Wow, it's hard to believe it's already been a year since we launched Green Gifts – the free virtual-gift-giving Facebook application we created for BC Hydro. That's a lot of water under the bridge (through the turbine? over the dam?) - this time last year, Hillary Clinton had a lock on the Democratic nomination, real estate was the can't-lose investment and the theme to Hockey Night in Canada was still the theme to Hockey Night in Canada.
project
Now greener and giftier
by Rob Cottingham – October 8, 2008 - 12:04pmSearching sustainably at happyfrog
by Alexandra Samuel – August 4, 2007 - 2:14pm
There's a great big gorgeous frog in the centrefold of the latest issue of SharedVISION now hitting Vancouver's streets, along with the URL happyfrog.ca... so I guess the frog is out of the bag, and it's safe to tell you about our latest project.
happyfrog is a directory of thousands of Vancouver-area businesses and organizations working in sustainability and wellness. But it's also built with community in mind. Users can rate and review the businesses they've patronized; anyone listed in happyfrog can open a conversation with the community via built-in blogging.
It's still in beta mode (as the site puts it, this is the tadpole edition), so we'll be listening closely to what community members tell us is and isn't working – and what could make it even better.
happyfrog is the brainchild/labour-of-love of Ron Williams. Ron's been a dream to work with: a passionate, practical visionary eager to make a positive difference in the world. His long-time association with wellness and sustainability publishing generally and SharedVISION in particular has been invaluable in steering happyfrog to its launch. And we're looking forward to working with him to see just how far this frog can jump.
Hollyhock Leadership Institute / Social Change Institute
Every year, hundreds of people from around the world make the trek to Cortes Island’s idyllic Hollyhock retreat centre, brought there by the Hollyhock Leadership Institute to advance the project of social change. HLI runs events on Cortes and in Vancouver that build leadership and social change capacity, including co-sponsoring the well-established Web of Change conference for people working at the intersection of technology and social change. If you haven’t had an opportunity to attend a Hollyhock workshop, find a way to get to one soon: your soul will be nourished and your mind will be blown.
The Social Change Institute (SCI) is a new HLI initiative aimed at building the capacity of the community and social change sector. As part of the first SCI retreat in May 2006, HLI undertook a pilot e-learning project that aims at supporting the SCI community while also exploring the potential opportunity for extending HLI’s reach through online community tools. HLI retained Social Signal to advise on its e-learning strategy, and to set up a conference blog as part of its e-learning pilot.
That pilot gave us a chance to work with the terrific HLI team that we met at the previous year’s Web of Change. Karen Mahon, Darcy Ridell and Natalie Fitz-Earle are a powerful team of women who bring their whole selves to the job of social change – a holism that was reflected on the blog, right down to the pictures of Darcy hula-hooping on the Hollyhock lawn. The blog was able to capture some of the highlights of a truly transformational event that gathered a remarkable group of people for a conversation about how to work together as a movement. That conversation had a particular resonance for us, involving Social Signal in two new collaborations with fellow SCI attendees PLAN and CLI.
