Tag Archive for 'wiki'

We Are Media Project: Reflections at 6 weeks

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Amy Sample Ward
on August 6, 2008
in case studies and wiki
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The We Are Media Project just hit the 6-week mark! There has been a lot of activity, contributions, collaboration and learning taking place on the project wiki. I just posted to the Stanford Social Innovation Review blog with some reflections at the 6 week mark.

I think this has been a great experiment in eating our own dog food: the people who advocate for the use of social media, having to come together and work via social media.  Part of my post includes the three areas that I think are most crucial in achieving success of a project like this.

Some of the the hardest parts of the project so far for the organizer (Beth), from my perspective, include:

  • Managing participation of topic-related experts as the list of participants grows over time (and perhaps after the most applicable topic for him or her passes):  As more attention is given to the project across the blogosphere and elsewhere, more people who want to contribute sign on to the wiki.  It’s great to get more people involved, but it can be difficult for an organizer to be managing so many different areas of interest and expertise once the project modules are underway.
  • Maintaining a natural flow or progression of topics within the wiki:  Working wikily can sometimes mean that too many side conversations and tangents turn into stranded pages or that pages get started for a topic that seems important but folks lose track of it.  Maintaining an orderly flow of information has really kept this project wiki to a manageable and navigable resource.
  • Making it easy for very busy people to contribute beneficial information and knowledge efficiently: If you create it, they won’t necessarily come. Or, if they do, they may not hang out long and contribute. People, even if they are the ‘experts’ in the topic, are busy. A very effective approach is to send an email or Twitter message (or any other tool you are using to ping the participants) that asks a specific question and links to the exact area where you want the information entered. Basically, think of ways to make it hard for your participants to NOT contribute!

What do you think?  Check out the full post on the SSIR blog and share your thoughts on projects you have participated in that required remote collaboration in a wiki, or other examples of eating your own dog food!

We Are Media Project: It’s week 5 already!

Published
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Amy Sample Ward
on July 31, 2008
in community
. 2 Comments

If you haven’t seen any of the posts about the We Are Media Project yet, it is a great experiment in working wikily from NTEN and Beth Kanter to “build a toolkit and instructional guides about how social media strategies and tools can enable nonprofit organizations to create, compile, and distribute their stories and change the world.”

This is week 5, which focuses on: Online Community Engagement Strategy and Skills.  I weighed in today on the first two questions, including Do you really need a community? Or something else? and What questions do you need to ask to guide your online community building strategy?, and hope you’ll check it out!

Here is one of the examples I contributed today:

Sometimes the best online community for your organization’s members/network, is one that has more direct benefits for the community members, than you. I know that sounds backward at first, but let me explain…

Here’s an example: You are an organization that focuses on after school programs and alternative programs for elementary school students. You have a large base of volunteers who run the after school programs, including mentoring and homework help. Creating a place on your website that allows volunteers to talk to each other, post questions, provide answers (peer to peer learning), share ideas and success stories, and more, means the volunteers have access to a huge pool of support (which for volunteers usually means better retention) and networking.

At first, it may seem the organization doesn’t really get much from the network. But, with a network of volunteers who are engaged and supporting each other online, interested people to your programs can be more inclined to get involved, you have resources in that network like best practices and success stories to share with other organizations and can even find leaders in the group to help advise the organization on new programs or changes to existing practices.

So, what do you think?  Does your organization need an online community?  What questions do you ask yourself to help figure it out?  If you decide you do need a community, what questions do you ask to help shape its development?

WeAreMedia Project - It’s week 3!

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Amy Sample Ward
on July 15, 2008
in issues, socialmedia and wiki
. 0 Comments

Have you checked out the WeAreMedia Project from Beth Kanter and NTEN yet? I am really enjoying this great collaborative project and experiment in working wikily.

Week 1:  Why Should Your Nonprofit Embrace Social Media?  (or not?)

Learn about basic social media concepts and principles, as well as the situations in which social media would or would not help your organization.  Here is a great presentation that introduces social media.

