Today’s Providence Marathon saw temps in the comfortable 50s, with partly sunny-cloudy skies. Here are the results. I had planned to hold a pace between 8:00 and 8:10 min/mile, and pretty much did that (3:31:32 total, 8:04 min/mile).  Qualified for Boston 2013, which dictated dipping under 3:40:00 for this old man.  Did not feel really comfortable the entire race, mainly because I’ve been traveling and eating too much lately, haven’t put in the miles and ran the full-hot Boston (3:46) three weeks ago.

Was super that wife Amy and dog Milo met us at several spots on the course to provide encouragement, Gu, and GatorAid.  Amy and Milo ran the last 0.2 miles with me, which raised the cheers of the crowd near the finish line to a fever pitch.  Hope there will be some pics of that!

The course is a pretty quiet, nearly out and back trek, with some scenic views of the bay, golf courses, and park lands.  Rolling hills in miles 2-8 and 17-25 (which are across the same stretch of road).  My biggest complaint was that the mile markers were a mess.  Some were off by 0.2-0.3 miles.  So, I had mile splits ranging from 6:20 to 11:44 (yes, mile 20 came up 11:44 on my watch!).  See details below (#).  I missed going under 3:30 because I got lulled into thinking my pace between 15 and 20 miles was under 8 min/mile when it was probably a bit too slow.  I ran the last miles in 7:45-ish, but could not make up the time.  Other little things they could easily fix are at the water stops… for example:

• - be consistent about whether water or GatorAid is at the first tables,
• - when there is Gu, give it out at least 100 meters before the water table to give people time to consume the Gu before drinking the water,
• - use larger cups … may seem like a waste, but I and others often had to grab two or three cups to get the liquids needed.

I’m motivated to get back into shape, and run a few short races this summer. Now that my job at the Web Foundation is over, I’ll have more time to run (oh yes, I need to spend some time looking for a new job too!)

# Here are my rough, rounded splits (mile, then pace) at the markers:

1     7:29
2     8:04
3     9:38* (co-runner said this was 0.2 miles late)
4     6:11*
5     8:12 (39:33 for 1st 5 miles)
6     7:32
7     9:01*
8     7:48
9     8:02
10   8:01 (roughly 40:25ish for 2nd 5 miles)
11   7:50
12   7:50
13   8:20 (1:43:28 for 1/2 marathon)
14   9:29*
15   6:31* (40:00ish for 3rd 5 miles)
16   8:20
17   8:05
18   7:35
19   7:04*
20   11:45* (42:45ish for 4th 5 miles)*
21   8:45*
22   7:48
23   8:10
24   7:46
25   7:55 (40:30ish for 5th 5 miles)
26   7:40

* splits and presumably mile markers that are way off

The 20 mile marker and time was the shocker. I was aiming for 3:30, and missed because the markers were off and/or I got very lazy between 15 and 20 miles. I just hope the overall distance was correct.

The theme of this year’s TED conference was “Full Spectrum” — “the rich use of multiple technologies, formats and approaches for the most powerful possible impact on an audience”.  Certainly the World Wide Web has greatly expanded the spectrum of people with access to a broad spectrum of information in a broad spectrum of ways.  I proposed a talk entitled, “Measuring the Web’s World Wide Impact”, and was fortunate to one of a couple dozen of talks selected from 250 or so candidates for a talk during the TED-U sessions at TED2012.  Speaking on 28 February, I had 7 mins to explain the Web Foundation’s scheme for the Web Index.

