Community : Pittsburgh Innovates

Busking is back in a big way. The centuries-old practice of street troubadours who perform for not much more than the joy of playing (and tips) will assume a year-round schedule in Pittsburgh beginning this weekend. 
 
Unlike most busking, which tends to be spontaneous, BuskPGH is an organized undertaking of the Pittsburgh Downtown Community Development Corp. (PDCDC).
 
“When we were discussing BuskPGH, we looked to the city of New York,” says John Valentine, executive director and a native of the Big Apple. “You see all these great minstrels playing music. It adds a tremendous flavor and atmosphere to the city. We figured if we brought this here it will add to the whole personality to our downtown.”
 
The program kicks off this weekend alongside the festivities surrounding the reopening of Point State Park. Performances will continue through the winter months.
 
The whole idea is to expand the public’s awareness of the city’s diverse cultural identity. Buskers will initially play at the four indoor T-stations: Gateway, Wood Street, Steel Plaza and the Northside, with more venues to follow, Valentine says.  
 
“Our main goal is to make downtown an art centric community, “ says Ryan Firkel, a busker and program organizer.
 
Program funding from The Sprout Fund and PDCDC will cover insurance and website costs. The performers will generate revenues from the tips they receive, estimated to be between $50-$100 for a one to two hour stint.  
 
Some may recall another organization, Busk Pittsburgh, funded by Ground Zero Action Network and the Sprout Fund, which actively supported busking in the past, Firkel says. BuskPGH is absorbing the former group, along with its list of more than 200 musicians, poets and jugglers.
 
Each T Station will host different types of performances, depending on the space and the crowd. Gateway, for example, might be the best place for jugglers and visual art, says Valentine.
 
 “We want to encourage more year-round public performance in Pittsburgh. For many (performers), its an opportunity to get out and play to an audience.”
 
Writer: Deb Smit
Source: John Valentine, Ryan Firkel, PDCDC

Two recently published studies by the University of Pittsburgh have interesting implications for users of Twitter and Facebook. 
 
A study of Twitter suggests that if the social media site fails to continue to attract new users, it will devolve into a platform for corporations and celebrities that will resemble television or radio broadcasts.
 
The Facebook study, on the other hand, warns that Internet attackers are infiltrating our personal and private information on Facebook through our “mutual friends.”
 
The Twitter study is coauthored by Andrew Stephen at the Katz Graduate School of Business and Olivier Toubia at Columbia University. The idea was to unmask the motivation behind some of the most prolific tweeters on the social media site, says Stephen.
 
In other words, do high-volume tweeters tweet to broadcast their thoughts and share their opinions with a wider audience? Or are they simply looking to increase their social status by accumulating followers?
 
In the end, they found that while mid-range Twitter users were encouraged to post more in an effort to gain a larger audience, high-end users went in the opposite direction, reducing the number of daily tweets as they gained a larger following.
 
“As they get more followers, they want to be careful about what they post,” explains Stephen.  The results indicate, therefore, that higher volume users are more interested in amassing followers than using Twitter to broadcast their views.
 
When it comes to commercial, corporate and celebrity users, however, this finding does not apply. Those with corporate-celebrity status continued to post continuously regardless of how many followers they had.
 
As long as new users continue flowing into Twitter, which is presently the case, Twitter will remain a voice of many, the researchers agreed. If the number of new users drops, however, Twitter will become a channel for high-end users like corporations and celebrities who will fill it with packaged programming.
 
As for Facebook, a separate Pitt study published in Computers & Security revealed that that hackers are finding they way through security settings on Facebook through “mutual-friends.”  
 
The same problem exists for LinkedIn and Fouraquare, says James Joshi, coauthor and associate professor of information assurance and security in Pitt’s School of Information Sciences.
 
While Facebook allows users to block hackers from a public search, the block proves inefficient if a mutual friend isn’t using the same security settings.
 
