Welcome to Microsoft's version of The Apprentice.ideaWins:The Ultimate Challenge, a contest for small businesses.The tagline:Who has america's best small business idea.Microsoft sent a team across the country to listen to people pitch their idea. There were over 5,000 entries.The winner:The Mayhem PoetsThe deal:They get $100,000 in start up capital, a storefront in New York City for a year and of course a slew of Microsoft Products (the contest is sponsored by the Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007 software group).The Mayhem Poets will open a "spoken-word performance workshop and cafe that celebrates multiculturalism through education and workshops for children of all...
The Powell’s Surprise
It was great to see an article on a book scout get coverage in the blogosphere and in the papers, GalleyCat covered it and the Seattle times picked up the AP story as well.The article, "Rare Finds Make Stacks of Cash for Book Scouts" was written for the AP by Kevin Sampsell.The problem is that the article is more of a commercial for Powell's than an appreciation of book scouts.Why:The article was written for the AP by Kevin Sampsell, a long time Powell's employee and the scout that is the subject of the article Wayne Pernu used to work for...
The "No Information Left Behind" Act
With the debate over the digitization of our cultural heritage in full swing it's time to propose the "No Information Left Behind" Act.With lack of funding being the biggest hurdle many institutions face we need to get creative in coming up with ways to fund these endeavors. Our government must get more involved. We simply cannot leave it to the private sector. There are too many variables and potential pitfalls with having the digital rights of so many cultural artifacts in the hands of private companies. They may mean well now but things can change in a hurry in the...
The Fruits of Libraries
"I went down to the Modesto Library and inquired of the librarian if she had any books on winemaking. And with her help, I looked through the library and there were none. After all, this was just on repeal of Prohibition, and it wasn't a very popular subject. Then she thought, and "Well," she said, "down in the basement there's a stack of pamphlets. There might be some there from before Prohibition."And she said, "Why don't you go down there and see if there are any?" I did go down in the basement and went through an enormous stack of...
Southern Oregon County to Shut Down Entire Library System
In what seems like a surreal event the entire library system of Jackson County, Oregon is on the brink of closure. Their funding runs out April 7th and if nothing is done between now and then it will be the largest library closure in U.S. history. "I wish we could call FEMA; this feels like a natural disaster to me" says the county's interim library director Ted Stark.The 15 libraries that serve this rural community have lost $7 million in federal funding this year or nearly 80 percent of the system's budget and the Jackson County residents voted down a...