Week 2:  Thinking Strategically About Social Media

Learn about the key ingredients you should use for putting together a great social media strategy, how social media strategy relates to your organization’s other internet and communications strategies, and more!  You can even check out the example group exercise I contributed for creating a social media strategy!

Week 3:  The Social Media Ready Nonprofit: Dealing with Resistance

Learn about the signs of resistence in an organization, how to get organizational buy-in for social media strategies, and which policies are useful for dealing with social media in an organization.  Week 3 collaboration and contribution is happening now - join in or learn more!

What have been some of the hardest obstacles to over come in getting buy-in for social media at your organization?  Were the main evangelist, or did you have partners?

Digital Makeover Project: More thoughts on community tools

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Amy Sample Ward
on July 12, 2008
in issues and socialmedia
. 1 Comment

I posted a few days ago about Simon Fairway ’s Digital Makeover Project focusing on South Yorkshire Funding Advice Bureau . I didn’t get all of my thoughts out in that previous post, as they relate to the Issues and Priorities outline that Simon and the team put together.

User generated content vs traditional top-down information
 I think with a web site such as SYFAB’s it is a great community building strategy to integrate ways that funding advice could be given by peers as well as the SYFAB staff. Moving some of the request, information gathering, and sharing process online in a public forum-like way, could really encourage participation in the process. People who may have already gone through what someone else is asking about can provide their insights or information while the staff can supplement with data they usually provide.

Communication is difficult with outreach workers/volunteers
I wonder if establishing some basic protocols that include Google Docs or a wiki could help contain conversations or questions to an easily accessed, web-based document. Is a wiki or shared document something that other groups have used to coordinate remote and in-office workers? I am thinking of examples with campaign staff/volunteers and rural nonprofits.

Newsletter is in PDF/mailed
(You can read about this and the other issue areas in the Issue and Priorities document for the project.)  One of the most important aspects of the newsletter is the event and training listings.  What about creating an online calendar on the website, where events, trainings, workshops, major conferences, and even grant deadlines could all be displayed and easily updated?  Sounds like a great way to add value to the SYFAB website.  You could even allow for others to add to the calendar, or submit information for staff to add.  Then the SYFAB calendar would be the go-to place to find out what was going on in the funding field.

Capturing feedback
One of the easiest ways for organizations to create a feedback form without technical expertise is to use SurveyMonkey or other free online survey tools .  You don’t need to know any html or other coding, don’t need to make any forms on your website.  You can create a survey that captures all the information you are hoping to get from users of the site or of a particular program, and even add your logo and other branding materials to confirm to users that it really is your survey.  This let’s you ask for feedback, collect the feedback and analyze it in a web-based platform so there aren’t any lost emails or misplaced paper forms.

Fundraising options
As the Funding Advice Bureau, you want to be sure that you have enough funds to keep helping others secure monies as well!  An online donation process would be easy, as you would just need to set it up and place the donate button on the website.  Checking to make sure that SYFAB is listed in online platforms like Causes and Change.org will allow people around the world using these platforms to connect causes and fundraising with your organization.

What ideas or comments do you have about the above options?  Do any of them reflect conversations or issues your organization’s staff has also faced?  What have been the major conversations points when discussing these issues in your organization?

Victory for open use from the Legislative Counsel Committee

Published
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Amy Sample Ward
on June 26, 2008
in issues
. 0 Comments

Last week, I headed to our state capital to testify before the Legislative Counsel Committee along with Pete Forsyth and Bart Massey.  As I mentioned in the post from last week, we were participating as public testimony in support of representatives from Public.Resource.org and Justia.org stating that the LCC should not enforce copyright on the Oregon Revised Statutes and other materials created by the state legislature and thusly removing the ability for citizens and organizations to quote passages, numbers, titles, annotations, etc.

Well, we ‘won’:  After testimony from PRO, Justia and the three of us, as well as careful and open deliberation, the Committee unanimously approved the motion to stop claiming copyright over the ORS and to discontinue the charges with Justia.

We wrote a detailed wrap up that I encourage you to read on the WikiProject Oregon blog.  We included details about the hearing itself as well as links to download testimonies and listen to the recordings.  Check it out!

connec+ipedia public launch!

