Blogs | Social Signal

Adrienne Clarkson gave the 8th annual LaFontaine-Baldwin lecture tonight on "the society of difference". She argued that we are ultimately able to transcend difference because we are all one manifestation, connected by a collective consciousness. I'm not sure it ultimately allows us to transcend all our differences, but you can see the web as a manifestation of unconscious human interconnection - and an ever-deepening picture of that interconnection. My favorite way to visualize how that process of connection is facilitated is on YouTube:

Add Vancity honcho Dave Mowat's name to the growing list of CEOs who are blogging. And if you head to his blog, you'll notice two things.

One, it's not on the Vancity site. Instead, it's on ChangeEverything.ca, where he's helping to contribute to the conversations there.

I've just installed a nifty new widget on my personal blog. Called the Lijit, it uses Google to allow users to search my blog. Not a huge deal, you say? True enough.

I finally (!) joined Facebook, but here's as key sign it's not exactly my demographic: there's no way to define your relationship to someone as "married". When Rob added me as a friend, I had the option of describing our relationship as "lived together", "family" (if I wanted to describe him as a sibling or cousin -- but no, it's not that kind of marriage!) or "dated". I chose "dated", and had the opportunity to further clarify that we were "practically married" and are "still together". Now all I have to worry about are all the ladies cruising Facebook to find the kind of guy who is commitment-ready, but not legally committed....

I just stepped out of a superb presentation by Eddie Codel titled Using Internet Video to Change the World One Eyeball at a Time. A few of the phenomena he raised:

If you've ever wondered how that online store is going to use all the information you enter when you register (not to mention when you buy stuff)...

I think it was Tod Maffin who mentioned it today at Northern Voice: CBC host George Stroumboulopoulos now has an official crib in Second Life, built by Montomery Nordwind. Click here to visit.

(Y'know, I think that's the most links I've ever put in a single sentence.) 

I'm always looking for new bits of software that will make me more productive, more effective, and of course, taller. So I LOVED Tod Maffin's session at MooseCamp today where he ran us through a bunch of his favourite little apps -- and other folks shared theirs. Mac users, check out the list!

We're often approached by business and nonprofit organizations who are interested in tapping the power of the social web but don't know where to start, or how to get a feel for the possibilities. I'm delighted to be co-teaching a Hollyhock-in-Vancouver workshop next month that will be a great opportunity for Vancouver-based organizations to get smart about Web 2.0:

Web 2.0 and your organization

Are you interested in how online communities like Flickr, MySpace, and YouTube can empower your members and customers to carry your message out into the world? Could your organization benefit from deeper collaboration among your team members, clients, partners or the public? Could better knowledge-sharing, stronger relationships and closer communications inside your organization and with your core supporters foster more efficiency, insight and effectiveness?

The latest generation of "Web 2.0" or social web strategies and tools offer powerful opportunities for organizations to improve the way they work, communicate their messages, empower others, and serve the public. In this workshop you will learn how the latest tools for online collaboration and community building can make your organization smarter and more effective.

This workshop is designed for communications strategists, marketing managers, and webmasters who are interested in how this evolution of the web can help evolve your organization's online strategy. We will give you the tools, knowledge, and most crucially, the vision for how your organization can use the web as a stronger agent of change. We’ll also cover the nuts-and-bolts, introducing the latest tools so that you know which options are most promising for your needs.

About the presenters: Jason Mogus is the CEO of Communicopia, which has helped progressive companies and non-profits communicate and collaborate via the web for 13 years. Jason is also the founder of Web of Change at Hollyhock. Alexandra Samuel, PhD (Harvard), is CEO of Social Signal, and is helping some of the web's most ambitious community ecosystems use the social web to support dialogue and collaboration.

This workshop is co-sponsored by the Hollyhock Leadership Institute, Web of Change, Social Signal, Communicopia, Social Tech Brewing, and Impacs.

To register:

Visit the Hollyhock site, call 800-933-6339 x232, or e-mail registration[at]hollyhock.ca