Recruit allies and supporters
.8.12 | No Comments »
December 8th, 2006 by Alex
CE is an opportunity to expand your organization’s constituency and audience – and not just by reaching out to people already on the site. CE can be your gateway to a whole universe of social networks and online communities, if you know how to use it. Here are some ideas for using your involvement in CE to find even more potential supporters online:
Before you can find your potential new allies online, you need to identify the keywords and phrases associated with your issue, work or organization. For example if you and your friends want to start a community garden, you might look for content related to “garden”, “organic”, “vegetables”, “gardening” PLUS either “Vancouver” or “Victoria”. Once you know what keywords to look for, you can start searching for kindred spirits in a variety of online communities.
Finding bloggers. To find bloggers – even those not on CE – use a blog search tool like Technorati to search on each of your keywords. If it’s a broad subject, like “climate change,” be sure to search on both the keyword AND your community name. For example, search for blog posts that contain the words “climate change” AND “Vancouver”.
The results of your search will show a list of blog posts that contain those words. A quick glance will give you a sense of which blog posts are actually related to your issue, and which just happen to include your keywords. If you use Technorati you can filter your results to show just those posts that come from blogs with “a lot of authority” or “some authority” (use the pull-down menu below the green bar at the top of the page) – these are the blog posts that will be read by the most people.
Now, leave a comment on the blog post that links to the change you’re working on on Change Everything. Be sure to respond to the blog post so you’re not just spamming. For example you might leave a note saying, “It’s great to read your thoughtful comments about the impact of SUVs on climate change. Maybe we could ban them from East Van as part of making it the first carbon neutral community in Canada. We’re working on this on Change Everything – see http://www.changeeverything.ca/neighbours_for_a_carbon_neutral_east_van”
Your comments are like a trail of breadcrumbs leading people to your work on Change Everything!
Finding photographers. The Lower Mainland and Victoria are home to a lot of enthusiastic photographers, many of whom are sharing their photos online. These photo sharing communities – like Flickr, which started in Vancouver – let amateur and professional photographers share their work and organize it by topic. If you look for your keywords on Flickr – like ”climate change” and “Vancouver” and you’ll find photos related to your interests. Leave comments on these photos leading back to your Change Everything blog posts and changes, just like you’d leave comments on a blog post.
Finding readers. Lots of people now track their favourite web pages using social bookmarking services like del.icio.us (kind of a community version of your Explorer favourites folder), ma.gnolia or Digg. But you don’t have to sit back and wait to become a favourite. First, sign up as a member of ma.gnolia (or del.icio.us or Digg). Then when you write a blog post or add a change to Change Everything, you can store it as a bookmark in ma.gnolia. Be generous with your keywords – save it under “climate change”, “environment”, “eco”, “carbon neutral”, etc. – and other ma.gnolia users will discover it when they browse or search through bookmarks on the ma.gnolia site.
Recruit allies and supporters
.8.12 | No Comments »
December 8th, 2006 by Alex
ChangeEverything.ca is an opportunity to expand your organization’s constituency and audience – and not just by reaching out to people already on the site. CE can be your gateway to a whole universe of social networks and online communities, if you know how to use it. Here are some ideas for using your involvement in CE to find even more potential supporters online:
Before you can find your potential new allies online, you need to identify the keywords and phrases associated with your issue, work or organization. For example if you and your friends want to start a community garden, you might look for content related to “garden”, “organic”, “vegetables”, “gardening” PLUS either “Vancouver” or “Victoria”. Once you know what keywords to look for, you can start searching for kindred spirits in a variety of online communities.
Finding bloggers. To find bloggers – even those not on CE – use a blog search tool like Technorati to search on each of your keywords. If it’s a broad subject, like “climate change,” be sure to search on both the keyword AND your community name. For example, search for blog posts that contain the words “climate change” AND “Vancouver”.
The results of your search will show a list of blog posts that contain those words. A quick glance will give you a sense of which blog posts are actually related to your issue, and which just happen to include your keywords. If you use Technorati you can filter your results to show just those posts that come from blogs with “a lot of authority” or “some authority” (use the pull-down menu below the green bar at the top of the page) – these are the blog posts that will be read by the most people.
Now, leave a comment on the blog post that links to the change you’re working on on Change Everything. Be sure to respond to the blog post so you’re not just spamming. For example you might leave a note saying, “It’s great to read your thoughtful comments about the impact of SUVs on climate change. Maybe we could ban them from East Van as part of making it the first carbon neutral community in Canada. We’re working on this on Change Everything – see http://www.changeeverything.ca/neighbours_for_a_carbon_neutral_east_van”
Your comments are like a trail of breadcrumbs leading people to your work on Change Everything!
