique in which the presenter shows 20 images for 20 seconds each.
In this way, an audience can absorb a large amount of information very quickly, because interest is kept up by the rapid change of images and speaker engagement. It’s a way to remove the annoyance that a standard Powerpoint presentations often bring to standard meeting experiences.

Pecha Kucha Presentation Summaries

Andrew Brahe

Confluence Project

Brahe received his B.S. in Architecture from Portland State University, and he has a passion for ethical design and strives for a better way to build.

His presentation started with an audience participation exercise. He had the right side of the room begin to snap their fingers, and got the middle of the room to begin rubbing their hands together. He made the left side of the room made slap their thighs. Then he urged everyone to do their part faster and louder, until the place was filled with a great amount of percussive noise.

Then he made everyone stop.

There was dead silence and darkness; then the first slide showed up on the monitor.

The presentation involved architecture. One of the best slides demonstrated a beautifully formed pedestrian bridge that had been built over a freeway near Ft. Vancouver. He said that this bridge would be opened to the public soon.

The image of the land bridge spanning over the highway was intense. It looked as if green grass had grown all over the highway in an organic arch, partially eroding away the concrete. In reality, the bridge was allowing animals and humans a way to cross over previously impervious territory.

There were a number of other architectural projects shown, including a tall bird observation tower in the middle of the forest with a long ramp all the way to the top. Brahe is also employed as a project manager with Maya Lin (the architect behind the Vietnam memorial in Washington D.C.) on a multi-sited art and architectural installation.

Diane Jacobs and Karen Maurer

Visual Artists

This presentation detailed a future interactive installation at the Disjecta art space in North Portland. The show encourages viewers to “See, feel, open, and act”, and “Find words that begin to transform the present”.

“We abolished slavery, except as a punishment for crime”, the presenter said.

The pieces were about bridging the gaps in multicultural understanding in Portland. One of the most poignant lines: “Don’t let anyone forfeit untapped potential”.

The art show opens Saturday, the 23rd of August from 6-9 pm at the Disjecta. 8371 N Interstate Portland Oregon 97217.
Gallery Hours are Fri-Sun Aug 24-Oct 25 / 12-6 pm, and the Artists Talk is Wednesday, October 1st at 7 pm.

Bill Dieter

Industrial Designer, TERRAZIGN, Inc.

Bill Dieter started Terrazign, Inc., a Portland-based industrial design firm in 1994. The firm works primarily with fabrics and hard woods. His interest is in “integrating the worlds of hard and soft”.

Zippable Plywood Trade Show Booths

One of the first slides demonstrated a trade show booth for a snowboarding company. He was able to integrate zippers into the polished plywood panels to allow the tradeshow display to be zipped together into a study shape and unzipped
into an easily transportable shape once the trade show ended.

“This is the only time I’ve ever gotten splinters from sewing”, he added with a smile.

All Weather Segway Enclosures

He showed off other industrial objects from his firm, including an all-weather enclosure for Segways that made the little personal vehicles look even more ridiculous——>in a good way. Here’s a link to an article (and photos) of the invention on Engadget called Meep Meep.

Backpacks and Military Projects

The next series of slides ranged from inflatable car seats for toddlers (saving time, space, and weight), and Compression backpacks, which do pretty much the same thing while looking awesome at the same time.

He outlined some of the military projects the firm has worked on as well, including a backpack with a hydration frame that made water the structure of the pack.

“This solved the largest issue of military life, which is hydration”. Placing hydration at the center of the bag allowed the soldier the capability to modify what they needed, because the backpack was also modular.

Sparq Training Equipment

Terrazign created a series of collapsible hurdles for Sparq, a training division of Nike. They’re lightweight and foldable, and can withstand and structure serious training.

They also developed weight vests, which were made from monofilament fiber mesh that allows for air flow.

Vertical Treadmills for NASA

Perhaps the most interesting part of Dieter’s presentation involved images of NASA members training for space missions on vertical treadmills. The treadmills were developed by Terrazign to create artificial gravity and the ability to retain bone density while in space. The vertical treadmill is effective because of its capability to simulate gravity equal to body weight.

A group of guys that were playing a series of Mexican folk songs on guitars strode by the event space while we watched a man running on a vertical treadmill on the screen. It was a strange juxtaposition of elements that made the audience consider really what they were looking at.

You can see images of the Vertical Treadmill at the NASA Website.

Severin Villiger

Designer, Teacher

Severin began by telling us that he was going to do a presentation about Italian Airplanes. He was wearing a leather coat, airplane goggles, and a big black biker helmet.

Apparently, he was a Vespa enthusiast. He showed pictures of pinup women riding the bikes, and even had a whole series of them inside the presentation space. The entire presentation was developed with a zany Swiss accent, which made his ability to make the crowd laugh even greater.

