Comments for Spot Us - "Community Funded Reporting" http://blog.spot.us Community Funded Reporting Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:24:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Comment on What the Spot.Us Community Thinks of Objectivity by The Locust Fork News-Journal » Blog Archive » Earn Spot.Us Credits Discussing Issues of ‘Public Media’ http://blog.spot.us/2010/08/31/what-you-think-of-objectivity-in-journalism/comment-page-1/#comment-54994 The Locust Fork News-Journal » Blog Archive » Earn Spot.Us Credits Discussing Issues of ‘Public Media’ Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:24:45 +0000 http://blog.spot.us/?p=2983#comment-54994 [...] After the last survey, we learned what the community thought about objectivity in journalism. [...] [...] After the last survey, we learned what the community thought about objectivity in journalism. [...]

]]> Comment on UC regents Schwarzenegger and Wachter – are they making a profit from university investments? by Transparency http://blog.spot.us/2010/02/11/uc-regents-schwarzenegger-and-wachter-are-they-making-a-profit-from-university-investments/comment-page-1/#comment-53307 Transparency Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:39:38 +0000 http://blog.spot.us/?p=2926#comment-53307 UC Berkeley Chancellor hires consultants to do work of his hand picked management team...Sorry Tale of UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Office: easily grasped by the public, lost on University of California’s President Yudof. The UC Berkley budget gap has grown to $150 million, & still the Chancellor is spending money that isn't there on $3,000,000 consultants. His reasons range from the need for impartiality to requiring the consultants "thinking, expertise, & new knowledge". Does this mean that the faculty & management of UC Berkeley – flagship campus of the greatest public system of higher education in the world - lack the knowledge, integrity, impartiality, innovation, skills to come up with solutions? Have they been fudging their research for years? The consultants will glean their recommendations from faculty interviews & the senior management that hired them; yet $ 150 million of inefficiencies and solutions could be found internally if the Chancellor & Provost Breslauer were doing the work of their jobs (This simple point is lost on UC’s leadership). The victims of this folly are Faculty and Students. $ 3 million consultant fees would be far better spent on students & faculty. There can be only one conclusion as to why inefficiencies & solutions have not been forthcoming from faculty & staff: Chancellor Birgeneau has lost credibility & the trust of the faculty & Academic Senate leadership (C. Kutz, F. Doyle). Even if the faculty agrees with the consultants' recommendations - disagreeing might put their jobs in jeopardy - the underlying problem of lost credibility & trust will remain. (Context: greatest recession in modern times) Contact your representatives in Sacramento: tell them of the hefty self-serving $’s being spent by UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau & Provost Breslauer UC Berkeley Chancellor hires consultants to do work of his hand picked management team…Sorry Tale of UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Office: easily grasped by the public, lost on University of California’s President Yudof. The UC Berkley budget gap has grown to $150 million, & still the Chancellor is spending money that isn’t there on $3,000,000 consultants. His reasons range from the need for impartiality to requiring the consultants “thinking, expertise, & new knowledge”.
Does this mean that the faculty & management of UC Berkeley – flagship campus of the greatest public system of higher education in the world – lack the knowledge, integrity, impartiality, innovation, skills to come up with solutions? Have they been fudging their research for years? The consultants will glean their recommendations from faculty interviews & the senior management that hired them; yet $ 150 million of inefficiencies and solutions could be found internally if the Chancellor & Provost Breslauer were doing the work of their jobs (This simple point is lost on UC’s leadership).
The victims of this folly are Faculty and Students. $ 3 million consultant fees would be far better spent on students & faculty.
There can be only one conclusion as to why inefficiencies & solutions have not been forthcoming from faculty & staff: Chancellor Birgeneau has lost credibility & the trust of the faculty & Academic Senate leadership (C. Kutz, F. Doyle). Even if the faculty agrees with the consultants’ recommendations – disagreeing might put their jobs in jeopardy – the underlying problem of lost credibility & trust will remain. (Context: greatest recession in modern times)
Contact your representatives in Sacramento: tell them of the hefty self-serving $’s being spent by UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau & Provost Breslauer

