Conmergence

eAdvocacy Jamboree July 17-20 Oakland, California

Aspiration invites you to join us July 17-20 for this year's eAdvocacy Jamboree, taking place at Preservation Park in Oakland, California.  The Jamboree will be a creative, interactive opportunity to discuss and learn about what others are doing with online campaigning and advocacy tools. We'll bring online campaigners and organizers together with developers of eAdvocacy tools and platforms for a fast-paced and far-reaching peer-to-peer skillsharing event. The participant-driven agenda will feature rich dialog and fun learning sessions.

The main event will run July 18-20, with a pre-day of eAdvocacy trainings on July 17 for those wanting to ramp up their eAdvocacy skills.

You can Register Now! And please let others know about the Jamboree! Complete details are at http://aspirationtech.org/events/eadvocacyjamboree.

The current agenda is online, and we welcome feedback and additions! We're continuing to expand the format this year, and will have several interleaved tracks:
Training Fest: A full day of in-depth trainings will be offered on Tuesday the 17th, before the main Jamboree, on a range of topics including eAdvocacy 101, Web 2.0 Tools and Tactics, eAdvocacy Best Practices, Strategic Blogging, Intro and Advanced Sessions on Democracy in Action, Drupal, CiviCRM, Non-Profit Soapbox, and Joomla.

Interactive Track: participants will be able to workshop their current campaigns with facilitators and other participants, participate in peer web site reviews, brainstorm new campaign ideas, and engage in skillshares on any topic they want to discuss. Spectators will be few and far between!

Strategy Track - Tools, Tactics and Best Practices: eOrganizers and eAdvocacy practitioners from a broad base of causes and sectors will talk about what they've got in their toolboxes and the tactics and strategies they're currently employing. Sessions will consider the challenges of messaging and maintaining supporter bases across campaigns. A particular focus will be on developing best practices in eCampaiging process and engagement models. Participants will also how they're using emerging web 2.0 and other technologies to augment their eAdvocacy efforts. User/Developer sessions will allow stakeholders across the eAdvocacy landscape to discuss how we can all work together more effectively.

Developer Track - Open Source eAdvocacy Platforms: Where are we, what's new, and how will it all interoperate? We'll continue the dialog from past AdvocacyDev convergences and look for more opportunities to write tools that make life easier for campaigners and organizers. Latest releases of all relevant platforms will be demo'd and compared, and participants will be invited to drink from the fountain of cool technology Koolaid.

eAdvocacy Capacity Track - Addressing the Challenge: The most consistently vexing problem in the eAdvocacy space is how to develop more capacity. Campaigns and causes go wanting for able staff and consultants who could help them craft and execute appropriate online campaigns and strategies. This track will map what's already being done in terms of training and documentation, while opening up the floor for discussion on how better to scale eAdvocacy communities of practice and pool various documentation resources.

As always, your input will dramatically shape what happens at the event, and we actively encourage you to let us know about sessions you'd like to see on the agenda.

For more information, contact eadvocacy@aspirationtech.org or call 1.415.839.6456.

Event partners working with Aspiration to design the agenda and sessions include Blue Oxen Associates, Caltha.pl (Warsaw, Poland), Change.org, CiviCRM, CivicSpace, DemocracyInAction, Drupal, Joomla!, MobileVoter, New Organizing Institute, Non-Profit Soapbox/PICnet, Protest.net, and Radical Designs. More partners are being added, and we welcome more involvement!

Please let us know of questions, and we hope to see you there!

Allen Gunn
Executive Director, Aspiration
+1.415.216.7252
www.aspirationtech.org
Aspiration
"Better Tools for a Better World"

Prophets' University at Abilene Christian Univeristy Lectureship September 16-19

<ed.note>Kate Miller ( miller at bible.acu.edu ) sent me a head's up about this event at my alma. While living in Abilene I attended Minter Lane where I had the blessing of attending the class which Tom Olbricht* taught ( I can't remember a thing except the emphases on compassion and unity ). In a class at ACU, John Willis* had the unenviable task of getting the concepts of mercy and justice into my thick skull via the prophetic literature. As a teacher he modeled what he taught and he inspires his students to greater holiness ( oy, what a challenge ) reminiscent of Assisi Frank's admonition to "preach the gospel at all times -- when necessary, use words". I might mention also that ACU is a sponsor of the World Convention ( Christian - Churches of Christ - Disciples of Christ ) scheduled for Nashville next summer. Mark your calendars now ( July 30th - August 3rd, 2008 ).</ed.note>

Each year ACU’s Bible Lectureship brings outstanding scholars to lead us deeper into the holy writings. This year, we have assembled a team to lead us into the rich worlds of Israel’s eighth-century prophets, namely Micah, Amos, Hosea and Isaiah. The powerful pictures offered by these prophets will aim to give you a greater understanding of God and his concern for the world. More info available here.

