At Make Something Happen, we, as is likely the case with you, are fascinated with the ascent of the iGen, the proliferation of communication technologies in the world of altruism and organization and all of the other goodness that has risen in conjunction with the advent of Internet-based activism. On our blog, we very much look forward to exploring trends in this arena, where it has been in the past, what the realm looks like at present, and what we can expect from its future. We each have been very much involved with these movements and out of professional and personal curiosity we keep a close eye on where things presently stand. You will find here on a daily basis links to folks who are likewise interested in this arena, related news, and conversations with people who are–and please excuse the narcissistic titular pun–making stuff happen, as it were.

My name is Alex Steed and I have been paying attention to the way these things are happening for some time now. Throughout my teens I was involved in the zine culture of Portland, Maine and I was one of kids in the first generation of kids that had a computer in its house for the majority of my teenage. At the time, I worked harder on trying to convince television stations to bring back Denver the Last Dinosaur or bring unpublished titles to LaserDisc than on changing the world for the positive, but I would come to understand the awesome power of communication technologies in time.

In my 20s, I went on to work as an organizer in several capacities. I put together and promoted shows in Portland, Maine, and worked as a community organizer in both politics and non profits. I recently worked a position with Americorps for the USM Office of Service Learning and Community Service and while in college I studied the connections between grassroots activism and Internet technologies. In this field I most recently worked in an outreach capacity for Change.org. Now, in my spare time I keep an archive of daily advice from everyday folks unoriginally titled “Words of Advice” and I work as a freelance writer based in Portland, Brooklyn, and Boston.

We look forward to featuring here discussions with experts, students, practitioners and other folks in the field. At present, we’ve been paying particular attention to folks like Eric Gundersen at Development Seed, Greener One, Henry Jenkins, and Aaron Kreider. In the very near future we hope to speak with all of them–and folks thinking in similar veins–about the past, present and future in web activism.

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