YouTube Opens Up Live Streaming to Non-Profits First

youtube


YouTube has given all members of its non-profit program the ability to live-stream from their channels.

YouTube wrote in a blog post Monday that this will give its non-profit program members the chance to spread their causes, by sharing charity events and conferences in real-time.

“In the past we have rolled out self-service live-streaming for a small group of select partners,” Ramya Raghavan, YouTube news and politics manager, told Mashable. “Today it is open up to all 16,000 nonprofit organizations in the YouTube Nonprofit Program.”

Two non-profits have already made use of live-streaming on the platform. Last Saturday, March 3, the American Foundation on Equal Rights live-streamed YouTube’s first play, 8, about the trial for Proposition 8 in California. The ONE campaign and RED live-streamed a day-long symposium on World AIDS Day in December.

YouTube has been making a big push extending its non-profit program. In April, it will host a day-long summit in San Francisco to better help non-profits tell their stories on the social video platform.

What types of events do you think non-profits should live-stream? What other organizations do you think YouTube should open up live-streaming to next?


BONUS: YouTube Chooses 20 Non-Profits for Next Cause Program



The Bracelet Story


Ron and Carol Zenaro tell their touching story about how they channeled love into making bracelets in honor and support of their son Scott, who diagnosed with cancer and passed away on February 24, 2010. He was a Lazarex patient in clinical trials for 28 months. By July 2010 the Zenaros had raised over $24,000 in donations for Lazarex Cancer Foundation by selling their bracelets.

Click here to view this gallery.

More About: non-profits, Social Good, trending, YouTube

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from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/03/13/youtube-non-profits-live-streaming/?utm_source...

Why is Massachusetts Playing the VC Game?

This is the second post in a five-part series on the Massachusetts government’s role as a venture capitalist. The first post introduced the topic and covered the broader record of government performance in VC. Posts in the series will appear here as they are published.

Before we can begin to judge the success of Massachusetts’ venture programs, we need to determine their aim and gauge whether it’s worthwhile in the first place. The Commonwealth is in a somewhat unusual position, in that the state is already home to one of the largest concentrations of venture dollars and entrepreneurial activity in the world. So unlike many forays by governments into venture capital where the goal is jump-starting some modicum of startup activity, Massachusetts needs to justify its activity with reference to specific gaps in the state’s innovation ecosystem.

In the case of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), that gap is fairly straightforward. There is a recognized lack of seed and series A funding in cleantech, and promising technologies often face a “technological valley of death” in which they lack the capital required to hit certain “proof points” that would lower risk to the point where venture investors would be interested. This is far from the only market gap in the energy space, and perhaps not the only way in which MassCEC’s investments are adding value, but it offers a basic justification for the fund’s existence.

The justification for the Mass. Technology Development Corporation’s (MTDC) existence begins much the same. Its website points to a survey it conducted that claims to identify a capital gap for smaller investments under $3 million. As has been widely noted in the tech press, seed funding for web and internet companies has been plentiful lately, but broader VC trends offer some support for MTDC’s diagnosis. Venture investments are becoming larger and coming later. (Angels have partially filled this gap, but with an emphasis on internet and healthcare deals. And the Massachusetts angel community is much smaller than California’s.)

To that, MTDC adds a few other areas in which it tries to add value: by backing less experienced management teams and by investing in industries “out of vogue” with venture capitalists (it avoids energy and biotech which are covered via equity or grants by other agencies). As I’ll discuss, these roles are somewhat more suspect.

What Does Success Look Like?

The fundamental difficulty in assessing a government venture program is that to succeed, it must toe the line between investing in viable companies and filling a market gap. It shouldn’t be duplicating private sector efforts by simply joining in the most promising or lucrative deals; on the other hand, it shouldn’t be wasting taxpayer dollars by dumping money into nonviable companies.

To do this, it must aim to address a market failure large enough to justify its own existence, but small enough that, by bringing to bear some government capital, it can ultimately attract private investors to the companies it funds.

“There certainly is a balancing act there,” Josh Lerner, the HBS professor, told me. “When you look across public sector interventions in the public space, often you find investments which fail on both counts.”

