I'm looking forward to hosting this session at the upcoming netsquared event. I'm open to suggestions on what to talk about, but here's what I have so far (based on our work at the Institute For The Future):

* What is Open Innovation?

* How can today's citizens participate?

* New skills to succeed in a Web 2.0 world

I'm working on a interactive piece to my session as well. Haven't figured it out yet, but stay tuned.

As there seem to be so many projects at N2Y3 that involve a mapping component, I though I would introduce myself and make some connections.

My mind is rather blown with some of the latest developments in online mapping, having just returned from Where 2.0 in San Francisco.

My background is in Drupal development, and I've done a lot with the Google Map module. You can see some of the stuff at the beta of Green Map's project for N2Y3 - the Open Green Map. If anyone has questions about how to do this, I'd love to get a mapping session going in the hack room at N2Y3.

Like many Internet activists, I wear many hats:

Just wanted to introduce myself to the netsquared community - I'm the co-founder of the free forum hosting service, lefora.com. Before this I was part of meetro - the location-aware friend finder. Prior to meetro I was at IBM, where I was helping to shape social software within the enterprise.

I'm originally from nyc, been out here for almost 3 years now, absolutely loving everything the bay area has to offer, from technology and open competition, to remote get-aways just a ferry ride away.

How I'm helping...

Just a quick reminder that the deadline to register for the NetSquared Conference (N2Y3) is tomorrow, Friday, May 16th. The Conference will be held at Cisco Systems' Vineyard Conference Center in San Jose, California on May 27 and 28.

Check out the N2Y3 Working Agenda, the 21 NetSquared Mashup Challenge Projects whose work will be featured at the Conference, and register today!

We've extended the deadline to book rooms at the Hilton Santa Clara for the $129 rate until May 16 2008. Book online or call 408.330.000.

You can find a ride or room to share on the N2Y3 Ride Share and Room Share Wiki.

Questions? Email net2@techsoup.org.

We couldn't do the work we do at NetSquared without the support of our generous sponsors. Help us say thanks by giving their sites a click, and read more about their work on our Netsquared Sponsors page. If you'd like to partner with NetSquared, contact Kris Sowalla at ksowolla@techsoup.org

Flickr photo credit: Advice by Laughlin Elkind.

As a representative of one of the N2Y3 featured projects (the KnowMore.org Firefox Extension), I thought it would be helpful to e-mail all of the N2Y2 featured projects and ask them for their best piece of advice for this year's featured projects. WOW! Over the last few days, I got some AMAZING responses from 11 of last year's featured projects – including last year's top three prize winners! They're both practical and inspiring and definitely worth checking out - even if you're not a N2Y3 featured project! 

We've got 3 deadlines coming up. Please pass them on to interested folks:

May 16: Deadline to register for the 2008 NetSquared Conference (N2Y3). The NetSquared Conference will take place May 27th – 28th, 2008 (just after Memorial Day) at the Cisco Systems’ Vineyard Conference Center in San Jose, California. Check out the Working Agenda and register today!

May 19: Deadline to submit your idea for how to mashup the Network for Good donation processing service with other services to make it easier for nonprofits to raise money online.

The team working on Social Actions is busy preparing the NetSquared Mashup Challenge. Below is a very draft dress rehearsal of some of the ideas we want to convey at the conference. Your feedback is welcome. Please use the comment form below to let me know if the ideas expressed hear will resonate with attendees at the conference.

Thank you Justin Massa of MoveSmart.org (also a finalist in the NetSquared Mashup Challenge) for the collaborative opportunity and for throwing such great questions at me.

Note: The opinions expressed in this video are my own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other team members working on Social Actions or any of the participating social action platforms.

A few weeks ago, Asa Dotzler of Firefox wrote a post about our featured project and quest for developer support. The same day, Bernard Dolan made a shout-out to the Strange Famous Records Forum. Over the days that followed, a number of talented developers from all over the world sent emails offering their help & support. Wow!