I’ve been spending a lot of time recently thinking about networks. By networks, I mean groups of people, connected to one another via the Internet, who are able to do things and solve problems together by way of their direct connections to one another.

As seemingly obvious as that definition may be, it’s worth focusing on for a second, because I actually don’t think it’s a great word for describing this phenomenon. It either sounds too generic (like “isn’t that just the internet?”), too trivial (“you mean social networks?”), or too much like the older notion of “networking” (in the political / social climbing / career-building sense). And what I’m trying to describe isn’t any of those things.

Take the example of my old refrigerator. I don’t need it anymore, so what do I do? Submitting a request on my city’s website for them to haul it away would be using the Internet to solve my problem (and is certainly convenient), but it’s not solving it in a networked way. If that same request could be seen & responded to by anyone (say, a salvage company, or just someone who wanted an old refrigerator), that would constitute operating as a network.

Or, music: buying a track on iTunes or Amazon is using the Internet. Joining a room at Turntable.fm where someone is DJing is using the Network.

Or, hotels: reserving a room online is using the Internet. Booking someone’s apartment via AirBnB is using the Network.

Etc etc etc.

As you can see in these examples, acting as a network isn’t just “being on the Internet”, it’s not just about “social networks”, and it’s not just about “networking” in the classical sense.

“Acting as a network” is a unique and profound idea. Network dynamics are unlocking enormous creative, societal and economic opportunity, and they’re are also disruptive and threatening to the old way of doing things (hierarchically, via industrial distribution). Yet the terms used to describe it don’t immediately resonate outside of the land of web thinkers.

Is there a better way?

From the Yak Shaving department

Working from the top of the inbox is a recipe for working on stuff that isn’t important.

But, sometimes you need to write emails. The problem is, to write an email you need to first go to your email client, which usually means passing by your inbox. For me, this often means getting distracted by something there, and possibly forgetting whatever it was I was going to write.

Here’s my solution, using Gmail and the awesome Quicksilver for Mac. (if you’re a mac user and don’t use quicksilver, you should)

Go to the quicksilver preferences, then go to Triggers. Create a new “hot key” trigger, and paste “https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&view=cm&fs=1&tf=1” into the prompt. Save, then press the “info” icon, and open up the trigger settings. Under “Settings”, enter a Hot Key. I use command-shift-M. When you’re done it should look like this:

Now, no matter where you are on your computer, you can type command-shift-M and get a fresh Gmail Compose window.

Now take a deep sigh of relief before your email apnea sets back in again…

Here are slides from a talk I gave at the Living Cities Strategic Forum on Technology and Civic Change.

Today I spent some time with Brad Burnham from Union Square Ventures. Among other things, we were talking about what’s going on at Code for America and Civic Commons, as well as the latest in the fight to save the Internet.

Separately, during the day today, the USV team was interviewing candidates for their new associate position. It’s sweet job, by pretty much any standard, and apparently they’ve gotten an overwhelming number of amazing candidates. Brad described some of the accomplishments and capabilities of a few of them (details withheld to protect the innocent), and also noted that many of them are still in college. Suffice to say, these folks are really young and really awesome.

So I asked him if he sometimes looks at these applicants and remarks to himself how incredibly accomplished and talented they are, especially in comparison to how he was at that same age. His response was absolutely yes, and that he would have never be able to get this job himself.

That’s kind of an amazing thing to say, and I think it’s something to aspire to. To one day be able to hire for positions you’d never have been able to get yourself.

Of course, people are often in the position of hiring for different skills than their own, but what I mean is to be able to attract such a high calibre of person that the past you would never have been able to compete. That’s a pretty great measure of success.

FWIW, I’ve hired bunch of really great people at OpenPlans who are way smarter than I am, and have always been so amazed and grateful to be able to do that. It’s probably the thing I’m actually most proud of from my years there.

(note, when trying to find the link to the USV job description for this post, this happened)

My paperwork went through today, so I can finally say it in public without fear of jinxing myself…

I am proud and very excited to say that I’m officially joining the MIT Media Lab as a visiting scholar, through the Center for Civic Media. I’ve been coming here for the weekly lunches and research meetings for a while now, and have been a member of the center’s email list for quite some time, but today I got my ID card so I guess it’s official.

I am really overcome with geeky joy every moment of every day that I’m here – it’s like I died and went to geek heaven. From big things like the ridiculously inspiring building that is the Media Lab, to little things like people making robots in the hallway, to all of the historic elements and artifacts you walk by as you roam the halls. Maybe it’s just me, but the whole place seems to be sprinkled with happy geek dust, and I just can’t get enough of it (I hope this feeling doesn’t wear off).

More specifically, it’s a super exciting time at the Media Lab and at Center for Civic Media. It’s an honor to be working with Joi Ito, the new head of the Lab, andEthan Zuckerman, the new director of the center. I’ve been followers and fans of both for a long time. And there is an incredible group of people in and around the Center that I’m looking forward to getting to know.

If you haven’t already seen it, go over and read Joi’s article in this Tuesday’s Times on the Internet as a “belief system”, “Open Innovation”, and what it all means for the future of learning. This is the kind of stuff that I can’t stop thinking about, and I could not be more thrilled to be among a community of people who are doing the same.