[liberationtech] At the Ethos Roundtable on 11/16: A powerful data visualization application that will be free to nonprofits!

[Deborah Elizabeth Finn]

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

The Ethos Roundtable <http://ethosroundtable.blogspot.com> is an
informal group of people who are interested in 1) measuring and
extending ethos, and 2) using technology for positive social change.
We meet once a month in Harvard Square (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA)
for discussions and presentations. We'd like to invite you to join us
at our next session, but if you can't attend in person, a digital
audio recording by Josh Shortlidge will be made available on request.*

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010
4:30 - 6:30 pm
Charles Hotel
1 Bennett Street
Harvard Square
Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Featured guest: Georges Grinstein, Open Indicators Consortium, and
UMass-Lowell <http://www.uml.edu/college/arts_sciences/cs/Faculty/Georges_G._Grinstein.html>
Topic: Launch of the WEAVE ((Web-based Analysis and Visualization
Environment) platform

Here's a little bit about Georges:

Georges Grinstein is Professor of Computer Science at the University
of Massachusetts Lowell, head of its Bioinformatics Program,
Co-director of its Institute for Visualization and Perception
Research, and of its Center for Biomolecular and Medical Informatics.
He received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Rochester
in 1978.

His work is broad and interdisciplinary, ranging from perceptual
foundations of visualization to techniques for high-dimensional
visualization, with the emphasis on the modeling, visualization, and
analysis of complex information systems.

He has over 30 years in academia with extensive private consulting,
over 100 research grants, products in use nationally and
internationally, several patents, numerous publications in journals
and conferences, a new book on interactive data visualization, founded
several companies, and has been the organizer or chair of national and
international conferences and workshops in Computer Graphics, in
Visualization, in Visual Analytics and in Data Mining. He has mentored
over 25 doctoral students and hundreds of graduate students. He has
been on the editorial boards of several journals in Computer Graphics
and Data Mining, a member of ANSI and ISO, a NATO Expert, and a
technology consultant for various public agencies.

Here's a little bit about WEAVE:

After two years of development at the University of Massachusetts
Lowell supported and guided by eight Founding Members, the Open
Indicators Consortium (OIC) will release the code for version 1.0 of
the data visualization platform Weave (Web-based Analysis and
Visualization Environment) free to public and nonprofit users. A hard
launch is planned for early 2011, by which time the Founding Members
will be showing new websites showcasing Weave's full capacity as
expressed by four states, four US regions and many municipal and
sub-municipal geographies.

Weave allows a range of users to explore, analyze, visualize and
disseminate data on-line from any location at any time. The platform
offers multiple levels of user proficiency from novices to advanced
researchers, advanced security features, and the ability to integrate,
disseminate and visualize economic, social and environmental data and
indicators at "nested" levels of geography-from micro to macro.

We will highlight the key aspects of Weave using partner indicator
projects examples and others. We will discuss Weave's groundbreaking
technologies making it one of the most flexible interactive
visualization system.

Partner indicator projects and planning agencies from Arizona,
Connecticut, Rhode Island, Atlanta/Metropolitan Atlanta,
Boston/Metropolitan Boston, Metropolitan Chicago and Columbus/Central
Ohio invested substantial funds to create the Consortium and guide the
software development. Together with the UMass Lowell leadership (Dr.
Georges Grinstein, an internationally recognized expert in analysis
and visualization, and Dr. William Mass, a leader in the field of
regional and industrial economic development), they govern the
Consortium, support and shape design priorities and provide continuous
testing and feedback to advance Weave's software development.

At the conclusion of our Ethos Roundtable session, we will stroll down
the hall to enjoy the good company, charming venue, and free food at
the 501 Tech Club, which is generously underwritten by TechFoundation.
The 501 Tech Club is the monthly gathering of technology professionals
who work with nonprofit organizations.

All Ethos Roundtable attendees are welcome at the Boston 501 Tech
Club, and vice versa.

Please remember that there's never any need to make a reservation to
attend Ethos Roundtable events. Just come if you can, and feel free to
invite others! However, if you're planning to attend the Boston 501
Tech Club event at 6:00 pm, we ask that you send an email to Kathleen
Sherwin of TechFoundation (ksherwin AT techfoundation DOT org). Since
TechFoundation is providing the free food, it's both courteous and
prudent to let her know how much to order.

See you on November 16th!

Best regards from Deborah

* If you'd like a (free) digital audio recording of this session,
please email Josh Shortlidge (co-convener of the Ethos Roundtable) at
<josh at swithin.com>.

Deborah Elizabeth Finn
Strategist and Consultant
Technology for the Nonprofit and Philanthropic Sector
Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Email: deborah_elizabeth_finn at post.harvard.edu
Blog: www.deborahelizabethfinn.com
Skype: Deborah909
Twitter: Deborah909
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah909
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Deborah.Elizabeth.Finn

I bring resources and needs together for nonprofits and
philanthropies, mostly through strategic use of information
and communication technologies.