One of the best ways to achieve this balance, according to Lerner, is to require the funds to co-invest with private investors, thereby ensuring that the government fund cannot become too divorced from the realities of the market.

But that’s hardly the only challenge government venture funds face. They must also work to attract highly talented staff, they must be set up with enough independence to avoid any political pressures in the investment process (like pressure to invest equally across geography to please legislators), they need to properly align incentives for fund managers, and they need to fundamentally understand the nature of venture capital, so that deals are structured in a way that invites rather than deters subsequent private investments.

Returns are an important metric, but unlike private venture funds they are far from the only one.

With these criteria laid out, we can now begin to evaluate the state’s venture activities in subsequent posts. The remainder of the series will run as follows:

Wednesday: We examine the MassCEC’s structure and record.
Thursday: We look at MTDC’s structure and record.
Friday: Concluding thoughts and summary.

To view all the posts published in this series, click here.

from BostInno http://bostinno.com/all-series/why-is-massachusetts-playing-the-vc-game/

BetaBait: The Newest Web Platform That Helps Startups Get Users Before They Even Launch

Ever since Zuck Dawg made it look super easy to become one of the world’s richest entrepreneurs, everyone and their mom wants in on the action. The result? A lot of startups.

Between developing a platform, raising capital and building a team, it’d be the understatement of the year to say that startuppers don’t have the bandwidth to do PR to get their name out there. And while the TechCrunches of the world are great, they can’t possibly cover every Pandora for Cats that pops up. For that, there’s BetaBait.

Based out of Bridgeport, Conn., BetaBait is a web platform that helps startups find beta testers by connecting them with early adopters. “For startups, we wanted to give them a fighting chance,” explains Cody Barbierri, cofounder of BetaBait.

Launched two months ago, BetaBait now has more than 1,000 startups listed in their directory who are connected with 5,000 early adopters. The site allows users to sign up with an email address and then receive a daily email listing all the newest startup apps that have been submitted to BetaBait in the past 24 hours. Once featured in the daily email, all the apps are slated into BetaBait’s online discovery network, each boasting a profile page, social sharing links and a feedback section in which users can provide recommendations to make the apps better.

Last week, BetaBait launched a complete site redesign for easier navigation. The new layout features a new voting system, which allows users to rate apps and push them to the top of the homepage, similar to Reddit or Hacker News. Apps can be sorted by topical categories such as business, entertainment and music, allowing early adopters to more easily vet which apps they would like to explore. Barbierri and the team also revamped the email options and added an RSS feed, “for those who don’t like email,” he says.

In addition to the new platform, I’d love to see the site vet the apps by city, so that users can check out which apps are being developed right in town, facilitating easier connections between early adopters and developers.

In the spirit of beta testing, BetaBait is also promoting Early Adopters Day, a day, as its name suggests, honoring early adopters. The site reads:

Dear President @BarackObama,

As an early adopter, we are the millions of individuals behind the growth of many of the newest startups today, which helps to drive this great nation’s innovation and economy.

To show appreciation for our willingness to always try something new and tell a few friends, I support making September 20th, 2012, the first annual:

National Early Adopters’ Day

Sign the petition here, and get exploring with BetaBait’s new platform. Who knows, you just might help vet out the next Instagram for Hamburgers.

from BostInno http://bostinno.com/2012/03/13/betabait-the-newest-web-platform-that-helps-st...

SxSW Interactive: Day Five

It’s the final day of the 2012 SxSW Interactive Festival. It’s been a whirlwind and though very exciting, I am looking forward to getting back to Boston.

As we wrap things up here in Austin, I wanted to share some insights from a great session I attended called “Drugs, Milk and Money: Social In Regulated Industries.” The conversation was led by Glenn Engler, CEO of Digital Influence Group. I say conversation rather than presentation because the session was truly interactive. Some of the best insights came from audience members dealing with social  media issues in real time.

