social media

Context Is Everything: Online Communities

August 22, 2013 by Mitch Arnowitz

Beth Kanter & I recently participated in a Venture Philanthropy Partners/Leap of Reason

conversation reminiscent of a Netpreneur AdMarketing discussion from a dozen years ago.

We offered to write a guest blog post reflecting on peer learning online and online

communities. The blog post follows. What did we miss in our list of things that are

really important, those ‘mission critical’ elements of community building that you can’t

live without? Please let us know in the comments below!

Flickr Photo BirkgetKing

Online Communities: Are Best Practices Still Best Practices?

The discussion thread reminded me of an AdMarketing conversation we had a long time ago. The Netpreneur AdMarketing list, one of the longest running Internet marketing lists and still active, is an adventure of the Morino Institute. Over the last decade, the fundamentals of community and relationship building haven’t really changed. What was important then is even more important now!

I thought it might be fun (and useful) to take a look back at this AdMarketing conversation. At the time, we invited Internet thought-leaders to participate in an email list discussion, focusing on interactive tools. What transpired was a conversation among pioneers of early day Internet community building that produced way interesting insights. Below are several takeaways and pointers from that conversation. Looking back, its amazing how little has changed, how relevant these lessons are today and how important it is to do things the right way. Read the rest of the post here.

1105 FOSE Meet-Up: Cybersecurity, Cloud Technology and Social Media

May 21, 2013 by Sarah Kneip

We participated in a great onsite meeting at FOSE 2013 with top notch leaders in the information technology community. This guest post from CTOVision recaps the insights and discussions on the importance of cybersecurity, cloud technology and social media. The original posting of this blog can be found here.

1105 FOSE Meet-Up: Cybersecurity, Cloud Technology and Social Media

Guest post from CTO Vision

1105 Media Group, organizers of the FOSE and GovSec Conferences & Expos, hosted an FOSE 2013 Blogger & Speaker Meet-up on Wednesday, May 15 at FOSE.

I always look forward to the blogger meetups at events, because they offer a chance to get some visibility on other tracks or key points you’ve missed. It was a varied group. We had folks from all walks of life who work in the cyber realm, and the breadth of experience added to the conversation.

This meet-up included influencers, Ajay Budhraja, Chief Technology Officer, EOIR at the United States Department of Justice, Gadi Ben-Yehuda, Director of Innovation and Social Media for IBM Center for The Business of Government, Andrew Scott, Social Media Coordinator at Carahsoft Technology Corp. Paul DeSoza, CEO of CSFI, Sayngeun Phouamkha, VP of Business Development at CSFI. Lindy Kyzer, Editor at Clearance Jobs, Erik Johnson from DC Gov and Michael Russell .

Right now the federal government is going through an incredible IT transformation. They are moving from IT as a way of getting work done, into IT as a strategic asset for business. The federal government is adopting today’s trends; mobility, agility and open APIs that are opening up federal IT and making it more functional and delivering more to our citizens.

Much of the talk focused on open data and data access. We talked extensively about the increasing amount of noise in the ether. From the deluge of tweets, to the host of open data released by governments it is becoming harder and harder to identify the signal. Paul De Souza of CSFI has created an open-source intelligence operating center for the CSFI that uses Silobreaker to create their own operating picture, and to create their own intelligence products. They also use the TVEyes capability to monitor TV streams from their smart devices, increasing their awareness of what discussions are occurring in the world.

We also discussed how data is driving government, and see OSINT and other capabilities de-silo’ing the data. However, this led into the conversation of how the government can lessen the impact of social media providing valuable OSINT to our adversaries. Ajay brought up the importance of cloud data, policy and accessibility. While some organizations have social media policies, a government-wide policy that clearly states social media policies could be beneficial. parental blocker Limited access to social media could also benefit the government and limit exposure. While social media can be a great asset to the citizenship of the country, we must be cautious that it does not endanger those citizens.

To access the full program agenda and find out about FOSE 2014, visit www.fose.com.

About CTOVision.com
At CTOvision.com we write about technology, with a focus on technology of relevance to enterprise technologists. The blog was founded by Bob Gourley, CTO of Crucial Point, a high tech consultancy. We also publish technology concepts and evals at our sister site CTOlabs.com.

Our premier publication is our monthly technology review. Every month we send

this to over 12000 technology thought leaders. This monthly summarizes reporting from the CTOvision.com blog as well as tech trends from the IT industry. The monthly also provide links to our technology assessments. Other products include our Daily CTOvision.com summary, the Daily Fedcyber.com summary, and the Weekly Government Big Data Newsletter.

“One Click” Resolutions for Social Change in 2013

January 10, 2013 by Sarah Kneip

I am excited to kick off the New Year and not simply focus on eating better and time management, but also making a difference in this world. I’ve always been passionate about using technology for social change. In our digital world, helping others has become more accessible and “user-friendly” making it easier for each of us to use the internet for change.

Alleviating hunger is a cause that has been important to me for some time. I am a mother, wife, sister and daughter and to wake up every morning knowing there are millions of people just like me who don’t have the basic necessities such as food is unacceptable. I ran across a search engine called Sleedo (powered by Google) whose slogan is “Feed the poor with every search you make!” The site regularly donates money raised from advertisers and sponsors to the World Food Programme for every search. With each search you make, 10 grains of rice are donated.

Another go-to search engine for good is Benelab (powered by Bing) which was founded by a teenager in Seattle to make philanthropy easy and more accessible. 100% of it’s revenues go to charity.

There are other ways to help in the digital space. If you enjoy online games, check out WeTopia, a game where you play for good. Players earn joy and choose real world projects to fund while having fun with your friends. This is a great way to introduce the concept of giving to your children.

The New Year can’t be complete without a resolution for better health. If you are trying to stay fit like me, check out the Charity Miles app. You can walk, run and bike while earning money for charity. Select which charity you’d like to workout for and press “start.” It tracks your distance and earns money for the organization you select. Bikers earn 10¢ per mile; walkers and runners earn 25¢ per mile. The app is available on iPhone and Android.

If you are always on the go, check out the app Give 2 Charity. It allows users to earn points that equal donation for charities just by carrying your phone. The Give 2 Charity app collects your location data, and in exchange, lets you earn points to redeem for a monetary donation to selected charities including: Make-A-Wish Foundation, American Cancer Society, American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, Humane Society, Sierra Club and Action Against Hunger. At the end of the month, 100% of the proceeds are donated to the charities. This is a new app which is available on Google Play and will soon be available for iPhone users.

There are many more online tools out there which incorporate social change, but my wish for you in 2013 is to think about ways to help others in the real world, through the digital world.