RootSpaceOnline's blog

RootSpace @SOCAP in San Francisco

October 5, 2010 by RootSpaceOnline

RootSpace co-founder Kevin Braithwaite is speaking at the SOCAP conference in San Francisco, California, panel details below. Got a question for the panel? – send a tweet to Kevin at @kevsf

Interested in taking part in a RootSpace delegation to SOCAP’11? Let us know....

101010 - MENA ICT Forum comes to town! Amman, next week, the place to be...

October 3, 2010 by RootSpaceOnline

The MENA ICT Forum is nearly here!  

Only a few days remain until the launch of the MENA ICT Forum, October 10-11, in Amman. This event promises to be one of the best in the region, with a great cast of speakers, sessions, and partners. Building on years of a Jordan-focused event, 2010 is the first year that this conference has a region-wide focus... and it promises to be exciting.

More than covering just the flashy new tech trend of the day, the Forum covers some critical topics that are central to sustainable social and economic development, such as e-government, education, and the Arabic content crisis. The full agenda is available on their site. 

With so many events happening around the region, it is no accident that we are making the trip from Beirut to Amman for this one... we'll be covering the event live, plus taking notes and checking out ideas for what we can do in Lebanon, and how we can contribute to the energy and ecosystem that is so helpful for emerging innovators and entrepreneurs who work locally and need to develop and compete globally. 

Register today and join the fun! 
... more info from Amman in a few days. 

4SITE DC: Fostering Social Innovation in the WANA (West Asia/North Africa) Region

April 24, 2010 by RootSpaceOnline

Apply NOW: Innovation Fair in Conflict Zones (Deadline March 7!)

February 28, 2010 by RootSpaceOnline

Here is a great opportunity to showcase innovation coming out of the WANA (West Asia/North Africa) Region ... the World Bank's upcoming "Innovation Fair: Moving Beyond Conflict", April 12-15, 2010. Applications are due March 7, but the sooner you get them in the better!  Projects will be voted on by site users, and that public support will be one of the criteria used to determine which projects will get funded!  Get your project(s) up early, and try and spread the word to get people to go visit the site and vote!

4SITE Forum '09 a success... and a start...

November 26, 2009 by RootSpaceOnline

4SITE Forum closed on Nov 18, 2009.... and was a great success and a great start on that journey.  Participants came from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Canada, and Dubai, with great discussions about a variety of topics.  All info and the schedule are still up at www.4siteforum.com, and we are already working on next plans, and next steps... including 4SITE 2020, an exciting initiative to promote and support social innovation and social entrepreneurship throughout the WANA (West Asia/North Africa) region.

Videos of the speakers will be up soon... the last thing that remains to be said is a special thanks to all the partners, volunteers, speakers, and sponsors: 
Baraka Group (UAE) was our key strategic partner in the initiative. 
4SITE Forum Cedar Sponsors included: Cisco Systems, Maktoob, and Bayt.com (our exclusive online recruitment partner)
4SITE Forum Gold Sponsor included: Aramex
4SITE Forum Silver Sponsor included: Collabora.co.uk
4SITE Forum Startup Sponsor: YallaStartup
Business Community Partner: Zawya
Media Partners: Jeeran, InteractiveME, Forward Magazine (Syria), Hibr.me, Lobby Innovazione, and Imprese e Startup

Looking to hire open source web/tech developers... Send CVs...

September 10, 2009 by RootSpaceOnline

We are posting up this position to help our friends at the emerging youth/media outlet Hibr...

PLEASE READ THE APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS BELOW BEFORE CONTACTING US REGARDING THIS POSITION.

Web Manager/ICT technician for youth/citizen media project
(looking for one full-time manager and part-time contractors/assistants)

OpenSesame Events! Drupal, Linux, Phone/PBX...

July 7, 2009 by RootSpaceOnline

Dear all,
We had another good meeting for the OpenSesame Initiative last night (July 6)... aiming to promote the development and use of open source, social media, and free collaboration tools online...

Some great events coming up!!!  (All at RootSpace, though we will plan some events elsewhere soon.)
Drupal intro. on Wednesday, July 8, 6:30-8:30pm
Linux install and basics training on Sunday, July 12, 6pm-9pm
Phone/PBX basics on Tuesday, July 14, 6:30-8:30pm

OpenSesame Consulting begins to take shape (next meeting, Monday, 6pm)

July 3, 2009 by RootSpaceOnline

The gathering this past Monday on developing OpenSesame Consulting (an professional/training collaborative consultancy focusing on open source tools, collaboration tools, and social media) was fantastic... :-)  About 15 people... great diversity in skills and interest... and overall, an amazing amount of brains and brainpower combined with social concern.  From what I saw, I was pretty damn excited.

Open intro meeting for RootSpace's OpenSesame Consultancy (June 29, 7:30pm)

June 24, 2009 by RootSpaceOnline

As part of RootSpace efforts to build a more sustainable, collaborative, open, knowledge-based, and technology-driven Lebanon, RootSpace is launching the OpenSesame Consultancy (OSC) to provide low-cost, high-quality, open source web and tech services to non-profit non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and small/medium companies (SMEs). NGOs and SMEs will receive not just technical services, but also training in how to maximize the use of such technologies, plus how to do basic administration and management tasks. The OSC will also train NGOs and SMEs in how to use collaboration and social media tools, with an emphasis on free and open source tools.

Right now, we are recruiting both mentors and interns to help us develop this project further, and to work on this project in the fields of web/tech development and implementation, graphic design, and business/marketing. (Tech saavy people with a social science interest/background are also encouraged to come to the intro meeting.)

Broadband Manifesto - Sign Up Now

May 19, 2009 by RootSpaceOnline

Lack of affordable/reliable Internet in Lebanon is one of the biggest barriers to economic growth...
sign the Broadband Manifesto now to try to change this situation...