911Cam: See the Emergency

 

PROBLEM 

The Jetsons lead us -at least me and my generation- to believe that we'd have flying cars and robot housekeepers by now. Even as far as technology has come much of it has yet to be developed; not because it's not ready but because we haven't harnessed and deployed it with the urgency it warrants. 

If I have to wait on mobile-modernization, can we at least take on the currently solvable problem of accurate emergency information getting to our first responders?!

At a time when we can amazingly see NASA's Perseverance actually land on Mars, and have millions of Zoom meetings a day, we are still way behind in utilizing these technologies to protect and save our own citizens.

SOLUTION

The solution is to have 911Cam data-transfer (updated E911 / NG911) available to anyone who calls for help. The technology is already available. The stumbling block is federal funding and the leadership to shepherd a big endeavor from an old territory hot-potato to an innovation success. In the past, states/counties have had to fight for extra funding and support to role out any upgrades to their 911 system. There is no reason why we as a nation shouldn't support this as both a homeland security step and at a minimum as a public service provided to keep our citizens safe and alive. 

OPPORTUNITY

Since we are in the middle of handling one of our nation's biggest challenges with COVID-19 we should take this as a prescient warning that we have failed at adequately building infrastructure to deal with national emergencies. The good news is we are now ripe for taking on big challenges. 

911Cam is a perfect test project to unite many government agencies (federal, state and local) in bringing together resources, innovation and leadership. There are other natural disasters,  defense challenges and domestic threats to our safety, security and wellbeing ahead. Now is the time to show what our government, technologists and leaders can do. 

We spend billions on fighter jets that never fly a mission- we can spend some of that on infrastructure for our emergency services. And if we are to thrive as a nation and reclaim our status as the clear global technology leader we need to take on big projects and not just on Mars... but on Main Street. 

So here is me, just Joy-Citizen imploring our government to rally the resources and resolve to build a 911 system that allows every citizen who needs help to be seen.

I refuse to believe that Hanna-Barbera has more imagination and vision then our leaders (at least in the "real world"). 

We might not be ready for flying cars but if we can send video from Mars and communicate with colleagues around the world we can certainly get a 911 Operator our identifying information, our location and video of our emergency. 

911Cam life-saving technology is coming and the leaders who move to make it happen will be seen as national Heroes who will be ready to solve even greater challenges to come. 

Who will answer this call? 

Full disclosure: Jetsons was supposedly set in 2062 but no one told us that, and you get my point 😉

Go Ahead Apple, Make my ... iDay!

 

I know there are way more important things going on in the world so forgive me for this frivolous request, but thinking of ways to make things even a little bit better has eased my nerves in all this chaos.

As an Apple enthusiast I love my iPhone and enjoy having all my info accessible but I would love it even more if it was all in sync with my calendar. What would make me happy is if I pulled up a day in my iCal on my iPhone/MacBook and I could see all my activity of the day: 

photos, who I call & texted, what I spent and my health stats...

Every day in this pandemic-pause has seemed to blend together so I would really like a little organization to help me keep track of what happened today, yesterday and last month. The data is all there so my request is that Apple make my day an iDay snapshot.

Thanks, Apple!

Due Gooders: What to Do with Bad Men

When Alfred Nobel's brother, Ludvig, died the obituary accidentally named Alfred and stated Le marchand de la mort est mort ("The merchant of death is dead"). It went on, "Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday." An inventor with 355 patents he was most well known as the creator of dynamite.

Appalled that this is how he would be remembered, his last will specified that his fortune be used to create a series of prizes for those who confer the "greatest benefit on mankind" in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace.

117 years later a Nobel Prize is known as an honor and as a contribution to humanity.

So why do I bring this up you ask? Well, because the state of our world in the last year has left me in a whirl. I have been heartbroken that many of the men I most admired have turned out to be asses and abusers. But unfortunately it's not just a few... everyday we find out more who have abused their positions (and privilege) and have had an entitled, destructive, power-hungry way of being in the world. 

Yet most are not complete sociopaths* but jerky guys behaving very badly who need to evolve. And why should we care? Because we need them to lead a revolution to clean up their messes, redeem themselves, and show generations to come that the boys-clubs-ways are truly unmanly. That, and there is just simply too many men involved to isolate them all.

My idea 💡...

Due Gooders: Men who have done bad ready to evolve and pay their dues and do good. 

I envision a non-profit that starts out with some of the high profile men we see in the news who come together to form a kind of Assholes Anonymous organization where they get help for what caused their behavior, work to make amends for any damage they've done, and then find a way to repay to society their debt by doing good in the world. 

It could be thru charity work, or they could create a documentary, book, PSAs or lecture series exploring toxic male culture, or any other way of transforming their destruction into good. 