Finding photographers. The Lower Mainland and Victoria are home to a lot of enthusiastic photographers, many of whom are sharing their photos online. These photo sharing communities – like Flickr, which started in Vancouver – let amateur and professional photographers share their work and organize it by topic. If you look for your keywords on Flickr – like ”climate change” and “Vancouver” and you’ll find photos related to your interests. Leave comments on these photos leading back to your Change Everything blog posts and changes, just like you’d leave comments on a blog post.
Finding readers. Lots of people now track their favourite web pages using social bookmarking services like del.icio.us (kind of a community version of your Explorer favourites folder), ma.gnolia or Digg. But you don’t have to sit back and wait to become a favourite. First, sign up as a member of ma.gnolia (or del.icio.us or Digg). Then when you write a blog post or add a change to Change Everything, you can store it as a bookmark in ma.gnolia. Be generous with your keywords – save it under “climate change”, “environment”, “eco”, “carbon neutral”, etc. – and other ma.gnolia users will discover it when they browse or search through bookmarks on the ma.gnolia site.
Accepting my imperfection as a mother
.8.12 | No Comments »
December 8th, 2006 by Alex
Maybe that's more realistic than "be a better working mom". One thing I've discovered talking with my fellow moms -- working and nonworking alike -- is that we're all plagued by a similar sense of inadequacy. I feel guilty I'm not around more for my kids; a friend who works part-time worries that she's not providing a strong working woman role model for her boys.
My husband observed that the best indicator of the unrealistic expectations on us moms is the number of different phrases about "bad" moms: smothering vs neglectful. hovering vs cold, etc. Whereas the only derogatory thing you ever hear associated with fatherhood is "absent father". In other words, dads get full marks simply for showing up; moms have to worry about being too loving or not loving enough, too engaged or too distracted.
All those labels go through my head when I've spent a long day at work or (more frequently) had a hard time disengaging from work and really engaging with my kids once we all get home. I try to remind myself that (a) everyone blames their parents for something (!!) and (b) whatever my regrets at not having more time with my kids, I'm not cut out to be a full-time mom. I'm a much happier, relaxed and engaged mom for having work that I love, and nothing is better for my kids than a happy mom.
Accepting my imperfection as a mother
.8.12 | No Comments »
December 8th, 2006 by Alex
Maybe that's more realistic than "be a better working mom". One thing I've discovered talking with my fellow moms -- working and nonworking alike -- is that we're all plagued by a similar sense of inadequacy. I feel guilty I'm not around more for my kids; a friend who works part-time worries that she's not providing a strong working woman role model for her boys.
My husband observed that the best indicator of the unrealistic expectations on us moms is the number of different phrases about "bad" moms: smothering vs neglectful. hovering vs cold, etc. Whereas the only derogatory thing you ever hear associated with fatherhood is "absent father". In other words, dads get full marks simply for showing up; moms have to worry about being too loving or not loving enough, too engaged or too distracted.
All those labels go through my head when I've spent a long day at work or (more frequently) had a hard time disengaging from work and really engaging with my kids once we all get home. I try to remind myself that (a) everyone blames their parents for something (!!) and (b) whatever my regrets at not having more time with my kids, I'm not cut out to be a full-time mom. I'm a much happier, relaxed and engaged mom for having work that I love, and nothing is better for my kids than a happy mom.
Discovering Second Life
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December 2nd, 2006 by Alex
We've recently started exploring Second Life, a virtual world that constitutes an exciting, immersive form of online community. The best way to get your mind around Second Life is to try it for yourself, or to read Snow Crash
Essentially, Second Life is like a video game environment with no actual game. You create a virtual self (called an avatar) whose phsyical appearance you control. Your avatar can then explore Second Life's virtual environment, which looks like a 3-D world on your computer screen. What you see on screen is your avatar walking (or flying) among islands, buildings, and various public spaces. Your avatar can chat with other people's avatars, go shopping, listen to music, go dancing, participate in online meetings, build a house, have sex, learn about social issues -- basically any one of the hundreds or thousands of real-world activities that some Second Life user has translated into this virtual world. And if you think of some activity that doesn't yet exist in Second Life, odds are that you can find someone to help you make it virtually real.
Second Life first crossed my radar a few years ago thanks to Beth Noveck, who introduced me to Democracy Island. But I was inspired to start exploring it for myself when Robert Scoble told an audience at SXSW that Second Life is the next frontier for online community innovation.
Scoble's not alone in his excitement about Second Life. There are now 1.2 million registered users, and new registrations are expanding at an exponential rate; more than 200,000 users have logged in during the past seven days. Businesses -- and to a lesser extent, community organizations -- are following. Some notable organizations flocking to Second Life: Reuters has assigned a full-time reporter to report news from Second Life. American Apparel has opened a virtual store. Dell sells PCs and Telus sells virtual cell phones. And our friends over at TechSoup have opened an office on Info Island, and are helping other nonprofits develop a Second Life presence.
