Imagine a day without access to your computer? The One Laptop per Child San Francisco Bay Area community (olpcsf.org) sees to it that no child goes without a computer in under-developed countries and even shows them how to use and fix them.  This is a community of volunteer educators, technologists, anthropologists, enthusiasts, champions and others. Monthly meetings are held at the SFSU downtown campus where they share stories, exchange ideas, solve problems, foster community and build collaborations around the One Laptop per Child project.

Sameer Verma, Ph.D. Professor of the Information System at San Francisco State University is the force behind the grassroots group that has organized the OLPC SF Community Summit 2011. The Summit is a combination of panel discussions, “Birds of a Feather” sessions, speed-geeking and much more. A few of the topics that will be covered include Education, Technology and Outreach & Deployments of OLPC programs. Last year it was a local meeting, this year the Summit is open to an audience worldwide.

Verma, who is passionate about the cause due to growing up in India where many children still lack educational opportunities.  says, “The Summit will bring together people who want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege. They share the belief that the One Laptop per Child is one of the most revolutionary endeavors going on in the world today.”

WHEN: Oct. 21st to  23rd.

WHERE: SFSU Downtown Campus in San Francsico

COST: General $40 and Students $25

REGISTER:  Eventbrite: bit.ly/plMJnH

Logo by @alliepal

TwestivalSF Returns in 2011 Locally Contributing to Juma Ventures

SAN FRANCISCO – What happens when individuals from all over the world employ the power of social networking for a very good cause? Twestival happens! (Twestival = Twitter + Festival) – 100% volunteer run – 100% of proceeds go to charity.

Twestival local, the biggest fundraising event promoted and fueled by Twitter will happen on March 24, 2010.

TwestivalSF is focused is helping the nonprofit organization, Juma.org

Juma Ventures empowers youth to make successful transitions to independence in adulthood, through an innovative program that integrates employment in social enterprises and essential support services. Juma’s program provides the foundation for youth to fulfill their inherent potential to transcend challenging circumstances and impact their communities.

Over 200 cities around the world will gather in their hometown venues to help create awareness and raise money for the charity of their city.

Special guests include:
• @MilesTheDJ LIVE 105 radio host and DJ in the mix
from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
•Sioux City Kid – San Francisco’s newest hickabilly jazzgrass band
•John Vicino – Songer, songwriter, and talent
•Featuring products from companies such as: EyeFi, PopChips, PretzelCrisps, TruBlood, and more!

Taking place at
Atmosphere and Lounge
447 Broadway Street
San Francisco, CA

Times: 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Tickets are $10
More information: www.sftwestival.com all proceeds go directly to the charity.

Here’s a preview of what you may have missed in previous years, that you won’t want to miss this year!

TwestivalSF Recap – Thanks to @landinimedia

TechSeen 2010

By Julie Blaustein

Trendy Lime is having their holiday party at Circa on Friday, December 17th. and YOU are invited. This is one holiday party not to be missed! Its Marilyn Monroe inspired theme “Some LIke it Hot” will make for a HOT time.

If your not quite sure what to wear, well here are some sexy ideas to get your wardrobe ready and in the mood. Ladies, consider the black and white colors, lace trims, low cuts, and corsets that were the rage in this film. Red lipstick, long lashes, and tousled hair are a must! “Timeless Glamor” from Oprah.com offers more tips. Gentlemen, you have some choices. The male actors in the film dressed in disguise as women, so if you’re up for some fun, give us your best Marilyn (see pics)! If you’re not so in touch with your 1950′s bombshell side, then toss on a bow tie and classic suit or naval officer attire.

There will be a Gift Exchange so don’t forget bring a gift of minimum $10 value labeled with your name — boys bring gifts for girls, girls bring gifts for boys — and we’ll tell you how to meet your mystery gift giver as the night progresses. There will also be Holiday treats on-site including Belgian Chocolates from Leonidas. Part of the proceeds will go to Children’s Charity. Hurry to get the Early Bird pricing of just $10!

The event is kindly sponsored by the Ukuku Law Group, specializing in structuring early stage start-ups for success.

If you are not a member of Trendy Lime, what are you waiting for? Go to their Facebook Group and Like Trendy Lime and you will instantly be part of a Social Network of 3,000+ professionals in San Francisco/ Bay Area. They are also a Social Media driven producer of JETLAG, an upscale social and networking events around Fashion, Travel, and Technology for trend-setters and world travelers.

Love the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” game? Then you should bid on Bacon Kevin Bacon! Ew?

Bacon Kevin Bacon is not edible.  But according to the folks behind it, owning Bacon Kevin Bacon will automatically make you the coolest person you will ever know, a champion of the underground meat sculpture movement and ties any room together nicely.

But in all seriousness, the proceeds from the sale are for a great cause – Ashley’s Team – a non-profit, volunteer-driven organization with a simple mission: bring joy to childhood cancer patients and their families.

Bacon Kevin Bacon was created in partnership between J&D’s Foods and What Do Bacon Do?

Tomorrow is World Malaria Day 2010 and the Social Media Envoys have already started their efforts in helping to end malaria in endemic African countries by 2015. The Social Media Envoy is a large group of influencers from Anderson Cooper of CNN, Queen Rania of Jordan, and Ryan Seacrest to Mashable’s Pete Cashmore, Jutine “iJustine” Ezarik and a host of others who have been brought together by Ray Chambers of the United Nations Special Envoy for Malaria and his team.

