Digital Transitions
Plus a social NFT and my trip to the Midwest
Hi Friends,
I bought my first NFT this week! In my (biased) opinion, my fiancé Tobin is doing the coolest thing in this space right now.
These Super Granny trading cards are based on a real women’s self-defense group in the Korogocho slum of Kenya. Embedded in the smart contract governing their trading, half of all future royalties go back to the women in the pictures.
From navigating the massive NFT marketplace, to getting my crypto in the right wallet, to monitoring gas fees and timing my purchase just right, the process of buying an NFT was not easy. But I’m hopeful it is going to become more user friendly, and the possibilities of this medium to support artists and communities is massive.
See all of the Super Grannies on OpenSea.
Digital Transitions
As a small business owner and an introvert, I’ve been torn between wanting the flexibility to work remotely, and also seeing the massive benefits of deep, in-person collaboration.
I would rather meet intensely in inspiring locations 4-6 times a year than go to a fixed office every other day. This culture shift would be beneficial to workers, and to the smaller cities where they might move— small cities that might never attract large corporate HQs.
I think Cal Newport, interviewing Chris Herd, did a better job than I in summarizing what a hopeful future for distributed companies could look like, and why it is becoming inevitable. In summary:
"To return to our natural-selection metaphor, the vision prophesied by Herd is not one of a glacially slow incremental evolution toward a new species of work but, rather, an instance of punctuated equilibrium, in which the leap from startups like Hopin to blue-chip giants will occur seemingly all at once."
How do we build up social capital in remote-first or fully distributed organizations? What is the online equivalent of stopping by someone’s desk?
Where’s Melissa?
I spent Saturday afternoon exploring the beautiful Kreeger Museum in Washington, D.C. This statue, The Visitors by Kenneth Armitage, particularly spoke to me.
I am about to be a visitor.
Inspired by my research and writing on Neighborhood Vitals, I am taking a roadtrip to visit and learn more about urban innovation projects in the Midwest and Southeast. I’ll be sending digital postcards along the way!
Until next time,
Melissa