The three main takeaways from this session were:

  • Make legal your friend
  • Think content
  • Go where the conversations are

Likely the biggest obstacles companies in regulated industries face when looking to engage via social media is their internal legal team. There was a resounding chorus of laughs in the room when Engler relayed an anecdote about a client’s tweet taking a week to get posted because it had to be vetted through their legal department. As digital practitioners we’ve all been there. We’ve all seen the client who has a complex approval process for every instance of engagement and we know that doesn’t work. Engler’s advice is to integrate legal into your social team as much as possible,  whether social comes from Marketing, PR or is a department all on its own. The more you involve them the more quickly the process will move. That’s not to say there still won’t be delays in certain circumstances, but from Engler’s point of view, this is how companies have successfully overcome this barrier to engagement.

The second point, a focus on content, seems obvious enough but a common theme emerged in the session: many regulated companies (hospitals, financial institutions) seem to believe that they don’t have valuable content to offer. Our job as digital practitioners is to get them to evaluate the assets they do have (a white paper; a clinical study that may be in progress, but may have portions that are complete; a chatty CEO ripe for a “fireside chat” style video) and open their eyes to existing content.

Which brings us to Engler’s third point: go where the conversations are. It’s great to start a company blog, but the fastest way to become part of the conversation is to look at what’s being said and then analyze how your content matches up to that. For example, one of Engler’s clients, Glidden Paints, was frustrated that “no one is talking to us.” People just weren’t interested in conversing about a paint brand. But people do talk about choosing paint colors and interior design inspiration. Once Engler/Glidden were able to identify where those conversations were taking place, Glidden was suddenly popular. They had something valuable to contribute and they’d found the right home for it.

Sometimes it’s not a matter of just putting your product out there. Not a lot of people want to read a blog post on the ins and outs of purchasing life insurance. But people who’ve just had a baby are interested (and voraciously searching the Internet) for information on  estate planning, which purchasing insurance is certainly part of. So take your conversation to the new parent blogs and message boards.

A few additional tips:

All in all, a great way to wrap up a great conference. Check back Thursday for a summary post on my experience and some tips for those looking to attend next year’s event.

from BostInno http://bostinno.com/channels/sxsw-interactive-day-five/

SXSW 2012: Nothing You Expect, Everything You Need

SXSWi 2012 Pocket Guide


Mashable OP-ED: This post reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily those of Mashable as a publication.

Serendipity: That was the buzz word at this year’s South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, Texas. It was probably the same word as last year — but I wasn’t there so I couldn’t tell you. I’d love to tell you there was one major product announcement or even trend that defined SXSW, but I’d be lying. The experience was akin to being a metal orb in a pinball machine, bounding from one relay to another, having random conversations, seeing oddball sights and making unexpected discoveries. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Those who know me will tell you I’m not a go-with-it kind of guy. Conferences usually mean a packed schedule of meetings, lots of note taking, a ton of writing and absolute exhaustion. Fun doesn’t really fit in (in all the years I’ve attended CES and Comdex before it, I have never seen a Vegas show).

However, I had been traveling a lot in the weeks leading up to SXSW, (Barcelona, San Francisco), which meant I had less time to prepare. By the time I arrived on Thursday evening, I was in a state of panic: How do I cover this show?

That night, I walked over to the nearly deserted conference hall and picked up my badge. It would be almost 12 hours before I realized how big a deal this was. After wandering the mostly empty halls for a while, I headed back to my room to try and prepare for the day. In my hand I now had a pocket SXSWi schedule that detailed the dozens and dozens of panels I could attend. Some looked interesting, but almost none newsworthy. How do I cover a show without news?


This is Big


The next morning, I learned something important about SXSWi: News or no news, this was one hot conference. Remember how I waltzed in and walked off with my badge? Now there were hundreds of people in that same registration hall queued up for their badges and a line of thousands more that snaked clear around the perimeter of the conference hall. Some told me they waited three hours.

Obviously there was something here. As I had done before, I started walking the halls, taking pictures and tweeting what I saw. Panels didn’t start for a couple more hours, so I had time to acclimate myself. Outside, the driving rain, which had started when we arrived on Thursday, was only intensifying. It served to keep whoever came into the giant convention center inside. This, too, turned out be beneficial and helped me discover the most important part of SXSWi: The people.