Published
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Amy Sample Ward
on June 12, 2008
in wiki
. 0 Comments

connec+ipedia is public! I’m happy to announce that a project I have worked on for the last 18 months and that others have worked for even longer is now ready for your eyes and minds:

“What if there was a place where we could all exchange what we learn as we go about our daily business? What if nonprofits could see the data and information that foundations use in their due diligence process? What if organizations and people could easily determine which foundations’ interests match their project goals? What if foundations could quickly see what groups are working on an issue they are investigating? And so on…

Well, we are building such a place. A place where people and organizations can connect about subjects and places. A place called connectipedia…”

connec+ipedia is, in my opinion, an awesome new tool that will change the way many people think of wikis.

Reason #1 - The Wiki Way
It is a wiki, yes. But it is a wiki that has database capabilities and functions in a more complete definition of the wiki way. What’s the wiki way? Well, as Ward Cunningham (the man who invented wikis and who spoke at our public launch event on Tuesday) explains, what makes wikis really different is that they incorporate what isn’t yet created. You can make links to topics that don’t exist. A link to something that doesn’t exist? Yes. Exactly. A way to create a placeholder and a reminder that there is more needed here or this item is important but not fleshed out yet. By clicking on that link, you are redirected to create that page. When you incorporate database functionality into a wiki, the opportunity to further this idea is even greater.

Reason #2 - Nonlinear
I have seen many examples of wikis that try to be very linear. What do I mean by this? Well, they want to create a wiki that is very structured (traditional) and appears like a standard website, as far as navigation tabs, site map, layout, etc. connec+ipedia is nonlinear. It has content divided by People, Places and Things. But, content also exists in the intersection of these categories. So you can go to a card for after school programs, but you could also go find after school programs + Portland, OR, and so on.

Reason #3 - Community
Wikis are inherently a community of users (regardless of size). connec+ipedia takes this to a new level. It exists to connect you to information, not store the information. So, with so many links to organizations and projects, the community creates a pull for those who are linked to but not using the tool to engage, at least so far to make sure their information is correct! Many nonprofits and foundations (public and private) from around the region are already listed in connec+ipedia. It has the unique capacity for connecting topic areas with funders who support them and organizations doing the work. It is encouraging to the community grow to use the site in this way and ensure that information is correct - keeping people connected!

I invite you to check it out! connec+ipedia is free, open source tool. It runs on WagN which you can learn about here.

Public launch, June 10th

Published
by
Amy Sample Ward
on May 28, 2008
in wiki
. 0 Comments

While I was living in Spain in the early part of 2007, through to now, I have had the great opportunity to work Meyer Memorial Trust and Grass Commons on a new kind of wiki to benefit the nonprofit sector. It has been a long time coming and helps explain how busy and distracted I have been lately, but the public launch is now just two weeks away! Here is an exceprt from the announcement MMT put up on the website yesterday afternoon:

Like many foundations, MMT has been building a “knowledge management” system to archive information in an accessible way to help us be the best grantmakers we can be. But we’ve been approaching this task with a bigger end in mind.

Why, we asked ourselves, would we set up a system that only MMT could use when the need for good information is shared by other foundations… and nonprofit organizations and public agencies and official decision makers and citizen volunteers and… in fact, everyone working for the common good?? Wouldn’t that be a smarter investment for us to make?

What if there was a place where we could all exchange what we learn as we go about our daily business? What if nonprofits could see the data and information that foundations use in their due diligence process? What if organizations and people could easily determine which foundations’ interests match their project goals? What if foundations could quickly see what groups are working on an issue they are investigating? And so on…

Well, we are building such a place. A place where people and organizations can connect about subjects and places. A place called connectipedia…

Want to know more? Want to see connectipedia in action? Want to find out how you can be part of all this? Attend the public launch event at:

2 - 3:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 10
Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center
aka Ecotrust (second floor conference center)
721 NW Ninth Ave.
Portland OR 97209

We would love you to be part of this event and celebration. Several renowned geeks will be there! We’re not requiring folks to register, but if you plan to attend, please send a quick rsvp email.

