I am working on a screencast about widgets -- more specifically free and easy-to-use community building tools for your blog. I'm busy researching and writing the script which will cover the why, what, and examples, but now I'm in the nitty gritty stage of playing with a few widgets. (Maybe I'll go out tonight dressed up as one ... that's why I made it black and orange ...)
I ended up today at the Bamboo Project site where Michele takes us through how easy it is to set up a Vizu Poll. Since I'm using a typepad blog and Vizu is a partner, it was point and click easy. Now, don't dispair if you using another blogging platform, Vizu lets you export the code in a few ways so you can cut and paste it easily into several other popular blogging platforms, including myspace. (Apparently, polls are big on myspace ...)
I had to chuckle when I read the lastest poll on Bamboo You -- "What is the biggest time waster in your organization? No option for researching widgets. But it looks as if it is linked to this post.
The sales pitch on the vizu site says highlights these benefits:
• Add interactivity. Polls typically generate 10 to 100 times more participation than comment fields • Learn about your visitors. Ask about profession, political persuasion, family, location, age, gender, etc. • Learn from your visitors. Ask who, why, what, where, when, how, if... • Build a sense of community. Polls enable self expression and self assessment. • Engage your visitors. Poll results make for great discussion.
The question is whether widgets, used strategically, can help solicit
blog audience/community feedback, add interactivity, encourage
conversation, or otherwise make your blog less one-way. Can widgets
help you listen better? Or are they useless foo foo. What do you
think?
Well, not to bias my poll, I think they might if used strategically. You'd have to:
-Link the poll to some content or issue on your site -Write a post that gives it context and encourages people to vote -You'd probably want to publicize it or place it high on your sidebar on your blog and do some email or other promotion -Encourage some commentary (e.g. comments) related to the hard numbers -Share back the results in a useful context
I've been trying to organize and clean up I don't know how many gigs of information, some dating back to 1992, the year I started working online full-time. My first online community builder/facilitator job was with Arts Wire, an online network for artists, that used a unix-based, text-based online discussion software. I facilitated online forums, provided technical support the 500 members, and training.
Arts Wire, a project of NYFA, was originally intended to be a place for artists from all over the country to meet, exchange ideas, and talk about their work via the Internet. As the Internet changed dramatically with the launch of the Web, the content of my work did too -- although the themes and concepts remained the same. While in the early early 1990's I was helping people figure out which dipswitches on their modem to push or write and send email using PINE, this later morphed into helping people learn how to build web pages or develop web literacy skills. And, now mid-2000 this has changed again ... into gaining web social (networking) skills.
The drawing is from one of the many, many technology training workshops I did in those early web1.0 and web .0 days .... somewhere around 1996 or 1997. I always started with a creative icebreaker activity -- this one was "What does the Internet look like?" While many of the drawings were abstract, the showing connected people presages the social web.
What sent me on a trip down memory lane was this excellent post by David Wilcox describing a new role for an online facilitator using social networking and media tools.
It occurs to me that I should try calling myself a social reporter; it feels more comfortable for this purpose than knowledge activist or technology steward.
I like the role/label and think David is spot on. I'm having a little bit of trouble with the word "reporter" - perhaps a play on citizen journalism? Is an online facilitator of people using social networkings -- are they a passive observer or an instigator? Is "reporter" the right role?
I used to think a lot of what my role and use different labels. Here's a few I played with from 1992-2002 during my time working with NYFA/Arts Wire.
Electronic Bulletin Board Sysop
Onlne Facilitator
Online Community Builder
Telecommuter
Gophermaster
Webmaster
Webmistress
Webster
Web Manager
Web Goddess
Digital Creative Thinker
Information designer
Cybrarian
Electronic Preservationist
Telecollaborator
Situated Trainer & Learner
Nonprofit Technologist
As I found this list, I realized I'm adding something to the label Nonprofit Technologist. I'm not sure quite what. It goes beyond blogger and tagger. Citizen instructional mediamaker? Social media coach? Who knows ...
Now matter what we call it - social reporter or something else, what are the skills and competencies to be one? How are they different from web1.0 online facilitator? And just as I write that sentence, I check David's blog and find that being GMT, he's already evolved his thinking along with other colleagues. Let's catch up ..