Wherever I went, whether I was standing, sitting or walking at SXSW, I found people to talk to. Sometimes they were people I knew. Like a friendly PR rep who has helped me on many a story and actually connected me with Pinterest’s first investor while I was at the show. Other times, it was folks I’d only known through Twitter. I could recognize their avatars, but had never actually met them. There was the occasional Mashable fan and even some people who follow me. In every case, we had amazing discussions where I learned about cool stuff going on or around the show, new products and technologies and how to navigate SXSW. One guy gave me an important piece of advice, which would come in handy later. He said, yes, there are tons of panels, “but if you find yourself in one you don’t like, simply get up and walk out. There is no shame in that.”

Later when I went to a James Franco panel that ended up not featuring the multi-hyphenate actor, I quietly excused myself without even a hint of guilt.


Shuffling, Shuffling


As the morning progressed, I found myself wandering up and down the halls looking for anything that might turn into an interesting story or photo-op. I even hopped across the street — and out into the cold and rain — to check out Jud Apatow’s coffee stand for his new HBO series “Girls,” but mostly because I wanted more free coffee.

Even when I did find some newsworthy stuff, it was almost by accident. I wandered into a panel on documentaries mostly so I could sit down. Soon the panelists were talking about the most controversial doc on the planet: KONY 2012. Back in the halls, the ISIS NFC-based mobile payment system launch, which was news, was unhandled in a most un-news-like manner: They used a magician to show how ISIS worked. No press conference. In fact, I don’t think SXSW had a single press conference. I thought that was weird, but I just went with it.

I attended a couple of panels, but also got shut out of some others. SXSW is not really concerned with reporters. Panels are for everyone and if you’re not there early enough, you’re out of luck. When this happened to me, I just did my best to go with the flow and find other interesting opportunities.


Serendipity


Time and time again, the best parts of SXSW were happening in the halls. I met and chatted with Google’s Vic Gundotra and Bradley Horowitz as they ate breakfast. They seemed genuinely happy to see me, even if I was standing between them and their breakfast tacos. After this chance meeting, I began to focus more closely on the SXSW crowd, actively seeking friendly and familiar faces. I made a conscious decision to approach everyone and anyone I wanted to meet. No one ever ran away screaming.

Clearly others were doing the same. At one point it took me an hour and a half to walk 300 feet. No one was blocking my way, I just kept meeting people (like Robert Scoble, Ed Baig, Guy Kawasaki, Andy Cohen, Tony Hsieh, Steve Case, Tobey MacGuire, Craig Newmark). All the notables were kind, funny and gracious. I also met many people most (or relatively few) people have never heard of, though I bet someday you will.

There was the very young entrepreneur, James Brown, who stopped me in the hall to give me a fast pitch on Goalee, a site that mashes up your social graph and interest graph to create an eHarmony-like matchmaking service for business and networking.

I have a near-perfect memory for faces and spotted Irene McGee, the former reality TV star (Real World Seattle) who now blogs about health-related technology at FYIiving.

I sat with Americans Elect CTO Joshua Levine who spoke passionately to me about fixing a broken political system. The online organization’s grassroots candidate (who will be selected from among 300 drafted candidates via virtual primaries in May and a virtual convention in July) likely has no chance of winning. But don’t tell Levine that.

Then there was startup founder Hajj Flemings who grabbed me in the hall to show off Gokit.me. He said it was like a mash-up between Pinterest and About.me (though neither site is in any way involved with it). The site (an app is coming later) adds layers of identities to help you manage your social personas and content boards. Flemings was not the first to promise me that his product could tap into the best parts of Pinterest.

Later I ran into young food lover David Segall who came up with a way to track chefs and pop-up food experiences on PopGrub.com.

When the weather cleared up, I met more people on the streets, at food trucks and in outdoor event spaces.

All these chance meetings were not just the best part of the conference, they were ultimately what SXSW is all about. When I left the show, I had a fistful of business cards and new insight into how small companies and startups develop and work to grab attention. Many were not above a stunt or intense pitch, but they were also willing to let you come to them.

My plan for a highly organized SXSW never materialized, but I had one of the best conferences of my career. I can’t wait to do it all again.


My SXSW Magical Mystery Tour



A look at the ISIS Mobile Wallet Booth


The mobile wallet software was a sponsor at SXSW.

Click here to view this gallery.