“Being able to see mutual friends may allow one to find out important and private social connections of a targeted user,” said Joshi. “An attacker can infer such information as political affiliations or private information that could be socially embarrassing.”
 
The information could also be used to create false identities that appear even more authentic than the actual user.
 
Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Andrew Stephen, James Joshi, University of Pittsburgh

An independent film production company is shooting an extreme pogo sports film in and around Braddock this week with some of the world’s most daring pogo athletes.
 
Be warned, leaping tall walls in a single bound is not for your springy vintage stick.
 
Xpogo LLC, a NYC sports marketing firm, is generating interest for the extreme pogo craze and filming in such far-flung locales as Rio and Hong Kong. So why Braddock?
 
We wanted a gritty, industrial backdrop, says Nick Ryan, Xpogo CEO and a graduate of CMU. Carrie Furnace and Carnegie Music Hall are the perfect metaphor for a sport like pogo that is in the throes of reinvention.
 
As part of the celebration, the film company is throwing Braddock a free-to-the-public community event tonight, May 8^th, from 5 to 9 p.m., with exhibitions by seven of the word’s best extreme pogo athletes. There will also be pogo stick raffles, clinics, BBQ from Kevin Sousa’s Union Pig and Chicken, drink, and music.
 
Like skateboarding, extreme pogo goes well with concrete and walls. The newer air and band-powered sticks are made for height and durability, able to break the upper atmosphere and propel over parked cars.
 
Check out the wild, leaping gnome-like action here.
 
Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Nick Ryan, Xpogo

A new regional initiative to redefine the Great Lakes region and the emerging modern innovation marketplace is underway.

It’s called RustBuilt, although it’s far from a new idea. A handful of organizations in recent years have mounted similar campaigns. There was the Great Lakes Urban Exchange (GLUE), which led a mission to catalyze transformation and reinvestment in the region from western Pennsylvania to Michigan. Renovating the Rustbelt is another, a Cleveland-based initiative that is chronicling the transformation of the Rust Belt to the GreenBelt. And there are others.

RustBuilt is still gaining momentum as an initiative, but it's picking up traction from leaders in the Great Lakes region, most recently the Tech Belt initiative, which is facilitating a dialogue for companies in the Cleveland-Pittsburgh corridor, the city of Buffalo and PLSG. The idea is to bring together leaders in the seven-state region, those who are already hard at work on similar initiatives, and get them on the same page.

RustBuilt takes its cue from the Brookings Institution’s John Austin, a non-resident senior fellow, who has written about the economic strengths and opportunities of the Great Lakes region as detailed in the BI report: The Vital Center, A Federal-State Compact to Renew the Great Lakes Region.

“We don’t want to reinvent the wheel, but want to be able to reveal all the cool stuff that’s going on,” explains Kit Mueller, a seasoned tech entrepreneur and co-organizer of Pittsburgh Startup Weekend. “The more we celebrate ourselves, the better.”

Mueller is joined by Paul Burke, a managing partner of the local startup accelerator Thinktiv, Adam Kelson, an attorney, and Ellen Saxon, a CMU program administrator. Together they want to accomplish two things at first: amplify the region’s voice and convey its dynamic new economy and create a central clearinghouse where entrepreneurs can identify and share opportunities. Seed incubators is another idea that may be launched next year.

RustBuilt is currently in the process of discussing the initiative with regional economic entities, founders and funders in the startup space and others with like-minded propositions underway in the seven target states: Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Illinois, Indiana, New York and Michigan. 

“The next step is to build content around it. People are already identifying that this is a worthy movement to join,” says Mueller.

Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Kit Mueller, RustBuilt

Imagine some of the most innovative people in Pittsburgh, all in one room. Braddock’s John Fetterman. Serial social entrepreneur Ji Jai. Architect and sustainability champion Christine Mondor. Culinary pioneer Kevin Sousa.
 
It’s a glimpse of the lineup for TEDxGrandviewAve, the latest local incarnation of Tedx, the fast-talking, idea-popping brain fest.
 
