Keystone Edge

The oldest saw in the proverbial shed is that Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods. Block by block, communities coalesce around a really good coffee shop, local grocery, or the corner bar. Small, fairly-priced restaurants form the nucleii of the comfiest residential neighborhoods in Philly. Some are chef-driven, like the new boite from outspoken chef David Katz, Mémé. Open less than four months, the foie gras tarts with seasonal fruits and lush, rustic entrées for two have kept the jewel-box space buzzing with happy diners, most of whom are also neighbors.

In the funkier Gayborhood, Mercato serves nouveau Italian plates with a heavy dash of scene. The BYO policy means you can supply your own Primitivo to complement Mercato's take on familiar flavors, like a short rib ragu with ricotta gnocchi, broccoli rabe and locatelli. In Society Hill, Dmitri's seafood BYO faces The New Wave Cafe, a long-standing casual neighborhood bar. Since Dmitri's is positively allergic to reservations and there is absolutely nowhere to stand inside the minnow-sized joint, guests drop their bottles with one of the waitresses along with their name, and head across the street for a drink at the New Wave. Once a table opens up, the Dmitri's girls come fetch their hungry guests from across the street--the anticipation and cocktail elevating the grilled whole fish and tender octopus in to a memorable night out. Such mutually beneficial symbiosis isn't just a pleasant novelty, but rather a method of success for the small businesses in this city of neighbors.

All of the below restaurants are located in Philadelphia, and are walkable from Center City.

Mémé, 2201 Spruce St., 215-735-4900, memerestaurant.com

Mercato, 1516 Spruce St., 215-985-2962, mercatobyob.com

Dmitri's, 795 S. 3rd St., 215-625-0556

The New Wave Cafe, 3rd & Catherine Sts.,  215-922-8484, newwavecafe.com

This past summer, Pittsburgh played host to the New American Music Union, a two-day festival headlined by Bob Dylan that included Gnarls Barkley, Spoon, and The Raconteurs.

As a blogger, I was invited to the event with complimentary tickets and access to the pre-show press conference, where several of the musicians were asked what they thought of Pittsburgh, and the impressions they had before arriving.

I'm not sure what made Anthony Kiedis (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers), who designed the venue, choose Pittsburgh. He mentioned a generously low ticket price (understandable as the show sold out quite quickly). It was also noted that while several locations for such performances are usually well beyond city limits, the concert-goers could practically see the skyline from where they watched.

Danger Mouse of Gnarls Barkley said of Pittsburgh, "We were expecting Detroit, and got Chicago. Which is a good thing."

The whole weekend, I was flabbergasted that I was able to get so close to the performers and shows by simply agreeing to mention it on my Web site. As I talk to other bloggers, I realize that most of the places they live hardly recognize the internet as a news source at all, let alone the personal Web site of a college kid with little credentials for a press pass.

It made me wonder who would benefit from the small blurb. Letting my readers know about the event before it happened could certainly sell a few more tickets, but they were looking for coverage, not advertisement.

Pittsburgh's status as the "third bloggiest city" last year, following Philadelphia, is indicative of how strongly its residents are in touch with their city, and why it could be a good idea to further the collective voice, which is constantly growing in the community and shows no signs of breaking.

When I was asked to contribute to this blog by focusing on Pittsburgh, my hometown, as a cultural event, I was immediately in love with the idea. Admittedly, when I began publishing online, my focus wasn't especially geared towards the city. I'd grown up in the area, lucky to have been raised by my artist-writer grandfather, who led me by my hand to every play, museum, and exhibit that PAT bus could get us to.

When I decided to study writing, it was long after my initial attempts at keeping an online journal. Back then, blogging was not a popular concept, let alone a word. A couple years later, after minimal attempts at attracting an audience, and a developing interest in design and social media, I happened upon pghbloggers.org, a listing of blogs in the Pittsburgh area. Soon after, through that Web site, I learned about PodCamp Pittsburgh, an "unconference" run by and for people who create, enjoy, or are interested in learning more about social media.

Until that time, I was skeptical about cultivating a web presence. I was wary about publishing pictures of myself, my full name, or details--however bland--regarding my personal life. The Internet was, in my mind, a scary place that didn't touch ground. It was the essence of companies and the shadows of the personalities who promoted themselves.

When I finally began to form relationships with the people behind PodCamp--the speakers, organizers, and enthusiasts--I realized that they were journalists, and teachers, and parents. They were humble in what they did, and passionate about what they wanted to learn. From there, I very clearly stamped my blog with Pittsburgh, and my audience flourished beyond any hopes I had regarding readership.

In the beginning, as my blog floated around the universal Internet, without a backbone or home base, it was nearly impossible to convey a distinct personality. Pittsburgh's vibrant culture not only helped me benefit from a local connection, but also provided extremely colorful material that provided a means to break free from the personal blog label.

I've been wanting to talk about Make:Philly on Keystone Edge now for some time, so I figure I should take the opportunity now. Essentially, Make:Philly is a group of people that get together every month to make cool stuff, like rockets and robots, or invite scientists and inventors to speak about and share what they've done.

Last month, we did a video of Make:Philly's annual Art Buggy Derby, in which competitors are tasked to build  a hand-powered buggy that makes art as you push it along. Check out the video below.

This coming Sunday, Nov. 23, Make:Philly is hosting Professor Andy Hicks of Drexel University, who will talk about mirror design. Hicks, whose work with mirrors originated in vision-based control of robots, has designed a driver-side mirror with no distortion and no blind-spot, and will have several other prototypes on hand, including a mirror that does not reverse, a panoramic mirror, and a curved mirror in which things don't look curved.

