There will be a formal press release about this in the coming weeks, but I'm so excited that I wanted to share the news. We have selected the first Totally Wired Teacher to be recognized at the 2007 Mashup in July. Drumroll please...It's Ben Wilkoff, a 7th and 8th grade language arts teacher at Cresthill Middle School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

We received several amazing nominations of totally wired teachers from across the country and the globe. It was inspiring to read about how they are all using social media like blogs, wikis, photo/video sharing sites and social networking in educational ways at school. I worked with Jim Daly, the editor-in-chief of Edutopia, and the amazing team from Yahoo! for Teachers to narrow it down to two finalists. We interviewed both finalists. It was a tough choice, but in the end, we felt like Ben was trailblazing the use of social media and skillfully navigating the challenges of the public school bureaucracy, convincing other teachers, administrators and parents that what he's doing is showing real results.

We are flying Ben to San Francisco, where our founding sponsor, Yahoo! will present him with the award. I want to thank everyone who submitted nominations this year. I look forward to discovering even more innovators next year. You can learn more about Ben through his links:

The Academy of Discovery
Discourse About Discourse (Ben's podcast)

In Ben's own words:

My Twitter account says, "I teach. And learn. A lot." This is no small understatement. My passion for teaching and learning increases with every blog post I read or write, every podcast I create or listen to. Just one meaningful comment from student to student on a blog or a great revision on one of our wiki projects is something special, something authentic, something worth striving for.

Yesterday, I was at Yahoo! giving a presentation to their marketing department. Afterwards I had the privilege of meeting the Yahoo! for Teachers team who gave me a demo of what they are building in collaboration with teachers around the country. I was impressed. The tool they have created allows teachers to build their handouts and other teaching materials online through a version of Yahoo! search limited to content teachers can actually use and that ensures they are complying with state standards. The site also enables teachers to share their teaching materials with other educators throughout the world. It's very exciting. Yahoo! has done their homework and gets that they can't just give teachers another cool tech tool without offering training and support. They are building up a small army of trailblazing teachers, like Ben, that they hope will train other teachers at their schools. In addition, they are offering workshops for teachers on how to use their tool across the country. Here are the upcoming free workshop dates and locations:

Chicago, IL July 2nd, 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.
New York, NY July 11th, 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.
New York, NY July 12th, 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Austin, TX July 19th, 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.
San Diego, CA July 28th, 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.

If you know a teacher in these areas, tell them to apply here.

Register today for the Mashup.

Posted by anastasia at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The 2007 Mashup continues to gather steam and gain new partners and sponsors. I'm excited to announce that we have added a very cool socially conscious education technology company called MindOh as a sponsor. Amy Looper will be joining the Totally Wired Life panel as a speaker. We have also added avatar company OddCast as an exhibitor.

On the partner front. I want to remind all of my NYC readers that our partner conference, What Teens Want, kicks off on Monday. Ypulse readers still get a 25 percent off discount and there is time to register last minute, so get clicking! Chet will be there and will blog the event for Ypulse so say hi to him!

We have also partnered with Rogers Wireless Canadian Music Week, "Canada's leading annual entertainment event dedicated to the expression and growth of the country's music, media and entertainment industries." The event spans a four-day period from March 5 to March 8, 2008 at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel and various downtown Toronto venues. Check out this site for more information.

And...with our friends at Community Next! Their conference rocked last year and is back with a focus on viral marketing right before the Mashup. So if you're local or are in town early, check it out!

I also want to give a shout out to the rest of our very generous partners:

New American Media, "the country's first and largest national collaboration of ethnic news organizations" and publisher of the excellent YO! (Youth Outlook) magazine.
The CMO Council
The Experiential Marketing Forum
FastCompany.com
Gamasutra
New Music Tipsheet
The Software Developers Forum
Youth Markets Alert

We will also be featuring a Youth Media Showcase area for Bay Area non-profit organizations creating media with or for teens. Exhibitors include:

Girls for a Change
Bay Area Video Coalition
YouthNoise
Sparktop

You don't want to miss this event. Register today.

Posted by anastasia at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

C&R Research, a sponsor of the 2007 Mashup, is holding two live Webinars for Ypulse readers to listen in as they moderate a teen and tween discussion about technology. You may be able to ask your own questions as well. The results of this research will be shared as part of the Totally Wired Life panel at the Mashup in San Francisco. Join us online and then register now to join us in person at the event.

Here are the details:

Attend Online Research Webinars

June 27: Today's Tweens and Technology (10-13 yrs.)
June 28: Today's Teens and Technology (14-18 yrs.)

C&R Research's TeensEyes Division invites you to attend two live online Interactive Query research sessions that will take an in-depth look at today's multi-tasking Tweens and Teens media generation.

Depending on the session, you'll hear from Tweens or Teens about the technology they're using, where they're going online and what they're doing. Watch as Tween and Teen consumers answer our questions live, and listen as a trained youth researcher moderates each session. You also may have the opportunity to submit your own question to our online participants.

Feel free to register for one or both Webinars. An analysis of this research will be presented at the Ypulse Mashup on Tuesday, July 17th. Register for the tween webinar here and the teen webinar here.

Posted by anastasia at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I wanted to let Ypulse readers know about just one of the many cool things we're doing at the Mashup in July. We're going to recognize a "Totally Wired Teacher." The "we" being Yahoo! Teachers (Yahoo! is the founding sponsor of the event) and The George Lucas Educational Foundation/Edutopia.

