needed to view most of the images on this Web site - just a couple of clicks and you're "good to go."
Welcome
Photos of Larryblakeley
http://www.royblakeley.name/larry_blakeley/larryblakeley_photos_jpeg.htm
(Contact Info: larry at larryblakeley dot com)
Important Note: You will need to click this icon to download the free needed to view most of the images on this Web site - just a couple of clicks and you're "good to go."
I manage this Web site and the following Web sites: Leslie (Blakeley) Adkins - my oldest daughter
Lori Ann Blakeley (June 20, 1985 - May 4, 2005) - my middle daughter
Evan Blakeley- my youngest child
This website is for others that enjoy "lifelong learning" and to those pioneers at the bottom of the 
of knowledge that have contributed to a better understanding of the complex process of creating, manipulating, presenting, recording, distributing, communicating, organizing, locating, protecting and preserving digital information. To these pioneers, we will forever be indebted.
Note: The image above is One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World , The Great Pyramid of Khufu, http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/wonders/, Alaa K. Ashmawy, Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of South Florida.
This is not a commercial website (in other words it's not created for selling products, tracking your interests with spware, breaking up your concentration with ad pop-ups and whatever evil doings comes along with the marketing department), but rather intended for educational purposes only. The only way for me to prevent that is to keep you in my website as long as possible, or furnish hyperlinks to non-commercial websites for further travel - for the most part I have succeeded, I believe.
Purposes of this Web site:
Search for knowledge and truth. (Dave Winer's recommendation for programmers http://davenet.scripting.com/1997/05/07/Programmers)
Share my knowledge with others and
for further learning.
- "The Knowledge Warriors http://www.larryblakeley.com/experts/jonathon_levy/knowledge_warriors.htm, " Jonathon Levy http://www.larryblakeley.com/experts/jonathon_levy/jonathon_levy.htm, February, 2004
For an example of sharing knowledge:
In the spring of 1998 when I left NationsBank (now Bank of America) I spent 3 months reading books and studying nothing but database design. When I felt comfortable that I knew about as much as I was going to learn from that method I incorporated my tables as designed prior into Microsoft's Access database program.
Why would I do this when I could probably buy a program for this? Several reasons came to mind.
- I could not think of any reason to enable a computer expert to gain control of my business after 25 years of managing oil and gas properties just because he was able to move electrons around in a software program - it just did not make sense to fall victim to someone that knows diddle- squat about what my business process needs are. "The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made." - Groucho Marx. This and others from him here. http://www.royblakeley.name/larry_blakeley/quotations/quotes_groucho_marx.htm
- I don't feel comfortable with letting a computer, or a computer software program (which are way over priced 90% of the time, in fact, venturing close to digital robbery) take my data in and then move it around without my knowledge of what's happening to it.
- My needs may change from client to client and industry to industry - as to what they need in a database infrastructure.
- Flexibility, flexibility, flexibility
- Integration, integration, integration
- And, lastly because I love "learning" new ways of being productive in the most cost-efficient way I can. To me that's the only reason to use software/computer technology is to be an enabler to accomplish business processes as effective as the pre-PC days, but faster and more cost efficient.
Click on the hyperlinks:
DjVu http://www.larryblakeley.com/database.djvu (Visio flowchart)
DjVu http://www.larryblakeley.com/products/data_creation/relationships_oil_gas_database.djvu (Microsoft Access flowchart)
PDF http://www.larryblakeley.com/database.pdf (Visio flowchart)
Fortunately, I must have done something right because I have made very few changes in this design since then and have accounted for millions of dollars of revenue and expenses and thousands of division orders using this management system.
I have also used Access as the database for document indexing of my scanned documents. I currently connect Access interface and query functioning into Extended Systems Advantage Database on my server for better multiple computer access performance. http://www.larryblakeley.com/products/data_creation/data_creation.htm
Promote Promote "Adaptive Hypermedia," the aim of which is "to provide the user with a more efficient method of information navigation (browsing interesting pages) and information retrieval (searching for a specific goal). The word ‘efficient’ used in this context means finding the right information quickly, easily and with fewer backtracks." - Christopher Bailey, Nine Month Report (on adaptive hypermedia) - 30th June, 2000," IAM Intelligence Agents Multimedia Research Group, Department of Electronics and Computer Science,University of Southampton, Southampton, UK. http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~cpb/oldsite/work/phd/9mreport/report.html"
"Adaptive Hypermedia," the aim of which is "to provide the user with a more efficient method of information navigation (browsing interesting pages) and information retrieval (searching for a specific goal). The word ‘efficient’ used in this context means finding the right information quickly, easily and with fewer backtracks." - Christopher Bailey, "
"Multimedia and Hypertext: The Internet and Beyond," Book by Jakob Nielsen, published by Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco (originally published by AP Professional, Boston, MA), 1995.
