Power To The Bottom

Here at HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science, Technology Advanced Collaboratory) we are big believers in Participatory Philanthropy and in using web 2.0 for collaborative innovation. In fact, the theme for our just launched $2M HASTAC/MacArthur Digital Media and Learning Competition (http://www.dmlcompetition) is participatory learning. We define participatory learning broadly as using new digital media for sharing ideas or planning, designing, implementing, or just discussing ideas and goals together. The deadline for this year's Competition is October 15, 2008.

I agree that everyone is a change-maker, and that by working together we can solve any problem. I just read Jeff Howe's new book on Crowdsourcing where he talks about this very thing - drawing on the immense expertise of amateurs distributed across the Internet. The result is creative destruction - old ways and solutions replaced by new innovations.
The world in 5-10 years will be an amazing, very different place!
Alexandra Carmichael, Co-Founder, CureTogether, http://www.curetogether.com

At the ALS Association Greater New York Chapter, we've also embraced Web 2.0 technology. Our homepage at als-ny.org lists all our Social Networking spaces where patients, family members and friends can connect to get informed and raise awareness and funds together.