This just in from online strategy sage Jason Mogus of Communicopia:

Digital Innovation: New Tools for Engagement

Social Media is dramatically changing the way we build relationships, lead our organizations, and inspire social change. Coupled with new technologies is an increased demand from consumers and clients for accountability, access to information and transparent institutional conduct. This course will focus on how your organization can make the cultural shift required to capitalize on technology’s capacity for creating meaningful public participation and social change. You’ll leave this course with fresh perspectives and concrete ideas about how your organization can embrace technology to further your social mission.

You will learn:

• how to use emerging digital tools to engage the individuals or groups that influence your organization
• how digital tools can aid collaboration across your organization best practices from other organizations who have succeeded in using digital innovation to collaborate across silos, create authentic dialogue with the public, harvest new ideas, and better respond to a changing world
• how to overcome barriers in order to foster a culture of openness and collaboration in your organization with regard to digital innovation
• what human resource models are needed to support effective use of social media

Who should attend: This course is of interest to managers and leaders in the public and non profit sectors who want to better use social media to engage their constituents and further their social mission. Seating is limited to 40 participants.

Great opportunity for this in Vancouver to learn from an experienced leader in the field of social media and online campaigning.

The event is on March 5, 2010 and the cost to attend is $195. The registration site is here.

Our "Left Coast" friends over at Groundwire (formerly ONE/Northwest) have just posted a great roundup of events in 2010 that any self-respecting "technologist for good" should check out.

There are a lot of conferences on that list that are new to me, so I'm looking forward to digging into the agendas and asking for feedback from folks that have attended in the past.

There are a few events not on Groundwire's list that caught my eye this year. I provide them with the caveat that I haven't personally attended these, and most haven't announce follow-up events yet. Here's to hoping they do:

• Tide's Momentum conference
• Fairsay's eCampaigning Forum in Oxford
• Journalism That Matters
• Organizing 2.0
• A local "Ignite" events
• And, finally, any one of the great events that are run by Aspiration Technology Foundation ever year

There are more, but I'll leave it there.

Know of others? Post a comment over at Groundwire.

Returning to the high tech MaRS Centre June 10 - 12 2009, the Social Tech Training is designed to train the next generation of strategic + execution leaders inside social change orgs. Led by senior trainers from the 8 year old Web of Change community, the STT is an intimate event that combines inspiring stories from leading web campaigns, our unique "create, test, and learn" education model, and is designed to connect participants to a powerful community of peers. A learning event this relevant, holistic, and fun does not happen very often.

Visit Social Tech Training site for more information or to register. Please pass this along!

It has been a hectic couple weeks since we returned from out west; catch-up sure can be a killer. Either way, I’m not letting my overly-tired ass stay put tonight, tomorrow, or Friday, as Toronto becomes ground zero for some of the most exciting conversation in online news, citizen journalism, and media democracy.

Thanks to Lisa Rundle, I’ve got ring-side seats for what is sure to be one of the week’s more exciting events: CBC’s The Future of the Future of News forum. Sparks are sure to fly when Andrew Keen and Leonard Brody go head-to-head on the topic of citizen journalism. Andrew is the author of The Cult of the Amateur — a book that refuses to accept that the Web is changing the rules — and Leonard is the founder of Now Public, a Vancouver-based citizen journalism start-up that is catching mainstream attention.