09NTC lessons for Online organizers

The 2009 Nonprofit Technology Conference concluded yesterday, and there was a nuanced energy about how the nonprofit sector can use new media to bring social change. "Community organizing" became popular, yet controversial during Barack Obama's presidential campaign. As new media played a large role in Obama winning the White House, many 09NTC attendees came to learn about using the virtual energy from Obama's campaign and bridging some of the core principals of community organizing into online organizing.

One of those hopeful online organizers was Tika Giday, a Ethiopian nonprofit health advocate, who was given admission to the conference by a friend who registered and couldn't attend last minute. Giday said that she was happy to have the opportunity to attend 09NTC by chance to meet with other nonprofit technies about digital activism, and was looking forward to using her skills when she gets back to Addis Ababa.

"I am so blessed to come to a technology conference in America now because in Africa, everyone is happy to see Barack win the presidency," Giday said. "We are very impressed with the way he used online media tools, and I am here to learn from other activists and their best practices of political and social activism online."

Giday went to two workshops that addressed the online "Obama effect;" one of which was called "Online Organizing for Community Organizers." The workshop was lead by Charles Lenchner of the Working Famiies Party, who has an extensive background using online organizing for many political and environmental organizations, including Democracyinaction.org, Change.org and MoveOn.org. Giday also went to another workshop that featured Michael Silberman of EchoDitto and Anne Marie Ashburn of the New Organizing Institute. Silberman worked on Howard Dean's presidential campaign, while Ashburn was a Obama campaign field organizer in Chicago last year, who switched over to training campaign staff on using new media tools.

Giday wrote down some notable quotes from the panelists in these workshops, which include the following:

“Anyone can start a Facebook cause, but it is another thing to mobilize the people joining the cause.”

“You can’t separate the mission of the organization from the tools used to reach the goal of the mission.”

“You have to be clear about your social mission”

"Email addresses are people too!"

"Be an active listener of what your online constituency wants and what they will give to your cause."

"Treat people respectfully online, especially if you want them to support your causes."

“It is important for online organizers to mobilize supporters to do real world actions.”

Before the conference, Giday said she didn't feel sure she could be a digital activist. However, three days later, she feels more confident about going back to Ethiopia and training others about being onling organizers. In the next few days, she would like to start her own Facebook and Twitter accounts in preparing of a digital activism she wants to do.

"I have even purchased a Flip camera, and I would like to record the many injustices in my community and share them with the world online," Giday continued. "Maybe Mr Obama will see my videos!"

Swine flu and tech life

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last two days, you should know that the world is being invaded by yet another health emergency - swine flu.

From CDC:

How common is swine flu infection in humans?
In the past, CDC received reports of approximately one human swine influenza virus infection every one to two years in the U.S., but from December 2005 through February 2009, 12 cases of human infection with swine influenza have been reported.
What are the symptoms of swine flu in humans?

The symptoms of swine flu in people are expected to be similar to the symptoms of regular human seasonal influenza and include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Some people with swine flu also have reported runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Can people catch swine flu from eating pork?
No. Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food. You can not get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork and pork products is safe. Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 160°F kills the swine flu virus as it does other bacteria and viruses.

Nonetheless, most people these days are not going to go to the CDC website to find information on this crisis.

From CNN:

Of the swine flu news on Twitter, Tompkins said, "Bad news always travels faster than good news. I'm sure that was true in smoke signal days."

Unofficial swine flu information on Twitter may lead people to unwise decisions, said Evgeny Morozov, a fellow at the Open Society Institute and a blogger on ForeignPolicy.com.

For example, some Twitter users told their followers to stop eating pork, he said. Health officials have not advised that precaution. Read about how the virus is transmitted

Morozov said there's incentive for Twitter users to post whatever is on their mind because it helps them grow their online audiences.

But in an emergency, that tendency means people write about their own fears of symptoms and widespread deaths, which can create an uninformed hysteria, he said.

Coincidentally, I was having a conversation with someone here at the 2009 Nonprofit Technology Conference about whether or not cities around the United States will become ghost towns, just like Mexico City in light of the illness. We happen to be leaving a workshop on cloud computing, and if a declared national emergency would require Americans to stay home, they would still be able to work virtually.

While cloud computing is the hot thing for employees who like telecommuting, are virtual offices a good thing for public health?

It has been proven that telecommuters are less likely to take sick days and be more productive due to good health, but there are also other benefits of cloud computing I learn about in the workshop that are also good for the employer.

What is good about Cloud Computing:

• No infrastructure: any web browser get you access
• Open: Internet standards and web services allow you to "mash" up clouds
• Quick Start: autonomic provisioning…try before your buy
• It costs less
• Flexibility: scale up and down to your organization’s needs; spend more time working on the mission of the organization
• Choice: you choose what apps and services you need as opposed to a vender deciding
• Capacity: skills and capacity needed are close to your mission
• Security: higher investment in state of the art security
• Upgrade: not a project, but rather automated behind the scenes
• Ongoing investment

What is bad (perceived) about Cloud Computing

• Worries about what happens to information after a vendor goes out of business
• Security of business information online
• No personal interaction with coworkers; no social interaction

If President Obama is serious about tech innovation while dealing with the growing number of health outbreaks, there would be no surprise if he were to ask Americans to think more seriously about working in the "clouds."

The economy and tech access

Live blogging from 09NTC

I am here in San Francisco for the 2009 Nonprofit Technology Conference, and the economic downturn has taken its toll on the nonprofit tech/communications world. Specifically, there was a lot of talk yesterday about how President Obama’s stimulus package will make an impact in bringing broadband access to disadvantaged communities.

In a workshop on community technology, one person said regarding the stimulus package that “there is a big pot of money for broadband, and in that pot, money for community technology.” Some folks believe that the discussions of the digital divide and Internet literacy are now back on the table.

“If you are going to have broadband, you have to have training too.”

More to come on this topic