(photo credit: DailyBooth.com from user Sweetpea6497)

In a recent statement issued by the Office of Special Envoy, Chambers stated, “In our efforts to reach the Secretary-General’s 2010 goal of universal bed net coverage, and to reach the longer term goal of near-zero deaths from malaria by 2015, it is critical that acceleration continue in the malaria control movement.”

Chambers continued, “Social media content and user driven syndication have proven to be exceptional media assets in generating action behind, elevating awareness of, and increasing resources for global malaria efforts. With our malaria-related objectives within sight, this influential group of Social Media Envoys will help us exceed our awareness goals throughout the year.”

The Social Media Envoys have agreed to help spread the word across their networks through tweets, wall posts on Facebook, YouTube videos and photos on DailyBooth.com. The ultimate goal is to raise awareness across the Social Web in order to raise the needed funds to provide interventions against Malaria, such as insecticide-treated nets, in all endemic African countries.

In another statement issued by UNICEF, Caryl M. Stern, president and CEO, U.S. Fund for UNICEF said, “It’s difficult to imagine that 24,000 children under the age of five die every day from preventable causes like malaria—but it is in fact a reality. Progress is being made on combating this killer disease in Africa but so much more needs to be done.  I’m confident that engaging individuals through social media is one very powerful way to elevate the profile of this disease and provide a real outlet for action.”

Stern is right, it’s incredibly difficult to imagine that 24,000 children under the age of five die EVERY DAY from preventable causes like Malaria. Together, let’s put an end to it. Join in and spread the word, make a donation and save lives.

To make a $10 mobile donation text NETS to 864233 (UNICEF). Or visit the Malaria Envoy Facebook page and make a donation there.

#WorldMalariaDay
#socialmediaenvoy
#endmalaria

Check out Jutine”iJustine” Ezarik’s End Malaria video:

Related Links:
http://www.tweetmixx.com/malariaenvoy
http://www.facebook.com/MalariaEnvoy

What happens when over 200 cities invite all their Twitter followers to a festival benefiting a charity on one night? Twestival!

San Francisco’s Twestival was put on by a team of 20+ wonderful volunteers, once more. The event took place on March 25 at Horizon Lounge in North Beach, and raised over $9,000 for Concern Worldwide.

Joined by 2 wonderful title sponsors – Bing and Tap11, the night brought in more than the usual suspects!

@annaanisin, @pop17, @webwallflower, @krystyl

@sylviet, @nathanmcgee

@jennicricket - raffle ticket hustler

@briansolis and @chrissaad with winning raffle prize from @throwboy

Tons of raffle prizes!

Over 400 people were in attendance starting at 6 p.m. including raffle drawings every hour on the hour, and 2 great live bands! Sioux City Kid and the Revolutionary Ramblers were the openers, followed by Stroke 9 as the headliner.

*Photos by @eyeficard and @thekenyeung

To see all photos from the recent Twestival San Francisco, check out Flickr!

There is no limit to the quantity of iPhone apps out there. From apps that make silly noises to apps that calculate your tip on a dinner out, the selection is almost limitless. A new app, Zoetica, launched today offers a solution for those interested in the nonprofit world (an interest of mine). The Zoetica iPhone app aggregated nonprofit tech and social change blog posts, making sure the content is at your fingertips at all times. Continuing with the nonprofit theme, the application is free of cost in the iTunes store.

What makes Zoetica different than other news aggregators is that Beth Kanter, Social Media and Nonprofit expert, hand selects the blog feeds that are ultimately aggregated into the app, ensuring the user will receive the most relevant information in the space. The app was created through a partnership with AppMakr and is in itself an example of the possible use of such a tool for a nonprofit. The service makes app development possible for groups with limited budgets and limited tech skills, something many nonprofits can use. AppMakr offers different price points that allow for almost any marketing budget to include an app in the plan.

For more information about the application as well as possible uses for nonprofits, please visit Beth Kanter’s blog

A few weeks ago, it seemed like there was a contest held by Myspace and the Wall Street Journal to choose a citizen journalist. It might not have seemed like it was anything important, but in fact, this person who be undertaking a trip of a lifetime – to Davos-Klosters, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting.

So what happened? Interested contestants were invited to apply and after being judged by prominent judges Robert Thomson (Managing Editor of The Wall Street Journal), Adrian Monck (Managing Director & Head of Communications of the World Economic Forum), Rebekah Brooks (CEO of News International), Owen Van Natta (CEO of Myspace) and Rebecca McQuiqq (the 2009 winner of the Myspace Journal contest), five finalists were selected. In order to truly make a citizen journalist that people would be interested in reading, the contest was also open to votes by the public – crowdsourcing, anyone?

So on December 18, 2009, it was announced that Sloane Berrent (@sloane) of New Orleans was named the winner of the 2010 “Myspace Citizen Journalist” competition. Her next steps are to travel to Davos-Klosters, Switzerland to report on the happenings of the 2010 World Economic Forum. As a winner, she’ll join the press corps and use the Myspace network to report back. You’ll also be able to see her reports on The Wall Street Journal’s website. According to Berrent, “it has been a lifelong dream of mine to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos.”

You might not know this about Berrent, but she’s all about cause reporting. She’s the founder of Cause It’s My Birthday (a movement to fight Malaria), the creator of TheCausemopolitan.com and is a former Kiva fellow and philanthropist. She’s helped raise over $19,000 to help purchase Malaria nets for people in Northern Ghana and is heavily passionate about social entrepreneurship and philantrophy. So I suppose it’s no wonder that she was interested in this important position.

As the winner of the competition, Berrent will receive:

Congratulations Sloane on your success and looking forward to reading more about your adventures in Davos next week on Myspace.com and The Wall Street Journal.

Photo Credit: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid