Archive for April, 2009

Social seeds and an eBook about women

Published April 28, 2009 inspiration , purpose , web 2.0 8 Comments

Do you ever think of social networks as a place to find creative inspiration?

For instance earlier in the year I jotted down my wonderwishlist. Number One on the list was to “create an eBook about women for women”. With a little help from Joanna Young of Confident Writing, I’m now compiling an eBook of extraordinary women making an impact, which will be released for free at the end of May :)

I’m amazed at how easily this has come together, and some wonderful women have already agreed to share their stories to this eBook, to be called WorldShapers, including

Eileen Clegg – Visual Journalist and Founder of Visual Insight @eileenclegg USA
Phaedra Boinidiris – CEO and Co-Founder of WomenGamers.com USA
Anita Pahor – Director of Partnerships at Emberin Australia
Amy Jussel – Founder/Executive Director of Shaping Youth USA
Marigo Raftopolous – Management Consultant, Serious Games evangelist @marigo Australia
Stacey Monk – CEO and Co-Founder of Epic Change @staceymonk USA
Lucky Chhetri – Co-founder EWN – Empowering Women of Nepal , Nepal
Daphne Nederhorst – Founder and Executive Director of SAWA Canada
Amy Sample Ward Director of community and content at Netsquared and nonprofit consultant @amyrsward UK
Jyl Johnson Pattee Co-Founder of Mom It Forward @jyl_momIF USA
Annie Le Cavalier Executive Director Vibewire Youth Inc. @vibewire Australia
Karen Muanu Love Without Boundaries @KarenMaunu_LWB USA
Debra Askanase Social Media for Non Profits @askdebra Jerusalem
Dr Angela A Thomas Author Youth Online, Sydney University @anyaixchel Australia

I look forward to reading, and sharing these stories of technology making a difference (read more..) I have met many of these women through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or blogging, and I’m grateful that they use social media to express their ideas, share their journey and connect with others (how else would we have been introduced so quickly?)

One of the contributors to the Worldshapers eBook, Eileen Clegg, created this video as a ’shout out for creativity’ recently. Actually she created a mural to express some concepts around creativity in a connected world, and walks us through this visual map in her video.

I think Eileen’s mural speaks volumes about the value of sharing your unique voice on the web. When you use social media you have the opportunity to share your personality, thoughts, and ideas through your contribution to conversations. As our differerent experiences converge, ideas begin to seed.  For instance, have you found that links posted by friends on social networking sites often point to ideas and inspiration? Or does the content lead you to distraction?

Are you focusing on the creative ideas to be found around you? Who has inspired you lately?

Update: the ebook has been published! Huge thanks to all involved. You can download it for free here.

Tweet Thirteen

Published April 22, 2009 inspiration , web 2.0 3 Comments
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Meet @timecommander Dan Miranda. He’s thirteen years old and writes a blog about personal development. He is running a competition on his blog, with a chance to win a copy of Problogger’s book if you follow him on Twitter

timecommander

Meet another thirteen year old @pencilbugs Jason O’Neill who invented springy things that sit on the top of your pencil. More than that, he donates to nonprofits already and has big dreams to give, as he tweeted today “ I want Pencil Bugs biz to be an empire so I can give millions some day. #GNO“

jason_o_neill__8-20-08_-small_cropped2

#GNO is Girls Night Out – a great conversation that happens on Twitter once a week. Today’s chat was about raising giving, service-oriented, charitable children.

Meet @MeghnaK a 13 year old girl in India who has a couple of thousand followers on Twitter. Meghna K  who has a couple of blogs about her interest in creative writing

meghna

I’m amazed.

wish

Published April 16, 2009 art & design , inspiration 1 Comment
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Looking through the eyes of imagination. What do you see?  Where does your picture start and end?

An image can be a moment, or a hint of moments to come. Things unseen can be just as important as the most obvious expression.

