NetSquared, an initiative of TechSoup.org - Issue awareness

KPFA's War Comes Home Project: Radio Journalism Goes 2.0 - warcomeshome.org

manoochehri — Wed, 5 Sep 2007 12:21:36 -0400

Project Screenshot

Supporting organization

KPFA Radio 94.1 FM

URL

http://warcomeshome.org

Location

Berkeley, CA

Project Description

More than 1.6 million Americans have served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As of August 1, 2007, 67,000 of them had been killed or wounded. In addition, more than 250,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans had been treated at Veterans Administrations hospitals since their return home from combat.

KPFA launched this website in an effort to put a human face on the conflict. Only by truly listening to the stories of soldiers who've come home, can we appreciate the realities of war and what we can do to help.

FreePledge

cbernadi — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 13:33:44 -0400

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Supporting organization

FreePledge, Inc

URL

www.freepledge.com

Location

Silicon Valley, California

Project Description

FreePledge is a young for-profit social venture that aims to help nonprofits tap into the Internet and technologies.
FreePledge has leveraged the power of growing e-commerce market to empower nonprofit organizations.

Users go through FreePledge for their online shopping, they pay exactly the same price as they would otherwise and a percentage of their purchases is donated to the nonprofit of their choice at no cost to them (or to the nonprofit).

Partnered online stores include Amazon, Ebay, Orbitz, shop.com, Target, BestBuy, Apple and many more.

Mobilizing communities around tech access for disabled

Sharron Rush — Thu, 18 May 2006 14:17:30 -0400

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Supporting organization

Knowbility.org

URL

http://www.knowbility.org/air/?content=home

Location

Austin, Houston, Boston, Indianapolis, other citeis

Project Description

Since 1998, Knowbility's AIR (Accessibility Internet Rally) program has introduced tech professionals to the concept of making applications accessible to everyone - including people with disabilities. Using tech sector networks and listserves, Knowbility issues a challenge to the local technology community in cities throughout the country:

Create a team of 4 - 6 people. Come take our classes about how and why technology can and must be made accessible. Then, have the chance to win glory for your team when you demonstrate your new skills in a web design contest.

While this challenging message is distributed in the community, the AIR program teaches small local nonprofit organziations how to think about putting relevant parts of their mission-based work online. NPOs are prepared to be effective clients and to communicate their needs to their tech team. After Web 101 training for the NPOs and successive accessibility training for the tech pros, each team is assigned to their NPO "client" for one high-energy work day in a local tech center.

The result:

Dozens of nonprofit organziations that serve the arts, health, human service, environmental needs of local communities receive professionally designed web sites that they could otherwise not afford;
People with disabilities experience improved access to online resources and nonprofit servics, because the sites are designed to be accessible.
Tech pros learn useful accessible design techniques that they can incorporate into their daily work, improving accessibility throughout the greater Web
Everyone understands more about how and why to make technology accessible
Relationships are forged throughout the city between the tech sector and the nonprofit community.
Everyone has a meaningful volunteer experience, using skills in which they are expert.

AIR is a unique community collaboration that produces benefits far beyond the basic goal of raising awareness of technology access issues for people with disabilities. It has been recognized for excellence and innovation by the Peter Drucker Foundation, the US Department of Labor and many, many others. To bring AIR to your city, contact Knowbility at knowbility.org.

MobileActive

Mon, 17 Apr 2006 21:44:35 -0400

Project Screenshot

Supporting organization

Green Media Toolshed and TechStrategy

URL

www.mobileactive.org

Location

Massachusetts

Project Description

MobileActive is a global network of organizations, technologists, organizers, and activists who are using mobile phones in their social change work.

Mobile phones have emerged as a campaign organizing tool across traditional socio-economic and cultural boundaries. Mobile phone campaigns have swung elections through innovative get-out-the-vote activities, have been used to ensure impartial elections through monitoring, have resulted in massive collective action to free political prisoners, and are being used in public health strategies.

Yet, while there is significant innovation all over the world, there is little aggregation of lessons learned from these campaigns and activities that is being collected and aggregated by civil society practitioners for their peers.