Taking a cue from the scenic stretch of road along Mt. Washington, TEDxGrandviewAve will embrace the strengths of Pittsburgh, from key brands to dedicated entrepreneurs, inspired artists and perceptive humanitarians says Kacey Wherley, founder and director of TEDxGrandviewAve.
 
“TEDxGrandviewAve will celebrate how Pittsburgh, as an exceptional whole, stands on the edge of innovation,” she says.
 
This event, independently organized and operated under license from TEDx, will be held on Feb. 23rd, 2013, downtown Pittsburgh, at The Pierce Studio, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Arts Education Center. Reserve tickets are going fast.
 
TEDx is a nationwide forum for bringing people together to share great ideas and stories. Talks feature live speakers and combine to spark deep discussion and connections in smalls group.
 
In addition to the above mentioned local celebrities, speakers will include: Matthew Keener, professor at University of Pittsburgh, CEO and founder of Emodt Health Design; Justin McElhattan, President and CEO, Industrial Scientific Corporation; Nicki Zevola, CEO of Alpha Lab company FutureDerm; Rory Varrato, Graduate Student, School of Politics and Global Studies, Arizona State University, originally from western Pennsylvania; and Dr. Justin Hill of the Neurorehabilitation Department, Cornell University, a former UPMC physician.
 
The Pillow Project will perform. For more information and reserve tickets, click here.
 
Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Kacey Wherley, TEdxGrandviewAve 

 
The long-held belief that Pittsburgh's younger workforce is declining was shattered this week with the official news that the exact opposite is true.  

A report released by the University of Pittsburgh’s University Center for Social and Urban Research and local think tank, Pittsburgh TODAY, confirmed what many have been saying for awhile: Pittsburgh is not only attracting more young people to the region but it is successfully retaining its own.

And they are a highly educated bunch.

Pittsburgh leaders came together on Pitt's campus on Tuesday to celebrate the news in "Young Adults Report 2012," one of the most comprehensive studies to date on youth and the region.
 
Among the highlights:
 
The population of adults ages 20-34 rose by 7 percent in the past five years and is on track to grow another 8 percent by 2020.
 
The region has a young adult workforce that is among the best educated in the country. Pittsburgh ranks fifth in the U.S. for workers aged 25-34 with at least a four-year degree and is one of only three regions where more than 20 percent of young workers hold advanced degrees.
 
Nearly half of young adults earn at least $50,000 or more and 22% earn $75,000 or more.
 
“It’s a great time to be a young person coming out of school in your twenties and living in Pittsburgh,” said Allegheny County executive Rich Fitzgerald, who vividly recalled the dark state of the local economy when he graduated in 1984. “We need more policies that will continue to attract the kind of talent that will move this region forward.”
 
Young people today aren't buying cars at the level of previous generations, he noted. They want better public transportation. They ride their bikes. They enjoy the arts.
 
Bike Pittsburgh advocate Scott Bricker agreed. Pittsburgh is attractive to many young people as a place where they can get involved and make a difference, he noted. 
 
There’s a lot of buzz about the health of the arts community in Pittsburgh outside of the region, both nationally and internationally, added Jon Rubin, CMU art professor and the director of Conflict Kitchen. Rubin recently returned from China where Pittsburgh was among three American cities recognized, alongside Los Angeles and New York.
 
Work remains to be done, others said. The region must continue to attract and welcome diverse talent, said Melanie Harrington of Vibrant Pittsburgh.
 
Young adults have the lowest rates of voter participation of any age group, others noted. One in four young adults reports never voting, even in presidential elections.

The report was released to coincide with the arrival of the One Young World conference in Pittsburgh this week, bringing some 1,200 young delegates from around the world here to learn more about what's working in the region and discuss a wide of range of pressing global concerns.

Read the report.
 
