EVEN THOUGH I KNOW I will feel some heat from up top, I decided to attend Limerick OpenCoffee today in the Absolute Hotel. I've more than eight hours of editing remaining in a major document plus four hours of student feedback to produce and five banker's boxes of pulp to shift from my study before Stateside visitors land in Ireland next week. But I went to Limerick OpenCoffee and got more co-ordination done there in 90 minutes than I would have accomplished during the course of four work days anywhere else. If I lived and worked in Dublin, I'd be closer to the main hub of activity and from experience, I know I'd have the same report every day of the week. Something happens when like-minded people end up in the same venue for a nattering. I found out some things today that will result in big announcements later this year.
Bulk Buy iPads. Until I spoke with a knowledgeable supplier, I didn't know the mass quantity level that resulted in iPads dropping significantly in per-unit cost. It really didn't surprise me to find two people offer the same number within an hour of me raising the question in Limerick.
What Universal Internet Access Means. Since I believe always-on data connectivity is as important as water pumped to taps inside homes, I'm delighted to hear about plans that I will write about in December.
Social Funding. Some people are surprised to learn that benefactors wait in the wings to help well-focused community ventures in the mid-west. Talking to several spokespeople gives me hope but also makes me realise how unformed some of our social entrepreneurship ideas remain.
Hyperlocal marketing. Vast sums of money granted to regional authorities could be leveraged to greater effect if greater collaboration (i.e., collaboration outside-of-network) was a metric set by the EU. I heard of two projects running in the southeast that should be hooking into LIT-Clonmel but they're working in isolation. We should connect with one of them before the end of October. The other seems like a closed shop and that's lost potential.
N86 Memory. Main memory limitations on my N86 is now causing my Qik recordings to stall after one minute. It may be time to reformat the phone.
I'm already looking forward to my next trip to Limerick, this time to the Midwest Showcase on Thursday 21 Oct.
Driving to LOCC
We meet for Limerick OpenCoffee on the first Thursday of every month in the Absolute Hotel, Sir Harry's Mall, Limerick, Ireland.
