Lawrence Lessig ... speaking to a packed house at the DIA user conference keynote.
(ot) Seating nailed down at the power strip oasis. Why are there never enough outlets? airports are a special offender in this ... or, maybe i should think about a computer with more than 30 seconds of battery life.
Monday's registration deadline for the DIA user conference has passed, but you might have noticed you can still get to the registration page.
Here's the deal: there are about a dozen spots left. We'd like to fill them, but we also need to have a final-final head count for the hotel by the end of the week. So registration is going to be held open to tomorrow, Friday, June 20. That's the stone-cold, after-the-deadline deadline; we won't be able to handle on-site registrations, so if you're still juggling plans or otherwise uncertain, get in touch with us and let us know what's up no later than tomorrow.
This. Is. Hot.
Lawrence Lessig, Stanford law professor, free culture paladin, social change advocate -- man, in short, about the technology activist town -- has just been officially confirmed to keynote the upcoming DemocracyInAction Community Conference.
The conference takes place June 26-27 in downtown Washington, D.C.; Lessig will address the morning plenary on Friday, June 27th on "Change Congress". Maybe you caught him at the recent National Conference on Media Reform?
You'll find him on the expanded agenda also just released.
Did we mention (repeatedly?) that that's on top of two days' wall-to-wall Salsa training, online strategizing, and elbow rubbing with the best and brightest?
Did we mention there are only three days left to register?
Don't put it off another day -- register now!
The speakers list is coming together, and dang if it isn't a fine one. Rub elbows with the likes of:
And crib organizing notes from the best and brightest, like
Did we mention that you're running out of time to register?
Last-minute shoppers, the June 16 deadline for registration is fast approaching.
Maybe you've been busy. Haven't had time yet. Been waiting on a few things to fall into place. We've all been there.
But the calendar has rolled over to June and space is limited, so now's the time to make the time to register.
It's here! In the spirit of providing the best learning opportunities, networking possibilities and progressive leadership for 2008 and beyond, we've been working hard on preparing our first ever community conference.
We're talking two days of hands-on, interactive training from DemocracyInAction staff and your colleagues in other member organizations!
The conference will take place in Washington, D.C. on June 26-27th at the Hotel Palomar. If you haven't checked the location out yet, it's a sustainably developed hotel in the heart of Dupont Circle with fabulous conference space (think windows in every room) and delicious meal plans (vegans and veggies, rejoice!)
Save the date and watch for updates: June 26-27 in Washington D.C., at the Hotel Palomar we'll be hosting our first user conference.
A lot's been happening in the year since we rolled out Salsa, both in the toolset and in the space, so there'll be plenty to talk about.
We'll do some tools features, both old standbys and the new toys that seem to roll out every day; we'll do some strategy training and best practices; we'll do a lot of peer learning because there are much smarter people than us doing all kinds of innovative things; we'll have no shortage of socializing, networking, and general merrymaking with the fantastic circle of progressive activists using Salsa; and we'll learn from each other where we should be headed next.
The agenda is in a developmental stage, so if you've got something you're dying to see happen, drop it in the comments here or drop one of us a line.
From my posting yesterday until today so much has been going on! I almost don't know where to begin.
More people are around, so the hallways of the civic center, and the streets of downtown Atlanta are quite full. The plenary sessions that begin and end each day have more people, although that's more true for the 6:30 pm sessions than the 8:30 am sessions. Could it be that folks are tired after a long night of carousing?
Kip has been connecting with his communities and friends – the radical queer community, Indyvoter folk, his old friends from the Southeast, and friends (like Dave at Radical Designs) from the Bay Area.
I was able to attend a session on the Israel/Palestine issue, but missed another one that sounded really good. A lot of my time is spent distributing the newsletter with information about online organizing that the tech folks put out. One strategy is to stand facing the crowd and pass it out. Unfortunately, this is the technique pioneered by political parties of the communist variety, and many folks instinctively recoiled from me. Could it be my breath?
The US Social Forum kicked off yesterday with DIA literally in the house. The locals here call it the 'Civic Center' and it’s where an estimated 10,000 activists, organizers and revolutionary tourists will be spending part of the next few days. Among them yours truly and Kip Williams, on a mission to spread the gospel of online organizing as a powerful agent of change.
Kip spent the morning helping with registration, a process that could have been a disaster. But it wasn’t! Key members of the Information & Communication Technology team, including Ana Willem, made sure that all went well. Here and there he still had a chance to make beautiful music ...
Most of my day was spent sitting at the DIA table and talking to folks about technology. I’ve been able to meet some great folks: a Hawai'i native scholar and activist, AFSC folks who work on Africa issues, and one of April's old teachers the Friends World College. (Kathleen says hello!)
Charles holding up the Technology for Another World, the publication of the tech committee at the USSF.
With apologies that fatigue and connectivity issues (I think every tech conference I've been to this year has had wireless problems ...), a few random snippets from the Nonprofit Tech Conference.
Wednesday, April 4
Vendor fair. No iPods won (note: for a Nano, I'll link to Satan himself), but an adequate haul of swag -- GoLightly has the stroke of genius with shot glasses for which their moniker is singularly apt.
(But why do they come containing jelly beans?)
DIA and PICnet collaborate on a good way to use them: the unofficial NTC drinking game (.pdf), readily adaptable to all manner of similar events.
Our table gives away Salsa.
With a smile.
Why Nonprofit Managers Must Use RSS ... And How to Start
What Two Years in Nonprofit Tech Has Taught Me
Something Rich and Strange -- a Generational Challenge
The Allegory of the People in the Cave by the Greek Guy
Our Tipsheet series, including
DIA-lysis of statistical trends among our user universe, such as Hour/Day/Month to ask for donations and What an E-mail Address is Worth.
All we've said about nptech
The Netroots
Del.icio.us/DemocracyInAction
Myspace/demaction
YouTube/demaction
Flickr/democracyinaction