rhizome studios

If you build it, they will come: Tech myths for change orgs (Part 2)

Kyle Lambelet — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:14:13 +0000

There is no such thing as virtual community

Community is the stuff that happens between people when they sit together around a table, look each other in the eye (or not), and laugh, argue, eat, and plan together. As of now, there is no technology available that can adequately replicate that experience, not even some kind of Dr. Frankenstein’s FaceBook + Skype creation. Even the best social networking functionality still doesn’t replicate the kind of meaningful interaction that happens face to face (think of all the blogs you’ve visited where people are posting vitriolic diatribes anonymously).

Given the reality that most social change organizations are at their base about community – building, organizing, and empowering – it might seem discouraging to learn that virtual community is another one of those technological myths. But, before we “throw the baby out with the bathwater” let’s consider some of the ways that online technologies can be helpful in building real, face-to-face community.

Including new members

When I hear about an effort, campaign, organization, or community that I haven’t heard of before, often the first thing I will do is google it. I want to know who they are, how they present their work, and what other people are saying about them. Of course, I will also talk to other people that may know about them, but my first step is always to go to the internet.

Now we should be clear that this isn’t everyone’s first step, and organizations should plan for multiple points of entry for new members. But, it is clear that these days, the internet is a central way for organizations to introduce themselves to potential members.

With this in mind, it’s important to have a clear way for new members to join in your work. For example, one of the first things you see on the Kansas Interfaith Power & Light website is the join button. For first time visitors to your site, make it easy for them to figure out how to get involved.
Increasing engagement with current members

While it’s obvious that the point of having a website is to make connections with new and potential members, the advent of social networking functionality has made continuing connection with members much easier. Working with my above claim, that authentic community doesn’t happen online, we have to consider how we can utilize that functionality in such a way that we turn people away from their computer screens and toward actual community building activities.

With this in mind, I encourage folks to think how every online event can drive people toward an actual in person event. For example, imagine that your organization has a blog that tells readers about the latest in national health care policy and how it impacts your local community. You get a lively conversation going online regarding the benefits and costs of a single-payer health care system. In order to convert that online conversation into a face to face conversation, you invite the folks who have been involved in the conversation to be a part of a town hall meeting next week.

This may seem patently obvious, but in the effort to build community, we should think about how to turn online interaction into face to face interaction. Face to face interaction is where change happens, where commitments are made, where actions are agreed upon and community built.

SEO Tip #1: Let the robots crawl your site!

Kyle Lambelet — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:01:57 +0000

In the words of Homer Simpson “D’OH!”

I’ve been working with a client for several weeks to improve his search engine results. Bizarrely, the WordPress administrative login page was showing up in search lists while the home page refused to appear in spite of a pretty unique site name. Finally, I broke down and consulted my friend , who does SEO (Search Engine Optimization) consulting professionally, and he discovered this at the top of all the pages of my site:

Turns out, I had not enabled the site to be crawled and indexed through the WordPress backend. I think I did this initially because the site was in development for a while and had a bunch of dummy text, so it made sense at the time. Of course, now I want the site to be indexed, so I went to the privacy settings on the WordPress dashboard and selected “I would like my blog to be visible to everyone, including search engines (like Google, Sphere, Technorati) and archivers.” Hopefully this will do the trick and we’re back on the right track.

A few real SEO tips

So, sense you took the time to read about my SEO snafu, you are probably interested in some actual SEO tips. A lot of people spend a lot of money and time trying to get their site at the top of the search list. This is for good reason: unless you have a highly motivated searcher, they’re probably going to select one of the options that shows up on that first page. While Google’s (and other search engine’s) page ranking algorithms are somewhat of a mystery, here are three common sense things that you can do to improve your SEO:

