Good Vibrations

A virtual Friend of mine is taking his FSO Assessment on 12/01/06. This post is dedicated to sending him good luck, good vibrations, and good karma.... I WISH THE BEST FOR YOU!!!!!

We Are Smarter Than Me

This afternoon I was listening to All Things Considered on my drive home. I do enjoy NPR, but depending on what is going on in my head...the topics randomly move in and out of my radar. One topic today that fascinates me was called Using the Wiki Method to write a Business Book. It is a study by MIT, Wharton & potentially YOU on how Web 2.0 can benefit business. Seems to me that this may be an experience that many lowcountry bloggers would enjoy exploring. Below is the press release:

We Are Smarter - Official Press Release - 11/16/2006
For Release
Thursday, Nov. 16, 2006, 11am EST
More Than a Million Invited to Write and Edit

First Collaborative Book on Management Best Practices

Pearson To Participate in New Publishing Model In Conjunction with Wharton, MIT and Shared Insights

We Are Smarter Than Me Set for Publication in Fall 2007
Upper Saddle River, NJ/Philadelphia, PA/Cambridge, MA – Nov. 16, 2006 – Taking a page from Wikipedia®, publishing giant Pearson, under its Wharton School Publishing imprint, has embarked on a new book publishing project with two innovative collaborators that could involve thousands, if not tens of thousands of authors and editors.

Starting this week, more than a million business professionals and scholars, including faculty, students, alumni, and newsletter recipients from two of the nation’s most prestigious graduate schools of business, the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, will receive messages inviting them to collectively write and edit the book, tentatively titled We Are Smarter Than Me (www.wearesmarter.org).

Pearson, MIT’s Center for Collective Intelligence, and the SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania will collaborate to produce the first community-driven “networked” book on business best practices.

The book’s content will examine how Web 2.0 technologies such as social networks, wikis and blogs can benefit the business enterprise. Additionally, MIT and Wharton will also have access to the contributions, and expect to conduct and publish primary research on whether collective projects like this can help guide the future of industry in the areas of customer service, product innovation, market research, and sales.

Contributing authors will be asked to provide real examples of companies that are trying to harness the power of communities. We Are Smarter Than Me will then explore why certain approaches have worked while others did not, and suggest best practices for companies to follow to make more effective use of collaboration. The book will encourage contributors to offer their thoughts on such areas as community-based market research, selling items on eBay or other similar sites, and raising capital via the Internet on peer sites like Prosper.

In his 2005 book, The Wisdom of Crowds, New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki explored the idea that large groups of people working together can be “smarter” than an elite few. They are sometimes better at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future. Building on that idea in two respects, We Are Smarter Than Me will look to large groups of people to contribute their writings on the subject of how community is impacting business functions that are currently performed by separate companies, industries, and experts.

Already, more than a thousand contributors have initiated the project by registering at the We Are Smarter Than Me website. This “networked” book collaboration will allow all registered members of the community to edit, add, and delete content from the website. Shared Insights™ US, LLC, a Woburn, MA-based company that provides multi-channel community and social networking for enterprises, will facilitate the collective publishing venture using wiki technology and Web 2.0 tools.

A draft of the We Are Smarter Than Me manuscript, and the book authors’ key findings, will be presented at Community 2.0, a conference scheduled for March 2007 in Las Vegas. In the fall of 2007, We Are Smarter Than Me is expected to be published in book form by Pearson’s Wharton School Publishing, even as the online community continues to create and update new content for the book on the website. All contributors will be credited.

“Like Wikipedia, and with core contributors initially comprised of many of the world’s leading business thinkers, We Are Smarter Than Me may usher in a new model for how book publishers can acquire, create and market their content, as well as how their books can be distributed and used,” said Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia and member of We Are Smarter Than Me’s Board of Advisors. “I look forward to reading this work in progress.”

“This initiative will mark the first time that a major book publisher enables thousands of people to collectively contribute to today’s body of business knowledge,” said Jon Spector, vice dean of Executive Education at the Wharton School. “Through this exciting process, they can all help to create the management best practices of tomorrow and a vibrant community as well.”

