Call for Submissions: NetSquared MashUp Challenge

Do you have an idea for how a mashup could be a tool for social change? Can you imagine a way to combine data from more than one source into an integrated tool that would increase awareness around an issue? Then the NetSquared MashUp Challenge is for you.

TechSoup's NetSquared project is awarding a share of $100,000 in prize money, and a trip to the NetSquared Conference, to the top 20 winners of the NetSquared Mashup Challenge. Submit your idea for a mashup with social impact. Entries are accepted until March 14, 2008 at 5 PM PST.

There are three parts to the Challenge:

1. Application: You don't have to have the tech skills to create your mashup, just the idea. Your application will explain the change that you are trying to make, as well as the information/data sources that you believe can be married to help create that change. It is a short application form that should take less than an hour to fill out.

2. Recruiting and Specification-Building: The NetSquared Team will reach out to web-savvy collaborators to help translate your idea into a Mashup Project.

3. Mashup Development: Teams of developers will start building your mashup. The week of March 17th, the NetSquared Community will vote for the mashups they think are the most innovative, and that will create the greatest social impact.

On March 24 the top 20 mashups will be announced, and the winners will be invited to attend this year’s NetSquared Conference (N2Y3) in San Jose, CA May 27-28, 2008. Each of the top 20 mashups will get an allowance for travel (including airfare to and from the Conference, along with a hotel room for two nights).

At the Conference, project teams will have an opportunity to display and discuss their mashups, and attendees will vote to select the top three. All twenty projects at the Conference will receive a share of $100,000 in prize money. The share will be determined by voting at the Conference.

Sound good? Go on and submit your project!

Here's How You Can Help Spread the Word:

1. Share the YouTube video about the Challenge 

2. Post a NetSquared badge on your blog or Website 

3. Write about the NetSquared Mashup Challenge on your blog, or share it with a list serv. Tag it "net2mashup".

4. Print out "46 Minute" postcards to pass out to your community 

5. Subscribe to the NetSquared Newsletter (sign up on home page), Blog and Twitter feed, and join the NetSquared Facebook group to keep up on the latest news about the NetSquared Mashup Challenge.

You can find out  more information on the NetSquared site or contact net2 [at] techsoup [dot] org. And if you're a developer who wants to help build the mashups, email Billy Bicket at bbicket [at] techsoup [at] org

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