Technology

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 have written 21 blog posts about Ingenuity Cleveland and their events: IngenuityFest and Bal Ingénieux/Ingenuity Bal. We are very fortunate to have this gathering of Cleveland creatives that is Ingenuity Cleveland. On September 26 and September 27, 2025, I attended the celebration of their 20th anniversary season at IngenuityFest 2025: Forging The Future.

I hope this blog post encourages you to attend future fun events hosted by Ingenuity Cleveland!

On Friday, November 1, 2024, I was very fortunate to attend a special presentation at the International Women's Air & Space Museum about the future of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). I have known about the museum for fourteen years, and I have seen their booth at official NASA events, but I have never attended one of their hosted programs.

It was fantastic to learn directly from Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa E. Wyche about what is currently being developed at NASA!

I am grateful to the sponsors of this event! The "Dinner with a Slice of History" series is made possible with the support of Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, Signature Flight Support BKL - Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics - Northern Ohio Section, HX5, and the America 250-Ohio Commission.

Thank you to the International Women's Air & Space Museum staff and board leadership for this great event.

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.

On Tuesday, October 15, 2024, I was scheduled to be out of town on a backpacking trip that was unfortunately canceled. As that adventure opportunity closed, I was fortunate that another opportunity was presented to me as I was invited to attend the Eighth Annual Better World Day -- Cultivating Gamification for a Better World 2024 -- that took place at Hyland - Building #3 in Westlake.

Looking back at past years in my calendar, I see this is the fifth year I have attended this event. In this blog post, I will share both my photos and notes from Better World Day 2024. I want to encourage you to learn more so you can help spread the word about this great annual event that provides support to nonprofits!

I hope this blog post encourages you to attend future Better World Day events! A BIG thank-you to Todd Packer and Marc Majers for gathering such great presenters for the past eight years, and continuing to work to make a better world through technology for local nonprofits.

I was scheduled to be out of town, but when my plans changed, I offered to volunteer at the NASA International Space Apps Challenge Cleveland 2024 that took place in person at the NASA Glenn Research Center and also had an online option. I attended the first day (Saturday, October 5, 2024) of this two-day event. I knew it would be a great event, since I had attended in 2019.

I decided to put together this blog post to recognize the real heroes who made it possible for the participants to take part in this 2024 NASA weekend event -- the organizers, mentors, judges, and sponsors.

In this blog post, I will list the teams, share my photos/videos from the event, and encourage you to learn more so you can help spread the word to more people about this great annual NASA weekend hackathon!

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.

The day after attending IngenuityFest 2023: Biologies & Geologies (September 22 & 23, 2023), I left on a trip. Now that I have returned, I want to publicly express here how grateful I am to Ingenuity Cleveland leadership and their community partners for this year's gathering of creative people in Cleveland.

My son, Mike, and I enjoyed exploring the artistically lit caverns of Ingenuity Cleveland's 300,000-square-foot Hamilton Collaborative on the evening of Friday, September 22, 2023. There we found music, art, and much more!!

Then, on Saturday, September 23, 2023, Mike and I returned with our whole family to explore more. In addition to seeing more of the exhibitions I enjoyed Friday night, I spent time talking to people at the community organization booths in the upper part of the building. There is where I learned about the latest new happenings in Cleveland.

Since its founding in 2004, IngenuityFest has featured both technology and art. These are both areas that interest me greatly, so it is no surprise that I have been writing about IngenuityFest from the first year I started writing my blog in 2012.

I have been writing about IngenuityFest since 2012, but I have been taking my family to this great event for even longer. I look forward to attending again next year!

Thank you, NASA Glenn Research Center, for the NASA Aviation Day which was a free, public event that took place on Wednesday, September 13, 2023, at the Cleveland IX Center. I enjoyed talking to NASA Aeronautics staff members. They shared their knowledge about new technology developments with great passion.

I am sharing my photos, videos, and comments about the day in this blog post, since I appreciated the opportunity to learn about the latest NASA developments for the aviation industry. I also want to thank Tom Kunsman for recommending that I attend this NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) event! I recommend following Tom on social media (on BlueSky), since he does an excellent job of promoting all things NASA happening in Cleveland.

I enjoyed the morning's panel discussions at NASA Aviation Day. I learned about very new technology and safety developments happening at NASA Aeronautics.

Four Transformations for Sustainability, Greater Mobility, and Economic Growth:

• ULTRA-EFFICIENT AIRLINERS
• FUTURE AIRSPACE AND SAFETY
• HIGH SPEED COMMERCIAL FLIGHT
• ADVANCED AIR MOBILITY

After the morning's NASA Aviation Day panel discussions, I toured the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) display area. People usually associate NASA with space travel, but at this event, the emphasis was on the first "A" in NASA -- Aeronautics.

I truly enjoyed talking to NASA Aeronautics staff — they have such incredible passion for what they do, and are willing to share their knowledge as I ask questions .

NASA events are always interesting. I look forward to attending more of them in the future.

I normally spend three full days at the annual IngenuityFest Weekend, but family commitments only allowed me to visit on Saturday, September 24, 2022, for three hours in the evening. I was so impressed with the event, I want to share in this blog post the photos/videos that I and others shared about the weekend. After 2020's IngenuityFest being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and last year being an outdoor event at the Cleveland Metroparks, it was good to be back at a more traditional IngenuityFest Weekend of creativity at the Hamilton Collaborative location.

I also want to mention that one of the highlights, in addition to the incredible displays and performances, was reconnecting with people that I have not seen in person the last few years. It has been a difficult time for many people, and I am grateful to the artists who are IngenuityFest, and the sponsors that support their work.