Comments on: How do we make Dayton smarter? http://esrati.com/how-do-we-make-dayton-smarter/3395/ Dayton Ohio revealed and discussed. Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:45:11 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Teri Lussier http://esrati.com/how-do-we-make-dayton-smarter/3395/#comment-45745 Teri Lussier Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:19:52 +0000 http://esrati.com/?p=3395#comment-45745 Brilliant. One of your most inspired posts ever, David.   >we may only be limited by our ability to define the questions we believe we need answered.   That's exactly how you make the population smarter. Education and intelligence are somewhat contagious. We learn and grow from each other- hive behavior- and the internet is the perfect vehicle to share our smarts with each other.   >I don’t have all the answers on what is possible, but, through the open sharing of data, new ideas can percolate to the top. And that's the beauty of this way of thinking- one person doesn't have to have all the answers. One political party doesn't have to, and the schools don't have to, because information wants to be free. This doesn't have to be complicated or owned. Jefferey does amazing work out of love for this city, you as well. Bill Pote is another. Many of us are working hard to contribute whatever we can to our collective intelligence! Welcome to the future. Brilliant. One of your most inspired posts ever, David.
 
>we may only be limited by our ability to define the questions we believe we need answered.
 
That’s exactly how you make the population smarter. Education and intelligence are somewhat contagious. We learn and grow from each other- hive behavior- and the internet is the perfect vehicle to share our smarts with each other.
 
>I don’t have all the answers on what is possible, but, through the open sharing of data, new ideas can percolate to the top.
And that’s the beauty of this way of thinking- one person doesn’t have to have all the answers. One political party doesn’t have to, and the schools don’t have to, because information wants to be free. This doesn’t have to be complicated or owned. Jefferey does amazing work out of love for this city, you as well. Bill Pote is another. Many of us are working hard to contribute whatever we can to our collective intelligence! Welcome to the future.

]]> By: David Esrati http://esrati.com/how-do-we-make-dayton-smarter/3395/#comment-45426 David Esrati Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:16:38 +0000 http://esrati.com/?p=3395#comment-45426 <p>@Rob- thanks for pointing out the Times article. I would have loved to be Dayton's rep at that conference- and would have paid my own way as a commissioner.</p> <p>We have resources here locally to make this happen. What we don't have is infotech literate leaders.</p> <p>Hopefully, come Nov. 3 the citizens will see that there is one candidate ahead of the curve on this stuff.</p> @Rob- thanks for pointing out the Times article. I would have loved to be Dayton’s rep at that conference- and would have paid my own way as a commissioner.

We have resources here locally to make this happen. What we don’t have is infotech literate leaders.

Hopefully, come Nov. 3 the citizens will see that there is one candidate ahead of the curve on this stuff.

]]> By: Rob Degenhart http://esrati.com/how-do-we-make-dayton-smarter/3395/#comment-45425 Rob Degenhart Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:50:35 +0000 http://esrati.com/?p=3395#comment-45425 Great article in the New York Times this morning on 'Smarter Cities' describing just what Esrati does in this post.  For crying out loud if  Dubuque, Iowa can get traction on using data for improving efficiencies certainally Dayton Ohio can to....Keep up with this topic David!  With TeraData here in town we should lean on them for some storage space and business intelligence software. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/business/11unboxed.html   Great article in the New York Times this morning on ‘Smarter Cities’ describing just what Esrati does in this post.  For crying out loud if  Dubuque, Iowa can get traction on using data for improving efficiencies certainally Dayton Ohio can to….Keep up with this topic David!  With TeraData here in town we should lean on them for some storage space and business intelligence software.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/business/11unboxed.html
 

]]> By: David Esrati http://esrati.com/how-do-we-make-dayton-smarter/3395/#comment-45345 David Esrati Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:51:22 +0000 http://esrati.com/?p=3395#comment-45345 <p>"What good is it to get information if you lack the intellectual background to analyze it?"</p> <p>That's what we have you for Mr. Ruddick.</p> <p>And I wasn't talking about IQ- I was talking about interoperability smarts and data analysis by leaders.</p> <p>Right now, even if we had good leaders, the metrics haven't been designed- nor has the measurement tool.</p> “What good is it to get information if you lack the intellectual background to analyze it?”

