Monday is Dr. Martin Luther King Day. It's a national Day of Service and a time to reflect on social justice.

The crisis in Haiti brings extra focus and intensity to the question of how we care for each other. How did one of the world’s poorest countries struggle to survive just miles off the coast of Florida? Why does it require a massive earthquake for us to turn our attention to Haiti? more

Cross-posted from Huffington Post.

I didn't even notice my heart pounding until after turning the corner from W 44th street onto Broadway. Displayed on four giant screens -- the hallmark of Times Square -- were the very photos we had just been sorting through and tagging in a dingy, overcrowded campaign office downtown not even an hour earlier. And now they were flashing before thousands of people in Times Square, while Jay-Z's new Empire State of Mind blanketed us in what seemed like a real-life music video.  more

I almost stopped myself from posting this. Because no one likes a cranky-pants. In this rapidly evolving field of online campaigning and "new media", we're quick to exalt and profile massively successful campaigns. When I train others on building effective online campaigns, I like to point to projects like Green my Apple, Invisible Children and Nothing But Nets (among others). more

Ok, so we didn't win an Oscar. But for those who work in our field, this is about as close as you can get.

Earlier this week, we received the exciting news that DoSomething.org has been picked as the winner of a People's Voice Webby for the best Youth Website of the year -- beating out some big name properties from National Geographic, MTV, and Marvel. more

South by Southwest Interactive has evolved into a truly massive event -- with up to twelve simultaneous sessions at a time and scores of official and unofficial parties each night. As most vets will advise, your best bet is simply to ride the wave and explore new ideas since you can't catch it all or meet everyone if you tried.

So, in no particular order, my gross generalizations from this year while it's still fresh: more

Hey y'all. We had so much fun at our own 5 yr anniversary robot party at drupalcon last week that we're doing it all over again (kind of, not really) in Austin this wknd during South by Southwest.

As usual, we'll be rolling deep: Tina, Cristen, Ethan, Alan, and I will all be there, against the best advice of the people who try to keep us profitable. more

An older woman living on the third floor of my building was found dead in her apartment last night, on January 5th. Sadly, she had been dead for weeks. Others in the building were surprised when she didn't show up to the holiday party -- on December 17th -- but then realized something must be wrong when the TV had been blaring for days and the newspapers and mail started piling up after the holidays. more

My cousin Jake is a sophomore in high school in Westchester County, New York.  At one point during our family's Thanksgiving (and amidst an endless string of "how's school!?" questions that I don't miss at all), Jake casually referenced an interesting site called www.turnitin.com.

Jake and his fellow classmates are required to upload their essays and term papers to turnitin.com instead of submitting a hard copy to their teachers. Intrigued by how times have changed since we had to walk uphill to school both ways, I checked out the site. more

The Obama campaign's plan to announce their V.P. pick via SMS was a brilliant stroke, and the sheer number of people engaged with the campaign via text has already earned the campaign a place in political history (not that there was any question).

Unfortunately, the announcement didn't go as planned. Both the campaign as well as their most connected supporters have reason to be frustrated, and there are lessons here for all of us in the worlds of online politics, campaigning, organizing, and communications (keep reading!).

I'm quoted in two AP stories yesterday (here and here) about Obama's Biden pick as saying, "This is like finding out from your neighbor instead of your sister that she's engaged: not how you want or expect the news to be delivered."

There's a bit more to the overall story that didn't make its way into the coverage (surprise!), so i'll elaborate below. But for those still bitter about not receiving their text message, I think we'll need to give the campaign a pass on this one, after what was surely a long and bumpy night largely outside of their control. more