Last year Collabforge participated in One Web Day by presenting on our experience with the Future Melbourne wiki project (collaborative development of Melbourne’s 10 year plan).
This year looks exciting as there’s some big changes to the organisation with a Ford Foundation grant and Mitch Kapor and Nathaniel James coming on board.
Here’s more details via the JOHO blog (David Weinberger):
First, Mitch Kapor has agreed to become its chair. Mitch is an Internet lifer who has put his shoulder to the wheel in some of the founding efforts that have made the Net what it is today. So, yay!!!
What is One Web Day? As Mitch puts it:
OneWebDay is an annual, global event which is celebrated every September 22. Much like Earth Day, which inspired it, OneWebDay provides an opportunity for communities to celebrate the power of Web for positive change, to take action to protect what is precious about it, and to educate the public and policymakers on how the Web works.
Second, the Ford Foundation has given OWD a major grant — yay!! — so now we can move from being an all-volunteer organization to hiring an executive director…which leads to…
Third, Nathaniel James is the new executive director. He comes from the Media and Democracy Coalition, and is an ideal fit. Yay!!
One Web Day — founded by Susan Crawford — is a day for us to celebrate the Web, but also to renew our commitment to work together to advance the values that make the Web not just a technology but a hope. Today is a very good one for OWD and for what it can contribute to that hope.
I’m looking forward to Collabforge playing whatever part it can for this year’s September 22nd event.
More to come…