David is thinking about this role in the context of using wikis, blogs, flickr and other tools for capturing knowledge for conferences, a thread we obsessed on collectively last month. The Perfect Path blog muses about the social reporter role and rich records:
We have agreement that it's a "good thing" or at least a "nice
thing" to have a richer record of a days proceedings and that blogs and
wikis are a good way of producing that. What I agree we haven't done
yet is get to the point where we're able to weave everything together
to make it useful enough to participants that they want to do more than
view the record.
But maybe that's not our responsibility...yet. I see a risk that
we're pushing people too fast along a learning curve that we've taken a
while to go along ourselves ....Maybe we should just let this aspect sink in for a
little bit - if they want to interact as well, then that's fantastic
and we should be ready for it when it happens, but in the meantime,
perhaps we could be honing our reporting skills in this new
environment.
Especially if we are also introducing more social aspects to the
event, breaking down the distinction between presenter and audience -
novelty fatigue might set in - I have to remember that not everyone
gets bored as easily as I do!
Here's David response:
If the ethos of the social reporter is to promote collaboration by
standing on the side of the user/reader/viewer and helping them to
contribute, we have to take this very seriously. Evangelising - come on
in, it's wonderful - doesn't work any better than warnings - you'll be
left behind if you don't.
Part of the answer is being clear about the purpose ... what real
benefit will tech-supported collaboration bring - and aware of the
prevailing culture which may not be receptive. I think it is also about
respecting people's preferences. That's partly about personality, and
partly about offering a choice of audio, video, text and so on.
All that means that social reporting, to be successful, requires a
pretty full set of skills and tools. As Lloyd says, instead of pushing
too hard we could be honing our reporting skills in this new
environment. If we can't get the gigs, maybe we need some simulated
rehearsing ... a sort of emerging social reporting conference, where we
all practise on some willing non-tech participants. Any sponsors up for
that?
Hmm .. yes, the tools are easy, but skills probably take some time to develop and hone. One skill is the ability to think through your fingers quickly - the ability to listen, photograph, record, and process it in a way that isn't simply the vacuum approach. And, you have a high degree of comfort with the tools .. so you don't even have to think about it as you are capturing.
Last week or the weekend before I was at a conference, with wireless and live blogging and vlogging. I've noticed now that I'm using the digital camera, the microphone, and text all together -- like a drum set. And that has taken some time to master -- just practicing.
HASTAC International Conference, April 19-21, 2007. HASTAC ("haystack":
Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory) is soliciting
proposals for its first international conference, "Electronic Techtonics:
Thinking at the Interface," to be held in Durham, NC, co-sponsored by Duke
University and RENCI (Renaissance Computing Institute). Keynote speakers
include John Seely Brown, James Boyle, Rebecca Allen, and John Unsworth.
Proposals for papers and panels on any aspect of "interface" are due December
1, 2006. For information, please visit the web site.
Via an email from my friend Jay Moonah (AKA Uncle Seth) fo the Online Music Marketing comes a pointer to a film focused on the independent music business in Canada and U.S. As an independent consultant (for the past 20 years), I can relate to some of the ideas mentioned.
Here's what Jay had to say:
Dave Cool (yes, that IS his real name) from Montreal has produced a great film called "What Is Indie?" I think it's extraordinarily insightful look into the concept of what being "independent" is really all about, and a amazingly well-done documentary in general, particularly since it is Dave's first movie!
Here is an example of a video game for social marketing (what Nedra Weinreich blogs about, not social networking)
UNICEF launched its first interactive video game in Swahili that empowers young people to make good life choices about and prevent HIV. The game, called ‘Ungefanyaje’ or ‘What would you do?’ in Swahili, takes the player through a series of relationship-based
scenarios that emphasize the importance of HIV prevention and testing.
Here's more from the press release:
“Translating the game into Swahili makes it accessible to East African adolescents and young people,” says s of Youth Coordinator Amber Oliver. “By speaking openly about the threat that HIV and AIDS poses to young people, we can help give them the knowledge they need to keep them safe from infection.”