“I believe the movement toward more decentralized decision-making in business will, in the long run, be as important a change for business as the democracy movement was for governments,” said Thomas Malone, MIT’s Director of the Center for Collective Intelligence, author of the influential book The Future of Work, and chair of the Advisory Board for the We Are Smarter Than Me project. “Like Wikipedia, Google™, and others, this project has the potential to connect people and computers so that collectively they act more intelligently than any individual, group, or computer has ever done before.”

“Today’s businesses, to ensure their continued success and growth, need to learn to leverage the power of ‘community,’ said Barry Libert, chief executive officer, Shared Insights. “A few books have been written on this subject, but none, paradoxically, have been written by more than one person.”

“Today’s business readers are bombarded with many new ideas,” said Jerry Wind, the Lauder Professor; professor of Marketing at the Wharton School and co-editor of Wharton School Publishing and one of the creators of the We Are Smarter Than Me initiative. “We are helping to cut through the clutter with ideas that are rigorous, timely, easily implemented, and most importantly, are the collective wisdom of an unlimited number of possible contributors.”

About the Wharton School and the SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is recognized around the world for its academic strengths across every major discipline and at every level of business education. Founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school in the nation, Wharton has approximately 4,600 undergraduate, MBA, and doctoral students, more than 8,000 participants in its executive education programs annually, and an alumni network of more than 80,000 worldwide. http://www.whartonsp.com.

The Wharton School’s SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management, the first “think tank” for the future of management education, is dedicated to understanding the unfolding global business environment and the education demanded to meet its challenges. The Center sponsors research to identify drivers of change, the forces that will shape the corporation and the requirements for future success. The Center has disseminated its results through publishing and translated its insights into curricular innovations on many levels, from MBAs to senior executives. Overall, the Center helps students and executives prepare today for future success in a rapidly changing world. http://mktg-sun.wharton.upenn.edu/SEI/index.htm

About MIT’s Center for Collective Intelligence
The MIT Sloan School of Management, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of the world's leading business schools - conducting cutting-edge research and providing management education to top students from more than 60 countries. The School is part of MIT's rich intellectual tradition of education and research. The mission of the MIT Sloan School of Management is to develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world and to generate ideas that advance management practice.

About Wharton School Publishing and Pearson Education
Wharton School Publishing is dedicated to presenting the world's foremost business thinkers in print, audio and interactive formats. All titles must be approved by a senior Wharton faculty review board to ensure that they are timely, important, conceptually sound, empirically based, and implementable. The editorial focus on applicable knowledge, along with multi-media publishing, enables readers to gain new insights into the issues shaping the future of business, and plan and take action to achieve their goals. Wharton School Publishing is a partnership between Pearson Education, the world's leading education company, and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Educating 100 million people worldwide, Pearson Education (http://www.pearsoned.com/) is the global leader in educational publishing, providing research-based print and digital programs to help students of all ages learn at their own pace, in their own way. The company is home to such renowned publishing brands as Pearson Prentice Hall, Pearson Addison Wesley, Pearson Longman, Pearson Allyn & Bacon, Pearson Benjamin Cummings, Pearson Custom Publishing, and others. Pearson Education is part of Pearson (NYSE: PSO), the international media company. In addition to Pearson Education, Pearson's primary operations include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin Group.

About Shared Insights
Shared Insights (http://www.sharedinsights.com/), headquartered in Woburn, MA, is a leading provider of community education, management and ongoing services. Shared Insights' goal is to improve business processes including product innovation, customer self-service and marketing and sales effectiveness. Founded in 2003, the company delivers customer communities and education to leading companies including: WebEx, Deloitte, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Oracle and Adobe.

CONTACTS:
Peter Himler, Flatiron Communications LLC for Shared Insights, 0-516-365-2408 , m-516-729-6461, peter.himler@gmail.com

Amy Fandrei, Pearson Education, 317-428-3082, amy.fandrei@pearsoned.com

Tracy L. Simon, Wharton School, 215-898-2863/4159, tlsimon@wharton.upenn.edu

Paul Denning, MIT Sloan School of Management, 617-253-0576, denning@mit.edu

A Family Heirloom

Mary recently had a class project on her family tree. This was one of the her easier assignments as I had compiled much of research on our family several years ago. She had a checklist for points on which she would be graded. One of these points involved discussing a family heirloom. She had to draw the heirloom or bring in a picture of it for discussion. Looking around the house, I couldn't even think what we could use as a topic. The main thing I have of any of my somewhat distant ancesters were photographs and a few letters. Then it occurred to me that I do have a photo album that belonged to my Great, great grandmother Rose Emily BUTLER Geiger Shepard. What makes this even more of a gem are the 30 letters I have that Rose & her daughter Coreta sent to Rose's brother during WWI. The letters really bring many of the characters within this album to life. Here is the front cover:

This photo album is a bit delicate and in need of repair. I decided that before I mend the book, I would document what is in the album so that the album does not need to be opened as often and the pictures do not need to be removed for examination. I will also provide the relationship to Rose (if known) and given surname's will be capitalized. I will only advise what written on the backside if it is more than just a name.

