Here's the pictures from the presentation
http://www.nmc.org/preso/7271
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/4055876635/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/4056617620/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/4055876775/in/photostream/
Intro slideshow of a workshop I conducted for the Non Profit Resource Center of Texas.
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What is Social Networking and is it relevant to your organization? Become a champion of social media networks and discover more about the practical and effective applications available at your fingertips. From Blogs to LinkedIn to Facebook to Twitter, discover how to manage your organization’s social media life and begin connecting today!
This presentation was given to the Phoenix Chapter of IABC on April 29, 2010. The content discusses business uses of social media, imperatives for nonprofits, creating a plan, popular tools and potential pitfalls for social media programs.
Using social media for research: how social media is more than just 'what you...David Scott
Part of an eResearch seminar series put on by the Melbourne Graduate School of Research. David & Paul from the University of Melbourne's Marketing & Communications division discuss what social media is and how it can aide postgraduate students to connect with others in their areas of expertise to discuss, share and engage with each other and other material.
The internet is a powerful way to get your message across to the right audience. Social media sites like YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, MySpace, and Facebook can help raise awareness for your cause, build a network of support, coordinate events and create change. We'll explore the Dos and Don'ts of social networking, as well as hear some inspiring examples of how other nonprofits have used social media to advance their cause & broadcast their message to the world.
Intro slideshow of a workshop I conducted for the Non Profit Resource Center of Texas.
-------
What is Social Networking and is it relevant to your organization? Become a champion of social media networks and discover more about the practical and effective applications available at your fingertips. From Blogs to LinkedIn to Facebook to Twitter, discover how to manage your organization’s social media life and begin connecting today!
This presentation was given to the Phoenix Chapter of IABC on April 29, 2010. The content discusses business uses of social media, imperatives for nonprofits, creating a plan, popular tools and potential pitfalls for social media programs.
Using social media for research: how social media is more than just 'what you...David Scott
Part of an eResearch seminar series put on by the Melbourne Graduate School of Research. David & Paul from the University of Melbourne's Marketing & Communications division discuss what social media is and how it can aide postgraduate students to connect with others in their areas of expertise to discuss, share and engage with each other and other material.
The internet is a powerful way to get your message across to the right audience. Social media sites like YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, MySpace, and Facebook can help raise awareness for your cause, build a network of support, coordinate events and create change. We'll explore the Dos and Don'ts of social networking, as well as hear some inspiring examples of how other nonprofits have used social media to advance their cause & broadcast their message to the world.
Knowing the conversation topics that your community wants to discuss within your online social channels is the first step to developing a successful social media presence. In today’s challenged marketplace, social media offers synagogues the opportunity to solidify support, attract interest, and listen to the needs of the community. This presentation, delivered as the keynote address at the Cantors Assembly 2014, considers the importance of knowing what “the conversation” is that your community wants to have online, and how opening up to the conversation is a key to unlocking the power of online community.
Cultivating Community with Social Media at the Local LevelJennifer Navarrete
One of the best ways to increase membership or grow your business is to have active community involvement.
Harnessing the power of Social Media can be a great tool for your business, group or non-profit.
Social Media Hu J Term - Heather SchoeglerAndrew Hoffman
Day 2 of Friends, Tweets & Change included a presentation by Heather Schoegler, Director of Communications at Parkview Foundation in Northeast Indiana.
This is the presentation from which she led a discussion with the students.
This presentation was made at the Honeycomb networking event in Cape Town. It draws upon lessons learned in project management around networking and how these can be applied in small business and entrepreneurial environments.
An overview of social media tactics and best practice from a PR and marketing perspective. Includes case studies of both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.
Be Good Be Social: Communicating in a Big Society presentationRob Dyson
The basis of a talk I gave at the second Be Good Be Social event in Glasgow, 7 April 2011. The event was sponsored by Blackbaud and organised by Third Sector Lab.
