Digital Arts Service Corps - social networking

documented info on survey and social networking tools?

Rian Graves — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 01:01:33 +0000

I have been busy researching the contents of my nonprofit's digital literacy toolkit, which includes the following: 1) model integrated use of collaborative/workflow tools (filesharing, scheduling, project and task planning, synchronous communication and whiteboard), 2) model use of media tools (podcasting, videoblogging, digital storytelling, YouTube and Flickr), 3) survey tools, and 4) social networking tools (Myspace, Facebook, Linked In and Ning).

So far, I have only researched 1 and 2 so if anyone out there as any info regarding 3 and 4, it would be much appreciated. Meaning, I can do a Google search but if anyone has actually documented info on 3 and 4, feel free to send it my way! (you can check out the attachment to see what the format I will have to follow for 3 and 4)

StoriesForChange.net is Launched!

danielle martin — Tue, 29 May 2007 15:37:00 +0000

Wondering what fellow VISTA Jessica McCoy and I have been collaborating on since September? Check out the launch of a new online project, StoriesForChange.net, sponsored by both of our host organizations!

We're excited to announce the launch of the online social networking portal for community digital storytelling, StoriesForChange.net. This site is sponsored by MassIMPACT, in collaboration with the Center for Digital Storytelling, to provide a meeting and sharing space for those interested in using digital storytelling for community advocacy or grassroots social change.

Here are some of the most exciting reasons to check out StoriesForChange.net (SFC):

NETWORK with other facilitators online anytime: SFC gives you a chance to meet others who are doing similar work in communities and post questions to the group in the Forums, without having to wait for a yearly conference.
DISTRIBUTE your stories online in a trusted place: We've put particular attention into the "meta data" or accompanying information that goes with digital stories shared on the site. Your posted stories not only have context, but they can be Creative Commons licensed so you can control how stories are used.
Tap into a new LIBRARY of stories: Most facilitators show at least one or two digital stories at the beginning of every digital storytelling workshop. SFC intends to become a great library of user contributed stories to help share examples across communities, cultures, languages, and contexts.
Add your RESOURCES, share your experience: Check out the Share Your Resource option, which allows you to share experience around the creation of stories in various community settings.
Post your EVENTS to reach a wider audience: Post your upcoming workshops, screenings, and meetings, so others who are geographically close to you can attend.

The best way to get involved with StoriesForChange.net is to signup for a membership on the site and start sharing stories and resources, as well as posting events. We're also hoping to start some great discussions in the Forums section < http://storiesforchange.net/forums >, especially in the topic "Get Involved with SFC Site Development" < http://storiesforchange.net/forum/603 >.

Major funding for building the site was provided by MassIMPACT, which along with the Center for Digital Storytelling and Creative Narrations also supported the first annual Gathering of Community Digital Storytelling (see blog at http://communitydigitalstorytellers.blogspot.com) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in June 2006. The site was ably built by developers at Float Left and Vernal.

MySpace as an Organizing/Awareness Tool?

danielle martin — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 21:06:11 +0000

Because this came up in our last Digital Media call and Nettrice's last Digest article, I thought it might be interesting to folks that Tech Soup has a new article "How to Use MySpace to Raise Awareness" (by Eileen Cruz Coleman) about using MySpace as a low-cost p.r. tool. It has a few general ideas about starting a social network online that I'm going to reference in my work in the next couple months, especially around the idea of active seeding and connecting other forms of communication.

Here's an exerpt:

"MySpace (or any other social network for that matter) isn't for everyone. You need to look at your organization and decide if you have the time, resources, and interest – among other things – to really make it work...You need to be constantly active, promote yourself, and keep the dialogue conversational..

Tips for Running a MySpace Campaign

If you decide to launch a MySpace page for your organization, here are seven things you can do to increase your chances of success:

On your MySpace page, ask friends to take specific actions such as "link to our Web site," "subscribe to our e-newsletter," "tell a friend about our current campaign," "contact us to learn about," and so on.

Write blog entries and circulate your entries via your "bulletin board." Invite friends to post comments to your blog; visit your friends' pages and leave relevant and valuable comments; host events; and continue to add friends.

Add videos to your MySpace pages. Images and videos have a way of motivating people to take action.

Update your MySpace page frequently and customize it to resemble your organization's look and feel. Be careful not to make your page appear too stuffy.

Don't make the mistake of staying within your own circle of like-minded organizations. When you add friends, consider reaching out to folks outside of your circle. In particular, nonprofits could reach out (via MySpace) to for-profit companies with strong social responsibility programs that can help spread the word about their causes.

Add your MySpace URL to your email signature line, business card, and letterhead in order to encourage people to visit your MySpace page.