Although prevention is essential to half the spread of HIV/AIDS, an alarming 80 per cent of all young people still don’t know how to protect themselves from the virus. Sub-Saharan Africa has been especially hard-hit by the epidemic. “It is estimated that of the 2.3 million children under 15 living with HIV, two million are in sub-Saharan Africa,” says Oliver. “Reaching young people with prevention education and services is a crucial step towards an AIDS-free generation.”
via Ben Stokes from Games For Change comes a pointer to an article from Plenty Magazine called "Just Push Play." It is about an eco-themed video game that is helping the PlayStation generation understand global warming.
Developed to teach Australian and U.K. students about environmental
issues, Adventure Ecology is one example of a growing field of
“serious” video games that raise awareness about issues like poverty
and international strife, and help players assess strategies for
solving them.
It’s tough to teach interdependencies using linear media like books,”
Stokes says. “But games, by their nature, are interactive systems. Our
choices have consequences, like they do in real life.”
This is definitely one computer game that I'll allow my kids to play and some of it is available free on the web.
Here's a description of the game play:
Students ages nine and up
embark on virtual missions instead of listening to rote lesson plans.
Before starting the game, each player takes a test that assesses her
learning style; the game is then tailored to her strengths (visual
learners encounter more graphics, while wordsmiths get scrolling text).
Activities may include preventing deforestation, scoping out
alternative fuel strategies, or convincing a clothing company to sell
eco-friendly duds. As they play, gamers take quizzes to demonstrate
their grasp of important concepts, accumulating points that let them
take on new missions with bigger challenges.
I "met" Ali while lurking on the UK Riders list, a peer group of ICT circuit riders. She caught my attention because she founded an organization that works with orphaned and disabled children in Kenya. She also asked some really good questions about blogging for ngos on the listserv.
Ali is the Founder of AVIF (ABLe Volunteers International Fund). In 2002, she established a 65-teacher international summer school in NE Asia. She lived in China for 8 months with her 2 young children. On returning to the UK in 2003 she spent some time working in internet security before deciding to go back to school. She was studying Astrophysics but unfortunately, as a single parent, she found it difficult to continue with the financial burden. Having friends in Kenya, she came up with the idea to provide summer schools in Kenya. In March 2006 AVIF was born, the first volunteer placement ran over a 5 week period this summer. (She chronicles the program's start up on her personal blog)
She shares why she started her NGO, "The economic situation is far worse in Kenya than China so volunteer teachers were the only option. I decided to make AVIF a charity rather than a company as people are always more willing to offer time to a non-profit organisation. That said we are hoping to launch a trading company allowing all the orphanages and communities we reach in Kenya to sell their hand-made local crafts; bags, sandals, pumice, soapstone, plates, jewellery etc, to further their own futures. Trade not Aid !"
AVIF is a virtual organization that uses free and low-cost Internet technologies like VOIP to manage its programs and development work from the UK. Notes Ali, "It is me in my living room and a friend named Sharn Argwings-Kodhek networking in Nairobi. We access all orphanages via the internet. We have a substantial network of people we speak to by SKPE or SMS. Kenya has a poor bandwidth at best and this limits internet access to email only in most areas, except large corporations in large towns. Mobile communications are extremely accessible however, with very few dead zones."
The organization works directly with local ngos and volunteers matching them by interest, need, and skills. Organizations in Kenya are carefully vetted. Notes Ali, "Unfortunately there is a lot of corruption and greed in Kenya. Assigning volunteers to work with vetted organisations allows us to fully verify the organization's commitment to the children. "
AVIF plans to open an online shop to sell items to raise money for its program. "We have a large number of really beautifully-made items, hand made by the communities the volunteers lived with this summer. They have sent me photographs, weights and full descriptions of all the items. These items will be listed and hopefully sold on our online shop and the items packaged by the Kenyans and dropped with DHL for global delivery."
AVIF uses the Internet to recruit volunteers. Notes Ali, "We advertise for free on the very many ESL /TEFL websites for teachers and also recruit many primary education student-teachers in 2/3rd year of university degrees via the UK government's Teaching Development Agency (TDA). We also advertise the Volunteer Centres in the UK web sites."
