Preface: It has dawned on me that, the closer we get to launch, the greater the need to clarify what it is that we intend to do. Yes, we have a huge idea; we also have the means (capital considerations notwithstanding) and the opportunity offered by convergence of timing and events. The ideas driving MyGigNet did not come flying out like monkeys emanating from a dark human orifice. It is the culmination of 6 1/2 years of organized, determined effort. It has been defined and refined countless times. There is a virtual side to this enterprise that is proprietary and nearly fully developed, so you'll just have to trust us on this one. It is being steered by a dedicated team of individuals, who recognize its importance, both as technological innovation and as a social and cultural imperative. I hope to have addressed the ideal in a pragmatic manner. I'd like to hear from the cynics; maybe we can both learn and accomplish something worth a damn.
MyGigNet (MGN) is the logical solution to the growing stresses facing working musicians, educators, students, and related workers and proponents in the music industry. It addresses, in a coordinated manner, the functional necessities of doing business, accessing resources, and delivering tangible results, while offering realistic options for economic viability to individuals, associations, and the programs that they serve. The systems and models that MGN is built upon are historically sound, the infrastructure currently exists, and the technology exists to make this immediately accessible and usable. What follows is a practical description of what we do and how we work.
The Personal Profile Application (PPA) is the brain within the MGN body. It determines the character traits of the individual, his/her wants and needs, skills and proficiencies, and sets in motion the coordinating signals that determine actions and outcomes. It is a reasoning mechanism that not only sets the parameters of relevance, while continuously learning and adjusting through the ongoing use of the MGN program. The PPA is built upon existing matching models, like eHarmony, but goes light years beyond. We know that we are not just personality driven; we have ethical standards, individual modes of viewing and using the same information, different priorities, and individual ways of acting upon them. Technologically, it is a constantly refining search engine that connects, through interfaces, to multiple sites and returns combined results, not just singular web links, and coordinates their functional components. The end result is functional service, tailored to the individual.
Technology/Application Program Interfaces (APIs): An API is a set of declarations of the functions (or procedures) that an operating system (MGN), library (the site) or service (Internet resources) provides to support requests made by computer programs. With the geek definition having been made, let's get to what we need to know. Google has opened up a wealth of APIs for use by any site. What this means is that we don't have to all be programmers to make this work; we just have to know what we need and want, then we use the Google infrastructure, including servers, to make the connections. We can grow without worrying about system crashes, connect existing and developing data, and coordinate their outcome as comprehensive, usable service. No more hunt and peck; no more cut and paste; no more taxing our memories to figure out where it exists, whether it is usable, or whether we've covered all of our bases. It also means that we can use their resources for building outside sources of revenue, accounting for its distribution, and paying the community base that develops the content that we use. Of course, technological coordination will be handled by the MGN geek squad, with qualified community input.
Content Development: As noted, the community is the most qualified base for content development. If we know what we know, know what we do, know what we want, and know what we need, then the only remaining consideration is setting a standard format for assessment and allocation of content. This makes any bit of data usable for any of a number of individuals and applications. MGN has developed this format and made it simple, while accounting for more detailed assessment of aesthetics, ease of use, and other considerations. Additionally, we recognize that this is the most cost effective means of building and maintaining an agile, responsive, and responsible content base, which is not only good news for investors, but for the economic health of the community, since it frees revenue to distribute throughout the MGN network.
Economy: There are numerous sources of revenue – at least 200 – that will develop within the MGN site, none of which come from the members, directly, but that result from the participation of these members. How it works is simple. MGN establishes relationships with Amazon.com, Travelocity, insurance companies, and so on. When a member goes to one of these sites through MGN, it costs nothing more; MGN gets a small fee from the seller. Easy enough. The other revenue sources are relational and developmentally derived. They are built on the premises that the PPA delivers a more direct route to a qualified customer base – one that is more likely to purchase, as opposed to one that just might be interested. Furthermore, with 84,000,000 musical instrument players in the U.S., alone, the economy that 1% of the poorest ($10,000.00+ per year) represents exceeds $900,000,000.00 per year of economic power. Now, 84,000,000 people are not just working musicians; they are doctors, attorneys, professionals, working class. They represent 25% of the population, have family and friends, are connected to their communities, hold varied associations with programs, groups, and causes. Logic holds that, at least, 2% of them are socially conscious and, when offered the opportunity to give back, will do so. This would translate into, minimally, a $2 Billion economy, of which MGN could garner $40,000,000.00 per year at no additional cost to the user. This, too, would distribute throughout the community, funding individuals, associations, and educational programs. If you think that this is unrealistic, consider this: $7 Billion per year is spent on musical equipment; $30 Billion is spent on Internet advertising. There is countless more. When we reach 10% of the U.S. community, at an average income of $30,000,00 per year, we are nearing a $1Trillion annual economy. Economic empowerment is closer than we think.
Integrity: This is guaranteed by open source orientation of Google APIs, of application toward MGN, and by the constant input of the MGN community. It is, also, warranted by two historic models. MGN considers itself to be the technological equivalent of the artisan guilds. These organizations span centuries, political change, religious diversity, and geography. They are the prototype of functional social networks, providing educational guidance, unifying practices and proficiencies, and advocacy within the working groups that connect inside its broader framework. The second historic reference is actually derived from the definition of American capitalism put forth in the Federalist Papers. Profit was seen to be derived from issues that were quality driven. Production was tied to incentives for qualitative goods and services, which were, in turn, determined by paying the labor base to deliver on that basis. The result was one that spent little or no time in servicing inferiority (nonproductive), lowering costs, making the product more affordable, expanding the market, employing more, and so on. The most recent examples of this policy are the New Deal and NASA. The programs, no matter how much opportunism, looting, and manipulation, still hold after decades. Think of Social Security, the BPA, and TVA, even after 70 years of this.