If you can’t make it to Ecotrust, you can still participate in the launch. We plan to webcast the event so anyone in our corner of the world can make time for connectipedia. (More details about the webcast to come.)

After June 10th, connectipedia will be open for busines!

I’m extremely excited about the unveiling of this wonderful tool.  If you are in Portland, you can attend the event in person per the details above.  If you are elsewhere in the world, you will be able to attend remotely via the web and be right in the thick of things with us.  I’ll be sure to post details about connecting remotely as soon as they are made available.  I can’t wait to have you join me in using this terrific new tool!

Social Media event review

Published
by
amysampleward
on December 11, 2007
in workblog
. 2 Comments

I just posted this review of our new media event from Friday on my work blog. Has anyone taken part in an event on social media tools using scenarios of local nonprofits? What was the outcome?

This past Friday was our third event in the series Communicating in the Age of New Media and focused on social media tools. It was a wonderful success, at least in my opinion, and took place at IRCO (Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization) offering us a chance to have applicable conversations and applications of our small group scenarios, many of which focused on immigrant and refugee or other special needs populations. My standard review process includes noting three positives and one negative, so, here’s my take on the event:

Rose: Facilitator
We were very honored and thrilled to have come out to provide us with an overview of social media and the tools nonprofits are and can be using and then walk us through the day’s workshop. She provided great insight and helped the groups every step of the way with suggestions, ideas, and thought-provoking questions. You can even read Beth’s reflections on the event on her blog!

Rose: Participants
Beth was terrific, but our participants really made the day for me! They were positive about the new media tools and ready to learn. People were jumping right in to the workshop scenarios and energetic in creating strategies using social media to help nonprofits best do their work. When faced with this much new information, people can get scared and overwhelmed, or excited and motivated. I was thrilled to see that our participants were the latter.

Rose: Conversation
At every table around the room, conversations were taking place that proved how energetic and enthused the participants and the leaders were about the topic—what is not to be excited about? After all, some nonprofits are ahead of corporations in adopting social web tools! One great tool that my group touched on was the utility of wikis for organizations and their members. What better place to collaborate and build community through participation and contribution than in a wiki? We even set up a wiki for the event so that the notes, ideas, questions, and great conversation could be recorded and continued.

Thorn: Time
With such a motivated group of participants and a guru facilitator, it was hard to call it a day. We could have easily worked on the scenarios in small groups, had conversations and answered questions together for many more hours. Even this thorn has a rose: Check out the wiki for the event and we can keep discussing and collaborating!

I hope all of you who had the opportunity to be with us on Friday enjoyed it and learned something you can put to use at your organization. To those who could not join us, we hope to put on similar events in the future and I will continue to post here on ideas, issues, news, and information to help you use social media tools in your organization.

Why wikis?

Published
by
amysampleward
on December 10, 2007
in socialmedia and webtools
. 1 Comment

This past Friday, we held our third event in the series Communicating in the Age of New Media for nonprofit organizations to learn, this time, about social media tools. It was quite a success, with a great deal of conversation, learning, ideas, and even Beth Kanter to accompany participants through the day.

One tool that I felt was getting talked about and asked about quite a bit, was the wiki. How would we use it? What is so great about it? What is it to begin with?

We weren’t shy about showing our support of wikis, as the event had a wiki of its own for participants to share notes, questions, and resources. Using a tool for collaboration and shared learning is a terrific place for nonprofits to enter the new media world. There is plenty of free wiki software out there so you can start using it in your office or home to get the feel of it, which kind you are comfortable with, and how you want to use it at work.

After all the conversations I had about wikis at the event, and all the ways I was suggesting people could use a wiki in their organization or with their members, I’m curious how you are already or planning to use them. Does your organization use a wiki internally or externally? What was the biggest hurdle in getting non-new media users on board? I’d love to hear your stories!

Also, a good friend and colleague helped us faciliate our event and has a wealth of knowledge about wikis: Brandon at AboutUs.