Digital Equity

This a blog post about two stories. First, as the title indicates, it is my opportunity to share my photos, the people with whom I connected, and some of what I learned at the Futureland AI Forward Summit on Thursday, November 20, 2025. The second story is how I am having a busy month, and to save time, I used AI for the first time to write part of this blog post.

First Story

I want to mention here that it was great to see the performance of Myles "Humble G" Smith of International Multimedia Group, and later have a great conversation with him and Jalá Smith. I had written a blog post which featured Humble G many years ago , so it was great to see him perform again!

In the afternoon, I attended TerDawn DeBoe's presentation, "Workshop: From AI Overwhelm to 10X ROI in 90 Days." You can learn more about her work at WorkWithTerDawn.com and InstituteOfBusinessai.org. I was interviewed about what I thought of her presentation, and if she uses it in a future promotional video, I will add it to this blog post.

Second Story

The second story was driven by my goal to create the text for this blog post quickly. It was after 11:22 pm, and I was finishing the draft of my blog post about the Grand Opening: Upland Sims Park Expansion - City of Euclid. I was tired, but I had set a goal of starting the text about the Futureland event, and I did not want to go bed without beginning to write it. I decided that since the Summit was about using AI, and was sponsored by Google, I would try for the first time using the Google Gemini AI platform. I gave it minimal promps and the text I had shared on social media. By 11:40:38 pm, I had an OpenDocument (.odt) file of a blog post text, and then decided it would be easier for me to add an HTML file to my website. I had Gemini create the HTML (Hypertext Markup Language - HTML5 version). I finished the evening at 1:02:09 am by choosing the following privacy option: "The activity you selected is being permanently deleted from your account and no longer tied to you."

The most important takeaway from the Summit is that our Northeast Ohio leaders are looking to use AI and other technology to better serve our community. I did talk to a couple of the presenters about how many unscrupulous people are using AI to steal creative people's intellectual property, to create false propaganda, and for other unethical activities. I shared with them the case of the felon in the White House creating an AI video of himself as a king dropping feces on the public that does not support him. They shared my concerns, and I was impressed that they did make the Summit focus on positive uses of technology in the world. As I shared on Bluesky social while I was writing this blog post, many ". . . of the presentations weren’t even about AI per se, but just about how to use good data and technology to better serve the community. Technology in the hands of good people can truly improve lives."

I currently don't plan on using AI, since it does not meet my current needs, but at the same time I think it is important to learn what it can do. I highly recommend attending future Futureland Summits, since their presenters did an excellent job of introducing technology that could further positive objectives in our community.

I was scheduled to be out of town, but when my plans changed, I purchased my ticket to attend the Data Days CLE 2024 annual conference. The conference took place on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, at the Cleveland Public Library-Louis Stokes Wing. I have been following the activities of Data Days CLE on social media for years, but I have never been able to attend any of their events. I knew I would be in for an impressive day, and what I got was even more. It ended up also being a reunion with people I had not met in person for a while, and gave me the opportunity to meet new people who were attending or presenting.

I like how the Data Days CLE 2024 organizers make an effort to make it easy for all who are interested to attend their events. Since I follow Data Days CLE on social media, I had the opportunity to use the social media promo discount they offered to their followers. I recommend you see their current list of social media accounts at the bottom of their DataDaysCLE.org website, and follow those that you are active on, so that you learn about their future events.

I put together this blog post to share the photos and notes I took during the event. Of most importance is that I want to thank the organizers, sponsors, and presenters for making Data Days CLE possible. I enjoyed learning how our community is now better served after several years of work by the people participating in this annual conference.

I was fortunate to be able to attend the Friday, January 26, 2024, SOLD OUT DigitalC Citywide Network Launch Party -- so much information was shared that evening about what will be happening this year in Cleveland!

I am putting this blog post together for three reasons:

• First, to share a little about the interesting information I learned at the launch event and my past interest in DigitalC's work. Creative solutions to the digital divide issue in Cleveland has always been of interest to me.

• Second, to establish what I publish here as a starting benchmark of expectations. From this starting point, the community can measure the progress of DigitalC's staff as they move forward with the Cleveland digital revolution that they have envisioned.

• Finally, to make this my first step in fulfilling the commitment that all the attendees to the DigitalC Citywide Network Launch Party were asked to make: To support the mission of the organization using whatever resources you have available.

It is my hope that this blog post encourages you to join the people who attended the launch event in making the commitment to support the DigitalC mission.

I recently learned that the Cleveland Foundation has launched the new Ctrl + Alt + CLE group. Although I missed the first meeting on September 6, 2018, #CtrlAltCLE Convenes: Tech & Digital Equity, it dealt with a topic that I am very interested in, so I knew I should make it a point to attend future meetings. Fortunately, I was able to attend the second #CtrlAltCLE meeting, and a special #CtrlAltCLE blockchain training for nonprofits/government.

In this blog post, I will share:

• Some of the background information from the Launch of Ctrl + Alt + CLE.

• Information about the two #CtrlAltCLE meetings I attended on the topics of Digital Equity and Blockchain for Social Good.

• Funding opportunities announced for Digital Equity and Blockchain for Social Good.

I am also including information about Lynda.com classes that relate to the work of #CtrlAltCLE. The classes are available FREE with your library card!

This is just the beginning of the new #CtrlAltCLE program, and I recommend you join with me in learning how Ctrl + Alt + CLE will evolve.