CivicActions

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.

Social networking is all the rage these days, but no other online communities carry the flag of IONS. A 30-year pioneer in consciousness, IONS describes themselves as "a non-profit membership organization that conducts and sponsors leading-edge research into the potentials and powers of consciousness — including perceptions, beliefs, attention, intention, and intuition. The institute explores phenomena that do not necessarily fit conventional scientific models, while maintaining a commitment to scientific rigor." Notably, the Institute was founded in 1973 by the sixth man to walk on the Moon, Apollo astronaut Edgar Mitchell.

Shift in Action has many of the things you'd expect in a top-notch online community - Blogs, Forums, Events, etc. - but it also has entirely innovative offerings.

For example, users interact with the site in five modes:

Discover, which is about exploring a universe of "Wisdom Media;
Declare, where members declare their skills and intentions in instant blogs;
Share, about sharing ideas, opinions and resources;
Commune where people gather and chat in sacred spaces; and
Meet where you can host or find events, groups and teleseminars.

Discover explores a vast library of "Wisdom Media" - interviews with and lectures by top luminaries in the fields of consciousness, transformation, global healing, extended human abilities, sustainability, and more. Each week new live online teleseminars are held that members can participate in. And each of these bits of media can become the focus of member's built-in blogs, or forum discussions, or events with the click of an icon.

Enter the "Commune Rooms," where people can chill out and meet new friends and chat real time in live themed environments complete with music and flash ambience. On launch day the newest GaiaStar Commune Roomwas inaugurated with a simultaneous teleseminar featuring the poetic visual artistry of Bonnie Bell and David Todd of GaiaStarWorld, a publisher dedicated to Arts for Wellness and Evolution.

I salute the IONS and CivicActions for pulling off this incredible undertaking, and look forward to the next phase of using Web2.0 skills to advance personal, social and global transformation.