welcome (and why we're doing this)

In 1987, when CompuMentor was born, personal computers cost $3-4,000, there was no donated software, 1,200-baud modems were fast, and there was no web. The problem was access to technology capacity.

CompuMentor responded by developing access to human capacity. We matched a widely-known problem, tech stuff was expensive, with a little recognized opportunity, the tech world was full of smart souls who wanted to help nonprofits, without charge, resulting in more effective use of whatever technology capacity was available. We reasoned that if more technology were deployed in the nonprofit sector, more pressure would build to bring technology to that sector. The biggest multiplier would be the mentors, so we positioned them to hit home runs and we publicized our success stories early and often.

and now today

Much has changed and yet there is a remarkable congruence between then and now. You know most of the changes, but I will call out two here: basic capacity is far more pervasive (though not ubiquitous), and the web has given rise to new dimensions of social relations within civil society.

It's the congruence that interests me. In 1987, we focused on unlocking human capacity to catalyze technological capacity. Today, for the first time in the short, intense history of personal computing, the main obstacle to success is human capacity, not financial capacity. Wikipedia, Craigslist, Deanspace, MoveOn, Firefox Campaign did not succeed because they had faster servers or fatter pipes. Rather, they understood the power of user-generated content and peer networking. These projects gained potency as they abandoned centralized control and trusted the ends of their networks to do the right thing (even if the organizers weren't sure what the right thing was in the beginning).

Something new and important is going on. Buzzwords like "web services," "web 2.0," "the network is the computer" capture a piece of it, but none captures the fundamental change occurring at the intersection of three new developments:

1. more pervasive access to existing technology;
2. emergence of web-based technologies that vastly facilitate end users’ access to information and communication;
3. cultural value being increasingly derived from individuals and micro-communities acting as content producers.

Any one or two of these new developments would be significant but not transformative. It is the combination of the three that opens up previously unimagined possibilities.

Possibilities for whom? In the first instance, the possibilities are for individuals. These possibilities have already extended to organizations that know how to work with these new, super-empowered individuals.

People want to find information that matters to them, and to engage in actions that are active, not passive. This is where the opportunity arises. Offered good information and a clear action path, the response is incredible -- unpredictable, self-generated, sometimes messy and, as demonstrated the projects we will compile in our gallery on this site, capable of moving mountains.

the NetSquared project

Here is what this project is about.

• We will identify and highlight projects around the world that achieve success at the intersection of pervasive access, new tools, and new audiences.
• We will catalyze the catalyzers. We will use the new tools and culture shift to engender overlapping conversations -- among the early adopters (who often don't know of each other yet), between early and later adopters, between nonprofits and technology developers, between nonprofits and the growing army of technology helpers, and between all of the foregoing and the major technology companies (who have so much to gain from this dialogue in terms of marketing and realizing technology's social potential).
• We will use our extensive nonprofit channel to draw not-yet-adopters into the discussion and project.
• We will use our relationships with corporations and foundations to bring as many tangible resources to the table as possible.

the NetSquared Conference

Our efforts will culminate in the conference on May 30/31, 2006, and then we expect them to explode as the potential for true network effect is realized.

We are committed to the May event being just a beginning. We expect that the event will increase the momentum that is already building and that we will emerge from it with new ideas, partners, and projects. We intend to maintain and adapt this space to provide whatever infrastructure is appropriate and to stage future convenings so that face-to-face and virtual communications can interweave for maximum effect.

Please join us.