Archive for the 'digital learning' Category

We Are Media: Webinar Series from NTEN

Published in digital learning and events. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

We Are Media is a terrific resource for anyone looking for tips, examples, case studies and information on using social media in a nonprofit organization.  Now, the content from We Are media is available to you in a brand new “Choose Your Own Expert” format. The best part: any path you choose will be a good one. NTEN’s gathered some of the top nonprofit social media experts to help your organization devise a solid strategy as well as learn the secrets of using a variety of social media tools.

I’m bummed that I cannot participate this time around (will be traveling with my family, enjoying some offline adventures) but am already looking forward to the next opportunity!

REGISTER HERE!

The Format

This immersive, interactive webinar experience(tm) will begin with a plenary session providing an overview of social media strategy, organizational adoption issues, capacity, metrics, and strategy execution. Because we know you’d be disappointed in us if we didn’t include them, we’ll have a live question and answer and a back channel discussion.

After a ten minute break, participants will have the option of joining one of four break out sessions: Listening/Engaging; Storytelling; Generating Buzz; Online Networking. Each of the 60 minute sessions will include a drill down in the topic area, presented by an expert in field (see below). The back channel will be moderated by even more experts, who will add additional insights and answer participants questions.

After a ten-minute break, participants will reconvene as a group to grill the presenters in each of the areas.

The Flow

Opening Plenary: 45 minutes
Q&A & Backchannel: 15 minutes
Break: 10 minutes
Breakout Sessions (choose one): 60 minute
Break: 10 minutes
Final Q&A: 40 minutes

The Learning Objectives

  • Identify objectives, audience, and strategy execution to effectively integrate social media into your organization’s overall web communications plan so it supports your organization’s mission
  • Explore the organizational change management issues that social media raises and how to talk about them
  • Experience a variety of social web tools that are essential in listening/engaging, storytelling, generating buzz, and online networking
  • Have access to experts and peers to answer your specific questions via live question and answer and backchannel chat

REGISTER HERE!

More about We Are Media:
The We Are Media Project is a community of people from nonprofits who are interested in learning and teaching about how social media strategies and tools can enable nonprofit organizations to create, compile, and distribute their stories and change the world.

Curated by NTEN, the community will work in a networked way to help identify the best existing resources, people, and case studies that will give nonprofit organizations the knowledge and resources they need to be the media. The community will help identify and point to the best how-to guides and useful resources that cover all aspects of creating, aggregating, and distributing social media. The resulting curriculum which will live on this wiki and will also cover important organizational adoption issues, strategy, ROI analysis, as well as the tools.

Published on September 15, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 2 Comments

Socialbrite: Social Tools for Social Change

Published in digital learning and resources. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

socialbrite-logo 290x85

Nonprofit tech experts team up to help others master ‘social tools for social change’

Eight leading experts in social media and nonprofit technology have joined forces to create Socialbrite.org, a hub that showcases social tools for social change. The site, which serves as a learning and sharing center for nonprofits and social change organizations, debuted today at http://www.socialbrite.org/.

The Socialbrite team is made up of strategists with deep experience in offering social media consulting services, training workshops, conversational marketing, fundraising and outreach campaigns.

“We’re here to help nonprofits master the social Web to bring about meaningful social change,” said J.D. Lasica, a consultant and author of four books about emerging technologies. “There’s nothing else like this on the Web for nonprofits, social change organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and educators. Socialbrite’s mission is to shine a light on the best practices, social tools and strategies that will benefit each of these important constituencies.”

Beth Kanter, Amy Sample Ward, Katrin Verclas and John Haydon are among the familiar names in the nonprofit tech sector who are part of the effort.

Socialbrite.org is launching with a rich set of resources:

  • A directory of Web 2.0 Productivity Tools in dozens of categories that can help organizations get a handle on the social Web.
  • A Social Media Glossary that offers a deep, friendly introduction to dozens of social media terms in plain English.
  • A first-of-its-kind Twitter widget that tracks tweets about nonprofits or social causes in real time.
  • A Free Photos Directory, Free Video Directory and Free Music Directory that offers nonprofits, cause organizations and Web publishers a guide to hundreds of online resources for adding legal, high-quality content to their own Web sites, blogs, podcasts, newsletters, printed materials or online presentations.
  • A Causes widget that points to charitable actions and donations on other sites such as GlobalGiving and Facebook Causes.
  • Scores of additional articles, guides and tutorials to help newcomers and veterans alike get better acquainted with this fast-moving space.

