I have been a long time donor to Kiva, networking generous people with lenders to entrepreneurs of third world countries through their website. After receiving rewarding personal notes from the people you help, you get the feeling that your donations are going straight into their hands to help them with their business. You can monitor your donations being fully repaid in small increments, Kiva will then take the money that is repaid in form of credits, allowing you to re-lend your $25+ to new projects. Now, you can also donate a % of the funds to the Kiva administration for each loan your process. I have made over 9 loans in the past couple years, some of them repaid in full, some still owing money.

When you process a loan you also have the option to count each loan you make towards the overall impact of one of your teams, recently I’m supporting the TEDxOttawa Kiva Team, which has a goal to raise up to $1,500 in Kiva loans. I makes me happy to know that my minimal loans can make a difference in people’s lives.

Kiva has grown in the developer community as well, check out KivaPedia and Build.Kiva, they’re independent websites which aggregates Kiva’s lending data.

Food Inc.’s Official site

For the past few years, I’ve always tried looking out for healthier alternatives to what we’re use to. Picking out the organic fruits and vegetables, free range eggs… After watching this story we’re boosting up our attention to where our food comes from, before scanning it at our local grocery store’s the cash register ;) It certainly takes more time and heavier for the pockets — but… alternatives? Just need to find a good local butcher shop now.

Simple rules, by following where your cards have been played forward you can then read-up on the story behind the exchange and see where your card might end up, it’d be fun to see it reach someone on the other side of the globe :)

Karma Points?!? was one of my first questions… here’s the 101 on it from their site:

Each time you play a mission (card) you earn “karma points”. Earn enough karma and you’ll be able to “level-up” to the next level. (You can think of karma points as experience points from other role playing games). You can also earn karma for helping others play their missions forward.

Adding videos, photos and stories to your missions earns you extra karma points. Your missions continue to earn points for you as long as they keep traveling (that way you’ll be earning karma in your sleep!)

If you’re feeling creative, you can also create your own missions at Mission HQ and track their progress as others play them around the world.

Levels

There are 15 levels in all and you’ll need to earn a increasing level of karma to reach the next higher level. As you reach higher levels you’ll also need confirmations from others before you’ll be able to level-up.

Now what you get as you level up? Not sure yet! Check it out for yourself and “Play it Forward with Us” by getting your own deck!

“The power of play can make the world a better place.” – Akoha

We have enough Ambassadors for this upcoming event, but if you’ve ever thought you’d like to lend a little help to upcoming Game Summits and use a little of your talents and knowhow to make our Skirmishes the best they can be then the Game Summit Ambassador program may be the thing for you! We have plans to kick-off annual Game Summits in 6 cities across the country + a national event hosting major tournaments. To accomplish this mission we will be launching our official Ambassadorship program this spring.

What is an Ambassador?

An Ambassador is a volunteer over the age of 16 who loves gaming and wants to be part of the Game Summit team. We enlist the assistance of people with something to contribute and assign them tasks and responsibilities to be done at the event itself or to help with the planning. This might involve helping us plan a tournament for a game you love, acting as a “host” for attendees who need a hand, or even using our materials and resources to plan an entire Skirmish.

Being a Game Summit Ambassador is more than just being a volunteer, however. You become part of the Game Summit organization and get to experience some of the best gaming the world has to offer, hands-on, at the hottest gaming event in Canada.

Why become an Ambassador?

Being a Game Summit Ambassador is a lot of fun, but also a lot of hard work. In return we offer our Ambassadors a variety of cool perks, from Game Summit Gear like shirts and hats to major discounts on sponsor products and invitations to Game Summit exclusive events. Best of all, Ambassadors get a lot of what they love most: Gaming.

If you think that you might be well suited as an Ambassador, drop me a line and let me know, I’d love to hear from you.

First things first: Registration for the Game Summit Winter Skirmish is now open, and you can get there by catching a taxi to the Registration Page. Note that early-bird registrants get 25% off the admission price. This is definitely a decent deal, but if you can’t get online to register (or don’t have means to pay electronically), check out the Game Summit Forums for information on how to register at stores in the Ottawa area and still take advantage of the early bird price. Note that if you’re going to join in a tournament, you really should register ahead of time. If you arrive and we’re out of spots in a tournament, you’re out of luck!

What are you going to see at the Winter Skirmish? This is the good part! If you were at the Fall Skirmish in 2008, you’ll remember we held it at the Canadian War Museum. We thought seriously about going back, but we simply needed more room. Instead, we’re going to be at the Embassy West Conference Centre in Ottawa with over 8,000 square feet of gaming, events and general shenanigans. Let me break down what’s going to be there:

The Winter Skirmish event will be divided into three main areas: The Casual Gaming Pavilion is host to all the board and card games the rooms can hold. From classic, well-known games like Stratego, Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne to newer titles like Monsterpocalypse and Descent… and even popular favorites like Heroclix, Chaotic and Bakugan, there will be great strategy games for kids, families and fans of dice and playing cards. If you’ve got the time for something a bit more immersive, The RPG Den will feature legendary role-playing title Dungeons and Dragons and the massively popular card game Magic the Gathering. For a bit of flavour, check out the cult classic card game Munchkin and its new released Muchkin Quest board game. If you fancy yourself a hardcore gamer, let the dogs of war slip in the Arena where table-top wargames are afoot; join the fray of Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40,000, Warmachine and Hordes.

