CivicActions

Recently I've been looking into new web2.0 and, I guess web3.0, and social media trends - sites and services that are popping up like mushrooms after a rain. I've found many interesting one and wanted to share a few, and at the same time ask that if you know of anything really cool that you think I might not know about, please send it my way, either by email/contact form or tag them on del.icio.us for:gregoryheller

I WANT YOU TO READ MORE

The CivicActions team is in the process of redesigning our website at this very moment. In my role as information architect, I am helping to design the site's navigation and page structure so that users can meet their goals. Here are some sample scenarios:

• A potential client wants to find a savvy web consulting firm to transform their site and increase their audience and fundraising base.
• A job-seeker wants to find a cool place to work.
• A CivicActions team member wants to be sought after in their area of expertise, and more broadly, wants to express their ideas and get feedback from creative, brilliant people.

Click on the tiny Read more link on the far right side of the next line.

Next week, Zoey and I will be at the NetSquared Conference in San Jose, CA and if you're one of the 350 lucky participants attending, we would love to connect with you!

NetSquared is a two-day event of innovators in social benefit initiatives & technology to advance change around the globe.

This is all about how NGOs can use social tools to collaborate, share information and mobilize support using FOSS (like Drupal), blogs, wikis, RSS, podcasting, user-generated content, twitter, and all the other key tools and buzzwords.

Also, take a moment and give our Mashup idea a "star" (vote) and help us support the Network for Good API.

I just tried to log-in to Edible Office, my urban farm blog, but ran up against the usual roadblocks caused by a combination of multiple virtual identities, internet mergers, and my reverse-reverse-psychology password protection program.

Staring forlornly at the empty password box on the right of Blogger's screen, I mentally retraced my Google login history for the day (Blogger and Google share my secrets). A moving interface element drew my eye to the left side of the screen to a ticker featuring the names of blogs updated as of one minute ago: "Couch Potato Revolution," "The People's Pundit", "Idle Thoughts", money-making scheme blogs, blogs with Chinese characters, blogs with Russian characters.... The names keep scrolling, even as we speak. While I usually hate moving parts on the screen (try reading under a strobe light), the Blogger ticker worked for me (a la Twitter or YouTube: the seductive promise of instant gratification).

Here's my thought-tracking usability study as I watch the scrolling list of blog names:

• Something is happening here!
• People just like me blog! People nothing like me blog! Everyone is blogging!
• I can blog too!

I want to see the name of my blog on the list, dancing in shimmering neon lights across the blogosphere! (Now if only I could log in...) We all want to feel like we're part of something. Web applications and online campaigns inspire us when they help us feel connected and whole. We want reminders that we exist, that our opinions matter. In other words, we want to see that when we put something into the machine, something comes out. And when it comes out, we want to be able to show it off: "Look ma, I'm a blogger!"

Last year when we moved to Pittsburgh, PA we never thought that Pennsylvania would be so crucial in this year's democratic nomination process. We're an "Obama" family, so we decided to do what we could to help. I created a blog MamasForObama.net for my wife the writer and she's been having a great time with it.

This is an interesting post about increasing blog readership through RSS and email subscriptions. One tip: "Popular bloggers will all say that to build a large dedicated following you must keep a blog that is consistently on topic and make it as easy for your visitors to subscribe."

Another tip that is repeated in the post, and in the posts linked to is prominence of "subscribe" buttons, both for RSS and for email subscriptions.

This article
via Yahoo provides a nice glimpse into how "user-friendly" a police state can be. The cartoon images are scary to me, not cute, since they could mean death.

I know that some programmer is happy to have some income and add that to his portfolio, and the Chinese are showing us that it's ok - no, really - it is ok ... OBEY. So, the Chinese police are being open about how they violate your privacy. That's nice.

Not on our site, but on political blogging sites. There is truly some useful content out there, and interesting points of views, I just wonder about the value of the time spent commenting on blogs. I caught the story about the Edwards Coulter exchange on Hardball yesterday and then saw a post about it on The Caucuses. There are 108 comments. Basically taking 1 of three views (well I only sampled about 9% of them ;-).

Content drives the Internet, and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) drives people to that content. Not sure where to start with SEO for your own site? Look no furthur than Copyblogger's latest roundup of great posts.