Transformational Media Can Change The World

A group of social change and civic engagement practitioners gathered in London in September for a summit on transformational media. Wish we had been there!

“As in the greatest stories that have endured through the ages such as Greek mythology, transformational media explores the deep questions concerning our nature and the nature of the world we live in. Transformational Media may be focused on inner qualities, inspiring stories, or on practical solutions. It is transformational in the sense that its goal is to transform conflict into peace, to unite rather than divide, and transform environmental destruction into living in harmony with the natural world.”

Read more about transformational media here.

 

Update From Nonprofit Software Dev Summit

It’s day one for the gathering of coders, hackers, activists and technologists here in Oakland all focused on civic engagement and social justice sponsored by Aspiration Tec Here is the agenda and session notes. Some 125 people are discussing and sharing news around how technology can boost progressive social change. I am one of the older attendees here and it’s a kick to talk to the younger coders and activists a bout their take on the Internet and how social media and other online tools can bring people together for smart civic engagement and self-determination. I’m talking up the CivicLab, Apps For Activists and  and on Friday morning I’ll do a demo of the TIF Report – which I’ve started calling the TIF Illumination Project. The entire event is facilitated by the super-energetic and passionate director of Aspiration Tech, Allen Gunn, or Gunner, who demands we turn off all our electronic devices and FULLY engage and connect with one another.

Heading To Nonprofit Software Development Summit

Holy coders! Hundreds of socially minded hackers, designers and developers are heading to Oakland this week for the Nonprofit Software Developers Summit hosted by Aspiration Tech. Here are the session clusters on offer:

  • Nonprofit Software Essentials
  • eAdvocacy and Online Organizing
  • Nonprofit Web Development
  • Mobile Development and Mobile Security
  • Mapping and Geographic Information Systems
  • Business Process and Sustainability in NPTech
  • Data, Identity and Privacy
  • Open Source Content Management Systems
  • Nonprofit CRM (Constituent Relationship Management)
  • Free and Open Source Software for Nonprofits
  • Community and Technology

CivicLab co-founder Tom Tresser is going and he’s couch surfing while he’s there! Follow the action on Twitter @ #npdev and #civiclabchicago.

“Welcome To The Gift Economy” at Bioneers Chicago

CivicLab co-founder Tom Tresser presented “Welcome To The Gift Economy” at the Bioneers Chicago gathering on November 3. If the current economic system is dysfunctional, let’s create a new one. Here is the deck:

Calling All Citizen Journalists

From the blog for Good Jobs First, “I’m looking for citizen journalists to help investigate and expose Tax Increment Finance (TIF) district abuse in Chicago and Cook County–and then across Illinois. You probably know that TIFs are an often abused mechanism for funneling property taxes to special projects–ostensibly to fight “blight” and put development in under-served areas. In Chicago companies such as Home Depot, United Airlines, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Coca-Cola, UPS, Jewel-Osco, Target and Willis Insurance (who bough the Sears Tower) have all received tens of millions of dollars of property tax gifts via Chicago’s poorly monitored TIF program. So much for blight and the under-served getting development help!” Read the full post