Dear Colleagues, On 2/27/06, Ken DePietro wrote:
> While we continue to define the goals, priorities and approach for > Google.org, we will focus on several areas including global poverty, > energy and the environment. This is so good to hear. The other night, I happened to see another interesting program that aired on C-SPAN (a private, non-profit company, created by the cable tv industry "as a public service to provide public access to the political process," which is funded solely by fees paid by the cable and satellite affiliates). Each weekend, from 8:00 AM on Saturday through 8:00 AM on Monday, C-SPAN's "Booktv" features 48 hours of programming exclusively covering non-fiction books, where one can join various sorts of authors giving facinating presentations on their works, broadcast from bookstores, universities, libraries, bookfairs and book festivals around the country. Selected programs can also be downloaded as a "Podcast of the Week," drawn from the three C-SPAN networks, at no charge, and all programs are available in Real-Time Streaming Video and Audio, worldwide; and are retained in the website's archives for a few months thereafter. <http://www.booktv.org> In one of their weekly programs, "After Words," this weekend, U.S. House of Representatives, Lamar Smith (Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property) interviewed the Pulitzer Prize winning Washington Post reporter, David Vise, who co-authored with fellow investigative reporter, Mark Malseed, "The Google Story," published a few months ago, by Random House. <http://www.randomhouse.com> Mr. Vise spoke about the development of Google's billion-dollar enterprise -- which, notably, hadn't even come into existance at the time of the Conference which gave birth to our GKD online Discussion, in 1997 -- describing a business model which is evidently based on a perceived value of an individual employee's unique contribution to innovation and prosperity, inspired by the rather stunning corporate motto, "Don't be Evil." One notes that Amazon.com provides the following information in a review of the book, at their website: > Those wanting to understand the motivations and personal growth of > founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and CEO Eric Schmidt, however, will > enjoy this book.... As the narrative unfolds, readers learn how Google > grew out of the intellectually fertile and not particularly directed > friendship between Page and Brin; how the founders attempted to peddle > early versions of their search technology to different Silicon Valley > firms for $1 million; how Larry and Sergey celebrated their first > investor's check with breakfast at Burger King; how the pair initially > housed their company in a Palo Alto office, then eventually moved to a > futuristic campus dubbed the "Googleplex"; how the company found its > financial footing through keyword-targeted Web ads; how various products > like Google News, Froogle, and others were cooked up by an inventive > staff; how Brin and Page proved their mettle as tough businessmen > through negotiations with AOL Europe and their controversial IPO > process, among other instances; and how the company's vision for itself > continues to grow, such as geographic expansion to China and > cooperation with Craig Venter on the Human Genome Project. Like the company it profiles, The Google Story is a bit of a wild ride, and fun, too. Its first appendix lists 23 "tips" which readers can use to get more utility out of Google. The second contains the intelligence test which Google Research offers to prospective job applicants, and shows the sometimes zany methods of this most unusual business.< In a related article in the Washington Post, Mr. Vise also noted that the book is being published in Great Britain, Canada, Australia, China, Taiwan, Russia, Germany, Brazil, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Czech Republic, Holland, South Africa, Turkey, New Zealand and Indonesia. For those who might enjoy reading a summary of events on the briefer -- but still comprehensive side -- see: <http://www.google.com/corporate/history.html> It does inspire confidence in the prospects for creativity -- where the results of these very human resources will not only produce value, in the ordinary monetary sense, to a number of particular individuals; but will likely produce a value a bit more difficult to readily measure -- a benefit to numberless individuals in "the commons," in this specific case -- in the generativity of "public knowledge" of use to us all, in the way ahead. This would seem to be an excellent model to be replicated. Ginger McCarthy Creative Response to Conflict: Resources for Community-building, Civil Dialogue and Conflict Resolution, worldwide http://members.aol.com/Altdisres/ADR.html ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/>
