Community Assembly: April 22

EdTechTalk Community,

Our long-awaited Spring Community Assembly is coming up on April 22 as part of the EarthCast 2008 Webcastathon. We need your enthusiasm! We need your support! We need your help! Mostly, we just need you to show up.

So, if you're particpating in the EarthCast, hang around until the end. Our meeting is at midnight GMT Tuesday night. That's 8PM in the Eastern US, 5 PM Pacific, and 9 PM for Dave. As a reward for your participation, you'll be able to stick around following our meeting for Women of Web 2.0's historic episode 72. All right, so maybe it's not historic yet. But it WILL be, just wait and see.

WHY DO WE NEED TO HAVE A MEETING?

Mostly, it's because we're like a bunch of toddlers riding around on the blacktop in our Cosy Coupes. Once in a while, it's nice to get everyone pointed in the same general direction again. The spring equinox is a great time to do that. Spring is in the air in the northern hemisphere, and we're all excited about new life and new beginnings. It's a great time to reflect on where we are and where we're heading. The trouble is, we spent so much time on the reflecting that we never got around to having the actual meeting.

There's an agenda online at http://www.edtechtalk.com/node/3080, and we had a pre-meeting discussion (http://www.edtechtalk.com/node/3095) last week. Please take a few minutes to take a look at them.

Here are the highlights of the highlights -- the things we really need to decide:
* Who's running this place, anyway?
* What do we need to do to make it look like this is one more-or-less cohesive community?
* Who is going to help the newcomer, and how?
* How does Edtechtalk fit into the grand scheme of things?
* What are we going to do when Jeff and Dave stop footing the bill for us?
* I want an EdTechTalk T-Shirt, damn it.
* What are the biggest tech challenges, and who's going to fix them? And why isn't it done yet?

DON'T JEFF AND DAVE JUST TAKE CARE OF ALL OF THIS STUFF?

Well, no. Not really. At least, they'd like not to. Jeff needs to be spending a lot more time on... uhh... whatever it is that Jeff does. And Dave... well, do we really want Dave in charge? The truth is, he has more than enough on his plate as it is. What we really need is for some interested people to step up and help out.

I know. You're new around here. You just stumbled into the community, found something useful, and have been hanging around. Maybe you went through the Webcast Academy, but that doesn't mean you're an expert or anything. We're all in that boat; we're all newbies to some extent. One of the great things about this group is that anyone can get involved, contribute from their strengths, and learn from the others. So jump in and get involved already, before someone makes up a bunch of crazy new rules you don't like.

WHEN, AGAIN?

Haven't you been paying attention? April 22, at the end of the EarthCast Webcastathon, but before WOW. That's midnight GMT on the 23rd. www.edtechtalk.com.