Vespa Mania

“Who thinks a Vespa is a toy?” he smiled, “I don’t”.

He showed an image of his group of Vespa riders doing all sorts of interesting activities, and then one of his personal collection of Vespa bikes.

“The best thing about a Vespa scooter?” he stated, “You have four…or ten”.

Want to join the fun? Check out the Portland Vespa Group for more adventures.

Intermission

Matthew Packwood

Radio Producer

“I’m going to do a presentation on Contemporary Classical Music. It’s kind of an oxymoron. Contemporary and classical shouldn’t go together, but they really do”.

“I figured that it is rather difficult to talk about music, so I brought four pieces to share with you, all of which have something to do with Portland”.

He then began to play each piece. Each song had four slides associated with it - a title slide, a picture of what the often complex music looked like, an image of the composer, and an image of what the original cover of the pieces looked like.

These four elements caused a greater understanding of each piece than if simply the music had been played alone. The images of the composers were probably the most compelling of all of the images.

Piece One

Two Celebratory Fanfares (1995)
Composer: David Dzubay (b. 1964)
Performers: John Rommel, trumpet, Edmund Cord, trumpet, Thomas Brown, trumpet, Richard Sandals, trumpet, Amy Schendel, trumpet, Robert White, trumpet, David Dzubay, conductor.

Piece Two

Incidental Music to Corneille’s Cinna (1955-1957) whose cover looked like an old book.
Composer: Lou Harrison (1917-2003)
Performer: Linda Burman-Hall, tack piano.

Piece Three

theater of mineral NADEs [excerpt] (1998)
Composer: Eyvind Kang b. 1971.
Performers: Eyvind Kang

Here, Packwood showed an image of one of Kang’s conceptual sketches. It was as intense as the image of the composer. Extremely detailed and poignant. It told the story of the composer’s mind almost as well as the music.

Piece Four

Open up your Ears. Composer: Bryan Johanson.
Performer: David Starobin, Guitar.

This was an overwhelmingly beautiful piece, and it was a classical piece inspired by a line in the Jimi Hendrix song ‘Can You See Me?’.

Packwood’s presentation was excellent because he chose to let the music speak for him.

If you want to learn more, please check out Packwood’s site Art of the States.

Greg Barton

Designer, Hurricane Katrina Revisited

Greg received architectural training from Tulane University, RISD, and , most recently, the Bartlett in London. He has created exhibits and installations shown in venues from Tyron Creek to AIA Portland Gallery to the recent “PDXplore: Designing Portland” exhibit at PNCA. Before moving to England, Greg worked for Hoist Architecture.

Barton was attending Tulane University in New Orleans until Hurricane Katrina displaced his life. The event that caused 81 billion dollars in damages is still affecting the lives of many residents.

He reminded the audience that the hurricane has not finished its toll on the residents of New Orleans. There are 150,000 families still living in FEMA trailers, with an average of three per trailer. Many refugees live in FEMA villages, or “FEMA-villes”.

A far cry from the luxurious representations of trailers from the 1950’s in advertising, there are many health hazards present in trailer life. For instance, Formaldehyde exists in dangerous levels, and there have already been many C02 related deaths.

He then showed how pragmatic restraints began to reshape the public sphere. Some families had placed white picket fences or stone lions in front of their temporary/permament trailers in an attempt to trick their minds into feeling like they had an actual place to live.

Meghan Sinnot and Carl Larson

Advocates, SHIFT - Portland Biking Initiative

Meghan Sinnot came to Portland from Alaska and attended Lewis & Clark college to study Anthropology. Since it was way up on a hill, it was not easy for her to explore the surrounding Portland area without taking a long trek downtown on the college-supplied bus.

Then, Meghan discovered biking. Now she is an part of SHIFT, the Portland bicycle advocacy group.

She began the presentation by taking out a bike and pedaling on it while telling the room about her history.

“Who rode a bike here today?” she asked us. Many hands went up, including mine.

“What we do here at SHIFT is basically an ad-hocracy,” she stated, “but we do have a stash of cash in someone’s basement that they let us get at sometimes”.

She talked about the group’s attempts at serving breakfast to bike commuters on the bridges in the morning. And she talked about Critical Mass, Zoo Bombing, and Pedapalooza—a few of the great Portland bike events that serve the educate and create a nice ground for future bike advocacy.

“In Guadalajara,” she said, “there is one vehicle for every three citizens”.

You can find out more about Portland Bike Culture at shifttobikes.org.

TJ Norris and Chas Bowie

Artists

One of the presenters was masked, and the other unmasked. They talked about the modern condition, asking questions such as, “does the mask control the wearer?” (or does clothing or career control the subject?), and snapshot culture. Click Click Click Click Click Click. Tick tock, Tick tock.

I would write more, but I can’t really describe what they said in the way they did. I was very impressed though, so I am including some links to their work here.