There is The Good Men Project, A Call To Men, and various religious and other male focused organizations, but I think that the Due Gooders needs to be a separate conversation about how in this new millennium masculinity needs to evolve by men owning their own past. Even though there is a range of behavior, all men caught up in #MeToo movement bear responsibility to take this on. 

Bottomline: It would be a waste to not at least try to salvage the good in this reckoning and help facilitate a full-blown culture shift. Women shouldn't have to bear the burden to transform male culture-- the men who did the bad now need to pay their dues and man up to do it themselves! 
What's in it for them is a possibility (if they do the work) to leave a legacy- and obituary- of more then just their worst sins but a story of redemption and inspiration for their children, society and for themselves. Now that would be a good next act and great ending.     

[*Note: I feel it goes without saying but will state clearly that some of these guys are irredeemable and are not capable or willing to change- this is not for them. Only for the guys who feel shame, want to clean up their messes, and are willing to do the work.]

💡Could The Next BIG Thing Be... a small Square?!

Square has taken on the payments industry in the last few years and done really well bringing simple money-exchange hardware and software to the masses. I applaud them! Yet with mobile payment options like Apple Pay, and whatever will follow on other formats, it might be time to think differently (so to speak).

Jack Dorsey has already shown the mighty power of mini-messages and mobile-money--
so isn't it time to revolutionize mini-money too?

Just a couple of uses: let's say I love Wikipedia and after I use it I would like to leave a $1 to support their efforts-- I could hit the Square button, indicate an amount and voila! Or what if I would like to read some articles in the Times but have hit a paywall and can't afford a yearly subscription :(  Hit Square and I have 5 credits I can use to read on.

The uses are endless: buying items from Twitter, pitching in for birthday gifts on Facebook, charitable donating during crisis, supporting writers, musicians & artists on their site or channel...

When I use my I-Pass (on Illinois tollroads) I have an auto replenish linked to my credit card and they process $.30- $3 tolls all day long. There might be some technical and scale issues involved to process such small payments but they could be overcome by maybe having a $10 account balance minimum to pay or collect payments.

There are other online payment forms but none set up to go BIG on going small and as recognizable and credible as Square. Not only could they bring about a new way of money exchange, they could possibly save struggling journalism, entertainment, and political funding as we know it.
Go BIG, Go small :)

💡Twitter [TV] Channels: Fun, Fans & Profits

Twitter [tv] Channels from Joy Meredith

The original post from 10/10/2013 has been replaced with above slidedeck.

View sample channels: [Scandal] [DWTS] [Shark Tank] [AMAs] [Nashville]

...and let me know what you think @JoyMeredith :)

💡OWNing TV Programing

Brene Brown & Oprah on Super Soul Sunday

Super Soul Sunday, Lifeclass, Oprah's Next Chapter, Our America... this is some of the best programming on TV. Oprah's OWN network has created a place where people can nourish their mind and spirits and it is a great space for the conversation of living our best lives. Well, mostly great. I know it is still in its start-up-ish stages and it takes time to build on ideas and there is the pesky issue of turning a profit and all, but I'm concerned.

I pay extra for the cable package that brings me OWN and it is well worth the price just to see the above shows I listed. But that said, as soon as I saw Life With La Toya as a featured program in an ad in this month's O Magazine I was taken aback. Oxygen was suppose to be a women's empowering station and now veering towards trash-tv. What kind of programming is OWN after?

My own OWN idea: Consider broadcasting high quality, well produced, online-originated, best life programming. My perfect example is what Jonathan Fields is doing with Good Life Project videos. In each 40minutes or so offering he interviews a successful author, business leader, or creative about how they're living a successful life. The videos are beautiful quality and really good content. Same thing with Marie TV with Marie Forleo who is helping people create businesses and lives they love. And it is amazing what Chase Jarvis is doing with creativeLIVE which hosts free online educational programming.

How could this work? Well bear with me I'm not a TV producer (but open to offer Sheri Salata :) ) but how about testing, with a profit sharing arrangement, already produced segments edited by OWN for time. Instead of running continuous Dateline six hour blocks try a Tuesday daytime schedule and expand from there. The content providers submit content that is keeping with living our best lives tone and Harpo Studios edits it for commercials and time.

Huffington Post became a huge success because it curated articles from outside sources. Think if OWN could be the go-to place for curating quality lifestyle content. And think of all the amazing conversations and video that is being produced by everyone from TED and the 92nd Street Y to Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee. I'd watch that!

I would be so bold as to suggest that nothing should be on OWN that Oprah herself would not watch. I recall her mentioning she wants to be held responsible for the energy she is bringing into the TV landscape (ala: Jill Bolte Taylor). And although I understand that OWN needs money coming in to keep itself healthy I would suggest that quality best life programming is ultimately the way to do that and keep OWN the place to nourish our minds, hearts, and spirits.