Author: Eli

NetSquared November update

Here’s what I’ve been up to in my gig at NetSquared Local Community Curator.

Winter is finally arriving in the northern hemisphere (and we’re getting jealous of our southern friends). This November the NetSquared community is holding the last of this year’s NetSquared Camps and is holding even more monthly meetups than last month (at least twenty-one!). This month also saw the launch of the Microsoft Windows 8 Contest, which is open to US-based developers.

The future of NetSquared local

What does the future of NetSquared’s local meetups look like? Please join Billy Bicket, TechSoup’s VP of Community & Platform and Sheeta Singh, Development Director for a community meeting to discuss the future of the program. Please indicate your availability on this doodle poll if you’d like to join this conference call.

NetSquared Camps

Late October saw NetSquared Camp Europe and NetSquared Camp Vermont. In early November it was Guatemala’s turn and in late November the Australian and New Zealand organizers are holding NetSquared Camp Downunder. This four-city meetup will be streamed live over the internet and you’re invited to join them! You can RSVP on the Virtual NetSquared meetup group.

Platform

Events shown based on location

The ninth release of the NetSquared platform is now live. Most of the changes are improvements to the challenge functionality of the site, but it also includes the display of events to logged-in users of the platform. When a user is on the site they are now shown their closest local meetup event (because we know their location). This will help bring more people to your meetup.

I’ve also created a screencast overview of the local organizer pages on the platform as well as a guide to creating and editing your local organizer page. Let me know if something isn’t clear.

Windows 8 Apps for Social Good Contest

I’ve been pretty quiet for the last few weeks because I’ve been supporting the launch of a joint project between Microsoft and NetSquared. Want to help people find the closest organic produce? Interested in making it easier for people to conserve more energy? Can you make online donations easier? How about making math easier for kids? The Windows 8 Apps for Social Good Contest invites both new and seasoned developers to create an app for “social good” – and you could win one of three cash prizes to help fuel your dream and keep it going! There are three cash prizes starting at $15,000. Good luck! Please note, the contest is only open to residents of the USA.

November events

A quick scan shows 21 events happening across the NetSquared local network. Did I miss any?

Photo by Tim on Flickr

I am digital and so can you (slides and photos from Ben Johnson’s digital tools presentation)

Frontier Consulting‘s Ben Johnson delivered a humdinger of a presentation for Net Tuesday. It was so jam-packed full of information that no notetaker could hope to keep up. Luckily for us Ben has generously agreed to share his slides.

Voila!

Linda Liu was our photographer again (yay!) and has already shared the first 10 photos from the event.

I took those photos and used Animoto to create a video slideshow.

Oh, and charities are eligible for a free upgrade on their Animoto account.

Volunteer update

  • Amy and Helen were awesome in their tag-team role as greeters!
  • David Gloyn-Cox has offered to join our volunteer team. Yay!
  • Linda is already uploading photos.
  • Rita Jasper recorded the whole event and is planning on producing a series of short excerpts. I’m really excited to see what she creates. Go Rita!
  • Kelvin expertly conducted our online symphony last night. It’s a beautiful thing.

Interested in joining the volunteer team? Give us a shout!

And lastly, please join me in congratulating my co-organizer Chad on being a new father of twins!!!!

[Jobs] Web Manager at OpenMedia.ca

Do you have drupal development and project management skills? OpenMedia.ca, one of Canada’s fastest growing and innovating campaigning organizations needs you!

Web Manager

http://openmedia.ca/work

We’re currently seeking a Web Manager to help us be more innovative and leading edge with our technology. We have one of the biggest lists of supporters in Canada, and have begun expanding internationally through our new online hub at OpenMediaNow.net and our campaign to preserve Internet freedom globally at StopTheTrap.net. At this crucial point in our development, we’re seeking the right person to help us engage supporters with sophisticated online tools and an enthusiastic and inspired approach to online campaigns.

Position Description

The Web Manager will work with our Communications Manager, our Executive Director, and volunteer developers to develop and deploy online tools, maintain and improve OpenMedia’s online presence, and liaise with hosts to implement performance optimizations.

The Web Manager is primarily responsible for Drupal development projects, and helping to maximize the effectiveness of our digital environments in order to engage our supporters in safeguarding the open and affordable Internet.

Duties:

  • Looking holistically at OpenMedia’s online presence and developing strategies to maximize its effectiveness.
  • Managing and executing web development projects.
  • Being our liaison to the developer world and activate our community of talented volunteers.
  • Website testing, bug fixing & optimization.
  • Providing effort estimates; communicating the progress of projects.

Qualifications:

  • Experience with Drupal, including a solid understanding of the framework, design and implementation of modules and general site maintenance, coding best-practices, resources and the Drupal community.
  • Some experience developing software in PHP.
  • Experience with jQuery/Javascript & AJAX techniques.
  • Ability to work in a fast-paced working environment as part of a team or alone; ability to respond rapidly to technical issues, where applicable.
  • Aptitude for online campaigning and understanding of the requirements of a networked not-for-profit.
  • Must have own laptop and software licenses.

Assets:

  • Passion for the open Internet and Internet freedom issues.
  • Experience custom coding in Drupal or other CMSes.
  • Experience with web development collaboration and volunteer management.
  • Experience with MySQL database development.
  • Fluent in HTML5 and CSS3.
  • Experience with cross-site integration using JSON/JSONP & XML.
  • Understanding of the LAMP technology stack.
  • General understanding of best practices for web-based architecture and design.

Part-time or full-time (minimum 25 hours/week), $3000-4000/month, based on experience. One-year contract with three-month probationary period. Possibility of promotion and bonus based on performance.