Knowing the conversation topics that your community wants to discuss within your online social channels is the first step to developing a successful social media presence. In today’s challenged marketplace, social media offers synagogues the opportunity to solidify support, attract interest, and listen to the needs of the community. This presentation, delivered as the keynote address at the Cantors Assembly 2014, considers the importance of knowing what “the conversation” is that your community wants to have online, and how opening up to the conversation is a key to unlocking the power of online community.
Cultivating Community with Social Media at the Local LevelJennifer Navarrete
One of the best ways to increase membership or grow your business is to have active community involvement.
Harnessing the power of Social Media can be a great tool for your business, group or non-profit.
Social Media Hu J Term - Heather SchoeglerAndrew Hoffman
Day 2 of Friends, Tweets & Change included a presentation by Heather Schoegler, Director of Communications at Parkview Foundation in Northeast Indiana.
This is the presentation from which she led a discussion with the students.
This presentation was made at the Honeycomb networking event in Cape Town. It draws upon lessons learned in project management around networking and how these can be applied in small business and entrepreneurial environments.
An overview of social media tactics and best practice from a PR and marketing perspective. Includes case studies of both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.
Be Good Be Social: Communicating in a Big Society presentationRob Dyson
The basis of a talk I gave at the second Be Good Be Social event in Glasgow, 7 April 2011. The event was sponsored by Blackbaud and organised by Third Sector Lab.
Planet Cancer Ning Case Study from GreenlightBeth Kanter
Link to the original is here
http://www.gilliganondata.com/index.php/2008/09/30/off-topic-social-media-for-nonprofits-getting-the-word-out-in-the-new-information-age/
This is a draft for upcoming workshops in Chicago, San Francisco, and Michigan
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2009/02/listening-curriculum-draft-what-you-think.html
Demystifying Web 2.0 Tools for VolCom Groups:Beth Kanter
You may have heard the words, but what do they really mean for nonprofit organizations? This session introduces the concepts and tools behind the next generation of internet technologies or what has been dubbed "Web.20" or "Social Media." We�ll do some live demos of these tools, discuss their potential to enhance our work, along with some of the concerns they raise.
You�ll come away with a basic understanding of and context for the words that are buzzing around us, along with references for continued exploration.
Beth Kanter and David Wilcox
How Social Media Affects Our Self-PerceptionBy Kelsey Sunstrum.docxadampcarr67227
How Social Media Affects Our Self-Perception
By Kelsey Sunstrum
Not long ago, a friend of mine deleted her Instagram account. I couldn’t understand why one would ever do such a thing, so I asked and her response caught me off-guard.
She deleted her Instagram because she felt herself becoming depressed by it. The pressure of taking the right picture, with the right filter, wearing the right outfit, at the right place, with the right people was too much pressure.
We are conditioned to project only our best, albeit unrealistic, selves on our social media profiles as a modern way of virtually keeping up with the Joneses.
Regardless of whether you realize it, you’re spending a great deal of time and effort on the creation of your digital identity. The molding of this alternate self depends heavily on how others are projecting themselves in these arenas as well. What happens to your ‘real’ self, then?
Enter ‘smiling depression.’
Smiling depression is a term used to describe people who are depressed but do not appear so. In America today, 6.7 percent of the population over the age of 18 suffers from major depression, and it is the leading cause of disability in the 15-44 age range.
If you were to meet me for the first time, you would be very surprised to learn I have major depression. It is second nature to me to put on a mask of a happy person. Not only do I talk with people, I’m often the loudest person at a gathering and can always find something to joke or laugh about. This is smiling depression.
Social media puts an interesting lens on the creation of the self, and how this construction affects our mental well-being. The ideal self is the self we aspire to be. My ideal self would be a 25-year-old successful freelance writer who lives in a perpetually clean house and who always takes the time to put on makeup before she leaves the house.
One’s self-image is the person we actually are based on the actions, behaviors, and habits currently possessed. My self-image would be of a 25-year-old freelance writer just starting her business in a house that’s mostly clean most of the time and who forces herself not to wear pajamas everywhere.
