|
[Printer Friendly Version]
News for November 2009
|
 24 November 2009 |
|
| Streams of Content, Limited Attention: The Flow of Information through Social Media |
|
I am a complete and utter fan boy when it comes to the work of Danah Boyd. She is a systems thinker, par excellence. She doesn't shy away from the issues most people seem to avoid, like class, race, gender, and power. She is relentless in both her relevance and her rigor. These qualities are evident in her recent Web 2.0 Expo talk entitled "Streams of Content, Limited Attention: The Flow of Information through Social Media". I particularly like the four core issues she has parsed out as the current challenges of networks and society: (1) The disruption we are undergoing is not inherently democratic. What do we do about that? (2) People seek out content that stimulates them. When you think of this the way you might think about food or drugs, you can see how this might be problematic. (3) Homophily rules. "Prejudice, intolerance, bigotry, and power are all baked into our networks." (4) Power isn't necessarily moving to the creators of content. "What's emerging is not inherently the power of the creators, but the power of the modern day information brokers."
Posted: 11/24/09; 5:31:04 PM # |
| In Social Enterprise Force Yourself to be an Entrepreneur First |
|
Although I am critical of the notion that civil society must only learn from business and not the other way around, I do like many of the ideas and much of the spirit in Peter Haas' piece In Social Enterprise Force Yourself to be an Entrepreneur First. Although he says "don't be a nonprofit" (although the corporate nonprofit model is troublesome to me, I frankly can't agree with that as a rule), his other nine "rules" are worth our attention: (1) Don't start a new organization. (2) Clearly define what you do and stick with it. (3) Clearly define your budgets and cash flow, and track your variance. (4) It costs more than you expect. Get more than you need. (5) Get legal and stay legal. (6) Pay yourself and your staff from the beginning. (7) Communicate openly with your staff and board and have clear roles and responsibilities. (8) Treat both constituents and donors as customers. (What about treating them as citizens?) (9) Play nice with others.
Posted: 11/24/09; 5:18:23 PM # |
| Timbuktu Chronicles: Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainability in Africa |
|
I was going to pick a particular post from Emeka Okafor's Timbuktu Chronicles, but I concluded that it's more compelling to recommend his entire blog. He writes short, inviting posts that are dense with intriguing links and quotations from a fabulous range of sources. His focus is Africa, but with an emphasis on social entrepreneurship and sustainability. There are plenty of feel-good fluff blogs about Africa, but this isn't one of them. The news, resources and, most of all, the commentary, offer critical thinking and genuine depth.
Posted: 11/24/09; 4:55:38 PM # |
| New Business Models for News Organizations |
|
The most prominent methods of large scale project planning in civil society embrace the notions of "theories of change" and "logic models". I have often hoped that there would be forums for such models to be shared, tested, and developed within communities of practice and there are people who are trying to make that happen. Here is a fantastic example of exactly that sort of forum: The CUNY Graduate School of Journalism has developed several New Business Models for News Organizations, which they are inviting people to dive into. Most significantly, they are offering the models for download in formats that permit tweaking their assumptions. This is precisely the strength of the practice of modeling and it's a thrill to see it used in a practitioner setting (albeit from an academic institution more used to the notion of peer review). Some of the interesting models to study include: Hyperlocal & Ecosystem Frameworks, something they are calling New News Organizations, several Not-for-Profit models, and a couple of Paid Content models. I encourage everyone who is even remotely in the information business (nonprofit or otherwise) to engage with this material, along with the thinking and practices that are reflected in this forum.
Posted: 11/24/09; 4:46:40 PM # |
| David Bornstein's FAQ is a Social Entrepreneurship Primer |
|
Rarely have I read a more interesting FAQ than the one found on David Bornstein's Stories of Change blog. I'm not sure if these really are frequently asked questions on the topic of "social entrepreneurship", but it hardly matters. These are great questions and even better answers. I'll give you the former here to induce you to read the latter: What is a social entrepreneur? Where did this new wave of social entrepreneurship come from? Why has it found a place in the 21st century? Why are these ideas so successful? Are there commonalities between these social entrepreneurs despite their obvious differences? So many governments are failing to implement change where social entrepreneurs are flourishing. How do you explain this phenomenon? How did you select the social entrepreneurs in How to Change the World? What were you aiming to profile (in your book)? Many of your social entrepreneurs are fellows of the organization Ashoka: Innovators for the Public. What was it about Ashoka that captured your interest? What do you see as the most important aspect of these social entrepreneurs? How should budding social entrepreneurs go about implementing their ideas? Do you envision social entrepreneurship reaching a saturation point? Can anyone change the world?