Socialbrite draws on a team of experts whose practical, easy-to-grasp advice will help organizations find social media success. The strategists – located in New York, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles and London – are:

  • Beth Kanter, a longtime trainer and advisor to the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) and other organizations. Her upcoming book “The Networked Nonprofit” will provide a social media roadmap for nonprofits.
  • J.D. Lasica, a social media pioneer who co-founded Ourmedia.org, the first video hosting and sharing site. He advises both Fortune 500 corporations and nonprofits in social media strategies.
  • Katrin Verclas, co-founder and editor of MobileActive.org and past executive director of NTEN.
  • John Haydon, a consultant who advises small nonprofits, small businesses and social entrepreneurs on social marketing strategies.
  • Amy Sample Ward, a strategist who supports and educates clients in the nonprofit and social change sectors.
  • Ken Banks, who is using mobile technology to foster positive social and environmental change in the developing world, particularly in Africa.
  • Sloane Berrent, a cause-based marketing consultant who works with nonprofits and social cause organizations. She is currently a Kiva fellow serving a three-month tour in a rural section of the Philippines.
  • Carla A. Schlemminger, a strategic marketing communications professional who integrates best practices in branding, PR and social media.

The Socialbrite site features dozens of videos, screencasts and slide presentations. All materials created for the site are released under Creative Commons licenses so that other sites and blogs can freely reuse the content.

“Collaboration is the key to success, in everything really,” said Amy Sample Ward, an Oregonian now living in London who heads up London Net Tuesday and collaborates with others to create local opportunities to share and learn. “I see Socialbrite as a great chance for us as strategists to collaborate while helping nonprofits keep pace with this fast-changing landscape.”

Socialbrite.org is built in WordPress, the popular open source blogging platform. Socialbrite’s lead developer, Esteban Panzeri, just finished work on a Creative Commons plug-in that lets bloggers assign different licenses to different blog posts, which he is releasing to the WordPress community.

The Socialbrite team members make their living through paid services to client organizations. Services include conducting in-depth workshops, working with senior staff to develop a social media strategy, and crafting campaigns to reach contributors and supporters through Twitter, Facebook and digital storytelling, among other modern approaches.

Visit the Socialbrite.org Media Center for tweets, information and more about the launch to help spread the word about this collaborative resource!

Published on June 29, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

Visit Zambia with LearnAsOne!

Published in community and digital learning. 4 Comments Tags: , .

Steve Heyes, a colleague and founder of LearnAsOne, has just embarked on a great journey to Zambia and you’re invited!

Steve and 3 self-funded volunteers (found for free via Google Grants!) are headed to Zambia to document a community who doesn’t have a school, in as close to real-time as possible.  They plan to ask the community what they need and give them a platform to share their story with the world.  They will tweet constantly and upload their photo-led blog stories every day between May 11-22.  You can ask members of the community questions via blog posts, @replies on Twitter and via email (zambia@learnasone.org).

Before they head home, they will train the local community and the NGO partner how to use a Flip video and digital camera so update can continue.  Longer-term, the plan is to become similar to Kiva.org, but for schools.

Follow along and connect with the community!

Learn more about LearnAsOne:

What is LearnAsOne?
LearnAsOne is a charity that works with local partners and communities in Africa to fund schools and support their running costs.

What do you need?
This is the key question we will continually ask to every community we meet.

No imposing western ideas. No impractical solutions. Just listening to the communities real educational needs and helping to provide the funds and training so they can meet them themselves.

It could be teacher training, classrooms, a feeding programme, sanitation and clean water, books, school fees or teacher’s accommodation. Whatever the need we’ll give the community a way to tell you. Plus we’ll provide a breakdown of the costs of every project in the form of a simple shopping list.

What I am most interested in with LearnAsOne’s trip and engagement in Zambia is testing the idea in practice of helping answer the needs of a community without directing or dictating the response.   This will certainly be an interesting project to follow!  What do you think?  Will you be following along or asking any questions via the methods above?  What would you ask?

