NetSquared Conference

[Christine]

Hi all,

Finally sharing some thoughts on the NetSquared Conference which (hard
to believe!) wrapped up just about a month ago.

First, some links:

NetSquared website: http://www.netsquared.org/
NetSquared Challenge 2008 website: http://www.netsquared.org/conference
Featured Projects: http://www.netsquared.org/2008/conference/projects/n2y3_featured_projects
Blog: http://www.netsquared.org/Blog
Photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=n2y3

The conference (known as N2Y3) brought together about 400 people
representing foundations, social media, TechSoup/CompuMentor/Cisco
reps, bloggers and vloggers, and the 21 finalist projects.

In a word, I found N2Y3 to be, well, awesome. Fabulously organized –
not glitch-free, but really, really well done – and the reason for the
conference itself, to support “mashups designed to provide deeper
insight into the social issues affecting communities around the
globe,” was compelling and worthwhile and attracted a fantastic group
of inspiring people and projects. Even if I weren’t an optimist by
nature, the conference would still have been incredibly optimism-
generating. It just feels good to know that projects like
Ushahidi.com, KnowMore.org, GreenMap.org, and YourMapper.com are out
there, coming together and garnering support from this growing
community of resources.

Unlike the Stockholm Challenge of the week before, N2Y3 was an active
competition, so while the atmosphere was still friendly and low-key
there was definitely a different purpose for describing Social Actions
as clearly and concisely as possible, making sure the concept was
understood, and soliciting constructive feedback about any perceived
shortcomings. Like the 2-minute video Peter posted on the blog, many
opportunities to talk about Social Actions were of the super-quick
elevator-pitch variety. My sense in engaging with people at that level
of conversation was that they either got what Social Actions was about
and were instantly enthusiastic (“That doesn’t exist already? How
great you’re doing that!”) or they already knew about Peter and Social
Actions and wanted to get involved or stay informed as the project
moved forward.

Longer conversations afforded great opportunities to talk about why we
were all commited to supporting social change – lots of overlapping
personal and professional missions – and how we thought that support
should be delivered – as many different methods for engaging in this
work as there were people and organizations represented. My favorite
conversation was the most challenging one, when Peter, Phil Klein, and
I got grilled for over an hour by Jon Peizer and Gavin Clabaugh. Jon
used to be with the Soros Foundation and is now with Internaut
Consulting; Gavin is with the C.S. Mott Foundation. Their questions
about Social Actions’ organizational intentions really helped us think
through our desire to create an organization that reflects our
projects’ inclusivity and reflexivity, and the importance of defining
that in terms that potential collaborators will understand and feel
comfortable with.

As with in Stockholm, we generated a long list of people and groups to
partner with as participating platforms, distributors, or developers.
So the conference was a huge success for Social Actions for that
alone, but of course winning two prizes was pretty great, too. :)

So N2Y3 was just a fantastic experience all around and I’m very
grateful to have been there. Thank you, Peter, for making that
possible, and thank you, Fre, for encouraging the application – never
underestimate the power of inspiration!

Christine

[Peter Deitz]

Great write-up Christine! Thank you for sharing these thoughts.

You may want to cross-post on the NetSquared community blog:
http://www.netsquared.org/blog

This is exactly the kind of post-conference reflections they are looking
for...

All the best,
Peter

[Deborah Elizabeth Finn]

>
> First, some links:
>
> NetSquared website: http://www.netsquared.org/
> NetSquared Challenge 2008 website: http://www.netsquared.org/conference
> Featured Projects: http://www.netsquared.org/2008/conference/projects/n2y3_featured_projects
> Blog: http://www.netsquared.org/Blog
> Photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=n2y3

Dear Christine, and other esteemed colleagues:

And please don't forget this one...

<http://lolnptech.blogspot.com/search/label/netsquared>

Best regards from Deborah

Deborah Elizabeth Finn
Cyber-Yenta
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
deborah_eli...@post.harvard.edu
www.cyber-yenta.org
Skype: Deborah909
Twitter: Deborah909
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah909

"Nothing softeneth the Arrogance of our Nature
like a Mixture of some Frailties. It is by them
that we are best told, that we must not strike
too hard upon others....They pull our Rage by
the sleeve and whisper Gentleness to us in our
censures."
-George Savile (1633 - 1695)

[Christine]

Absolutely, Deborah! Thanks for the reminder and the smiles :)

Christine