IBM Eye

If you weren’t already aware of it - it’s not too late to get involved with Habitat Jam

“Canada is pleased to partner with UN-HABITAT and IBM to introduce the Habitat JAM, an experimental form of problem solving that is inclusive and innovative. The Habitat JAM will encourage a far-reaching dialogue that cuts across the borders and silos of politics, culture, economics, social class and expertise, to extract concrete solutions to the urgent and controversial issues facing our rapidly urbanizing planet.”
The Honourable Joe Fontana, Canada’s Minister of Labour and Housing

Some commentary from the blogosphere and media about this initiative:

Jonathan Spira - Collaboration Loop: Global Collaboration - Habitat Jam

I just spent an hour or so jamming. Specifically, I was participating in Habitat Jam. For the uninitiated, Habitat Jam is a Massively Parallel Conference, or MPC, in the tradition of IBM’s WorldJam. WorldJam, which took place in May 2001, was a 72-hour event to which all 320,000 IBM employees were invited to participate in discussions of cross-company issues. Over 55,000 IBMers participated. I was one of a handful of outside observers watching what happens when you put 55,000 people into a virtual room.

Habitat Jam is a 72-hour event discussed six topics of global importance, ranging from “Sustainable Access to Water”, to “Finance and Governance”, to “Humanity: The Future of Our Cities”. When I logged in, individuals from over 90 countries were actively participating. 7,000 people had already participated in the New Delhi Jam-related event.

Shel Holtz: IBM takes its jams outside

How many great and noble accomplishments can one company chalk up to a single effort? If the company is IBM, the list is impressive: a shining example of corporate social responsibility, an innovative first-ever use of a technology formerly reserved for internal use, a proof-of-concept for large-scale global collaboration on the web…

The effort is Habitat Jam, the first time IBM has offered one of its legendary jams to the general public. The jams first debuted in 2001 with World Jam, an intranet-based 72-hour event designed to tap into the brainpower of all IBM employees to help address key business issues. The Jam works primarily with some web content to kickstart thinking and conversation, along with threaded discussion groups. World Jam was so wildly successful it was followed by others, including Sales Jam and Manager Jam.

Luis Suarez - elsua: Habit Jam Is about to Get Started - Are You Ready ?

if you have got a few minutes or if you think you have that brilliant idea you would want to share with the whole world, by all means, go and share it with everyone ! After all you would be contributing to the well being of our homes, our communities and, most importantly, ourselves. It is just up to us, folks.

Let’s make it happen ! See you then !

Irving Wladawsky-Berger: Tapping into the Wisdom of Communities

During the Golden Age of Athens around the 5th century BC, its citizens are said to have gathered in the agora to discuss and make decisions about issues important to their community. On December 1 - 3, we will see the 21st century version of such a community dialogue, as Habitat Jam brings together tens of thousands of people around the world in a global conversation about the future of our cities to discuss issues and recommend solutions for our rapidly urbanizing planet.

Habitat Jam is only possible because of the universal connectivity and reach of the Internet, as well as the development of a wide variety of tools which have essentially turned the Internet into a very effective social networking platform. It is likely to be the largest-ever interactive global event.

More blogs from Google blog search: habitatjam