Web 2.0 Summit asks public to nominate organizations creating positive change

If you were to ask me to name the single most important technology conference of the year, I’d say the Web 2.0 Summit (with TechCrunch 50 coming on strong in second place). Startup executives, VCs, entrepreneurs and others will gather at the Westin in San Francisco on Oct. 20-22 to hear about the latest trends in Web 2.0.

Now, the conference’s organizers — John Battelle, Tim O’Reilly (pictured above) and team — want to enlist the tech industry to “step up” and support a nonprofit that can make a significant contribution to “the principles of openness, collective intelligence and transparency.”

They write: “The spark of inspiration that led to this year’s Web 2.0 Summit theme, Web Squared (Web + World), has made it clear that we must embrace not only disruptive change, but also a ‘pay it forward’ attitude if we are to realize change on a global scale. We’re excited to put inspiration into action by asking our attendees to join us as partners in creating change.

“This year, attendees will have the opportunity to donate to one of three charities that embody the spirit of Web Squared. But we need your help determining those three charities. Let us know about any organization that is leveraging innovative solutions to create positive change on a global scale. Join the discussion and give us your suggestions on the Web 2.0 Summit Facebook fan page.”

Tim and John outlined the thrust of this year’s theme recently in a 13-page whitepaper, Web Squared: Web 2.0 Five Years On.

All suggestions must be received by midnight PDT on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7, 2009. Post your nominations to the Wall or email them to web2feedback@oreilly.com.

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The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation is among the new breed of foundations making creative use of social media.

Founder Bill Strong, whose 22-month-old daughter, Gwendolyn, has a terminal, degenerative disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Bill writes in to tell us: “SMA is the leading genetic killer of children, yet almost completely unheard of. There is currently no treatment and no cure, but there is hope as researchers have publicly stated that a cure is attainable in the next five years if provided the resources. As you can imagine, it is our mission to raise awareness about SMA and help put an end to this horrible disease.”

One way Bill and the foundation are raising awareness is through their inventive use of Twitter. They built an app — http://EndSMA.org/twitter — that allows users to have the foundation tweet the person’s Congressperson when he or she enters a zip code. The tweet encourages legislators to co-sponsor legislation currently in Congress, the SMA Treatment Acceleration Act, sponsored by Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-RI, and its counterpart in the Senate, S. 1158. (See the news announcement.) The legislation, if passed, would lead to research to put an end to SMA.

Plunk in your zip code and give it a try. 07407 spits out Twitter IDs and hashtags for:

@senatormenendez – Sen. Robert Menendez (D. NJ)
#RepStevenRothman (D. NJ)
#SenFrankLautenberg (D. NJ)
It is important to me that you cosponsor the #SMATreatmentAccelerationAct, H.R. 2149 & S. 1158!

(As it happens, my zip code, 94588, didn’t work — possibly an incomplete API dataset from Sunlight Labs, but Bill says, “We’ve had over 1,400 people Tweet their Congresspeople through our app reaching over 1,000,000 followers and this is the first time we have heard of any zip code issues.”

The foundation has also started a very effective online petition — http://PetitionToCureSMA.com [link may no longer work] — in support of the legislation. It has received nearly 70,000 signatures to date.

And the foundation’s website points you to this great slide show on Photobucket, which you can embed into your own site.

Says Bill: “Give Tweet For A Cure a try and tell me what you think. August is SMA Awareness Month and we’d be thrilled if more people would spread the word about Tweet For A Cure.

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• Spinal Muscular Atrophy links to act on (doofercall.blogspot.com)

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