MobileActive seeks to better understand the strengths and limits of the medium, available technologies for campaigners, share lessons learned, feature campaign examples and tech tools so to increase activistsâ€™ ability to organize our constituencies with this new technology.

MobileActive 2005 convened in Toronto to bring together, for the first time, activists from around the world to explore the use of mobile phones in civic action campaigns. The MobileActive community and web site is an aggregation of the learnings from this convergence, stories from participants and their projects, and resources for activists interested in using mobiles in their campaigns.

MobileActive is now growing the network of mobile activists, to share knowledge and skills, and to provide a peer network, training, and resources to those interested in exploring mobile phones in their civic engagagement, mobilization, and civic action campaigns.

If you used mobiles in your campaign, please share your story at http://www.mobileactive.org! If you need resources, let us know! And if you want to join this growing network of activists from around the globe, profile yourself: http://www.mobileactive.org/profile

Welcome to MobileActive - http://www.mobileactive.org

Nomination Watch - Keeping judicial nominations on women's radar

fmarks — Thu, 6 Apr 2006 15:18:14 -0400

Project Screenshot

Supporting organization

National Women's Law Center

URL

http://www.nominationwatch.org/

Location

Washington, DC

Project Description

[This case study was authored by Nancy Schwartz www.nancyschwartz.com/getting_attention.html and is republished with her permission]

Introducing NominationWatch.org

The National Women's Law Center (NWLC), dedicated to advancing and protecting women's legal rights, launched NominationWatch.org. This highly- focused blog focuses on the ongoing battles over judicial nominations, including John Roberts' bid for the Supreme Court vacancy.

With its prominent history of involvement in key judicial confirmation debates of the past, NWLC was ideally positioned to lead the informal debate on current nominations. So NWLC leadership decided to capitalize on this unique role with a blog designed to shed light on the complexities of the nomination agenda (now even more so, with the death of Chief Justice Rehnquist and the subsequent nomination of Roberts to fill that role) and generate support for judges who support women's rights.

Ranit Schmelzer, NWLC vice president for communications, says that for years the organization has relied on traditional press outreach tools (press releases and conferences, and teleconferences). But driven by the importance of the current judicial debates, Schmelzer and her colleagues landed on a blog as the most effective ways to "get substance out in small bytes."

"We thought it was high time we wrote something that wasn't footnoted," says Marcia D. Greenberger, NWLC co-president and newly empowered blogger. "We are continuing to produce well-researched reports, but you won't read them here. That's what our website is for. Here you'll find the latest on breaking news, vital facts, key findings and some behind-the-scenes information."

Shaping the Editorial Policy

NWLC had a lot of work to do before NomininationWatch.org was launched, and developing an editorial policy was first on the list. Take a look at the blog and you'll see the succinct but in-depth entries written by NWLC's blogging team. Frequency of entries depends on what is happening in the news, says Schmelzer. At the height of the Roberts' nomination coverage there were three entries daily while at other times entries are posted three times weekly. Frequency, and the decision to vary it based on the news, is central to the blog's editorial policy.

Another component of NominationWatch.org's editorial policy is the bloggers themselves. What's unusual is that there's a team of bloggers (writers include NCLW's two co-presidents and two of its vice presidents, while two staff members serve as editors) who are assigned daily and weekly blog tasks. To streamline this team effort, the bloggers participate in a weekly editorial meeting.

Even more unusual is that the four bloggers don't sign their posts, which is rare in a venue that is known for personalization. "Our practice is not to sign our e-newsletters and e-updates," explains Schmelzer. "The blog is very much a team effort, the voice of the Center rather than that of the individual blogger."

Next, the blog team defined how, and to what extent, to integrate links into NominationWatch.org. Most links are to mainstream media (The Washington Post figures prominently in many entries) and Capitol Hill sources from newspapers to public documents and court briefs.

And finally the team decided not to include the reader comment option so common in blogs today. "We decided to focus our resources on the blog as a venue for NWLC perspectives at this point in time," says Schmelzer.

Once the team selected its blog tool of choice (Typepad, known for its ease of use, flexibility and economical fees), they were ready to blog.

