Brad Rourke’s Blog
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What Two Questions Would You Like To Be Asked? What Would You Answer?
Last night, my 12-year-old son and I were spending some quiet time together before bed. I feel lucky in that we both were sort of in a contemplative mood, and we began asking each other questions. Things like: “Name two things you are proud of about yourself.” “What two places would you like to visit,…
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Lesson Learned From Juan Williams: The Center Cannot Hold
I recall the day I met Juan Williams in the elevator. It was a couple of years ago. I was in the C-SPAN / FOX building overlooking the Capitol; we were both going down the elevator after our respective Fox appearances. We chatted. He handed me his card — NPR. He won’t remember it. But…
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Using Square: Another Step Toward A Cashless Lifestyle
Yesterday, after long delays, I finally got my Square card reader, so I thought I would put it through its paces. What is Square? It’s a way of accepting payments from regular people using credit cards. You get this little card reader that just plugs into your smartphone. It is dead simple. Let’s say you…
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My Remarks At The Civic Innovators Forum
I was fortunate enough last Thursday to be asked to speak at the Civic Innovators Forum, an invitation-only event at the Newseum, sponsored by the Case Foundation, Philanthopy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE), the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC), and SplashLife. I was asked to speak a bit about the paper I wrote for PACE…
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New Report on a White House / Case Foundation Conference: Promoting Innovation
I am delighted to announce that the Case Foundation has just released a new report that I wrote about a recent White House / Case Foundation conference. The report is called Promoting Innovation: Prizes, Challenges and Open Grantmaking. Here’s the Foundation’s description: In spring 2010, the Case Foundation together with the White House Domestic Policy…
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How To Handle Overeager Posts On Your Facebook Public Page
Here’s a question I get asked often by organization managers considering getting more active in social media — Facebook in particular. One best practice when it comes to Facebook Pages is to set the default setting so that visitors are looking at posts not only by the page owner but also by fans. But: “What…
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Brickfair, An Example of Cognitive Surplus
Over the weekend, I accompanied my son to Brickfair 2010 at the Dulles Expo Center. Brickfair is a completely fan-driven annual conference. People come together to share their love of Legos, to show of scenes and models they have built, and to swap bricks. Daniel and his friend Jeremy had created a rock concert model,…
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How To Move Your WordPress Blog To A New Webhost
After many months of poor service, frequent timeouts, and half-loaded pages, I moved the local blog I founded, Rockville Central, to a new host. I guess my first clue that I would really need to do something about this mess happened in a new client interview, when I was touting the site. My prospect pulled…
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How The Road Warrior World Has Changed
Yesterday I was in an airport and ran into a bank of AT&T 2000 phone booths. The phones had been pulled out; there were four little private booths to sit and . . . well, I don’t know. Just sit. I did a great deal of air travel in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.…
