For those of you who are interested in learning more and better ways to use technology to support your activism, there is an excellent conference taking place in Lowell, Massachusetts next weekend:
Grassroots Use of Technology
It is the 9th annual event sponsored by the Organizer's Collaborative.
The agenda has something for everybody, from geek to guru to the technologically challenged:
The keynote speaker will be Nick Jehlen of the Action Mill, who worked on the Winter Soldier campaign organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War.
8:30am Coffee, juice, pastries
9:00am Welcome to a Triple C Day!!!
9:15am Keynote
10:15am Break with coffee
10:30am Breakout Session 1
o Online Mentoring: Innovative Uses of Technology in Creating and Managing Mentor-Mentee Relationships (Lauren Andrews)
o You Can’t Get What You Want Until You Know What You Need: Choosing the Right Software (Susan Low Saadat)/br
o Stupid ODB Tricks for Facebook, ConstantContact and LinkedIn (Rich Cowan)
o The Untapped Power of Social Networks for Grassroots Action (Stephen Wilmarth)
o Getting the Clicks: e-Campaigning in Communities without Many Computers (Eric Bryant, Kevin Palmer)
11:45pm Open Discussions and Lunch
12:30pm Luncheon Presentation: Chinatown's Connectors (Paul Niwa)
1:15pm Break
1:30pm Breakout Session 2
o Managing Your Website with Today's Tools (Steve Backman and Laura Quinn)
o Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Roadmap (Sura Hart and Katie Winterbottom)
o HAVA Great Idea? (HAVA stands for Help America Vote Act that was passed by Congress) (Tom Kelly)
o Organizing the Organic Internet (Jamie McClelland, Benjamin Melancon and Ross Glover)
o Helping Your Computer System Grow Up (Adam Frost)
2:45pm Break with coffee and snacks
3:00pm Breakout Session 3
o Keeping it Simple: technology tools that won't make you want to rip your hair out. (Martha Rogers and Harold Jordan)
o Collaborative eLearning (Caroline Meeks)
o Nonprofit Internet Starter Kit (Nate Aune)
o Managing & Recruiting Tech volunteers (Dan MacNeil, Greg Bedard)
o Strategies for shaping the media/tech future: Policy, funding & organizing (Aliza Dichter, Denise Moorehead, Colin Rhinesmith and Ada Robinson)
o Open Media Boston: Building a News Portal with Drupal (Jason Pramas)
4:15pm Plenary Session
5:15pm Closing Remarks