Writer: Deb Smit
Source: PittsburghTODAY

What began as a backyard BBQ to raise money for local startups has expanded into a new organization and incubator for entrepreneurs.
 
Thrill Mill was founded to build on the momentum of the first Pittsburgh Business Bout, a competition that awarded $5,000 last year to a young group of entrepreneurs who created an online legal notice search engine called FindNotice.  
 
This year’s Business Bout, currently underway, is upping the stakes with $25,000 in prize money for the best business plan. The winnings were made possibly through sponsors Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). Submissions are due Oct. 31^st. 
 
Thrill Mill consists of an annual cycle that begins with a large-scale music festival – Baller BBQ – that will not only showcase national music talent, but local music, art, entertainment and business talent.  Revenues generated by the festival will be awarded to the winner of a Business Bout.

Lucky applicants in the Business Bout may then gain admission to an early stage business incubator, the Hustle Den, opening early in 2013, where entreprenuers will receive free office space, mentorship, programming and investor relationships, for one full year. 

“The security blanket of corporate America is not what it use to be,” explains Bobby Zappala, Thrill Mill CEO. “Startups will become more a part of mainstream growth and certainly this is happening in Pittsburgh. We have all the elements. We just need to encourage those in Pittsburgh to stay here.”
 
The 5,000 square-foot space was secured with the help of a $750,000 investment from an anonymous donor, says Luke Skurman, of College Prowler and an original founder of Business Bout.
 
“We want hungry entrepreneurs who are going to go for it,” says Skurman. “All industries are welcome.”
 
At the conclusion of the cycle, the Hustle Den participants will have an opportunity to pitch their businesses to investors at the next year’s BBQ, and the cycle continues says Skurman.

Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Bobby Zappala, Luke Skurman, Thrill Mill and Business Bout

Imagine the city as your personal playground. Three point lines around trash cans. Tether balls swinging overhead, inviting gameplay, with the goal of bringing people together and making the city a place of wonder and fun.
 
Obscure Games is back, bringing with it the best new urban games in the world for The City of Play Festival on October 13, noon to midnight. Sponsored by South Side game studio Schell Games, the festival is changing the way we see the city, says Adam Nelson, the master gamer behind it all. 
 
Since its inception in 2009, Obscure Games has been playing around Pittsburgh with live gaming events. (You may recall the Steel City Games Fest and Human Curling Tournament.)
 
Urban gameplay acts as a social glue that connects people through the environment, reinforcing the idea that players have ownership of the city, says Nelson.
 
The festival will feature about 15 game installations with streets, parks and public spaces as the backdrop. Games will be located on the North Side and around the Allegheny Center and Buhl Park. Play is open to the first 100 players with a ticket, but anyone of any age can play for free in Buhl Park.
 
Among the games is Circle Rules Football and Nelson’s own game called Nashville, which involves wandering the city and giving secret signals to others in a sort of old west showdown.
 
“Pittsburgh has an opportunity to use play to convey itself as an interesting and exciting, progressive city for young people to live,” says Nelson. “The fact that we’re a smaller city is a strength. It’s who we are and easier to build a community around this.”
 
Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Adam Nelson, Obscure Games

Social media continues to permeate every aspect of our lives. Now it's coming to us through our televisions.
 
Aspinwall-based 321Blink is launching a TV show this week that it believes will give businesses and nonprofits a boost in disseminating their social marketing messages.
 
The creative marketing company is producing 321Blink the Show, a 30-minute, hi-def program that will air weekly with a succession of two-minute segments that highlight local businesses and nonprofit organizations through interviews, clever dialogue and music.
 
The question is, will this be something a discerning viewer will want to watch?
 
Tripp Clarke and Tim McLaughlin, Pittsburgh entrepreneurs with experience in video and media, think so. The format promises to be interesting and will generate a buzz, they say, as the show is promoted across multiple social media platforms.
 
From a marketing perspective, businesses will get more mileage for their dollar from TV. They cite a study by the Wharton School of Business that reports that video improves comprehension and retention by 50% and speeds up buying decisions by 72%.

