What's happening in the area of technology and social change, and what can we do in NC? Justis Peters (whose goal is to "improve the world through the application of creativity, emerging technologies, and entrepreneurship) will lead a discussion focused on projects, sessions, and interaction at the N2Y4 NetSquared Conference he attended in May. Justis exchanged ideas for programming, outreach, and community engagement with organizers of several NetSquared Net Tuesday Meetups around the world and came back excited about the potential NCTech4Good has for our local communities.
What can NCTech4Good do and how we can work together?
Location: United Way of the Greater Triangle, 2400 Perimeter Park Drive, Suite 150, Morrisville
Speaker: Justis Peters, Innovator.
Website: http://www.meetup.com/NCTech4Good/calendar/11208665/
Presentation outline: The presentation outline is not available.
Notes and discussion:
- Brief discussion about possible meeting topics from the NC Nonprofits conference. The branding session is a possibility. There were not a lot of tech focused sessions. Next year's conference will be September 29-30, 2010, at the Sheraton Imperial in Research Triangle Park.
- Steve is a fan of TechShop, which provides members with tools and training. There was discussion about similarities with providing computer resources and training and possibilities for collaboration based on getting technology to users, developing job skills, and nurturing innovation.
- Saroj is retired and looking for opportunities to help nonprofits, which led to discussion of what NCTech4Good is for, besides monthly gatherings.
- Shelly said that United Way gets applications for local projects for IBM equipment grants and some of these projects could be helped by NCTech4Good. Shelly will followup with more info, and the October 21 meeting will focus on specific projects that need help.
- Leandra mentioned setting up Skype and video for talking with family. Something similar could be a fun project for working with kids.
- TechSoup is best known for their service TechSoup Stock, where nonprofits can access donated and discounted technology products provided by corporate and nonprofit technology partners.
- NetSquared, an initiative of TechSoup, is focused on technology and social impact — creating opportunities for those involved in creating change to connect. NetSquared supports NetSquared Local groups (including NCTech4Good) around the world to share ideas and learn from each other.
- NetSquared is an incubator of social action projects, awarding financial support through prized-based Challenges. This year's Challenges were focused on mobile applications.
- The NetSquared Conference is held the end of May in San Jose, California, hosted by Cisco, to fund innovative projects which use technology for social change. The conference focuses on presentations about the projects (there were 15), voting, and awarding cash prizes. This year's three winners ($50,000 plus a some extra funding) and 15 featured projects are at http://www.netsquared.org/n2y4/featuredprojects.
- Besides presentations on featured projects, there were excellent breakout sessions — see the conference agenda. Justis also attended special activities for NetSquared Local organizers the day before and the day after the two days of the official conference.
Sign-In and Evaluation Form
There were about 9 people. The form was not distributed.