Photo #1 - Monroe Hipsley KAUFMAN. 6/19/1893 -7/14/1961. There is a note that reads "To Rosa - From your Aunt Flora Nov 5th, 1893". Monroe is a 1st cousin to Rose.

Photo # 2 - Raymond TERRELL. The backside is addressed to Rose Geiger. There is a Raymond Terrell b. abt 1903 in the vicinity. The parents listed in the 1910 census for this person is Julius & Christine Terrell of Chester Twsp, Morrow Co, OH. This also matches the fact that the photo had to have been presented to Rose between 1901-1910 as Rose only used Geiger as a last name during this period of time.

Photo #3 - Ray BUTLER. b. abt 1846. I also have him in a 1917 Butler Family reunion photo. Raymond is a 1st cousin to Rose.

Photo #4 - Rella A. HATTON. 1880-1860. Rella is Rose's brother-in-law.

Photo # 5 is Amy Estella BUTLER Hatton. Goes by Stella. 7/23/1884-5/27/1961. Stella is Rose's sister.

Photo #6 -Rella & Stella Hatton. Relationship previosly mentioned.

Photo #7 - Rose Emily BUTLER Geigaer Shepard, age 18. Goes by Rosa. 11/30/1880 - 12/05/1955. Married Louis Geiger by 1901. They divorced around 1908. They had three children Christina (1902, stillborn), Coreta Mae (1903), Mary Elizabeth (1907). She remarried around 1912 to William Shepard. They had twins Lloyd & Floyd Shepard in 1914. Lloyd was stillborn.

Photo # 8 - Louis E. GEIGER. Born abt 1882. My family was told he was born in Germany and came to America when he was a small child. Census records indicate he was born in Ohio. He had a brother, Leonard, who supposedly moved to San Francisco right before the earthquake and was never heard from again. Coreta's children only saw him two or three times in their life and did not consider him a grandfather.

Photo # 9 - Louis GEIGER age 19 - an address of 107 East Burgess, Mt. Vernon, Ohio is listed on the back. Taken around 1900. I'm told the house still stands and it was once the address of Miller Studios. The photo was taken by Miller Studios. It does not make much sense that it would have it's own address listed.

Photo #10 - Louis & Rose Geiger holding daughter Coreta Mae GEIGER. Taken in 1903. Louis and Rose are both wering a photo of one another.

Photo #11 - Rose Emily BUTLER Geiger Shepard. Unsure of the age. I have a metal photo with her wearing the same dress. It was also taken at Miller Studies. I am only guessing that she and Louis may have had their photos taken about the time they were married. Which would place this one around 1900.

Photo #12 Louis Geiger's Father - name unknown. Photo was taken in Cleveland.

Photo #13 - Louis's mother - name unknown.

Photo #14 - Minnie KAUFMAN Loschky. 1930 census has last name listed as Lorchby. Minnie is Rose's 1st cousin.

Photo #15 - Blanche KAUFMAN Jessel. b. 1884. A note on the backside reads "Compliments of Blanche to Mrs. Rose Geiger, Morrow Co. Mlanche is a 1st cousin to Rose.

Photo # 16 - Annie Scarborough Reed. There are Scarborough and Reeds who are cousins to Rose, but I have no idea how/if Annie is related.

Photo #17 - Don HATTON (nephew), Mary Elizabeth GEIGER (daughter), Coreta Mae GEIGER (daughter)

Photo #18 - Flora SPECK Kaufman's children. On the back is written: "Presented to Rosa by Aunt Flora Mar.10.1901 BEK 11yr, MEK 8, MHK 1 when taken" The initials are for Blanche, Minnie & Monroe. All are 1st cousin's to Rose.