More About: Google, startup, sxsw, sxsw 2012

from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/03/14/sxsw-2012-wrap/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medi...

Who Dominated the Social Buzz on the Last Day of SXSWi? [INFOGRAPHIC]

SXSW Interactive wrapped up Tuesday evening, and although many will remain in Austin while the music portion of the festival gets underway, for many in the digital industry, it’s time to wave goodbye for this year.

Meltwater analyzed the social buzz surrounding the final day of SXSW Interactive, where there was still plenty going on.

Possibly the hottest panel of the day was the Pinterest session with co-founder Ben Silbermann. He talked about Pinterest’s new feature set to a packed room. It will include redesigned profile pages, an iPad app, the ability to pin more video, and a public API.

Lots of conversation also surrounded the still-controversial campaign where Austin’s homeless were paid to be mobile Wi-Fi hotspots. While the homeless advocacy group Front Steps said the participants were paid for their time, many lashed out at BBH, the agency behind the campaign, saying it was turning people into products.

Events were still highly buzzed about, especially Jay-Z’s concert Monday night put on by American Express. Thousands tried to get in to the Austin City Limits studio to see the rapper perform.

What were you talking about most at SXSW? Check out the infographic below, and talk back to us in the comments.


More About: features, infographic, Meltwater, sxsw, trending

For more Social Media coverage:

from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/03/14/sxsw-social-buzz-infographic/?utm_source=feedb...

How Intel Wants to Replace Your Cable Box


The wait for Internet TV could finally be over.

Intel Corp. is preparing to dive into web-based cable TV, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. According to that report, Intel’s online TV subscription service may be available by the end of 2012.

Intel plans to offer online access to U.S. TV cable channels, a creation Intel calls a “virtual cable operator,” the Wall Street Journal exclusive said.

According to the report, Intel wants to offer channel bundles modeled after cable and satellite providers’ subscriptions. The multinational chip maker is also developing a set-top box to carry its TV service to users.

For several months, Intel has pitched the idea to media companies and has asked for rate cards. Intel has not secured a programming deal. If it does, the site will offer tough competition for traditional TV services.

Intel’s launch may be delayed by the price of TV programming and a lack of bandwidth. In 2012, TV providers paid $40.7 billion in fees to cable channels, according to SNL Kagan.

Intel did not respond to a request for comment.

SEE ALSO: Netflix’s Apple TV Deal Could Signal New Business Model

Demand is high for live TV on laptops, but the current marketplace offers no legal way to easily watch TV live on the Internet.

There’s speculation that several technology and electronics companies including Google and Apple have considered offering TV via the Internet, but none have yet done so. The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple, Google, Sony Corp. and Dish Network have talked to media companies about the possibilities of online bundles.

Google has began construction for its Google Fiber Optics project in Kansas City, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo. The company has yet to announce pricing for the 1 gigabit Internet service, but it has said the service will be 100 times faster than the average connection. Google plans to offer service to customers sometime during the first half of the year.

“It doesn’t mean that we will offer TV service,” said Google spokeswoman Jenna Wandres. “All we have said publicly is we will be offering one gigabit of internet service.”

Would you pay to watch cable TV on your laptop? Tell us in the comments below.

Image courtesy of iStock, Neustockimages.

More About: cable tv, Fiber Optic, Google, intel, online tv

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from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/03/13/intel-online-cable-service/?utm_source=feedbur...

Sky Sports for iPad 2.0 launches with live TV streaming, F1 Race Control companion

Another day, another app release from the folks at Sky, who have this time around delivered v2.0 of Sky Sports for iPad (formerly Sky Sports News). Coming just in time for the F1 2012 season, this iteration includes not only live streaming of the four Sky Sports channels and Sky Sports F1 HD, but it also has a new F1 Race Control companion feature built-in. During a race, it lets viewers choose from eight different camera feeds with in-car and pit lane views, in-race highlights, live race data like lap times and integrated social media feeds -- while these are just for racing now, according to Sky's blog post, we may see similar ones for other sports soon. Access to the app is included with various Sky TV packages, while those in the UK and Ireland without a TV plan can get access to the app and Sky Sports News channel streaming for £4.99 per month, billed through iTunes. Check it out there for a few more screenshots or to download and get ready for the Australian GP.