Write articles about how your organization is using MySpace to advance its causes and submit them to both online and print publications. Or publish them on your Web site and ask bloggers to link to them."

My weekend in Sedona.

Tony ORourke — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 21:05:56 +0000

This is an excellent example of how to network on the web. I have been a member of a motorcycle forum for over 2 year...maybe three. Anyways I went to visit a fellow member this last weekend and this is the story that I posted on my forum. It has pictures. :)

Well this was a great weekend. I have got to admit that its some of the best riding I have done. So I will do my best to explain it. Patti can jump in and fill in any details that I failed with.

Friday night my roommates drug me out to the bar so I was up to about 3 am. I was so worried that I wasn't going to make it up to Sedona the next day. I was the designated driver so I had to be responsible (as much as that stinks). Anyways I didn't want to feel iffy in the morning. I was up early. Had a gut full of coffee and I was off and away from the apartment at 7:50 out of the rat race zone.

Out onto the 202 and swinging around onto the 101 loop around the east side of Phoenix. I thought I had left early enough for the crazies to still be in bed. Ya right. 100 mph on the interstate seems excessive...but not for these people. Thank goodness no one was trying to share my lane today.

I swing off the 101 loop onto I-17 north. The road is quiet and only 4 lane. Its amazing to watch the terrain change as you head farther north. The desert plants give way to scrub trees as you head into the higher elevations. This is where I started to get a bit of bite from the wind.(stick a sock in it Brad!!!!) This is also the area where I start thinking that my 120 mile range isn't enough. (stupid small tank) Stop for a quick fill up(3 bucks a gallon...) and I am back on the road with 30 miles left. This is where the elevation starts changing greatly. Up and down and some amazing views. Then my exit is upon me. Off the road and only about a quarter mile to Dave's shop. Over the cattle guard and just off to the right. I got to admit I find the cattle guards unnerving. I have never been comfortable driving over something that is steel.

I pull into Dave's shop and I can see Pmint out front waving me in. Am I that obvious. LOL. Anyways. I am all jacking into my tunes and my stocking cap on under my helmet. So whatever she said when I shut the bike off never got to me. She gave me a huge hug...and let me get situated. Small chit chat and meeting the big guy (Dave). She wasn't lying. Thats for darn sure. I have a short chat and then Patti tells me we have to go on a parts run. This is starting to feel more and more like home. I got a first class ride in the Dodge and a chance to thaw. I hope I get the details right but I believe we went to Cottonwood or was it Cornville. Great ride...even if it was in a cage. I was trying to soak up this absolutely gorgeous area. Right now they are having their fall leaves...if you can have that in Arizona. I got a great tour.

Got our parts and headed back to Dave's. Hmm I can't remember the route we took. Ha we took so many different roads I can't remember. We dropped the part off and I got to run over and check out Patti's home. I know some of you mentioned that Patti was great but I do not think you can really tell how much of a sweetheart she is until you meet her. Food and a nap and I was ready for a ride.

This is were the rocket ride gets pulled out. Patti's bike is a beast. Hearing that thing fire up and rumble was great. I then fire up the lowly 800 with it's quiet demeanor and off we go to pick up Dave. Patti had some race fuel in the bike and it was a sweet smell. There is nothing like the smell of burnt race fuel.

Pick up the big guy with his gold wing and we were off on the interstate. This is the point where I realize that I have no chance keeping up with Patti and it was going to be a long day if this was the pace we were going to go at! She was just opening up on the interstate she said or "blowing out the carbon". She let Dave and I catch up and by that time we were at our exit. We get off the interstate and somehow lost Dave. We got off the ramp and pulled over to the side of the road. This is where Patti mumbled something about a Wing being like Harley...but thats just what I heard...could have been something totally different.

We are off the interstate and heading towards Sedona. The traffic was horrible so we spin around and take a detour through Cottonville. Which was a great ride in itself. I do not remember the name of the road but 35 to 45 mph curves. I think I enjoy the low speed curves more then something like going 75 mph in a long sweeper. This road took us to a rest stop just outside of Sedona. I took a couple of pictures of all the bikes and got some good photos of Sedona off in the distance. We hope back on the road and in no time we are in Sedona. Sedona is beautiful but is it ever crowded! Overrun with tourists. I will have to return again but on a weekday. It took awhile to get through the stop and go traffic but onward to ride up Oak Creek Canyon.

This ride was great. It started out with some 45 to 55 mph curves. By the time we were getting to the top we were into the 15 mph hairpins. The whole time we were following Oak Creek and this was great area. Lots of aspens and tall pines along the ride. I wish there was less traffic to take some of the corners at some higher speeds but thats fine we still had a blast. I have to admit. I have done some super rides in Wisconsin. The Mindoro cut being the closest to this but the Mindoro cut is tiny compared to riding up this mountain. I would have to say this is one of the greatest rides I have taken for scenery and the technical riding. We stopped at a scenic overlook and took some pictures and froze in the high winds. I can't remember the exact elevation but I think it was just under 8000 feet. Lots of bite in the air now. Best part of all is that we get to head back down!

Thank goodness they didn't let me take the lead. I might have done something rash. Anyways back down the mountain and back through Slowdona. I think the traffic had Patti fired up a bit because she popped the clutch and revved the engine (using alot of fuel) at some guy that tried to pull out in front of us. I am not sure how he could miss us coming?? Wait silly question.

We made it out onto the interstate and heading back towards Patti's house. I am tailing the group just hanging out when I see Patti ride up beside Dave in the passing lane and she started to make a bunch of motions. I remember she mentioned her clutch was getting hot in Sedona so I thought she was saying that her clutch was slipping. We continue on and about another 5-10 minutes down the road Patti suddenly wants to get over. I was thinking that we were going to have to trailer the bike home cause her clutch burned up or something. Turns out someone's bike ran out of fuel...but I am not sure who's bike and who's fault it was. I guess the race fuel burns faster. A short shot down the road and a 1.25 gallon gas can (whatever happened to simple 1 or 2 gallon gas cans) and back to the point of interest to fuel the unsaid bike. We were back on our way to Patti's house.

I will skip ahead and say that we went out for chinese. I swear....I think I gained 10 pounds this weekend. Patti knows how to feed a guy!

Here are the pics that I have...Patti has the others but because of technical difficulties we will have to get those later.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...f&id=185101191

Rethinking “Internet for Everyone” & Social Networking

brittney fosbrook — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 20:27:17 +0000

by Brittney Fosbrook

As a new member of the CTC VISTA Project, I began my service full of fascination for the seemingly utopian quality of social networks made possible through open source content management systems (CMS). My enthusiasm for social networking software easily translated to my first large task at the Homeless Prenatal Program (HPP), a portal to be used primarily as a resource for case managers. In my initial vision, the portal would allow case managers to both access and alter content regarding best practices, downloadable forms and resource recommendations for clients. This case management portal, I assumed, would allow case managers to engage in a collective, participatory and accessible social network mediated through open source software on the internet. However, as my research and development for the portal commenced, I began to see there were problems with idealizing internet-based social networking.

The organization where I am serving, The Homeless Prenatal Program (HPP), is a non-profit organization in San Francisco that offers a wide range of social services to homeless and/or low-income families across the Bay Area. With a staff of over 40 people, HPP provides everything from housing assistance and childcare to technology classes. Case managers, the majority of whom are former HPP clients, coordinate these services and provide guidance for their clients. In addition to training the case managers in best practices and intake procedures, HPP provides case managers with training in basic work and computer skills. The case management portal is intended to be a training reinforcement tool for the case managers to learn and manage resources related to their clients. It is to be released initially in-house at HPP and then possibly for case managers citywide as an extension of the popular San Francisco resource for low-income people, Helping-SF (also produced by a former CTC VISTA member).

Recently, my supervisor from the technology center and I presented the Case Management Portal to fellow coworkers and were received with mostly confusion and hesitation. Why would case managers use this technology tool, they questioned, if they could barely navigate the internet? It is true, many of the people in the office have not been provided with the intensive technology training that I have taken for granted. Most of the staff members have little experience with computers outside of HPP and prefer to do their work initially by hand even at the expense of having to do more work later. My initial reaction to their hesitation was to convince the staff members of the necessity of joining the ‘digitized work world’, but eventually I understood that my expectations were naïve and driven by my technological background. More specifically, I came to understand that the push for technologically mediated social networks, networks that are often assumed to be democratizing, often provide usability and functionality for only a small minority.

This is not to suggest that open source CMSes are unsuccessful social networking tools in the non-profit world. Rather, I wish to acknowledge an alternate view to the tempting notion that OS CMSes cut across social inequalities and provide social dynamics across a wide range of socio-cultural and economic groupings. When I started at HPP, I had internalized the technologically driven view that open source CMSes are both building and strengthening social networks in a variety of settings, helping to blur the lines of gender, race, class and location. However, as I continue to work here I understand that my viewpoint was skewed. In his essay, ‘Second Thoughts: towards a critique of the digital divide’, computer-mediated communications theorist David Gunkel rightfully notes that much of the utopian rhetoric surrounding information technologies disregards the implications of social location on access and applicability of information technologies. Although conversations have developed around the commonly used term ‘the digital divide,’ there have been far fewer discussions surrounding social location in relation to CMSes as social networking tools.

Over the next year of service, I will be continuing the development of the Case Management Portal, but my process will be more closely aligned with what HPP needs organizationally and can handle technologically. Although OS CMSes are heralded as democratic online social networking tools, it is important to understand that they have been celebrated as accessible in a particular context. Namely, a context where computer and internet tools are taken as a given and where computer skills have been honed over years, not months or weeks. Rethinking the totalizing theory of OS CMSes as social networking tools is an important task for those of us doing community technology work, and that means accepting the responsibility of addressing the wide gaps in accessibility and usability in this open source revolution.

Brittney Fosbrook

Brittney Fosbrook recently joined the CTC VISTA Project as a Technology Specialist for the Homeless Prenatal Program in San Francisco, CA. Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, Brittney spent the last four years at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Molecular Biology and Gender Studies. After her year of service with the CTC VISTA project, Brittney hopes to continue her work in feminist science studies.

The Nature of Participatory Culture & Technology

Nettrice Gaskins — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 18:31:51 +0000

by Nettrice R. Gaskins

Nettrice's Icon on MySpace

Participatory culture is about the intersection of digital media tools and the ongoing transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of websites to a full-fledged computing platform serving a variety of web-based applications to people. I use the term “participatory culture” to reference the concept of active participation or the act of sharing in the creation of ideas, versus the “passive” scenario where people can receive information but are not allowed to engage in the creation or selection. Participation also refers to the availability of sources and individuals’ ability to customize their media experience.

We are at the beginning stages of a shift that will allow people, not only to create and distribute content and ideas, but also to act as filters and editors.

Recently, I’ve been writing about the major trends emerging in new media and technology tools that significantly reflect changing attitudes toward technology and communication. I contend that these trends have a considerable impact on society, especially young people growing up in the sensory-inundated environment of digital technology and mass media in the 21st century. These trends include open source applications, online video/audio, participatory media or personal broadcasting, and dynamic knowledge creation and social networking tools.

I would like to focus here on dynamic knowledge creation and online social networking tools. When effectively integrated into programs, these tools can extend learning in powerful ways. They can provide students with:

Access to up-to-date, primary source material;
Ways to collaborate with peers, teachers, and experts around the world;
Opportunities to express understanding via images, video, sound, and text;
Opportunities to learn coding (html and CSS) and use tools to create and edit online content

There is a real connection between teaching students web design, online distance learning (ex. Moodle), and popular services such as MySpace (I have my own page) and Second Life,. Second Life is a cross between a social network and gaming platform (even though it’s not a game) or computer-controlled virtual universe where virtual people interact with each other to do anything they can think of.

I think that popular culture not only reflects what people are consuming and using but also can provide clues on how to develop new and exciting projects for young people today and in the near future. I think that MySpace and Second Life are more than just distractions. As an educator, I am thinking of ways to use these applications to develop building blocks for learning web design and development, including online course development/management. It is important to note, however, that almost any application can be dangerous if used incorrectly or without the proper understanding of the rules and guidelines (or terms and conditions).

Learning how to code for the Web is becoming an essential skill, and editing MySpace requires knowledge of coding and web publishing. Why not use MySpace as a tool to teach these and other web skills? I enjoy creating images for my page, but MySpace has been educational for me as well, as it helped me to learn CSS (I am much better with HTML). In my opinion learning CSS is the first step to advanced web design.

Exploring MySpace and other tools, like Second Life, on my own has been very helpful in my work as an educator. Second Life uses Linden Scripting Language (LSL) that is similar to Macromedia Flash Actionscript so I've been able to teach basic Actionscript to students as young as 12. Second Life is also being used to extend the traditional classroom:

“Second Life provides a unique and flexible environment for educators interested in distance learning, computer supported cooperative work, simulation, new media studies, and corporate training.

Second Life provides an opportunity to use simulation in a safe environment to enhance experiential learning, allowing individuals to practice skills, try new ideas, and learn from their mistakes. The ability to prepare for similar real-world experiences by using Second Life as a simulation has unlimited potential!” - http://secondlife.com/community/education.php

The key to successfully integrating these tools and technologies into education is to have an explicit purpose and shared objective for everyone involved. Assignments should be project-based and encourage collaboration between students and teachers, who both need to feel comfortable creating, editing, and publishing with the tools.

Participatory culture shifts the focus of digital media creation from one of individual expression to community involvement and civic participation. The new ‘core competencies’ almost all involve collaboration and online social networking. The role of non-profit organizations, especially community technology and media centers, is to help their members gain skills that build on the foundation of digital literacy, such as research and technical skills and critical thinking in the 21st century.

Nettrice Gaskins is Computer Arts and Community Liaison at MassArt where she teaches and develops workshops focused on computer art including imaging, time-based applications, and multimedia. She is also adjunct faculty at UMass Boston. She holds a BFA in Computer Graphics from Pratt Institute and MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.