The very first, full Web Index will be launched in June 2012.  It will be a ranking of countries based on the state and impact of the Web in each country. Our Program Manager, Hania Farhan, and Oxford Economics gathered very preliminary datasets for a small set of countries for use in my TED talk.  These preliminary findings are fascinating, and bode well for the usefulness of the full Index for guiding future investments that will make the Web a greater value for people around the world.  For example, the data for Egypt suggest a high score for the political impact of the Web (the Arab Spring attest to this).  Italy, despite its high score for communications infrastructure (availability and cost of Internet), had a relatively low score for political and economic impact of the Web based on surveys of experts.  Could it be that the relatively high burden of government regulation on businesses contributed to this? The final Index in June will provide substantially more evidence for consideration.  The notes in my slides provide a bit more information on our very early results.  Stay tuned for the Index launch in June.

The bar for talk quality is very high at TED, as you probably know.  Some of my favorite speakers included:  Susan Cain on the power of introverts, Andrew Stanton (the writer behind Toy Story and Wall-E) on story telling, Billy Collins (former US poet laureate, who made me care about poetry again), Michael Tilson Thomas (conductor), and Bryan Stevenson (fighting to eliminating excessive and unfair prison sentencing). As usual, most of the most interesting talks for me were on topics I don’t follow closely, but given by people who are inspirational.

En route the the start, it hit me that I had consumed nothing more than a bag of chips, a candy bar and a glass of wine in the previous 20 hours (rushed to the theater the night before without dinner).  In the first kilometer of the race, it was clear that the fuel was not in the tank.  So, I proceeded at a modest 4:15min/kilometer pace, and held that steadily through the 3 loop course.  We circled acres of very wet gardens and soccer (football) pitches full of kids.  I finished in 42:12 — 24th out of close to 600 runners.  Apparently, I was the first of the over 50 and 55 year olds. The rain must have kept the old guys at home. I was tired, hungry and very cold at the finish, so I jogged quickly back to the hotel without waiting to see if there were any prizes for lucky finishers.

Looking forward to our annual 22 mile Boston Marathon course run with the Highlanders next Saturday!

My performance was better than expected.  Not in great shape (ran my first 15+ mile run last weekend, in the bitter cold with Eben), and about 10 pounds overweight (at some point, I’ll have to admit that this is now my normal weight).  Haven’t run a race since last April’s Boston Marathon.  Managed to run negative splits, despite the fact that the second half of the race is more challenging than the first (the logo gives the course profile).  The CoolRunning results show:

5 Mile  Pace  10 Mile  Pace  Half Ma   Pace   Final   Pace

38:56  7:48  1:17:41  7:47  1:42:18  7:49 2:02:25  7:40

… with a 6:30 last mile, by some miracle.

Not that I need this, but the race gave me a wee motivation toward getting in better shape for…  dare I say it … a marathon this spring.

“These are exciting times as over 5 billion people have a device that allows them to access the Web. [though only 2 billion are using the Web]  The challenge is to go beyond the use of mobiles as person-to-person devices, so they become Web-access platforms. Two major conditions have to be met, though. The first is access – people need interface they can use and understand whether they speak Urdu, Mandarin or any other language, or indeed whether they are literate or not. The second is the suitability of content – people require content and services that are relevant and useful in their day-to-day life.”

This is part of an interesting interview with our Lead Program Manager, Stephane Boyera, that was conducted in association with his keynote at the first UNESCO Learning Week.  Steph did a very good job, in responses to just 5 questions, of articulating the challenges to effective use of mobile phones for creating and consuming useful content, and what the Web Foundation is doing to address these challenges.

Please take the time to read this short interview, and let us know what you think.

The “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA), currently before the United States House Judiciary Committee, would threaten hyperlinked communication without substantially addressing copyright infringement. I, many of my colleagues and most human rights and civil liberties groups believe SOPA is the wrong way to go.  Please review the matter and express your opinion to US legislators.  There is not much time, as Congress is considering this bill now. Useful resources include Rebecca McKinnon’s New York Times OP-Ed “Stop the Great Firewall of America“, PC World’s SOPA Primer, americancensorship.org, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Let’s work to ensure that the United States retains its leadership on matters of free expression and global communication.

