If you haven’t heard of it before, Case Study Jam takes a slightly different approach than some of the other, better-known events. The Jam is a place for low-level folks to come together and share their war stories(though high-level folks are welcome to come too!). We don’t feature one speaker, we feature a few, and their (very short) presentations only serve as the catalyst for the greater discussions (the titular ‘jams’) that follow.

It’s informal and, if all goes according to plan, everyone gets a chance to say their piece, share their ideas and shoot the shit about how to get social media projects off the ground.

We don’t have the benefit of a recognized brand. We’re not using super big names to try to attract your attention. We’re just hoping the idea of jamming with a community of do-ers is incentive enough.

If you haven’t already, check us out. And if you think you like what you see, why not register and join the fun?

People who neglect their blogs for weeks at a time for no good reason because they just had their first child then, in a lame generous attempt to make it up to their readers, offer a link to something they wrote somewhere else.

Erm. Yea. Anyway, here’s a post I wrote for the NLC Blog about social media strategy and ethics.

This clearly struck a chord with Canadians who feel as though their elected representatives should, you know, represent them. Columnists and editorialists were almost unanimously against the move and, as is the hip thing to do in this day and age, a Facebook Group was started to protest prorogation.

And it grew, and grew, and grew…

Then a crazy thing happened. People joined the group. A lot of people. As of the time of writing this post, the group was closing in on 25k (though size on Facebook is relative, Nickelback’s Fan Page, for example, has 1.3 million members including an alarming number of my ‘friends.’ But still, 25k for a grassroots group is pretty impressive).

That’s the equivalent of every person in Prince Edward County joining the group in just a matter of days (go Wikipedia skillz!). Even the mainstream press has picked up on the story, which is generally considered a sign of a successful social media campaign, no?

So now what?

While the growth of this group in such a short time is impressive, I’m kind of left wondering what’s next. As my brilliant wife noted on Twitter, maybe the fact that the group itself is a story makes this a success. In the biz that’d be considered earned media, the ultimate goal of any outreach strategy.

But, as I’ve blogged before, how much traction does a protest have when it’s so easy to be part of it? Is joining the group the end of the action taken by those 25k? What percentage of them will actually take the next step and write to their MP or attend a rally?

A big group is a step, not a goal

Getting 25, 000 people to join a group is a great first step but it shouldn’t be considered a goal in and of itself. MediaStyle’s Ian Capstick suggested this morning in response to my question about the group that perhaps joining the group is an easy first step that gets people moving into more concrete action. And as a social media guy, let me be clear: I really hope that it is.

This has the potential to be a great case study in grassroots mobilization. There’s already talk of rallies to build on the group’s momentum (though curiously enough there’s no information in the Events section of the group).

But  political action doesn’t begin and end with joining a Facebook group.

UPDATE: There appears to be a companion group for the actual rallies (h/t to @UnionSt)

I’m not being critical; hell, one of my best-read posts of the last while was my Top 5 Social Media Trends that Should Die from last year around this time. But this year, I just can’t bring myself to write one. Sure, I’ve had a few ideas and scribbled a few notes on the back of the proverbial napkin (*cough* my iPhone *cough*). But this hasn’t been a regular holiday season for me. My mind has sorta been elsewhere.

So with that lengthy preamble out of the way, I humbly offer up what will have to pass for my New Year’s post for 2010.

Resolution 2010

Forget social media and online tech. Forget collaboration and smart search. Forget augmented reality and the mobile web. For me, 2010 is going to be all about family.

Obvious, I know, given that my wife and I are impatiently awaiting the arrival of our first child (FYI, due dates are a cruel joke). And that clearly plays a big part in my declaration. I’ve always known I wanted to be a father. And, once I met her, I pretty quickly figured out that I wanted Amy to be the mother of my kids. Words can’t really express how excited I am to meet my baby and I already know my priorities are going to change dramatically once I finally see her smile at me.

But there’s more to it than that.

I’ve always been very close to my parents, brother and sister. Fortune has allowed me to see my brother a few times in the past few years (his work brings him to Ottawa on a regular basis) but I haven’t seen my parents,  sister, sister-in-law or niece in more than two years. We’ve spoken on the phone a lot (at least once a week with my parents), shared photos and emails, but we haven’t actually seen anyone since our wedding.

That’s going to change.

2010 is going to be a chaotic year for us, there’s no doubt about it. Work will be busy and our house is about to be turned upside down. I can’t think of  a better time to recommit to family.

Happy New Year.

A quick Twitter search will show that there are strong feelings one way or another but this post isn’t going to tackle that question. Instead, what bothers me is the widespread belief that it’s the Prime Minister himself who is planning to prorogue Parliament. Only the Governor General (and I suppose the Queen, if she was here) can prorogue Parliament. She does so at the request of the Prime Minister, mind you, but it’s her act, not the PM’s.

Semantics? Yup. But important ones.

It’s the same lack of understanding of Canada’s Parliamentary system that allowed certain spinsters to argue (with mind-boggling success) that Canada elected Harper in the last election. While the merits of the proposed coalition that led to the last prorogation can certainly debated, the notion that it was undemocratic is simply wrong.

Canadians elect their member of Parliament. That’s all. From those members, the Governor General (representing the Queen, Canada’s head of state) invites the leader of the party with the most seats to form a government. That government can only exist so long as it has the confidence of Parliament.

Get that last nuance? The government is at the whim of Parliament. Not the other way around. The Prime Minister, as the head of government, has no right to order Parliament to do anything.