Just a quick update on the UGM website and blog that was recently launched.
As the official blog of Union Gospel Mission in Vancouver, BC, The Street aims to share stories of hope from our daily work with people in need here in the Lower Mainland
I met local web monetization guru John Chow when we were given a preview and tour of the social media tools the Union Gospel Mission in Metro Vancouver is using to connect with their donors, workers, and those in the community. That day John pledged on his blog that he would match donations made by his users, up to $1,000 a piece. The grand total from John and his blog readers came to an amazing $7,517.91 for the UGM.
As a side story, Kevan was telling me about the naming of the mannequin, Gertrude, at the UGM Thrift Store and I suggested they use the power of their Flickr account to show her off and get some exposure for some of the fashions available at the store.
You can now view the Gertrude set on their Flickr and you can see her in person at the store located at Heatley and E Hastings.
I think this just might be my 20th live blog. I’m heading over to Workspace in a bit to take in An Evening of “Green” Web 2.0:
Social change makers and web innovators come together at NetTuesdays to mix, swap stories, and collaborate on new ideas. Whether you’re working in the nonprofit/social change sector or in Vancouver ‘s technology hub (or somewhere in between!) – you’re invited to join us for great conversations, networking, and community building! [Upcoming]
This is a part of the NetTuesday / NetSquared group of events and is sponsored by Communicopia, Workspace, and Write Image. More to come from Workspace in about an hour then I’ll have some quick writeups from the speakers’ talks.
Update – 17:38: I just took the elevator up to Workspace with Darren Barefoot and Nancy and walked into my first NetTuesday event. I talked a little shop with Nancy before finally meeting Cinci and her colleague Phoebe, and had a brief chat with Narvey who is sponsoring this evening’s snacks. I’ve also just been handed my first bit of swag (ChalkWork stickers) from James.
Update – 18:03: Raul just popped on by toting a cup made of corn, a paper plate, and I’m sure if what he was eating warranted it, he’d have one of those utensils made of potato as well. Chilling out with Karen Parker, and Colleen Coplick, it looks like things will be getting underway shortly with an intro first by Joe.
Update – 18:08: First up is Owen who is speaking on behalf of Earth Hour, an event I was invited to attend on Facebook a few months ago but was unsure of the premise until today. The idea is to “unplug” for an hour and disconnect all non-essential lights. This will be taking place at 8:00pm on March 29, 2008 and reminds me of “Turn it Off” that I blogged about last year, it was quite the sight to see a very dark Lions Gate Bridge.
Owen’s company will also be helping companies and organizations (like UBC) reduce their energy emissions and green house gases.
Update – 18:14: “Locally based sustainability projects are the most important,” states Ron who is the founder and mastermind behind happyfrog. Ron speaks to communities, cities, countries etc. and their footprints on the earth. With happyfrog Ron wanted to step forward with an independent media project that could harness web 2.0 and social media tools to accelerate and nurture green, local, and alternative resources within a single database. “Think of happyfrog as the economic 100 mile diet.”
Lastly, Ron promotes the EPIC expo (April 18-21) where happyfrog will have their own media team blogging and pondcasting.
PS – Nancy is live-twittering and Raul is liveblogging.
Update – 18:25: Rex from TheGreenPages.ca is up next, “sharing your stories about the environment,” since 1996. It’s aimed to be more than a ‘yellow pages’ of environmentally conscious listings, it’s to share your stories, news and events as well. Rex’s presentation focuses a lot on the story of the website, even since its creation with Netscape Communicator back in the day. It’s taken a lot of maintenance, administration, live chat moderation etc. but with today’s web tools the site’s management has become a breeze – at least I hope as this guy’s paid his dues, even by creating his own CMS in 2001.
Note, Rex is using a travel mug for his beverage.
He’s gone from cataloging a hundred links, to several thousand, even inspiring Environment Canada to update their systems using his directories as templates. Rex added book reviews, commenting capabilities and creating user accounts for contributors, realizing that the way to go was with blogging and blogging tools.
Update – 18:51: Darren is speaking on behalf of his company, Capulet Communications who developed DeSmogBlog. He’s got a nicely laminated piece of cardboard that features a tag cloud. The audience gets to pick the tag of their choice so he’ll speak to “widgets” first. “DeSmogBlog said hey why don’t we create a counter widget that counts up based on humans’ environmental footprint on the planet,” Darren pauses, “I thought my, how incredibly depressing.” Along with DeSmogBlog, they were able to create the first climate change website widget (per Apple’s widget database).
Moving on to another tag in the cloud, Darren explains how they are using digg to “clear the PR smog,” by appealing to its users that who controversy and climate change. This also ties into the blogger outreach cloud, which uses community (link love and shared digg traffic) to get messages out. As for YouTube videos, they’re not always the best way to go when you compare the amount of work involved, compared to views and links back to your website. FYI, Facebook ad click-throughs are pretty close to horrible. However, creating a flash web game that sorted celebrities based on their “green-ness” proved to be an interactive way to engage a broad audience and people could even embed it on their website.
David Drucker just asked a question, remind me to go say hi to him after this.
Darren speaks to measuring the success rates of these applications, widgets and campaigns by simply using Google Analytics and Technorati although, “it kind of sucks now and there’s not really a better replacement yet.”