The organization has just started to use a blog to engage volunteers and others interested in their work in a conversation. Volunteers are able to post about their experience in country. Notes Ali, "Blogs also allow much more "real" info as well as progress reports. It is so much more alive than a static web site. We've just begun blogging and thankfully I've been helped by my peers on the UK riders group."
I've been exploring about how a teacher or parent might seek out video blog content that is educational for kids not yet ready to mix their own. I created the screencast based on a very quick review in YouTube. Later, I went and looked over at blip.tv and found much more appropriate, original, and better quality clips.
So, for Halloween, I went searching on youtube for some Halloween videos and all I saw what looked copyrighted material and some crap. But, admittedly, I didn't look very long. Over at blip.tv, I found the above "music video" by Steve Garfield. It was one of a number of videos created for the Halloween Video Blog Festival.
There are some wonderful and very creative video blog entires and a goldmine of inspiration. And, viewing them gives you many ideas on how to create your own -- before you create, it is always a good idea to look at other work out there. I learn a few things from viewing most of them and one of my favorites is Steve Garfield's Hide and Seek. What I like about it:
I like the technique of photo stills and music and the use of pans (hmm .. my software doesn't do that)
My kids got to attend this event without me because I had to go to a conference, so I got a chance to actually see what the event was like.
He uses some music that a group has authorized for remix - yet another idea for music that you can use without breaking copyright laws.
Here's the description from blip.tv
Music by Imogen Heap. Hide and Seek is from Imogen's album 'Speak For Yourself' Buy it at the Imogen Heap Store. Imogen Heap Info For Remixers. Life is Good Pumpkin Festival was held in Boston, MA on October 21, 2006. They attempted to light 30,000 pumpkins on Boston Common. This event was held to draw national attention to Camp Sunshine, the renowned retreat for children with life-threatening illnesses, located in Casco, Maine.
The goal is to protect the vote by being the
eyes and ears where ballots are cast and counted on Election Day. You can sign up to video polling places and submit reports and clips to the site. They will document and report any irregularities that occur at polling
places and boards of elections while they are happening, enabling the
media and public to watch-dog the electoral process across our country.
Here's who created this project:
Video the Vote was created by Ian Inaba of the Guerrilla News Network, John Ennis of Shoot First, and James Rucker of ColorOfChange.org.
The three originally sought to provide a platform to help independent
filmmakers coordinate their efforts on election day—documenting
election problems and pushing those stories into the mainstream media.
The idea morphed into a populist program where ordinary people could
participate. They'd simply agree to be on-call to document any Election
Day problems that arise in their area; the only requirements being
having a digital video recorder, a cell phone, and broadband Internet
access, and agreeing to respect governing election law.
I've been thinking a lot about the importance of play and combining with work lately in my learnings around social media making. When the leaves come down in the autumn in New England, it's a lot of work to rake 'em up. Luckily, I have some digital natives to help me. So, here's a way to combine work and play and make your fall clean up fun! (And learn about some video editing too.)
I've also been thinking a lot about what I'm reading over the MacArthur Digital Learning and Media spotlight blog, most recently Cathy Davidson, from Hastac, wrote a piece called "Relearning How To Learn." One quote that struck a chord: "Great teachers, like gamers, know that you learn as much from failure
as success. (That’s why it’s called “trial-and-error” not
“trial-and-perfection.)"
When she uses the term "epistemological humility" she is referring to how experts from different disciplines have to be humble about what they know in order to see value in what others know. I find that it is true for embracing a new way of thinking in your field, the shift in mindset in order to reap the benefits of social networking tools.
And, talk about the humility of learning new skills in video editing. This experiement was after I got some really useful feedback from another user on YouTube regarding editing. "Faster pace."
I found the clip on CCmixter it is called "Wonder Drums" by porchcat. I selected the music and then used "cut" everytime I wanted to change the visual to match the beat of the drum. I'm still using the limited free movie editing program, so can't silence the sound track of the video and replace with music.