]]> Comment on Investigating the UC Regents – Who is Profiting off California’s Education? by Transparency http://blog.spot.us/2010/01/12/investigating-the-uc-regents-who-is-profiting-off-californias-education/comment-page-1/#comment-53219 Transparency Sat, 28 Aug 2010 05:17:37 +0000 http://blog.spot.us/?p=2899#comment-53219 LOYALTY IS DEAD UC BERKELEY CHANCELLOR BIRGENEAU, PROVOST BRESLEUR – SO GET USED TO IT UCOP President Yudof Public universities are into a phase of creative disassembly where reinvention and adjustments are constant. Even solid world class institutions like the University of California Berkeley under the leadership of Chancellor Birgeneau & Provost Breslauer are firing employees, staff, faculty and part-time lecturers through “Operational Excellence (OE) initative”. Yet many employees, professionals and faculty cling to old assumptions about one of the most critical relationship of all: the implied, unwritten contract between employer and employee. Until recently, loyalty was the cornerstone of that relationship. Employers promised work security and a steady progress up the hierarchy in return for employees fitting in, accepting lower wages, performing in prescribed ways and sticking around. Longevity was a sign of employer-employee relations; turnover was a sign of dysfunction. None of these assumptions apply today. Organizations can no longer guarantee employment and lifetime careers, even if they want to. UC Berkeley senior management paralyzed themselves with an attachment to “success brings success’ rather than “success brings failure’ and are now forced to break the implied contract with Cal employees – a contract nurtured by management that the future can be controlled. Jettisoned Cal employees are finding that the hard won knowledge, skills and capabilities earned while being loyal are no longer valuable in the employment market place. What kind of a contract can employers and employees make with each other? The central idea is both simple and powerful: the job or position is a shared situation. Employers and employees face market and financial conditions together, and the longevity of the partnership depends on how well the for-profit or not-for-profit continues to meet the needs of customers and constituencies. Neither employer nor employee has a future obligation to the other. Organizations train people. Employees develop the kind of security they really need – skills, knowledge and capabilities that enhance future employability. The partnership can be dissolved without either party considering the other a traitor. LOYALTY IS DEAD UC BERKELEY CHANCELLOR BIRGENEAU, PROVOST BRESLEUR – SO GET USED TO IT UCOP President Yudof
Public universities are into a phase of creative disassembly where reinvention and adjustments are constant. Even solid world class institutions like the University of California Berkeley under the leadership of Chancellor Birgeneau & Provost Breslauer are firing employees, staff, faculty and part-time lecturers through “Operational Excellence (OE) initative”. Yet many employees, professionals and faculty cling to old assumptions about one of the most critical relationship of all: the implied, unwritten contract between employer and employee.
Until recently, loyalty was the cornerstone of that relationship. Employers promised work security and a steady progress up the hierarchy in return for employees fitting in, accepting lower wages, performing in prescribed ways and sticking around. Longevity was a sign of employer-employee relations; turnover was a sign of dysfunction. None of these assumptions apply today. Organizations can no longer guarantee employment and lifetime careers, even if they want to. UC Berkeley senior management paralyzed themselves with an attachment to “success brings success’ rather than “success brings failure’ and are now forced to break the implied contract with Cal employees – a contract nurtured by management that the future can be controlled.
Jettisoned Cal employees are finding that the hard won knowledge, skills and capabilities earned while being loyal are no longer valuable in the employment market place.
What kind of a contract can employers and employees make with each other? The central idea is both simple and powerful: the job or position is a shared situation. Employers and employees face market and financial conditions together, and the longevity of the partnership depends on how well the for-profit or not-for-profit continues to meet the needs of customers and constituencies. Neither employer nor employee has a future obligation to the other. Organizations train people. Employees develop the kind of security they really need – skills, knowledge and capabilities that enhance future employability.
The partnership can be dissolved without either party considering the other a traitor.

]]> Comment on The Pacific Garbage Patch: Published by Restroom Supplies http://blog.spot.us/2009/11/10/the-pacific-garbage-patch-published/comment-page-1/#comment-52895 Restroom Supplies Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:32:33 +0000 http://blog.spot.us/?p=2850#comment-52895 If people used biodegradable industrial supplies this problem wouldn't be nearly as big. It would still be there, but much less severe. If people used biodegradable industrial supplies this problem wouldn’t be nearly as big. It would still be there, but much less severe.

]]> Comment on Learning to Be Iterative – Development is Starting by Spot.Us Goes National, Gets Clay Shirky as Sponsor « The Levisa Lazer http://blog.spot.us/2008/09/12/learning-to-be-iterative-development-is-starting/comment-page-1/#comment-49253 Spot.Us Goes National, Gets Clay Shirky as Sponsor « The Levisa Lazer Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:31:11 +0000 http://spotreporting.wordpress.com/?p=646#comment-49253 [...] that has followed Spot.Us from the beginning knows we’ve tried to remain iterative and agile. In the earlier stages of Spot.Us I thought this was one of the larger lessons for [...] [...] that has followed Spot.Us from the beginning knows we’ve tried to remain iterative and agile. In the earlier stages of Spot.Us I thought this was one of the larger lessons for [...]