According to Carl Rogers’s theory of personality, every human has the basic instinct to improve herself and realize her full potential. Like Abraham Maslow, he called this achievement self-actualization. He believed this state was attained when the ideal self and the person’s self-image were in line with each other. This person would be deemed a fully functioning person.
Each of us carries what Robert Firestone termed the critical inner voice. It is a dynamic that exists within every individual that offers a negative filter through which to view our life. It is theorized that the voice is created at an early age during times of stress or trauma.
Social media is not only extremely pervasive, it is an activity in which you are expected to participate. Not all social media is Facebook and Instagram. Think LinkedIn, the.
Using Social Networks for Social Change: Facebook, MySpace and MoreCoLab Coop
Ivan Boothe, creative director of Rootwork.org, was a co-founder of the Genocide Intervention Network and served as its director of communications and Internet strategy coordinator for four years. In this presentation, from the Democracy in Action Community Conference in June 2008, he talks about some of the successful approaches for nonprofits in using social networks like Facebook and MySpace for membership development, advocacy and fundraising.
Created by Annie Heckenberger and Alex Hillman for the "Virtual Marketing/Real Dollars" session at the InterActivity 2009 Children's Museum conference.
JMeter webinar - integration with InfluxDB and GrafanaRTTS
Watch this recorded webinar about real-time monitoring of application performance. See how to integrate Apache JMeter, the open-source leader in performance testing, with InfluxDB, the open-source time-series database, and Grafana, the open-source analytics and visualization application.
In this webinar, we will review the benefits of leveraging InfluxDB and Grafana when executing load tests and demonstrate how these tools are used to visualize performance metrics.
Length: 30 minutes
Session Overview
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During this webinar, we will cover the following topics while demonstrating the integrations of JMeter, InfluxDB and Grafana:
- What out-of-the-box solutions are available for real-time monitoring JMeter tests?
- What are the benefits of integrating InfluxDB and Grafana into the load testing stack?
- Which features are provided by Grafana?
- Demonstration of InfluxDB and Grafana using a practice web application
To view the webinar recording, go to:
https://www.rttsweb.com/jmeter-integration-webinar
Accelerate your Kubernetes clusters with Varnish CachingThijs Feryn
A presentation about the usage and availability of Varnish on Kubernetes. This talk explores the capabilities of Varnish caching and shows how to use the Varnish Helm chart to deploy it to Kubernetes.
This presentation was delivered at K8SUG Singapore. See https://feryn.eu/presentations/accelerate-your-kubernetes-clusters-with-varnish-caching-k8sug-singapore-28-2024 for more details.
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI supportAlan Dix
Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
Neuro-symbolic is not enough, we need neuro-*semantic*Frank van Harmelen
Neuro-symbolic (NeSy) AI is on the rise. However, simply machine learning on just any symbolic structure is not sufficient to really harvest the gains of NeSy. These will only be gained when the symbolic structures have an actual semantics. I give an operational definition of semantics as “predictable inference”.
All of this illustrated with link prediction over knowledge graphs, but the argument is general.
State of ICS and IoT Cyber Threat Landscape Report 2024 previewPrayukth K V
The IoT and OT threat landscape report has been prepared by the Threat Research Team at Sectrio using data from Sectrio, cyber threat intelligence farming facilities spread across over 85 cities around the world. In addition, Sectrio also runs AI-based advanced threat and payload engagement facilities that serve as sinks to attract and engage sophisticated threat actors, and newer malware including new variants and latent threats that are at an earlier stage of development.
The latest edition of the OT/ICS and IoT security Threat Landscape Report 2024 also covers:
State of global ICS asset and network exposure
Sectoral targets and attacks as well as the cost of ransom
Global APT activity, AI usage, actor and tactic profiles, and implications
Rise in volumes of AI-powered cyberattacks
Major cyber events in 2024
Malware and malicious payload trends
Cyberattack types and targets
Vulnerability exploit attempts on CVEs
Attacks on counties – USA
Expansion of bot farms – how, where, and why
In-depth analysis of the cyber threat landscape across North America, South America, Europe, APAC, and the Middle East
Why are attacks on smart factories rising?
