[FRIAM] Is the new president mentally ill?

[Marcus Daniels]

Well, sorry to be negative, but salaries for librarians in Santa Fe are about half what they are cities of equivalent size in states like Oregon or California.  That shows about how seriously New Mexico takes libraries.   There is barely any money for digital content, never mind spaces to create the kind of stable work environments that would be needed for, say, young software developers (e.g. of limited means from, say, Pojoaque or Espanola) to develop experience.   SFPL terminals turn over every hour.   And a lot of their patrons are homeless people that just need some physical shelter from the cold.  SFPL at the main branch does have an optical drop now, but I believe it isn’t in use yet because they can’t afford to finish the installation.  I agree libraries could serve this role, but it would require leadership at the library level and substantial broad investments, not just a few expensive toys like 3-D printers.   There also need to be trained people available to help patrons use machines like that, and individuals responsible for fixing the machines, or calling in the vendors when the machines break, and so on.

From: Friam [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of Owen Densmore
Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2017 9:42 AM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam at redfish.com>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Is the new president mentally ill?

From the first-mile list comes an interesting innovation effort proposed by Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, D-NM.

For those of us in NM, it should be indicative of Trump's ability to work with others, i.e. just how bad is his narcissistic personality disorder.

   -- Owen


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Richard Lowenberg <rl at 1st-mile.org<mailto:rl at 1st-mile.org>>
Date: Thu, Jan 12, 2017 at 9:14 AM
Subject: [1st-mile-nm] Lujan: Libraries + Innovation
To: 1st-mile Nm <1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org<mailto:1st-mile-nm at mailman.dcn.org>>


Lujan: Libraries + Innovation

http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2017/01/lawmaker-public-libraries-can-boost-american-innovation/134518/

President-elect Donald Trump's technology agenda is largely opaque, but at least one member of Congress has a message for his administration: ideas for cutting-edge technology often comes from the grassroots.

“Innovation may have a national or even global impact but like politics, the process of innovation is inherently local,” Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., said during an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation event on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. The government needs to think of creative ways to “provide resources to the innovators ... across the country," he added.

Lujan advocated for establishing maker-spaces in public libraries, potentially outfitting them with small-scale manufacturing equipment such as 3-D printers, that are accessible to businesses, researchers and the nearby community. Because public libraries already exist across America, "including the rural parts, where we still don’t have bandwidth capacity," they could become hubs for technological development outside Silicon Valley, he said.

Lujan, who co-founded the House Technology Transfer Caucus, singled out this and a few other innovation-themed recommendations for Trump's administration mentioned in a report from the ITIF and the Brookings Institution.

He also advocated for creating an Energy Department-based nonprofit that could dole out funds to transition technology out of federal research labs and into the marketplace. Lujan said he's working on legislation that would encourage Energy to promote partnerships with local economic development groups including maker-spaces.

Other specific recommendations mentioned in the report include encouraging student entrepreneurship and increasing research and development tax credit generosity.


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Richard Lowenberg, Executive Director
1st-Mile Institute     505-603-5200<tel:505-603-5200>
Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504,
rl at 1st-mile.org<mailto:rl at 1st-mile.org>     www.1st-mile.org<http://www.1st-mile.org/>
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