I'm doing an "educational" activity here this Friday morning with some co-workers. I'm tired of powerpoints and yapping at people. As dazzling and engaging as that may be for my audience, lately I've been trying to diversify, to deepen my bag of tricks and find better, more interactive and engaging ways to talk about technology. So, I've contemplated theater - which has some promise but I haven't pulled that off yet - and games.

Hello from Toronto,

There are a number of global social tech and community engagement awareness days throughout the year, so I thought I'd help shine a brighter light on the awesome social tech community. Based on the success of the Toronto screenings I organized, I thought it would be fun for social tech and social change makers to self-organize screenings of Us Now around the world to inspire new opportunities for collaboration across government, education, technology and volunteer communities.

Here are the cities that have hosted Us Now screenings:

Portland screening at OneWebDay PDX

We are so excited to be a part of the NetSquared community. It’s refreshing to have a online venue that supports and encourages socially conscious ideas. We are one of the 15 groups that will be presenting at the N2Y4 conference next week, and we wanted to take a moment to introduce our initiative on the blog along with outlining how you can help support our cause! 

 

Recently the web has emerged as a great tool for social transformation!

I like Skype.  Say it with me..."I like Skype."  Now, I don't want to seem too much a pusher of Skype, but I have to say, I'm impressed with this business model (along with Netflix, they're the best 21st century biz models I've experienced.)  

Skype takes telephony and translates it into the digital future.  Start thinking of your computer as a telephone, is how I could best describe it - a very cheap telephone.  And they have business packages, which is why I'm throwing it in our Toolshed.  Mostly likely your office has one computer, quite possibly several.  With Skype you can make FREE computer-to-computer audio and video calls - and the quality is super sweet (I use it constantly for personal and business use on a Dell Inspiron 1525.)  

When the idea of starting a blog for our organization first came up a few years ago, I thought it was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard. All I knew about blogs was that a few of my friends did it for fun, and the Houston Chronicle had about 50 of them that didn't interest me in the least. And since when was my organization the kind to waste its time on trendy stuff like that?

Looking back, I think my problem was not understanding the purpose of having a blog. I mean, we already had a website where we posted news and pictures - wasn't a blog just another place to put all the same stuff, only with a trendier name? At that time, I don't think any of us really "got it".

 

Millions of voices will unite to speak out about positive change in New Orleans during the week of August 25th - the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The “New Orleans 100” initiative will highlight and encourage discussion among millions about 100 of the most innovative and world-changing ideas to take root in the city since Katrina.

Vancouver had its first Net Tuesday in February and its second in March. Its third and latest event happened this past Tuesday and was a great success! Presenters included Jason Mogus of Communicopia.com, Scott Nelson of FearlessCity, and Keith Grennan of Sprout. Our host for the evening was Sarah Pullman.

My colleague, Jeff Patrick, is presenting a free webinar hosted by Kintera on a topic near and dear to all of our hearts: Web 2.0 & social networking for nonprofit fundraising. This two-part series, Next Level Online Communities, offers a 101 version next week, and a more advanced 201 version in April.

Next Level Online Communities 101:Foundations for Community
Wednesday, February 13 at 1:00 pm PT/ 4:00 pm ET
(and the same thing offered again)
Thursday, February 14 at 10:00 am PT/ 1:00 pm ET
Register here