Larry.org

I work at Earth911, which I enjoy for many reasons, not the least of which is that I’m helping people all over the country find local resources for recycling.

Today one of our writers, Katherine Chen, posted an article Is Buying ‘Green’ All About Status?. The article is interesting from a consumer’s perspective but it get’s really interesting when you look at it from a business perspective. The academic paper that prompts the question is way more useful in a business context. It concludes with the following statement:

Because earning a good reputation can increase an individual’s status in a group, to be altruistic is to act in one’s own self-interest. That is, given that self-sacrifice can communicate the altruist’s willingness and ability to incur the costs of helping, a good reputation already signals that a person has the resources to afford such a reputation, which is important in attaining things that are difficult to purchase with money directly (e.g., friendship, love). Thus, even if nice guys do not appear to finish first today, nice guys’ genes may finish first generations from now.

This really hits home for me, because I’m always amazed at how casually we look at altruistic actions as an either/or decision. The full paper wasn’t linked from the article, probably because it’s so academic in nature. It’s by Vladas Griskevicius and you can download the paper here.

It’s nice to be on the best phone on the planet with a really useful mobile app.

You can get iRecycle for yourself from the iPhone App Store.

Sometimes when people ask me why I think Social Media is more important than traditional media, I ask them to find a story they like in social media. Most people don’t do that, it’s what they pay journalists to do for them.

The ones that do, usually have a hard time finding it because social media is “messy” and “there’s lots of noise”. Both of which are true, those are, in my opinion, the two most significant “cons”.

But when I ask them about the story they like, I really find out if they can see around the corners or not.

If you read what people write themselves, you can find some really interesting stories. But when you see how people are replying, commenting and riffing off each other’s stories, you start to get a clue that it’s not about reading. It’s about reading and writing. and recording and shooting video. and sewing and building. It’s about doing, creating and sharing rather than finding, buying and consuming.

It’s also quite cool to see the personal computer actually be used personally by so many people. The last three years are the first I feel the original vision for the personal computer have been realized. While it’s still a small a minority of people that are really getting it done, it’s a huge increase in the idea of what one person can do with an open and adaptable machine (the internet) and a phone or computer. Not “to” or “at” the machine, but “with” the machine, as they find it.

I’m really excited about 2008. I may even get commenting working again on my own blog.

Here’s a deservedly, popular story about what a woman named Susan Reynolds did with the machine when she found out she had breast cancer.

I’ve not been tracking this story very much, but It looks very engaging. It’s really not about what story I’m reading though. It’s about what story I’m engaged in, and there’s a bunch of them. The important part of that for you, dear reader, is social media isn’t passive. It’s dead boring if you just want to read it. You have to create when you find a thought you feel you can contribute to.

Hello,

We took about 10 weeks to do a complete redesign and implementation of the Earth911 website. The old one was working ok but was a bit tedious for every day use. (I was the project manager).

It turned out pretty nice, and it's sure fun to work on a project that my friends and family can get something out of.

I'd recommend you check it out.. but here's screen shot to entice you..

The Foundation for Blind Children, who I work with as a volunteer and consultant, launched their new website (I wasn't directly involved in this new website but I like it alot).

The Digitial Interactive Guidelines project is also off to a great start. I'll post more about this wiki project when it's live.