This is a cool site. It lets you select any two or more wiki packages and then it dynamically creates a feature-by-feature comparison. Great model! I compared wikispaces with pbwiki - the two user-friendly hosted wiki apps that I like. Speaking of wikis, there's gonna be an online wiki and nonprofit event next week over here and here
My son got his Halloween costume in the trash, literally. We recycle in this house and Harry and his sister help out for the weekly dump trip. So, this Halloween, he decided he wanted to be a Trash Monster - and that the custome would be made entirely from material in our recycling box, including cardboard, newspaper, plastic bottles, etc.
He also sat down with me at the computer and listed the rules of recycling. We created a recycle box with the recycled trash glued on it. He also suggested a hole in the back and a tube, where people can dump candy.
Every year, Harry comes up with some crazy idea about what he'd like dress up as for Halloween. He only watches PBS, and mostly shows like Nova and American Experience, so he never opts for the Super Hero Costume you can buy at the store. That would be too easy ... Sara is different.
Last year, he was a cup monster (Sara was an easy butterfly).
So, here's what you need if you want to create green friendly costume, raise awareness about environmental issues, and be a little creative.
1. Cardboard box. Paint it the color of your recycling box. Cut holes in it for plastics, newspaper, cans, and cardboard. 2. Recycleable Trash: Just raid your stash. If you don't recycle, you can learn more here. 3. Recycle logo - I searched until I found one to download and pop into word to print out. 4. Discuss with your kid why it is important to recycle and what the rules are.
I just had to blog it. Would love to see something like this in Cambodia and perhaps is a step towards comprehensive connectivity?
The eTUKTUK is a community building initiative that aims to converge the technological benefits of digital communications and new media with community radio. The eTUKTUK is a self-contained mobile telecentre and radio broadcasting unit housed within a three wheeled motorcycle.
The awards recognize individual and business and celebrate the growing community contribution to
original video content for the Internet and portable media devices.
I don't expect to win given the amazing instructional vlogs that in that category and that I have used to learn how to vlog. Also, I'm relative newbie to this field and not a professional videographer, rather I started it to document my own learning as well as share what I know with others.
I was also honored this week when JD Lasica from OurMedia included one of my flickr screencasts in the new Learning Center, an excellent resource for learning about all forms of media making. (I'm a volunteer on the working group.)
My videos are distributed all over the place (I'm experimenting with many different video hosts) ... so you can find my work in wiki portofolio
One of the areas I want to explore in a screencast related to widgets are those that help groups of individuals do fundraising via a blog. I found an excellent site that compares the widgets/services and includes some good questions. It's called First-of-its-kind by Peter Deitz. It is described as a website that promotes small-scale giving and research on micro-philthanthropy.
In the last four years, the number of websites that help individuals design and implement their own group fundraising campaigns has exploded. Networks of friends, family, and activists can now raise money effecitvely and collectively for any number of causes. But with all the options available, sometimes it is difficult to know which platform to choose and how best to put it to use.
I happen to find this photo in Jon Stahl's flickr stream (nice set of photos here) Looks like the plone conference was also streamed into Second Life (more about it here). The wiki has a good set of instructions on how to use tags to promote the conference.
Heather Carpenter is the Assistant Director of Aspiration which connects nonprofits organizations with software solutions that help better carry out their work. Her blog, Nonprofit Management and Operations Blog, is an amazing resource for anyone who is responsible for managing a nonprofit.
Can you tell me a little more about the nonprofits that you worked for in the SF area prior to joining Aspiration?
I worked for two and half years as Operations Manager for Low-Income Families Empowerment through Education (LIFETIME) a statewide grassroots membership organization that helps low-income families go to college and get out of poverty. I also did consulting work for the Diablo Respite Center an organization that supports folks with Alzheimer's disease, the Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group a nonprofit recruiting firm, and several other start-up nonprofits located at different locations throughout the US.
How did you end up as an "Accidental Techie"?
Although my job description as Operations Manager for LIFETIME didn't include technology per say, I worked tried to fix the problems with the 16 computers in our office as well as extending the life of those computers. I started out learning about the computers by spending many hours troubleshooting the problems while on the phone with Dell. I also utilized every one of Compumentor's programs and learned a lot from the technology consultants that I worked with.
What was the most stressful that happened to you as an "Accidental Techie"?
