I've written up a summary about how we are using Facebook combined with news to support online organizing to stop climate change. This is based on our work with Hot Dish, the climate change news publication with the action team contest I posted about earlier. There are a bunch of examples and screenshots to help describe and explain the various capabilities available with this type of approach. We also just added a live chat feature on our news story pages that is worth checking out.

http://blog.newscloud.com/2009/03/applying-hot-dish-technology-to-online-organizing-.html

I want to share news about a project I've been deeply involved in the past few months which may provide some new ways for mission driven organizations to combine news and social networking to raise awareness for their causes and improve their effectiveness.

NewsCloud is seeking applicants for the following contract positions. There are four contract slots at this time:

1) Multidisciplinary Software Project and Partnership/Outreach/Marketing Manager

2) PHP/Facebook Developer I

3) PHP/Facebook Developer II

4) Web Community Moderator, Customer Support and Fulfillment

Full listings are available here...
http://www.newscloud.com/jobs

I've updated the Social Media Toolkit to v0.11 with a number of features taken from the NewsCloud platform:

This year, Knight's News Challenge applications are open for public review. We're encouraging NewsCloud readers and open source developers to take a look at and rate our applications. This year, we are entering three related projects:

I am happy to share an early testing release of the NewsCloud Social Media Toolkit with you.

We're having our first code meetup in Seattle. This is the first in what will hopefully be a monthly series on open source code development and the NewsCloud platform.

At the first session, we'll be talking about LAMP-based open source development tools and the open source Facebook Application Newsroom framework. If you're interested in learning more about Facebook application development, this will be a great introductory session.

I recommend that you have basic PHP/MySQL skills to get the most from this session.

Please RSVP so we can keep a headcount of how many people to expect.

WHEN: Tuesday, April 22, 6:30 - 8:30 PM
WHERE: Uptown Espresso meeting room in Belltown (corner of 4th and Wall)

LEARN MORE:
http://blog.newscloud.com/2008/04/reminder-open-s.html

The Polar Bear Conservancy is a creative nonprofit here in Seattle. The ExDir
asked me to put the word out for a good Drupal contractor to help them migrate
their Web site platform. They basically have a simple iWeb site right now
(http://www.polarbearconservancy.org).

Their mission is to migrate three thousand polar bears to Antarctica in a
bipartisan effort to save the species -- the first drop goes South on Earth Day
in just a few weeks!

If you're interested, you can contact them at info@polarbearconservancy.org.

You can read more about them here:
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/3/31/155730/362

I'd appreciate it if you could spread the word! Thanks!

Hi all, awhile ago you may remember me griping about the ineffectiveness of Facebook Groups and Pages. They are easy to set up, but they are also quite limited in functionality. These features are not conducive to community-building, engagement or organizing.

Today, I'm releasing the first beta of a new open source Facebook Newsroom CMS application framework.

See the demonstration application site at Facebook:
http://apps.facebook.com/newsdemo

Today, I'm excited to announce the Drupal Newsroom Module beta powered by NewsCloud. The Drupal Newsroom provides an excellent way to add dynamic current events and news to your Drupal-powered Web site. It's also a great way to stimulate involvement and discussion in your online member community.

The Drupal Newsroom module provides a page for your Drupal-powered Web site with news stories based on specific topic(s) from NewsCloud.com or populated by your staff or site members. The newsroom module allows your members to browse headlines, read stories, vote, comment and post new articles.