A little shift in direction

Published April 8, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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You might have noticed I changed roles over the last week (hence this little corner of cyberspace has been a little neglected!)  I have moved out of my role with HCM consulting after nearly eight years, three babies and loads of learning, to pursue a new challenge. I’m happy to say I have joined the IBM marketing team in Asia Pacific to help communicate the SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) message. It’s not a complete shift from the Learning space for me – I will still be helping with the growth of a community, there will be opportunities to educate people about social media, and I get to sharpen my communication skills and learn more about marketing! I’m thrilled to be joining such a great team, continuing in a part time role with great work/life balance benefits also (can you tell I am a little bit excited?!)

Obviously my focus will be a little different, but I will continue to share some of the common threads between marketing and learning here on Wonderwebby, sharing random ramblings about interesting we can communicate, create and connect! I look forward to some great conversations with you.

connect the dots 1

connect the dots 1by Dutchtl

connecting the dots 2

connecting the dots 2

connect the dots 3

connect the dots 3 by

Connect the dots 4 by SlipStream

Connect the dots 4 by SlipStream


(images taken from Wreck this Journal project by Keri Smith)

Initiative accelerates ideas into action

Published April 2, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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A little while ago I had a little notion for a blogging challenge and was waiting for the right time to launch it. Little did I know what form that would take – a challenge that raised over $1500 in just a few days for women in poverty! So how did this happen?

Thinking Ahead – Ideas for a rainy day
While I was arranging the last fundraising event and making mental notes of things that were working, and things that I would do differently, I came up with an idea. I wanted the next creative challenge to be really simple and the word ‘Tribute’ came to mind. I wanted to honour the women in the Philippines who were taking steps into working their way out of poverty.

Opportunity Arises -  social networking serendipity
One morning I friended the friend of a friend on Twitter. I never expected him to follow me back  with a direct message the next day, asking me to call their offices. When I rang, I never expected to be having a conversation about a potentially significant donation to my fundraising project for Women’s Opportunity.

Money changes everything – respect the community
I had a weekend to think about the ideas they suggested and think up a project. I read up about Incentive House. I had to consider what I wanted to achieve (awareness of the Philippines, fundraising) and how I could still respect and create something that my online community would appreciate. I wanted this to be as authentic as possible (at least, as authentic as corporate sponsorship can get). Suddenly my ‘Tribute’ idea sprung back to mind. By Monday I shared my idea for a paid blogging challenge ($100 per post donated to Opportunity International) and soon after the initiative was launched,  raising $1300 in just a few days through the generosity of bloggers around Australia.

Sharing Ideas – social media sanity check
Before launching the initaitive I vetted the idea with a social media friend Des Walsh to get his feedback, which was all positive and helpful! He even interviewed me later on for the Social Media Show to get some more information about microfinance and this project. Subsequently I received two more donations creating an additional US$200 donation.

Listen to Des Walsh interview about microfinance (10 mins) – MP3 File
Experience -  investing time where it matters
I didn’t just have an idea that was suddenly funded. There have been a number of good people in my social network who have been involved in creating some awareness about poverty in the Philippines, trust banks and microfinance.  Together some amazing people have been collaborating with me to create slideshows, blog posts, tweets and finding all kinds of ways to help create some publicity for the entrepreneurial poor, from the Women’s Investment Slides, to the Beyond challenge, SOS09 and this recent Tribute project . Not every project has had equal success in raising significant funds, but I feel it’s a collective contribution that helped get to this point.
I was thrilled to see that the ‘Tribute’ blogging challenge for donations worked, and that it was well received. Which leads me to wonder ‘what’s next?’  This project seems to have created a little buzz with other Australian corporate sponsors, and I’m talking to some more for another project I’ve had in mind for some time (hint…email wonderwebby at gmail.com if you want to be involved!) More details to come!
Intiative – the first step to great things
When you take the initiative to help make a difference, (no matter how big or small the effort) your contribution might end up accelerating other ideas and initiatives way beyond your imagination. I really value the energy that many people have taken to write blog posts, make donations, tweet, retweet and encourage me along the way.  What about you? Are you ready to leap into a project? Every jump counts!


Image originally uploaded by Ryan C Anderson

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About Wonderwebby - by Jasmin Tragas - creative and digital media allsorts - mother - imagining new ways to make a difference
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