Domino Theory Blog

Some activity at Topplers.org

In case you haven't checked out topplers.org lately I wanted to let you know a few things:

- We recently made some small changes to the main page. Added some widgets (blog and twitter), and moved the news stories front and center.
- Also, there have been a few dominos moving. You'll see that in the news feed.
- Lastly, we just finished our requirements document for Topplers v2. Lots of neat ideas in there, and hopefully we'll find someone to help us make it happen. If you know anyone who is a web designer, web programmer, etc., who could help please have them contact info@topplers.org.

@topplers

I've been using twitter for over two years. It's been amazing watching it grow, especially the last few months. Funny that all that time I never saw the obvious connection between twitter and my goal of advancing the concepts in Domino Theory!

I set up the topplers account on twitter last fall, but it sat idle until recently. Lately I've been enjoying putting out quick messages on twitter. When I think of something regarding Topplers/Domino Theory it's easy to shoot that out. But, even more interesting is the notion of retweeting (RT) and replying (@xxx) other people's tweets that have something to do with Domino Theory. Most are random act of kindness kinds of things.

Sure, it's cool to see what others are doing. But, there's more to it than that. What if all these people could somehow track their impact? What if you took one small act, a tweet, and could see that it lead to another act, that lead to another, that ended up doing something really cool. It's a PERFECT example of what we mean when we say "Setting Big Things in Motion."

It would be cool to brag that tens of thousands of people were following Topplers on twitter - and there are ways to make that happen. However, that's not the strategy we're following.

The idea is to tip a few dominos and see what happens. If it ends up with a bunch of people following Topplers that's great. Or, when we eventually have more dominos ready for people to pass on to each other maybe the twitter world will gobble them up? That would be good too. But for now, this is just one more step in the grand experiment I started called Domino Theory - now a production of Topplers (cool).

here's the link to follow us on twitter.

2009 Domino Award Winners

One of the things I am most proud of is the Domino Award. It was an idea that I came up with a few years back: get computer science students at the University of Colorado (my alma mater) to see how others have impacted the world, encourage them to do the same, help them along the way, and track their progress.

This year was the third year of the award. As topples go, at times it looked like the dominos weren't going to fall this year, but thanks to help and support of my partner in crime Professor Clayton Lewis, they tipped. And now, we have two more young minds in this world thinking how they can make a big impact!

Special thanks to this year's judges:

Assoc. Professor Ken Andersen
Professor Clayton Lewis
Ret. Professor Evi Nemeth
Kelly Anne Shuster (pervious winner)
Ben Whaley (previous winner)

Here's the official announcement that Professor Lewis put together. I look forward to seeing how these dominos tip in the years ahead!

Finally, we're hoping to expand the program and are looking for financial support. Even small amounts help. If you are interested please contact me.

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Computer Science students Michael Ton and Jonathan Mai were recently named recipients of the 2009 Domino Award. The Domino Award is given annually to Computer Science students for an outstanding essay honoring the impact that other computer scientists have made on modern society. Essays were judged for their ability to clearly communicate how the honoree's work set in motion a "series of dominos" that changed the world. The award is based on Domino Theory:

... a framework that helps people understand that no matter how large or small your hopes and dreams are, you can meet them by seeing the world around you as a set of dominos. Sometimes the dominos need to be "set up", other times the dominos are just waiting to be tipped over. Either way, one tip leads to the next, and before long something big is happening. No longer will you be saying to yourself, "Oh, I just can't make a difference so why try." All it takes is one small strategic action to Set Big Things In Motion!

The Domino Award was created by serial entrepreneur and CU Computer Science alumnus Herbert Morreale (BS 1991) and CS Professor Clayton Lewis.

Winners receive a $500 cash award and an all expenses paid trip to the next Telluride Tech Festival, a "Celebration of the Past, Present and Future of Technology".

Ton's essay recognized William Shockley, Walter Brattain, and John Bardeen, inventors of the transistor, while Mai's reviewed the career of Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft.

