Monday, 5/21/2007
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Level: Case Study

Logical but flexible organization structures for information are essential. Varied information ontologies should be allowed and shared as appropriate among users, and users should be able to retrieve information easily. This idea of “information liquidity” is what will distinguish the future of the Internet from the current state of the Web. In this session, Josh Knauer, Director of Advanced Development at MAYA Design, will discuss the Information Commons, an acclaimed peer-to-peer network designed to create easy-to-use information systems that have been used with great success for accessing community data in websites like HumanServices.net and GoGuide.3rc.org. The system’s unique design formats data as abstract, linkable objects. These data objects are then replicated throughout the system, so that unlike a library, data is available even if it is being used by someone else, and unlike the Internet, data will be available even if the data owner’s website is not working.

• Learn the history, philosophy and technology behind the development of the Information Commons, a project 15 years in the making
• Discuss award-winning implementations of the Information Commons by the Allegheny County Department of Human Services and the Center for Computational Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health
• Unpack the implications of collaborative engagement around data rather than documents
• Outline features that will be required for the next generation of information systems to liberate data from the rigid confines of book pages and web pages

Featured in Time Magazine’s “Heroes for the Planet” list and named one of Pittsburgh’s “Top 40 Under 40,” Josh joined MAYA Design after many successes bridging online activism and commerce. His 1991 student project, EnviroLink, is now the Internet’s largest and most complete environmental information resource. Josh earned his degree in environmental ethics and policy at Carnegie Mellon University, and he then founded Greenmarketplace.com, an acclaimed e-commerce site for socially and environmentally responsible products and information, sold to Gaiam in 2002. Josh has consulted and partnered with businesses developing eco-friendly products, appeared as commentator on Fox News, and developed and implemented communication strategies for CBS News, CERES, the National Park Service and others. Josh is a board member of The Institute for Global Communications, Allegheny Sierra Club, EnviroLink, Temple Sinai and the Fiber Council of the Organic Trade Association. He is also an active member of the Social Venture Network.