The recent UK riots took place between 6 and 10 August 2011 in cities and towns across England, including several boroughs of London. The riots were supposedly provoked by the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan by Metropolitan Police two days before the riots began. Although I’d say that the main characteristics of the riots, like any spontaneous and grass root movements,  were those of chaos and randomness, the rioters were somehow organized as the riots spread all over the English cities. The blame for enabling rioters to gather and communicate in real time   has been put on social media.

Besides my role with NetSquared globally, I also organize a monthly NetSquared event locally, in Cambridge, UK. The April Net2Camb event was led by David Earl, an early member of the OpenStreetMap team who has helped to record mapping data for much of our region. In his talk, David shared the journey the small OSM team and larger global community have taken to make real humanitarian impact using open source maps.

Got an idea that uses technology to create social change?

Over the next two days, key influencers from around Britain and around the world are at the National Digital Inclusion Conference organizing and planing for digital inclusion in the UK. You can take part by watching the live video stream and sharing your opinions on Twitter.

I like well made advocacy videos - and the one that British Red Cross released today definitely falls into this category. It features Konnie Huq, a well know and very sexy tv-presenter (well known in the UK). The question is: "Would you still want to kiss her, if she was HIV positive?"

The reason this video was made is a survey that British Red Cross commissioned of 16-25-year-olds in the UK. The result:

Even though 85 per cent know you cannot catch HIV from a kiss, 69 per cent of respondents said they wouldn't kiss someone with HIV.

Or as British Red Cross puts it: "There is safety. And then there is stigma."

Chain Reaction is coming back to London, and the world, this November.  Last year, innovators and changemakers gathered for a two-day event in London to learn, share, and collaborate to make a better world.  The conversations, presentations and workshops were shared online in real-time thanks to a myriad technology set (including Twitter, blogs, video, etc.).  It's time again to meet in London and invite the whole world in to the conversations.

Learn more and connect with Chain Reaction!

Lasa, a nonprofit organization based in London, UK, provides strategic and innovative services to support the provision of expert independent advice to all. This Fall, Lasa celebrates its 25th anniversary of serving and contributing to the informaiton and technology sector.  The team at Lasa have hosted a few events to celebrate their anniversary, showcasing their work and sharing ways individuals and organizations can get support and services or even contribute to the work they do.

Learn more and celebrate with Lasa!

Social Actions has created an open database of 60,000+ actions from 40+ sites -- including GlobalGiving, Change.org, DonorsChoose.org, Kiva.org, NABUUR, TakingITGlobal, Idealist.org, and VolunteerMatch. Through a search engine, Open Actions XML micro-format, an open API, and third-party tools and widgets, you can find and share ways to get involved in the causes you care about.

This past weekend, geeks, innovators, thinkers, and enthusiasts came together at the Young Foundation in London, UK, to bring to life 7 projects in just 48 hours.  Social Innovation Camp had 115 projects that were narrowed down to 7 for the camp.  And the winners?

SICamp Winners

It's Global Entrepreneurship Week, so I have the inside scoop from Chris Spavin, a member of the Make Your Mark team working with partners to deliver GEW, catalyze events overseas, and assist the campaign's development abroad.  Chris believes, "there is so much untapped potential in people and sometimes all we need is a simple catalyst."  Learn more about the work below in Chris' own words and find out how you can get involved!