A big thanks to everyone at Netroots Nation (especially Nolan, Raven, and Mary) for a fantastic conference.  I’m psyched that everyone seemed to dig the Wiffiti screens, and we’re excited to roll in with some new stuff for next year!
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As my role of Wiffiti Girl wrapped up at the Netroots Nation Convention, I went out in search of some Austin culture.  From textual art I switched to contextual art… via the Sol Lewitt exhibit at the Austin Museum of Art. I also went in the “explore” room and created an awesome picture of a polka-dotted elephant.  (And yes, I realize the irony of leaving the Netroots Nation Convention and drawing an elephant… This was a non-political, multi-colored, conceptual elephant, mind you.)
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Yep.  Surprising EVERYONE, Al Gore showed up at the Pelosi keynote this morning.  Some flickrers captured the moment! Well, and so did the NYT… and FoxNews…

and so did Wiffiti!

Y’all ready for some awesome Austin sites and awesomer Austin furniture?

You’re in luck.

While I’m on call at the Convention Center to check out the Wiffiti displays in between panel sessions and speakers, I’ve been checking out the best and brightest that Austin has to offer (well… sorta).

When I went in search of a sandwich place for lunch, I stumbled upon the gate shown in the thumbnail above, and then…

The Capitol!  It’s big.  And it emits hotness.

Actually, the whole city is hot (no, Jayne, really?). And I love it.

Hold up… let’s backtrack, because I need to show you my hotel… Read the rest of this entry

So.

I’m in Texas.  That’s abundantly clear.

I’ll fill you in with a full pictorial shortly, but first a Wiffiti update.

Despite a few AV issues last night, Wiffiti was a hit!  Better yet, speaking to attendees, people were familiar with the online screen and immediately knew what to do in the venue!  What a difference a year makes…

Wiffiti will continue to be live 24/7 on the Netroots Nation site, and live in venue off and on through Saturday night.  If you’re at the convention, look for Wiffiti in Exhibition Hall 4 (and, hey, while you’re at it, give me some dinner suggestions).

Forgive the lighting issues… better pics to come when I return and can upload the pics from the good cam.  These are the iPhone “express” editions…

Just a quick update: The Netroots Nation Wiffiti is live on their site, so feel free to pop over and toss in your two cents.  Make sure you have Flash 9, or you’ll see a whole lotta nothin.

I’m headed out early tomorrow morning to join in the on-site festivities in TX, and I’ll be wildly twittering while I’m there.  Catch you on the flip side with pics!

I’ll be headed to Austin next week for the third annual Netroots Nation Convention (formerly YearlyKos), where LocaModa will be powering Wiffiti!

I attended last year in Chicago and had a fantastic time, so I’m psyched to see what this year has in store.  Caucuses, mixers, blogger sessions– it’s always a very FULL long weekend.  Howard Dean will be giving the opening keynote on Thursday night, as he did last year… and he’s guaranteed to get everyone riled up and rearin’ to go.

Of course, I’ll be blogging and twittering from the event.  If you’ll be there, be sure to drop me a line or tweet me a tweet (@jayniek).  And if anyone has any suggestions for things I need to check out while I’m there, please help out an Austin newbie!

Here’s a glimpse of last year’s event (HELLO Progressive Bloggers!!)

And, for those of you who won’t be joining me in the trek to Austin, I highly recommend hitting up PodCamp in Boston– I’d be there if I wasn’t going to be here!

It started downpouring in Cambridge yesterday around 3:45pm, which was stellar timing for me to get soaked while I headed over to the Ethos Roundtable at the Charles Hotel.

Was it worth it?  Totally.
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As a follow-up to my recent posts about Ethos Roundtable and the Berkman Center, I wanted to reintroduce MobileActive.org, another group that I’ve blogged about a few times in the past. (They continue to take on more and more ambitious and inspiring projects every time I check back with them!)

Not only are they a great resource for global mobile news and statistics, but their blog (written mainly by Katrin Verclas) brings together a well-informed community of activists in the tech space. I had the pleasure of meeting Katrin a couple years ago when I attended the NTEN Conference for the first time, and her passion for mobile/social advocacy proves why she’s an emerging thought-leader in the space. I urge you to check out their blog and website and get involved.
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Back in February, I spoke at a roundtable discussion about the intersection of new media (specifically Wikipedia) and social change.  A fun and diverse group of techies, nonprofiteers, and social media junkies came together to chat about ways that new technologies can be leveraged to encourage social activism.

One surprising discovery came when –amongst a crew of self-proclaimed advocacy nerds– we admitted that very few of us had actually edited a Wikipedia page.  The general diagnosis?  There is still an invisible hand reigning over the Wiki model; and until this is dissolved (likely as a gradual epistemic change), some semblance of a traditional authorial hierarchy will remain.
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