—–

Aashika Damodar & collaborative technology for social impact

Every day I field questions from organizations and community groups looking to use facebook, Twitter or YouTube.. Most all of these groups are excited and enthusiastic but are coming from the wrong direction: focusing on the tools first. Our programs, services, and campaigns are successful, instead, when we focus on the community first, and that’s why Aashika Damodar’s work impresses and inspires me.

Survivors Connect is an organization supporting activists and building survivor advocacy networks using collaborative technologies to end modern-day slavery and human trafficking. Aashika, the founder and executive director, starting learning about and looking for ways to support the community of survivors when she was studying Anthropology and Political Science at University of California, Berkeley: “When I was in college, I learned of a labor/sex trafficking case right across from my dorm.  I myself was also almost a human trafficking victim for the purpose of forced marriage in India. By that point, the issue of gender-based violence and trafficking had crept into so many facets of my life, prompting me to make it my life’s work to end it.”

Building programs and services to support a community means not just learning about the problems they face, but understanding how technologies can help make a difference. Aashika admits to being “a big tech-enthusiast by hobby” and she “found that the anti-slavery movement was lacking in terms of participation in this field, as well as innovation.”  According to Aashika, “It is these very same technologies that often enable transnational human trafficking; so I felt that I needed to get involved in this way to make our activism smarter, and innovate on both the “process” and “product/software” frontlines.”

The Survivors Connect online platform includes various opportunities for those wishing to report abuse, take action, or otherwise support the network of activists, and relies on a variety of collaborative technologies, from data mapping to online seminars, SMS-powered communications to an online community network. Different regions around the global have a very different level of access than those in North America or Western Europe. Recognizing which tools are available to your community can make the biggest impact on your project’s success.

“It has always been quite interesting to me that in many parts of the developing world, there is near ubiquitous ownership of mobile phones,” explained Aashika. “Here is really where the innovative thinking began. Communication tech, in a sense, is shrinking us as groups while increasing our ability to connect. Why not use this to work on preventing some of the most egregious human rights abuses in the world?”

Taking advantage of mobile technology, Survivors Connect created SMS: Freedom which connects individuals and communities with experts and resources via text messages. In this way, information about scams or risks can easily be distributed to communities, or reports can be shared throughout the network.

“The experiences and stories of survivors were and always are my call to action,” Aashika told me. “They are the strongest souls Ive ever met. Survivors of various forms of slavery give us a glimpse of how the broader crime of human trafficking works, and just how much is involved.” And it isn’t just Aashika that survivors are inspiring; through Freedom Connect all members of the global network fighting slavery and human trafficking are invited to create profiles, share calendars, create groups, share resources and join together in discussions.

Most importantly to the success of Aashika’s work, is her ability to remember that it is not about the tools. Survivors Connect is not just an online platform and network working to end modern-day slavery and human trafficking, but a place to continue to learn and inspire—the technology is simply a tool for letting us connect and communicate. “We will not win the fight against slavery and human trafficking with egos, but with open and understanding hearts and minds.”

>> Learn more about Aashika and Survivors Connect today: http://www.survivorsconnect.org

In 2008, Aashika graduated from the University of California, Berkeley; she is now working on her Masters in Philosophy in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge, UK where she’s a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar.  Her honors thesis from UCBerkeley won the Ronald Frankenberg Prize and the Sylvia Forman Prize from the American Anthropological Association; it was also published in the 2010 Project Censored Journal.

How you can create an online collaboration space!

Working people and communities around the world can make sharing information and even just communicating a difficult task. Like Survivors Connect, maybe you want to share the stories and work from your community. There are various tools available, though, that make public networks or even private collaboration easy and efficient.

Top Tools for Collaboration

Tips for Collaboration Online

If you want to replicate some of Aashika’s success bringing people together online, here are the top 5 tips you need to keep in mind:

• Evaluate your Community: where are they, what kind of access do they have, and what are they looking to do?
• Evaluate your Capacity: how much time do you have, what kind of technical experience do you have, what resources are available?
• Evaluate your Goals: what do you and the community want to accomplish, what do you want to do today and what do you want to do in a year?
• Try Something First: don’t be afraid to jump in and give a new tool a try; if it doesn’t fit your needs, then move on!
• Build on Success: if something is really working, analyze what it is and why to see if

I’m bummed that I cannot participate this time around (will be traveling with my family, enjoying some offline adventures) but am already looking forward to the next opportunity!