In summary, we are like individuals paddling in a vast ocean, fearful of the next threatening wave. If enough of us consciously lash our rafts together, we hold a better chance of survival; if more join us, we are more than capable of reaching our desired destination, functional and economic.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
A Case for Common Cause: The MyGigNet Revolution
The benefits of the Internet, with open access to more information are obvious. Opportunities abound for the connections of innumerable resources, along with their creative, productive use. For the innovator, this is a vast, uncharted territory. There is, however, a caveat. The value of any tool is directly tied to its more common use, as well as its varied applications. The problem with holding a wealth of data is that, for the average person, it becomes a double edged sword. First, it requires a certain disciplined skill set that, furthermore, is tied to a substantial analog effort that taxes memory, time, and energy in exercising a determined, desired result. The second is an outcome of the first; with this abundance, coupled with the attentive demands of other media (in the form of news, information, and advertising), there arises the imminent potential for sensory overload. This, in turn, results in a basic response – in order to survive, a certain shutdown occurs. One has to look no further than the majority of MySpace users. Even in a more focused environment, the efforts required just to make connections become too involved, relative to the benefits.
Creative minds, scientific and artistic, hold a common trait. They thrive in environments that are devoid of stress. The issue, then, is centered around delivering the technological innovation that reduces this stress and, in turn, implements a boost to the strength and utility of existing tools, along with the creation of new ones. An example of this is the development of smelting techniques; it is further demonstrated by the implementation of tempering processes. The most common of tools were benefited by these keystone points of discovery and integration. Their applications built civilizations.
Data, by its very nature, is staid and stagnant. It is like a library, whose books, for the most part, gather dust. Even when they are read, the ideas within are still only potentials until put into action. A word, unspoken, has no power to inspire, to move, to create. Furthermore, the compartmentalization of information lessens the vitality of its potentials. Without connection there is no mechanism for logic, no movement toward a determined goal.
It is not enough to offer a gathering place, whether it is the Internet, MySpace, Facebook, or YouTube. A congregation of individuals has two extreme potentials; one is no better than a roaming mob; the other a unified force for principled change. The fathers of the American Revolution were ordinary citizens, but they were united in common cause – principled, uplifting, looking toward the grander potentials of humankind. So, too, were the French revolutionaries, but theirs was a reactionary force. The outcome is embedded in the many milestones of history. When even the most trying of events threaten to mark the most noble of experiments, even these efforts are insufficient enough to derail the course of progress.
Getting back to creative minds, the task at hand is one that entails key fundamentals of stress reduction. How do we identify the means of delivering information, turning it into functional service, open up avenues for connection and collaboration, and inspire the potentials for creative, productive innovation? How, too, do we directly empower the participants in this process, from the bottom up, in as many beneficial ways as possible? How can we qualitatively and quantitatively measure their results? Lastly, how can we offer the gathering place – the public square – that not only delivers the speech, but offers the framework for its common, purposeful cause – the general welfare of its citizenry?
MyGigNet has, and continues, to do just that.
David Kahl
CVO
Creative minds, scientific and artistic, hold a common trait. They thrive in environments that are devoid of stress. The issue, then, is centered around delivering the technological innovation that reduces this stress and, in turn, implements a boost to the strength and utility of existing tools, along with the creation of new ones. An example of this is the development of smelting techniques; it is further demonstrated by the implementation of tempering processes. The most common of tools were benefited by these keystone points of discovery and integration. Their applications built civilizations.
Data, by its very nature, is staid and stagnant. It is like a library, whose books, for the most part, gather dust. Even when they are read, the ideas within are still only potentials until put into action. A word, unspoken, has no power to inspire, to move, to create. Furthermore, the compartmentalization of information lessens the vitality of its potentials. Without connection there is no mechanism for logic, no movement toward a determined goal.
It is not enough to offer a gathering place, whether it is the Internet, MySpace, Facebook, or YouTube. A congregation of individuals has two extreme potentials; one is no better than a roaming mob; the other a unified force for principled change. The fathers of the American Revolution were ordinary citizens, but they were united in common cause – principled, uplifting, looking toward the grander potentials of humankind. So, too, were the French revolutionaries, but theirs was a reactionary force. The outcome is embedded in the many milestones of history. When even the most trying of events threaten to mark the most noble of experiments, even these efforts are insufficient enough to derail the course of progress.
Getting back to creative minds, the task at hand is one that entails key fundamentals of stress reduction. How do we identify the means of delivering information, turning it into functional service, open up avenues for connection and collaboration, and inspire the potentials for creative, productive innovation? How, too, do we directly empower the participants in this process, from the bottom up, in as many beneficial ways as possible? How can we qualitatively and quantitatively measure their results? Lastly, how can we offer the gathering place – the public square – that not only delivers the speech, but offers the framework for its common, purposeful cause – the general welfare of its citizenry?
MyGigNet has, and continues, to do just that.
David Kahl
CVO
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