Inspired by Make: magazine, Make:Philly is an integral part of of what's commonly called the "creative economy." The 400-odd members of Make:Philly comprise a community of innovators and tech-savvy artists that cities need to attract and retain great talent. Ultimately, what the kids at Make:Philly are making is a better economy and a better, stronger city.

The Art Buggy Derby:

There was a cool event held here in Philly yesterday called The Founder Factory, a day-long mega-conference that drew about 250 local entrepreneurs to World Cafe Live for a marathon of discussions, panels and Q&As, during which Philly's up-and-coming entrepreneurs picked the brains of local business leaders.

David Speers of Phillypreneurs live-blogged the event and made this short video of Founder Factory organizer Blake Janelle effusively recapping the 9-hour event.

What The Founder Factor says to me is that the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Philadelphia, and the startup community here is teeming with ideas, energy. and industry. Bravo to everyone involved.

Hello, this week I'll be posting various items of interest I come across but don't have time or space to include in the regular issue of Keystone Edge. We begin with one of my favorite industries: robotics.

Robots, as is mentioned in my short intro to this blog, creep me out. But I'm also fascinated by them, and Pennsylvania is a great place to be if you like robots.

The robot scientists at CMU, for example, are among the most ingenious, innovative researchers anywhere in the Commonwealth. In fact, next month we're running a story on CMU's team competing in the Google Lunar X Prize Competition, a $30 million competition between privately funded teams to send a robot to the moon, travel 500 meters and transmit video, images and data back to the Earth. Pretty awesome.

But I digress. Today's posts is about Jules, the first 'humanoid' robot with eyes and hair and a rubbery, flesh-colored face that can mimic human expressions. Described by the Daily Mail as a, "disembodied androgynous robotic head," Jules has tiny motors that allow its "face" to grin, grimmace, pucker and furrow its brow. It can also speak, and mimic human behavior it observes through video camera "eyes":


The result, as you can see below, is exceedingly creepy:

Jules operates with 10 stock emotions (happy, sad, concerned, etc.) a team of engineers programmed into it. The project is called 'Human-Robot Interaction', devised at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory run by the University of the West of England and the University of Bristol.

A couple of years ago, viral videos were the rage and everyone wanted to have a video that people would forward to each other. Then businesses started to believe blogging was the best way to reach the world.

This year, we're seeing the hype expand to include social networks and social media.

The truth is that, trendiness aside, social networks really can have value in an organization's marketing--and beyond marketing, in operations and other areas.

Here are some ways revitalization groups, businesses, and others can use social networks:

Monitor public perception: Track mentions of your topic on blogs and microblogs. Use Tweet Scan and Google Alerts to have emails sent to you when a name or topic is mentioned on the web. Respond directly--offline--to the poster to gather more info or to address misperceptions.

Share plans and solicit input: On a Web site, post ideas in progress and solicit feedback -- but only if you're willing to honestly consider and use the feedback. Use offline media (print and broadcast) to drive people to the Web site.

Recruit and organize volunteers: Create a database of interested, active volunteers, then give them a task to do. Or, better yet, ask them what they think they should do to help, and then offer tools for them to connect with each other to get it done. Provide clear guidelines on how projects are evaluated for support and funding, then post a list of ideas that were backed and those that were turned down.

Offer a human face for the organization: Create a blog that shows the organization at work. Be real--share ups and downs. Allow comments only if you have the resources to monitor and respond. If a blog is too much work, create a bookmark list on Delicious (www.delicious.com) highlighting news and resources of interest, and embed it in your Web site.

Keep in mind that you still need to create an overall vision and strategy. Social networks work best as part of a larger plan.

Still, if your efforts are sincere and supported by the rest of your plan, you'll get back at least as much as you put in. And you have the chance to receive an exponentially larger return via true community engagement.

Imagine a volunteer-based organization that always had people on-hand to do work--even physical projects; that had enough money to fund improvements and to plan for future expansion; that regularly held events and enjoyed big community turnouts; that dealt with setbacks calmly and with a sense of perspective.

It might sound like a fairy tale, until you spend a little time with the Butler-Freeport Trails Council.

Recently, I attended one of the council's monthly meetings. It was the largest volunteer-based meeting I've attended in a while, with about 30 people there. The meeting was lively, and input and commentary weren't confined to only a few people.

The Butler-Freeport Trails Council is notable for getting things done: trail improvements, trail extensions, facility development, community involvement.

I think they've been successful for a few reasons:

•    They inspire people, inside the organization and outside it, with their vision. A few indefatigable individuals started the project with a vision, and were able to communicate this vision to create a team dedicated to the cause. Over time, the project acquired a momentum and life of its own.

•    They communicate, with regular and open meetings, newsletters, email lists, a Web site, a Facebook group, and more. They use every available channel to connect with the community and with each other.

•    Their processes are transparent. Work is discussed openly in regular meetings, and credit is given where it's due.

•    They balance project work with fund-raising, and they aggressively pursue funding sources.

•    They have a broad base of volunteers, and they invite volunteers to take on responsibility--but they also provide structure in which those volunteers can work. For example, they provide a Trail Project Worksheet and a clear process for reviewing and approving projects.

•    They complete what they set out to do.

What struck me as I sat in that meeting was the confidence that the people in the room had, individually and as a team. They believed in what they were doing, and they trusted each other to do the right thing.

They seemed to feel that any problem could be handled and that whatever happened, they would succeed. I can't imagine anything that could stand in their way.