Ken Snyder

<strong>Even when the circuitry is beyond us mere mortals, DIY comes to the rescue</strong>  <p class="MsoNormal"> In town meetings we use the Internet for a wide variety of uses, from photo walls to display images collected during our <a href="http://vimeo.com/9719936" title="Walkshop Tours">WalkShop tours</a>, to brainstorming and voting with our <a href="http://vimeo.com/9719829" title="AnyWare Suite of Tools">AnyWare suite of tools</a>, to collecting ideas using Google Docs or Google MyMaps at round tables.<span>  </span>The latest WiFi cards are making connecting to the Internet possible in places where the Internet normally is not available.

<p> Yogi Berra said that.  I also recall someone saying at some conference on smart growth or new urbanism: the more cars sharing the road, the more people get frustrated (hence all the car ads of people driving with no other cars in sight), while the more people on a well designed sidewalk, the more we tend to like it.  </p>

<p> Once again, US Air (a.k.a. <a href="http://tinyurl.com/dcedrj" target="_blank" title="US SCARE">US-SCARE</a>) has made my life difficult. I was hoping to fly back from Myrtle Beach, SC to Denver yesterday and they cancelled my flight (Myrtle Beach is where the <a href="http://www.csc.noaa.gov/geotools/" target="_blank" title="GeoTools Conferencce">GeoTools</a> conference was and a meeting of the Ecosystem Based Management Tools <a href="http://www.ebmtools.org/" target="_blank" title="EBM Tools Network">Network</a>).  <br />

As technology becomes more an integral part of planning and public outreach around planning, the need for a “creative touch” becomes increasingly important. While technology can increase the quality and quantity of public input, it can also diminish the quality of human interaction and creativeness. As we look for technologies that engage citizens, we also need to find ways to utilize art materials, maps and other visuals, and encourage storytelling.<br />

<p>This evening my wife, Beth Conover, will appear on a televised panel discussion on &quot;Immigration and Sustainability&quot; aired on Rocky Mountain PBS&#39;s <a href="http://www.rmpbs.org/content/index.cfm/show/199305" title="Rocky Mountain PBS Colorado State of Mind">Colorado State of Mind</a>, hosted by Greg Dobbs. The panel includes former Gov. Dick Lamm, former Post columnist Diane Carman, and State Rep. Michael Garcia (D-Aurora). An mp3 of the program is already available at the following <a href="http://www.rmpbs.org/resources/files/programs/local_productions/csom/csom603.mp3" title="MP3 of 7-18-07 Colorado State of Mind PBS Show">link</a>. </p>