Peter Levine
- students as part of the accountability puzzle September 3, 2010
- the value-added debate in education policy September 1, 2010
- Jonathan Lethem, A Fortress of Solitude September 1, 2010
- what happened to the new Obama voters? August 31, 2010
Washington woke up to – or woke up to hearing about – a 3.6 magnitude earthquake that hit the area around 5 a.m. this morning. Many took to Twitter in a witty style. To mark this historic day, I compiled a few of my favorites:
- myssieb: I snored right through it #dcquake
- mobilizer: 3 all-time records set this year: 55″ of snow, 105 degree heat, and 3.6 mag quake. What’s God trying to tell us? #DCQuake
- PrinceChowder: Ima use da #DCQuake as a reason for me being late but #TruthIs I’m always late o_0 lol
- RachelLBurnett: Bush will be blamed for #dcquake & #Obama will take credit for no damage. #tcot #p2
- nhagerwtop: I’m with all the other CA transplants. I used to sleep through 5.0s when I was a kid. #dcquake
- germonique: That’s the word I was looking for! I made panquakes! #dcquake
- joerominiecki: Didn’t feel the earthquake. I’m a heavy sleeper though. Doubt I’d wake for anything less than 6. #dcquake
- bethanyhardy: Must … stop … Tweeting about the #dcquake. Especially since I didn’t feel it. #movealongnothingtoseehere
- jeaparris: False Alarm guys. I simply had too much dairy last night. #dcquake
- DanPCurran: I slept through an earthquake?? Better question: WHO IS PERFORMING IN OUR OBLIGATORY CHARITY CONCERT? #dcquake
- sosarahsays: I’d bet money that the earthquake will somehow mess up the Metro this morning. @unsuckdcmetro #dcquake #wmata\
- districtjoe: Getting dressed to “I Feel the Earth Move” #dcquake
- carewo: Damage inflicted by #dcquake… it knocked the toilet bowl brush out of its holder. Don’t worry everyone we’re ok!
- WashingTina: Ok…I’m going back to bed. Enough excitement for one day… #dcquake #doover
- zHeather: Alrighty, #dcquake or not, I’ve gotta get ready for work. Hopefully the planet will stay still while I shower.
- SophieBegonia: Earthquake was a 3.7. My dog’s response was a 8.9 in puppy-panic. #dcquake
- khoney: Small 3.6 earthquake this morning near DC: maybe Earth demanding action on climate bill? #DCquake
- ahepker: How does the Secret Service protect the president from an earthquake? Not really something you can jump in front of… #dcquake
- geomantic: Well, I’m awake now dammit. #dcquake
- dcurbandad: I thought it was my wife wanting to get with me. But it was just the #dcquake.
Over the last semester in my social entrepreneurship class, I worked to produce the documentary below – which explored the concept of social entrepreneurship and what the students in my class were able to accomplish. It was a great learning experience. Part of my hope is for the video not only inspire fellow Hoyas into taking the course, but other Universities to offer similar courses. This is the future!
Social Entrepreneurship: Leading Social Change from Nick Troiano on Vimeo.
People, organizations and government are beginning to realize and leverage the immense power of the crowd through contests and challenges, especially using Web 2.0 technology, and offering prizes for success. The “crowd” simply refers to a large group of people or a community, usually the general public. Today, the Case Foundation is hosting a public-private strategy session with the White House about “driving innovation and civic dialogue through the use of prizes, challenges and open grantmaking.” It’s all about reaching new people and ideas through innovative means. The Foundation has successfully employed this model before, such as through the Make It Your Own Awards.
If you missed the Fiscal Future Forum last evening, you can catch a recap here:
It was a pleasure to plan this event, and thanks to Ustream, many more people can benefit from this discussion and take part in the conversation on-demand. On a Tax Day marked with angry protests, events like these show how people from different generations and different political views can get together and have a rational and civil discussion.
The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday announced its relaunched Pick 5 campaign – an innovative use of the Web and social media to get citizens to do environmentally friendly things. While it launched for the first time last Earth Day, it has now reinvented itself on an international level – asking people around the globe to pick and commit to doing five things to help the environment. From the site:
“Being an environmentalist means different things in different places. By choosing five or more of these actions and sharing your stories, you CAN make a positive difference for the environment. Join with others around the world today to take the small actions that will add up to make the biggest difference. Are you ready?”
The new campaign is a vast improvement over where it was a year ago – offering more actions, greater immersion with the social web, and a more compelling user experience. I had the opportunity to study Pick 5 as part of an assignment for my E-Government 2.0 course this semester, in which we had to examine a “failed e-government project.” You can download my report “Pick 5 Analysis” and view some PowerPoint slides highlighting my research below. The report explores how Pick 5 fell short of its public engagement goals but utilized a method of “failing fast” to identify areas of improvement and build off of them (as this relaunch demonstrates).
Many thanks to EPA’s Web manager Jeffrey Levy and the State Department’s Lovisa Williams for the time in this project.
