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Digital Storytelling: Amplifying Your Community for Social Change

Tuesday, June 5, 2012: 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Featuring: 
Michael Feagans
Ryan Draving

June’s Net Tuesday will be about Digital Storytelling –the practice of collecting the stories of your community (whether geographical community or a community of supporters), and promoting those stories through video to support your work for social change.

Digital storytelling has been effectively used to amplify the voices of community members in order to engage new members, promote fundraising, and give a concrete foundation to advocacy campaigns. Instead of relying on a polished spokesperson or an executive director, digital storytelling looks to the wisdom of your supporters, speaking from their passion.

Our plan for the evening has two sections:

First, we’ll be welcoming a panel of speakers, including Michael Feagans of PhilaStories and Ryan Draving of Philly Marketing Labs, to discuss aspects of effective digital storytelling:

  • Finding the stories in your community: Where should you look? How can you maximize the value of the story collection process — to not only surface raw material for videos, but engage your supporters and find out what they’re really passionate about?
  • Facilitating the telling of good stories: What questions should you ask? Where should you conduct the interviews? Should the speakers “rehearse” what they say, or should it all be “in the moment”? What kind of digital technology do you need to capture good quality video and audio?
  • Creating compelling videos and promoting them through social media: How long should the video be? What parts of the storytelling should be a part of the video? Should you use subtitles or music? How should you title and tag the video on social media to maximize the possibility of it “going viral”?

Second, we’ll invite volunteers who are interested in creating their own digital storytelling video right then!   We’ll select one or two volunteers who want to tell a story on something they’re passionate about. Our experts will facilitate and record the volunteers’ story, and then we’ll quickly edit the story into a video and post it to a social media site. The rest of the audience will be able to see the process from start to finish. (Have a story you want to tell as one of our volunteers? Start thinking about it now!)

Lite fare will be served. RSVP’s are appreciated (via Facebook or Meetup) for planning purposes, but not required.

Can’t make it downtown? Watch the live Internet stream at http://phillynetsquared.org/live! And you can participate in the conversation on Twitter, with a hashtag of #phlnet2.

Crowdsourcing Change: Helping Some Major Philly Arts Organizations Make Better Use of the Social Web

Tuesday, May 1, 2012: 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Crowdsourcing Fish
Featuring: 
Deni Kasrel
Amanda Inderbitzen
Sharon Torello
Almaz Crowe

We’re excited to present another edition of our popular “Crowdsourcing Change” program on Tuesday, May 1.  We’ve got three terrific local arts organizations eager to receive the wisdom of our crowd. 

In case you’ve never been to one of these lively events, here’s the way it works: Each presenter shares how they’re using online marketing and the social web to achieve their goals and objectives. Then the crowd (that’s you!) participates in a facilitated discussion about how each presenter might use the social web to even greater effect.  It’s a fun format for learning, sharing and potentially making a significant contribution to worthy projects. 

We start gathering at 6 PM at the Friends Center (1501 Cherry Street).  Light fare is available, and RSVP’s are appreciated. Not in Philly? Or can’t make it downtown? Watch the live Internet stream at http://phillynetsquared.org/live, and contribute your questions and comments via our Twitter backchannel (hashtag: #phlnet2).

Presenters on the May 1 program: 

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

Presenter: Amanda Inderbitzen, Marketing and Communication Specialist

The Kimmel Center for the Performing Artsis a world-class performing arts destination in the heart of Philadelphia. Showcasing an international array of programs that include music, dance and theater, the Kimmel Center is also the home base for several of our city’s most acclaimed performing arts organizations, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Philadanco and Pennsylvania Ballet.

Questions The Kimmel Center would particularly like our crowd to address include:

  • How can we use social media on a more personal level?
  • How can we use the patterns and activities in our social media properties to help sculpt our social media-marketing plan?
  • What are ways we can improve how we tie our social media efforts to our traditional marketing initiatives (print, television, radio, etc.)?

 

LocalArtsLive

Presenter: Sharon Torello, Founder

LocalArtsLiveis a central source of information and discussion about classical music in the Philadelphia region. With a special focus on small, new, and community ensembles that struggle to publicize their events, LocalArtsLive works to strengthen the classical music community by connecting people and organizations while appealing to a more diverse audience and making it easy to find events of interest.

