Hello everyone!

My name is Tom and I'm going to be part of the team representing Knowmore.org at the Netsquared Conference. I've been volunteering for Knowmore.org since its creation in 2005, and I'm excited to meet everyone at the conference and share my enthusiasm about our project, the Knowmore.org Firefox Extension.

I've been going through a lot of corporate profiles on Knowmore lately, and helping out where I can to make sure the right data is available to our *ROCK STAR* development team. The problem is.. I've been looking at these profiles for so long, not leaving my house, and today I ran out of some basic essentials. So, I headed down to Target to pick up some supplies, so I could return and finish my work.

 Something strange happened. First, it only started happening for a few products...

I'm looking forward to hosting this session at the upcoming netsquared event. I'm open to suggestions on what to talk about, but here's what I have so far (based on our work at the Institute For The Future):

* What is Open Innovation?

* How can today's citizens participate?

* New skills to succeed in a Web 2.0 world

I'm working on a interactive piece to my session as well. Haven't figured it out yet, but stay tuned.

Just a quick hello to introduce myself. I have worked in, and been researching, the Open Innovation space for over 6 years. My start was at InnoCentive (www.innocentive.com), where I was the VP of Business Development and a member of the original management team. I am now a Research Director at the Institute For The Future (www.iftf.org), where I study Open Innovation in Health Care and the Future of Science and Technology. I am looking forward to the upcoming netsquared event, where I will be hosting a session on Open Innovation in Civil Society. I'll share some IFTF work on the DIY society that was presented at our recent Technology Horizons Spring Workshop (held in conjunction with the Maker Faire) and my own perspective on how ordinary citizens are changing the face of innovation.

Answers to this month's Net2ThinkTank question, "Is Online Activism Good for Social Change?" are still coming in after the May 14th deadline so I'm going to give y'all till over the weekend to post your answers on your blog or the NetSquared Blog.

Howabout you email your post's URL to me at bbravo@techsoup.org by Monday, May 19 at 5 PM PT?

As there seem to be so many projects at N2Y3 that involve a mapping component, I though I would introduce myself and make some connections.

My mind is rather blown with some of the latest developments in online mapping, having just returned from Where 2.0 in San Francisco.

My background is in Drupal development, and I've done a lot with the Google Map module. You can see some of the stuff at the beta of Green Map's project for N2Y3 - the Open Green Map. If anyone has questions about how to do this, I'd love to get a mapping session going in the hack room at N2Y3.

Like many Internet activists, I wear many hats:

Just wanted to introduce myself to the netsquared community - I'm the co-founder of the free forum hosting service, lefora.com. Before this I was part of meetro - the location-aware friend finder. Prior to meetro I was at IBM, where I was helping to shape social software within the enterprise.

I'm originally from nyc, been out here for almost 3 years now, absolutely loving everything the bay area has to offer, from technology and open competition, to remote get-aways just a ferry ride away.

How I'm helping...

The main problems in Peru as poverty, low productivity, inadequate infrastructure and poorly integrated markets are often exacerbated by an under-developed agro-industrial sector. Little attention has usually been paid to the value chain through which agricultural commodities and products reach the final consumers in Peru and abroad.

According to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO, 2007), while high-income countries add US$180 of value by processing one tonne of agricultural products, developing countries generate only US$40. Moreover, while 98 percent of agricultural production in high-income countries undergoes industrial processing, barely 30 percent is processed in developing countries.

Just a quick reminder that the deadline to register for the NetSquared Conference (N2Y3) is tomorrow, Friday, May 16th. The Conference will be held at Cisco Systems' Vineyard Conference Center in San Jose, California on May 27 and 28.

Check out the N2Y3 Working Agenda, the 21 NetSquared Mashup Challenge Projects whose work will be featured at the Conference, and register today!

We've extended the deadline to book rooms at the Hilton Santa Clara for the $129 rate until May 16 2008. Book online or call 408.330.000.

You can find a ride or room to share on the N2Y3 Ride Share and Room Share Wiki.

Questions? Email net2@techsoup.org.

We couldn't do the work we do at NetSquared without the support of our generous sponsors. Help us say thanks by giving their sites a click, and read more about their work on our Netsquared Sponsors page. If you'd like to partner with NetSquared, contact Kris Sowalla at ksowolla@techsoup.org