Bringing the Blog to Life

Once editorial and access decisions were finalized, the NWLC team considered how best to interface with the NWLC website and organizational identity. Although the organization chose to highlight the issue (rather than its own name) in the blog URL or address, it remained a priority to link the effort back to NWLC and to capitalize on this work to generate donations and e-newsletter and e-alert subscribers, and to build awareness of NWLC and its work.

In a way, the issue-branded blog reinforces the NWLC name (e.g., 'Who publishes this blog? It's great.') and vice versa (e.g., 'Oh, NWLC is publishing a blog now. Got to take a look.')

To push this cognitive connection, the blog features a link to the NWLC e-alert adjoining the most recent entry, and links to the NWLC home page and newsroom. Similarly, there is a large graphic link to the blog on the NWLC home page.

Engaging Readers via Easy Access to Key Content and First Pass Promotion

The NWLC team knew that as good as their blog content might be, its impact would be solely dependent on the number of readers, and motivating those readers to become regulars.

First the blog team turned its focus to increasing ease of access to blog content. Schmelzer and her colleagues decided to provide access to entries via links (on a sidebar adjoining new entries) to highlights, sub-topics such as the confirmation process, recent posts and monthly archives for the chronological perspective. These varied points of entry provide almost any reader with a relevant path to blog content past and present.

An online news feed option (RSS--real simple syndication) was added so that users could request to have new entries automatically delivered via a downloadable reader. Read more about this relatively new means of 'pushing' blog content to readers at:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(protocol)

Using Typepad, one of the most popular, and inexpensive blog tools, the NWLC bloggers developed start-up content. To ensure that audiences knew about the blog and its unique perspective on this key public issue, NCLW distributed a pithy press release, negotiated link exchanges with related blogs and sites, and submitted blog pages to Google and Technorati, which searches blogs by keyword and for links.

Results â€“ Increased Visibility and Excited Audiences

Since NominationWatch.org was launched in June, the blog team has seen a steady increase in visitors and links to it by related sites. I read about the blog in a review for the press (highlighting new and interesting sources), and when I Googled it, I got pages of links to other blogs, mainstream media and even Rush Limbaugh.

Schmelzer reports that this coverage has come without aggressive promotion. What I recommend to bloggers is to define up to 20 key words and phrases, and integrate them into blog posting. Readers, if you're blogging, don't forget this step so critical to generating search engine results.

Watch NominationWatch.org as the Roberts debate heats up this month.Although there are no stats to verify it, I bet that this blog has made a whole new audience (including the grassroots audience) aware of NWLC and its work, and shed light on a very complicated process. Way to go NWLC.

About the Author
Nancy E. Schwartz is editor and publisher of Getting Attention, the monthly e-newsletter that helps nonprofits succeed through effective communications. To subscribe to Getting Attention, click here
www.nancyschwartz.com/getting_attention.html.

Arts Engine

Tue, 4 Apr 2006 15:39:05 -0400

Project Screenshot

Supporting organization

Arts Engine, Inc.

URL

www.artsengine.net

Location

New York City

Project Description

Arts Engine, Inc. supports, produces, and distributes independent media of consequence and promotes the use of independent media by advocates, educators and the general public. By fostering the production and use of independent film, video and new media, Arts Engine connects media makers and active audiences in order to spur critical consideration of pressing social issues.

Our projects include:

Big Mouth Films
Big Mouth Films produces feature-length, social issue documentaries independently and in collaboration with numerous companies and organizations. Big Mouth is best known for the Emmy-nominated film Deadline, a compelling exploration of the events surrounding governor George Ryan's commutation of 167 death sentences in Illinois.
www.artsengine.net/projects

MediaRights.org
MediaRights helps media makers, educators, librarians, nonprofits, and activists use documentaries and shorts to encourage action and inspire dialogue on contemporary social issues.
www.mediarights.org

Media That Matters Film Festival
The Media That Matters Film Festival brings high-impact shorts and Take Action tools to audiences around the country all year long through distribution of a DVD with all sixteen films, Web streaming, broadcasts and community screenings.
www.mediathatmattersfest.org