Questions LocalArtsLive would particularly like our crowd to address include:

  • How can we improve two-way conversation? Most of our messages do not spark replies.
  • We actively use Ning, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Foursquare and email newsletters (our Google+ efforts have stalled): What other social tools we should consider?

 

Mural Arts Program

Presenter: Almaz Crowe, Special Events and Marketing Manager

The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Programhas created more than 3,000 murals that enliven the environs throughout our city. Its projects enable neighborhoods to tell their individual and collective stories as well as pass on culture and tradition. The program also engages Philadelphia’s at-risk children, youth, and adults who find their artistic voice, develop their self-confidence, and discover new ambitions while creating murals.

Questions The Mural Arts Program would particularly like our crowd to address include:

  • Youth play a large part in Mural Arts’ mission. How do we effectively and appropriately communicate with them?
  • Through new, cutting-edge projects like Philly Painting with Haas & Hahn and The Roots Mural Project, we are reaching new audiences who may not have previously had contact with our organization. Once these individuals begin following/fanning us, how do we continually engage them?
  • How does Mural Arts create a virtual community - and create two-way conversations - to better serve our diverse constituents?

 

What special contrbution do YOU have to make to the crowd?

  • YOUR expertise. If you’re familiar with using social web tools with your own organization or with others, your knowledge and experience are welcome.
  • YOUR perspective.  Whether or not you’re an “expert”, you’ve seen good and bad websites, and you may have impressions about these particular organizations.  The more diverse perspectives we have in the room, the more useful this exercise will be.
  • YOUR questions.  If you have a question (e.g., “Why should I ‘like’ your Facebook page?”), chances are that other people have similar questions .  These are important organizations in our community, and if you don’t understand something about the social tools they’re trying to use to reach people like you, then your questions can be vital contributions to their success.

This promises to be an interesting, unique and practical event.  Please join us in person, or online. 

Special thanks to our sponsors, the American Friends Service Committee(AFSC).

 

 

Website Platforms (CMS's) for Nonprofits and Activists

Tuesday, April 3, 2012: 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Featuring: 
Nathan Gasser
James Wurster
Michael Tedeschi
Tom Boutell

Our next Philly Net Tuesday on April 3 (gathering 6 PM at the Friends Center, 1501 Cherry Street) will be about website platforms (also called CMS’s or Content Management Systems) that you should consider for your nonprofit or social cause.  This will be accessible to a non-technical audience.

We’ll focus on several CMS’s, including Drupal, Wordpress, Apostrophe, Omeka and Google Sites, and we’ll pay particular attention to the social tools that these platforms offer.  You’ll see how these platforms are used to build websites and add features, and gain insight into which platforms are better for which purposes.  And you’ll be able to gather advice on options for addressing YOUR situation – whether you plan to build your own site, or hire someone to build it for you.

Who should attend?

  • Non-technical folks who are considering creating, or modifying, a website for their nonprofit of social cause
  • Techies who want to better understand the needs and perspectives of the nonprofit community.
  • Anybody who wants to learn and share about the current state of affairs of some major CMS options.

Our panel will consist of:

  • Nathan Gasser, owner of RockRiverStar Internet developers, discussing Drupal
  • Jim Wurster, veteran creator of numerous nonprofit Wordpress sites, discussing WordPress
  • Tom Boutell, of P’unk Ave., discussing Apostrophe.
  • Michael Tedeschi, principal of Interactive Mechanics design studio, discussing Omeka, Google Sites and other stuff

Can’t make it in person? We’ll be livestreaming online!

If you’re so inclined, you might want to check out some of these resources which may be shown or discussed on the evening itself.
 
