At our May 15 SMC meeting, Jon Lebkowsky and David Armistead will speak about The Headless Organization.

Throughout the history of the Internet, we’ve seen an explosion of new, relatively frictionless communication channels, broad access to the means of media production, and a blurring of the distinctions between professional and personal media. We’ve seen an ascendance of many-to-many communications resulting in “out of control” communications, flatter hierarchies, and the emergence of new, agile forms of social and political organization. The rise of networked communications and the appearance of robust platforms for social networking has been accompanied by an increasing tendency for groups to self-organize — and the proliferation of entities referred to as leaderless or “headless” organizations. In May’s SMC presentation, we’ll consider how these headless organizations have evolved, discuss some examples, and talk about challenges, limits, and potential future developments.

Jon and David are principals of Social Web Strategies, an Austin business consulting company that focuses on the social web and its impact on business transformation.

Pizza and soft drinks served at 6:00 p.m. Program begins at 6:30. The meeting is free, but we ask you to register because space is limited.

Special thanks to Joshua Baer and Datran Media for sponsoring this month’s meeting.

• Leave a comment...

Organizational Meeting - Friday, April 18, Cafe Caffeine, Noon

In 2006, when I first heard Connie Reece talking about this phenomenon called social media and then later include me in the start-up of the Social Media Club, I had no idea just how quickly so many good things would result from it. To avoid using this post for overly blatant self-promotion, I’ll summarize by saying that we’ve gotten really busy over a very short period of time.

Being involved in the Social Media Club has been extremely effective for us in creating relationships and forming networks across the Austin area and around the world. In fact, Connie is now the Executive Director of the entire international Social Media Club.

Conrad Hametner, Cynthia Baker, Chris Leonard, Kelley Burrus, Brenda Thompson, Clint Howell, whurley, and all of the other co-founders and supporters who’ve been involved since its inception are enjoying the benefits of being involved in the Austin SMC.

We’ve had some excellent programs including John Moore of Brand Autopsy, the Dell Digital Media team, panels on politics with Jon Lebkowsky, Eileen Smith and Sam McCabe, how to create social media news room, Adam Weinroth of Pluck, Second Life, and much more.

We’ve gotten busy with so many new projects, however, that we’ve let our meetings slide for a few months here in Austin. We’re admitting, in public, that we need help. We need even more people involved in order to take the Austin SMC to the next level.

We’re meeting this Friday, at Cafe Caffeine around noon, so we can brainstorm and continue the conversation while looking to the future. We have no preconceived ideas - well, maybe a few - but are quite confident that the results will be better than we could plan or manage alone.

If you’re interested in collaborating on the next phase of SMC, please be there. Cafe Caffeine hosts Jelly in Austin every Friday - one of the main reasons we picked the day and location - and the atmosphere and attitude is exactly what we’re looking for. In case you’re not familiar with it, Jelly is a casual coworking environment which is also international in scope.

Even if you can’t be there, join us anyway by commenting here. As all of us who are a part of social media know, this is a team effort and everyone who is interested is invited. We look forward to seeing you or hearing from you this Friday.

~Mike

P.S. Just about everyone mentioned in this post Twitters. You can follow me @mikechapman and I’ll introduce you around if you’re new. We’ll be twittering during the meeting on Friday and you can join in the conversation from anywhere.

• Leave a comment...

While we continue to recover from SXSW and prepare for our next Austin Social Media Club meeting on April 17th, we wanted to let you know about a meeting of the Austin Creative Commons Salon this Wednesday, March 26th, 2008. The meeting will be held from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm at Cafe Caffeine, located at 909 West Mary St, Austin, Texas.

Creative Commons is an easy licensing method used by artists, musicians, and writers worldwide to allow others to use their work according to a set of guidelines they select, including control over any profits. Creative Commons increases the creativity and profile of those who share in the licenses according to advocates.

The Austin Creative Commons Salon is a monthly event focused on building a community of artists and developers around Creative Commons licenses, standards, and technology. Anyone with an interest is invited to join them each month to meet others who license using Creative Commons technology or work with other technology to implement it. The format includes presentations and the opportunity to openly discuss all Creative Commons issues.

At this month’s meeting, the Salon will review music sites Jamendo and ccMixter and then will go into details about their specific features and offerings. You should feel free to review these sites and others and share your thoughts during the meeting.

Also, David Neff of the American Cancer Society, will review how Creative Commons fits in to their new SharingHope.tv project and how other non-profits might benefit from their approach.

Anyone with questions about Creative Commons can attend. An attempt to answer any questions or discuss aspects of CC licensing will be facilitated as a part of the meeting.

Austin Creative Commons Salon is also looking for artists or presenters who might want to show their work or offer some insight to the commons. If you’re interested in presenting or want more information, e-mail: rich@commonquill.org

Group Discussion List:
http://groups.google.com/group/ccaustin
Event Page:
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Austin_Salon
Homepage:
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Austin_Salon

• Leave a comment...