You may ask, why are you giving an award to a teacher at a "marketing conference"? To which I say (and regular readers know), the Ypulse brand is about much more than just marketing. It's about understanding teens today and all of the forces shaping their lives. With this Mashup, it's technology (social media, mobile), with a future Mashup it will be gaming (just dropped a hint about one of our next events). Since young people spend most of their days in school where more often than not, teachers are struggling just to teach to the test, I wanted to honor a teacher who is pushing the envelope and is actually using social media in the classroom as an educational tool. Derek Baird from Yahoo! Teachers posted an eloquent blog about what we're doing, so I'm going to repost it here:

This July at the 2007 Ypulse Mashup in San Francisco, Yahoo! Teachers and the George Lucas Educational Foundation will honor a teacher who has successfully used social media (blogs, wikis, social networking, photo/video sharing or audio groups) in the classroom.

The winner of the Totally Wired Teacher Award will have successfully navigated their school ecosystem and overcome challenges from parents and administrators in order to use technology, but because they understand how students use social media outside of school, they have persevered and worked collaboratively with students, ultimately sharing their insight and knowledge with the larger teaching community.

If you, or a teacher you know is Totally Wired, you can nominate them by sending and email along with why you feel they are deserving to: Jim Daly at Edutopia.

P.S. One of our speakers emailed me this morning to say: "When Jay Frank from Yahoo! asked me to speak at your conference, I didn’t know anything about it. I have since been getting emails from some of the top people in the entertainment field asking me about the conference and if they should attend...."

You don't want to miss this one. Register today.

Posted by anastasia at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Part of planning any successful event is getting the word out. While Ypulse readers know about the 2007 Mashup, we wanted to let other folks who might not read Ypulse (yet!) know about this conference as well. That's where our partners come in. We help them get the word out about their products or events to you, and they do the same for us.

First up, we are partnering with the Software Developers Forum. They are holding an event here in Silicon Valley on May 23 called Next Generation Tech: Teens Plugged In!. The event features Ben Casnocha, Silicon Valley Writer and Teen Entrepreneur. I have been linking to Ben's blog since the early days of Ypulse. He's both an old soul (i.e. wise beyond his years) and still very much a teen. If you are programming or designing websites or other tech for teens, this event looks like it's definitely worth attending. I'll be there and will be blogging it for Ypulse readers.

Another one of our partners is the What Teens Want conference happening on the east coast (NYC) on June 18-19th. I've been to What Teens Want twice before, and I always come away with lots of notes and great contacts. You can read past coverage of What Teens Want events here:

The Five Biggest Themes of What Teens Want West
The Ten Biggest Themes of 'What Teens Want' East

Ypulse readers get an extra 25 percent off the price if you enter the code Ypulse899. Ypulse contributing editor Chet Gulland will be on the scene blogging the conference for Ypulse readers as well.

Our next partner is a great newsletter called the Youth Markets Alert. I've been quoted in YMA a few times -- it's definitely worth subscribing to for any youth marketing professional.

Finally, New Music Tip Sheet will be our partner for the Music Mashup pre-conference. The New Music Tip Sheet is a former Ypulse advertiser and is read by a veritable who's who in the music biz.

If you are interested in becoming a Mashup partner just email mary@modernmediapartners.com. And don't forget to register now for the 2007 Mashup -- there are 15 days left for the "early adopter" discount!

Posted by anastasia at 07:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When I began making a list of potential sponsors for the first Ypulse conference, Yahoo! was always at the top. They just felt like a natural fit for this event for a few reasons:

1. No matter where else young people may be hanging out -- MySpace, Facebook, etc., they are also using Yahoo! According to ComScore, "In the U.S. , 80 percent of MySpace visitors, 84 percent of YouTube visitors and 80 percent of Facebook visitors visited Yahoo! in March. And...385 million users or 51 percent of Yahoo!'s users worldwide are 'under 35'. MySpace has 55 million and Facebook has 19 million users 'under 35.'"

2. Yahoo! has created or acquired some of the most elegant and innovative social media out there: Flickr, delicious, Answers, 360, Video, MyBlogLog, Jumpcut and Bix.

3. They are helping teachers to become "totally wired" through their upcoming Yahoo! Teachers site, described as "an easy-to-use site and peer network designed by and for teachers." You can read more about the very grassroots process Yahoo! has engaged in to build this important resource for educators here.

4. Youth media powerhouse Viacom/MTV likes them better (or is not suing them!).

5. Jay Frank, the head of programming at Yahoo! Music, has put together an incredible pre-conference, aka The Music Mashup, focusing on how young people consume music (digitally, of course!) that includes some of the biggest "movers and shakers" in the biz plus a case study and live performance by "about to break big time" artist Secondhand Serenade.

I'm very excited that Yahoo! has joined the 2007 Mashup as our founding sponsor. Look for lots of Yahoo! folks from across the company to be at the event and the big purple Y! to be everywhere. Just one more reason to come to San Francisco this July and for you to register now for the "early adopter" discount (it ends May 29). Look for more posts about what Yahoo! is up to in the coming weeks.

Posted by anastasia at 08:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One of the Mashup's sponsors, C&R Research, will be conducting an interactive panel exclusively for our attendees. What this means is that about 10 days to two weeks before the conference, we'll ask you to submit questions, which C&R's researchers will ask one of their teen panels. Jackie Lane, C&R Research's TeenEyes division leader will share the results -- and what they mean -- during the "Totally Wired Life" panel at the Mashup.

The Chicago-based research firm's panels are representatively drawn from nearly 30,000 kids and teens around the country. The tool that will be on display at the Mashup is C&R Research's Interactive Query, which combines elements of qualitative and quantitative research. C&R will use this tool to ask your questions. You will be able to
see how panel members answer questions, and be able to parse through the data according to demographic criteria.

Once you register to attend the Mashup, you can suggest questions for C&R's teen panel! Your questions should relate to how teens use technology in their everyday lives -- at school, at home or with friends. So register today and take part in this fun research experiment!

Posted by anastasia at 08:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)