Session Notes

Hey everyone, on behalf of the agenda team, here's a heads-up about how we're going about organizing all the kickass content coming up at this year's Web of Change.

While Wednesday evening and Sunday morning will be general opening and closing, each of our three full days together will follow an overarching theme. Through plenaries, breakout sessions, and informal conversations, we'll tackle some tough questions relating to the day's theme and hatch innovative re/solutions.

Steve Andersen of Salesforce Foundation shares his views on the kind of manager worth being. Enjoy!

This year we had a banner set of short 5 minute talks by WebofChangers in the Ignite format, hosted handily by Gregory Heller, and we'll be posting a few of these online.

In 1987, three bold, ambitious women in California wanted to create a better way to support human rights activists around the world.  In 1992, a small campaign snowballed from a staff of one single woman into a global movement responsible for a new paradigm for human security. In 1929, twenty-six women pilots met in an empty airplane hangar in Long Island for a discussion on their shared love of flying.

We sit at a turning point. Traditional membership platforms, including online membership platforms used with great success by organizations such as Change.org and Moveon.org, are beginning to display some significant limitations. Allegations of the weaknesses of membership engagement which rely on “clicktivism” are nothing new for the non profit sector, and some organizations have simply shrugged these off as they continue to enjoy high campaign success rates and an exponentially growing online membership.

For the last decade, North American based political activism was energized by the rise of citizen media. Political blogs and Meetups helped make Howard Dean a contender for the Democratic nomination. Social media, email, and microblogging shaped political conversations during Barack Obama’s historic run for President. While mobile tools played a supporting role to the campaigns and social platforms behind these movements, we’re only beginning to see mobile become a central force for political activism and self-expression.

During the recent community renewal process we unearthed a lot of passion and love for Hollyhock, but also a strong desire to try a more accessible, U.S.-based wilderness location. We're committed to doing just that in 2013. (If you haven't heard, Web of Change 2012 is on at Hollyhock!)