ISBN 0-12-518408-5 (paperback). http://www.useit.com/jakob/mmhtbook.htmlPeter Brusilovsky http://www.sis.pitt.edu/~peterb/, Department of Information Science and Telecommunications, School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh for further research direction.
"Way Out of the Box," Theodor Holm Nelson's summary of the computer field today, Keio University and University of Southampton, http://ted.hyperland.com/TQdox/zifty.d9-TQframer.html
Provide this digital library as a gateway for a safe learning environment.
Search for, try out, and make recommendations on affordable products.
Provide an overview of the processes of creating, manipulating, presenting, recording, distributing, communicating, organizing, locating, protecting and preserving digital information.
Provide a roadmap for further research and study of knowledge and information management systems.
Emphasize and promote web-based digital libraries, as the frontier of knowledge.
Promote reading as a source for learning - the one constant in the learning process that remains true, even in today's digital environment.
Promote freedom of speech and open access to information.
Aid students and lifelong learners by enabling faster access to resources for searching and retrieving areas of interest.
Research and report on management styles and business processes recommended by experts in today's rapidly changing environment.
Highlight pioneers and visionaries of the information age.
Highlight foundations and organizations of philanthropy that share the core values, among others, of Integrity, Respect for All People, Belief in Individual Leadership, Commitment to Effectiveness, and Capacity to Think Big - Wow! - what an organization to represent!
It doesn't have to always be "take the money and run." Some of them, somewhere along the way, realized they couldn't take it with them to their "greater reward," made a decision to stop, look around at their fellow human beings, and give back, by sharing along their terms - which, by the way, are very workable. As an example, "The values of The David and Lucile Packard Foundation" http://www.packard.org/genericDetails.aspx?RootCatID=2&CategoryID=184
- see http://www.royblakeley.name/larry_blakeley/philanthropy.htm
Encourage the development of cyberspace communities for trusted collaboration and learning environments.
And, lastly, my catch-all-statement, "anything else that interests me, or I believe may interest someone else."
"A healthy democratic society requires a literate citizenry. But what is an informatively literate citizenry in the information age? The ability to locate, organize, evaluate, and communicate information takes on new urgency in a world driven increasingly by information and the technologies developed to create, distribute, and manage it. Properly understood, information literacy goes beyond access to the technology itself and addresses barriers to full, effective, and knowledgeable participation in an information society......Policymakers and business and community leaders must work together to search for ways to improve opportunities and outcomes for learning and enhanced information literacy for all members of society. The FOCAS encourages all stakeholders to join these efforts to identify workable solutions to the challenge of information literacy as we prepare to enter the 21st century." - Information Literacy: Advancing Opportunities for Learning in the Digital Age, A Report of The Aspen Institiute Forum on Communications and Society, 1999, Richard P. Adler, Rapporteur http://www.larryblakeley.com/Articles/information_literacy.htm
By understanding information and knowledge management systems, you will be better able to stay focused on improving your business "processes" in order to be more efficient and competitive. It's not that these processes are complicated if taken a step at a time, but that the compounding effect of the total stages taken as a whole makes it very difficult to understand and stay focused.
But, really, in the final analysis, business processes are performed by people, just like you and me. Technology should be used to improve and streamline these processes.
I believe organizations would be better off with staying with what they have than expecting technology to be the "silver bullet" to improving the firm's work processes. I also believe that the "organization man," ("The Organization Man," William Whyte, Doubleday, 1956, http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/whyte-main.html) or middle manager should not be looked upon to implement new technology solely. I believe that these changes involve a "social change," as much as a "technological change." These changes have to be important to the leader. Without due attention to the social aspects will quite possibly create disorganization, a feeling of loss of control, decreased morale, and an overall atmosphere of confusion. If your competitors are more successful than your organization at this, then they end up with the competitive advantage.