Game Summit’s Winter Skirmish also boasts the finest in sponsors and vendors to provide event deals and specials to hobbyists and gamers looking to get great bargains. Games Workshop, Reaper Mini, Rio Grande Games, Hasbro, Steve Jackson Games and Privateer Press lend their support, but also Ottawa-area stores such as The Comic Book Shop, Toys on Fire and Wizard’s Tower will all be there to give gamers the best in gaming products and deals.

Where else can I find information on Game Summit? Game Summit is all over the web. The best places to start looking are in our forums, our Facebook Group and Twitter.

If you are trying to understand why social media is such a hot topic and what your organization should be doing about it, then take this opportunity to learn how to successfully implement social media within your institution.

The speed at which online communication is changing is phenomenal. Odds are your employees and clients are already active users of social media. It’s fundamentally changing the way organizations operate. People have the opportunity to take part in an on-going conversation with their Government by participating more than voting once a year, creating a true democracy.

The objective of the workshop is to outline the basics of social media, such as blogs, podcasts, and wikis, while providing the purpose and strategy behind these technologies, along with exploring how to leverage these techniques to change the way your organization collaborates and communicates. Also understanding the risks and benefits of social media, but more importantly, understand the risks of NOT using social media. Specifically, learning strategies, tactics and ideas for:

• Influencing the internal culture toward new media concepts and Web 2.0 technologies
• Introducing and integrating social media in your organization
• Establishing web governance, policy and operating protocols
• Reprioritizing human and financial resources to incorporate social media
• Developing capacity and procedures that facilitate use of social and new media
• Monitoring and assessing success

“The act of playing music with people of different cultures, religions, economics and politics is a powerful statement. It shows that we can find ways of working together and sharing our experiences with one another in a positive way. Music has the power to break down the walls between cultures, to raise the level of human understanding.” — Mark Johnson, Playing for Change

An amazing example of the simplest and yet powerful music, understanding how it came together and listening to it, brings the best feelings of hope and happiness in each of us. Utilizing innovative mobile audio/video techniques, Playing for Change (PFC) records musicians outdoors in cities and townships worldwide. Their performances are subsequently combined in allowing them to collaborate even when separated by hundreds, or even thousands, of miles.

A great CD/DVD gift for my dad. Just plain revolutionary!

Playing for Change’s official site

Little over a year ago this clever video was produced by/for Craig from Devshop by some of the guys in town: Scott from ThinkSM, Tobi and Cody from JadedPixel, Mark from Axionic, Sonny from Ramius.

The initial idea of “Free Hugs” came about from the controversial story of Juan Mann, a man who’s sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives. Make sure to watch his video. In this age of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs campaign became phenomenal. As this symbol of human hope spread across the city, police and officials ordered the Free Hugs campaign BANNED. What we then witness is the true spirit of humanity come together in what can only be described as awe inspiring. Join the Ottawa Chapter Facebook Group or the Global Free Hug Facebook Group.

In the Spirit of the free hugs campaign, PASS THIS TO A FRIEND and HUG A STRANGER! After all, if you can reach just one person.

Kudos on the video guys! It’s been re-posted on YouTube by a number of users with a total today of little over 100,000 views :)

From its “About” page we can read:

GCPEDIA will enable public service renewal by creating an environment where public servants can:

• Learn from each others successes and failures
• Build on the great work of others
• Eliminate duplication of effort
• Find and publish tools and models
• Share knowledge and expertise
• Work collaboratively
• Build and preserve corporate memory
• Ultimately improve the way we deliver service to each other

GCPEDIA is a collaborative proposition that does not need, and should definitely not have, a large formal organization running it. Rather it should provide a stable environment with a limited number of rules in which communities can form, develop, and share knowledge.

It may be a while before something like it is opened up to all Canadians and allow them to participate in conversations around federal government policies and initiatives, but it’s certainly a step forward! Kudos GoC!

Today’s wiki stats:

Today there are 1,432 registered users. There are 5,250 total pages in the database. This includes “talk” pages, pages about GCPEDIA, minimal “stub” pages, redirects, and others that probably do not qualify as content pages. Excluding those, there are 1,260 pages that are probably legitimate content pages. 824 files have been uploaded. There have been a total of 217,985 page views, and 26,269 page edits since GCPEDIA was setup. That comes to 5.00 average edits per page, and 8.30 views per edit.

In the Media:

• CPSRenewal
• Presentations about GCPEDIA
• Ottawa Citizen

The article makes OpenText look like they are associated with GCPEDIA, when they are not.