That’s what we have you for Mr. Ruddick.

And I wasn’t talking about IQ- I was talking about interoperability smarts and data analysis by leaders.

Right now, even if we had good leaders, the metrics haven’t been designed- nor has the measurement tool.

]]> By: truddick http://esrati.com/how-do-we-make-dayton-smarter/3395/#comment-45342 truddick Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:45:09 +0000 http://esrati.com/?p=3395#comment-45342 I disagree.  It certainly is possible to make a population smarter. The USA did it beginning in the latter 19th century via public education.  There is a reason why the USA swept all Nobel Prizes this year (except for literature, we took or shared all of them)--and why the USA has won Nobels in science and technology at rates far ahead of the rest of the world. At the same time, standards for journalism improved during the 20th century--leading to a temporary improvement in the accuracy and impartiality of reporting.  Alas, the advent of media outlets like Fox and Sinclair and the dumbing down of the older media sources have reversed that trend.  At least MSNBC is being honest and calling itself "politics" instead of "news". If you want an intelligent community, you want to fund education generously (and use the money to increase professionalism among teachers and resources for the classroom, NOT to require more administrators and paperwork), and you will try to support the most accurate and impartial news sources you can find (which in this market, AFAIK, is BBC World, NPR, and NBC--and that's far from ideal, since it includes no print resource). Increasing access to information is a very good idea, but it alone will not improve our community IQ.  What good is it to get information if you lack the intellectual background to analyze it? I disagree.  It certainly is possible to make a population smarter.
The USA did it beginning in the latter 19th century via public education.  There is a reason why the USA swept all Nobel Prizes this year (except for literature, we took or shared all of them)–and why the USA has won Nobels in science and technology at rates far ahead of the rest of the world.
At the same time, standards for journalism improved during the 20th century–leading to a temporary improvement in the accuracy and impartiality of reporting.  Alas, the advent of media outlets like Fox and Sinclair and the dumbing down of the older media sources have reversed that trend.  At least MSNBC is being honest and calling itself “politics” instead of “news”.
If you want an intelligent community, you want to fund education generously (and use the money to increase professionalism among teachers and resources for the classroom, NOT to require more administrators and paperwork), and you will try to support the most accurate and impartial news sources you can find (which in this market, AFAIK, is BBC World, NPR, and NBC–and that’s far from ideal, since it includes no print resource).
Increasing access to information is a very good idea, but it alone will not improve our community IQ.  What good is it to get information if you lack the intellectual background to analyze it?

]]> By: David Harewood http://esrati.com/how-do-we-make-dayton-smarter/3395/#comment-45311 David Harewood Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:37:53 +0000 http://esrati.com/?p=3395#comment-45311 YOu can't make Dayton smarter.  You can hope tha thte City COuncil gives up on forty-year-old ways of maneuvering politically, but you can't make the population smarter. Once better data is compiled-- and it is in larger metro areas-- that can be a great way to empower the public.  There's another key issue that you don't address, though:  access.  This is an area increasingly finding itself out of step with the vanguards in information in general primarily, I have thought, because of how poor it is.  The library's budget woes meant hat the people's access to those resources are going to be even more severely impaired.  Also you have to consider that all the information in the world won't do any good if we have an official unemployment area rate of 13.5%, which means that hte real unemployment rate is probably somewhere around 18%.  As long as the mass populi isn't working they won't be able to afford even the possibility of a mortgage to fill up these empty homes. YOu can’t make Dayton smarter.  You can hope tha thte City COuncil gives up on forty-year-old ways of maneuvering politically, but you can’t make the population smarter.
Once better data is compiled– and it is in larger metro areas– that can be a great way to empower the public.  There’s another key issue that you don’t address, though:  access.  This is an area increasingly finding itself out of step with the vanguards in information in general primarily, I have thought, because of how poor it is.  The library’s budget woes meant hat the people’s access to those resources are going to be even more severely impaired.  Also you have to consider that all the information in the world won’t do any good if we have an official unemployment area rate of 13.5%, which means that hte real unemployment rate is probably somewhere around 18%.  As long as the mass populi isn’t working they won’t be able to afford even the possibility of a mortgage to fill up these empty homes.

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