Web
Raising Change
Did it feel like Change or charity?
Doing a workshop at the “Raising Change” conference (San Francisco) had me reflecting a whole lot on fundraising strategies for the movement. A lot of those wonderings revolved around “social networking sites and fundraising” - the topic I presented. Is it a viable new way? Is it worth trying out? What can you expect to gain or lose in the short and long run? What does it mean to your offline fundraising? Really meaty questions I would say. Fortunately I had a large energetic group in the workshop which enhanced the usefulness of the session: there was a lot of wisdom passed around from our collective experience.
It was an impressive turnout by the way: the total number of people at the conference hovered around 600. As a young fundraiser, its invigorating being around peers in this sort of setting: “a social justice fundraising conference” (as described by the organizers). Albeit the fact that I’m reminded that we have a long road to travel. The gospel according to my workshop was simple: Social Networking sites are yet another possibility to raise change but are anything but a magic formula for fundraising. Read that as: Good fundraising communications and strategies used offline are relevant to online fundraising.
One of the more important lesson’s I’ve picked up from our Power of Change campaign is to remember we’re raising support for Change not begging for charity! The basic ingredient of a movement is a committed people. People, who commit time, People who commit to hard work, people who commit their resources, etc. Raising change is establishing a partnership with folks that support the movement and making sure we have the resources we need to further small “d” democracy.
If you’re interested in using social networking sites to fundraise and wonder how to do it effectively, this little exercise below could be a start in thinking about it.
Reflect on experiences you have had with folks sending you online appeals – through, email, e-newsletters, face book applications, etc.
- Was the design attractive?
- Was the content well catered to you?
- Did it reach you at a good time?
- Did the problem and the action have some logical consistency?
- Was the action easy enough to follow?
- Did it feel like change or charity?
Peace Kwame
Political Inclination of MySpace users:
Seems like the MySpace folks are working to build a case against the idea that MySpace users are politically disengaged. A recent survey
. . .revealed a few key facts: that MySpace's young user base is more politically engaged and active than the U.S. population at large, that they tend to be politically independent, and that they plan to vote in the 2008 election.
Read the rest - it is quite interesting at MySpace touts early success with political polling initiative
Web Worker Daily » A Look Inside MoveOn.org «
Web Worker Daily has a "Look Inside Virtual Company MoveOn.org" it isn't much of a look that you don't already know if you know about MoveOn, but vaguely interesting - the virtual retreat sounds torturous, but I suppose if you've got a good headset, then it might be okay.
More interesting would have been a review of the headsets, phone systems, and other hardware and software they use. I mean, they can't really run everything on Google Docs, Google Spreadsheets, and other online technologies - certainly not with their membership databases and other member related information, right?
twitter: am I the only one who sees some real potential here?
Twitter's had quite a bit of buzz lately. If you haven't heard of it, maybe its because you've got better things to do with your time than subscribe to a service that enables you and other twitter users you know to update each other on the minutiae of your lives via the web, cell phone text message, or rss.
But wait, maybe, just maybe there's something else here. Stay with me for a moment here:
Take twitter, not as potentially annoying social phenomena likened to the latest form of cat blogging, but instead as a communications platform that does a few things really well and really easily:
- enables short text posting through a web form, from your cell phone, or through an instant messenger account
- publishes that short message on the web
- pushes that short message out to your network of subscribers via: web site, rss or cell phone text message
Do you see it yet? How about some scenarios:
- GOTV work? GOTV staff posts a "remember to vote" message on twitter 1 week, 3 days, 1 day, on the day, and then every hour for the last 5 hours of election day. Could this get annoying? Maybe, maybe not depending on constituency. Include a link or phone number to find out where to vote/get a ride/or for election protection info for extra points.
- do you do lobby days? spend a chunk of your state's legislative session at the capitol? Twitter just became your best bet for super fast updates to supporters and to your website.
Those are just two examples. There are many many more, and I hope that you're thinking about and planning to use some of them. Twitter's not perfect - far from it. Currently, the site can be painfully slow as the number of users outweighs the resources of the server twitter.com is sitting on, but I'd be surprised if that didn't change soon.
What is really cool about twitter is that it is totally permission based - you can't just collect someone's cell phone and and spam them with sms text messages - they have to register at twitter and ask to receive your updates. It may add a layer of complexity, but it means that folks that do subscribe to your updates probably really want to hear from you.
