CivicActions

Google is on top and making a grand profit. Now that the numbers for Google's profits are in, it's safe to predict that Google is on top of the search game for a long time to come. So, in the great American tradition of rooting for the underdogs, let's look at Google with the eyes of an underdog. What isn't Google?

Is Google nice? They aren't evil. This is enough, right?

It's a rare thing for corporations to have a double or triple bottom line. But can you say no to billions of dollars of profit when your corporate legal framework requires you to acquire business and grow? If google can only sustain the "not evil" phase that's a victory. Maybe if Google were "nice" they wouldn't survive.

Sunlight Foundation has released Popup Politicians "an AJAX-based widget that adds mini-profiles with links of Members of Congress to your page that appear when you mouseover the link."

The negotiations between Apple Computer and the French government over Apple's "FairPlay" DRM technology -- which restricts a user's rights to move their songs bought on the iTunes Store to other players -- today brought the light of the Washington Post on the Defective By Design initiative.

Henri Poole, a Free Software Foundation board member, said that such software restrictions infringe on consumer rights and are designed to protect "antiquated business models. "We purchase [songs] and we think we have the same rights we had two years ago, but those rights are being eroded and the [digital rights management] rules can even be changed after you've purchased," he said.

An ambitious project, NINA (National Information Network for Artists)[1] serves to create a reusable tool for making the finding of information easier and more effective. Specifically geared for artist communities, but applicable to all search applications, NINA can let organizations quickly build quality data and make it accessible via search and web standards. NINA is nearly feature complete for version 1.0 and promises to bring several projects enhanced search and sharing functionality.

NINA is the meeting of Web 2.0 with the Semantic Web. What this means for the users of NINA is that some very powerful technologies are available[2]. A community group only needs to install NINA on their website, start entering data, change some configurations - and the information they want found is easily navigable, sharable, and searchable. Data entry works like it does in any application, except the way the data can be shared and presented is enhanced greatly.

After nine months of development, The Institute of Noetic Sciences has launched "Shift in Action" 1.0, an already thriving online community of like-minded thresholders committed to personal, social and global transformation.

The tireless and amazing CivicActions team engineered the site, with partner HoloCosmos providing architecture, visual design and online marketing. Stephen Dinan, the Institute's Director of Membership and Marketing, was the visionary client and head of a talented team there.

I am always fascinated by new visual ways of looking at old things, ways which reveal truth and meaning and intent previously hidden but secretly suspected. Take the example of the annual State of the Union speech, no doubt one of the most artificial and deliberately, if not cynically, constructed examples of speech of any kind, nestled as the crown jewel in the crown of synthetic political diatribe. Since the goal of modern political speech is such a game of obfuscation and misdirection, better tools to deconstruct the game to reveal the true intent and meaning of the gamers are the tools of true democracy.

Slate outlines the textbook definition of Web 2.0 success.

"YouTube claims 40 million plays a day, up from 35 million just a week ago. The Washington Post recently reported that MySpace pulls more monthly visitors than Amazon and is closing in on AOL and eBay."

Why? Because both sites recognize that that by letting everyone contribute - and reaching critical mass - the real network effect has kicked in.

Our one-day quick-n-dirty Save Ocean Beach advocacy site developed by CivicActions' own Aaron, Fen and Arthur has turned into quite the success story.

A day after the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) began accepting public comments on a proposal to ban beach fires on San Francisco's Ocean Beach, the users of the site have delivered over 160 emails to the GGNRA opposing the ban. Emails continue to be sent at the rate of one per every 2-3 minutes.

Check out SaveOceanBeach.org

Curious how well Drupal compares to other Content Management Systems?

Or see Michael Haggerty's #10 reason (on the Drupal Consulting) list:

"10) Drupal is Fun - Let's face it, you don't get people volunteering to work on a CMS without there being something to make them want to. I have worked within other communities centered around software platforms and never found one as intreaguing as this. There's a whole political-technology-social aspect to working on drupal that is a big change from the whole corporate-profit-sustainability vibe with other platforms. Even Mambo, up until recently, was mainly controlled by a single corporate entity. There are times it feels like drupal is changing the way people think about CMS, and the people in the community around the project make it more than just some web application."

Kris Krug videocasts the CivicActions launch party for "ButchrPapr" live from OSCMS.