Wordpress.  You can see lots of examples of WordPress sites here: http://wordpress.org/showcase, and check out some sites that Jim has built or helps manage:
 
•  Arc of Delaware County for developmental disabilities & mental retardation (http://thearcofdelco.org)
•  Special Olympics of Delaware County (http://sodelco.org)
•  TimeBank Media (http://timebankmedia.org) 
•  StubbyDog (http://stubbydog.org) 
•  Hair By HP (http://hairbyhp.com) 
•  Zoe – It’s Our Nature (http://www.zoenature.org) 
•  Haverford Music Festival 2011-2012 (http://haverfordmusicfestival.org) 
•  Delco green consulting food waste pickup (http://delcogreenconsulting.com) 
•  Patch Adams Free Clinic of Philadelphia (http://patchadamsclinic.org)
•  Autism Alliance of Chester County (http://autismallianceofchestercounty.org)
•  CCRN Education & Behavior Supports (http://myccrn.com)
 
Drupal.  Some fine examples of Drupal nonprofit sites include: 
 
•  http://www.hrw.org/ and 8 other languages
•  http://sumus.oxfam.org (see screenshots in slides)
 
You might also want to check out information (including a video) from last week’s Drupalcon session in Denver on International NGO’s Leveraging Drupal for Social Change: http://denver2012.drupal.org/program/sessions/international-ngos-leveraging-drupal-social-change
 
Omeka.  Here are some links you might want to check out:
 
Google Sites.  Here is some background information:
 
CushyCMS.  Here’s their site: http://www.cushycms.com/en
 
Apostrophe.  Check out their website at http://www.apostrophenow.com, as well as some of these sites developed with Apostrophe:
 
And, finally, you may be interested in this 82-page PDF from Idealware on comparing Open Source CMS’s: http://idealware.org/reports/2010-os-cms
 
Lots of good stuff – AND the opportunity to discuss what might work best for YOU.

Lite fare will be served. RSVP’s are appreciated.

Thanks to the American Friends Service Committee for sponsorship.

Sponsored By: 
  • American Friends Service Committee

Bottom-Up Web and Social Media Strategies to Help Nonprofits Maximize Their Reach

Tuesday, March 6, 2012: 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Bottom-up social web strategies make the world a brighter place
Featuring: 
Rob Kall

At March’s Net Tuesday, we’ll be talking about how to make your social web efforts work better for you.

  • How can you use the web and social media to have the greatest impact for your nonprofit or social change venture?
  • What tools and strategies should you focus on, given limits of time and resources?
  • What lessons can be learned from other ventures who are trying to do the same?
  • What’s it mean to take a bottom-up approach to social media and web strategies?

This highly interactive program will address these questions in general, and give you the opportunity to apply lessons to your own situation. Led by Rob Kall, we’ll start out with a broad overview of how to tap the power of the web and social media to maximize your reach with various resources, including blogging, Facebook, Google Alerts, Twitter, YouTube, cross-posting to alternative media, search engine optimization (SEO), email, listserves, print, and more. Then, attendees will have a chance to consider their experience with these resources, and to pose specific questions about their own web and social media strategies, getting advice and feedback from Rob (as well as fellow attendees). This is not only a chance to find out more about some important social tools are being used in the nonprofit world, but also an opportunity to discover what you might do more effectively in your own situation.

Rob Kall founded and built OpEdNews.com, ranked by Technorati as one of the top 100 blogs in the world, overall. He consults on the use of the web and media for non-profits, corporations and authors.

Lite fare will be served. RSVP’s are appreciated (via Facebook or Meetup) for planning purposes, but not required.

Can’t make it downtown? Watch the live Internet stream! And you can participate in the conversation on Twitter, with a hashtag of #phlnet2.

Sponsored By: 
  • American Friends Service Committee

A social web sampler for social change

Tuesday, February 7, 2012: 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Valentine's chocolate

Using the social web for social change can be — dare we say it — like a box of chocolates. There are lots of choices, and they’re all tasty, but you probably shouldn’t eat them all.

How do you figure out what online services, tactics and approaches make sense for your nonprofit, social good project or activism?

Join us at Philly NetSquared’s Social Web Sampler to share tastes of the different options out there. We plan to have 15 small group discussions — five simultaneous discussions x three 20-minute time slots. (Sessions 1-5 for 20 minutes; then sessions 6-10 for 20 minutes; then sessions 11-15 for 20 minutes.)

