NetSquared September update

fall leafHere’s what I did as the NetSquared Local Community Curator in September 2012.

 

September is here, and even ‘tho the new year doesn’t come for another four months I still think of September as a time of rebirth and renewal (I’ll always think like a student, I guess.)

Check out all this rebirth and renewal:
Camps

We’re already had two NetSquared Camp events (Honolulu and Cameroon/Nigeria) and there’s another six  coming between now and November.

Platform
We released the latest release of the NetSquared platform this week and the old blog posts are back!
September events
The NetSquared local organizers are going to keep you busy this summer. Here’s a taste of some of the events planned so far.

NetSquared update October 2012

My Geek-o-Lantern.

What I did at NetSquared in October 2012

October is here! This is going to be a big month for NetSquared. Not only are we going to be holding three regional camps, but there’s also 18 local meetups scheduled and a major local organizer-focused update to the NetSquared platform.

Camps

There are three NetSquared camps scheduled for October:

And in November there will be two more:

Platform
Notification feed

The seventh release of the NetSquared platform is now live. It includes several new features including notification feeds (Facebook-style!) and NetSquared camp pages which appear as green dots on the local map.

What comes next? A major revision of the local organizer pages, to be rolled out October 23, 2012. Hopefully that will solve some of the ongoing bugs y’all have been struggling with, including an unpredictable meetup integration and hunt ‘n peck map icons. 🙂

October events

A quick scan shows 18 events happening across the NetSquared local network. Did I miss any? I think our local organizers have put together an impressive lineup. 🙂

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Photo: My Geek-o-Lantern. Creative Commons licensed by Neal Gillis

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

Storify: Ben Johnson’s digital tool suggestions from Net Tuesday

A look into the tool kit of Ben Johnson, the Managing Director of Frontier Consulting.

A look into the tool kit of Ben Johnson, the Managing Director of Frontier Consulting.

http://storify.com/elijah/organizing-your-digital-attack-from-a-one-person-s

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!!!!

Get Tickets for the 5th Vancouver Timeraiser!

Are you ready for the most dynamic volunteer-focused art events of the year?The 5th Vancouver Timeraiser is November 8th at the Roundhouse Community Center, 181 Roundhouse Mews. At the Timeraiser you bid volunteer time for incredible works of art purchased from local artists. We call it facilitated simultaneous giving and getting. Ok, maybe we don’t call it that, but it’s a great night where everyone wins. Register soon before tickets sell out and help us raise thousands of volunteer hours for Vancouver nonprofits!


Net Tuesday Members get DISCOUNT Tickets!

As a Net Tuesday member you can get tickets for only $10!

Just go to www.timeraiser.ca and enter the following promotional code to get your half-price tickets: Discount Code = net2012

Timeraiser Details:

Thursday November 8th
Doors open at 7:00pm
at Roundhouse Community Center

Tickets
Tickets are normally $20 and can be purchased online at timeraiser.ca

No paper ticket necessary.

Timeraiser 101
The Timeraiser is part volunteer fair, part silent art auction and part night on the town. Throughout the evening meet with different agencies and match your skills to their needs. Once you have made your matches, you are eligible to bid on artwork. The big twist is rather than bid money, you bid volunteer hours. If you have the winning bid you have 12 months to complete your pledge before bringing the artwork home as a reminder of your goodwill.
Agenda
7:00 pm – Doors Open
8:00 pm – Welcoming Remarks
8:30 pm – Silent Art Auction Begins
9:30 pm – Silent Art Auction Ends
10:00 pm – Final announcements
See our FAQs for complete art bidding rules/what happens if you have a winning art bid.
*cash bar and light catering
*dress is Evening Casual
*max art bid is 100 hours
Connect
Please contact Amanda Grainger-Munday if you have any questions. You can also follow updates on Twitter,  Facebook, LinkedIn.

[Meetup] Prove It! A Practical Guide to A/B Testing for Nonprofits – December 4, 2012

What types of stories best engage your audience? How can you best move your supporters to action? Why do people give to your organization? By performing some simple A/B tests you can start to get the answers to these questions (and more) that can help you shape your marketing, communications and fundraising strategies. Brady presents a practical guide to A/B testing with a sample process, tool recommendations and a case study of a real A/B test.

RSVP on Meetup.com

When: Tuesday, December 4, 2012, 5:30 PM To 7:30 PM

Where: W2 Media Cafe, 111 W Hastings, Vancouver, BC

RSVP on Meetup.com

Agenda

  • 5:30 – 6:00 pm: schmoozing
  • 6:00 – 7:00 pm: Brady Josephson knocks your socks off
  • 7:00 – 7:30 pm: Q&A

Brady Josephson

Brady Josephson - Profile - Thumb -WebBrady is currently the Strategic Director at Charity Express, a Vancouver based digital agency serving small and medium sized nonprofit organizations. He’s a Board Member of The Seacrest Foundation (not affiliated with Ryan…), an Adjunct Professor of fundraising at North Park University and blogs often at recharity.ca and less often on The Huffington Post. You can follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bradyjosephson.

Our sponsor

Net Tuesday is thrilled to have the W2 Media Cafe as our venue sponsor for the 2012-2013 season. They do cool things. Check them out!

[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.