YMDi
The Youth Media Distribution Initiative (YMDi.org) is a comprehensive series of online and offline programs that boost the distribution and impact of youth-made films.
www.YMDi.org

Koko.org

eweinb04 — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 22:57:20 -0500

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Supporting organization

The Gorilla Foundation

URL

www.koko.org/world/daily_archive.php

Location

California

Project Description

"Gorilla Foundation/Koko.org promotes the protection, preservation and propagation of gorillas. Project Koko, a primary focus of TGF/Koko.org, involves teaching a modified form of American Sign Language to two lowland gorillas, Koko and Michael. In addition, TGF/Koko.org is developing a unique preserve for gorillas on the island of Maui, Hawaii."

wildlive! - using mobile phones to promote conservation

Fri, 24 Mar 2006 11:42:46 -0500

Project Screenshot

Supporting organization

Fauna & Flora International, Cambridge

URL

http://www.kiwanja.net

Location

Cambridge, United Kingdom

Project Description

For a full project description, along with additional screenshots and content samples, see www.kiwanja.net/wildlive!.htm

Centro Nordestino de Medicina Popular - CNMP

smokinggoat — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 17:12:58 -0500

Project Screenshot

Supporting organization

Centro Nordestino de Medicina Popular - CNMP

URL

http://www.cnmp.org.br/

Location

Olinda, Brazil

Project Description

Founded in 1988, the North-East Centre for Popular Medicine is a Brazilian NGO which trains, organizes, and structures community-based groups to be more effective in advocating for a public health policy, through programmes in:

"The story of the Northeastern Centre for the Peoples’ Medicines (CNMP) begins in 1979, when the founders, Celerino Carriconde and Diana Mores, began to reinvigorate the use of medicinal plants amongst the inhabitants of Casa Amarela, a district within city of Recife.

At this time, there were high levels of infant malnutrition, women’s ill-health, cancers, food insecurity and a series of social ills which were existing side by side with the de-humanising queues at the National Institute of Social Welfare; this discriminatory and exclusionary system considered those with low income to be less deserving. So, after collecting together 100 of the medicinal plants most used by the populace, the couple searched in a scientific manner to record this knowledge of thousands of years, using these plants clinically at their neighbourhood clinic, and publishing facts later in the bulletin “De Volta às Raízes” (Return to the Roots)." more

Fundado em 1988, o Centro Nordestino de Medicina Popular é uma ONG que desenvolve um trabalho de educação popular na área da saúde. O Centro vem se firmando como mobilizador das forças populares, desenvolvendo um trabalho de formação, organização e articulação de grupos comunitários para a efetivação das políticas públicas de saúde, através dos programas de:

"A história do Centro Nordestino de Medicina Popular (CNMP) teve inicio em 1979, quando os fundadores Celerino Carriconde e Diana Mores começaram a resgatar a utilização das plantas medicinais (matos) pela população do Bairro de Casa Amarela, no Recife.

Nesta época, os altos índices de desnutrição infantil, a vulnerabilidade da saúde da mulher, o câncer, a precariedade alimentar e uma série de mazelas sociais andavam lado a lado às desumanas filas do INPS (Instituto Nacional de Previdência Social), um sistema discriminatório e excludente que considerava indigentes os cidadãos economicamente desfavorecidos." mas

Tupiniquim

Thu, 23 Mar 2006 16:20:46 -0500

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URL

http://indios.blogspot.com

Location

Sintra, Portugal

Project Description

Tupiniquim is a Portugeuse-language blog that raises awareness about the plight of the indigenous population in Brazil, other Central and South America. The content is primarily a reposting and translation of Brazilian and international news articles.

You can read a (rough) translation of the current content using Google's translation service by clicking here:
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Findios.blogspot.com...

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Tupiniquim Ã© um blog Portugeuse que aumente a consciÃªncia sobre a populaÃ§Ã£o indÃgena de Brasil e de outros paÃses de americano central e sul. O Ãndice Ã© primeiramente dos noticias brasileiro e outra notÃcias internacionaes traduzidos em Portugeuse.