Sky Sports for iPad 2.0 launches with live TV streaming, F1 Race Control companion originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Mar 2012 06:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Digital Lifestyle  |  sourceSky, iTunes  | Email this | Comments

from Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/16/sky-sports-for-ipad-2-0-launches-with-live...

Four short links: 16 March 2012

  1. Militarizing Your Backyard With Python and Computer Vision (video) -- using a water cannon, computer video, Arduino, and Python to keep marauding squirrel hordes under control. See the finished result for Yakkity Saxed moist rodent goodness.
  2. Soundbite -- dialogue search for Apple's Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro. Boris Soundbite quickly and accurately finds any word or phrase spoken in recorded media. Shoot squirrels with computer vision, search audio with computer hearing. We live in the future, people. (via Andy Baio)
  3. Single Page Apps with Backbone.js -- interesting and detailed dissection of how one site did it. Single page apps are where the server sends back one HTML file which changes (via Javascript) in response to the user's activity, possibly with API calls happening in the background, but where the browser is very definitely not requesting more full HTML pages from the server. The idea is to have speed (pull less across the wire each time the page changes) and also to use the language you already know to build the web page (Javascript).
  4. Why Finish Books? (NY Review of Books) -- the more bad books you finish, the fewer good ones you''ll have time to start. Applying this to the rest of life is left as an exercise for the reader.

from O'Reilly Radar - Insight, analysis, and research about emerging technologies. http://radar.oreilly.com/2012/03/four-short-links-16-march-2012.html?utm_sour...

How Iceland Is Rebuilding Its Economy With Social Media


REYKJAVIK, Iceland — While visiting Iceland for an online marketing conference last week, I found myself in the president of Iceland’s living room, scratching my head at how welcoming and eager he was to talk about the country’s use of social media and technology to rebuild the nation.

The fact that Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson — who has been running the country for 16 years and just announced last week that he will be campaigning once again for re-election — invites strangers into his own home is not all that surprising, when you consider the way he runs the country.

Sure, it’s highly rare for someone in his position to open his door to people he doesn’t know, but this is precisely the way he approaches government in this tiny, snowy country in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

“Iceland is a society based on the principle that everyone is a friend until proven otherwise,” Grímsson tells me. “Unfortunately, most societies are going in the opposite direction, assuming that everyone is a potential threat. That is a dangerous route to take because you fundamentally destroy the democratic nature of human encounters. That’s not how we approach things in Iceland.”

The country is currently undergoing a resurgence since its economic meltdown in 2008. Iceland opted not to bail out the businesses that were partly responsible for the country’s crisis, and has since created a new constitution to move ahead.

President of Iceland

Iceland President

I made my way to his home, a series of beautiful white buildings on the water outside the capitol of Reykjavik. The taxi driver mentioned he met Grímsson once at an art event. Not to mention, the founder of Nordiac eMarketing Kristján M. Hauksson — who ran the 2012 Reykjavik Internet Marketing Conference — said he used to go to the same gym as the president. (Grímsson even gave the keynote at the conference the following day).

The president of Iceland’s accessibility is unique, as is his approach to embracing the Internet and modern technology to help boost the economy. In addition to the country’s quirky Tumblr blog (Iceland Wants to Be Your Friend), its Twitter account and its Facebook presence, Iceland has gone out of its way to spread awareness about the nation and increase tourism.

Iceland Blog

Its 2011 “Inspired by Iceland” campaign encouraged citizens to take travelers on tours throughout the country. Even the president participated, inviting tourists into his home for pancakes with whipped cream and rhubarb jam.

Overall, the Internet has played a big role in modern day Iceland. The government recently asked citizens to post online comments and feedback about what they thought of its new constitution proposal. And although the president actually said he wouldn’t be running for re-election earlier this year, he changed his mind after Icelanders gathered thousands of signatures online as a part of an effort to keep him in office.

Iceland Tweet

But this begs the question: Is all of this possible because the country only boasts 300,000 residents, or could this let’s-all-work-together mantra work elsewhere?


