During the Summit, Digital Pioneers will present their projects and ideas every hour in the Hall of Trouw Amsterdam. On Thursday 28 October 16.15 hrs Johannes la Poutré will tell us all about measuring air quality and his experiences as a Digital Pioneer. We interviewed Johannes shortly about himself and the project MIMAQ, which stands for mobile individual measurements of air quality…

- Please tell us a little about yourself…
“Hi, I’m Johannes la Poutré. I’m intrigued by new inventions and ways to combine and extend them. From that perspective I got involved with the Internet in the early days and kept following its newest developments closely. Today this brings me in the field of Augmented Reality where I’m working now for TABworldmedia.com”.

- How and why did you start MIMAQ?
“Last December the International Climate Summit was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. For that occasion a group of volunteers teamed up to create a proof of concept: the Copenhagen Layer, where local air quality was measured ad visualized in augmented reality. The MIMAQ project takes this concept to the next level, focusing on the measurement of air pollution on a very personal and hyper-local level. User participation is encouraged by recruiting volunteers and asking for their personal opinion and feedback. We hope to refine the measurement network so it can provide real time data complimentary to the expensive measurement stations which are currently deployed”.

Read the rest of this entry »

On the first day of the State of Social Media Summit we are going to discuss how the movement of civel society media initiatives can find a sustainable model for the future. How can these social innovative ideas and projects be supported financially? A lot of courage and pioneership is needed here as governmental support is pulling back and support from ‘the market’ is not something obvious (yet).

We are very honored that Alan Crabbe is coming to the Summit to inspire us with lessons learned from the brand new crowdfund platform Fundbreak. Crowdfunding can ofcourse be one of the solutions to the funding problem. Fundbreak has been a succes in Australia and has been introduced recently also in the UK. We spoke briefly with Alan, so here’s a sneak preview for his keynote on Thrusday 28 October, 15.30 hrs in Trouw Amsterdam…

- Can you tell us something about yourself and your ambitions for the future?
“I am a Northern Irishman living in Sydney. I love the outdoor life and have a real passion for working with visual artists and musicians. My new love is FundBreak and it has become my addiction. My ambition for FundBreak is to become the most admired crowdfunding platform in Europe, Australia and in the rest of the world”,

- Why did you start Fundbreak and how is it different from other crowdfund platforms like Kickstarter?
“Last year we had the opportunity to work on a project with a number of visual artists in Australia and learned quite a lot about the creative industry. It became obvious that a large number of artists in Australia were struggling financially. At this time we spotted an art project in Europe that successfully used the power of the crowd to raise capital and get things moving.

Read the rest of this entry »

During the Summit, Digital Pioneers will present their projects and ideas every hour in the Hall of Trouw Amsterdam. On Thursday 28 October 14.15 hrs Sara Mattens & Jeffrey Croese will tell us all about de Bijlmer and how to make virtual artworks with the tools they designed within the Virtuele Straat van Sculpturen project. We interviewed Sara and Jeff shortly about themselves and the project…

- Please tell us a little about yourself…
“We are Jeffrey Croese and Sara Mattens, together we form vinger.nl. As a creative studio we work on strategy and concept and give ideas shape in the form of film and design. We do diverse projects, mainly in the cultural, artistic and social domain. Ofcourse we do not stand alone and work with a whole bunch of other creatives, no fingers no fist..”

- How and why did you start The Virtual Street?
“We started www.devirtuelestraat.nl because of the Street of Sculptures, an international art biennale in the public space of the Amsterdam Bijlmer. Our project is part of the first biennale in 2009. In this project we wanted to link fysical and virtual worlds and present the work of both local and international artists in the context of our fine but underestimated neighbourhood, the Bijlmer”.

Read the rest of this entry »

Only 5 days untill the Summit starts! We will kick it off at Thursday 28 October 9.30 hrs. in Trouw Amsterdam, Wibautstraat 127. There are still some spots left, so register now and join us next week! We are really looking forward to it and already want to give you some sneak previews into what’s going to happen.

Don’t do it yourself
Digital Pioneers has joined forces with creative duo Marcel van der Drift and Arnoud van den Heuvel to facilitate a special programme during the Summit: Dont’ do it yourself. If you can’t do it yourself, they will help you trade skills with someone who can! Read our interview with Marcel & Arnoud and register for this track here, so you can be matched.

Digital Pioneers presentations
Every hour during the Summit, Digital Pioneers will present their projects and ideas in the Hall of Trouw Amsterdam. Who are they? And how do they work on social innovation? Read our interviews with Joep Kuijper, co-founder of *openmargin and Dolf Veenvliet of the Blender community.