Our DSL (provider to remain nameless) went down for several days and I did everything in my best power to work with the DSL provider to fix the problem, it turned out to be a faulty card on their end. During troubleshooting I had reset the router, so when the DSL was supposed to be back up an running it wasn't, I didn't realize I had to reprogram my router, until my IT consultant came to the rescue and helped me.
What is your proudest moment as an accidental techie?
Upgrading all the computers in the office from Windows 98 to Windows 2000 working with Hilary Naylor, my mentor from Compumentor.
I'm an accidental techie too and I joke that I got my training "in the street" and lunch time at Borders -- what methods did you use to learn what you needed to know to get the job done?
Like I mentioned above, I utilized everyone of Compumentor's programs to learn about computers. The most beneficial program I went through was the Healthy and Secure Computing program where I was able to learn about best practices for technology like keeping an inventory of all the computers in the office. As a result of that class, I was also able to do a technology plan for my organization and implement specific aspects in the plan. Also, when I first started out as an accidental techie, I created a technology budget so I could hire a technology consultant for a couple of hours a month to help me. I made an effort to follow around each consultant who worked with me so I could learn what they were doing to fix my computer problems.
Your bio says that you have a passion for improving nonprofit operations and that you spent some time as a consultant doing that, what are 1 or 2 most common areas where nonprofits need improvement in their operations? What advice do you give?
The most common area that nonprofits need improvement in their operations is with their finances, also second after that improving their human resources practices. Many nonprofits (the smaller ones) are so focused on achieving their missions that they don't think about maintaining the infrastructure of the organization. That is why I created the Nonprofit Operations Toolkit, a step-by-step guide which describes many ways that a nonprofit can improve its operations. The toolkit is based on my personal experience of improving the operations of each nonprofit that I serve.
Since the majority of my clients are start-up organizations, the words of advice I generally tell them is "start your organization out the right way, by filling out the necessary paperwork, setting up the systems for tracking finances, constituents, and donations and plan how to maintain those systems."
How are you bringing your passion for nonprofit operations to work at Aspiration?
When I came on board with Aspiration, I made an effort to practice what I preach to my clients and followed my 10 Nonprofit Operations Success Steps to improve the operations of Aspiration. One of the first things that I did was to find a new office space for Aspiration which we now call the San Francisco Technology Center. This collaborative space has 7 organizations who are all focused on some aspect of nonprofit technology, we are also starting to do nonprofit tech trainings in the space. It is exciting to see how improving the operations of Aspiration is helping us to achieve our mission.
I am also enjoying building upon what Aspiration already started before I came on board like updating our event planning materials and procedures and sharing them on my blog.
Why did you start to blog?
I am so embarrassed to say that I did not know what blogging was until I started working for Aspiration. Our Executive Director, Allen Gunn gave me the opportunity to blog about something I love the most-Nonprofit Operations. So, I started my blog in July and it has been a blast! I love sharing nonprofit resources and helping nonprofits succeed!
What are your favorite nonprofit blogs that cover operations topics written by women?
Sorry I don't want to discriminate because some of my favorite nonprofit blogs are by men. Below are some of the blogs I read, I keep learning about new blogs each week, it is so exciting to see so many folks in the nonprofit sector blogging. Some of the blogs below include topics about nonprofit operations, some do not. I pull helpful tidbits from each one.
I'm researching for a screencast that I will shoot over the next few weeks on the topic of widgets that can be used for your blog to enable conversation or support nonprofit programs. I'm looking for widgets that can easily add any of the following features:
Integrating calendar or events info on your blog
Publishing tag clouds, links from socialbookmarking, etc on your blog
Publishing other folks content via RSS feeds on your blog
Live chat on your blog
mail on your blog
Share what you're feeds your reading
Commenting
Giving money
So, if you work in the nonprofit sector or nonprofit technology sector and have a blog that uses any of the above widgets or even ones I have mentioned and want to be featured in my next screencast, please leave a comment here. I'm particulary interested in typepad widgets, but blogger, wordpress, and others are okay.
Tell me:
-Name a nd url of your blog -Name of widget/url -Why you installed it -Results? -Your blog platform and how easy it was to install -If you'd be willing to do a quick interview and if you have skype
gThe above video is one of the many social networking strategies that The Genocide Intervention Network used to transform itself from a small student group to national non-profit. This case study, "Using Network to Stop Genocide," by Ian Boothe was published on Idealware a few days ago. Go read it.