Cyber risk predictions
Axis of attacks – Europe
Systemic attacks in the Middle East
Download the full report from here:
https://sectrio.com/resources/ot-threat-landscape-reports/sectrio-releases-ot-ics-and-iot-security-threat-landscape-report-2024/
PHP Frameworks: I want to break free (IPC Berlin 2024)Ralf Eggert
In this presentation, we examine the challenges and limitations of relying too heavily on PHP frameworks in web development. We discuss the history of PHP and its frameworks to understand how this dependence has evolved. The focus will be on providing concrete tips and strategies to reduce reliance on these frameworks, based on real-world examples and practical considerations. The goal is to equip developers with the skills and knowledge to create more flexible and future-proof web applications. We'll explore the importance of maintaining autonomy in a rapidly changing tech landscape and how to make informed decisions in PHP development.
This talk is aimed at encouraging a more independent approach to using PHP frameworks, moving towards a more flexible and future-proof approach to PHP development.
Let's dive deeper into the world of ODC! Ricardo Alves (OutSystems) will join us to tell all about the new Data Fabric. After that, Sezen de Bruijn (OutSystems) will get into the details on how to best design a sturdy architecture within ODC.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 4DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Kubernetes & AI - Beauty and the Beast !?! @KCD Istanbul 2024Tobias Schneck
As AI technology is pushing into IT I was wondering myself, as an “infrastructure container kubernetes guy”, how get this fancy AI technology get managed from an infrastructure operational view? Is it possible to apply our lovely cloud native principals as well? What benefit’s both technologies could bring to each other?
Let me take this questions and provide you a short journey through existing deployment models and use cases for AI software. On practical examples, we discuss what cloud/on-premise strategy we may need for applying it to our own infrastructure to get it to work from an enterprise perspective. I want to give an overview about infrastructure requirements and technologies, what could be beneficial or limiting your AI use cases in an enterprise environment. An interactive Demo will give you some insides, what approaches I got already working for real.
DevOps and Testing slides at DASA ConnectKari Kakkonen
My and Rik Marselis slides at 30.5.2024 DASA Connect conference. We discuss about what is testing, then what is agile testing and finally what is Testing in DevOps. Finally we had lovely workshop with the participants trying to find out different ways to think about quality and testing in different parts of the DevOps infinity loop.
Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey 2024 by 91mobiles.pdf91mobiles
91mobiles recently conducted a Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey in which we asked over 3,000 respondents about the TV they own, aspects they look at on a new TV, and their TV buying preferences.
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
GraphRAG is All You need? LLM & Knowledge GraphGuy Korland
Guy Korland, CEO and Co-founder of FalkorDB, will review two articles on the integration of language models with knowledge graphs.
1. Unifying Large Language Models and Knowledge Graphs: A Roadmap.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.08302
2. Microsoft Research's GraphRAG paper and a review paper on various uses of knowledge graphs:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/graphrag-unlocking-llm-discovery-on-narrative-private-data/
33. Can employees participate on organization time? Should there be an oversight committee? Should the organization indicate what employees do with their personal use of social media? Should employees disclose or hide their organizational affiliation? Discussion on possible scenarios and resulting decisions Photo by axis
35. Thank You! Beth’s Blog http:// beth.typepad.com Have a blog post topic idea? [email_address]
Editor's Notes
When Alan invited me to speak about the future of technology and nonprofits, I couldn’t resist the Jetsons. As a member of the babyboom generation – and someone who spent many hours in front of the TV – this is what immediately came to mind.
And perhaps there is a whole other generation who only know the Jetsons from stumbling upon clips in YouTube
And watched on their Iphones … I wonder when the television programs like the Jetson’s that I grew up – when the metaphor will no longer resonate with the audience?
