Welcome to an experiment in social technology.

About me

Posted Thu, 11/19/2009 - 17:13

Matt Petty explains the sustainability movement to students at ASMS.

Here I am explaining the sustainability movement to students at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Science, and the Arts. I am an alumni of this school.

Hi there. My name is Matt Petty and I'm blogging about local politics, locally-relevant national politics, media, and whatever else I feel like. That's the beauty of new media: I get to write about what I'm interested in and share it with the world. I hope you enjoy it and keep coming back.

If you're wondering why I do this, I guess the short answer is that I'm a nerd... and proud of it. Just how big of a nerd am I? Let me put it this way, I spend so much time on the Internet that I've had dreams – note the plurality – in which I was configuring web pages and social media profiles for services which don't yet exist. If you can beat that, contact me and let's get a beer. I'm sure we'll be fast friends.

Though the Internet and the social revolutions associated with it are perhaps my strongest passion, I like to think I have a fairly well-rounded set of interests. These are the main ones:

life enhancing technology, especially the Internet and social media
progressive public policy, especially local politics
social justice, especially the intersection of climate action and poverty reduction

My background

I have a very diverse background in project management and advocacy. From launching an online role playing game with an international community of players at the age of 12 to becoming elected to the City Council of Fayetteville through the use of Facebook instead of traditional door-to-door tactics, my experiences give me a unique perspective on life and how changes can be made.

If you would like to work together, please contact me through one of the methods described on this page.

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- Matthew Petty

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Features

Why the Council should have the final say on a second motorcycle rally

You may or may not have heard, but there could be a second motorcycle rally this year in Fayetteville. Organizers are calling it Bikes, Babes, and Bling, and the event is planned for Independence Day weekend.

UPDATE: The City Council vote has been called off. Details inside.

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January's Cause of the Month: Move your money to a local bank

Bailout people not banks.

Three years ago, I walked into a Bank of America branch and closed my account. When they asked me why, I told them I was fed up with escalating fees, the sterile feeling I got from doing business with them, and that I wanted my money to be used to support more local jobs.

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Dislosure: My blog will be profitable at the end of 2010

full disclosure

It's been a year (or close enough) since I published this website, and it's had its share of false starts. One of my New Year's resolutions is to finally buckle down and start using the Internet the way I've always meant to.

That means creating content. I've gotten pretty good at sharing things, but I've failed to get in the habit of creating original content regularly. That's all about to change. Right? Right!

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Podcast: Kyle Kellams explains how NPR expands their news service without using a subscription model, and other topics

Kyle Kellams

In this podcast, I interview Kyle Kellams from our local NPR affiliate about the future of news. We cover a broad range of topics, and if you're interested in the changes happening to journalism, you'll enjoy this interview.

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The Five Stages of Social Media Grief

Replace this text to ensure web-accessibility for the blind.

I found this list on Scott Monty's website a few weeks ago, and I really liked it. He's the new media guru for Ford Motors, and he's adapted the grief model from psychology to social media.

It's really quite clever, and it reminds me of the social media resolution I brought to the Council near the beginning of the year. In the weeks after introducing the resolution, I watched the public go through each of these stages, until finally the resolution was passed and we entered stage 5: acceptance.

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The green economy vs. the knowledge economy

A farmer plants seeds of knowledge that grow into life-sustaining crops.

When we talk about creating a sustainable economy, the subject of growth often comes up. To say the least, questions and predictions concerning growth are usually oversimplified. It's clear that we will eventually end up with a steady state economy, but unlike other sustainability leaders, I don't think green jobs will make up the majority of the new economy.

Although the materials-based sector still makes up a strong majority of our economy today - and green jobs will make up a majority of that sector - the potential of the knowledge sector dwarfs the growth we have seen up to this point.

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Other posts

Sometimes, asking a thought-provoking question is enough to get you on TV

A poster for recruiting bloggers

Are bloggers more trustworthy than journalists? That's the question I asked via my Amplify account, and it intrigued Brad Reed, a news anchor for Fox24, enough that he asked me to join him during his newshour to talk about it.

It was originally going to be just an interview with me, but I suggested turning it into a roundtable with Christopher Spencer of Ozarks Unbound and Bret Schulte from the University of Arkansas journalism program. I'm glad that Brad took my suggestion, because I don't think we could have asked for a better six minutes of air time.

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What's your blogging vice?

The internet vs my research paper

In general, I try to make sure my posts don't just share links, that's what I use my Amplify account for.

But this one was so inspirational to me, I felt like I should share it, even if I don't have much to add.

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I'm one.

Generation We

I've seen this video before, but I keep going back to it every couple of months. It may have a few inaccuracies (I have not fact-checked it, and I'm skeptical of some of the claims), but it's so powerful to me that I can't help but be inspired.

What gets me every time is the simple fact that there are 90 million people in my generation. That's 20 million more than the baby boomers, and we'll all be voting age by 2016. With each passing election, we gain more and more political power.

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Reality check: the new era began a while ago

Warren Stephens and Walter Hussman

Today, each of the NWA Newspapers ran a story about the merger signaling “a new era” for news in our corner of the state. They even said “This region shall have the strongest, healthiest, newspapers in these United States. This 'blessed spot' will have more of what so many other regions are losing or have already lost.”

Blessed spot? That's the funniest thing I've heard...

Since when does having a conglomerate media powerhouse make us unique?

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NYT Publisher Compares Print Media to the Titanic

Arthur Sulzberger

In an article at New York Magazine, the publisher of the New York Times compared print journalism to the Titanic.

Doomed not by what you might guess, but doomed by the invention of the airplane 12 years earlier.

What does he think that means for the future of print?

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Fayetteville Flyer to Begin Editorializing Again

The Fayetteville Flyer

The Fayetteville Flyer, a local website which is taking over the weekly market and has been providing quality coverage of City Council meetings now for several months, is returning to their roots.

They are going to start editorializing again. And it's about time! If there is one thing I've missed about the Flyer it is the opinions.

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ArkBizJournal: Connect Arkansas Gets $2 Million to Map Broadband Access in State - ArkansasBusiness.com

Connect Arkansas

The Arkansas Business Journal has a report that a grant for $2 million has been awarded to Connect Arkansas to fund the creation of a map for broadband development in Arkansas.

That's pretty important, considering Arkansas ranks 49th for broadband access.

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UA Journalism Dept to Host Forum on the "Future of the News"

Online news

Well, it's about time! It will certainly be a show to watch with Matthew Waite, the designed for Politifact squaring off against Conan Gallaty from the Demozette.

Of course, one has to wonder how biased the panel will be considering it contains no independent journalists.

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Under the Dome: Public option escape hatch?

Steve Harrelson, House Majority Leader

I've been wondering how the "opt-out" public option would work, and Steve Harrelson, Arkansas' House Majority Leader, has posted an explanation on his own blog.

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90 Million Young People Invited to Speak with Senator Kerry re: climate bill

Senator John Kerry

My question for him: If 90 million young people in America consider retaining the EPA's ability to regulate emissions as their Alamo, what could he do to help us not just survive, but also advance our position?

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