The monthly Community Builder chat series is part of the #4Change community of regularly scheduled chats, bringing together people from around the world to talk about examples, practices, tips and more as we all explore the way technology can be used for social change.  This is the second in what will be a monthly series of chats specifically focused on Community Building.

When:

• Date: September 16th
• Time: 4 pm Eastern, 9 pm UK (duration: 1 hour)
• Visit: Launch the Chat (not active until the 16th)

Topics:

This post is reposted from the #4Change blog.

Every month, a group called #4Change organizes open & lively conversations about how web-connected communities and our use of social media tools are helping to create change in the world. #4Change Chats are hosted on Twitter - Read “Join the Conversation” below for ways to jump into the discussion.

The next #4change chat is this Thursday – we hope you can join us!

Details:

• Date: Oct, 8th

• Where: Twitter (search for #4Change)

• When: 2 – 4 pm US Pacific Time, 5 – 7 pm US Eastern Time, 10pm - 12am London, UK (Late!)

• Topic: How does the web & social media change the way we address climate change?

Are you looking for awesome jobs in the tech/ social media/ social enterprise/ nonprofit space?

I am, and I've found it frustrating to have to search for jobs everyday on a bunch of different sites and forums. So, as a project for rock stars for hire (in collaboration with Rachel Weidinger and Alex Steed), I mashed together a tool that brings job posts to me – by delivering them to my inbox every morning.

And the fun part is - you can use it too! Subscribe to a daily email newsletter of job opportunities here!

Josh Catone (@Catone) recently shared a post on Mashable entitled, How To Use the Web for Socially Responsible Shopping. In the post, Josh profiled nine sites that “offer information for the conscious consumer about the companies and products we buy every day.”

Josh did an excellent job highlighting and bringing together an array of awesome tools: Knowmore, GoodGuide, Crocodyl, ClimateCounts, Transnationale, Corporate Critic, Citizens Market, Do the Right Thing, and Source Map.

And then in the comments, the Mashable community shared more great resources: Tuggly, MadeinNations, Business & Human Rights, EthiScore, Vanno, GreenLighted, and Zumer.

As well, there are even more useful sites which feature green & sustainability ratings – like 3rdWhale & GenGreen (who announced a partnership last night) GreenAmerica, Bilumi, BadBuster, & SustainLane. The list definitely goes on!

The thing is, after you read the post – you're left wondering: “Who is bringing all this data together?”

Who's making it easy to search across these sites? Who's working on making sense of the data – to potentially create aggregate profiles or scores. Who's working on open standards and formats so sites can talk to each other? Who's facilitating an Open API (like the Social Actions API & WiserEarth API) – to spread this information where it can be most relevant online? Who's figuring out the business & collaboration models so open sharing can be more likely to happen?

Catone's post changes the game because it forces us to look at the green shopping sector as a whole and wonder how we can help take it to the next level.

What do you think? How can we support and leverage this exploding sector to ultimately empower millions of people to shop in ways that create a better environmental & social impact?

Excited for your thoughts!

Originally posted on the 4Change blog, here.

The June #4Change chat topic focused on Challenges/Competitions for Social Change. Early on in that online chat, the request emerged for a compendium or other list of “all” the Challenges and Competitions focused on social benefit. Such an overview would let those interested in participating or facilitating a competition review the full landscape of options, characteristics of each, and so on.