So, instead of pulling out a crystal ball or consulting fortune teller – I immediately asked this question on Twitter. http://philanthropy.blogspot.com/2009/09/wither-2010-your-answers-curated.html This lead me to some great discussions from nonprofit leaders talking about the future of the social change sector – in 2010
Last year, I heard Jerry Michalski use the metaphor of the global brain in talk about the future. He mentioned that we were halfway through a transition process where we are renegotiating social contracts and connecting with people in a way that we haven't before. Jerry talked one benefit of this connectedness and openness is innovation. So, the folks at NMC who build objects on Hakone might be creating a big, huge, global brain that when clicked will open up web links of some of the best crowdsourcing on the future technologies and how they will impact the nonprofit sector. I've identified some key resources or inspiration below (if there are others let me know) where discussions about the future and nonprofits are taking place. For example, you can in a couple clicks go onto a site like Slideshare and see ideas on a topic from some of the best thinkers on that topic and recreate your own meaning of it. I had joked with Jerry that one downside is the inability to remember our calendar - and that with this socialness will our friends eventually collaborately remind us of our appointments. (It was funny at the time). What are the implications of the global brain for nonprofits and the way they do their work?
What are the implications of the global brain or connectedness for nonprofits and the way they do their work? As know .. The Global Brain is a metaphor for the worldwide intelligent network formed by people together with the information and communication technologies that connect them into an "organic" whole. As the Internet becomes faster, more intelligent, more ubiquitous and more encompassing, it increasingly ties us together in a single information processing system, that functions like a "brain" for the planet Earth. It means the Networked Nonprofit … But the point is that knowledge is now externalized in our global brain of connections with colleagues and other organizations. I think that this connectedness will thread together both individuals and make the boundaries of nonprofit organizations very porous - so that we'll have colonies of organizations working together on issues/causes versus isolated islands. This melting of boundaries will happen from inside out through individuals working in nonprofits using social networks to connect across silos and organizations.
As Shel Israel said in this tweet – the future is a little late in arriving – and for some early adopters of social media for social change it is already here
Let me tell you a story about why I’m so passionate about this topic. I started blogging in 2003. Beth’s Blog was started as a place for me write to learn about social media. At the same time, I started a blog called “Cambodia4Kids” because I needed to learn about Cambodia culture because I had adopted two Cambodian children. In 2007, Tharum invited me to keynote the Cambodian Bloggers Summit and teach workshops on social media. The problem was that they had no money. So, I started a fundraising campaign using my blog, a tool called Chipin which could collect the money, and Twitter. I was able to raise enough money in less than one week to sponsor the conference. I remember skyping my Cambodian friends and telling them that I could come. I also asked them what they wanted me to bring from America – and they said “Schwank” -- Tech T-Shirts. So, I started tweeting about this and every time I tweeted I had t-shirts delivered to me. What was mind boggling to me was how powerful the word of mouth on Twitter was – that people called me and told me that had heard from a friend that I needed t-shirts. These were people I didn’t know! I called this type of fundraising, free agent fundraising – because while the funds went to the nonprofit – it wasn’t the nonprofit doing the fundraising in the traditional ways. Now, we’re seeing applications like “causes” and the birthday wish designed to facilitate free-agent fundraising. I got a little obsessed with this notion of free agent fundraising. I did a lot of experimentation, raising money for the Sharing Foundation and blogging about how people were doing this successfully. Over $200,000. I thought the book I was going to write would be a manifesto about free agent fundraising and provide advice to nonprofits on how to embrace them and work with them. How to raise lots of money for your nonprofit by loosing control. As I started my visiting scholar position at Packard Foundation and taking deep dives into the whole new brave world of network effectiveness – I started to realize that social networks – were changing more than fundraising approaches and that organizations wanted to be more successful adopting these tools, it was important to work in a networked way – several themes bubbled up – working networked way or movements, the art of network weaving, transparency, and creating a social culture inside of the organization.
I remember when I got my first comment from a Cambodian – I wrote a post summarizing what I learned about how Cambodians do when their children loose a tooth (upper tooth, throw it on the grown; lower tooth throw it up on the roof). I thought that was so powerful that I could connect with Cambodians.