Photo #19 - Fred Hulse. I'm going with Friend of the Family. He was b. 1876 & lived in the same township as Rose & her parents.

Photo #20 - Pierce, School teacher for Rose

Photo #21 - Dr. & Lucy Speese. May be written incorrectly as I find nothing of this name in the area. I do have some letters that reference them.

Photo #22 - Wedding picture of Rose & William SHepard

Photo #23 - unidentified

Photo #24 - unidentified

Photo #25 -Coreta GEIGER (daughter) & neighbor. This is a thumbnail photo that may have been taken at a photo booth.

Photo #26 - John BUTLER (brother) & Cramer boy. I have 30 letter that Rose Butler & Coreta Geiger wrote to John during WWI.

The remaining photos are ferrotypes. The first four were on the same page and identified by Rose's daughter, Coreta in 1981.

Photo # 27. Flora (Aunt)& Augusta (mother) SPECK. Conspicuously missing is their brother Clinton who would be two years older than Flora

Photo # 28 - William SPECK b. 1822-aft 1880. Roses's grandfather. The History of Morrow County has teo entries for William Speck that read:

"Said to be one of the finest sawyers in the southwestern part of the county. His saw mill has a capacity of from 8000-10000 feet per day. The engine is 30 horse power and the saw is double circular. Mr. Speck deserves much credit for the invention of simple mechanical contrivances, whereby the labor of one man is saved. The head sawyer, standing on a platform four feet square could do his own setting, and could change his logs at will by the agency of levers."

"WM. B. SPECK, miller; Sparta; was born in Guernsey Co., Ohio, in 1822; son of Augustus and Sarah (Reed) Speck; be is a miller, as was also his father, and is said to be one of the finest sawyers in the southwestern part of the county; his grand-father was a Saxon, and, while passing through Germany, was seized and pressed into the army, and his regiment was employed by the British, to assist in quelling the rebellious colonies in America, but while the troops were coming to this country, he succeeded in making his escape. Mr. Speck's grand-father Reed claims to have built the first log cabin where Steubenville now stands. His grand-mother Reed had three brothers, who were present at Crawford's defeat. Mr. Speck was married in 1838 to Elizabeth Lewis, and has by her a family of three children-Clinton B., Flora A., and Augusta V. Clinton is in the drain tile business in South Bloomfield Tp; Augusta is married to George W. Butler, and lives in the. same township; Flora A. lives at home with her father, and is the possessor of unusual musical talent. Mr. Speck owns the present saw mill at Sparta, which is said to be one of the handiest in the county. There were eleven children in Mr. Speck's father's family, and when the father died, there had not been a death before in the family for forty-five years."

#29 - William SPECK & Elizabeth LEWIS Speck are Rose's grandparents.

#30 - Sarah REED Speck (1789 - 1875). Rose's great grandmother.

#31 - Alman SCOTT. Neighbor to Rose's Uncle Henry BUTLER

#32 - Mary Elizabeth GEIGER 1907-1931. Rose's daughter.

#33 - Rose is the back right. Not certain of the others. Possibly her brothers & sister.

#34 - unidentified

#35 - unidentified

#36 - unidentified

#37 - unidentified

#38 - unidentified

#39 - unidentified

#40 - identified

#41 - unidentified

Based upon who is in this album, I feel the following are missing and may be part of the unidentified photos: Mary BUTLER Kaufman (Aunt), Henry BUTLER (uncle, John BUTLER (uncle), Clinton SPECK (uncle), William Monroe BUTLER (brother) & John BUTLER (brother)- he is included in a thumbnail, but come on that couldn't be the only one!

Sunset at Sunrise Park

This past weekend I took the family to Sunrise Park on James Island in an attempt to take our first ever family photo. Where else can you enjoy stunning views of the Charleston Harbor that include Downtown, Sullivan's Island and our new bridge all at once?

The biggest challenge was negotiating the wind, the gnats, the setting sun in our eyes and the Sallydog. As you can see, Sally preferred to look at us instead of the camera. Milezaball insisted on wearing a tie for the photos. He walked around with it on for awhile and then told me that he kinda felt like a man in the tie.

Papa Bear only LOOKS like he is telling me to get this over with. He is actually posing himself next to the Sullivan's Island lighthouse. It's that tiny speck on his right. Oh stop blinking...you will miss it!