Eighth-Century Prophet Classes

Dave Bland
Experiencing the God of the Prophets:
Experiencing God’s Lament: Amos
Experiencing God’s Love: Hosea

Phillip Camp
Injustice is Blind … and Deaf: Isaiah
Confronts Injustice in Judah and in Us

Christopher Heard
God’s Favorites: Election and Uniqueness in the Book of Amos

*Tom Olbricht
God Loves Forever (hesed in Micah)

Glenn Pemberton
Worship Wars, Israelite Style: Three Psalms, a Sacrifice and a Prayer? And Other Burning
Questions From Worship

Rodney Plunket
The Wild, Wild, Near East: The World of the Eighth Century Prophets
Superpowers, War Crimes, and Coups d’Etat

Mark Shipp
A Harlot’s Wages: No Knowledge, No Mercy, No People
God Sows: Mercy, People, Knowledge of God

Trevor Thompson
Micah at the Margins: Micah as Medium, Micah Muted

*John Willis
The Message of Micah
God’s Central Concern for the Oppressed
God’s Treatment of Hardened Sinners and Persistent Sin
God’s Work in and Through His Chosen People and and the Nations

Timothy Willis
Anyone Want to Play ‘Follow the Leader’?
Being an Elder in Biblical Israel

Fairtrade Fortnight

<ed.note>Gillian Southey, Christian World Service, Aotearoa New Zealand, informed me: Thanks for your enquiry. CWS has prepared resources for Aotearoa New Zealand churches - some of which can be downloaded from the web and others are available from the Fair Trade Association of Aotearoa New Zealand. In terms of US churches promoting fair trade I suggest you initially look at this, and this - which has links to all sorts of church 'coffee projects'.</ed.note>

Un-Cover-ed Tennessee [ Repost: was Faces of Tenncare - Portrait Project ]

<ed.note>Apparently, things semantically delicious are all the rage within fedgovworld -- stories about intellipedia and even various campaign sites using RSS. I bet Donna, who recently left a comment on this 2006 post I've just gotten around to publishing, wished there were a push for tools for transparency in tennessee politics -- semantic sunshine, if you will. Hint: Donna, you can start here and here and here. A thematically similar post to the following can also be found here.</ed.note>

Aired January 3, 2006, WPLN's Kim Green reports on "a young Nashville photojournalist has spent half a year quietly documenting the people affected by TennCare cuts. Now she's collaborating with a local filmmaker to harness the emotional impact of these photos and distribute them nationally."

Human Trafficking Search

National MultiCultural Institute's mission is to work with individuals, organizations, and communities in creating a society that is strengthened and empowered by its diversity. Through its initiatives, NMCI leads efforts to increase communication, understanding and respect among people of diverse backgrounds and addresses some of the important systemic issues of multiculturalism facing our society. This web portal was created as a service to those individuals and organizations working to eliminate human trafficking. Comments and suggestions are welcome at trafficking@nmci.org.

World Refugee Day 20 June 2006

Keeping the Flame of Hope Alive

Throughout their long and daunting journey from oppression and persecution to asylum and protection, and eventually to a place they can call home, refugees show incredible strength, courage and determination. Their journey is a dangerous and arduous one and every day spent in exile is a day too long.

But in every step of their journey refugees carry with them an unshakable, unrelenting hope. By hanging on to their hopes for basic survival, sustenance and protection, and for the chance to one day rebuild their lives, refugees defy all odds. As the UN Refugee Agency we continue to be impressed by the tenacious hopefulness of refugees which, in turn, motivates us to leave no stone unturned in the fulfillment of our mandate, to protect them and to find durable solutions to their plight.

On World Refugee Day, we ask you to remember the millions of refugees under our care who are trying to pick up the pieces of once-peaceful lives. As different as they are from each other, one thing connects them all: hope for a better future and a chance to restore lasting peace to their lives.

Help us keep that flame of hope alive!

More than 150 dedicated professionals work for Human Rights Watch around the world. We are lawyers, journalists, academics, and country experts of many nationalities and diverse backgrounds. We often join forces with human rights groups from other countries to further our common goals. A growing cadre of volunteers supports us.

Refugees International generates lifesaving humanitarian assistance and protection for displaced people around the world, and works to end the conditions that create displacement.

WITNESS uses the power of video to open the eyes of the world to human rights abuses. By partnering with local organizations around the globe, WITNESS empowers human rights defenders to use video to shine a light on those most affected by human rights violations, and to transform personal stories of abuse into powerful tools of justice. Over the past decade, WITNESS has partnered with groups in more than 60 countries, bringing often unseen images, untold stories and seldom heard voices to the attention of key decision makers, the media, and the general public -- catalyzing grassroots activism, political engagement, and lasting change.

Human Rights Watch

More than 150 dedicated professionals work for Human Rights Watch around the world. We are lawyers, journalists, academics, and country experts of many nationalities and diverse backgrounds. We often join forces with human rights groups from other countries to further our common goals. A growing cadre of volunteers supports us.

Refugees International

Refugees International generates lifesaving humanitarian assistance and protection for displaced people around the world, and works to end the conditions that create displacement.

WITNESS

WITNESS uses the power of video to open the eyes of the world to human rights abuses. By partnering with local organizations around the globe, WITNESS empowers human rights defenders to use video to shine a light on those most affected by human rights violations, and to transform personal stories of abuse into powerful tools of justice. Over the past decade, WITNESS has partnered with groups in more than 60 countries, bringing often unseen images, untold stories and seldom heard voices to the attention of key decision makers, the media, and the general public -- catalyzing grassroots activism, political engagement, and lasting change.