Government Accessibility


“To some extent, the size of Iceland allows this happen,” says Grímsson, leaning back in his chair. “However, there are smaller communities in bigger countries that can look at Iceland as a model.”

Although some believe the president’s accessibility could be a risk to his safety, he says it’s a far greater risk not to build trust and relationships with his people.

“Many say that there should be more barriers up for a president when interacting with citizens and that they could even get killed, but this contradicts the way we want to live our lives,” he says. “There is a risk to giving a teenager a driver’s license, but we accept that risk and let them drive anyway.”

Iceland’s progressiveness in embracing modern technology is astounding. In fact, Iceland’s 2011 Constitutional Council crowdsourced its constitution, turning to social media sites to make the process transparent and to collect input from the public.

SEE ALSO: Iceland Unveils Crowdsourced Constitution

“In the aftermath of the financial crisis, we realized that this wasn’t just an economic or a financial crisis; it was also a social, political and judicial crisis,” says Grímsson. “If we were going to allow the nation to regain its strength and position, it wouldn’t be sufficient to deal with it in traditional economic and financial ways. We needed a different democratic approach.”

A draft of the document was posted online, where it encouraged recommendations and comments from citizens to amend it. “You can look at it as an innovative thing, in terms of modern technology, but it’s actually just a modern expression on an old Icelandic tradition,” says Grímsson.

Iceland

After the country was first settled by the Vikings, residents set up a parliament, an open assembly and open courts. It was based on rule of law and not on executive power.

“The tradition of conducting everything in a way that everybody could follow and have access to it was an early part of our history,” says Grimsson. “It has become a big part of the identity of Iceland.”

“Since Iceland is a small society, transparency here probably has a different meaning than larger societies where a bureaucratic state is in place,” says Grímsson. “It’s never been the case in Iceland. But like many other countries right now, we have a lot of activism created with the help of the Internet and social media.”


The Power of the Internet


When Grímsson announced he wouldn’t be running for re-election in 2012 — which could make him the longest serving president in the country’s history — Iceland’s residents started an online petition, urging him to stay in office.

“I decided not to serve more in the presidency, and thought I could be useful doing other things,” says Grímsson. “However, a lot of people wanted me to continue, and didn’t want to open the presidency up during a time of uncertainty.”

He agreed to run again under the condition that once the uncertainties regarding the economy and other matters were more resolved, he would reserve the right not to serve the full term.

“It goes to show that you can get so much accomplished with the help of the Internet at a much faster rate than ever before,” adds Grímsson.

As for how he plans to approach the campaign, he’s still weighing his options.

“There is this danger that if you become too fascinated by technologies and communicating with people digitally, it lessens the personal encounters,” says Grímsson. “There is also a risk that technology could become the main field of communication, and that could also impact transparency and trust. I wouldn’t want that to happen in Iceland.”


Inspired by Iceland


The country has been embracing the Internet to boost tourism, and it seems to be working. Hauksson of Nordiac eMarketing says that Iceland has experienced a nearly 20% increase in tourism in 2011. The campaigns have certainly helped, but public awareness also increased when the world learned of Iceland’s economic crisis and its recent volcano eruption. In addition, airlines such as EasyJet have expressed interest in flying to Iceland.

By logging on to InspiredbyIceland.com, tourists can sign up for free tours, meet local residents and, of course, even visit the president’s house.

Inspired by Iceland Invitations from Inspired By Iceland on Vimeo.

“By participating in the campaign, it carried out the message that everyone is a friend until proven otherwise, and that we can all work together to spread awareness,” says Grímsson. “It was very successful and promoted Iceland without huge costs.”

Grímsson noted that technology is having a greater impact on politics in both small and large communities. “What could have taken months to accomplish is now possible in just hours, thanks to mobile phones and the Internet.”

He also referenced one of President Obama’s speeches in Washington D.C. Amazingly, a crowd in Cairo, Egypt turned down Obama’s initiative via tweets and online messages even before he had finished speaking.

“Technology is becoming a side show to whatever is happening — it’s giving people the opportunity to be active and influential almost immediately,” Grímsson says.

Do you think Iceland’s tech efforts can work in other countries? Can nations learn from its model? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, 221A

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from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/03/15/iceland-technology/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_...