Let's Have Some Fun With This...
Sorry Professor, but i have to set this question up with some historical support; besides you know brevity has never been my long suit:
If you read my interview, you saw the references to our Youareworthmore site. I would argue there has been nothing comparable to it to date by another union (local or international) and frankly, it was a mere shadow of what it could have been.
The sad fact was we never had the budget nor the time to devote to it as we should have/could have. With the Dakota Premium battle, the Long Term care workers legislative struggles and growth of non-union retailers in the Twin Cities, we were always fighting just to stay even. The only thing that saved us was the dedication of the staff and the time commitment we made to keep it going.
Even with the shortfall, we grew an online community of workers and provided help much needed by people who had no one else to turn to. The potential was staggering. It was one of the reasons i felt comfortable drafting this proposal to change the AFL-CIO http://groceryworkers.org/groups/administrators/News_Item.2005-03-20.896....
While you have added much to the plight of organized labor, i have always been more impressed by your work with the World Future Society. As one of the founders, you were always ahead of your time. Most of your proposals came from your ability to "see" the future and understanding nothing stays the same.
That said, here are the questions: Most would argue the internet alone won't save organized labor, but, can organized labor be "saved" without using the net?
It would seem to me with the changing workforce and dependence on new technologies there is NO hope if labor doesn't adapt and make it an absolute component in their recovery. Virtually everyone and anyone who wants to succeed has come to understand the net as a key ingredient to survive over the next twenty years.
Before i retired, we looked at software from an old friend of yours. I think it was Terry (Daniels?) who was marketing an interactive educational tool that was spectacular. Can you see the day where State central bodies became worker empowerment centers and labor threw open its doors (both legal and technical) to all workers in an effort to bring about social and economic justice?
Can Labor do Otherwise than Compute?
Bill only begins the case the case for Labor Unions becoming CyberUnion. I would these related pressures - 1) Leading companies are getting deeper and deeper into Cyber esoterica, and are many of them awesomely reinventing themsleves - Labor cannot fall far behind and expect to remain significant; 2) Nearly everyone born since the advent of the PC has adapted to it - and to the iPOD and related magic-like gadgetry - Unless and until union leaders and activists are identified in the minds of young people with adroit use of such symbols of power Labor will only turn off these youngsters; and 3) by 2010 we are likely to wear our wireless computers on our person - voice-activited/voice responsive - and exist inside bubbles of intelligence which will have us reflect back on these Dark Ages and wonder how anything ever got accomplished. The sooner Labor begins to perceive and prepare, the stronger might the transition prove: Our computer world today is much like that of the Ford Age in the early 1900rds, and only if Labor quickly learns to drive our Model T does it have any likelihood of being a Master of the 2010 Batmobile-equivalent coming its way.
I thought #3 sounded a little crazy
Until I saw this.
It's a pair of glasses that connects to your cell phone and lets you watch videos as if a 12" screen were 3 feet away. The cell phone is connected to the Internet. So essentially you have much more than a wireless personal computer at your side, you've got access to the whole Internet!
Now the voice recognition part, that I will still need a little convincing of.