Category: Tech

community application of technology for public benefit

Social networks at ConvergeSouth

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Slide5 The bad news: Anil Dash is not going to be able to attend and speak at ConvergeSouth today due to air travel problems. He’s a smart guy and a good speaker and I know he’ll be missed.

The good news: I will be sitting on the Social Networks panel instead of Anil! I don’t think we’ll be using formal presentations, but I will probably base my remarks on my typical network-centric advocacy thoughts. You can see my recent presentation on this from Yearly Kos at https://lotusmedia.org/advocacy-20-the-slideshow

Update: Everyone keeps telling me to add this presentation to SlideShare.net, but I don’t really see the advantage of that over Flickr where a lot more people might see it. However I did upload it to Google, so if that floats your boat: have at it.

10 Questions for presidential candidates

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My friends at echPresident are launching a new site today called 10 Questions. The idea is to take the “YouTube debate” that gave regular people a chance to ask questions of the Democratic candidates a few months ago, and make it even more democratic by allowing the community to vote on which questions get asked instead of having them hand-picked by the TV networks.

Here’s my contribution, I did it in a hurry so please pardon the grammatical errors, etc.

Since the site is brand new, there aren’t many videos yet. This is a chance to get seen by the thousands of people who will check out the site today. Post your question at http://10questions.com now!

Why I’m fasting tomorrow

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Interfaith Fast Because it’s not enough to vote in November. Because it’s not enough to write letters to Congress. Because it’s not enough to march in the streets of Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Fayetteville, and Washington. Because it’s not enough to reduce my consumption of fossil fuels and boycott businesses that support the war and the Republican party.

Because we all must be the change we want to see in the world.

I will join thousands of other Americans tomorrow in refraining from food from dawn to dusk. I will meditate and I will generate compassion and love (metta) for the people of Iraq and the U.S. service members, who are suffering every day that this war goes on and will continue to feel the physical and mental pain of war for years to come. And like many others, I will join with an interfaith community to break the fast and celebrate our unity around the cause of peace.

Find out more and find a fast-breaking near you at http://interfaithfast.org

Join me in Second Life to feed our avatars and our souls at 7pm EDT. keep reading for more information.
Continue reading “Why I’m fasting tomorrow” →

Burma is burning

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Here’s an update on Burma that I just posted at the FORpeace blog:

[avatars in red t-shirts] Over the past week there have been countless demonstrations around the world is support of freedom and democracy in Burma. Even in the virtual world of Second Life there has been a red t-shirt campaign and a "human chain" action to bring people together, spread the word, and show support for the people of Burma. On Flickr you can see many more pictures of this innovative action as well as photos from demonstrations around the world calling for peace and justice in Burma.

[Israeli protest]Our colleagues at the Buddhist Peace Fellowship have been hard at work and have a lot of information to share including this list of Burma events around the U.S. and the world, a collection of statements from Buddhist communities in support of their brethren in Burma, and most importantly an updated list of what we can do to support the people marching for democracy in Burma.

Continue reading “Burma is burning” →

Fun with Newt

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Newt in tank Today newt Gingrich is making a visit to Capitol Hill on Second Life. I’m trying to think of slogans to put on our avatars’ signs and t-shirts. I can’t decide whether to go for sarcastic (“Newt ’08”) or angry (“lying hypocrite”). Suggestions?

Newt links:

What are you doing for peace today?

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One of my favorite things about my job is that I get to send messages like this to thousands of people on a regular basis. (E-mail version, blog version). Join the FOR e-mail list and you could get these e-mails from me too! 😉

Today, September 21st, is known as the International Day of Peace, and with Congress and the U.N. back in session the nation’s attention is turning toward ending the war. In this e-mail we highlight some of many opportunities in the next month for nonviolent action to raise social and political pressure to call for an end to the violence and destruction in Iraq.

* Events officially sponsored or endorsed by FOR.

Please bookmark our dynamic calendar of peace and justice events. (You can even subscribe to it using any of these services: xml/rss, iCal, or Google. )

Read the rest in the e-mail archive or our blog, and do something to help stop the war today.

Depressing widgets

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MAPlight.org does great things with using the Internet to shine daylight into issues of money and politics. Their latest offering are widgets that track the fundraising of presidential candidates (which is a little too horserace-oriented for my taste). You can customize them with the candidates of your choosing. I made one (below) showing all of the candidates, sorted by the amount raised. The main lesson I take from it is that billions of dollars are being wasted on TV ads and manipulative consultants. And that Edwards is at the top of the second tier instead of at the bottom of the top tier where I would like him to be.

Make your own at: http://www.maplight.org/widgets