PairVote.ca – How I did it

Posted on by in Social Media

At the start of last fall’s federal election, I wanted to bring attention to the non-sexy electoral reform issue. Thanks to Google, I discovered pair voting had been used in the U.S. but not in Canada. Seemed like a novel idea that might interest and inspire people. After a few hours of effort, http://www.pairvote.ca was launched and then I went away for the weekend. Upon returning, over 50 people had registered to swap votes and national media was asking for interviews.

Social networking and free tools are game changers. Who would have thought one person could use free, online tools to launch a vote swapping service and thrust voting reform back into the spotlight? In the presentation below, you will see how one person using Facebook, blogging, Twitter, Skype, Google maps and a mailing list garnered thousands of registrants, dozens of media interviews and most of all the growth of a grassroots movement for electoral reform.

You’ll learn about people like Kris, a person discovered through Twitter who became a key contributor by writing online, giving interviews and devoting countless hours in the final days.

If you are relatively new to engaging people online, you will discover ideas and tips you can use in your own work and volunteer efforts.

Watch presentation in full screen.

Original presentation delivered to TAG audience at Sault College, January 28, 2009. OT: the multimedia centre has cameras that follow the speaker, very cool indeed.

Obama-style change, in Canada

Posted on by in Pursuits

changecamp-logo_highrez

This weekend I’ll be at ChangeCamp which in the words of chief organizer Mark Kuznicki

is designed to create connections, knowledge, tools and policies that drive transparency, civic engagement and democratic empowerment. We want to start a new conversation about citizenship and government that understands and employs both the tools of the web and participant-led face-to-face meetings like this event. The hope is to begin a national movement by creating tools that people in their communities can take and use to help start that conversation in a way that is relevant to them.

I’m going for 3 reasons:

  • Connect. I’ve met through Twitter a number of the people going – young, talented people motivated for social change. It’ll be great to meet many of them face-to-face for the first time to build on those budding relationships, including people connected to thmvmnt. There will be a diverse crowd: citizens, technologists, designers, academics, policy wonks, political players, change-makers and government employees there to answer one question: How do we re-imagine government and governance in the age of participation?
  • Participate. This will be a chance to be at the start of a new movement, one I am passionate about. Looking forward to getting my hands (and head) dirty, excited about the ideas that will come forth from the day.
  • Learn. I’ve never been to an unconference like ChangeCamp before, where the content of the day is created by the participants and anyone who wants to lead a conversation about something that they’re passionate about will have an opportunity to do so. I’d like to help organize events like this back in Sault Ste. Marie, including a local ChangeCamp.

Registrations going fast

Not many spots left at the conference, so act quickly if you want to go. I’ll be driving down Friday from Sault Ste. Marie and have room in my car for anyone living along the way. We could make it a ChangeCamp caravan. 🙂

Meet your new Planet Plone zoo keeper

Posted on by in Pursuits

Great response to my invitation for someone to step in as the new Planet Plone zoo keeper. Thanks to Lukasz Lakomy, Ian Hood, David Little and Rob Porter for responding. Plone community, here is your chance to find something small and needed for these willing volunteers. 🙂

I’ll now introduce to you your new contact for getting your blog on Planet Plone, a guy whose voice is destined for radio (or a Plone podcast?), John DeRosa!

John Derosa, new Planet Plone zoo keeper
John Derosa, new Planet Plone zoo keeper

John is Director of Web Development for Fisher Communications, where he’s working on new technology initiatives, and doing some Phone theming and customization in an open-source environment. He’s a coder at heart, and enjoys Python quite a bit. Before Fisher, he worked in a number of start-ups, the most successful of which was Singingfish. He lives in Seattle. You can find more details about him on his blog or on LinkedIn.

John looks forward to connecting with Plone people and helping out in this simple but important job.

Planet Plone is the blogging voice of the Plone community. Not following Planet Plone? Add the feed to your favourite feed reader. Want your Plone blog posts on Planet? Submit your name, blog url and feed url to the Plone.org issue tracker. I’m sure John will take good care of you.