Background
Can you name one entity addressing the ideological and philosophical computing issues that reaches out to consumers and businesses in a constant coherent fashion? No? Do they offer computing guidelines that incorporate ethics, civil liberties and productivity? Can you think of a manual to best practices when it comes to the human elements of computing? I couldn’t either at first.
You may laugh and giggle but this is a scary notion if you put serious thought behind it. Do you want to be an ignorant consumer, operator or business that blindly follows the marketing dollars of huge corporations? Do want your children to do the same? Or do you want them to apply your personal values to this technological realm? We all care about having some control and freedom over our lives and as technology plays an increasingly larger (and often times dominating) role in our lives, it is important to address these issues.
As a young entrepreneur and business owner, I spent a lot of time at a computer, either for myself or helping others. I recognized a pattern in my computing experience and that of my clients as the sum of smaller pursuits. All of those smaller pursuits pointed at the same enlightened idea. It was a difficult thing to represent with words but luckily one of my mentors was a graduate in economics, so I had economic terminology in my head. I coined the phrase digital liquidity in 2004 at age 18. It was the subject of conversation with many clients but was shelved for a while as a great but un-refined idea. I didn’t quite know how to use my discovery to my advantage and I wanted to make sure that I owned and protected my intellectual property. As my experience grew, I revisited the notion and saw a tremendous, societal need for values that a connected consumer following could apply to their digital lifestyle and use to wrap their heads around technology. The Digital Liquidity Project was born some years later and became a series of free talks and workshops given at Independent Cafes and presented to Non-Profit Groups. I volunteered my time and used digital liquidity to teach young entrepreneurs and others in my local community. It has grown a small but zealous following which forced me to take it seriously.
The Short Version
There are many, wonderful groups that I support, who advocate for privacy and fair use, like the EFF, Save the Internet and Mozilla, but I don’t know of any group attempting to translate our system of American values and apply them to our digital experience, so I, at first reluctantly began organizing my work into a business model and then it just sang to me again and I reconnected with my original passion.
About Me
I am a second generation entrepreneur, which is to say that I suffer from a genetically inherited desire to do new and great things independently and often find myself dreaming for teams of friends and superheroes to help me realize my projects. I have over a decade of experience as a consultant in information technology, new media, and business.
I am a firm believer in the interdependence of community. The Digital Liquidity Project is a way for me to get in front of all the suffering and confusion with technology and help people wrap their heads around the digital space. Not many people thank a plumber after he fixes a toilet or the IT guy after he fixes a computer. My mission was to bring smiles before frowns and advocating for a discipline or way of thinking that everyone regardless of background or resources could use to better themselves.
You can visit www.mcgilltech.com to learn more about me, my projects and ideas or contact me here.
-Nicholas McGill
Founder/Evangelist
The Digital Liquidity Project
