...or, more importantly, what the meaning of engagement here is, as well as its CONTEXT.  We were looking over the posts since we began the engagement campaign and realized a few items need clarification.

First off, when we use the word engagement here, we're talking about community building through collaboration.  N2 just wants to open up conversation with its users through the blog in order to learn from you what type of content is of best value to you for your operations.  And on top of that, we want to encourage you to engage one another.

Happy New Year, everyone!  We all know what this time of year means for blogs around the world: resolutions and predictions.  Why not share those predictions with the NetSquared community?

Topic:

This month, your Net2 Think Tank topic asks, “What do you think will be the big changes, new technologies, hot applications, or successful campaigns of 2009?”  If you want to read some thoughts before you get going, check out these posts as starting points:

The Vodafone Americas Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of its Wireless Innovation Challenge, a new competition that seeks to identify and fund the best innovations using wireless related technology to address critical social issues around the world.

Congratulations to the top three finalists in the USAID Development 2.0 Challenge! There were 115 projects submitted, and the community narrowed the list down to just 15 in December. The USAID judging panel has reviewed the featured projects and announced the top 3!

USAID Challenge Finalists:

These varied social media suggestions make up the third part of my on-going case study of and strategy suggestions for the United Church of Christ's social media strategy, it's attempt to resonance with young people (Millennials in particular), and its potentially forward-moving direction.

Alex Steed's recent connective predictions post got us at Social Ch@nge thinking about the future of technology and civil society. Here's our predictions for 2009 and beyond, based on some of the trends we've been watching at Social Ch@nge this year.

1) Cells will save lives

Over the holidays, online changemakers did not cease to churn out news. Below you will find the latest Social Actions round-up, bringing us up to date with the movers and shakers of online social activism. We'd like to start the New Year by featuring three breaking stories.

i-Vission International, the same organization managing the Douala Net Tuesday, is organizing an international colloquium in Douala, Cameroon, for February 19-21, 2009, and is currently calling for papers.  The topic is:  The Impact of Cyber Criminality on the Economy of a Developing Nation.

The deadline to submit an essay is January 19, 2009.  More details below.

3-Day Colloquium

The Impact of Cyber Criminality on the Economy of a Developing Nation

In such a me-manner, I began editing and paring down another entry from my UCC Social Media Case Study and I ended up with more text than I began with. The following, an address of "social media strategy/implementation" versus engineering, the importance of reading books, talking with people and fertilizing "mind gardens," and the relevance of organizers and intellectuals published before 2000, was a tangental thought that best stands alone.

Okay, I'm back.

Thanks to you who are emailing me privately and commenting here on the blog.  Let's jump right in.  I got this message anonymously (this is part of a longer email)...

"I have a somewhat specific interest that I thought I'd pass along in the spirit of two-way media.  I am a young professional working at a membership-based environmental nonprofit.  My background is nontechnical...  I am trying to transition some...academic knowledge into job skills.