Posted: 11/24/09; 4:14:38 PM # |
|
13 November 2009 |
|
|
10 November 2009 |
|
|
9 November 2009 |
|
| How the Web and the Weblog have Changed Writing |
|
Philip Greenspun is a visionary technologist and a very charming writer. I recommend his piece on How the Web and the Weblog have Changed Writing. In particular, I believe that most nonprofits have substantial mismatches between their media and their messages and could really learn a lot from this article. If you are publishing online in any fashion, if you're consider weblogs, or if you are thinking of so-called "user generated content" (which I think should just be called "content"), you own it to your stakeholders to read this.
Posted: 11/9/09; 5:41:21 PM # |
| Session Notes from Web of Change 2009 |
|
I was unable to attend this year's Web of Change gathering at Hollyhock, but there are some good Session Notes accumulating online. These are in fact all notes, rather than articles, so be prepared to use them as the basis for an email to the presenters or a lot of online searching for named examples and resources. I recommend you start with the first one on the list (which is my personal favorite): Technology and True Love - Integrated Engagement Tracking.
Posted: 11/9/09; 5:36:56 PM # |
| Six Online Community Vendors for Associations: An Analysis |
|
Maddie Grant and Lindy Dreyer at SocialFish have published an analysis of Six Online Community Vendors for Associations. I'm disturbed by the fact that every single one of the chosen applications is a proprietary application provided by a single vendor. Another way to do this analysis would have been to compare open source platforms - such as AroundMe, Elgg, Mahara, NewsCloud, and many others - and then compare the vendors competing to provide you with strong service. With single source proprietary vendors you are far more likely to get locked in. While the analysis does look at open APIs, it does not do an assessment of exit costs. But if the culture of your organization prefers the single, commercial vendor model, then I do in fact recommend this analysis. Furthermore, as a set of benchmarks for looking at open source solutions, it's also quite useful.
Posted: 11/9/09; 5:32:47 PM # |
| The Economics Of Trust |
|
The World Bank isn't my favorite institution, but it nevertheless produces some great thinking and some great resources. For example, Steve Knack of the World Bank says: "If you take a broad enough definition of trust, then it would explain basically all the difference between the per capita income of the United States and Somalia." In The Economics Of Trust, Tim Harford looks into this analysis. This suggests a much larger role for civil society in the wealth of nations than just its percentage of the employment base. It also bodes ill for the climate of rapidly devolving trust in the rise to power of the paranoid right in the United States.
Posted: 11/9/09; 5:22:26 PM # |
|
5 November 2009 |
|
| Anti-Abortion Extremism Online |
|
Sadly, Muslim charities are more often labeled as terrorists in the U.S. than anti-abortion extremists who genuinely organize violent actions. But First Monday has some interesting research into Anti-Abortion Extremism Online that gives us a very good look at the line that gets crossed when activism turns into aggression. The article is also a lesson in the layers and complexities of online organizing and community and the various roles played by different people and sites. This is a worthwhile read.
Posted: 11/5/09; 5:46:59 PM # |
| Mashable's 2009 Open Web Awards |
|
Mashable's 2009 Open Web Awards has a range of categories that might be of interest to you. They include: best nonprofit use of social media, social media agency, best social media maven to follow, best blogger to follow, and most inspiring to follow. I'm fairly skeptical of popularity contests masquerading as "best of" anything, but still, I would like to see my readers weigh in on this.
Posted: 11/5/09; 5:41:32 PM # |
| Policy Project on the Social Economy |
|
In the context of a range of efforts including new rating and reporting systems and increased citizen participation in publicly accessible data, Lucy Berholz proposes a Policy Project on the Social Economy. She's asking people to help her assess the public policies that affect civil society. She asks the right simple questions, provides a number of ways to participate, and has started a great little mindmap of ideas.
Posted: 11/5/09; 5:38:25 PM # |
| Small Steps to a Larger Goal |
|
Steve Anderson's Small Steps to a Larger Goal is a very wise take on what criteria to use when you are working with others toward a large long-term goal. It might not be as applicable to solo projects like writing a book, but it really does apply to what most of us are doing most of the time. In brief, his priorities are: (1) Get other people unstuck. (2) Show visible movement in the right direction. (3) Avoid creating a substantial amount of followup support. (4) Take into account the cost of undoing or fixing the work. (5) Put off decisions you can afford to put off.
Posted: 11/5/09; 5:32:48 PM # |
|
3 November 2009 |
|
| Building Your Online List: A High Integrity Model, Seminar on Dec. 16, 2009 |
|
I spend a lot of time teaching my clients how to deepen their relationships with existing stakeholders. But sometimes, you just need to build or expand that list of stakeholders in the first place! There are lots of weak and disappointing ways to do that. And plenty more ways that are marginally ethical. That's why I'm teaching this workshop, coming up on December 16, 2009: Building Your Online List: A High Integrity Model for Reaching Large Numbers on the Internet. We cover every important list-building method - social media, media transitions, chaperoning, campaigns, etc - and put them in the context of a scalable, sustainable program.
Posted: 11/3/09; 5:33:41 PM # |
|
|
RSS