The objective this evening was to find ways to use the tools of the internet to get an environmentally sound message out to the widest audience possible. Whether you’re an activist, a green-thumb, a PR professional or a website developer, these are some of the mediums you can use that all encompass different aspects of social media. Why is social media important? It’s a cheap, often free way to branch out to millions of users around the globe, informing and encouraging participation in these movements.
With that, we’re done for the evening. Some folks are heading to Steamworks to catch the rest of the Canucks game but I have a man at home who is hopefully keeping a spot warm for me on the couch.
Aside from Raul, who is finishing up his doctorate in environmental studies, and DaveO who works for happyfrog and was there at Clayoquot, I’d have to say Keira’s one of my most eco-conscious friends.
A few weeks ago she wrote a blog post inspired by words printed on the side of a Starbucks cup. As a result, she was asked why she gets the paper cups in the first place, and was told she should be using a travel mug. Her explanation to me was that her coffees just don’t taste the same coming out of a travel mug.
Talking with John yesterday, he said he’s the only person in his department at work that actually recycles his paper coffee cups. He said he’d try a travel mug if it didn’t insulate so well – as in, it still allowed for a slow cooling of the coffee so it becomes a drinkable heat by the time you get it back to your desk.
As for me? I try travel mugs but I always end up forgetting them at work. I need to make sure nothing will spill out the top on my way in, and then remember to wash them out when I’m done. If I don’t wash it out I won’t put it in my purse to cart home for the next morning cause it’ll be dirty and drippy. It soon becomes a part of the dish washing machine at work that I perpetually forget to recover.
I suppose save for my general laziness when it comes to the travel mugs, I could spare some lovely trees from a venti-sized doom if I simply found an ideal cup. Let’s put it to a Miss604 poll (since coffee and Miss604 polls seem to be a trend [1][2]) although unfortunately is the only one now in existence since the others got nuked when I upgraded my WP and changed hosts.
[Poll Closed]
If you don’t use either or have a reusable cup of choice, leave a comment below. Also, Salt Spring Organic Coffee…. is amazingly tasty.
Since my niece walked up to me a few months ago and said, “Miss604 dot com!” I figure she may be watching today (and that I need to remember to keep things pretty clean around here).
She is the oldest sister of 4 brothers, and was my Oma’s first great-grandchild, my mother and father’s first grandchild, and the reason they started calling me Auntie Becky in the first place.
She’s one of the most clever little people you’ll ever meet and by the age of two was able to tell you in which country she lived, the capital, and who was the Prime Minister. She’s not an overly girlie girl, like her mother and I, she’ll tell you what’s on her mind and her intelligence is never to be underestimated.
Throughout her 8 years she’s been speaking two languages, and has been able to crack a knock knock joke that can simply turn any frown upside down. I have saved every card she ever made for me and mailed over when I lived in Boston – from my birthday, to Valentine’s and Easter. She’ll always have a special place in my heart, even moreso that in every way she reminds me of one of the most important people in my life.
We’ve come a long way from the year 2000, when it took my sister and I twenty minutes to prep a stroller to take her baby girl for a walk to the store, and I can’t wait to be here to watch my niece grow. Happy Birthday Lexi!!
Outside the rain is coming in sideway off the harbour, but it only ads to the ambiance. Fresh cut flowers on the table, and fireplace ablaze, I’m sipping my mocha and typing out a blog post with my legs draped over the sides of this armchair that I wish would just swallow me whole.
Last night after the chicken topped with lobster and few glasses of a local red wine, we retired to the jacuzzi tub and popped in the Saltspring Soapworks bath bomb. The rest of the evening is pretty hazy after that.
45 minutes outside of downtown Vancouver we hopped on an hour-long ferry and arrived at this amazing gem of and island called Salt Spring. I haven’t been over here since a family camping trip when I was wee so I forgot how easy it is to get to.
This morning we drove down to Burgoyne Bay in search of the “beach access” we saw on a map. After a rolling 30 minute hike through towering arbutus trees, around gargantuan moss-covered boulders that peered down at the rocky shores of the Salish Sea below, we came to a clearing.
Following a trail of daffodils we then spent the better part of the morning perched on a collection of rocks above the shore watching a pacific white-sided dolphin cruise the bay, and frolicking otters who made appearances now and then. Natural areas and habitats are protected and numerous signs will make you well-aware of the reasons why you cannot trudge down on that beach at low tide – who knows whose nesting area you would be destroying.
This afternoon at Vesuvius Bay, we were treated to some of the best halibut and chips I’ve ever had the pleasure of devouring (at the Seaside Restaurant). These folks know good food – locally grown, organic, and freshly caught. Also, you probably can’t throw a hemp seed without hitting an artist around these parts. Pottery, woodworking, cheese crafters, bakeries and even glass blowing studios are peppered throughout the island.
Sheep grazing on the shoulder, the roads are narrow, muddy, and only a percentage are paved. Backpackers thumb for rides, there are no trolley buses crusing around, and there’s a serious lack of signage for out of towners – but that’s part of the charm.
The rain has stopped and looking outside the spotted window I see nothing but evergreens and blue skies. I just called housekeeping and they brought us another bath bomb for tonight. I had my choice between the goat milk and chamomile or mai tai – I went with mai tai. This was just probably the biggest decision I had to make today, do we ever have to leave?
