Visualizing Good at GIV.NYC 2016

Come support people helping do things in NYC at our city's premier philanthropy slam, GIV.NYC on Nov 29!

I will be supporting the event with visual listening and by helping folks create an impromptu vision gallery of how to make NYC an even more wonderful community.

Register here!

Here are the details:

#GivingTuesday is a globally recognized day dedicated to giving. The first Tuesday after Thanksgiving, it builds on the momentum of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but with a mission to ignite generosity.

GIV.NYC 2016, hosted by Givkwik, is aligned with #GivingTuesday and it’s our take on the day - New York City style! It’s a live event where companies, causes, and communities will meet up for personal connection, giving, and to create a meaningful social impact in this great city.

This year's theme, Building Bridges, is intended to share stories of impact from nonprofits in all 5 boroughs of the city. Representatives from 10 selected nonprofits will each give a 2-minute pitch about their respective missions. Attendees will then vote for their favorites to receive a grant from the event's sponsors. Check out our video from last year's event.

This isn't your average, everyday meetup. Interactive games will be played, helping you get to know your fellow philanthropists. Delicious refreshments will be served. Prizes will be rewarded. Impact will be made. Join us and bring your friends!

Your registration fee is tax-deductible (consult your accountant). 100% of all fees will go to the grant pool that’s awarded to the nonprofit finalists.

Mozfest/Code For America Summit at Civic Hall

I'm looking forward to doing visual listening at a special event at Civic Hall in NYC today this evening, Nov 18.  To attend, visit this link.

Details:

Join us as we discuss how this election will impact the future of the open internet, civic tech, government, and our communities.

The open internet and civic technology communities are fighting to improve access to information, social equity, democracy, and our connected future. After two monumental events, we bring these two communities to forge a tighter relationship and celebrate our worlds.

Following a tradition started three years ago, we have invited NYC metro area presenters and participants who attended Mozilla's Festival (#MozFest) or Code For America's Summit (#CfASummit) to share their insights, highlights, and reinforce the local connections made around the planet. You will get a best-of even if you could not make the trip.

Additionally, this event will serve as a pre-holiday celebration of our communities. Drinks and light snacks will be served. Expect ten speakers to recap their personal highlights and reconnect the discussions to the work our community's doing locally.

Visualizing Reactions to Election Result

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I'm part of several professional communities with shared office space and interests. At one of these, we had a session yesterday where people got to share their reactions to the presidential election results. I captured the discussion with sketchnotes. If you want a taste of how some folks were feeling and reacting, feel free to peruse these.

Catch my talk at Reboot Workshop: Cultivating Friendships on Emerging Platforms in an Age of Disconnection

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Catch me speaking at the Reboot Workshop about how I cultivate real world, face to face friendships in this age of disconnection using hyperlocal web platforms. Like a lot of people in the USA who move around a lot, are self employed, and new parents, I found my friend network in dire need of help. Come check out the story of how I took the initiative to improve my social life! The day will include a bunch of other inspirational but more career and entrepreneurship focused talks, along with some good old fashioned participant driven conversation, sharing, and socializing. Join us! 

When: Saturday, Nov 5, 2016

Where: qLabs: 16 W 22nd St, New York, NY 10010

Visualizing a Documentary Film About a Unique School

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I do a lot of my work behind closed doors with my promise to keep my visualizations confidential. Luckily, that’s balanced out by the public facing work I get to create, like the visual listening piece above, facilitating and documenting the discussion about funding and creating a short documentary film delving into the history of a unique school in NYC.  

The proposed film will delve into the history of the Ella Baker School on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The conversation included a twice academy award nominated filmmaker, and members of the school community--teachers, principal, parents, and more. 

The school was named after Ella Baker, one of the key figures in the civil rights movement. She worked, largely behind the scenes to mentor changemakers like Rosa Parks, Diane Nash, Stokely Carmichael, Rosa Parks, and Bob Moses, as well as cofounding SNCC, The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, one of the most important organizations in the movement.

The Ella Baker School is celebrating its 20th Anniversary, and is a rare example of a public school which which is driven by student interest and is project based where students “learn from making and doing with a range of materials and media, in collaboration with peers and through the support of adults.” It takes the opposite of test driven learning. In keeping with its namesake, the school has a strong social justice focus. It is open to all children in NYC and is an oasis in a sea of overtested, overcrowded NYC public schools.

In making a movie like this, there a lot of factors to consider---timeline, access to students and school, production crew, and of course, budget--who is going to pay for what. Participants told me that the graphic recording I created helped them understand the issues involved better and think about next steps “That is so cool!  It does make it easier to grasp what went on” wrote one parent.