Starting this Friday, the NetSquared team will be at the South By Southwest Interactive Conference in Austin, Texas. The SXSWi conference is an opportunity for online media experts to get together for in-person networking and learning. If you're going to be there, we'd love for you to get in touch. Here's what we'll be up to:

In some ways, the impact of the recent earthquake in Chile wasn't as immediately obvious as that of the earthquake in Haiti. President Michelle Bachelet initially refused foreign aid, but as the death toll has grown, the need for an international response has become obvious. This week, the American Red Cross increased its original response pledge to a quarter of a million dollars.

"Last week, we put together Sunlight.Live, a site that helped thousands of people follow the White House's health care summit, alongside real-time data on the members of Congress who were in the crowd," explains Gabriela Schneider, Communications Director at Sunlight Foundation. "I think there may be a lot of translatable material - even for issues far outside politics, or events that aren't live - as implementation process and necessary technology would (or could) be the same for a large number of other uses."

The Sacramento Water For People Committee invites you to celebrate World Water Day 2010. This year’s official WWD theme, water quality, brings into focus the need for clean, well-managed water supplies worldwide. 

About the Event

The Keynote Speaker will be the inspirational CEO of Water For People, Ned Breslin, who will be coming from Denver, CO to share stories of his experiences with several NGOs in the water and sanitation sector since the 1980s. Live music will be played at the event by the popular San Francisco-based Brazilian soul band, Boca do Rio!The event also includes:

The San Francisco NetSquared organizer team needs help on two fronts: Logistics and sponsorships.

Details:

Logistics: We need help prior to, during, and after each Meetup. Prior to the event, we need a point person to coordinate with the hosting venue. At the event we need help with setup of drinks/snacks, chairs and any tech support resources (livestream crew, projectors, etc.). After the event we need help breaking down and making sure everything is squeaky clean before we turn the lights out and call it a night. If you're the party host type, you will love this gig.

The Social Media for Social Good collection from NTEN and NetSquared calls for your case studies in leveraging social media tools in your program work.

Social Media for Social Good

Everywhere you turn, you’re hearing about social media. Especially when it comes to fundraising. But at NTEN and NetSquared, we know that social media is good for a lot more than raising money. We know that social media can be used to change the world. That’s why we’re launching the Social Media for Social Good case study collection!

This post is cross-posted from the #4Change blog here.

Running campaigns in support of one or many great causes can be very time consuming and demanding for all of those who are determined to make a change. It seems easier in the beginning when a fresh campaign for a cause is just launched – supporters are jumping on board, influencers are engaged, buzz is flying about, awareness is spreading, change is happening. But what happens when the social magic begins to wear off and change starts to feel more like a chore then a contribution?

Don't know your VoIP from your POTS or even what these acronyms mean? Scratching your head on all the phone system options out there? Then this webinar is for you. Join us Thursday February 18 at 11 a.m. Pacific for an informative webinar and forums event to help you avoid the buzz-word marketing and get the real picture on telecommunications. We'll be joined by telecommunications expert and longtime TechSoup star and forums moderator, Chris Shipley of Nutmeg IT and Kevin Lo, Lead Technology Analyst for TechSoup Global. Our hosts will address the various voice communication options (VoIP, PBX hardware, voicemail) available and how these differ.

The Real-Time Web and Its Future, a new report from ReadWriteWeb, focused on the changing ecosystem of the Web, one that runs in real-time.  "For the following report, we interviewed 50 companies, developers and executives building or leveraging real-time Web technology. We combined that research with insights gained from more than 300 industry leaders that participated in our Real-Time Web Summit in October 2009.