What are the topics?  Well, here’s what has been offered so far (in no particular order):

  • Desktop tools to help manage the social web flood, led by Warren Allen.  There are many social media platforms out there on the Web: Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and more on the horizon. Also, some organizations have many people who use those sites on behalf of the organization. What a mess!!! In this discussion we will get hands-on with a couple of great tools that can help you manage the situation and improve your organization’s social Web presence.
  • Email Marketing & Social Media, led by Crystal Gouldey.  How social media ties in with email marketing to build a larger audience for nonprofits.
  • Improving your Organization’s Website for Better User Experience, led by Michael Tedeschi. One of the biggest issues with growing web technology is keeping your organization’s website up-to-date and streamlined for better user experiences. Join this discussion to learn about some best practices about user interface design, information architecture, and web design to present your information clearly and easily to your target audiences.
  • Mobile Site or App for your Org?, led by Nate Gasser.  Mobile internet use is growing rapidly and estimates say it could overtake desktop use as early as 2014.  Your organization can communicate with mobile users through social media like Facebook, or existing apps like Foursquare, but does it make sense for your organization to launch its own mobile website?  How about a native iPhone or Android app?  Let’s discuss the options and share ideas and experiences with sites and apps.
  • Legal issues with business adoption of social media applications, led by Frank Taney.  Non-profit institutions and other businesses stand to gain substantial benefits from harnessing the power of social media applications.  However, there are legal and operational risks inherent in indiscriminate use of these applications.  I would discuss those risks as well as potential methods to avoid or at least mitigate those risks.
  • Tools for audio podcasting, led by “Podcast Steve” Lubetkin.  A few cool tools you can use for audio podcasting and how they work.
  • Making Social Media Part of Your Regular WorkDay, led by Gloria Bell.  The sheer volume of information streaming in from social media can be overwhelming.  Add finding time to digest it and be an active participant in the conversations and it feels easier to just not do it or, worst yet, to do it with half an effort.  We will discuss tips, tricks and tools you can use to incorporate the stream of information into your regular work day without feeling overwhelmed.
  • Timebanking, led by Jim Wurster.  A TimeBank seeks to reweave a local community through an extended, volunteer-based ‘circle of giving.’  By sharing the skills, experience and needs of our community, we empower both ourselves and the communities in which we live.  I’ve helped develop our TimeBank in Media, PA and can share lessons learned and help think about how it might work in your community.
  • Web and media strategies to maximize your reach, led by Rob Kall.  I’ll briefly present an overview of building a “platform” for you or your org, then how to tap the power of the web and media to maximize your reach and effective use of the resources available, using case examples.  The overview will include blogging, facebook, google alerts, twitter, youtube, cross-posting to alternative media, email, listserves, print, and more.  My background— I founded and built opednews.com, ranked by technorati as one of the top 100 blogs in the world, overall. I consult on the use of the web and media for non-profits, corporations and authors.
  • Multi-channel Social Media Marketing, led by Ralph Medley.  Using many different marketing channels  as part of the marketing strategy to get the word out, to ensure that the “Word Of Mouth” is happening and that vital buzz is generated as people share the latest news with their groups and networks.
  • Utilizing Mobile for Better User Experiences, led by Michael Tedeschi.  As the market share of smartphone users continues to grow (over 40% of American cell phone users have them), not taking advantage of mobile applications and mobile-friendly websites can lead to lost viewers. By branching out to this market and making use of current best practices for mobile web, non-profits organizations can expand their presence to their wider audience. This discussion will talk about user experience and interface design for mobile web, the current technology, and how to best use it.
  • Tools for video podcasting, led by “Podcast Steve” Lubetkin. A few cool tools you can use for video podcasting.
  • Engineering viral video, led by Ryan Draving.  Can you engineer viral video success for your organization?  Ryan Draving of Philly Marketing Labs has helped a client achieve over 1,000,000 channel views pro-bono with a $0 budget and 700 total video uploads.  He will share fun examples of bigger recent viral successes from organizations with tiny video budgets, and lead a small group discussion.
  • Using WordPress to Build a Web Site, led by Jim Wurster.  Depending on who participates, this could be a general, quick discussion on getting a WP site up and running quickly; and/or a quick review of how to update a WP site; and/or a discussion of some plugins that can be used for social networking.
Like our previous Social Web Samplers, this will be a highly interactive gathering with lots of shared knowledge, networking and excitement. Refreshments (including chocolate!) will be available.

NOTE: Because of the small-group format, we will NOT be streaming or recording this event.

Thanks to the American Friends Service Committee for sponsorship.

Sponsored By: 
  • American Friends Service Committee

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