REGISTER HERE!

The Format

This immersive, interactive webinar experience(tm) will begin with a plenary session providing an overview of social media strategy, organizational adoption issues, capacity, metrics, and strategy execution. Because we know you’d be disappointed in us if we didn’t include them, we’ll have a live question and answer and a back channel discussion.

After a ten minute break, participants will have the option of joining one of four break out sessions: Listening/Engaging; Storytelling; Generating Buzz; Online Networking. Each of the 60 minute sessions will include a drill down in the topic area, presented by an expert in field (see below). The back channel will be moderated by even more experts, who will add additional insights and answer participants questions.

After a ten-minute break, participants will reconvene as a group to grill the presenters in each of the areas.

The Flow

Opening Plenary: 45 minutes
Q&A & Backchannel: 15 minutes
Break: 10 minutes
Breakout Sessions (choose one): 60 minute
Break: 10 minutes
Final Q&A: 40 minutes

The Learning Objectives

• Identify objectives, audience, and strategy execution to effectively integrate social media into your organization’s overall web communications plan so it supports your organization’s mission
• Explore the organizational change management issues that social media raises and how to talk about them
• Experience a variety of social web tools that are essential in listening/engaging, storytelling, generating buzz, and online networking
• Have access to experts and peers to answer your specific questions via live question and answer and backchannel chat

REGISTER HERE!

More about We Are Media:
The We Are Media Project is a community of people from nonprofits who are interested in learning and teaching about how social media strategies and tools can enable nonprofit organizations to create, compile, and distribute their stories and change the world.

Curated by NTEN, the community will work in a networked way to help identify the best existing resources, people, and case studies that will give nonprofit organizations the knowledge and resources they need to be the media. The community will help identify and point to the best how-to guides and useful resources that cover all aspects of creating, aggregating, and distributing social media. The resulting curriculum which will live on this wiki and will also cover important organizational adoption issues, strategy, ROI analysis, as well as the tools.

Nonprofit tech experts team up to help others master ‘social tools for social change’

Eight leading experts in social media and nonprofit technology have joined forces to create Socialbrite.org, a hub that showcases social tools for social change. The site, which serves as a learning and sharing center for nonprofits and social change organizations, debuted today at http://www.socialbrite.org/.

The Socialbrite team is made up of strategists with deep experience in offering social media consulting services, training workshops, conversational marketing, fundraising and outreach campaigns.

“We’re here to help nonprofits master the social Web to bring about meaningful social change,” said J.D. Lasica, a consultant and author of four books about emerging technologies. “There’s nothing else like this on the Web for nonprofits, social change organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and educators. Socialbrite’s mission is to shine a light on the best practices, social tools and strategies that will benefit each of these important constituencies.”

Beth Kanter, Amy Sample Ward, Katrin Verclas and John Haydon are among the familiar names in the nonprofit tech sector who are part of the effort.

Socialbrite.org is launching with a rich set of resources:

• A directory of Web 2.0 Productivity Tools in dozens of categories that can help organizations get a handle on the social Web.
• A Social Media Glossary that offers a deep, friendly introduction to dozens of social media terms in plain English.
• A first-of-its-kind Twitter widget that tracks tweets about nonprofits or social causes in real time.
• A Free Photos Directory, Free Video Directory and Free Music Directory that offers nonprofits, cause organizations and Web publishers a guide to hundreds of online resources for adding legal, high-quality content to their own Web sites, blogs, podcasts, newsletters, printed materials or online presentations.
• A Causes widget that points to charitable actions and donations on other sites such as GlobalGiving and Facebook Causes.
• Scores of additional articles, guides and tutorials to help newcomers and veterans alike get better acquainted with this fast-moving space.

