Those of you near Vancouver, Canada and interested in Web development may want to consider going to the Web of Change 2002 Kick Off Event. I attended Web of Change 2001 and really enjoyed the level of discussion, creativity, and fun(see my review for details).

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CONNECTION: WEB OF CHANGE 2002 KICK-OFF EVENT

An evening with Leif Utne and Jason Mogus
Sponsored by Communicopia.Net, Renewal Partners, and Hollyhock

Monday, May 13, 2002
6:30 PM --> 8:30 PM (talks start @ 7:30)
The Edge, 289 Alexander St, Vancouver
Apt # 1014, Buzz # 2554

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Connect with your peers, drink some beers, and learn more about the upcoming Web of Change conference, taking place September 26 --> 29 2002 at Hollyhock, Cortes Island, BC. Come hear a special presentation from Leif Utne, Managing Editor of Utne Reader Online, on "Online Communities as a tool for Social Change".

As Leif explains: "Lately I've been interested in the nexus between online and offline communities and political organizing. Utne Communities is currently involved in several projects that use online community-building tools to support offline groups organizing for social change - ranging from a local conservation group to a nationally (US) touring activist fair. These examples will spark a group dialogue about effective ways others are using the web to facilitate real change."

Jason Mogus, President of Communicopia.Net and conference convenor, will also briefly discuss the goals of Web of Change. Ashish Anand, attendee of the 2001 conference, will also talk about how the weekend affected his life.

Fabulous finger food and refreshments will be served, and a Hollyhock gift certificate will be drawn as a door prize.

Please come! RSVP to Jason Mogus, jason@communicopia.net.

Check out Hamish Lancaster's discussion thread to brainstorm the creation of a multimedia training center for youth in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

I think someone must have posted a notice on the Internet today saying "Call Terri". The phone has been ringing off the hook all morning. A couple of good bits of progress for the Youth, ICTs, and Digital Opportunties Network...

1) I chatted with Sunny Bekele from the ITU. She has been organizing the youth forums at the ITU regional telecom events (e.g. Telecom Asia 2002). As far as she is aware, there is no formal structure within the ITU for including youth in the WSIS. But, she will help forward our proposal along to the WSIS secretariat and gave me a few leads on other possible partners/supporters.

2) Debra Amidon, Founder and CEO of ENTOVATION International Ltd., called. We met at the GKII meeting in Kuala Lumpur two years ago. Back in 1999, she worked on the Knowledge Millenium Generation study. She's finishing off a new book on the "Innovation Superhighway" and is getting geared up to refocus on youth and innovation.

Yesterday I went with my parents to Homestead, Iowa where we found the graves of my great great great grandparents (Johann and Elisabeth Kopp). We've always had a great deal of difficulty tracing our family history. Like so many Americans, my ancestors were immigrants with little education and no real documentation. On my mother's side of the family, we're starting to slowly understand the history of the German and English farmers who came to the US in the mid-1800s to farm. On my father's side, it's even trickier. As best we can tell, my great-grandfather was Canadian from the Thetford Mines (?) area of Quebec. He possibly left one family there, had his name changed from "Ouelette" to "Willard" and started over in the US. I keep joking around about repatriating the name to Canada ;-)

Anyway... it's nice to find my roots after all of these years.

I have decided that long distance relationships suck. Intrinsically.

I'm about at the point of flying to the HQ of my partner's employers to give them a piece of mind re: corporate flexibility. We've been in different provinces for 9 months already - now they want to tack on another 3 months. And still no guarantee that she will have a job back in Winnipeg after all of this. It wears you down after a while.

Can someone please explain to corporations that dual-career couples are becoming the norm?!? You can't just string people along and shift them around from one location to another without consideration for their partners/spouses any more!!!!