Jim Witkin wrote on Triplepundit a very interesting story about social ecology as one of the five pillars of sustainability. Jim refers to work of Walter Stahel — one of the founders of the sustainability movement. [by way of Christian Kreutz Bookmarks on Delicio.us] Many of the initiatives addressing the issues of social ecology rely on bringing modern technologies — like cell phones, computers, and Internet access — to populations in need. These initiatives are ...

Recently I found Bliin a social networking service using satellite positioning data, mobile phones and the internet. Using Bliin marks my first 2.0 experience with GPS satellite positioning systems and that’s quite a thrill for a nomadic worker. “Bliin enables users to be live all the time, anywhere in the world where there is mobile phone and internet coverage. Friends and family can follow every step you take but you decide who can ’see’ you. ...

DutchCowboy Maarten Lens-FitzGerald announced via Twitter that Google engineer Jyri Engströms Nodal Point key note video of is on the SPRX blog In 40 minutes Jyri Engström builds upon his ideas of social objects and social peripheral vision. He adds the idea of nodal points. Jyri is co-founder of Jaiku, a microblogging service acquired by Google in 2007. Before he was Senior Product Manager at Nokia. He runs the Aula conference. The registration of Jyri’s ...

Sarah Perez published on ReadWriteWeb an interesting post about how SRI’s iLink technology changes the future of Social Media in the Military. iLink, a social network analytics technology from SRI International has recently been integrated into three online communities used by the military: Platoon Leader, Company Command, and the Family Readiness Group. The iLink technology improves the way the military community members share critical information across several different interest areas - from battlefield problem solving ...

“Sous-veillance” will see video sharing sites such as YouTube used by citizens to shine a spotlight on things such as deadly hygiene lapses in hospital wards and uncollected rubbish, according to the European Information Society Group (Eurim). The vision of the “public monitoring the state” and shaming them into action using cameraphones is one of several key ways that Eurim says technology can be used to transform government and empower the public. Its report says: ...

On Mashable (twitterer/blogger) Steven Hodson argues that ‘Twitter is Not a Micro-Blogging Tool’. In Steven’s view Twitter “is no different than another service that we have had for a very long time on the Web and it’s called Internet Messenger or Gtalk or any number of messenger type services“. This qualification is partly confirmed by Scott Hanselman’s musing explaining why he hasn’t used Instant Messaging for anything significant in months. Read in ‘Twitter and The ...

Choconancy pointed us to this ‘Digiactive introduction to Facebook Activism’ by Dan Schultz Lead Researcher of DigiActive ‘A world of digital activists’. The social basis of activism explains why Facebook, an increasingly popular social networking site, is a natural companion for tech-savvy organizers. Because of the site’s massive user base and its free tools, Facebook is almost too attractive to pass up. However, the site has its flaws and is not a guarantee of organizing ...

From 24 to 26 September 2008, thousands of creative minds from all over the world will come together in Amsterdam for the third PICNIC. Here is a programme by day overview of the conference keep an eye on this weblog for the latest news about PICNIC

Matt Jones and David Frohlich of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) developed a StoryBank for sharing stories across the digital divide… (via Vodafone receiver) The basic research objectives involved are: 1. To explore the value of novel forms of audiovisual stories for sharing local information in a development context. This includes the use of the system or content by remote developer communities as well as local originating ones. 2. To identify ways ...

There seems to be a lot of potential in the use of mobile phones for ‘communication for development’ ICARDA KSinR Project uses mobile phones for knowledge sharing. Nadia Manning-Thomas posted on the KS Blog about a Pilot Project run by The International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas [by way of Christian Kreutz on Del.icio.us] Additionally the conference organizers uploaded small story clips onto mobile phones of farmers present and showed them how ...

Alex Steffen of Worldchanging shares in a recent article some thoughts on Tools, Models and Ideas for Building a Better Future. Worldchanging was founded on the idea that real solutions already exist for building the future we want. it’s just a matter of grabbing hold and getting moving. Alex says What it would be like, if folks who knew tools and innovation left the comfy bright green cities and traveled to the dead mall suburban ...