Hi, Evonne Heyning here liveblogging from the Tech Innovation room at N2Y2 for the last session of Tuesday's event.  During the break we had a great discussion on participation in these sessions; for those of us who are in the audience there have been many questions on the backchannel on how the audience can be more effective participants in this process.  Billy @ TechSoup and Jean ~NurtureGirl~ Russell had some great comments on ways that VCs, foundations, busiensses, nonprofits and technology gurus can come together to add value to these discussions.

Please note that we are liveblogging here; not every word is here but I'll get as much as possible along the way. 

Hi, Evonne Heyning here liveblogging from the Social Impact room at N2Y2.  

Second Track of the Social Impact Section Panel

Micah Sifry, Personal Democracy Forum

Diana Scearce, Monitor Institute

Alexandra Samuel, Social Signal

 

Projects Presenting

Genocide Intervention Network: to build out the idea (or brand) of the anti-genocide movement. Give people the idea and space to come together for resources. Content available to everyone regardless of organizational affiliation, use these tools to speak with your own voice: GINet facilitates this dialogue.

Ivan Boothe, Genocide Intervention Network

The N2Y2 sessions have begun; this is Evonne Heyning blogging live from San Jose for NetSquared Innovation spotlights. I will be liveblogging from the detail sessions later today but first, an intro on why this gathering is unique.

The future of organizing networks and activist media will be redefined by many of these 21 innovating social ventures presenting here at N2Y2. Here are a few of the culture-shifting approaches that these groups are pioneering:

Please join me in the Hilton lobby for free wifi and California strawberries while they last...

A moment of personal exoterica before we launch into the N2Y2 events in San Jose; tonight I'm packing and now all of you are privy to my sundries:

* Laptop w/bag (liveblogging from San Jose)
* Camera (to remember what you beautiful people look like)
* Shoes (never forget the good shoes for dancing)
* Clothes (magenta and red, a fiery feeling)
* Books (any suggestions?)
* AMO Game (always connecting the dots)
* Chocolate (the raw cacao powder this time)
* Hand Cream (see Beth Kanter's tips for liveblogging post)
* I heard I love you! card (ask Jean Russell for more info)
* Virtually Delicious (our Second Life design team cards)
* Saving Grace (a gift for a friend)
* Go Green Guide (playa planning 101)
* Delight (for manifesting good cheer)

Last night, Matt showed me the build for our autocomplete search. When a user wants to find a charity, the form will suggest what they're looking for. Now, for any veteran programmer, this would qualify as Ajax 101. Still, it was nice to see some of the tools we enjoy on other sites making a cameo on our own.

It made me think though- how much do these Web 2.0 Bells and Whistles help non-profits and for-profit businesses get heard? Now, I know that programming tricks definitely help usability- anything that makes a webpage more like a desktop is a great functionality to have. But do the aesthetic details (the bells and whistles) drive people to your cause?

Take, for example, a site called Dogster. Found at Dogster.com, it's got "Web 2.0" functionality, but the look of the site is more 1.0. There's no tag clouds, typical fonts, or tiny flourishes. Yet the site is a huge success.

I'd love to find out what you think- do the little things help a site reach its audience (profit or non-profit)? Does it matter if a site uses an autocomplete form instead of a simple list?

 

Browsing the web for news, I came across this story about charities in the UK:

http://www.itpro.co.uk/news/108014/charities-told-to-use-web-better.html

It comes from a conference sponsored by British non-profiteers. Notable quotes include:

"We are entering an age of participative media where anybody with access to a computer has the potential to contribute in a unique and valuable way," Dame Suzi Leather, chair of the Charity Commission. "The challenge for charities is to harness this potential and channel it into genuine social change and community action on the ground."

This week's episode of This Week in NetSquared News is up on the Net2 podcast.  For the past month, we've been uploading audio recordings from the NetSquared Conference sessions onto the NetSquared podcast channel.  To help you decide if you want to download an hour-long conference session, I'll be including clips from some of the sessions each week in This Week in NetSquared News.  This week, I've included a 5-minute clip from the Gender and the Social Web panel.

 
Fabu NetSquared volunteer, Stace Carter just posted another session from the NetSquared Conference on the Net2 podcast, Social Networking Systems: Chat Rooms on Steroids or a Real Tool for Social Change?

The panelists were:

• Dimitri Glazkov
• Bob Robertson-Boyd
• Ginger Thomson
• Ami Dar (immoderator and pictured here).