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.

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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.

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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.

E-government, Government 2.0, report, social media Hide

I’m taking some time off from blogging, as I’m home on Easter break. But I thought I would share this great video of Pike County, our waterfalls and the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area that I found on YouTube today….come visit sometime.

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For the one or two times I go away each year on vacation, I promise myself that I won’t touch my cell phone or computer. That’s what vacation is about: relaxing, spending time with friends and family, disconnecting from the world. I’m a strong believer that to do otherwise is to fakecation.

I kept that promise over the past week when I was on spring break, cruising through the Caribbean. A whole seven days went by without feeling vibrations every few minutes in my pocket, and without the stress of keeping up with daily routine of messages and information filtering.

As I write this post sitting in the airport en route home, I realize that life is so drastically different without being connected 24/7, and I wonder to what extent things have actually gotten better. There are many pros to my/our hi-tech lifestyle: increased access to more information, faster and easier communication with others, and greater productivity, to name a few. On the other hand, reflecting on this past week, I realize each has an apparent downside.

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