community application of technology for public benefit
I’m in Raleigh at BarCampRDU today, but I’m still following Yearly Kos through Twitter. To be fair, I’m not feeling entirely “there” though.
Later at BarCamp I plan to facilitate sessions on network-centric advocacy, and on geeking for good (using web 2.0 for civic engagement on OP and other stuff). I am one of about 10 women at this 150-person event and the only woman proposing/leading any sessions.
Oops, I was just about post some links to the panels I am on at Yearly Kos, but it appears the online schedule has been removed to avoid “inaccuracies” in favor a of PDF (which unfortunately does not list the sessions by time and day). So you can check that out if you want to browse the whole enchilada.
Anyway, here are the two sessions that I am participating in:
Promotion, Publicity, Powncing and Partnerships
Say hello to my little friend — marketing. Get the low down from successful bloggers on building readership, creating innovative partnerships, making the most of links/trackbacks/hat tips, and cool new tech tools to increase your outreach to get your hard-earned work noticed. Bring your problems for on-the-spot troubleshooting.
Panelists: Ruby Sinreich, David Kravitz, Raf Noboa, Bob Neer, Conor Kenny
Thursday, Aug 2, 12:30-2:00 10d
The above session was supposed to be about local blogging, which is why I agreed to participate. Not only do I not do anything to “promote” OrangePolitics, I’m a little bit opposed to the idea. But I can certainly talk about social networking in general, and how it’s always good. 😉 And then there’s this, where I expect to talk about network-centric advocacy principles in 10 minutes or less:
Politics 2.0: How Social Networks and New Media Are Changing Politics
Social networks and new media are playing an increasingly visible role in our politics and activism. YouTube videos, MySpace bulletins, Facebook friends, not to mention new communities like Change.org, Eventful.com and Twitter, are being used by politicians, organizations and activists to communicate, connect and campaign. This panel will explore the unique ways in which this new media environment is having an impact on politics as usual, the strategy and tactics being employed and best practices that are emerging in this 2.0 world.
Panelists: Stephanie Taylor, Amy Rubin, Beka Economopoulos, Ruby Sinreich
Friday, Aug 3, 10:30-11:30 404a-c
Today is the first day of the third annual BlogHerCon, and the third year that I have been unable to attend. But this year something is different: BlogHer is happenning in Second Life as well as in real life!
The published a schedule of SL events. I’m going to go check in right now, and you can find me there on a panel with two of my favorite avatars – In Kenzo and Glitteractica Cookie. We’ll be talking about online activism at 5:30 pm EDT. Here’s a link directly to the conference hall in Second Life. Hope to see you there!
Update: Here’s a description for our panell…
Continue reading “Let’s go to BlogHer”
More good news for nonprofits in Second Life: this year’s Second Life Community Convention (SLCC) will have a “nonprofit and philanthropic” theme thanks to the MacArthur Foundation, who is spending a year exploring the role of philanthropy in virtual worlds. I have to admit, this makes the SLCC much more appealing than it has been for me in the past. Still, I am having a crazy summer and I just don’t think I can handle much more travel.
(Random: Funny how many conferences are in Chicago this summer: Yearly KOS (which I am attending some of, because I got invited to be on a panel), BlogHer Con (I will participate via Second Life), and SLCC. What gives?)
I can’t find this press release on the web, so I’ll post the entire thing below.
Change.org has released the long-awaited Changes application for the Facebook platform. Changes is a strong competitor to Causes which launched early but has way less features.
Now I can add my favorite issues, organizations, and politicians to my Facebook profile.
I was very pleased to hear from my friend ‘Vivienne Cassavetes’ that the annual women’s blogging conference BlogHerCon will also be in Second Life this year. I’ve always wanted to go to BlogHer, but it’s usually held at a bad time for me when I’ve either been in-between jobs (ie: no money for travel) or getting married (when I’d rather be honeymooning).
This year, it’s scheduled in between two other trips I will be making and I really need to come home to maintain my sanity once in a while. 😉 But thanks to their Second Life effort, I can still participate.
I do wish they would invite me to be on a panel or something, that would make it much easier for me to justify the time and expense, especially since the event seems more focused on commercial interests than nonprofit work. Maybe next year…
I’m getting ready to pick up some colleagues and head south to the U.S. Social Forum in Atlanta. It promises to be an amazing event with over 10,000 progressive activists coming to together to address the many challenges facing American society today.
Most anything that happens this week I will blog at http://FORpeace.net, but if it seems relevant I will post here as well. And there’s always Twitter. Have a great week with lots of justice and equality!
This is pretty exciting news. Lawrence Lessig has been the leadership driving the Creative Commons and “free culture” movement. He is brilliant and widely respected in geek circles. Last week he announced that he is shifting his research and advocacy away from intellectual property issues and toward the corrupting influence of money in politics.
I suggest he look up my friends at Democracy South as well as other grassroots activists who have been working on this issue for many years.
Today is the ACLU’s Day of Action to Restore Law and Justice. Activists will gather in Washington, DC to rally and lobby to fix the Military Commissions Act and to restore Habeas Corpus.
If (like me) you can’t make it to DC for the main event, come to a simultaneous rally in Second Life!
Tuesday June 26, 2007 8:00 AM to 10:30 PM SLT (Pacific Time), concurrently in Second Life and in Washington DC!
T-shirts and signs at MoJo Fields [Second Life: Mojo Fields (86, 88, 519)], and then teleport to the rally at the Washington Mall in Second Life, where you can also watch a live webcast of ACLU’s Day of Action from Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Fellowship of Reconciliation were all founded between 1915 and 1920. I usually refer to organizations this old as “dinosaurs” due to the incredible inertia that comes from being so big and being around for so many decades. I am really impressed with my colleagues at the FOR. They are really open to innovation and change. In my first week on the job, we began a blog and secured a space in Second Life!
I won’t have time to do much in SL this week because I will be traveling with about a half-dozen FOR colleagues to the US Social Forum. You can follow our exploits by way of our new blog: http://FORpeace.net !
If you want to see more dinosaurs evolving into full-fledged 21st century organizations, please support this effort by commenting on the blog, linking to us, or even giving money through our Change widget (right). Next on tap: social networking, RSS feeds, a whole new web site, and about a dozen internal improvements to get us really cooking with gas. It’s going to be a busy year. 🙂
Continue reading “A great leap forward”