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Rosemary Leith, founding Director of the Web Foundation, led discussions on Internet security and its role in global governance at the World Economic Forum Summit on the Global Agenda, held in Abu Dhabi earlier this week.  The Summit brought together more than 800  influential thought leaders to address the most pressing global challenges.  Not surprisingly, the economy and governance were at the top of the list.

Ms. Leith chairs the Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of Internet Security.  In Abu Dhabi, the Council focused its attention on security and privacy challenges that pose threats to our world; a world increasingly dependent upon the Internet and Web. Specific topics on the table included how to manage Internet security among global stakeholders, as well as cybercrime and control of personal data.

Ms. Leith also spoke on a plenary panel, where she presented the case that digital governance is an issue that will affect how governments work in the future.  We need to rethink our current models of governance, and consider how a more open government can engage and serve the public much more effectively than current paradigms.

Earlier this year, the Forum launched a Risk Response Network (RRN) to “provide private and public sector leadership with an independent platform to better monitor, prepare for, respond to and mitigate global and systemic risks”. Ms. Leith’s group is working to ensure that issues and ideas around Internet security and privacy are integrated into the RRN.

Recommendations from all of the Global Agenda Councils meeting in Abu Dhabi will help shape the agenda for the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos in January 2012, as well as feed into upcoming G20 consultations and meetings.

Congratulations to Tim!  And also congratulations to the Ford Foundation as they celebrate their 75th birthday this year.  During that time, the Foundation has been a world leader in the promotion of civil, social and economic rights for all people.

What is the Web Index? The Web Index will be the world’s first multi-dimensional measure of the Web and its impact on people in a large number of countries.  It will be a composite index, incorporating political, economic, social, and developmental indicators, as well as indicators of Web connectivity and infrastructure.

Why compile a Web Index?  The Index will allow for comparisons of trends over time and across borders. It will provide indications of technical conditions that are present or not present in a country that are at least coincidental with, if not related to,  the political, economic and social impact of the Web.  This will make it a powerful tool of analysis for policy makers and investors,  allowing them to make more effective and better targeted investment strategies.  The Index may well raise more questions than it answers, and motivate additional Web Science research into the Web as not just a technology, but as humanity connected by technology.

The Index will be fully transparent, looking at both the negative and positive impact of the Web in society, and it will be published on an annual basis. We expect to launch the first edition in early 2012.  We are aiming to attract additional interested and respected founding donors to ensure the sustainability of this valuable project into the future.

Watch this space and the Web Index project page for further updates.  Please contact me directly if you have questions, comments or ideas on how to make the Web Index a truly useful product.

Given the plethora of entrepreneurial apps developers in the audience, I spoke on our Mobile Entrepreneurship Initiative as the lunch-time presentation.  I showed our video animation, too, and people seemed really locked-in as it played.  All of this was a significant diversion from the other topics of the day, which focused on technologies, monetization and the next big things.

Within the main agenda, I enjoyed these sessions:  Larry Berkin’s “Who’s In the Driver Seat in Mobile?” gave an interesting history and predictions for the future regarding handsets, operating systems, content providers, advertising and the ecosystems that contain parts of all of these. The panel, “Is the Cost of Innovation Changing? Can Small Companies Still Compete?” had relevance to our mobile entrepreneurs, but perhaps more so in the future. Discussions around advertising and around HTML5 Web apps vs. native apps permeated many sessions.  Matt Womer, from W3C, gave a good talk on the state-of-the-art of HTML5.  I see HTML5 as getting closer to being able to provide all the benefits of native apps, but with the open, royalty-free, globally-linkable benefits of Web technologies.

Regarding my talk on mobile entrepreneurs in Africa, many people came up to me afterward my talk to say how much they appreciated hearing about the social-good aspects of the Web and Web Foundation.  Some kind folks offered to help us as mentors for entrepreneur trainees and by providing services.  Thanks to all of these folks.  If others are interested and did not catch me at the meeting, please contact me directly.