Clayton Lewis
Professor of Computer Science
Scientist in Residence, Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities
University of Colorado
http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~clayton

Topple Video

It's been a while since I posted a video. I like to post them because they convey important Domino Theory concepts. A few that stand out in this one:

• Setting in things in motion is fun, and people of all ages "get it"
• Sometimes no matter how much work you put into setting off a chain reaction it might not go as you had hoped (several places in this topple fail to fail despite the obvious expertise of the creator).
• There are different elements in a topple (towers, bridges, tricks, etc.) These are very impactful but harder to setup.

I want to eventually see Topplers go out to schools and setup topples like this. But, while doing so explain to the kids that the world is just like a set of dominos. Each of us is sets things in motion all the time. But, we can learn to do it with purpose, and get better and better all the time to increase our positive impact on the world.

How Dominos Move From Person to Person

I was recently asked about the mechanics of tipping dominos.  Here's you go:

Five Steps:

1. You get a domino. 
2. You register the domino.
3. You learn about the history of the domino and it's "purpose" (how to keep the topple going).
4. You "TIP"the domino (pass it on).
5. When the domino is registered by the next person, you confirm the registration.

More details...

Getting a Domino
Someone TIPS one to you.
You request one by sending email to info@topplers.org
You sign up for a Toppler's Event (announced via the blog or Facebook).
Order one online (coming soon).

Registering a Domino
Done at topplers.org.  Takes about a minute.  Has the option of being totally anonymous. 

Learn about the Purpose
Every domino has a purpose.  The hope is that the people that receive the domino will read the purpose, see the history of notes collected regarding the domino's journey, and feel inspired to pass on the domino (and possibly request more dominos).

TIPPING
This is the best part - the joy that comes with keeping the topple going.  Some people hand it directly to a person with a personal request to help expand the topple, others pass them on anonymously.

Confirming Registration
After the domino has been TIPPED and then registered by the new owner, a message is sent to the previous owner confirming the TIP.  After this, you can track the domino as it continues on it's journey, knowing that you made you made it all possible.

The topplers.org website makes this all possible, but it's a very basic "first cut."  We have a new site in the works - stay tuned.

What's Up?

Time for an update on Topplers and Domino Theory...

News from the Board:
We continue to meet weekly and make excellent progress pulling together all the things we need to bring Topplers to life. This includes: 2009-2010 strategic plan, IRS filing for non-profit status, simple one-pager describing the organization, and requirements for topplers.org v2.0. Our lawyer recently provided his first round comments, and it looks like we can officially file in the next week or so. At that point, all our attention will be on the v2.0 requirements, and lining up people to help build it.

2009 Domino Award:
Topples is proud to sponsor the Domino Award at the University of Colorado. This years winners were both freshman: Mike Ton and John Mai. They wrote outstanding essays honoring someone from the field of computer science, and were judged for their ability to clearly communicate how the honoree’s work set in motion a “series of dominos” that changed the world. There will be separate post to the blog regarding the Domino Award (including links to their papers).

Twitter:
Yes, twitter is all the rage these days, and now Topplers has joined the fun. Follow us at http://twitter.com/topplers. It turns out that twitter is a great avenue for Topplers to communicate that there are dominos all around us waiting to be tipped into motion, and that people are doing it all the time!

Facebook:
We're here too. In fact, Facebook has become the main communication channel for Topplers lately. We'll keep the blog going, but for now Facebook is the best way to stay up-to-date on what we're up to. We have a group on Facebook with about 140 members. We'll be moving that to a Facebook "page" shortly. The move from a "group" to a "page" gives us more functionality. Once it's ready we'll make the announcement (shortly) and you can "become a fan."

Volunteers Needed:
Topplers is currently an all volunteer organization. We currently have needs in the following area:

• Graphic design skills to help with the look and feel of our blog and website
• Copywriters to help clean up establish a standard for our content
• User-experience professionals, web developers and programmers of all types
• to help us design and build version 2.0 of the website
• Social media and community experts to help us with facebook, twitter, our
• blog and other cool ways to connect with and grow our community

Domino Theory
Herb continues to develop new thoughts on Domino Theory. He's planning to share some of that on the blog in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.