The French American Charitable Trust (FACT) Social Justice Awards were a unique part of the N2Y4 Challenge. Five Featured Projects were awarded a 'bonus' prize of $5,000 a piece (you can see the winners here), but FACT's commitment to this year's crop of finalists didn't end there. To help each of the Featured Projects become sustainable and grow their base of financial support, they provided support for NetSquared to do outreach on behalf of the finalists as well as collect fundraising resources, tips, and tricks into one place.

Today, TED announced their 2010 Senior Fellows - and to our surprise and delight two representatives from N2Y3 winner Ushahidi are on the list. Congratulations to Erik Hersman and Juliana Rotich (and the entire Ushahidi team) on this honor. Below are links to the places where you'll find Ushahidi on the N2 site:

-Ushahidi's original Project Gallery entry
-N2Y3 coverage
-Posts tagged "Ushahidi"

We can't wait to see your "TED Talks" Juliana and Erik!

The first major round of the NetSquared site redesign is now live, but as you click around the site you might be thinking, "Where's the beef?"

Much of this upgrade was focused behind-the-scenes and not as much on the side of the site you see; though that will flip-flop in the next round in a couple weeks.  Below is a run through of what we've implemented so far that you can see, an overview of the dramatic back-end improvements we've made, and a preview of what is still to come in the first half of December.

At N2Y4, a number of projects received an extra, $5,000 prize as part of a grant from the French American Charitable Trust (FACT). In addition to these awards, FACT has generously funded NetSquared and TechSoup Global to provide development assistance to all of the finalists from N2Y4.

At N2Y4, a number of projects received an extra, $5,000 prize as part of a grant from the French American Charitable Trust (FACT). In addition to these awards, FACT has generously funded NetSquared and TechSoup Global to provide development assistance to all of the finalists from N2Y4.

At N2Y4, a number of projects received an extra, $5,000 prize as part of a grant from the French American Charitable Trust (FACT). In addition to these awards, FACT has generously funded NetSquared and TechSoup Global to provide development assistance to all of the finalists from N2Y4.

We are working on a redesign of the NetSquared platform. With feedback from the Community and even from ourselves, we have put together a big list of wishes and needs. After some great redesign mockups, we are inviting the Community back into the conversation to help us continue the process. (Learn more about the redesign here and follow the series.)

Today, we're focusing in on the Project Gallery!

We are working on a redesign of the NetSquared platform. With feedback from the Community and even from ourselves, we have put together a big list of wishes and needs. After some great redesign mockups, we are inviting the Community back into the conversation to help us continue the process. (Learn more about the redesign here, or check out ideas for the homepage.) Today, we're focusing in on the Challenge Gallery!

This was my second NetSquared conference - at N2Y3 I was a competitor with MoveSmart.org and this year worked for NetSquared coordinating the featured projects and helping them prepare for the conference. Both years were intense experiences, although in dramatically different ways.

Now a few weeks removed from the insanity and crash that comes with helping organize a conference, the magic that is a N2YX is becoming clearer and clearer. And, to risk stating the obvious, this magic is due only in part to the fantastic NetSquared team. Without the support and committment of the N2 community none of this would be possible.

My thanks and gratitude go to:

My name is Justin Massa and I'm the Program and Technical Coordinator for NetSquared.

For the past 6 weeks, I've been helping the Featured Projects prepare for the conference. Prepare to be impressed - this year's finalists are an amazing collection of innovators whose work will excite your passion and curiosity. N2Y4 promises to be an amazing few days, and I am very much looking forward to meeting everyone (and seeing a bunch of old friends).