We're having our first code meetup in Seattle. This is the first in what will hopefully be a monthly series on open source code development and the NewsCloud platform.

At the first session, we'll be talking about LAMP-based open source development tools and the open source Facebook Application Newsroom framework. If you're interested in learning more about Facebook application development, this will be a great introductory session.

I recommend that you have basic PHP/MySQL skills to get the most from this session.

Please RSVP so we can keep a headcount of how many people to expect.

WHEN: Tuesday, April 22, 6:30 - 8:30 PM
WHERE: Uptown Espresso meeting room in Belltown (corner of 4th and Wall)

LEARN MORE:
http://blog.newscloud.com/2008/04/reminder-open-s.html

Are you a Seattle-based nonprofit using the social web for social change, or a company that has a cool new social web product that nonprofits could use, or an innovator who has an idea for a new social web tool that you want to try out on a "do-good" audience?

We've got a gig for you.  Seattle's Net Tuesday is looking for speakers.  Net Tuesdays are monthly meetups across the country of social changemakers and web innovators who get together to network and share resources about how nonprofits can use the social web for social change.

Seattle residents typically skip work after 3 pm in August. We head for the beach, the mountains, or some place that gets hotter than 75 degrees in Summer. Since a lot of us are out of town, I thought I'd shake up August's Net Tuesday; I'm throwing out our standard format (one presentation by a non-profit, one by a technologist). I bring you one of my favorite ways to share information: the Speed Geek.

Faster than Ruby on Rails, the Speed Geek goes something like this...

It was like a quarter-life crisis, but without the John Mayer theme song. I'd done everything I was supposed to do, and now, there were whole new questions. I realized I couldn't answer all these questions on my own; I needed a mentor (or two).

I was wrestling with new questions regarding direction, business planning, and management of Knowledge As Power. KAP is a small non-profit I founded nearly two years ago with a mission of including citizens in the legislative process by providing legislative information online. In the last two years, with a small board, a lot of boot-strapping, volunteers, and a lot of determination, we now have an alpha, were a 2006 Echoing Green Finalist, got 501 (c) 3 status (it only took the IRS 11 months to approve us!), interns, contractors, a few donations, and some press

Seattle's Net Tuesday is off to a great start. June's Net Tuesday was a great success, brining in over 30 attendees at our first event, and garnering a bit of press coverage, too.We've got even more up ourselves for July's Net Tuesday. Hosted again at the very lovely McLeod Residence in Belltown, we've got a promising slate of presenters.

They've only met once, and they are already in the news! Net Tuesday Seattle had a super succesful first Meetup last week with a great turnout and a post, Seattle Meetup Connects Geeks and Activists, in Monica Guzman's Seattle Post-Intelligencer blog.

For more information about the July Net Tuesday in Seattle, contact
Sarah Schacht at director@knowledgeaspower.org, or Jeff Reifman at newscloud@gmail.com

My colleague Sarah Schacht of Knowledge As Power and I are co-organizing the kickoff of Seattle's first Net2 Tuesday. NetSquared is a Tech Soup venture to increase the adoption of Web 2.0 services by nonprofit organizations and others interested in creating a social benefit. The goal of NetTuesday is to create an ongoing peer-driven community event for the development of social software and real world applications in Seattle.

If you are interested, contact Jeff Reifman of NewsCloud at jeff@newscloud.com

For more information about joining or starting a Net Tuesday in your city click here.

Photo Credit: Seattle Skyline by David Herrera.