Socialbrite draws on a team of experts whose practical, easy-to-grasp advice will help organizations find social media success. The strategists – located in New York, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles and London – are:

• Beth Kanter, a longtime trainer and advisor to the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) and other organizations. Her upcoming book “The Networked Nonprofit” will provide a social media roadmap for nonprofits.
• J.D. Lasica, a social media pioneer who co-founded Ourmedia.org, the first video hosting and sharing site. He advises both Fortune 500 corporations and nonprofits in social media strategies.
• Katrin Verclas, co-founder and editor of MobileActive.org and past executive director of NTEN.
• John Haydon, a consultant who advises small nonprofits, small businesses and social entrepreneurs on social marketing strategies.
• Amy Sample Ward, a strategist who supports and educates clients in the nonprofit and social change sectors.
• Ken Banks, who is using mobile technology to foster positive social and environmental change in the developing world, particularly in Africa.
• Sloane Berrent, a cause-based marketing consultant who works with nonprofits and social cause organizations. She is currently a Kiva fellow serving a three-month tour in a rural section of the Philippines.
• Carla A. Schlemminger, a strategic marketing communications professional who integrates best practices in branding, PR and social media.

The Socialbrite site features dozens of videos, screencasts and slide presentations. All materials created for the site are released under Creative Commons licenses so that other sites and blogs can freely reuse the content.

“Collaboration is the key to success, in everything really,” said Amy Sample Ward, an Oregonian now living in London who heads up London Net Tuesday and collaborates with others to create local opportunities to share and learn. “I see Socialbrite as a great chance for us as strategists to collaborate while helping nonprofits keep pace with this fast-changing landscape.”

Socialbrite.org is built in WordPress, the popular open source blogging platform. Socialbrite’s lead developer, Esteban Panzeri, just finished work on a Creative Commons plug-in that lets bloggers assign different licenses to different blog posts, which he is releasing to the WordPress community.

The Socialbrite team members make their living through paid services to client organizations. Services include conducting in-depth workshops, working with senior staff to develop a social media strategy, and crafting campaigns to reach contributors and supporters through Twitter, Facebook and digital storytelling, among other modern approaches.

Visit the Socialbrite.org Media Center for tweets, information and more about the launch to help spread the word about this collaborative resource!

• Follow us on Twitter: @socialbrite
• Subscribe to our blog updates: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/socialbrite
• For business and speaking inquiries: newbiz@socialbrite.org
• To contact a member of the Socialbrite team: team@socialbrite.org

Trying to achieve today:

• gather thoughts on the paper
• “make it better”
• examples from our work
• more broadly, challenges and issues around digital inclusion
• action research in Bristol and other places looking at role of social media in deprived communities, etc. (if we were designing that research, what would we do or ask)

Will Davies, “social, digital networks in deprived communities”

those with least social capital = least engaged in community = least access/capacity to connect online, etc.

those excluded offline are excluded online

vicious and virtuous circles of networks: network anaylsis – social and digital – highlights vicious and virtuous circles of inequality; connectivity delivers confidence, information, reputation-information, well being, economic advantages, these deliver further confidence, information, etc.; demonstrates the ’embeddedness’ of economic activity in social and cultural contexts.

how do you break the cycle? perhaps not breaking it, but elevating it to a different cycle, change one element and the cycle continues but at a different lilt

social capital research surfaces lots of relations but not causations – we can extrapolate where we intervene when it is a cycle, if we interrupt anywhere (espeicially in socially responsible contexts) we can stop the cycle

Why do we need digital inclusion

an economic issue on paper: 51% of noninternet users cite coast as a reason; 90% of new jobs in UK require ICT skills; online services and price-comparison are more efficient

but not in the psychology of nonusers: lack of interest dominant reason for nonuse; lack of literacy and education in general; cultural image of computers

or users: benefits include social connectivity, civic participation, media content, better information on jobs, services, etc.

what comes first: literacy or computer literacy? access or interest?  the offline or the online network?

why do we need social capital

“networks, norms and trust”

bonding social capital: long-standing close ties, which are likely to also know each other; for when you need to borrow £100 in a hurry, emotional and psychological support

bridging social capital: weaker, more ephemeral ties, which are less likely to connect to each other, for when you need a job, potentially more diverse, cosmopolitan, associational

an economic issue:

• bonding social capital is an efficient response to emotional, physical and financial dependency, that would otherwise fall to the state
• bridging social capital is an efficient response to ‘information asymmetries’ in markets; it circulates reputation

how does this change after market crash and during market recovery?

beyond economics:

• civic participation is a good in it’s own right
• civic participation and information networks lead to better governance
• informal sanctions against anti-social and criminal behavior
• nearly any positive policy outcome correlates to social capital
• malign social capital

how do we reinforce “positive” social capital within networks?

