Women Who Tech: a TeleSummit for Women in Technology

Women Who Tech ( http://womenwhotech.com/ ) , in partnership with the WIN Technology Network, present Women Who Tech: a TeleSummit for Women in Technology in the non-profit and political world March 31, 2008.  

This free, live event will bring together the most talented and renowned women breaking new ground in technology. The telesummit aims to create a supportive network for the vibrant and thriving community of women in technology professions by giving them an open platform to share their talents, experiences and insights via virtual workshops and panel discussions. 

Current workshops include: 

Women and Social Capital 

Networking, schmetworking…why is it that women are statistically more’social’ than men, but have statistically less powerful business networksthan men? This panel will explore how the women who have entered boys clubsand built powerful Social Capital have done it and give ideas to women onhow to build their networks. 

Panelists: Joan Blades, Moveon.org and MomsRising, Arianna Huffington,Huffington Post 

Moderator: Tara Hunt, Citizen Agency   

Open Source For Women 

This panel will explore how to get women more involved in developingtechnology and contributing to Open Source and Open Standards. What are thecurrent barriers? What can we do to break these barriers? 

Panelists: Michelle Murrain, NOSI, Leslie Hawthorn, Google 

Moderator: Kaliya Hamlin, She’s Geeky   

Open Source Technology for .Orgs

Join the Technology Network of the Women’s Information Network for:

Open Source Technology for .Orgs

Saturday, February 23rd
1 pm – 3:30 pm
Cleveland Park Library
3310 Connecticut Avenue, NW
1st Auditorium

To register for this event please contact: Sibyl Edwards at technetwork@winonline.org

 

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Have you heard of Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Linux? Or maybe you have heard of Firefox, WordPress or Drupal?

What do these things have in common? They are all Open Source Technology!

Open Source Technology is technology created by developers that is non-proprietary and can be modified and upgraded
by a community of other developers.

Open Source Technology is generally free and accessible to anyone who wants to download it.

Open Source Technology is being used in businesses, organizations and schools across the country.

Come and learn more about how the Open Source community is making technology bigger, better and more accessible for
all from our panel of Open Source enthusiasts and experts.

The panel is being led by Kevin Cole and Mackenzie Morgan.

Kevin Cole is a research applications programmer for the Gallaudet Research Institute at Gallaudet University. He is an advocate of using shared open technology to teach and learn. He is also the reluctant leader of the Ubuntu DC LoCo (Local
Community) team, where he is known to volunteer at local libraries teaching locals Ubuntu.

Mackenzie Morgan is a Computer Science major at George Washington University. Specializing in Linux, she works with the Linux community both online and offline helping new users.

To register for this event please contact: Sibyl Edwards at technetwork@winonline.org

Making Small-Scale Social Activism More Effective

This is from a rpess release I sent out in advance of the World Social Forum on January 26. Didn’t know there was a World Social Forum thingee on January 26? Now you know. 

This is the very-long season of selling candidates and ideas, including a candidate’s ideas, a party’s ideas, or a group’s ideas for policies and programs. The usual methods of creating and selling political ideas are well known to political activists, though some simple principles for creating and selling ideas may have been overlooked.

 

1. Analyze Challenges – Ask plenty of questions about the nature of the issue, the social environment, and the likely solutions. Michael Michalko’s book Thinkertoys contains some of the best questions.
2. Define Good Ideas – The social environment, the time frame involved, and your organization’s resources will help define what counts as a good idea.
3. Steal Ideas – Look for ideas in advertising, products, commercial services, magazines, novels, government programs, and other organization’s projects.
4. Think Creatively – Use brainstorming techniques or systematic idea generation methods get new ideas. Many good creative thinking books describe idea generation techniques that are both effective and easy to use.
5. Think Design – Ideas have to fit the culture, economy, and political climate of the community. Test ideas for their fit with the social environment
6. Think Marketing – Ideas generally need to be sold. You need to raise money, recruit program participants or get people to vote for something by selling them on your idea’s benefits. Books on social marketing and on copywriting principles can help.
7. Find Leverage – Look for an audience, geographic location, or specific action that will have the greatest impact for the time and money that you can devote to a change effort. Focus on the highest impact focal point that you can identify.

Online Video for Social Change 2.0

Please come and join Women’s Information Network & Idealist DC for: 

Online Video for Social Change 2.0 

Saturday, November 10th from 11am – 1:30pm

Mayorga’s Café and Lounge http://www.mayorgacoffee.com/

3301 14th St. NW Washington, DC 20010 (Top Floor)

Cost: FREE 

Learn in just a few hours how to film, edit and upload video footage for your organization, group or even for yourself. Our featured speakers will be Jill Foster and Phil Shapiro, online video producers who will speak on the subject of creating online videos for advocacy and social change. This event will be a hands-on workshop.  

Free Handheld Camcorders for Non-Profits!!

Here is a press release from Pure Digital who will be giving free handheld 
camcorders to non-profits across the world starting in December. 

–Sibyl


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Pure Digital Kicks Off Massive Camcorder Giveaway 



Starting today, Pure Digital Technologies 
 will be launching a 
one million Flip Video Camcorder 
giveaway to benefit nonprofits worldwide. The Flip Video Spotlight program 
came about when former President Bill Clinton approached Pure Digital, 
requesting that video be used to shed light on world issues that need to be 
addressed.

With a million pocket-sized camcorders 
 that have built-in software 
for direct uploading to YouTube , the 
possibilities are endless for what can be achieved with this initiative, “We believe video can help change the world,”

New Category – Social + Tech

 

Howdy Idealists!

Because of my love of social/issue advocay and technology, I have decided to create a category on the blog that discusses the use and imapct of technology for grassroot/netroots and activism. Instead of merely posting the latest news on the latest technology I will discuss how Web 2.0 technologies can utilized to advocate for social change. I will post weekly, so please visit the blog often! (–Sibyl)