NetSquared Vlog

Along with the GETV stuff that’s been keeping me busy, I’m also doing a videoblog for NetSquared, a community that is a product of the good peeps over at CompuMentor and TechSoup. NetSquared’s mission is to turn on nonprofit organizations and world changers to “social web” technologies. Basically web 2.0 for the nonprofit set. I’m shooting and producing three videos a week, short form interview style of interesting people using technology in innovative, save humanity kind of ways. I’m also producing a weekly wrapup podcast for NetSquared that includes the audio from these videos. Check ’em out and let me know if there are any world changers out there that I should interview.

BrainJams Saturday

BrainJams
Tomorrow/Saturday is the day for remixing brains over geek and non-geek stuff at Chris Heure’s BrainJams event. It’s a collaborative, relatively freeform shindig that revolves around the nebulous concept of “knowledge sharing”. The gist is you spill your passion or project to fellow ‘Jammers and grow from there. Nate and Chris‘ posts explain this much better than I currently understand, but it seems much like the Advocacy Dev shindigs I’ve participated in in the past. Check out the wiki for more deets and register. Oh yeah, it’s in Shallow Alto, but don’t let that freak you out. Added bonus: GETV will be there to cover the fun.

As the Bubble Fattens Up

There’s been a lot of talk about whether there is another tech or Internet bubble on the inflate. Yes, there have a been a bunch of launch parties as of late. Yes, more companies are getting funded. It’s giving the blogosphere much to ponder,. But one only has to look at the latest issue of Wired magazine to find the answer. It’s fat again! Yes, it’s a heavy ass slab this month. Compare it to say 2 or 3 years ago, during Wired’s anorexic years. I can’t remember it being this obese in years.

Of course, this is fantastic news for the budding young media empire known as Geek Entertainment Televison. There’s endless material to draw from, and draw from is what we must do. The greater the exhuberance, the more irrational we must be. Bring on the bubble! Give us the fuel we need to snark this thing. We’re up to 7 episodes now, with new ones every couple of days. Take a gander if you haven’t yet, and then subscribe to the GETV feed so you don’t have to remember to keep checking back.



Video archive by Mefeedia

UPDATE: We’ve been BoingBoing’d and LaughingSquid’d. I guess this thing is catching on.

TechSoup for Your Soul

TechSoup

I’ve been asked by my good friend John Lorance to help eliminate the buzz around Web 2.0 in an online technology forum next week put on by TechSoup. I’m not quite sure how this thing will unfold, but it looks like it all takes place in virtual space in these online message boards. TechSoup does good stuff, connecting non-profit organizations with technology so non-profits can do what they do better. If there’s anyone that knows how to not make a profit, that’s me. Here’s the official announcement:

It’s happening in TechSoup, a five-day online event:

The Impact of Web 2.0 on the Nonprofit Community

Join CompuMentor’s community engagement program director John Lorance and a host of leading Web technology advocates as they demystify Web 2.0 technologies and illustrate how using new socially oriented technological innovations can help the nonprofit community. Web 2.0 technologies such as tagging, social bookmarking and online social networks, blogging, content sharing through Wikis and RSS, and new Web widgets need not only be in the hands of well-funded developers; but also can be used by organizations to further their missions.

Co-hosts include:
• Marnie Webb of CompuMentor
• Ruby Sinreich two-time winner of “Best Blog” from The Independent Weekly
• Chris Messina of Flock and SpreadFireFox fame
• Marshall Kirkpatrick, trainer and educator on Web 2.0 technologies
• Phil Klein, nonprofit technologist of Pen and Pixel
• Alexandra Samuel, online community consultant with Social Signal
• Michael Stein, nonprofit technology blogger
• Yann Toledano, nonprofit technology consultant and TechSoup forum co-host.
• Eddie Codel, online media technologist and Webzine conference organizer.

These leading voices of Web 2.0 technology will help you bring the ever-changing field of the second wave of Web applications and tools into practical focus. Event hosts will share their real-world stories, demystify the buzzwords, and provide resources. Discussion will focus on exploring the latest trends in Web publishing for all, effective online communications, emerging research and discovery methods, and collaboration tools.

This event will eliminate the buzz and bring into focus how nonprofits can use these tools to learn from other organizations’ Web travels. You will come away with practical tips, models, resources, and tools for bringing collaborative technologies and processes to your own organization.

Save the dates: October 24-October 28

Join us the week of October 24, for a free, five-day online event, in the TechSoup Emerging Technology forum www.techsoup.org/web2event as we discuss issues such as:

§ What do we mean by Web 2.0?
§ How can you use an RSS feed to get pushed information as well as to push your content to others?
§ What on earth is a Wiki? How is it better than the old-fashioned Web site?
§ What is tagging and how is it relevant? How can you learn from others’ Web searches?
§ What are widgets and how can these new tools help you solve age-old problems?
§ How can an online social network help your organization find volunteers?

Party on the VC’s dime like it’s 1998



This is what happens when you feed geeks free drinks
Originally uploaded by ekai.

Or so it felt the other night at Swig for the Colors of Web 2.0 party. The tightly packed geekerati of ’05 were sucking down from the open bar to cheesey disco while the suits exchanged buisness cards. Sponsored by our new cool web friends at del.icio.us, WordPress, Wink, Flock, Technorati, Odeo and Flickr it did indeed feel much like a bubble era dot-com launch party. The difference is that the sponsors of this party are all interesting and truely useful technologies that I actually use rather than some hair-brained VC funded idea to reinvent the selling of dogfood. That’s the best thing about the crash, it finally put all the crappy business plans out to pasture. That and the end to crappy live-work loft construction. I’m hopeful that what is transpiring now is the natural evolution of what could have happened 5 or 7 years ago if VCs actually understood the Internet and how people use it. It’s looking pretty good from where I’m sitting and it’s not just the free gin & tonics talking.