Please send your resume and any portfolio links you’d like to include to lindsey@openmedia.ca by October 19th. Do not include an attached cover letter, simply include a few lines about your passion for this work in the body of the email.

[Webinar] Overcoming Bad Data: Solutions for Salesforce Data Pollution

https://cc.readytalk.com/r/xl8908hg77ly

What is bad data? Why should sales teams improve the quality of data in their Salesforce CRM? How can Salesforce administrators clean up their databases and maintain a consistently high level of data quality? Who should Salesforce administrators turn to for effective data quality solutions?

This webinar will answer these questions and more, explaining why data quality is mission critical to the enterprise and laying out a basic action plan for Salesforce administrators who want to neutralize the threat of poor data quality once and for all.

RSVP here:
https://cc.readytalk.com/r/xl8908hg77ly

 

Details

  • Date:Thu, Oct 11, 2012
  • Time:01:00 PM CDT
  • Duration:1 hour
  • Host(s):Jason Kort

Presenter Information

Mark Esdale, Vice President, Business Development, CRMfusion, Inc.

 Mark Esdale is one of the original founders of CRMfusion Inc and a previous large scale enterprise Salesforce administrator. Mark entered the world of online CRM in 1998 and has been dedicated to it ever since. At CRMfusion Mark specializes in working with some of the largest Salesforce Org’s worldwide regarding solutions to their data quality requirements.

Creative Commons Salon Vancouver – October 15th

A cool event re-posted from CreativeCommons.ca

Creative Commons Salon Vancouver – October 15th

Registration in now open! Please click here to register using our online sign-up form.

A large part of the origins of the Creative Commons license was the artistic sector. Join our panel of practicing artists who will share how and why they chose to use Creative Commons licenses for their works, and discuss the changing landscape of creative practice, intellectual property and participatory culture.

This is the second in a series of salons across the country to raise awareness of the potentials of the Creative Commons and to celebrate the re-launch of the Creative Commons Canada affiliate,

The salon is being held in conjunction with the 9th International Open Education conference.

Panelists will include

Date/Time – Monday, October 15 7-9pm
Place – Upstairs at the W2 Media Cafe, 111 W Hastings St, Vancouver, BC
Cost – This is a FREE event. However, space is limited – please add your name to the attendee list so we can plan appropriately for food orders and seating.

New meetup group: Young Community Leaders Network

Check out this new meetup group from Net Tuesday friend Trina Isakson.
Young Community Leaders Network (Metro Vancouver) is a space for young nonprofit and community leaders to gain skills, knowledge and
connections required to create positive change.

Who should join:

  • nonprofit professionals
  • board members
  • social entrepreneurs
  • nonprofit service providers (graphic designers, writers, lawyers, trainers, consultants, etc.)
  • students interested in working in the sector
  • others demonstrating community leadership

Upcoming events:


Join us at Meetup.com to learn about other upcoming learning, sharing, and networking opportunities.

BC IDEAS – Join the online competition

Do you have an idea or program that addresses the social, health or environmental challenges facing BC communities? Do you know someone who does?

BC Ideas is an online competition that asks British Columbians to submit innovative ideas or programming that address our province’s toughest social challenges. This collaborative competition is open to all British Columbians and will provide over $250,000 to the top entries.

Participating in BC Ideas will give you a platform to share your ideas for social innovation, from concepts to established programs. By entering the competition you can gain profile for your idea or program, receive feedback from experts on social innovation, and secure funding for your work.

Visit www.bcideas.ca for more information or contact April at adutheil@changemakers.com. Deadline for entries is September 12th.

Twitter: @Changemakers

Online fundraising presentation for Social Media Club Vancouver

The cool kids at Social Media Club Vancouver invited me to their #SMCYVRsummer event August 14. Good times! They hold their event in Ceili’s, so there’s booze. A valuable lesson for Net Tuesday?

As an old man I went in to sass the crowd of youngsters and told them that they couldn’t fundraise with social media (a bit of a lie. But also true.)

Here’s the slide deck I used to support my song and dance.

Changing the Face of a City: The work behind the web redevelopment project of vancouver.ca

Net Tuesday is excited to be a media partner for this special presentation on the creation of Vancouver’s new website.

RSVP on Meetup.com

When: Tuesday, August 14, 2012, 6:00 PM To 8:00 PM

Where: Main floor of City Hall, 453 West 12th Ave (corner of Cambie)

Early in August 2012, the City of Vancouver will unveil an entirely new vancouver.ca website. This is more than a website refresh – it’s a completely new website, built from the ground up with new technology and content strategies, to serve as the City of Vancouver’s user-centered presence on the web. What’s unique about the City’s new site is the way we got to the radical redesign of the site. Employing a user-centered design process combined with a comprehensive content strategy, the City embarked on a path that is known for maximum benefits for users with maximum efficiencies for internal processes.

How did a team of content strategists rework a 60,000-page municipal website to bring it down to a fraction of the size while increasing its effectiveness? Come and learn how we placed the focus completely on the user. Presentations by Gordon Ross of Open Road (UX research), Rahel Anne Bailie (content strategy), and Jerome Ryckborst (UX and usability).

This session is a special cross-association event, bringing together user experience and content specialists. Be prepared to network with your peers from VanUE, the Content Strategy and Information Architecture meetup groups, HTCE, Third Tuesday, and Net Tuesdays.

The event will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, August 14th on the main floor of City Hall, 453 West 12th Ave (corner of Cambie). Parking is available around City Hall and bike rack space is available on the north side of the building. Easy access by public transit. Building is accessible.

There is no charge for this event, but you are attending, we do need you to RSVP at http://vancouverweblaunch.eventbrite.com. We are also organizing an after-event drinks & social time nearby, so stay tuned for more information about that.