“Television delivered in an entertaining fashion, that’s well shot, in high definition, will have definite appeal,” says McLaughlin.

“The show is a driver to other platforms (like YouTube and Facebook),” adds Clarke. “Those platforms will then drive back to the show.”

321Blink the Show was inspired by the popularity of the Pittsburgh FYI Network of 20 years ago, a program that featured local businesses, says Clarke. Some of the first shows have an MTV meets Pittsburgh feel to them.

The show will air throughout Pennsylvania, beginning on Sept. 28^th, on several TV channels including PCNC, Fox 53, and ABC affiliates.

Businesses can use the video as fresh content for their social marketing strategy, or 321Blink can manage it for them, says Clarke. Fresh content will help businesses to rank better in searches while driving web traffic and moving the message.

The company, founded in 2011, employs seven full-time and three part-time. 321Blink also encourages local filmmakers and musicians to contribute.

Writer: Deb Smit
Source: 321Blink

Image of Tripp and Tim courtesy of 321Blink

Buy Pittsburgh First is not something that will work everywhere, but it’s definitely working in Pittsburgh, says company founder Chantel Goldstrohm.
 
The Bridgeville-based firm started two years ago as a grassroots movement to entice local industrial businesses to examine their buying habits and support other local supply and service companies. Many want to buy local but don’t have the time or resources to do it, she says.
 
Goldstrohm grew up in Cecil and graduated from University of Pittsburgh. Her experience in sales and marketing, along with her husband’s work in the industrial sector, led her to realize that with the economic downturn, people in the industrial supply business might be inclined to support one another.
 
It was a completely new concept when we started, something that had never been done before, she says. “There were nights I couldn’t sleep. We were leading the charge in this realm.”
 
The success is in the return to local communities, she says. For every $100 spent with a company in Pennsylvania, $68 is recycled back to the community through expenditures, payroll taxes and more. When a company buys outside of the state, only $48 comes back to the region.
 
That extra $25 has the potential to become a huge source of cash flow to our schools, roads, parks and more. 
 
“Pittsburgh bleeds black and gold. I don’t know we could have gone anywhere else and gotten the support we have,” admits Goldstrohm. “It’s a win win all around.”
 
Buy Pittsburgh First employs five and is planning on hiring two in 2013.
 
The company will hold its first annual Buy Pittsburgh First Expo On Oct. 11th, a showcase of the region’s industrial supply, service and manufacturing companies.
 
Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Chantel Goldstrohm, Buy Pittsburgh First
 

As we all know, beer is among the things that Pittsburgh does well.
 
And now we have a regional magazine to go with it. Launched in 2010, Craft Pittsburgh is embracing the local craft beer industry in response to the resurgence of interest in craft brewing here, says founder and editor Tim Russell. 
 
Pittsburgh just wasn’t getting its due, he says.
 
“I want to enlighten everyone, bring in people on the fringe who are just beginning to discover craft beer,” explains Russell. “If people start drinking better beer, it will grow the industry and help everyone.”
 
Craft Pittsburgh is for connoisseurs to wanna-be better beer drinkers who are interested in following the business, or brewing a batch at home. Stories range from the several well-orchestrated events that happen around beer, including Steel City’s Big Pour and The Reverse Keg Ride, where an empty keg is returned to its neighborhood brewery with the help of more than 100 cyclists. (All in the name of charity, of course.)
 
The most recent issue (No. 7) relates the wonderful history of beer making in Pittsburgh. Did you know, for example, that long before President Obama was throwing back hotcakes at Pamela’s, President Roosevelt was swilling Duquesne Brewing Company’s “near beer” during prohibition?
 
There’s also the events and festival listings, cooking with beer, home brewing tips and regular installments from columnist The Drunk Yinzer.
 
The only problem is that  when the magazine comes out, about 10,000 copies a run, the free hard copies disappear fast. Fortunately, it's also available online.
 