At the same, I started attending bloggers meet ups at the Berkman Center at Harvard where I met Ethan Zuckerman and Rebecca MacFarland who had started a blog/project called Global Voices. They invited to cover the Cambodian blogosphere.
In 2005, I helped Tharum, a journalism major in Phnom Penh get a scholarship to attend the London Global Voices Summit and he eventually became the bridge blogger for Global Voices.
In 2007, Tharum invited me to keynote the Cambodian Bloggers Summit and teach workshops on social media. The problem was that they had no money. So, I started a fundraising campaign using my blog, a tool called Chipin which could collect the money, and Twitter. I was able to raise enough money in less than one week to sponsor the conference. I remember skyping my Cambodian friends and telling them that I could come. I also asked them what they wanted me to bring from America – and they said “Schwank” -- Tech T-Shirts.
So, I started tweeting about this and every time I tweeted I had t-shirts delivered to me. What was mind boggling to me was how powerful the word of mouth on Twitter was – that people called me and told me that had heard from a friend that I needed t-shirts. These were people I didn’t know!
The fact that people who didn’t know me or were friends of friends and gave me t-shirts and/or money amazed me – I got a little bit obsessed with free agent fundraising
I called this type of fundraising, free agent fundraising – because while the funds went to the nonprofit – it wasn’t the nonprofit doing the fundraising in the traditional ways. Now, we’re seeing applications like “causes” and the birthday wish designed to facilitate free-agent fundraising. I got a little obsessed with this notion of free agent fundraising. I did a lot of experimentation, raising money for the Sharing Foundation and blogging about how people were doing this successfully. Over $200,000. I thought the book I was going to write would be a manifesto about free agent fundraising and provide advice to nonprofits on how to embrace them and work with them. How to raise lots of money for your nonprofit by loosing control.
As I started my visiting scholar position at Packard Foundation and taking deep dives into the whole new brave world of network effectiveness – I started to realize that social networks – were changing more than fundraising approaches and that organizations wanted to be more successful adopting these tools, it was important to work in a networked way – several themes bubbled up – working networked way or movements, simplicity, the art of network weaving, transparency, and creating a social culture inside of the organization were all themes that described the networked nonprofit – that could really reap the power of social change… Let’s take a look at the themes and a few stories
Networked nonprofit knows how to simplify .. 1. Identify the essential 2. Network the rest http://www.flickr.com/photos/euart/282104427/
After since last year’s Twestival Fundraiser -- The nonprofit charity:water and its founder, Scott Harrison have demonstrated the power of simplicity. Harrison is building a non-profit capable of breaking thru the cynicism his generation (he’s 34) has for large, bureaucratic non-profits. To do so, he knew he had to take a different approach that was more transparent, lean & hungry, and leveraged its inherent strengths Two things surprise most people who about charity:water. First, charity:water didn’t conceive and run Twestival. Second, charity:water doesn’t drill the wells themselves. The former was led by volunteers and the latter is done by partner organizations with decades of experience. Wait a minute! Isn’t that scandalous? Actually, it’s quite smart. Scott knows his team’s strength is in telling the story and making it easy for others to raise the money. Why only equip paid staff to raise money when you have a growing army of champions? Or, why build up a large implementation team from scratch when you can contract with organizations that have been around 20-30 years and are quite familiar with each country and culture they help? Of course, they have professional fundraisers on staff. Of course, they also send their operational staff into the field to work with their partners and keep them accountable. In case you were wondering, all of their marketing is done in house. Scott and his team travel with digital still and video cameras everywhere they go. Most of the stunning visuals are shot by Scott himself (he says if anyone shoots 1,000 photos, at least one will be a powerful image). At the controls of the charity:water marketing dynamo is his new bride, who designs all their digital and print collateral, including their website. One of the benefits that connectedness offers us that we no longer a vertical monopoly on a program, cause, or fundraiswer. Not one organization needs to do all the heavy lifting. This is called working in a networked way.
