Month: February 2009

Social Actions WordPress plugin.

I love the idea behind this WordPress plugin from Social Action. It makes me think of Paul Bradshaw’s 2007 5w and an H idea for news organisations.  The plugin is described as:

“Related Ways to Take Action” enables you to share ways to take action based on the stuff you’re already writing about.

The WordPress plugin works by scanning each of your posts for the top three keywords and then searches for related actions from Change.org, GlobalGiving.com, Idealist.org, DonorsChoose.org, Kiva, Care2 and over twenty other Social Action Platforms. It then automatically loads the top three campaigns for those keywords at the bottom of each of your posts.

There are also extra customization features for enabling (or blocking) certain keywords, choosing platforms, and choosing action types.

“Related Ways to Take Action” makes it super easy to activate your WordPress blog for social change by sharing related campaigns, petitions, fundable projects, and more ways your readers can make a difference based on your blog content.

The “Related Ways to Take Action” WordPress Plugin is a project of Social Actions Labs and was developed by Eric Cooper.

Thanks to Alice Casey for spotting this one.

Animation for Mobile Technology: Birmingham Event.

I’ll just quote this press release including very bold use of the words spectacular (fireworks?) and unparalleled:

On 4th March, Animation Forum WM and LUCID are hosting a spectacular evening to explore the unparalleled new possibilities that stem from animating for mobile technology. The event, When Animation Goes Mobile! is free to attend and will take place at The Telford Room, Austin Court, Brindley Place, Birmingham (B1 2NP). It will start at 7.30pm on Wednesday 4th March 2009, include a break for complimentary wine and nibbles, and be followed by a Q&A with the speakers Madevi Dailly and Richard Morris. Animation Director and Producer Madevi Dailly will take animators through the practicalities of animating for mobiles, and the potential for linking mobile animation to external factors, such as the surrounding environment or the time. Here’s a short she created for 4mations last year (warning, contains strong language): Madevi will be followed by Richard Morris, Director of Video & TV at mobile animation distributors PlayerX, who will take everyone through the strategic side of mobile animation, outlining how your studio could blossom in the mobile animation market. To attend, simply RSVP to david.luke.allen@bcu.ac.uk with ‘When Animation Goes Mobile!’ in the subject title as soon as possible.

Enjoy.

Microsoft loses £258,000. Why? It seems Walsall Council is going open source as it trims budget.

Walsall Councillor Mike Flower has been tweeting from the budget setting meeting of Walsall Council. A while back he popped up one saying the council will stop paying Microsoft £258,750 for software licenses:

tweet from Mike Flower

How, I enquired, by going open source?  Yes, he thinks:

tweet from Mike Flower

Thanks for reporting for us from the council meeting. Very interesting. Have they budgeted for some re-training, or are they confident that the transition can simple be made. Any one from Walsall Council willing to flesh things out please do so below:

Links: Mission Impossible, Drift and Steve Jobs.

Neil Williams with a refreshing take on the new Digital Engagment Tsar’s job description: “So no pressure then. It’s truly a cracking job ad, targeting the challenges faced by government’s digital pioneers with a laser-like precision.”

Drift. Nikki Pugh walk’s Digbeth to discover that GPS is a bit cronky: “As I walked, I noticed that the device in my right hand was consistently giving me more erratic readings for my position than the one in my left hand. At one point I left them both next to each other on a wall for a few minutes so that when I could tell if it was my body disrupting the signal, or if it was because the device in my right hand was closer to the buildings I was walking past.”

Melanie Hayes clarifies how 4iP ought not be as clear cut as critics (see comments here) argue: “I don’t want to encourage a box-ticking approach to submitting ideas to 4iP; we want ideas that reflect the spirit of our investment criteria not simply a list that tells us what you think we want to hear.  Such an approach would never succeed anyway because it ignores the more intangible element of our process which is the exercise of professional judgement by a team that has been purposefully selected because of their diverse range of views, skills and expertise.”

Anecdote on the power of hobbies for building communities.  “I noticed an animated discussion between two of the engineers talking about their love for motor bikes. They’d worked out they both had an interest in German classics and one was describing a fuel tank issue he was having. You could see that there was trust and respect in the conversation and this trust and respect was at least partially developed while discussing their hobby.”

Steve Jobs Logs Off?   Jack Schofield reporting claims that Steve Jobs is not online. He adds a very useful reminder for any of us online: “I suggest you heed the immortal words of Shirdi Sai Baba: “Before you speak, ask yourself: Is it kind, is it true, is it necessary, does it improve upon the silence?”