From an organizing perspective, it would be very cool if twitter supported groups, but given how many people are clamoring for this functionality, I hope to see it soon.
What are your thoughts about where and how twitter could be used in community organizing?
skype’s click-to-call Firefox extension and online databases
the latest version of Skype includes an option Firefox extension that automatically transforms phone numbers in webpage into buttons that you can click to initiate a Skype call.
Here's an example of what it looks like in action:
(Click for a larger image)
This example is taken from PTP's database - Salesforce - but would work the same with any other online database out there.
As you can see, the possibilities are pretty intriguing - imagine setting up a phone list with entry fields - a caller could sit at a computer, clicking and calling their way down the list, entering in response directly on the page and therefore directly into the database. This could be pretty darn cool.
GigaOM » Spam is sucking life out of Email
We all know that spam's a problem. But a recent post on gigaom.com had a stat that caught my eye: quoting a NY times article that said spam "accounts for more than 9 of every 10 e-mail messages."
I knew that it was bad, but since we've set up with Mailfoundry, the number of spam messages that actually make it to my inbox have dropped to fewer than 10 a week - yes, a week.
I'm not suggesting that Mailfoundry is the answer to spam filtering - running mail through Gmail, using SpamAssassin, and any of the many other tools out there are probably equally good.
What I do think is that as the number of spam increase relative to actual mail, we're going to see three things happen:
- spam filtering that happens away from your inbox is going to increase in popularity due to its greater efficiency for the end user (you).
- spam filtering that aggregates the spam reporting of its userbase is going to become ever more effective - think about something like Gmail or Mailfoundry, where many users are marking messages as spam thereby training the filters for everyone. It just makes sense that this sort of approach is going to always be more effective than what you or I can do invididually by training our own anti-spam system.
- some form of verified sender and "pay to send" email is going to arise out of the competing proposals. Making spam unprofitable is the only realistic way I can see to shift this trend. The concept has problems, but spammers are spamming to make money. A serious reduction in the profits would go a long way towards reducing the allure of spamming.
The trick is going to be coming up with a solution that retains the utility of email while signifcantly reducing the spam problem in a manner that doesn't restrict control of who can send email.
Free DNS with some interesting features
I read about OpenDNS a few weeks back and decided to give it a try.
OpenDNS is a company that provides free DNS lookup service for your computer. Since you all have DNS service already - you get it when you buy an internet connection, you might wonder why you'd want to look at OpenDNS.
I wondered the same thing, but after reviewing what they offer, and actually using it, I think they've got two really great features that make them worth a look.
The first, and probably most useful is their spelling correction - have you ever typed in a URL incorrectly? www.progressivetech.og for example? OpenDNS will correct that to www.progressivetech.org for you - super useful since we all sometimes forget that we're not perfect typists, but also nice because at least on small laptop screens, the address bar in my browser isn't always quite as clear as it could be (I probably do need to get another eye exam too, but that's besides the point). I haven't used the service for all that long, so I don't know how extensively the spell correcting works - for example, typing www.progresivetech.org doesn't trigger auto-correction, but instead takes you a google-esq search page. Still, most of the URL mistakes I make are in the extension - .co or .cm instead of .com.
The second feature that makes OpenDNS interesting is their anti-phishing protection. From what I can tell, they maintain a database of phishing sites, and block your computer for reaching those sites. If you try to access a site in their anti-phishing database, you get a page that tells you that the site was blocked because of phishing, and gives you the option of submitting a form to contest the phishing block. Again, I don't know how extensive their database is, partially because I haven't used the service that long, but also because I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of accidentally hitting a phishing site. Still, even a little protection from phishing is nice.
If you've ever thought about finding a different set of DNS servers, I think OpenDNS is worth a look.
KFTC on YouTube
about a month ago, I was having a conversation with a colleague where we puzzling over what it would take for YouTube or similar services to be a tool for community organizers.
One of my thoughts was that YouTube needed some organizing related content before it would be of much interest to organizers or members of community organizing groups.
Well, the folks over at Kentuckians for the Commonwealth may have started the ball rolling by posting this video called "Why We Vote" check it out and forward it on:
tips on good blog writing
gee, I think I break almost all of these rules for good blog writing. Of course I've never actually claimed to be a good blog writer. Training curriculum on the other hand. . .
Still, its a good list. Check it out.
mapping mashups and community organizing
Amanda's got a question about interesting use of Google Maps by community organizing groups.
I started to respond over there, but think elevating the conversation out of a comment thread is probably worthwhile since I think there are some folks reading here that aren't reading over there, and I'd really like them (if you're not sure if you're included in that them, you are) to weigh in on this.
So this is what little I know on the subject: mapping mashups just haven't reached into the organizations we know doing anything with GIS.
I think there are a few reasons for that.
- online mapping tools have only very recently reached a point where you can do interesting things with them.
- Organizations that do mapping a lot already have a great deal invested in their present toolset and workflow.
- The advantages of online mapping "mashups" are unclear versus more traditional GIS mapping software.
I'll expand a bit on each of these points:
Online mapping tools have only very recently reached a point where you can do interesting things with them. Putting aside the question of exactly what interesting is, I've really only seen things that make me go "hmmmm" over the last year. That makes this a pretty new technology in my eyes, as well as the eyes of most of the techies I talk to in community organizations. Just to be clear, new isn't necessarily viewed as "bad," but many of us have an ingrained suspicion of "new" technologies that are being touted as the greatest thing since sliced bread because all too often, they're just not. It boils down a fairly conservative approach to software adoption. Other groups with more resources, more time, and more capacity can do the experimenting and prove that tools are worthwhile - let someone else be the guinea pig so to speak, especially when there are perfectly good, proven solutions at hand. Which leads to point two.
Organizations that do mapping a lot already have a great deal invested in their present toolset and workflow. How many of you reading this have ever sat down in front of any of ESRI's GIS tools to create a map? I haven't, but from what I understand of it, the process is a fairly detail oriented, somewhat complex one. That makes sense, I mean we're talking about taking data from multiple sources and merging that with various shape files to produce something that communicates information about an issue in a way that words can't. Organizations that do a fair amount of mapping work have invested heavily in the hardware, software, and training and have built internal systems and workflow for getting their maps produced. As most of you know, changing a system like this is not a decision that's made lightly. The idea of changing is complicated by the fact that:
The advantages of online mapping "mashups" are unclear versus more traditional GIS mapping software. Let me give you an unrelated example. Say you're cooking and your recipe calls for boiled, peeled, and cut up potatoes. I'd be willing to bet that some number of you peel the potatoes first, then boil them, then cut them up. Another percentage of you peel them, cut them, then boil them. The last group - and this is the group that I'm in - boils, then peels, then cuts. Arguably, the end result is the same. Just know that if you have that argument with me, you will never convince me that your peeled, cut, and boiled potatoes are as good as my boiled, peeled and cut potatoes.
When it comes right down to it, the question of Google maps vs. ESRI or GRASS or whatever software is actually pretty similar. If the goal is a map that shows X factor overlaid with Y factor, and shaded in such a way as to make a particular point, you're going to be really hard pressed to explain to anyone how the "new" technology is appreciably better than the "old" technology. If you've got a tool and it works, why go in for an upgrade when the actual "new" features aren't terribly clear.
Up to this point, I haven't really seen a clear advantage to using the new tools - Google maps, yahoo maps, Google earth, etc. Sure, there are some nifty things you can do pretty easily with add-ons like this Yahoo Maps Excel macro that takes a formatted data sheet in Excel and plots the data in a Yahoo map. Even so, that's a pretty limited application, and one that doesn't have a lot of clear utility for the actual on-the-ground organizing work that folks are engaged in.
None of that is to suggest that I'm set against any of these tools. I continue to follow developments in all of these toolsets, and am very excited by the work that seems to be happening around making tools like Google Earth, Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, and even Microsoft's Windows Live Maps easier to use for non-technical folks. At present though, I remain unimpressed with the existing solutions as they compare to more traditional approaches to GIS. I expect that to change, but until it does, I don't think we're likely to see groups like Southern Echo, Environmental Health Coalition, or Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition replace their existing mapping systems.
Resources: check out these examples of maps from community organizing groups:
Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition's Toxic Hot Spots map
Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice Perchlorate Levels Map
Southern Echo - link coming soon!