Networked nonprofit knows how to simplify .. 1. Identify the essential 2. Network the rest
Movement Building, Working in Networks Last week I was up on Maine at a conference called PopTech as part of the teaching faculty for the fellows program. The focus of the conference is technology for social innovation. I met Paula Kahumbu who is the executive director of an organization WildLifeDirect founded by Louis Leeky – a wildlife conservationist. It’s a wonderful example of a nonprofit using new media for social change. Through its use of social media, WildlifeDirect brings supporters and conservationists together online and enables individual donors around the world to communicate directly with the people that they are funding. The goal: a movement powerful enough to respond to any conservation emergency anywhere swiftly and efficiently, reverse the catastrophic loss of habitats and species and secure the future of wildlife in Africa, Asia and around the world. What’s innovative -- we have wildlife conservationists in blogging or twittering about their work and building and connecting with individuals who are interested in their work. They are providing a platform for people to make connections, to self-organize and staying in the connection level – until there is a window of opportunity -- a crisis – that catalyzes the network in a higher state of working. What’s important? Understanding the phases of movements/networks: ignition, connection, alignment, and production Theory of change on the ground Network weaving – connecting people together to accomplish small bits of work Making sure that there is a self organizing platform
Network Weaving Network Weaving I’ve obsessing about the concept of network weaving for the past few years – and finally met the guru of network weaving last week – June Holley (she’s on Twitter). As we build movements for social change – this mindset, skill – is essential. Network weavers are people who intentionally and informally - and often serendipitously - weave new and richer connections between and among people, groups, and entities in networks. They also weave new and richer connections between among networks. Note the use of the plural Network weavers wear a variety hats - networkers, project coordinators, facilitators, and guardians. Don’t think narrowly about Network Weaving as a specific job description, but rather as a role. You want multiple people spreading these skills throughout the network Being Rhizomatic" and explains it as where every bud contains the nourishment for other buds. She used an image of a single tree. A single tree can be cut down or die from lack of water. But in a bamboo forest (a unique rhizome) -- the trees are connected through the roots and if one tree gets nutrients and supports others
The important thing is how you using different technologies to support small groups of people within your network to self organize around tasks related to your goal? I was really inspired about this – and feel that those who work in nonprofits on social media/social networks are network weavers – and that we need a professional affinity group – so I’m starting one at the NTC.
Transparency Not black and white – line the Esther Dyson Story at Transparency Camp What is Transparency Transparency isn’t black and white. It is very tempting to grade organizations as either transparent or not. However, transparency isn’t quite that simple, it is a sliding scale of openness that changes upon the circumstances and needs of an organization and its network. Organizations certainly need to be open to people on the outside, easy to enter, understand, and navigate. However, this does not mean that every conversation, every piece of paper, every decision, needs to be open to everybody. Story: I was at transparency camp this summer hosted by the Sunlight Foundation. And their board - which included such luminaries as Esther Dyson, Craig Newmark – held an “open board meeting.” I was curious so I went and blogged and tweeted it. It wasn’t your typical board business meeting. It was more like an organizational presentation w/board and staff answering questions. So, at the end I couldn’t resist asking – is what your typical board meeting is like? Esther Dyson: “ You cannot be fully transparent all the time because you need to give people a safe place to have the discussion without disrespecting others.” This black and white notion scares a lot of organizations. Their is definitely a need for a safe place for private conversations – but I our default impulse is to do things in screen – is to build a Robert Frost mending wall. I wonder what it would be like if the default was – everything is open and you had to decide what should be closed?
