Jeff Reifman

Geekwire on King5's open source contest that wasn't

Open source developer objects to news hackathon’s 11-page contract

"If you're not paying for the product, you are the product."

I think Gunner's thoughts on free products bear repeating with the release of Facebook's new timeline:

Cool Dad Raising Daughter On Media That Will Put Her Entirely Out Of Touch With Her Generation

RENTON, WA—Local man Paul Campbell confirmed Saturday he was raising his daughter Emma on a variety of media carefully selected to help her cultivate an appreciation for artistic quality, a move that will reportedly put the 12-year-old girl hopelessly out of touch with her generation. 

Read the Full Story

Save the Trees: Opt Out of Phonebook Deliveries

Now you can opt out of wasteful phonebook deliveries. Share this link with your friends! 

New Grant from the Knight Foundations to Make Community Building Easy

I am very grateful for the continued support of the Knight Foundation: NewsCloud to make Facebook-connected communities easy

What Nonprofit Event Organizers Need to Learn from Social Media

Sunday night, a friend invited me to attend one of the worst nonprofit events I've been to in my life, a banquet dinner honoring the very worthy humanitarian efforts of Bill Gates Sr. I don't mean to single out the organizer but I think there are lessons here that every nonprofit should take note of - especially in this age of social media.

Honorable host Rick Steves did a valiant job of breathing life into this event, but its traditional banquet structure is just too flawed. I honestly felt badly for 84 year old Gates Sr. for having to sit through the entire event from start to finish at the front of the room. That guy has endurance.

This is not to say there wasn't fantastic content. The musical entertainment was phenomenal and Dr. Stephen Gloyd gave an amazing speech on the harmful impact of the United States' structural adjustment policies worldwide (which the Obama administration is continuing).

In the age of social media, organizations need to bring people together to engage with each other ... not broadcast. You just can't get up on stage and talk to people for 2 hours and expect them to feel a part of your organization. (It's worth noting that most of the journalism organizations I work with struggle to get this as well.) Is it time to retire the banquet dinner?

The room seem filled with older guests - if you want to attract younger people to your organization, you have to provide a more engaging format. A chance to meet and talk with Bill Gates Sr. perhaps? Q&A? Educational game night? Give the audience a way to be part of the program. If you don't believe your guests have something to offer the organization, then why do you want them as members? I know why (money) ... but I'm asking you to consider if there is more than one reason.

Similarly, the benefit auction - a staple of many nonprofits - promotes (insobriety and) consumption above the vision of your organization ... do you really want guests walking away from your one visit with them a year with this impression? If you're organization has grown to the scale where it relies on an annual event of unbridled extravagance and consumption to support itself, something's probably been lost. Something to think about.

I'm a huge fan of Bill Gates Sr. His advocacy of the estate tax and his passionate support on fair taxation (Initiative 1098) are incredibly admirable. But, even Rick Steves couldn't help note that we all walked into St. Mark's Cathedral past the Tent City homeless encampment (gracefully hosted by the church in its parking lot). When will the Gates Foundation, of which Gates Sr. is a co-chair, realize that stopping homelessness in its backyard is just as sexy as eradicating malaria?

 

 

Wired Vanish Contest Tied into Universal Pictures Repo Men Release

I was involved in finding Evan Ratliff in the first Wired Vanish contest, see How We Caught Missing Wired Magazine Writer Evan Ratliff. This time, Wired and Lone Shark Games are expanding the contest and inviting the public to participate as runners. Should be quite fun...wish I wasn't so busy with my grant project next month or I might consider it:

Lone Shark Games, in conjunction with Wired Magazine and Universal Pictures, is looking for a few creative, honest, adventurous people to go on the run starting in late February. You need to be available through late March to leave your regular life behind. (If you are chosen, we will give you exact dates.)

via wiredinsider.com

Interestingly, the whole alternate reality game put on by Lone Shark is being organized in coordination with the upcoming movie release of Universal's Repo Men.

Repo Men stars Jude Law and Forest Whitaker as corporate bounty hunters ultraviolently retrieving life-saving artificial organs from those who can’t pay for them. That includes Law’s character, Remy, whose artificial heart suddenly becomes company property once he loses his nerve for the job.

So, hold on to your organs. If you're interested in running, you can learn more here and here.

NewsCloud Receives Knight Foundation Grant to Launch Facebook Sites for Twelve News Organizations

I'm excited to announce that NewsCloud has received a new Knight Foundation grant to continue our work on Facebook applications. The focus of this grant is to work more directly with news organizations and expand our open source development community. Hope you'll check it out...

Through April 2011, twelve news organizations will launch Facebook sites with NewsCloud's open source Facebook application technology, thanks to a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The goal of the grant is threefold:

1. To launch community news sites inside Facebook with twelve media partners showcasing different ways of leveraging the popular social network to reach new audiences. 
2. To improve and expand the features and capabilities of the existing NewsCloud Facebook application.
3. To broaden participation in the open source development community around the NewsCloud Facebook application.

Learn more here

Pick up Wired's December Issue for Gone by Evan Ratliff

I hope you'll pick up a copy of Wired Magazine's December issue featuring "Gone", by Evan Ratliff. Using Facebook application technology developed with a grant from the Knight Foundation, I helped track Evan to New Orleans. To find out more, you'll have to read the story, which is getting great early reviews:

@skydiver Just missed my subway stop and wound up in Brooklyn because of Wired Article by Evan Ratliff. AMAZING. #vanish #fluke

I really like the way they designed the cover:

Engaging Youth in News: Facebook Research Findings Released

Earlier this month, we released Dr. Christine Greenhow's research findings from our Facebook application, Hot Dish, which covered climate change news targeted at 16 - 25 year olds.

Encouragingly, we found that publishing news in Facebook improved news-reading habits amongst young people, increased their knowledge about climate change and motivated them to take real world actions in their community. 

We're not the only ones who found this impressive...check out Michele McClellan's post over at the Knight Digital Media Center.

Disclaimer: Both our research and the Knight Digital Media Center is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.