Craft Pittsburgh officially became a profitable enterprise with the sixth issue, thanks to the support of local establishments and restaurants, says Russell.
 
“I hope it gets the craft beer community going, because I’d love Pittsburgh to become one of those cities like San Diego or Philadelphia (who are on the forefront of the craft beer movement),” he says. “But Pittsburgh is catching up.”
 
Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Tim Russell, Craft Pittsburgh

Take Kickstarter’s ability to attract support through crowdsourcing, give it a political twist and you have RedBlueVoice, a new web tool for political advertising, activism and advocacy.
 
RBV was created by high school chemistry teacher Josh Lucas who went to work on the idea in response to the state’s cuts in public education funding last year, a decision he says has taken a drastic toll on programs and resources in the poorest school districts in the state.
 
Bootstrapping the startup, RBV offers web-based tools to help organizations, campaigns and nonprofits—on any side of the political spectrum—raise money to promote causes and generate the media attention they believe they deserve.
 
“We’re working really hard to stay nonpartisan," says Lucas, president and founder. "We think our long term success is as an open platform and unbiased voice.” 

Sto-Rox was among RBV’s first success stories. The school community, teachers and administrators came together and raised $2,600 to pay for ads that will begin running this month on several local TV channels, spreading the word of the plight faced by many of the lowest funded schools districts in the state.
 
“It’s a real chance for a community to affect the conversation around a well publicized issue,” says Lucas. “There’s room in our model for the next election to really give the people some control of the mass media.” 
 
RBV works by offering interested parties a “branded issue portal” page, a webpage where they can advertise themselves and their funding goals. Once an ad is fully funded by users, RBV distributes the ads to appropriate vendors across the nation.
 
RBV makes its money by charging a small transaction fee for each ad funded, in addition to tee-shirts and demographic data sold. 

The site has is attracting a diverse interests. Among them are Haitian Families First, sisters Jamie and Ali McMutrie who are working to help families in Haiti; America’s Finest Hour, a celebration of the life of Ronald Reagan, and The Rox Reborn, celebrating the people and city of McKees Rocks.
 
“There will always be people who game the system,” says Lucas when asked how he plans to police the site. “We will work really hard to deliver honest info to our users.” 
 
Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Josh Lucas, RedBlueVoice

Unless you’ve been under a wireless rock for the past week, you’ve probably snapped multiple  pictures of yourself and friends heaving giant Primanti sandwiches over your head--or juggling Rick Sebak’s (like Mitt Romney).
 
The opportunities to add local color to your life are endless with Yinztagram.
 
“I really didn't see it becoming as popular as it has become, I thought it would remain an inside joke,” admits Colin Miller who created the app with Deeplocal colleague Matthew Pegula based on a funny idea suggested by friend Drew at Commonplace Coffee. “It’s nice to see that the community has a sense of humor when it comes to the Pittsburgh culture.”
 
Based on the reactions of friends to the beta version, I knew people would love it but didn't think it would be spread beyond my immediate friends, says Pegula.
 
The photo app that allows users to juxtapose iconic local images—from Green Belt signs to our own golden arches—on top of personal snapshots has taken Twitter and Facebook by storm. (See the best of pics in this weeks Buzz section.) The Primanti’s sandwich, in particular, has found its way into some rather hilarious situations.
 
Miller and Pegula sat they've enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame. Stay tuned. The duo has been taking requests and additional photo ops are in progress. Not wanting to give away too much, they revealed the possibility of the classic Pittsburgh parking chair, or perhaps an angle on the Fort Pitt Tunnel.
 
"We hope to release a version that lets us easily push out new content without having to go through the Apple review process,” Pegula says. “We’ve gotten lots of suggestions and additions and are always looking for more.”

Writer: Deb Smit
Source: Colin Miller and Matt Pegula, Deeplocal

Image of Colin and Rick courtesy Deeplocal