This past week was one full of lots of social media goodness. Monday I was interviewed by Kami Griffiths of TechSoup, for a non profit webinar on Twitter and Flickr. The recording of the event is located here, in case you weren’t able to attend, and there is a nice round-up here (thanks Philanthropy Potluck!).
On Tuesday, TechSoup followed up the event with an online forum discussing Twitter, which I co-hosted with Marshall Kirkpatrick.
To top it all off, I held my first office hours for NTEN, which incidentally will re-occur every Tuesday from 3-4 pm EST here, if you’re interested in stopping by! In case you have other questions I might not cover, definitely check out the office hours schedule, there are some great folks volunteering their time!
Big thanks to everyone who participated in some or all of these events this week. It was great to have some friendly faces stop by, and awesome to make some new connections with folks dedicated to using social media for good. I am particularly amazed and inspired by organizations who are using both Twitter and Flickr for so many diverse things. I’ve even found my own self reevaluating my thoughts and strategies for these tools based on some of the great topics that were discussed.
In case you missed the Twitter forum, where the bulk of discussion took place, we chatted about:
Continue reading ‘Tweeting and Flickring, the non profit way’
After attending all of these big tech conferences lately - SXSW, NTC, and Women Who Tech - the trend I’ve taken closest to heart has nothing to do with technology at all. It actually involves doing the opposite of what this fast-paced industry has been pushing for years: slowing down.
OK, we’ve all equally enjoyed puttering around on Facebook, uploading images to Flickr and seeing how many comments we’d get, putting together photo books on Blurb, and building our own social networks in Ning, but now the initial “woah” has worn off (or there’s just too much damn stuff to keep track of) and it’s a good reminder to return to the business practices communications folks have been practicing for years: planning, frameworks, and process.
Web 2.0 applications don’t happen in a vacuum. They’re fun, definitely addictive, and continuously challenge us to look at what we do in new ways, but there is one thing they also consume of us - our time. We all know in the back of our heads that using these pieces of technology *should* have a purpose. Granted, I’m sure we’ve all thrown together a blog because the boss said so, or set up a Facebook presence because the folks at *that* campaign did it. The point is, getting the basics together upfront will pay off dearly in spades later on.
Continue reading ‘Girls with Macs conference wrap-up: what have the past few weeks taught?’
A few days ago TechSoup and Flickr sponsored an asynchronous chat discussion about the use of Flickr and photography in non profit organizations. Being an avid Flickrite myself, I popped on over there throughout the day and got involved in a lot of different discussions - from how to choose a camera to uploading photos and color profile integrity. I found that more often than not I had answers to questions instead of ones I wanted to ask.
In the process it occurred to me how I’ve developed a Flickr strategy over the past couple of years - much of which I can attribute to my photo obsession when I was living overseas. After Beth and a few others pointed out that the strategy behind my Flickr behavior could be beneficial to others in non-profits, it seemed only obvious that I mention some of my learnings in a blog post, so here goes:
Continue reading ‘Flickr learning and sharing @ TechSoup’
It’s actually a small miracle that my 8-hour trek to Austin yesterday didn’t take longer. With the snow that had fallen in Dallas the night before, flights were overbooked (mine by 12 seats!) and the next flight out was at 7:35 pm last night. A few folks (including me) squeezed our way onto the tiny USAIR plane, and made it to Dallas despite awful turbulence and the flight attendant turning the temperature down to 50 degrees, to keep people from vomiting with all the bumps. Actually, cold has been a theme this year of SXSW.
When I arrived in Austin at 3 pm yesterday, the overwhelming thought on everyone’s mind was “man this place wasn’t supposed to be so cold!” But it is. Last night I think the temp went down to 20 degrees - not ideal for a bunch of skinny techies anticipating 70 degree, balmy days. My jean jacket and jeans would have to suffice, and worst case, there’s been chatter of finding a local REI to bulk up on some thermals. Continue reading ‘SXSW: I have arrived’
I’ve been so bogged down with our site redesign, this blog has gone sorely ignored over the past three months. That and my upcoming panel presentation at SXSW, entitled Pimp My Non-Profit:
Monday, March 10th
5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
are weighing heavily on my mind.
I’m having a phone meeting with Beth Kanter today to talk about our 15 minute presentation. We’re working together to compare/contrast fundraising/nptech strategies - mine from the intra-organizational perspective and hers from the extra organizational activist perspective. I actually think we’re going to agree more than disagree, and ultimately I find myself strongly in favor of everything she writes.
I’m coming at this panel with a “reality check” mentality. I am 150% for the use of new technologies within non-profits - from fundraising to marketing, to delivering services and sharing knowledge - however, my experience working within non-profits has been eye opening. Regardless of how in favor of technology an organization is, it doesn’t necessarily equal success. There are a lot of other factors necessary that contribute to or inhibit the long-term sustainability and efficacy of these technologies. Some I just brainstormed include:
- Buy-in by staff members and senior management (techy AND non-techy folks). This ensures proper funding
- Technical resources in-house or contracted to make changes, provide tech support, update software
- Human resources and interest in the technology (to keep content fresh)
- Access to broadband and any internet connection - not so much an issue with my current organization, but when using these types of technologies in developing countries, fast connections are limited thus inhibiting the types of technology that can be used regularly, such as video or audio. Even in our recent student blogging project, participants found it difficult to get regularly connected to the internet and post entries.
- Proximity to constituents/participants - a lot of technology training can be handled remotely, but organizations/universities that have better success with their blogging projects have had face-to-face contact with their participants, creating a sense of community and ownership over the software. I don’t think this is necessary ALL the time, but definitely can help.
- Replicable - staff leaves, contingency plans? Can others take over? Have the same interest/stake in the technology doing its job?
- Empowerment - Can owners be successful with the technology? Are they truly owners of the software and can they share their excitement for its potential?
These ideas aren’t totally fleshed out, but very near and dear to my own experiences as an intra-organizational techy.
I’m hoping to get some more concrete presentation ideas after our meeting, and maybe even chat about the choice of “Pimp clothes” that the group is planning to wear. Personally I’m hoping for something in pink and leopard print. Maybe some large blingy chains and or rings with obnoxiously large plastic stones …
I’ve been greatly remiss in posting to this blog over the last couple of months as I’ve been deeply mired in the redesign of my organization’s website. Truly an adventure in patience, flexibility, and unbelievable hard work, but we FINALLY went live this morning. Our web team was incredible, and this amazing site wouldn’t have been possible without the work of each of them going above and beyond the call of duty. Thanks everyone, and enjoy the new look of World Learning.org!
This short but powerful video creates a dynamic portrait of students today - how they live, learn, and work - and in doing so it points out how the current educational system has failed to respond to these characteristics and the needs which stem from them.
The video was written and produced collaboratively by students as part of a class project and shared online using a Creative Commons license both on the class blog and YouTube. The video has been making its way around the web amassing over 800,000 YouTube views and 5,000 comments since it was posted just over a month ago.
The content of the video is moving on its own but the way that it was made and distributed shows how technology can be used to engage students and leverage both their skills and experience to create a collaborative educational exercise that results in a deeper learning experience.
Ed sent me an email over the weekend to let me know that our panel, “Pimp My Non-profit – Real Non-Profits Kicking Ass with Online Technology”, made the initial list of finalists for the SXSW Interactive Festival this coming March. Yay! This is especially exciting for me because my non-profit organization is in the midst of a huge re-branding and web redesign process, which we’ll have just launched on February 1, 2008. The experience will most definitely provide great fodder for conversation and good examples to share with the non-profit community. I’m hoping this excitement will keep me from getting nervous. That and the margaritas I’ll have to start sipping as soon as I get to Austin :o).
The description was posted on my blog previously, but I’m happy to share it again and encourage non-profits to attend this year’s conference:
“Non profit groups struggle with funding and public support issues on a daily basis. Yet many have overcome the odds and made a splash online and offline by using the latest Web technologies — for pennies on the dollar. This discussion will center around the stories, strategies, triumphs and challenges of innovative non profits with a passion for change and the cajones to rock it out online. “
If you’re a 2008 SXSW goer, I hope you join us!
And I’m not saying that because I spend a good chunk of my day trying to understanding the nuances of the changing web 2.0 environment or how people are harnessing the power of the net in fun and creative ways. I’m also not saying that to defend my professionalism or my age - which despite my youthful looks - is pushing up against the 30-something mark. Whether I’m presenting on this type of information in the workplace, or responding to lectures or presentations about web 2.0, oftentimes I get skeptical looks when I share what I feel to be the power of these interactive and community-driven tools. But then these skeptics give me a once-over, do a double-take, and then they have their “Ah Ha” moment. Silly girl. She only finds these tools exciting because she’s just a kid!
I spend time using these tools NOT because I’m young, but because it’s part of my job. Maybe I just happen to be well-educated in the work that I do and I consider it imperative to know what’s out there and at least be semi-versed in it. Would you believe a year ago when I was living in Kenya I had little to nothing to do with these sites? I determined last fall that this was the kind of career I wanted and therefore I needed to go about learning the industry. And I did.
Continue reading ‘Web 2.0 - it’s not just for kids’
This story about Middlebury has been out for a little less than two weeks, but I just discovered it this morning when a colleague passed it along. It has special relevance to my organization, as we’re currently going through a huge re-branding process and have been overly diligent in including various stakeholders. However, we aren’t doing a lot of testing with student audiences because our organization stands for so many different things and getting internal buy-in alone was a process that dragged on much longer than it should have. The majority of folks that are affiliated with us already is for cause-based reasons vs. image, and we’re counting on that as we move forward - the brand is just a new way to represent the great things we already and will continue to do. That said, I do think it’s important to reach-out to these student audiences a bit before we do the formal roll-out, to let them know what’s going on, and re-frame the branding process in terms of actual cause-based outcomes, such as a new focus on global citizenship and public events that focus on these initiatives.
I also don’t agree with the way that Middlebury backed down from their new branding. They obviously invested a lot of time and money in the process, and although the voices of their constituency matter, a Facebook petition shouldn’t have so much impact over their decisions, especially in such a short amount of time. Their reaction definitely sets a precedent and I imagine it will be harder and a much more arduous process to make any changes to their brand or the way they do business in the future as they’ll want to get buy-in from EVERYONE.
Facebook Petition Sinks Revamped Logo
“The College’s roll-out and subsequent retraction of its new logo this summer brought administrators face-to-face with a growing reality - the speed and power of Facebook as an organizing medium among college students.
Armed only with their computers and disdain for the “Middlebury Leaf,” Sarah Franco ‘08 and Alex Benepe ‘09 brought more than 700 students together in their group “Just Say No to the Middlebury Logo” within days of the College’s announcement of its new graphic identity to accompany a $500 million capital campaign…”
