A few months back I was forutnate to talk with Jacob Colker about his experience as cofounder (along with Ben Rigby) of The Extraordinaries. We talked specifically about what he had learned since bringing the idea to last year's Mashup Challenge (the project was then called Volunteer Now).

Things are moving fast for The Extraordinaries these days. They've just won $25,000 at the 2009 WeMedia Miami Pitch It, and are semi-finalists for the 2009 Echoing Green Fellowship. They are gearing up for launch in Apple's App Store in June and Jacob Colker has asked the DC Netsquared Community to help brainstorm around several key issue / theory areas. This Netsquared meetup promises to mostly be a two-way conversation! Come share your skills and experience to help launch this "extraordinary" new project.

cross-posted on frogloop: 

The NetSquared Meetup Group in DC is rocking and rolling. In addition to their monthly Net Tuesday Meetup, there are two other events this month organized by Net2 DC members:

Mon Jan 8 (6-8 PM) Ashoka Fellows and Technology, with Wine and Cheese featuring the Center for Inspired Teaching.

How is the Center for Inspired Teaching using technology to increase impact?  What tools are they using?  What obstacles have they faced?  What have they done to overcome them?
  
Ashoka's Global Office (1700 North Moore Street
19th Floor Conference Room.  Arlington, VA (Rosslyn metro)
RSVP: Lola Hermosillo (lhermosillo@ashoka.org)

Tues Jan. 9 (5:30-9 PM) Second Tuesday New Media Networking and Cocktails with The Capital Cabal and Dozens of New Media Professionals.

Appetizers, drink specials, awesome prizes donated by Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals.

On December 19th, web innovators and social changemakers got together in Washington DC at the Affinity Lab for a discussion entitled, "Building a community of 7 million: Lessons from Care2 for politics, advocacy and fundraising". You can see more photos from the event, and join the NetSquared Washington DC Meetup group here.  Their next Meetup will be on Tuesday,  January 16th.

No Net Tuesday in DC tonight 'cause a lot people are traveling for Thanksgiving, but mark your calendars for a big pre-holiday Meetup December 19th at Affinity Lab, 7 PM.

You can also check out Dr. DigiPol and Justin Miller's blog posts about October's NetSquared Meetup in DC.  For more info. about the NetSquared DC Meetup group, click here. 

Net Tuesday DC is happening next Tuesday, October 17th at 7 PM at Affinity Lab (22451 18th St., NW 2nd Floor). Their speaker, Marty Kearns, the co-founder and Executive Director of Green Media Toolshed, will be talking about "crowd-sourcing" and the Media Volunteer Center, which asks volunteers to give 15 minutes to help maintain a Media Contact Database for nonprofits.  You can check out Marty's blog at Network-Centric Advocacy.

We've got three NetSquared Meetups happening tonight. One on each coast and one in the comfort of your own home.

The Washington DC NetSquared Meetup group will be getting together tonight at 7 PM at the Science Club (1136 19th St NW).  Ryan Ozimek, CEO of Picnet.net, will be speaking,  Picnet will be releasing Soapbox soon, an open source software to help campaigns manage online communities and messaging.