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offense. Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves‘ - Robert Frost, Mending Wall Walls protect calls, but not disdenents When is more transparency not a good thing? in an era of information overload, is more transparency (making information available) adding to the noise? Relationships to protect – safe place Security – personal or information Trade secrets Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulders in the sun; And makes gaps even two can pass abreast. The work of hunters is another thing: I have come after them and made repair Where they have left not one stone on a stone, But they would have the rabbit out of hiding, To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean, No one has seen them made or heard them made, But at spring mending-time we find them there. I let my neighbor know beyond the hill; And on a day we meet to walk the line And set the wall between us once again. We keep the wall between us as we go. To each the boulders that have fallen to each. And some are loaves and some so nearly balls We have to use a spell to make them balance: 'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!' We wear our fingers rough with handling them. Oh, just another kind of outdoor game, One on a side. It comes to little more: There where it is we do not need the wall: He is all pine and I am apple orchard. My apple trees will never get across And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him. He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors.' Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder If I could put a notion in his head: 'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it Where there are cows? But here there are no cows. Before I built a wall I'd ask to know What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offense. Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him, But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather He said it for himself. I see him there Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed. He moves in darkness as it seems to me, Not of woods only and the shade of trees. He will not go behind his father's saying, And he likes having thought of it so well He says again, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'
EDF – Environmental Defense Fund Environmental Defense Fund tackles the most serious environmental problems with four pronged approach: sound science, economic incentives, corporate partnerships , and getting the law right. (If you want to learn more about the organization, their CEO, Fred Krupp, is on Twitter and does his own tweets!) A program called The Innovation Exchange is to facilitate rapid and widespread adoption of environmental innovation in business. They hope to improve both the environmental impact of business (improve operations) and the business impact of the environment (improve products). They are in the process of building and growing a 'problem solving' network by convening thoughtful people inside and outside of EDF to review their thinking and then comment, critique, and contribute new information so they can improve their impact. This is an open and transparent network. For example, they have a Climate Corps program. Where together with their partner, Net Impact, EDF embeds trained MBA students who identify energy efficiency improvements that can cut costs and reduce emissions. The Fellows are blogging about their experience and learnings on The Innovation Exchange blog. They put their draft elevator speech on their wiki – and a professor came by and had his class work on it as a class project. They do a lot of other tactics – from unconferences to putting their strategy documents out in google documents, etc. I asked Dave Witzel "But it doesn't mean that we don't protect our relationships. So, we're very careful about making sure our conversations are respectful. We don't want to hurt our partners. That's not to say that constructive criticism is not offered.“
What allows an organization or network to work in this way? Leadership and culture are important. To embrace transparency, it is important that: * Leadership is Comfortable with Discomfort: Openness and transparency are hallmarks of the networked mindset. Leaders at EDF specifically brought Dave in because he thinks differently, he has a networked mindset. As Dave notes, "I often hear "everything you say makes me uncomfortable - but go do it." The leadership of the organization understands that social media and connectedness has an impact on the organization and they need to embrace it. * A Learning By Doing Organizational Culture: Witzel says that there organization's DNA incorporates learning by doing. The culture allows the experimentation On the ground, Witzel says, his program group is experimentating. The method is simple - they test their ideas, if it works they build on it and if it doesn't they remix. Witzel notes, we don't have the barrier of "paralysis by analysis."
http://www.mindomo.com/view.htm?m=5d005d7f82ae13f1a4e7ae756afe900a.flickr.com/photos/axis/1892931/ Can employees participate on organization time? Should there be an oversight committee? Should the organization indicate what employees do with their personal use of social media? Should employees disclose or hide their organizational affiliation? Discussion on possible scenarios and resulting decisions
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nathaninsandiego/3651608213/ I think it comes down to a social culture and getting over concerns .. Make us look unprofessional if we show our human side and reveal unfinished plans and projects; Compromise our ability to edit our work and get rid of typos and poor grammar; Open us up to public criticism we would rather pretend doesn’t exist; Hurt our organization’s brand Legacy thinking – we’ve always done it that way – a culture of confidentiality Open the flood gates of information that will overwhelm us; Make senior staff more accessible to too many people who want their time; Enable staffers or volunteers to write something that could be libelous; Lead to someone lobbying on our behalf and compromise our tax-exempt status. Employees will spend enormous amounts of organizational time being on Facebook, watching YouTube videos and sending personal emails when their time should rightly be spent in meetings about kitchen cleaning rotation schedule. Amplifies bad ideas that get funded No time for reflection Social Policy: