This month’s Junto is on Free Beer.

We will be drinking multiple beers that were brewed for the event by Chris Matta and Howard Ross and we will be talking about that process.

However, the free beer movement is about more than beer. It is really about Open Source using free beer as a metaphor or a manifestation of the process. Playing with the “free as in free speech, not as in free beer”.

We have 3 panelists to discuss beer, speech, and open source.

Howard Ross is a web developer and co-founder of Grainstar Brewery, a local homebrewing operation that was started two years ago in South Philly.

Rob Hall is an Adobe Community Expert specializing in the Flash Platform, and is manager of the Philadelphia Flash Platform Adobe User Group.

Tom Boutell is a developer here at P’unk Avenue. His open source projects include the GD Library and the PNG Image Format. He has a background in software development and long experience with the web. Tom created the original WWW FAQ, which continues to be a frequently-consulted “how-to” resource for web developers. At RealNetworks (then Progressive Networks), Tom was instrumental in the creation of RealAudio 1.0, the first streaming audio solution for the web.

Moderators will be Kelani Nichole and Alex Gilbert.

Come drink the beer brewed for the event. We will provide tomato pie.

Please bring something to share, if it is not too much trouble.

It used to work with check boxes. Checked is visible. Not checked is hidden.

The system worked well for me and I used that feature all the time to hide my civic association’s calendar, for instance.

Currently you click on the name of the calendar to hide or show it. The check boxes are gone.

The issue I have is that I was never informed that this change was made. I just figured the feature was removed. It confused me that it was gone, but I did not have the time to dig deeper at the moment. (For the record, I like the change.)

It occurs to me that Google could have used the interface to inform me of the change.

Imagine this scenario:

You log-in to your calendar and the check boxes are still there.

You click on a check box and a little bubble of sorts pops up and says, “Hey, we have changed this feature. From now on, you can just click on the name to hide/show it.”

The check boxes then disappear.

How cool would that be?

And, it would be informing you of the change at the time you need to know.

If you did it this way, there would be no need for documentation to be created.

To all of our fellow interface designers out there, what do you think?

This Friday I have an opening at my friend Zoe’s boutique. I’ve been drawing my personal documents (the intricate ones with security patterns and laser-printed black letter). I have a folder full of these important personal things, they stay in that folder until I need one of them to apply for a new document.

I’ve started to treat the drawings with more care than my diploma, they become precious squinting over them. It’s a fun project.

The opening is 6 - 9, Friday June 20th, the show will be up for a month. Come drink some wine, and eat some dessert.

When we got back from SXSW this March we felt even more inspired to collaborate with people doing inspiring things in Philadelphia. One of the first things we did was contact Far and Vanja of The Hacktory to brainstorm on this topic. When we got together Vanja mentioned the idea of coordinating an Ignite event.

We all knew immediately that Ignite would be a great way to bring together a diverse group of inspiring people in one fell swoop.

The basic format is that approximately 20 people speak on a topic for 5 minutes. They prepare 20 slides that rotate automatically after 15 seconds. It should keep things lively. And if the talks are not lively enough, it is happening at Johnny Brenda’s where plenty of libations will be available.

Speakers include: The iSepta guys, Kristin Thompson, of the Future of Music Coalition, NO CARRIER, 100K house, Pete Tridish of the Prometheus Radio Project, Alex Hillman of Indy Hall, and several more. The speakers are all doing exciting and inspiring things in Philadelphia.

Everything happens on June 11th. Doors open at 6pm. Speakers start at 7pm.

We hope you can make it.

P.S. We will not hold a Junto in June. Consider this our June Junto on speed.

It’s very simple. It says our name, it has contact information, it states what we do, and it shows our work. What more could we want? (full disclosure: Geoff wants ‘about’ information and bios, but first things first!)

I will keep this brief, that is our way. We hope you enjoy the new site.

Today, Mark and Justin showed up unexpectedly at the studio as we were closing out the day and had an impromptu jam session. Tomorrow they are playing a show at The Auction House in Audubon, New Jersey with Brian Mietz.

What ties these guys all together?

They were all former students of mine in the Multimedia Department at The University of the Arts (along with Alex Gilbert, Rick Banister, and John Benson).

It really makes me feel good to see them doing creative things together. I have always been impressed with their work and their spirt.

You might want to catch their show tomorrow night.

