Tag: Susan Crawford

NonProfit Guide to SMW NYC

Posted on by Amanda Lehner

At a Social Media Week party last year, I asked a very accomplished entrepreneur, “so, will I see you at SXSW?” He looked at me and smirked, “I don’t go there anymore because everybody is there.” I see what he means. It’s important for a conference to maintain the right balance of top people in the field, great programming and accessibility — that is Social Media Week.

As a nonprofit professional at SMW, I always feel catered to as there are plenty events on using the powers of social media for social good. I also tend to veer from my track to learn from other industries and network with the speakers post event to pitch a corporate partnership (as any self-respecting nonprofit hustler would do).

Here are my top picks for SMW NYC. Also for networking, looks like the Society & Social Impact Hub at 92Y Tribeca is the place for us. See you there!

Tuesday, February 19
Using Film to Galvanize Lasting Social Change
GIVING GANGNAM STYLE: An Ideathon with the #GivingTuesday Team #SMWGT
Rewiring Government for Openness, Connection, and Choice, Featuring Susan Crawford and Beth Noveck
Open and Unfiltered: Defending the Internet, Featuring Alexis Ohanian and Eli Pariser
Keeping Up with the Agile Consumer
Authors Roundtable: Social at the Intersection of Paid, Owned and Earned Media

Wednesday, February 20
A Conversation with Neil Blumenthal, Co-Founder and CEO, Warby Parker
Content Marketing: How to be Memorable and Measurable in 2013
Lean Startup for Social Good: Create a Compelling Website User Experience Using Lean UX

Thursday, February 21
How Social Is Your Foundation?
Societal Brands In a Social World
Social Media Analytics Helps UNICEF Save Lives

Friday, February 22
Keynote: danah boyd on the Ethics and Challenges of Dealing With “Big Data”

The People’s House: Beth Noveck & Susan Crawford

Posted on by Nicky Yates

We’re just three weeks away from SMW NYC! And as we get closer, we want to introduce you to the major topics we’ll be tackling throughout SMW — starting with our Global HQ.

As you may know, we’ll be examining Architects, Inventors and Collaborators, as they relate to emerging technology and new media. On Tuesday, February 19, Beth Noveck and Susan Crawford will set the stage by exploring how open government is changing civic engagement, and how access is a core component of this.

For those that don’t know, Susan Crawford is a communications policy expert and the former Special Assistant to President Barack Obama for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy. Beth Noveck also served under President Obama as the first United States Deputy Chief Technology Officer and founder and director of the White House Open Government Initiative.

Why should you care? Well, as Susan points out in this video interview with Bloomberg News, US Internet infrastructure is more than 25 years old, and if our country is going to take advantage of the entrepreneurial spirit, we need to connect bureaucracies to citizens and share data for a truly participatory democracy. Beth also discuss this in her TED talk, below:

Having these two ladies on stage together will make for a powerful start to the week. If you are interested in civic engagement, systemic change or politics in any fashion, you’ll want to be at the Global HQ on Tuesday. See more about the event here.

Architecting the Future of Social Media

Posted on by Lindsey Taylor Wood

(Part 1 of 3 in the Architects, Inventors, and Collaborators blog series.)

The theme of Social Media Week this year, Open & Connected: Principles for a Collaborative World, has been the catalyst for a number of hot debates in the Social Media Week offices. Identifying what, exactly, openness, connectedness and collaboration mean in an increasingly social world can be, well… tricky.

As conversations around the idea continued to percolate, so did a noticeable shift in their direction. The focus was no longer how to define the social media landscape, but a question of who was defining it. Who are the influencers, producers, and shapers driving social media?

While sifting through the heaps of notable tastemakers, we discovered most belonged to one of three distinct archetypes: Architects, Inventors, or Collaborators. So, we decided to dedicate three days of the conference (and this three part blog series), to exploring what that means.

Architects: devisers, makers, creators. At a time when “openness” is zeitgeist and transparency and collaboration are the very nature of social and digital media, architects must rethink traditional structures and develop new frameworks that reflect those ideals. It’s quite the paradox: design boundary-less boundaries.

This seemingly daunting task has done little to deter trailblazers like Susan Crawford. A visiting professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and former Special Assistant for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy to President Barack Obama (for more on her laundry list of accomplishments, click here) her Fall class, Solving Problems Using Technology, embodies this type of progressive design process.

Her students, from both Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, partnered with three community groups and The Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics in an effort to address Boston’s urban and civic challenges through technology. This month, The Mayor’s Office will select and fund the best of the student’s designs.

It’s this type of innovative approach to 21st century architecture that will inform the future of social media, and it’s imperative that we embrace and learn from these new models. To learn more about Susan’s work, and the work of other “architects”, join us at our new Global Headquarters on February 18th.

We look forward to seeing you there!