vicious circles:

• key finding is that social capital has been rising amongst middle classes and falling amongst working classes
• poverty – especially unemployment – tends to correlate to disproproprtionately more bonding social capital than bridging social capital
• the excluded may suffer from dysfunctional social capital, where networks are divisve or antisocial

how do we pull people back into the market, into the network, into the community?

sufficient empirical research now shows the internet’s capacity to build social networks:

• can be used to maintain both forms of social capital, especially over distance
• lowering barriers to entry for civic engagement
• effective at circulating information and reputations, including at a local level
• social netowrking sites and publishing platforms offer new opportunities to build and maintain community, including at a local level
• new form of community, between formal and informal

what is the difference in social capital between local and national networks, campaigns, sustainability?

moving from “just in case” organizations to “just in time” organizations – p. resnick (american) – example: airline group forming after sitting on jet way for hours, to change the policy of the airlines, successful, then separate

speeding up and entrenching network effects: there is a risk that the internet exacerbates existing trends in social capital:

• vibrant, middle class neighbourhoods exploit capacity of internet to circulate information, build reputations, publish their good news
• deprived neighbourhoods do not, but are stigmatized by teh technology

opportunities for excluded groups:

• digital inclusion strategies generate online/offline networks themselves
• shift to audiovisual content broadens definition of literacy
• online communication is potentially more inclusive, less intimidating, more cosmopolitan than face to face – potential to build bridging capital
• building networks in and around labour markets
• considerable local knowledge could be ‘freed’ – free local knowledge
• p2p social technologies have tipping points of take-up/adoption
• potential for virtuous circles amongst elderly

how does ICT aid social capital formation

challenges and questions

• maintaining networks beyond engagement of founding entrepreneur
• altering cultural representation of ICT
• avoiding prescriptions over how networks are to be build and what is to be communcated and how
• dealing with the risk of bad online social capital 0 stigmatization, bullying, etc.

Examples:

• talk about local
• people’s voice media
• digital bridge project (shoreditch)
• haringey online

Questions:

• which are the individuals or agencies best suited to engaging with people in this way?
• leaving ICT aside, what are th emost effective strategies for generating networks in deprived communities?
• how can ICT be represented in a way that doesn’t seem like education?
• how can information be better circulated around local labour markets (as unemployment grows…)?
• how can the shift to institution building occur, if it should at all?
• how to respond to the ‘grey economy’ or questionable networks?
• which ICTs are most suited to developing social capital in deprived communities?
• which software platforms are most suited to developing social capital in deprived communities?
• who are the hardest to reach groups and can anything be done to change this?
• what is needed from public services to facilitate benefits discussed here?

—–

anne faulkner – response

digital inclusion, conference and work

digital inclusion more about social justice, vs economic side of digital adoptions

key question: how can we accelerate the creation of social capital?

evidence form UKonline centers about social impacts of the internet:

• internet users saw themselves as happier, more self confidence, better informed, 25% more confident about ability to find a job, etc.
• doesn’t look at causality: are people coming to internet who are happier anyway

strong correlation between internet use and increased social capital; but it took a long time to get there. takes time, especially when dealing with disadvantaged communities

lots of social networks created via uk online centers are actually offline networks. how do they come together – online and offline networks?

uk online centers of the future might be more about digital mentors or ambassadors that help people identify their goals and needs and how digital media could help – how do we create a model for this?

human infastructure around how we organize around digital inclusion – digital engagement; something around the collaboration of groups increasing social capital

3 key things:

1. action research project exploring social media dn communities
2. better leadership in exploring digital projects that are funded
3. creation of social enterprise – how can we harness brilliant things hapening by individuals to create an enterprise to help groups and localities

—-

south bristol – carolyn hassan – response

think beyond text

consider all kinds of content

people find ways of communicating, connecting, advocating, campaigning

phsyical access to computers is important but also creates problems – not about access, but about motivation and responsbility

—-

connected communities program – damini

social networks (online, offline, connection) and social capital

role that networks can play in building social capital

creating action research projects

mapping social networks – do it not just to see results but understand the process and make it visible

look at networks created in deprived communities and how they create social capital

look at a series of different questions about making sense of social networks and social capital – what we don’t understand now, what could be a new model, etc.

