CrisisCongress photo courtesy of Taylor Davidson on Flickr.

Back in January, when the earthquake hit Haiti, I felt like I do in all catastrophic disasters. Sick to my stomach over the human suffering.

As I’ve grown into my activist and humanitarian roles, technology has helped me find a place where I feel like I belong in the response through technology and by using our voices. Our voices online have the ability to multiply and make a bigger impact. Using your voice on the Internet (and this could be Facebook or your own blog) is a way of standing up for what you believe, asking questions and seeking answers.

That’s what happened to me in January. The earthquake took place and I turned to the Internet to see what the response would be. I had heard of Transparency Camps happening last summer, but only pieces, as I had been in the Philippines on my Kiva Fellowship. I had heard more about CrisisCommons from friends like Alex Rose and Chad Catacchio, and with my incessant need for information learned more about the camps. I started to see them pop up around the country and people were reaching out to me, since I now lived in New Orleans, asking to connect with people who had been instrumental in the response for Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and wondering when there would be a CrisisCamp in New Orleans.

From the bottom of my cause-filled activist heart, you could say this is how I was roped in to creating CrisisCampNOLA.

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Download Idealware’s free guide to get a handle on Facebook, blogs & more

Idealware, along with the New Organizing Institute and Trellon, just published The Nonprofit Social Media Decision Guide.

The guide helps you to decide how Facebook, Twitter, blogs, Flickr, YouTube and other channels fit within the marketing strategy of your nonprofit or social change organization.

Six things you’ll love about this guide

1. It includes an extremely pragmatic approach to social media decision-making, breaking it down into a 5-step process that is easy to follow.
2. In the second section of this guide you’ll find a workbook, with worksheets and samples to help you figure out your own social media strategy.
3. You’ll find lots of examples of how orgs can use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs.
4. Each platforms benefits are clearly presented, along with tips of getting started and resources you’ll need.
5. It encourages organizations that aren’t using social media to at least define why it doesn’t make sense for them.
6. At the end of the guide is a directory of nonprofit consultants.

As a side note, I wasn’t asked to blog about this guide, although Socialbrite and Inbound Zombie are listed in the directory. I simply wanted to share something that truly is useful for nonprofits.

Download The Nonprofit Social Media Decision Guide at Idealware, or directly (PDF).

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Geo-aware apps will help democratize news and information

Guest post by Rob Reed
Founder, MomentFeed

Social media has changed the world. It has revolutionized communications on a global scale, and the transformation continues with every status update, blog post and video stream. The global citizenry has become a global network.

Since becoming widely adopted just a few ago, social media has supercharged social action, cause marketing and social entrepreneurship. Its true value hasn’t been the technology itself but how we’ve used it. Today a second wave of innovation is defining a new era and setting the stage for change over the coming decade.

Mobile technologies will extend the global online network to anyone with a mobile device while enabling countless local networks to form in the real world. We’ve decentralized media production and distribution. We’re doing the same for energy. And we’ll continue this trend for social networking, social action and commerce.

The combined forces of smartphones, mobile broadband and location-aware applications will connect us in more meaningful ways to the people, organizations, events, information and companies that matter most to us — namely, those within a physical proximity of where we live and where we are. Can location-based services (LBS) change the world? Here are  #10Ways:

Checking in for good

1If Gowalla and Foursquare have taught us anything, it’s that people respond to simple incentives. By offering badges, mayorships and other intangible rewards, millions of people are checking in to the places they go. Apps like Whrrl take this a step further and enable like-minded “societies” to form on a local basis. The next step is for these apps to add greater purpose by encouraging more meaningful check-ins and offering corresponding badges and stamps, thus mapping the cause universe. Or for a dedicated app to be developed that rewards conscious consumption, social responsibility and civic engagement. (Yes, the CauseWorld app features a cause element, but it’s not about cause-worthy places.)

Eating locally

2Sustainability demands that we source our food as close to its point of production as possible. Many so-called locavores subscribe to the 100-mile diet, which requires that one “eat nothing — or almost nothing — but sustenance drawn from within 100 miles of their home.” Given the difficulty of accessing and verifying this information in order to live by this standard, there’s a geo-powered Locavore app. It gives you info on in-season foods, those coming in-season, farmer’s markets and links to recipes. This rather simple app is clearly just the start. In time, location-aware apps will guide us not only to the grocery store or farmer’s market but through them, identifying foods based on our particular diet or sensibility.

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Elements of The Networked Nonprofit, image from Beth Kanter.

Guest post by Manny Hernandez
Diabetes Hands Foundation

Beth Kanter’s new book, The Networked Nonprofit, co-written by Allison Fine, points out that social media tools integral to nonprofits fall into three general categories of use:

• Conversation starters
• Collaboration tools
• Network builders

In this post, I’d like to share examples of how the Diabetes Hands Foundation behaves as a networked nonprofit and ways in which we can become more networked as well.

Conversation starters

Conversation starters are a natural part of our day to day. We run two social networks on Ning for people touched by diabetes: TuDiabetes in English and EsTuDiabetes en español.

On the networks, people seek support and information, posting specific questions like “What do I do to cover my diabetes supplies now that my COBRA is about to expire?” Or they may conduct informal surveys like “What is your favorite way to handle a low blood sugar episode?”

We’ve learned that open-ended questions in general elicit the largest number of comments and replies, while the more specific questions typically generate fairly useful and targeted answers, though perhaps not as many as a “survey” kind of post.

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The Canon Vixia HV40.

Tips on video equipment, interviewing people on camera & more

Target audience: Nonprofits, social change organizations, videographers, educators, foundations, businesses, individuals. This is part of Creating Media, our ongoing series designed to help nonprofits and other organizations learn how to use and make media.

Guest post by Diana Day
Online Journalism Review

With the increasingly affordable equipment and editing tools available today, it’s possible to turn out professional-looking online video quicker than you’d expect.

You can hire an outside video producer, but we think the tools have become simple enough to bring in-house. Make sure you have the right setup before starting to film, and make sure to follow our suggestions below on how to conduct an effective interview.

Equipment you’ll need

Camcorders

The prices of high-quality hi-definition video cameras have plummeted in the past two years. Nonprofits, cause organizations and citizen publishers can choose from two basic types of camcorders:

• The Flip cam has revolutionized the way people capture and share video. You can get a hi-def handheld recorder for less than $200. (Cisco purchased Pure Digital, the Flip’s maker, last year.) Other options include Kodak’s Zi8 and the Sony Bloggie.

• There are an astonishing range of professional-quality video camera in the $450 to $800 range today. The Canon Vixia line is a good place to start looking. Another good choice is the Panasonic TM700K. Try this CNet camcorder buying guide to help you price, research and select a video camera within your budget.

Microphone

While you don’t need a top-of-the-line camcorder, you do need acceptable sound. A microphone for man-on-the-street interviews is very helpful and is a real improvement over the camera’s on-board mic. The following are specifications for a hand-held stick microphone. You should be able to find one at a Radio Shack or Best Buy for between $20 and $40.

• uni-directional (cardioid) pick-up pattern
• lo-impedence (ohm symbol) 600 ohms or lower
• frequency response range: 50-100 hertz to 10,000-15,000 hertz
• 1/8″ mini-plug or a ¼” phone plug with a 1/8″ adapter
• 10-20 foot cord (shorter is fine, too; you might find it a pain to wrap up and store such a long cord, but it’s indispensable when you really need it; a detachable cable is OK)
• No battery required

A lavaliere (clip-on) microphone for planned sit-down style interviews is a plus, but it’s not imperative if you’re trying to save money at the beginning. Again, you can find one at Radio Shack for $25. Some stick microphones available in the price ranges detailed above come with those cheesy little plastic stands, and believe it or not, these are fine for getting started. Just place the mic on the stand outside of the frame and shoot. Try to shoot in a quiet place to minimize audio distractions, and you’ll be surprised how well this will suffice to get you started.

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Help enterprising Colombia youths running an Internet cafe

Today is my birthday, and in the tradition of other social media strategists working in the nonprofit space like Beth Kanter (I wrote about her last birthday campaign in January) and Geoff Livingston, I’d like to ask your help in making the day special for some enterprising young people in Colombia.

But first a quick word of explanation. This post comes in two parts: this introductory fund-raising appeal, followed by an interview with the founder and CEO of Jolkona Foundation, which is running the campaign and scores of others like it.

Empower young entrepreneurs in Colombia’s slums

This is the first time I’ve ever directly asked my blog readers and followers on Twitter and Facebook to donate to a campaign of mine, though I’ve spotlighted dozens of worthy causes over the years. So, please donate here — looking for nine people to donate an average of $25. Details:

What: Support young people in the slums of Bogotá, Colombia, as they develop their own community internet cafe business, called MegaRed (pictured above). The cafe provides opportunities for young entrepreneurs to create a better future for their families while providing a safe and positive environment for young people at risk of being recruited or attacked by armed groups.

What’s cool & different: Jolkona.org showcases scores of great causes to help out — and you get individualized feedback and progress reports on how your donation made a difference in people’s lives.

How much: We’re asking for $25, or whatever you can afford.

How: Click the Give button on this page. You’ll be able to track their progress in the months ahead.

Thank you! Please retweet or Facebook it if you can.

Jolkona: One-to-one philanthropy

Imet Adnan Mahmud, co-founder and CEO of Jolkona, during Beth Kanter’s book signing party for “The Networked Nonprofit” at TechSoup Global last month — and was immediately impressed by his seriousness and dedication to helping great causes through one-to-one philanthropy.

Jolkona is at the bleeding edge of this phenomenon, which will become an increasingly important part of charitable giving in the years ahead, as young people in particular want transparency, interaction and accountability when supporting a cause.