Here's the key takeaways for me:
* The capacity to be successful is an investment in time
"While none of these approaches cost a lot of money, they certainly require staff time to support. Social networking requires commitment -- you can't set up a MySpace profile and then walk away. You have to approve new friend requests, respond to messages, post your latest action alerts, send out bulletins, keep your profile up-to-date, and more. You’re not creating a billboard, but rather starting a conversation -- you have to be willing to respond."
Taking it a little deeper, organizations should not go in the other direction - and be strategic in friending people. The reality is that our brains only have the capacity to manage a limited number of relationships – each of various qualities. (More here)
* The mindshift to be successful
"There's a mentality shift required to fully engage with social networking and community content sites: sometimes, you have to let go."
This point really resonates with what Allison H. Fine writes about in her book Momentum. The concept of openness. Fine, a self-identified “recovering proprietary thinker,” offers personal insights in opening up to new ideas and letting go of information, hierarchy and "proprietary" thinking. The book includes a "Connected Quiz, a set of reflective questions that can help an activist think about how well they or their organization is connecting with others -- something to think about before jumping into the tools.
Some notes from the white paper, I'm still digesting it (not being a digital native, I had to print it out)
According to recent study from Pew Internet and American Life project, more than one-half of teens have created media content and roughly one-third have shared ocntent. These teens are actively involved what Jenkins calls "participatory culture" - a culture with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing one's creations, and some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices. A participatory culture is also one in which members believe their contributions matter, and feel some degree of social connection to one another.
The paper gives examples of different forms of participatory culture:
- Affiliations (memberships - formal and informal - in online communities)
- Expressions (media creation, mashups, etc)
- Collaborative Problem Solving - (working toether in teams - informal/formal to comlpete tasks and develop new knowledge.
- Circulations - shaping the flow of media (e.g. blogging. vlogging, and podcasting)
The papers points out the benefits of these forms of participatory culture, including peer-to-peer learning, changed attitude toward intellectual property, skills valued in the modern workplace, etc. Some argue that young people acquire these key skills by interacting with popular culture. Jenkins points to some barriers to acquisition and makes a case for pedgogical interventions.
He also identifies the new literacies and skills -- and while he is talking about this in the context of children and education ... it makes me wonder about adult learners who are not digital natives and how they acquire these skills too. Adults who work for nonprofits and feeling pressured to adopt and incorporate social networking tools and techniques.
The skill set:
Play — the capacity to experiment with one’s surroundings as a form of problem-solving Performance — the ability to adopt alternative identities for the purpose of improvisation
and discovery Simulation — the ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real-world
processes Appropriation — the ability to meaningfully sample and remix media content Multitasking — the ability to scan one’s environment and shift focus as needed to salient
details. Distributed Cognition — the ability to interact meaningfully with tools that expand
mental capacities Collective Intelligence — the ability to pool knowledge and compare notes with
others toward a common goal Judgment — the ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of different information
sources Transmedia Navigation — the ability to follow the flow of stories and information
across multiple modalities Networking — the ability to search for, synthesize, and disseminate information Negotiation — the ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning and respecting
multiple perspectives, and grasping and following alternative norms.
Over the weekend, I attended the Technology in the Arts Conference in Pittsburgh where artist and activist Faith Ringgold was one of the keynote speakers. Her talk was called "More than 30 Years in ArtMaking." I had a chance to do a quick video interview with her about her thoughts on women artists.
It was a survey lecture, beginning with her work in the sixities and first-hand accounts of the civil rights movement in her "American People Series" right up to her current work. Her talk was inspiring and often humorous, sharing her stories to illustrate her life's work as an artist, activist, author, teacher, and parent.
She spoke about advocating for women artists in the 1970's and the artistic works that emerged from that activism, like the one below, titled For the Woman's House. She noted, "In the 60's, it was about answering the question "What is black art?" In the 70s, what is women's art? Why are women so important in visual art?" (Listen to the interview for the answer to those questions)
My favorite group of paintings were the ones she did in Europe copying the masters and integrating African American history, culture, and icons. She shared how in art school she had to copy the European masters and wasn't introduced to black artists. When she had opportunity to travel to Europe for an extended visit, she decided to visit the places where the masters worked and the masterpieces and record her versions incorporating black artists. They are brilliant!
