Yeah the audio isn’t so great and the camera is shaky but so what. By the end of the event over 600 people “tuned in” at the same time and 45 people chatted together. The group experience made be feel as if I was there. The other chatters and I where together in a mutual experience that was funny, emotional, sarcastic, and thrilling.

To me it wasn’t about listening carefully to what Obama was saying at that moment. In my time-shifted audio and video world I expect to find a higher quality versions later. So for the moment I reveled in the virtual comradery of friends. Some I knew in person and others I met there.

Today there are lots of videos and analysis. The best recap of the Obama event was done by Pam Spaulding of Pam’s House Blend. Read Wrap on the Raleigh Obama Town Hall. Pam also live blogged the event too.

i.e. Planning a BarCamp, BarCamp 2007 was great!

Well.. some of the coolest events recently have been happening at the new Refresh the Triangle. They are organized by the folks over at Viget Labs. A new web design consultancy in Durham. Last night they had an event. Sadly I couldn’t attend. Next time hopefully.

So far there are seven people who can add events to this calendar. Today I added Peyton Crump to that list. He’s the Creative Director over at Viget Durham.

I’m blogging about this seeming mundane activity because I think its a milestone. Why? COLLABORATION! A bunch of cool people who organize amazing events are working together to inform a ton of people.

You would think this would be an easy thing to do. What with all the web 2.0 collab software out there. But… its not. I mean try to get a bunch of people to meet on a regular basis. Its hard. Syncing individual schedules is tricky. A group calendar is a good step towards making this easier.

In some ways the fractured nature of community is ok. Individuality is an important concept. We all have individual lives. But the concept of community is important too. I’m looking for a balance between the two.

To see the desire of people to get together and build community is awesome. We can all benefit from our collective intelligence. The more we come in contact with each other the smart we all become.

We have so much going on around here and lots more ways to find out about it. Very exciting times to be living in this part of North Carolina!

Props to the Refresh the Triangle folks for making a cool website for their events. Social Carolina isn’t a unique idea. I’m glad many of us are on the same page.

Know about a cool event that involves technology of some kind? Is it happening in the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill area? Then contact us with the blog form. We’ll put it up on the calendar and promote it. We already have a few cool events up there. Check it out.

While I’m logged into the RDCH user account I goto the different Twitter users I find and add them as friends. So far in about three days RDCH has 88 friends and 33 followers. You make friends they decide to follow you.

I hope this helps people meet each other in person and make new friends. Another neat “feature” I’ve discovered is the with friends page. If you goto twitter.com/RDCH/with_friends you can read what all these people are doing. Its like a group micro-blog! This page has an RSS feed too at twitter.com/statuses/friends_timeline/6140022.rss.

I’ve been trying to use the contact medium in ways that could help all these neighbors of mine. So far I’ve shared info such as weather updates for Chapel Hill and Hurricane information. Going to build the friends list and hopefully the followers and announce a party or a flash mob.

What do you folks in RDCH want this user to do?

UpdateThis event will not be on Aug. 11. Some sorta conflict…. Will blog new date when I know it.
Update 2August 2, 2007 is the new date. That’s a Thursday…

Here is more info about BlogTogether for inspiration.

The Brief

BlogTogether is the name of an initiative to connect bloggers and blog readers both online and in person. Blog refers to the weblog tool for publishing online content. Together relates to our mission to gather bloggers in face-to-face social settings. BlogTogether also includes a service effort to encourage self-expression, civic engagement and community building. The logo should include the words blogtogether, in any font, upper or lower case, together with a logo graphic, with any color scheme. I have no other criteria, but I do like simplicity. Once we have the new logo, we will build a new website design around it, and the relaunched site will continue to act as a blog/resource about our blogger meetups, Blogging101 teach-ins, occasional happy hour events and our annual conference.

1. All our Children Need High Quality, Well Funded, Diverse Schools. Our Constitution requires adequate and diverse schools. Act immediately to save our lost generation with adequate funding, Special Leadership Teams in failing schools, and fiscal accountability.

2. Livable Wages and Support for Low Income People. In addition to a livable wage, we must insure that no person goes hungry and that every person who needs child care gets it.

3. Health Care for All. All North Carolinians should have access to health insurance and prescription drugs. The state should fund innovative programs to combat public health problems that plague Black communities including HIV/AIDS; drug addiction; domestic violence; mental illness, diseases caused by global warming, teenage pregnancy; diabetes and obesity.

4. Redress Two Ugly Chapters in N. C. Racist History. The racist overthrow of the bi-racial l898 Wilmington Government resulted in 30 to 75 Black people murdered, scores of Black and White leaders permanently exiled, and trust between races still affected by this betrayal. From l947-1977 N.C. sterilized thousands of poor, mainly Black, women who lacked literacy skills by labeling them mentally retarded. The state must implement its “1898 Wilmington Riot Commission’s” recommendations and pay damages to the poor women it forcibly sterilized.

5. Encourage Participation in Elections. Support public financing of elections and same day registration.

6. Lift Every Historically Back College and University. Help them provide leadership to meet the challenges of the 21st Century.

7. Document and Redress 200 years of State Discrimination in Hiring and Contracting. Document the State’s practices with racial minorities to justify constitutional goals to remedy this discrimination.

8. Help People Build Wealth and Stop Consumer Abuse. Provide a housing-purchase trust fund for low income renters; vouchers for wounded veterans who can’t find accessible housing; meaningful tax breaks for seniors who are being squeezed out of their homes, and protect against predatory lending and foreclosures.

9. Abolish Mandatory Sentencing and the Death Penalty. Start a Department of Correction/NAACP program to help train inmates for re-entry into society.

10. Put Young People to Work Saving the Environment. Establish an environmental job corps for young people who did not graduate from high school to re-engage them in public service.

11. Collective Bargaining for Public Employees. Help public employees work out issues with their employers in a mutually-respectful manner.

12. Protect the rights of our neighbors from Latin America and other Nations. Extend North Carolina’s arms in welcome to our brothers and sisters and make them feel at home.

13. Organize and strengthen our hodgepodge civil rights enforcement agencies and statutes.

14. Bring Troops Home from Iraq Now. We cannot address injustice at home while we turn our heads from an unjust war abroad.”