The other night, Alex Hilllman and I were having a conversation about our project, Independents Hall, and he mentioned the term “civic entrepreneur” in the course of a story. It immediately caught my attention because of my background as a co-founder of a civic association in Philadelphia.

As a follow up to our conversation, Alex emailed me an article titled, “Civic Entrepreneurs: Economic Professional as Collaborative Leader” that he wrote a post about after our conversation. Reading it over, though, reminded me of a different concern that I have had for awhile.

A lot of people form groups of people that share similar backgrounds, educations, and aspirations. In my mind, that is not really a challenge and does not lead to unique new solutions. And while I am very proud of Independents Hall, I would count it in that category. It is not that hard to get like-minded people with straight-forward goals to work together. I think we can do so much more.

The challenge is to bridge the gap between people that think very differently.

I learned that first hand co-founding that civic association in South Philadelphia. It is one of America’s most amazing and most diverse neighborhoods. It is a place where day laborers live next door to doctors. It is a place where a web design studio that does yoga together is across from an auto body shop. It is a place where the poor rub shoulders with (and sometime live next door to) millionaires.

The article I mentioned talks about bringing diverse parties to the table:

Civic entrepreneurs exert a collaborative style of leadership. They know how to work with people to get results. Civic entrepreneurs believe that the benefits of a changed economic context can be realized only with more collaborative, resilient connections between the new economy and the community. They provide collaborative leadership to bring diverse parties to the table, identify common ground, and take joint action. They build bridges.

More often than not, civic entrepreneurs lead with no formal power or authority, with only their credibility. Civic entrepreneurs are worthy of people’s trust.

Many of us that were raised in the United States after World War II do not have practice working with people that are not from the same socio-economic background. We are products of the trend where people moved to suburban neighborhoods filled with people that were much like them. That was my experience. My father is a PhD Chemical Engineer, so most of my friends’ parents were engineers, doctors, or lawyers.

Growing up like that does not give us the skills to have an empathetic world view. In other words, it does not give us first-hand experiences of working with vastly different people so that we can develop the skills one needs to build bridges.

I want to challenge more people to bring diverse groups to the table to solve problems to improve our communities, and more importantly, I want to challenge people to empower other people. Empowering others brings about unexpected and beautiful results. It will require many of us to leave our comfort zones on a regular basis, but the payoff is worth it.

Are you up for the challenge?

P.S. If you take a careful look at the shirts that my neighbors are wearing above, you will notice the words “celebrating diversity” in multiple languages.

This May’s Junto will explore the dynamics of Creative Communities. The panelists are John Freeborn, one of the founders of the gallery and art collective Space 1026, Olive Prince, dancer, choreographer and part of the Choreographers Project at Susan Hess Modern Dance, and Sara Selepouchin, Etsy Teams Coordinator.

I will moderate the discussion which will begin at 7pm. Food and drink at 6pm.

On April 1, 2005 we registered punkave.com.

In honor of our 3rd birthday, please join us for some cake (or mini cannoli) and some beer/drinks.

April 1, 2008, 6pm

P’unk Avenue
1168 E. Passyunk Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19147

Today I start my “one thing for sale” project.

The concept is simple. I will choose one thing to sell in our storefront window on E. Passyunk Avenue. I will type up a description of the object and post that in the window and on this blog. It remains for sale until someone buys it in person. I will post a picture of the person that buys it holding the object and I will ask them to update me on the objects future home (not required). Along with the thing, you get my typed description.

I see this as an opportunity to create connections between people through the sale of a good - a more human way of exchanging things.

It is a comment on how and why we buy things. It is a comment on patience. It is a way to encourage reuse. It is a defense of simplicity.

Equally important, it will help me find a good home for things that no longer serve my needs.

The first object for sale is my Rolodex from Rolling Stone (with some contacts still in there).

The post-it in the window reads:

For Sale: Rolodex $5.00
Gently used. Lifted from Rolling Stone office. Still contains some contact information.

Lovely device, but less useful to me due to advent of address books on computers. Playing with it reminded me of some of its advantages. Rich tactile experience. Easy to add business cards. Physical size forces you to edit regularly. Will still work in an energy crisis (when you need it most.)

Inquire within or window.punkave.com

(That is the first time I used a typewriter to type a domain name.)

If you need a rolodex, please come by.