We encourage you to check out Second Life for yourself (you'll want a pretty recent computer and high-speed Internet access to do so, and even so, be patient: it can take a little time for objects to "resolve" thanks to the high number of users now online). While you're there, be sure to look for us: Alex's username is Consultini Paperdoll; Rob is Dayglo Maladay.
And if you need some help learning your way around Second Life, be sure to keep coming back to our blog, or to our Second Life page. The fabulous Catherine Omega -- one of Second Life's longest residents and leading scripters -- is coaching us on the ins and outs of SL. We'll be blogging her coaching sessions, so stay tuned!
…by not consuming
.2.12 | No Comments »
December 2nd, 2006 by Alex
I'm the consumer queen. You know how everyone has one weakness or another where they overspend? For some people it's clothes, for others food, books, music, electronics, home furnishings, kids' stuff, pet stuff -- everyone has some area where they overaccumulate.
For me it's ALL of those categories. Which is why I find myself thinking more and more about my personal consumption and how it conflicts with my values and beliefs about social and environmental sustainability.
But I'm not sure that conscious consumption is the solution, per se. OK, it's part of the solution. Buy American Apparel rather than the Gap (if you feel better about underwriting sexual harassment than underwriting cheap labour). Buy recycled paper. Buy organic. Et cetera.
The problem with all that is that in our culture, consumption isn't only -- or even primarily -- about the end of acquiring goods or services. It's really about the addictive, numbing process of acquisition: every minute I spend searching for the perfect pair of chic, waterproof black boots (suggestions, anyone?) is a minute I'm not spending in reflection about the prospect of global warming, the situation in Iraq, my kids' prospects for happiness, my mortgage, the possibility of suitcase nukes, or any of the other ten thousand anxieties that zoom through my postmodern worrybrain.
Conscious consumption is arguably a better way of channeling that numbing behaviour -- if only because non-exploitative goods are more expensive, and thus shopping consciously probably means shopping less -- but it doesn't address the underlying problem of a society in which the process of consumption is a core social, psychological and identify-forming behaviour.
All that said, having given up so many other helpful self-medicating behaviours in the name of responsible parenting, I'm not yet willing/able to separate from my shopaholism. So my latest experiment in displacing the consumer urge has been to switch from real-world shopping (which consumes resources to produce and ship goods) to virtual shopping (which consumes a little energy, but remarkably little.) For all the other shopaholics out there who want to hit the mall without destroying the earth, I recommend checking out Second Life.
…by not consuming
.2.12 | No Comments »
December 2nd, 2006 by Alex
I'm the consumer queen. You know how everyone has one weakness or another where they overspend? For some people it's clothes, for others food, books, music, electronics, home furnishings, kids' stuff, pet stuff -- everyone has some area where they overaccumulate.
For me it's ALL of those categories. Which is why I find myself thinking more and more about my personal consumption and how it conflicts with my values and beliefs about social and environmental sustainability.
But I'm not sure that conscious consumption is the solution, per se. OK, it's part of the solution. Buy American Apparel rather than the Gap (if you feel better about underwriting sexual harassment than underwriting cheap labour). Buy recycled paper. Buy organic. Et cetera.
The problem with all that is that in our culture, consumption isn't only -- or even primarily -- about the end of acquiring goods or services. It's really about the addictive, numbing process of acquisition: every minute I spend searching for the perfect pair of chic, waterproof black boots (suggestions, anyone?) is a minute I'm not spending in reflection about the prospect of global warming, the situation in Iraq, my kids' prospects for happiness, my mortgage, the possibility of suitcase nukes, or any of the other ten thousand anxieties that zoom through my postmodern worrybrain.
Conscious consumption is arguably a better way of channeling that numbing behaviour -- if only because non-exploitative goods are more expensive, and thus shopping consciously probably means shopping less -- but it doesn't address the underlying problem of a society in which the process of consumption is a core social, psychological and identify-forming behaviour.
All that said, having given up so many other helpful self-medicating behaviours in the name of responsible parenting, I'm not yet willing/able to separate from my shopaholism. So my latest experiment in displacing the consumer urge has been to switch from real-world shopping (which consumes resources to produce and ship goods) to virtual shopping (which consumes a little energy, but remarkably little.) For all the other shopaholics out there who want to hit the mall without destroying the earth, I recommend checking out Second Life.
Podcast: From Org Charts to Sitemaps — How organizational structure affects web strategy and implementation
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December 2nd, 2006 by Alex
Podcast: From Org Charts to Sitemaps — How organizational structure affects web strategy and implementation
.2.12 | No Comments »
December 2nd, 2006 by Alex
Does your organizational structure support web innovation or inhibit it? Social Signal's first podcast will help you learn how to make the most of your own team's structure from the web strategists at two very different nonprofits: Corrie Frasier, Online Communications Manager for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Jed Miller, Director of Internet programs for the American Civil Liberties Union. Corrie a