With corporate greed, labor rights, environmental action, and governmental spending all topics that have spawned some of the most powerful calls for social change we have seen in the United States, it is no wonder that 2011 will go down as a year where digital organizing powered on-the-ground action, and visa versa.  more

Is it being “optimistically pessimistic” or “pessimistically optimistic” that involves a lot of worrying, while working and hoping for the best? Whichever it is, it’s certainly how one might generally describe non-profits. It’s an attitude that, for better or for worse, seems to be inherent to the non-profit existence: doing vital work in neglected arenas, and with limited resources. more

The email program run by the Obama Campaign was a brilliant and shining example of success that baffles many small campaign leaders. To some, a victory of such proportion seems like an impossible daydream. However, achieving campaign success is more than just having a compelling cause and creating inspiring content. Rather, it is in large part mathematical — a numbers game.

So, what does that mean? more

This past weekend over 2,500 people gathered in Boston to talk media reform, net neutrality, and the future of journalism at the National Conference for Media Reform, hosted by our friends (and clients) at Free Press.

Sessions ranged in subject from pop culture to internet law, and from hands-on how-to’s, like how to build your own wireless mesh network, to in-depth discussions of the implications of Wikileaks.  more

"To be truthful and revealing, data graphics must bear on the question at the heart of quantitative thinking: 'Compared to what?'" — Edward Tufte

As part of Mother Jones' new series Plutocracy Now, they've presented eleven fantastic charts under the heading "It's the Inequality, Stupid." more

I was pretty floored at last year’s DrupalCon when Dave Cole, from the White House’s office of the CIO, announced that the federal government of the United States was going to contribute 4 new modules used in Whithouse.gov to the Drupal Community.

On the macro-level there was the wonderment that comes with watching a paradigm shift unfold in right in front of your eyes. more

How much did your elementary education cost? The clever folks at Building Tomorrow have found a great way to use that simple question to drive an innovative campaign that connects the costs of a primary school education in the United States to the work they do building schools in Uganda.  more

Georgetown students and Latin American human rights NGOs in the DC area have lately teamed up as Coalition Adios Uribe to work to revise the legacy of former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe. He was recently appointed an honorary post at Georgetown University and does some lecturing there.  more

One thing out of Egypt is pretty clear: our communications technology and infrastructure (mobile and web) are still dangerously subject to single point of control. Almost three years ago I explored a possible alternative with Phil Lamb, in a totally different context. more