Archive for Links
The CauseWired Roundup
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Fascinating post on the "limits of free" (h/t Allison Fine): "The biggest idea I came out of SxSW with this year was that free is dead. Over. Overdone. We killed it. Because so much is free online, we expect it; where’s the value in that?"
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Nancy Scola bucks the hype: "Daniel Bennett, a PhD student embedded at the BBC to study the impact of new media on war coverage, isn't so sure. "As it stands, the Twitter revolution is a myth," he writes. Bennett traces the spark of the protests to a core group of young activists…"
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Beth Kanter: "There is an inherent tension between strategy and tactical implementation of using social media to support a campaign's objectives or nonprofit's mission, whether the goal is fundraising, marketing, or taking action. Those who are just beginning to incorporate social media into their strategic thinking struggle with: "How do we get to know and understand how a particular tool can help us meet our goals, but not let the tool drive our decisions?"
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Nice tip from Dana Variano: "6 Billion Others is a video project organized by GoodPlanet.org which sent 6 directors off on trips around the globe, where they filmed the life stories (told first-hand, oral history-style) of 6,000 individuals. Using close-ups and realistic filming techniques, directors attempted to capture the stories of these people, in order to portray their experiences in the most true-to-life method possible. The purpose? "6 Billion Others tries to draw a portrait of contemporary mankind by asking questions about universal values," and "raising awareness regarding the world's problems and sustainable development."
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A great link (and comment) from Phil Cubeta: "Small grants given locally by donors who made their mony locally and who are embedded in the local networks of business, worship, conviviality, rooting for the home team, volunteering for Rotary, showing up for PTA meetings, is this not about as good as philanthropy gets?"
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Sean Stannard-Stockton's excellent report on the Center for Effective Philanthropy conference: "At the core of CEP’s message is their belief (backed by data) that foundation effectiveness has three core essentials: 1. Clear goals; 2. Coherent, well-implemented strategies; 3. Relevant performance indicators. They call this the What, How and How Will We Know of philanthropic effectiveness."
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Lucy Bernholz: "It was my kid who cried “stop!” as the flipping briefly revealed the ever-familiar DC Metro map. Except it wasn’t the Metro at all, it was an imagined map of the expanding DC bus system developed by an independent computer programmer in the area."
Guest Post – Social Actions Round-up No. 24: Government Enters Social Media for Social Change Movement.
Note: The online social activism sector is growing all the time, and sharing information and ideas is crucial to continuing that growth – and the very impact on society. We’re happy to carry the excellent Social Actions Round-up of links and resources here at CauseWired, created by the prolific and plugged-in team of Joe Solomon, Christine Egger and Peter Deitz. Enjoy it – and pass it along!
From Peter Deitz: As a child of the 80′s (okay, very late 70′s), I am used to government having very little (if any) involvement in technology driven initiatives (outside of the military), and certainly not technology for a purpose.
Enter the Obama Administration. Suddenly, there’s a Director of Citizen Participation and a Department of Social Innovation. Woah! This round-up just touches the surface: mentioning the appointment of a former Google executive to the Obama administration, highlighting the Utah senate’s use of social media, and drawing attention to the Republican party’s efforts to leverage crowdsourcing (Obama-style).
The effects of government ‘getting it’ are going to be huge. At Social Actions, we’ll be keeping an eye on how these stories develop.
Below is the Social Actions round-up covering the period January 21, 2009 to February 2, 2009.
News Roundup
Kiva.org launches its developer API and a new website, build.kiva.org.
Google Exec Katie Jacobs Stanton joins Obama administration as Director of Citizen Participation.
CauseGlobal introduces Katie Jacobs Stanton and her vision.
UC Berkeley Human Rights Center launches a Mobile Challenge on NetSquared.
Civic Ventures is accepting nominations for The Purpose Prize.
Ashoka GenV and Lemelson Foundation is accepting submissions for their Invent Your World challenge.
DoSomething.org is accepting nominations for their 2009 DoSomething Award.
NABUUR is accepting votes for Volunteer of the Year.
Idealist.org launches a virtual volunteering program.
BetterPlace reflects on a report called Generation Generosity.
ThePoint is looking for a rockstar designer.
PolicyPitch reports that Republicans are crowdsourcing an effort to Rebuild the Party.
PolicyPitch writes about how the Utah Senate is embracing social media.
ChristmasFuture receives a $50k creative services grant from Karo.
ExecDigital publishes an article on micro-philanthropy, called Philanthropy: The Spirit of Giving.
NewsCred blog writes about the viability of newspapers adopting an The Endowment Model.
TheExtraordinaries share the slides from their presentation at Stanford’s Computuer Science for Social Good Class.
Lucy Bernholtz, philanthropy blogger extraordinaire, raves about Twitter.
Mashable explains How to Build Community on Twitter. (Nov. 2008)
The Culture of Collaboration blog raves about micro-blogging in general.
Social Velocity blog explains how to Ask for Money in a Recession.
FrogLoop shares Everything You Wanted to Know About Online Fundraising in a Bad Economy.
FrogLoop writes about the Joys of Google Grants.
TechSoup.org shares Ten Tips for Planning a Successful Webinar.
Beth Kanter lists Women in Nonprofit Technology Who Rock (Hats off to each and every one of them).
Money on the Move blog discovers a handful of micro-philanthropyplatforms.
Cindy Gibson, citizen-centered civic engagement expert, starts blogging again.
Tom Watson of CauseWired launches the Open Source Giving blog on SocialEdge.
Katya Andresen writes about the lack of control when it comes to leveraging social media.
1DollarClub.org blog answers the question, Just What Is Micro-Philanthropy?
GiftHub hosts a conversation on Microphilanthropy for Macro Social Results.
Britt Bravo writes about iPhone Apps for Nonprofits.
Prelude Interactive blog asks readers to Look Beyond the iPhone.
Global Mindshift posts the video from its Google Tech Talk.
Recent Discoveries
Dgoodr.com – Dreamers Who Are Doers
EthicL – Buy and Sell Things That Help Humanity
Knight Citizen News Network – Helping Citizens and Journalists Amplify Community News
Advocacy Online – eCampaigning Software
Social Actions News
Social Actions raises $14,715.34 in donations and pledges.
Social Actions officially launches its social media consulting plans.
The Change the Web Challenge is hosting a community conference call on Thursday, February 5.
The Change the Web Challenge introduces a proposed logo for the contest.
The Change the Web Challenge publishes Judge Nominations (or 50+ Rock Stars to Follow on Twitter).
What is the Social Actions Round Up?
Each week, Social Actions community members post links and news about online social activism – This round-up is a summary of the links that surfaced since the last round up. Check out past roundups here.
You can tag your delicious bookmarks with “p2pchange” or include “#p2pchange” in your tweets – we’ll scoop them up and review them for future Social Actions roundups.
Social Actions roundups are syndicated on CauseWired, CauseGlobal, TakePart, and NetSquared.
Philanthropy and nonprofit management expert Susan Carey Dempsey is the editor-in-chief of onPhilanthropy.com. 
Veteran consultant, journalist and entrepreneur Tom Watson is the author of CauseWired: Plugging In, Getting Involved, Changing the World, a new book about online social activism. 
Social media and philanthropy evaluation expert Allison Fine is the author of Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age. 
Veteran development consultant Stephen Manzi is a recognized national leader in nonprofit management and fundraising strategy. 