look at social value of networks created around digital inclusion

—-

andy gibson: framing things with behavior change methodology will turn into everyone should want what we want because we think it’s best; digital divide partly about some not seeing a use, not necessarily not access; what do people who aren’t online want to do that they could do online but don’t know

teaching about ICT needs to be completely personalized around what people actually want to do and not a standardized set of uses

Steve and 3 self-funded volunteers (found for free via Google Grants!) are headed to Zambia to document a community who doesn’t have a school, in as close to real-time as possible.  They plan to ask the community what they need and give them a platform to share their story with the world.  They will tweet constantly and upload their photo-led blog stories every day between May 11-22.  You can ask members of the community questions via blog posts, @replies on Twitter and via email (zambia@learnasone.org).

Before they head home, they will train the local community and the NGO partner how to use a Flip video and digital camera so update can continue.  Longer-term, the plan is to become similar to Kiva.org, but for schools.

Follow along and connect with the community!

• Follow LearnAsOne on Twitter
• Follow the blog updates or the Flickr photo stream
• Email the Zambia LearnAsOne team

Learn more about LearnAsOne:

What is LearnAsOne?
LearnAsOne is a charity that works with local partners and communities in Africa to fund schools and support their running costs.

What do you need?
This is the key question we will continually ask to every community we meet.

No imposing western ideas. No impractical solutions. Just listening to the communities real educational needs and helping to provide the funds and training so they can meet them themselves.

It could be teacher training, classrooms, a feeding programme, sanitation and clean water, books, school fees or teacher’s accommodation. Whatever the need we’ll give the community a way to tell you. Plus we’ll provide a breakdown of the costs of every project in the form of a simple shopping list.

What I am most interested in with LearnAsOne’s trip and engagement in Zambia is testing the idea in practice of helping answer the needs of a community without directing or dictating the response.   This will certainly be an interesting project to follow!  What do you think?  Will you be following along or asking any questions via the methods above?  What would you ask?

This Wednesday, April 15th, you can participate in a free online event and webinar from TechSoup, Basics for Beginners: Getting Started with Social Media Tools.

So you’ve heard about Facebook, Twitter, and other online social networking sites. You know your organization should use social media, but you’re not sure where to start. If this sounds familiar, you won’t want to miss TechSoup’s free online event and webinar: Basics for Beginners: Getting Started with Social Media Tools.

Join hosts, John Haydon, social media coach for nonprofits, and blogger and internet marketing consultant, Chris Garrett, as they demonstrate how to get started with social media and the value this can bring your organization. They’ll explain the best first steps for getting started and help beginners understand how these emerging technologies can help libraries and nonprofits conduct outreach, raise funds, create community, and share ideas.

Register now for the live webinar, Wednesday, April 15th, 9 AM Pacific Standard Time.

Following the webinar, TechSoup will host a free, day-long online event, where you can post additional questions to the expert event hosts in the TechSoup Community forums:  http://www.techsoup.org/go/web2_basics. The forums event is asynchronous (not live) and no registration is required, just show up and post!

Dive into the discussion in the TechSoup online forums where we’ll discuss such topics as:

• How can you make the most of social media with very little resources (time, money, staff)?
• Smart ways to use social media to engage new and existing supporters
• How much time should you devote to social media each day?
• What is the best way to fundraise with social media?

This free event is ideal for beginners who are looking for simple steps they can take to effectively use social media to enhance their missions. Whether you’re brand new to Web 2.0 tools or looking to share your social media successes and lessons learned, please stop by and add your voice to the conversation: http://www.techsoup.org/go/web2_basic

Have any questions? Please email: community@techsoup.org.

About TechSoup.org
TechSoup.org is a trusted technology resource that offers a variety of information and services for the nonprofit sector. In addition to accessing articles and worksheets, social benefit organizations can connect with a lively online community of peers for hands-on help, or receive product donations from major vendors through its product philanthropy service. This popular program has enabled organizations to save over $1.2 billion in IT expenses as of September 2008. ]]> https://amysampleward.org/2008/09/23/2008-digital-media-and-learning-competition/ Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:25:10 +0000 http://www.amysampleward.org/?p=265 Continue reading2008 Digital Media and Learning Competition]]> Originally posted on the NetSquared site.