Photo by Flickr user prometheusradio

Two weekends ago I was lucky enough to get to Detroit for the 2010 U.S. Social Forum. The USSF is a gathering place for more than ten thousand activists & organizers from all over the country to meet and learn from from each other - and attempt to chart a course forward for the many U.S. social movements represented there.

The USSF started as a result of the first World Social Forum in 2001, which was itself set up to be a counter-balance to the elite-centric World Economic Forum. 2010 was USSF's second incarnation (the first was in 2007 in Detroit).

Having been to both U.S. Social Forums, there are quite a few differences, though all pointing in a positive direction. Here are three: more

At a recent training for a nonprofit client, I began my talk on online promotions with that proverbial slide filling the entire frame with logos of online tools. Then I flipped to Edvard Munch’s painting, “The Scream.” Indeed, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all of these possibilities that seem to change by the day. more

There’s an obvious appeal to having a large email list: you have the ability to reach many people with one click. But recently I’ve begun questioning the value of large email lists, and the effectiveness of bulk email in general, specifically for the types of clients EchoDitto works with – non-profits, progressives, NGO’s, etc. more

For those of us plugged into tech news, the development of Diaspora is a promising one: true decentralization of social networking.

Diaspora is a grassroots-funded open-source project started by four NYU students. The idea? Instead of hosting photos, links, messages, and friend connections on a centralized server, host it on your own computer. Each person's host is called a "seed" in Diaspora lingo, a borrowed term from bittorrent. more

iHobo: bad taste, yes. You can read more here.

But I'm inclined to think that bad taste is better than no taste at all. more

When I was younger, we lived in an area with moderate gang activity. Playing in the front yard without adult supervision was strictly forbidden. Accompanying my friends to the market on the corner and skipping the bus and walking to school in the morning was simply out of the question - even if we did it anyways. When I moved across the country, the atmosphere was different. I could play outside without my parents watching me through the window. I could go with my friends down to the stream and stay out until dark. more

So we've been doing some thinking. And some talking. Which can mean only one thing: trouble.

Our work is about technology and social change, coming through a variety of vehicles, from politics to products. But we started to run into a curious challenge: for many organizations, technology means tools, without a lot of thought about culture or organizational structure. more

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti on January 12, 2010. Through various media formats, the world was able to get almost instantaneous news and images of the disaster as it was developing. Images of destruction and death poured in from media outlets telling an unbearable story of suffering and loss. more

Cross posted from Care2's Frogloop

Going to the U.N. climate change conference in Copenhagen (COP15) was the closest I've come to a good strong punch in the gut -- the type that makes you question much of what you once believed to be true. But it was also one of the best wake-up calls I could have asked for. more