Last week Google announced their new privacy policy to the world. The changes in the way that Google combines and uses information one shares with its services is effective in less than a month, on March the 1st. There is a few absolutely basic facts that every Internet user (be it a Google ID user or not) should be aware of in the context of the change, and I will try to brief them here. I would love to learn and understand how exactly non-profit organizations will be affected by the new policy -- I understand that this is a very complex issue, and it is still hard to distill how this situation will be different and unique for the civil sector in particular. It doesn’t make the questions any less important or urging for an answer though. The new Google Privacy Policy run about 10,000 words, and I strongly recommend the read.

Starting March 1st any information that Google engines tracked so far, and used for customizing a specific tool of your use (e.g. you must have noted the search results being differently positioned based on how you used the engine before) will be now available almost across the entire spectrum of Google products: “If you're signed in, we may combine information you've provided from one service with information from other services (...). In short, we'll treat you as a single user across all our products, which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience.”-- Google's director of privacy, product and engineering, Alma Whitten wrote in a blog post. 

This webinar to happen on Feb 9 is the second one in the TechSoup Digital Storytelling series. It will provide you with great tips for shooting your video, and will be run by David J. Neff.  You'll learn:
 
• What equipment is right for your organization
• How to set up a good shot
• Considerations for capturing indoor, outdoor and event footage
 
David J. Neff is the Co-Founder and CEO of Lights. Camera. Help. He would say that he is a author, teacher, speaker, blogger, network weaver, and social media scientist. For over 10 years he has been helping people and nonprofits focus on doing good all across the world. He did this through 9 years at the American Cancer Society as the Director of Web, Film and Interactive Strategy. While there he started their film and documentary department. David also shot a full-length documentary and owned and operated a film production company here in Austin, TX. @daveiam
 
Be sure to check out the TS Digs page for more information:  http://www.tsdigs.org  

As mentioned earlier this week, we held the Global Leadership Council kick-off meeting on Friday, January 20, 2012. It was awesome to get the members on the phone for introductions as well as a discussion about expectations for the year and to jump into a conversation about the recent NetSquared surveys. Marc Manashil, NetSquared’s Community Evangelist, moderated the conversation while several others from the NetSquared team observed.

The Discussion:
The main focus of the discussion was to review lessons learned from the NetSquared surveys that had been distributed to Local organizers and the community at-large. Members reflected and shared insights on the following questions:

• What do you see as the biggest challenge Net2 is facing this year?
• What is the greatest opportunity that we need to seize during 2012?
• What topic or theme would like us to devote a meeting discussion to this year?

“While the barrier to video production and distribution tools has lowered greatly in recent years, many organizations miss the opportunity to present their stories, lacking the skills to use the tools effectively” -- says TechSoup Global Online Community Manager Michael DeLong -- “That is why we want to provide trainings, resources, and inspiration for NGOs to create and tell their compelling stories. 

We are very excited to announce the members of the 2012 Global Leadership Council:

• April Kyle, San Francisco, California, USA
• Aysegul Guzel, Istanbul, Turkey
• Eduardo Bejar, Guayaquil, Eduador
• Eli van der Giessen, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• Ivan Boothe, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
• John Wells, Sydney, Australia
• Maria Zaghi, Guatemala City, Guatemala
• Moorthi PV, Silicon Valley, California, USA
• Steven Flower, Manchester, United Kingdom
• Tierney Smith, Toronto, Canada
• Yudi Emmanuel, Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire

Congratulations and welcome! This inspiring group of NetSquared Local leaders will work together to help us improve NetSquared programs and services. We cannot wait to see what ideas and solutions surface over this coming year.

This last blog in the Net2 2012 Look Ahead blog series focuses on the mobile world, and how it is revolutionizing the way we think about social change. I talked it through with Dale Zak, a mobile software developer passionate about helping people in need.

Over the past three years, Dale has contributed to Ushahidi's crowdsourced crisis mapping platform (to learn more about Ushahidi in the context of Net2 watch this net2allstar video), helped The Extraordinaries build their micro-volunteer system, as well as developed open source plugins for FrontlineSMS. He also coordinated several social good initiatives including organizing Mobile Tech 4 Social Change conference in Halifax, formed Apps4Good to bring together software developers to build apps for charity, established Repurposed Labs to re-purpose used computers into public internet terminals for low income communities, and deployed I Vote Because map to spark a pro-democracy movement why voting is important in Canada. This past December Dale travelled to Lusaka to teach Zambia’s first mobile development workshop at the BongoHive.

Dale’s interests and experience intersect with these of NetSquared on many levels -- the technology one, the social change one, as well as the international reach one. Dale has lived and traveled to different countries; he understands the diversity of social problems, and has worked his way through global projects. 

Read this short interview with Dale to learn more about how mobiles can change the world, and what they will be changing in the technology world in 2012. I also strongly encourage you to check out Dale’s blog, especially the articles on Building Technology vs. Solving Problems and Harnessing The Power Of Mobile, as well as the blog post from the iHub Nairobi in which he shares his thoughts on mobile design.

Due to the technical issues connected to recording a skype interview with Dale, I have been forced to push the publishing date to next Monday. It will still be January, so it totally makes it as a perfect closure for the series (let me remind you, that so far you read about SOPA & ACTA, the  Green Tech trends, as well as the future of Web Design).

Fundacja TechSoup, which I’m working at (Fundacja is a European hub for the TechSoup Global Network), is running a project that is to be developed in 10 new Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The Project is funded by the Mott Foundation and serves as a great and challenging opportunity.

The following post, third in the Net2 2012 Look Ahead series, focuses on protips for making the way you run your office more environmentally friendly. The article is authored by Jim Lynch who is TechSoup Global's Co-Director of the GreenTech program, as well as the Community Driven Innovation team member. Jim has been involved in creating all of TechSoup’s environmental programs. He has written extensively on electronics recycling and reuse, cloud computing, greening offices, and many other green IT subjects. Over the years he has been interviewed on computer recycling and related issues by the Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, Voice of America, PC World Magazine, and many other news outlets. 

This TechSoup webinar run by Rich Vazquez will cover what you need to know before you record your video. Topics include: 

• The importance of storytelling 
• Creating a script and production Guide 
• Finding free music, stock video and photography