Bay Area CIO/IT Executives Meetups: Blog

Event Summary

by Karen Kay

Date:  December 1, 200

Dr. Mark Drapeau is a biological scientist, government and private-sector consultant, and prolific writer on science, technology, innovation, government, and society. He is currently an adjunct faculty member in the School of Media and Public Affairs at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C

Dr Drapreau was brought to D.C. as a Fellow and worked inside the Defense Department in the National War College focused on Center for Technology and Big Trends around security for the nation.

As part of his research he explored several social media conferences and one that stood out was the Ogilvy Event that was hosted by Mashable.  Several ideas arose from this conference:

-          Was wondering why the government did not do this.

-          Kept attending more Web 2.0 events and created a road map including how USDA and CIA are using networks.

-          Obama election made this topic cause a wildfire of ideas.

-          Left the government world.

Social networking is a good thing

Not always obvious where it will lead, but it will become obvious later.  If the government uses it, should it be social networking or collaborative networking - less fun - more business. It’s controversial in the government arena and probably being fought in big companies.

Attending the SuperNova conference this week and one session he highlighted was with Anil Dash.

Anil Dash, Expertlabs is starting to hook up decision makers with people who need ideas - crowd sourcing .  Dash’s current role is directing Expert Labs, a non-profit, independent group with a mandate to help policy makers in the U.S. Federal Government utilize the expertise of their fellow citizens (from Wikipedia)

Dr. Mark encouraged us to checkout Web 2.0 Conference and learn how we can help our country without being part of the government.   This includes how to connect the disparate communities with the policy makers.

Advertising your ignorance - is a strong move

Some companies are advertising their need for input from the community and are using this knowledge to make better products.  One example is DARPA.  They have presented a challenge for someone to design a car that can drive through the dessert for xx days.

On Saturday, December 5th, 2009 at 10:00am EST, DARPA will launch ten 8-foot red balloons across the United States. If the “I Spy A Red Balloon” team is the first to submit the locations of the 10 balloons, the $40,000 prize will be donated to the American Red Cross (copied from Karen Kay’s Facebook on I Spy Red Balloon).

Word of Mouth

NASA Mars Rover is an example of using social media to get your community involved.  It became a Social billboard.

Communities and networks are great so that you can filter a lot of ideas. This is not the only thing you should have going - still stay in touch with CNN and local newspaper.

The power of the social networks is at the edges of new ideas.  One example is that the Navy does not necessarily employ the entire workforce of the brightest scientist, but they are resourceful in that they have figured out a way to share and expand their knowledge beyond their internal community.  They are doing this through social networking vehicles.

Social networking can lead to more involvement from the community with the government.

If you want something changed in the government - you need to fight the battle for a long time.  You need to have better reasons and connections and keep going.

This is just an example on how Google Wave could be used for pre, during and after event. And also gives you a feel on how Google Wave functions within a blog.

We have very good discussions on event management wave best practices within this wave.

Your comments/suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Tatyana (@glfceo)

First “all female” Panel bringing together the best of Government 2.0, Social Media and the Intersection with Non Profits.

Showcasing how “smart deployment’ and adoption of new tools are already revolutionizing how these three areas function individually, and how new tools allow cross integration like never before.

What success stories are in place now?

How can the marrying of technology, Government and Non Profits help to bring a better and more secure society?

Moderator: Alan W. Silberberg
Alan is the Co-Founder and CEO of the Political and Social Advocacy website, You2Gov.org. You2Gov created an innovative and ground breaking Government 2.0 platform that connects regular people to their Elected Officials at the White House, Congress, All 50 Legislatures and State Capitols. The platform is also a private label social network that marries four major technologies into one completely customizable platform, Advocacy, Social Networking, CRM and CMS. You2Gov currently serves clients in the Federal Government, Private Companies and Several State Governments in the US. Alan is a frequent speaker on Government 2.0 issues surrounding development and implementation of innovative and trans-formative technologies. He was a panelist at the Open Government and Innovations Conference, and Sponsor and Speaker at CongressCamp among others.
Panelists:
Beth Kanter
Beth is the author of Beth’s Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media (http://beth.typepad.c…, one of the longest running and most popular blogs for nonprofits. A frequent contributor to many nonprofit technology web sites,blogs, and magazines, Beth has authored chapters in several books, including “Managing Technology to Meet Your Mission: A Strategic Guide for Nonprofit Leaders,” edited by NTEN both published in 2009. A much in demand speaker and trainer, she was the keynote speaker for the Cambodian Bloggers Conference in Phnom Penh, The Connecting Up Conference in Brisbane, Australia, Minnesota Council on Nonprofits, Making Media Conference in Chicago and others. She has presented about nonprofits and social media at some of the leading social media industry conferences including O’Reilly’s Graphing Social Patterns, Gnomedex, SWSX, Blogher, and Podcamp. She is curating NTEN’s “We Are Media: Nonprofit Social Media Starter Kit,” an online community of people from nonprofits who are interested in learning and teaching about how social media strategies and tools can enable nonprofit organizations to create, compile, and distribute their stories and change the world. In 2009, she was named by Fast Company Magazine as one of the most influential women in technology and one of Business Week’s “Voices of Innovation for Social Media.” She is the 2009 Visting Scholar for Social Media and Nonprofits for the Packard Foundation. Her book, The Networked Nonprofit, co-authored with Allison Fine, will be published by Wiley in 2010.

Gwyneth Galbraith
Opportunity Fund is one of the largest microlenders in California. Previously, she was a strategic development consultant focused on major gifts fundraising, strategic planning, communications, and financial analysis for a variety of nonprofits, including Opportunity Fund, The Rockridge Institute, and the Arthur Ross Gallery. Gwyneth spent five years as a development director at the University of California, Berkeley, and has also worked at the University of Chicago and The New Yorker magazine. Gwyneth holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from UC Berkeley. She serves on the Advisory Board for the Center for Nonprofit and Public Leadership at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.

Since its founding in 1995, Opportunity Fund has originated $9.8 million in loans to small businesses and has invested more than $130 million into needy communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Opportunity Fund’s leadership team has received the Skoll Award for Innovation in Silicon Valley, the Wachovia Impact award, the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award and the SBA Financial Services Advocate of the Year. In addition to the Small Business Loan Program, Opportunity Fund operates one of the largest matched-savings account programs in the country and is a leader in providing innovative financing to community real estate projects in the Bay Area.

Debra Bowen
A pioneer in open government reform, election integrity, and personal privacy rights, Debra Bowen became only the sixth woman in California history elected to a statewide constitutional office when she was elected as Secretary of State in November 2006.

As the chief elections officer for the largest state in the nation, Secretary Bowen is responsible for overseeing state and federal elections, a role that also requires her to test and certify the voting equipment used in California. Her goal is to ensure that voting machines certified for use in Californians elections are secure, accurate, reliable, and accessible, and every voter’s ballot is counted exactly as it was cast. In her first year in office, Secretary Bowen commissioned an independent, top-to-bottom review of voting technology, as well as a comprehensive review of the state’s decades-old election auditing standards. Following the top-to-bottom review, Bowen strictly limited the use of direct recording electronic voting machines, and imposed significant security and auditing requirements on systems used in California elections. Secretary Bowen was recognized for her national leadership in election integrity with the 2008 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage AwardTM, the nation’s most prestigious honor for elected public servants who choose principles over partisanship.