As she took us through a timeline of her work, she pointed out how she experimented with different mediums and genres and even invented a few. She has created "quilts" on canvas and evolved this technique into a story quilt, where she wrote the story in words she wanted to tell on the canvas so it couldn't be interpreted by someone else. She has created sculpture, mosaics, paintings, stories, and children's stories and coloring books.
The coloring book, How the People Became Color Blind, was a series of sketches and a children's story that teachers have used all over the country. This story is about being color blind, or free of color prejudice-- one of the most difficult things to achieve in our society. At the end, the book asks readers: How do you deal with this problem in your life? Could you write a story? Could you draw a picture? What do you think of How the People Became Color Blind?
She shared some of her paintings, inspired by seeing the different work that children all over the world has done and read from the story. (I captured some of this on video and in my raw notes in an earlier raw notes post.) You can order a copy of the book and paintings on CD from Faith Ringgold's site.
She made a few jokes about missing her slide projector and having to use powerpoint and a MacIntosh, but I was impressed that a woman in her 70's was so comfortable with the technology. She mentioned at the end she was interested in creating video games for girls and based on what I heard and saw during the keynote, I hope she pursues that interest.
There's a growing number of artists, like Mary Flanagan who is on the board of Games for Change, interested in games. According to Benjamin Stokes, co-founder of Game sfor Change, the NSF has funded several game projects aimed at girls. There are also some women organized commercial developers and a few blogs covering the topic, like Game Girl Advance, particularly Brenda Laurel who is covered in some detail here.
via my colleague Teresa Crawford ... who passed this along via email ...
Thought folks might be interested in reading the Humaninet blog from Gregg Swanson who will be blogging and uploading photos to the Hnet Flickr account via a satellite connection at a disaster response exercise in Asia put on by ADRA Asia.
Gregg is testing out Telenor mobile satellite equipment and services during the exercise and getting a sense of how to use blogging and photo sharing more effectively during a natural disaster. Rarely do NGOs get a chance to test things out in a controlled yet realistic environment like the one ADRA Asia has put together. Gregg's participation in the exercise is a natural progression from the SimDay events Humaninet has hosted in Silicon Valley and Portland.
She wrote about their experiences setting up the blog and Flickr accounts and will write another installment about Gregg's experience in the field.
Attention anyone who has asked me to donate money or time to their project ....
Until October 31st, all projects on GlobalGiving will be competing for $75,000 in prizes. You’ve got about a week to make an enormous difference.
Since I'm on the board of the Sharing Foundation that works on development projects to support children in Cambodia and is part of the GlobalGiving community, I'm going to plug our education projects. You can read about them here as well as contribute.
On a personal note, our family contributes to the Sharing Foundation to support the college education of Leng Sopharath (along with the local rotary club, although college tuition in Cambodia is about $1,000 per year). You can read about her experience here.
The choice is up to you because the project that generates the most donations will receive the $50,000 grand prize. I would so much like it to be the Sharing Foundation. By giving to a particular project on GlobalGiving and encouraging your friends and family to do the same, you will determine what project gets the $50,000 prize money.
If not the Sharing Foundation, I'd sure love to make sure that support gets to Cambodia in general because the country that receive the most donations, the projects in that country will split $25,000. However, there are many worthy projects in other countries to support.
So, help out some excellent work going on in the developing world by:
-MOBILIZING supportersto help your favorite project or country win by making donations and telling their friends and colleagues to do the same.
-COMMUNICATING to let everyone know exactly how they can put your favorite project in first place. Use newsletters, websites, blogs, and email to spread the word about the Olympics and how people can participate.
-MONITORING the results by signing up for weekly updates over the next week.
-To learn more about the GlobalGiving Olympics click here or read about in the co-founder's blog.
You want fries with that? If you're making less than minimum wage in the nonprofit technology field, but should be paid a king's ransom, take the NTEN staff salary survey. Having this information will help us all. Hurry, it closes on Friday.