Resources

Read more about TJ Norris, and his show at the New American Art Union. There’s also an article history for Chas Bowie at the Portland Mercury.

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Future Pecha Kucha Portland Events

I highly recommend attending any Pecha Kucha event. If you’d like to learn more about upcoming sessions in Portland or elsewhere, and possibly sign up to present, visit http://www.pechakuchaportland.org/.

For more information regarding ciyscope and upcoming events, please visit www.projectcityscope.org.

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Event Sponsors

W.PA - Works Partnership Architecture, LLC
Architecture Foundation of Oregon
FordGraphics
A to Z Wine Works (Delicious).
Quixote Investments (add this link).
Rogue Brewery
Art Institute of Portland

Attending Portland networking/social events is one of the best ways to meet innovative locals, learn cool things, and get new clients/collaborators for various projects. A weekly list of Portland Tech/Networking events has been requested of me multiple times, and this list is the culmination of those requests. I hope it benefits you in as many ways as possible!

This week, Bram Pitoyo and I will be attending all of these events. Bram’s reviews can always be found on his blog, Link En Fuego, soon after each event. I’ll be reviewing/live-tweeting from the Internet Strategy Forum as well as doing some experimental analytics on it.

We hope to see you soon!

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Upcoming PDX Tech Events for Wednesday, July 16th, to Friday, July 25th

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Wednesday, July 16th:

Noon to 2 Pm:

LUNCH 2.0 at SOUK
See http://siliconflorist.com for details.

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5:30 Pm

Join SEMpdx & pdxMindShare at this networking and educational event. Meet SEMpdx board members, network with other Web professionals, and learn more about membership and sponsorship opportunities.

Who: Open to all - interested in search engine / Web marketing
What: Networking event
When: Wednesday July 16, 5:30 PM ? PM
Where: Paddy’s Bar & Grill
Why: networking, meet SEMpdx, learn about membership & benefits
How much?: Free, no host bar
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6:30 Pm

Writing For Web for Fun and Profit.
(At the Kennedy School - Ask me for details)

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8:30 Pm

Tweetup with Charlene Li (from Forrester Research, a keynote speaker at Internet Strategy Forums). This means drinking.

http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/903763

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Thursday, July 17th:

8:30Am-5:00Pm

Internet Strategy Forum - Portland, OR

6Pm:

ISF Afterparty (Contact me for details).

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Thursday, July 17th:

6:00 Pm

SECP Meetup/Portland Freelancer’s Meetup. NE Portland at the Stamp Society Building. $10. (Ask me for details).

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Friday, July 18th:

9Am-10Am:

Morning Meetings: Marketing (Recurring)
[Full details at http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/634899/ ] Come into CubeSpace between 9 and 10 a.m. on weekdays to chat for free with the professional-in-residence about your needs.
The Friday topic is: Marketing, including web 2.0 and branding

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4Pm

Beer and Blog at the Green Dragon! Yay!
928 SE 9th Ave
Portland, OR 97214
Generally at 4Pm

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Monday 21st:

6:30Pm-8:00Pm

Legion of Talk (Sponsored by Legion of Tech)
Mark Shuttleworth

Mark will be speaking out Ubuntu, the community-developed the open source operating system he founded, as well as his travels in space. Mark was the second man ever to travel to space on a private space craft!

McMenamins Mission Theater
1624 NW Glisan St
6:30pm to 8:00pm
Doors open 5:30pm (come early, have dinner & hang out with us before the talk)

This one is going to be HUGE.
Register and find out more at www.LegionOfTech.org

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Tuesday, July 22nd:

6Pm:

PANEL DISCUSSION #2 - PDXplore PNCA - 6:00 Pm. “In The Round: Collective Leadership” featuring mayor-elect Sam Adams, Metro president David Bragdon, Hillsboro mayor Tom Hughes, Portland planning director Gil Kelley, and City of Gresham executive manager Alice Rouyere.

A transcript of the PANEL DISCUSSION #1 is here.

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Tuesday, July 22nd:

6Pm:

PDX Net Tuesday July - New Tools for the Nonprofit Sector
AboutUs.org - 107 SE Washington St. Suite 520

This event is usually really fun, has beer, and then a sort of discussion of things.

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See you there!

Your Friendly Neighborhood Cyborg Anthropologist

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If you’d like more information on any of these events, or would like to contact the organizers about workshops, don’t hesitate to E-mail me. Please feel free to forward this to anyone who might benefit from it.

I’d love to see you on Twitter. You can follow me at: http://twitter.com/caseorganic

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I have this great client who I am teaching Web 2.0 and Social Media techniques to. I figured that I might as well make a blog while teaching her, and that the blog could be a place to access and develop educational materials for her and others in the field of Non-Governmental Organizations. Check out The Social NGO in real life.