- Read all about the keynote speakers, presentations, clinics and round table sessions
- Take a look at the programme of Day 1 and the programme of Day 2
- Learn more about the venue, hotel and restaurant tips

Digital Pioneers has joined forces with Marcel van der Drift & Arnoud van den Heuvel (Don’t do it yourself) to facilitate a special programme during the Summit. If you can’t do it yourself, they will help you trade skills with someone who can! We interviewed Arnoud and Marcel shortly about themself and the project…

- Please tell us a little about yourself…
“We are Marcel van der Drift and Arnoud van den Heuvel, two creatives working together on various (mostly web-based) projects. We also organize Don’t do it yourself events. These events are just an excuse to meet skilled people in different areas, make interesting matches and see if they can help each other out”.

- How and why did you start Don’t do it yourself?
“In 2008 we were working together at the MediaGuild in Amsterdam, where we attended these network gatherings. They were nice but it wasn’t the best way for us to meet the right people. While we felt awkward pitching our services and handing out or new business cards, we had no trouble discussing ideas, designing and fixing stuff in a different setting. Hands-on and practical. So we organized our own event, Don’t do it yourself day. We developed a simple online service to match participants up and we personally suggested matches. This turned out to be productive and fun for the participants and for us. That’s when things started to roll”.

- What can we do with Don’t do it yourself?
“Basically we take network-gatherings to the next level by making them productive as well. People enjoy helping each other out, showing their skills or learning from a pro, one on one”.

- How does Don’t do it yourself stimulate social innovation?
“The idea of getting together to exchange services is hardly innovative. Bartering has been around longer than money. But every situation challenges us to find the right flavour for each event. The right interior, graphic design, technical tools, presentation. And we keep meeting people who love to join us as participants or fellow organizers. Keywords are: creativity and low-tech”.

- What are you going to bring and get at the State of Social Media Summit?
Submit to our matchmaker and find out! http://dontdoityourself.org/state_of_social_media/

Do you have something you can’t do it yourself? And/or would you like to know more about Arnoud and Marcel, come to the State of Social Media Summit, 28 and 29 October in Trouw Amsterdam.

- Register for Don’t do it yourself
- Register for the Summit

During the Summit, Digital Pioneers will present their projects and ideas every hour in the Hall of Trouw Amsterdam. On 28 October 11.15 hrs Dolf Veenvliet from the Blender community will tell us all about 3D open cinema and Sintel, the movie which has recently been released. We are very happy to have him over, because the Blender conference takes place at 29-31 October. We interviewed him shortly about himself and the project…

- Please tell us a little about yourself…
“I’m a Dutch visual artist, and have been working with free software for over 10 years. I also teach, and have been lucky enough to be part of the crew of the short movie ‘Sintel’, which is getting a lot of attention on-line right now”.

- How and why did you start Sintel?
“The Blender Institute gets artists from all over the globe to take part in it’s short projects. It’s seen as an honour to be asked, and is an amazing learning experience”.

- What can we do with Sintel?
“The movie is released as open source. So you can watch it for free. Not only that, you can also download all the files the movie was made with, and use them for your own projects”.

- How does Sintel stimulate social innovation?
“People still have to get used to the idea that it’s a good thing to give away their work for free. This project shows it’s not only possible, but that it can actually be profitable to do so”.

- What are you going to bring and get at the State of Social Media Summit?
“I will show some of my personal work, but also highlight some interesting bits in the movie. Some of the benefits and shortfalls of working within a tight knit community”.

Interested in hearing more about Sintel, Blender and Dolf? You can meet Dolf at the Summit!

- Register for the Summit
- More info about the presentations

Photo: copyright Blender Foundation – www.sintel.org

During the Summit, Digital Pioneers will present their projects and ideas every hour in the Hall of Trouw Amsterdam. On 29 October 15.15 hrs co-founder of *openmargin Joep Kuijper will tell us all about how they started the project and what it is all about. We interviewed him shortly about himself and the project…

- Please tell us a little about yourself…
“I am co-founder of *openmargin. Creative facilitator at new shoes today. And master student on the filmacademy”.

- How and why did you start *openmargin?
“We started off with the question: How can we bring people together in an unexpected way? The next question: What if you could step inside the books you love? The answer was *openmargin, a public space in the margin of digital books, where readers leave traces for other readers to find”.

- What can we do with *openmargin?
“You’re able to read your books on our iPad application. All the highlights and notes you make will be send to openmargin.com where you’ll discover other readers. With them you can start a dialogue based on the fragments of the book”.

- How does *openmargin stimulates social innovation?
“We’re bringing social media within a very specific context: the book. The book has the power to bring people from different backgrounds together”.

