October 2009

These are some links I wanted to share from October 28th. Find me on Delicious for more!

• BE a Government Consultant and Use Social Media: A Guide | Social Media Strategery – Here's an interesting post from Steve Radick about 10 ways to be a good government consultant using social media. "As “Government 2.0” becomes more and more popular, especially here in the Washington area, there seem to be an increasing number of people calling themselves social media or “Gov 2.0″ consultants."
• Robin Caldwell: Black Like Me? The Missing Faces in Technology and Innovation – Here is a well-written post on a very important topic from Robin Caldwell: "The beautiful thing about the Internet is that it is impervious to Affirmative Action, EEOC compliance and the Fair Housing Act. It could care less about who you love, where you live, and how many degrees you possess. The World Wide Web is the great equalizer that is not interested in race, gender or economic status. Anyone can be a landowner of this prime real estate just like the creators of Twitter whose property reportedly has a one billion dollar valuation. As we inch closer to Web 3.0, the question of ownership will be directly tied to who has access to the necessary tools to build on the "land." And if memory serves me correctly, the one who owns the land is the one who holds the power. So why is it that I see the same names and faces — none of which look like mine –positioned as thought leaders and innovators in Web 2.0?"
• Eight impressive recommendations on website governance and strategy | Social Media 4 Good – Check out this insightful post from Timo Luege about a report from the UN on web governance. "The United Nations Joint Inspection Body recently spoke to web professional in 40 UN agencies to identify what the most common problems are and how to fixed them. The result is an impressive document that can be used by many non-profit organizations, NGOs, International Organizations and even government ministries and agencies to address similar problems in their own organization. The ”Review of Management of Internet Websites in the United Nations System Organizations“ (31 pages) focuses on website governance and strategy – and I still have to meet a web manager who doesn’t feel this could be improved."
• The TwitterKids of Tanzania | The Epic Change Blog – A beautiful update from the Epic Change blog where Stacey and Avi are now in Tanzania working with the "school that Twitter built" last year from proceeds of Tweetsgiving, and where this year's donations will help bring technology. "Hujambo from Tanzania! I’m SO EXCITED to write you because I couldn’t wait to share: on Saturday, in the Moivaro village of Arusha, Tanzania, in the shadow of Mt. Meru, Shepherds Junior School was connected to the internet for the very first time. The students sent their first tweets from the TweetsGiving classroom built from your gratitude."
• Indigenous Mapping: Emerging Cultures on the Geoweb: Where 2.0 Conference 2009 – O’Reilly Conferences, May 19 – 21, 2009, San Jose, CA – Check out the video and presentation slides, too! "Indians in the Amazon rainforest are now using Google Earth to protect their lands from illegal logging, to plan for their future and to share their rich history and culture with the world. How will the Geoweb change and evolve as indigenous peoples begin to participate? What may we have to learn from tribes whose first contact with the modern world has been in our lifetime, and who are currently making the transition from the stone age to the Internet age?"