Adnan says Jolkona is the first nonprofit “to give tangible feedback on your donation.” Kiva, which pioneered the technique, provides entrepreneurs with loans. And while nonprofits like charity:water and Global Giving often give updates on projects, Jolkona is positioning itself as a technology platform that enables one-to-one philanthropy for nonprofits of any size.

Watch, download or embed our interview on Vimeo

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Manage your project, create apps, share files & more

Target audience: Social change organizations, nonprofits, developers, open source advocates, educators. This is part of Creating Media, our ongoing series designed to help nonprofits and other organizations learn how to use and make media.

Guest post by Nathan Freitas

Here are five social tools I use on a regular basis as a mobile technology enthusiast and developer. Many of these deserve wider exposure to the social change community:

Redmine: Open source project management

1Get your project and team organized with Redmine, an open-source “Basecamp on Steroids” solution you can host in any Ruby on Rails environment. The service has tons of plug-ins, themes and a deep set of administrative options.

Appmakr: Build an app for your cause

2SMS campaigns are so 2008. Anyone can build an iPhone app for their cause using Appmakr, a Web-based, configuration driven service. Guy Kawasaki, Seth Godin, Beth Kanter and Newsweek are among those who’ve used Appmakr to build lightweight apps for the iPhone.

Mayfirst/People Link: Building a just world

3Pry yourself away from Google and move your email and hosting to a geeky, movement-oriented cooperative based in Sunset Park (Brooklyn), NY, that will fight Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notices, provide you with a secure OpenID and “teach you how to fish,” so to speak. MF/PL is an organization that redefines the concept of Internet Service Provider in a collective, progressive and collaborative way.

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Growth of social media offers new connections to explore

Guest post by Deanne Bullen
Connecting Up Australia

Are you thinking about entering the world of social media but not sure where to start? Do you wonder how it can make a difference to your organization? Or have you started out in the world of blogs, Twitter and Facebook but you’re not sure which tools and approaches are right for you?

When it comes to communication strategies, many nonprofits have tended to stay with the familiar one-way message through direct mail, print newsletters, a fundraising event, email and telephone. However, the growth of social media offers a two way communication medium with opportunities for nonprofit organizations to build community, collective action, productivity, social and cultural capital and capacity.

Many find the social media space a little overwhelming as it’s clear the landscape changes on a daily basis and is filled with strange terms. For example, what is astroturfing and what exactly is a mashup – does it have anything to do with mash potatoes? And what does crowdsourcing, digital inclusion or geotagging have to do with your organization?

However, there is assistance available to help you understand the terms, make choices about the tools you need to get started and learn how to listen, engage and connect with your community online.

The Socialbrite team at socialbrite.org aims to assist people in any sector get up to speed on the social Web and find the right strategy and tactics to help your organization or cause. Their social media glossary is a good place to start – it’ll help the uninitiated understand the terms you will encounter.

Socialbrite is an affiliation of passionate social media consultants and strategists who believe in collaborating to produce positive change. Their mission is to highlight social tools and strategies that can be used to advance the social good. You can access a fantastic Sharing Center, reports, a list of cause organizations, tutorials, a calendar of events and consulting services.

Another great resource is Social by Social, which provides access to a practical guide to using new technologies to deliver social impact.  The book, which can be accessed online or in print, explains how to get involved in social media and what might happen if you do. It’s not just about technology and the “trendy tools” but what you can do with them to make a difference.

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Crowdflower: Toward a crowdsourced world from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

One of the most interesting start-ups that keeps popping up on my radar screen is Crowdflower, which connects nonprofits and companies with people around the globe looking to work on crowdsourced tasks.

It’s a fascinating glimpse at future contract labor models and at how work relationships are becoming more distributed, global, ephemeral and efficient.

Crowdflower takes simple tasks and breaks them down, using a global network of workers to determine, say, if a tweet about a brand is negative or positive, or if a piece of content violates a site’s community guidelines.

The person might spend 2 minutes on a task, an hour, or more. “The advantage is that the person doesn’t have to drive to work, they don’t even have to sign up for a website. They can just come to a job post, accomplish a task and get paid — in minutes,” says Crowdflower CEO and founder Lukas Biewald.

I spent three minutes chatting with Lukas at an extremely noisy rooftop party at South by Southwest Interactive. The video won’t win any awards for aesthetics — I was being jostled while holding a Kodak Zi8 hi-def camcorder — but it’s evidence that when you meet interesting people, it’s good to have a handheld recorder in your pocket.

Watch, embed or download the video on Vimeo

One mind-blowing angle: You’d be surprised at the number of people willing to perform tasks, such as in a Facebook game, in exchange for virtual currency that can buy them more trees in Zynga’s Farmville or more weapons in Mafia Wars. “People don’t realize how much this virtual money means to people,” he says.

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