- What are you going to bring and get at the State of Social Media Summit?
“We like to talk about designing virtual spaces to direct user behavior. Some communities are fruitful others not, and we’re exploring why. And besides that, we’re looking for developers specialized in iPad apps or open standards”.

You can meet Joep at the Summit and have a chat. *openmargin co-founder Ruth Koppenol will be hosting the round table about arts & culture.

- Register for the Summit
- More info about the presentations
- More info about the round tables

Photo by Kennisland.

We are almost ready to kick the State of Social Media Summit off! Here’s an update on the programme. All keynote speakers are confirmed and we are happy to introduce them to you. Also take a look at the clinic sessions and the round tables to see if there’s something you can contribute to or be interested in participating. And… we are very happy to announce our collaboration with Don’t do it yourself‘ Marcel van der Drift and Arnoud van den Heuvel.

Keynote speakers
Meet our keynote speakers: Alan Crabbe (Fundbreak), Adam Hyde (FLOSS Manuals), Anna Maybank (Social Innovation Camp), Sameer Padania (Macroscope), Juliana Rotich (Ushahidi), Marietje Schaake (D66), Hermineke van Bockxmeer (Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Read all about them.

Don’t do it yourself
It sounds a bit slack, but in fact it’s quite the opposite. If you can’t do it yourself, here’s how you can trade skills with someone who can. Get together and help each other out. Learn more how to not do it yourself at the State of Social Media Summit.

Clinics
The clinics are designed as sessions for small groups to exchange experiences, tools and lessons learned on subjects every Digital Pioneer faces on her of his way to the top. We have sessions on: business models, community building & PR, Creative Commons & copyright, crowdsourcing, fundraising, mobile technology, open source and scaling-up. Learn more.

Round tables
During the round table sessions pioneers meet around themes: arts & culture, education, freedom & privacy, healthcare, journalism, migration & integration, open governance and sustainability. Learn more.

Presentations
Digital Pioneers will present their projects and ideas about social innovation. Read all about them.

If you want to participate in the Summit, you can register until Oct. 22 via this website. There are some spots left, so RSVP now.

As of today the registration for the State of Social Media Summit is open! We organize the international conference on social innovation on the Internet on 28-29 October 2010 in Trouw Amsterdam (Wibautstraat 127, Amsterdam). From an international perspective we look at the impact of small-scale civil society media initiatives on society and the media landscape. We identify the challenges and set the agenda for the next decade. We do this with national and international pioneers, the Digital Pioneers network and anyone who believes in the power of the Internet as a catalyst of social innovation.

Day 1: Learning from the pioneers
What can we learn from successful digital pioneers projects? During the first day we address this question with keynotes by Juliana Rotich (Ushahidi) and Adam Hyde (Floss Manuals). In the clinic sessions we share practical knowledge about copyright & Creative Commons, open source software, mobile technology, community education and business models. With short presentations by pioneers including James Burke (Urbanode), Johannes la Poutré (MIMAQ) and Lino Hellings (Errorist). In the afternoon we explore the future of funding civil society Internet initiatives with keynote speaker Rick Chen (Fundbreak). We end the day with a networking reception and party.

Day 2: Creating future plans
During the second day, we look into the future. What challenges do we see and how can we contribute to solutions? The day will be introduced by Anna Maybank (Social Innovation Camp). At the round-table sessions, we create future plans for social media on the topics of privacy, art and culture, healthcare, education, e-government, sustainability, migration and integration. We help each other hands-on with problem solving, guided by Don’t Do It Yourself. With short presentations by pioneers including Stef Kolman (OpenCarData) and Joep Kuijper (* openmargin). In the afternoon we discuss the future of social journalism with Sameer Padania (Macroscope). Then we hand over our agenda, the State of Social Media Manifesto to MEP Marietje Schaake (D66).

Participate
Anyone interested in social media, entrepreneurship and innovation is welcome to participate in the State of Social Media Summit. Working language is English. Participation is free of charge and you can register until October 22, 2010. On this website the full program will be published in the coming weeks. Follow Digital Pioneers in preparation for the Summit via twitter.com/digital pioneers.

• Register your spot for the Summit
• Find out more about the programme of the Summit
• Take a look at our speakers
• Fill out the form for the online matchmaker of Don’t Do It Yourself

Is citizen journalism entering a new phase with the rise of social media? It is quite obvious that nowadays the availability of the technology to capture and share information is unprecedented and creates ample opportunities. But it is disputed whether that fact automatically leads to the improvement of journalism in terms of quality, diversity and independency. Moreover, the developments result in questions of organization.

There seem to be two main concerns for the near future: what will be the behavior of the audience and what kind of funding or business model is needed to maintain quality journalism?

Read the rest of this entry »