]]> Comment on Learning to Be Iterative – Development is Starting by Missteps, Success and Pivoting at Spot.Us « RJI http://blog.spot.us/2008/09/12/learning-to-be-iterative-development-is-starting/comment-page-1/#comment-49104 Missteps, Success and Pivoting at Spot.Us « RJI Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:18:44 +0000 http://spotreporting.wordpress.com/?p=646#comment-49104 [...] by Digidave Anyone that has followed Spot.Us from the beginning knows we’ve tried to remain iterative and agile. In the earlier stages of Spot.Us I thought this was one of the larger lessons for [...] [...] by Digidave Anyone that has followed Spot.Us from the beginning knows we’ve tried to remain iterative and agile. In the earlier stages of Spot.Us I thought this was one of the larger lessons for [...]

]]> Comment on Learning to Be Iterative – Development is Starting by Missteps, Success and Pivoting at Spot.Us | Spot Us - "Community Funded Reporting" http://blog.spot.us/2008/09/12/learning-to-be-iterative-development-is-starting/comment-page-1/#comment-49103 Missteps, Success and Pivoting at Spot.Us | Spot Us - "Community Funded Reporting" Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:10:44 +0000 http://spotreporting.wordpress.com/?p=646#comment-49103 [...] that has followed Spot.Us from the beginning knows we’ve tried to remain iterative and agile. In the earlier stages of Spot.Us I thought this was one of the larger lessons for [...] [...] that has followed Spot.Us from the beginning knows we’ve tried to remain iterative and agile. In the earlier stages of Spot.Us I thought this was one of the larger lessons for [...]

]]> Comment on What Do These People Have in Common? by Guest Post by David Cohn: Lessons in Crowdfunding | http://blog.spot.us/2009/07/20/what-do-these-people-have-in-common/comment-page-1/#comment-46611 Guest Post by David Cohn: Lessons in Crowdfunding | Wed, 14 Jul 2010 23:10:43 +0000 http://blog.spot.us/?p=2604#comment-46611 [...] Community is your core [...] [...] Community is your core [...]

]]> Comment on Case Study: Santa Cruz City Schools and the Fight for Revolution by Stew Jenkins http://blog.spot.us/2009/07/02/case-study-santa-cruz-city-schools-and-the-fight-for-revolution/comment-page-1/#comment-43092 Stew Jenkins Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:53:09 +0000 http://blog.spot.us/?p=2488#comment-43092 Serena, Can you get me Cynthia Hawthorne's email address? Thanks, Stew J Also, you should come and interview my colleague Doron Comerchero and Abby Bell, they run a youth empowerment program called, "Food What?" that involves High school students in growing, cooking and eating organic fruits and veggies. Serena,

Can you get me Cynthia Hawthorne’s email address? Thanks,

Stew J
Also, you should come and interview my colleague Doron Comerchero and Abby Bell, they run a youth empowerment program called, “Food What?” that involves High school students in growing, cooking and eating organic fruits and veggies.

]]> Comment on Pajaro Valley Unified School District and the Heat-and-Serve Model for School Food by Stew Jenkins http://blog.spot.us/2009/07/17/pajaro-valley-unified-school-district-and-the-heat-and-serve-model-for-school-food/comment-page-1/#comment-43090 Stew Jenkins Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:28:26 +0000 http://blog.spot.us/?p=2596#comment-43090 Serena, I am a parent of 2 kids who go to Alianza Charter school in Watsonville. Recently the Alianza Governing Council voted to bring in Revolution Foods as our food vendor for all of our students (about 70% are free or reduced lunch program). The PVUSD CBO has recommended to the board of Trustees to reject our request to change food for our kids. I hope you can come to the meeting of the board of trustees and report on what happens there: Wed 6/23 at 7pm in the meeting Room on the 1st floor of District office 294 Green Valley road (the old hospital) Feel free to call me for more info 831-566-1234. Serena,
I am a parent of 2 kids who go to Alianza Charter school in Watsonville. Recently the Alianza Governing Council voted to bring in Revolution Foods as our food vendor for all of our students (about 70% are free or reduced lunch program). The PVUSD CBO has recommended to the board of Trustees to reject our request to change food for our kids. I hope you can come to the meeting of the board of trustees and report on what happens there: Wed 6/23 at 7pm in the meeting Room on the 1st floor of District office 294 Green Valley road (the old hospital) Feel free to call me for more info 831-566-1234.

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