Published on May 10, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 4 Comments

Free TechSoup Webinar: Basics for Beginners

Published in digital learning and events. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

This Wednesday, April 15th, you can participate in a free online event and webinar from TechSoup, Basics for Beginners: Getting Started with Social Media Tools.

So you’ve heard about Facebook, Twitter, and other online social networking sites. You know your organization should use social media, but you’re not sure where to start. If this sounds familiar, you won’t want to miss TechSoup’s free online event and webinar: Basics for Beginners: Getting Started with Social Media Tools.

Join hosts, John Haydon, social media coach for nonprofits, and blogger and internet marketing consultant, Chris Garrett, as they demonstrate how to get started with social media and the value this can bring your organization. They’ll explain the best first steps for getting started and help beginners understand how these emerging technologies can help libraries and nonprofits conduct outreach, raise funds, create community, and share ideas.

Register now for the live webinar, Wednesday, April 15th, 9 AM Pacific Standard Time.

Following the webinar, TechSoup will host a free, day-long online event, where you can post additional questions to the expert event hosts in the TechSoup Community forums:  http://www.techsoup.org/go/web2_basics. The forums event is asynchronous (not live) and no registration is required, just show up and post!

Dive into the discussion in the TechSoup online forums where we’ll discuss such topics as:

  • How can you make the most of social media with very little resources (time, money, staff)?
  • Smart ways to use social media to engage new and existing supporters
  • How much time should you devote to social media each day?
  • What is the best way to fundraise with social media?

This free event is ideal for beginners who are looking for simple steps they can take to effectively use social media to enhance their missions. Whether you’re brand new to Web 2.0 tools or looking to share your social media successes and lessons learned, please stop by and add your voice to the conversation: http://www.techsoup.org/go/web2_basic

Have any questions? Please email: community@techsoup.org.

About TechSoup.org
TechSoup.org is a trusted technology resource that offers a variety of information and services for the nonprofit sector. In addition to accessing articles and worksheets, social benefit organizations can connect with a lively online community of peers for hands-on help, or receive product donations from major vendors through its product philanthropy service. This popular program has enabled organizations to save over $1.2 billion in IT expenses as of September 2008.

Published on April 13, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

2008 Digital Media and Learning Competition

Published in digital learning. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Originally posted on the NetSquared site.

The second Digital Media and Learning Competition from HASTAC and the MacArthur Foundation is here!  This year, the competition focuses on participatory learning, including “the many ways that learners (of any age) use new technologies to participate in virtual communities where they share ideas, comment upon one another’s projects, and plan, design, advance, implement, or simply discuss their goals and ideas together.”

Awards range from $5,000 to $250,000 in the categories of Young Innovator Awards and Innovation in Participatory Learning Awards.  The deadline to apply is October 15th, so get your submission in now!

Innovation in Participatory Learning Awards

This category is intended for large-scale projects, most likely involving collaboration, of new learning environments, whether it be adaptations or entirely new products.  “Awarded projects must demonstrate a strong commitment to making possible new ways of valuable participatory learning, as opposed to simply creating new content.”

Organizations from outside the US are invited to participate in this category, including groups from Canada, India, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, Nigeria, The People’s Republic of China, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, or the United Kingdom.  But collaboration can include organizations/individuals from all places.

For more information, visit the Digital Media and Learning Competition site.

Young Innovator Awards

These awards target innovators between the ages of 18-25 to support smaller-scale, participatory learning projects.  “The aim of this category is to encourage young innovators to think boldly about “what comes next” in participatory learning and to contribute to making it happen. These awards are designed to support young innovators in bringing their most visionary ideas from the “garage” stage to implementation.”

Young Innovator awards consist of two components:

  1. Support for project development, including the awardee’s independent work on the proposed idea, and
  2. An internship with a sponsoring organization that would be beneficial to the awardee’s project. Internships can involve physical placement with a sponsoring organization or a mentoring relationship maintained by other means, including online communication.

For more information, visit the Digital Media and Learning Competition site.

Next Steps:

If you apply, be sure to let the NetSquared community know about your project and progress!  It is a great place to find collaborators!

Published on September 23, 2008 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments