Salsa Scoop

An anthropological introduction to YouTube

Kansas State anthropology professor Michael Wesch apparently recorded this stunning presentation on culture, life, modernity in the YouTube community mere blocks from DIA world headquarters.

(You might remember him from such video phenomena as this, whose virality he discusses here.)

This is 55 minutes long, but you won't notice the length one bit.  Here's the project's blog.



This is an amazing documentary project of its own.  For nonprofits, the food for thought here goes well beyond video.  Is an "organizational social networking strategy" what this world is looking for?

In the worst case, nonprofit attitudes towards online social networks (or any other virtual gathering place) reminds me of how large political rallies can attract the presence of opportunistic groups who didn't help organize the rally and who may not even truly support the cause around which people are gathering. Like t-shirt vendors, they are there because they have something to sell. Or perhaps, more charitably, maybe many nonprofits are at online social networks, for the same reason Jesse James robbed banks. That's where (they think) the money is.

None of us want to be seen as some kind of leach, but unless we approach communities - and the online social networks that support them - with genuine respect, that's exactly what's going to happen.

 

Read more...

12:39 PM Aug 01, 2008 - 30 comments permalink

Knife to a Gunfight: Movement Espionage

A must-read piece of investigative journalism for any nonprofit: Mother Jones' "There's Something About Mary: Unmasking a Gun Lobby Mole" -- which mole infiltrated gun control organizations for the best part of a decade, culling in the guise of volunteer activist turned board member "what the grassroots of the gun violence prevention movement intended; where our priorities are shifting; which legislation we would be promoting or fighting against and what sort of effort we would be putting into that; who our targeted legislators would be; what states and districts we deemed important enough to put an effort into; our messaging, what our messaging would be before we put it out there."

Shocked to learn that [Mary Sapone, aka Mary] McFate was a spy, gun control advocates have pondered the obvious questions: How did she manage to fool everyone for so long? How much money did she earn for being a mole? To whom in the gun lobby did she report? The NRA? The firearms manufacturing industry? Did her covert effort extend beyond mere intelligence gathering? Did she manage to shape the decisions and actions of anti-gun groups to the gun lobby's liking? And was she the only one?



A qualitatively different affair from the recent Maryland troopers spying on peace and death penalty activists affair, but it puts a fine point on it, no?

So there's this:



... and then there's the consideration that maybe that's the point after all.

 

Read more...

06:53 PM Jul 30, 2008 - 0 comments permalink

Wired for Change makes the Washington Post!

Our friends over at Wired for Change were mentioned in the Washington Post on Monday. The article, "Liberal Bloggers Brace for Victory," covered the left-wing blogosphere and the 2008 election. Here's a snippet:

 This past weekend, those same types showed up, plus tech firms such as
Wired for Change, hawking an online product called Salsa that helps
groups engage people through e-mail lists. There's no denying that the
gathering has crossed the mainstream threshold when swag bags, complete
with El Sabroso Salsita salsa chips, were handed out alongside condoms
from the Center for Constitutional Rights.


Congrats, WFC! You can read the whole article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/20/AR2008072002191.html?sub=AR.

And also check out this video, sent our way by Jim Walsh:

NetrootsNation - 6 Austin, Texas

 

Read more...

09:43 AM Jul 22, 2008 - 0 comments permalink

Missoula 501 Club Represents

and so can your small town. I'm not writing to brag about the 20 folks who came out to our

501 Tech Club at the 501 Lounge (yep, there's a swanky bar called the 501 Lounge). Or the 35 folks who came to our meet up last month. Or the 60 organizations who have expressed interest in the club.

Laugh it up big city dwellers. I know, these numbers seems small, but for towns with less than 100K (Mlsa is about 70K), these are great metrics.

I'm writing to encourage folks to in smaller towns to consider starting your own 501 Tech Club through NTEN as a way to create a supportive technology network. I've found NTEN to be a great umbrella organization that's worked for me to get techies and non-profits to mash and mingle. If Missoula, Montana can do it, I'm sure your town can do it too.

 

Read more...

03:40 PM Jul 18, 2008 - 0 comments permalink

Public transportation, America. Look into it.

Last Friday, the Washington, D.C. metro system broke its all-time ridership record. Odds are that by the time you're reading this, Friday's record will have fallen a few times over again.

As DCist points out, there wasn't much special about Friday, July 11 -- just a nondescript summer day that "smashed" (well, okay, barely topped) the Reagan funeral record.

But this wasn't just some random blip.

Apart from Mondays, which seem to be systematically lower-ridership days (just like with online fundraising), Metro's top 25 weekday ridership days basically reads like the last few pages of my day planner. Every non-holiday Tuesday-through-Friday date for the past four weeks is among the very busiest days of Metro's history.

Date All-time Ridership Rank
Friday, July 11 1
Thursday, July 10 4
Wednesday, July 9 22
Tuesday, July 8 5
(weekend)
(Fourth of July fell on a Friday, the busiest July 4 in Metro's history)
Thursday, July 3 25
Wednesday, July 2 6
Tuesday, July 1 16
(weekend)
Friday, June 27 13
Thursday, June 26 18
Wednesday, June 25 3
Tuesday, June 24 8
(weekend)
Friday, June 20 9
Thursday, June 19 17
Wednesday, June 18 14
Tuesday, June 17 21
 

Read more...

05:45 PM Jul 14, 2008 - 16 comments permalink

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190