Content is king: The best thing you can do to turn the search engine’s onto your site is to have relevant and useful content. I can’t make this point strongly enough. While there are tons of gimmicks and magic bullet solutions out there, the search engines actually do a pretty good job of figuring out where the most useful content is for web users. Your doing great work already, so talk about it in all its uniqueness and particularity.
Spread your web: One of the things search engines are looking for is who is linking to your site. They want to know that your site is interesting to a wide audience and having links to your site from other reputable sites can help. You might work with partner organizations, or have foundation support, make sure that these organizations link to your website.
Pay attention to keywords: While meta tags are not as important as they used to be, crafting a consistent message that utilizes regular keywords is. Search engines pay more attention to what is in the title of each page and to the content that is in header tags than to the content toward the bottom of your page. Like a good newspaper journalist, think about grabbing the attention of your audience—and the search engines—in the first few sentences of your post or page. I know, you’re a social change worker, and it takes in depth analysis to understand what’s going on in our world. But, we still have to get people on the site. Use language that is accessible and useful and specific keywords that can drive people to your site.

If you build it, they will come: Tech myths for change orgs (Part 1)

Kyle Lambelet — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:49:14 +0000

I tend to work with folks with big ideas — people who believe in what they’re doing and believe that other people will find meaning and hope in joining in their work. Unfortunately, sometimes those same visionaries go a little batty when it comes to technology. Instead of applying the same shrewd, thoughtful, and passionate approach they bring to their face-to-face organizing, they (we) often have the “if you build it, they will come” mentality when it comes to technology (which worked great in that Kevin Costner movie, but doesn’t work so well in real life). If we put up that facebook page, if we have the latest social networking functionality, if we have blogs, event calendars, photo galleries, and user generated content, then the people will come.

The problem with this way of thinking about technology (or fundraising, or program development, or most anything related to organizing) is that this just doesn’t pan out as true. You can have the finest technology, and still have no one show up.

So, what technological strategies do work when it comes to promoting social change, building organizational capacity, and changing the world? While it may seem rather simple, a few organizing principles that work in real life work on the web too.

Three touches

This is a simple tactic I learned at the Beloved Community Center in Greensboro, North Carolina. It’s really as basic as it sounds, the idea being that for each person you interact with you want to make three touches, three points of contact to gain a commitment.

Think about inviting a new friend over for dinner. Your first touch is an initial greeting, at that point you might exchange contact information with hopes of connecting again. Your second touch might be a phone call or email with an invitation to come over for dinner. You might suggest some times and dates and ask what works for them. The third touch then might be a confirmation, making sure you’re cooking something they would like and that they have directions to your home. So, there’s the three touches in action. Three basic points of contact that lead to a commitment to relationship.

Translated into an organizing context this means you can’t just throw up a flier and expect that people are going to show up. Putting up a flier might be one touch, but then you’ve got to make calls, talk to friends and neighbors, and arrange for transportation and logistics.

The same is true of an online happening. If you want people to come to your blog and interact in an online conversation, you can’t just post something and expect that the conversation will take off. So, you need to develop an organizing strategy for how to get people around the virtual table.

Imagine your trying to host a conversation with young people about intergenerational organizing. Your first touch might be talking to 5 young people whose opinions you respect and whose voice you want in the dialogue. Ask each of them to commit to posting a comment on the blog. Your second touch might be an email to your constituency, highlighting the original post and the fact that the conversation is already happening. Your third touch might be an editorial in the local newspaper, highlighting the dialogue, encouraging further involvement, and maybe even announcing a face-to-face gathering in the near future.

Now, such a tactic by no means guarantees success. But, tied with an organizing strategy, technology can help you to make a some of the touches necessary to building relational commitment.

Read more in part 2…

Website Feature: www.opendoorcommunity.org

Kyle Lambelet — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:14:59 +0000

After graduating college I was overloaded on theory and in need of spaces of integration and praxis. Providentially, I found the Open Door Community. It was recommended to me by a friend, so the first thing I did was to check out their website. Thankfully, at this point in my life, poorly designed websites were not a major turnoff and I ended up moving to Atlanta and spending a year as a resident volunteer at this community of hospitality and resistance.

Needless to say, while the Open Door has been carrying out amazing work resisting the powers that grind the faces of homeless and imprisoned poor folks, their website didn’t go very far in highlighting that work. So, I was glad to take this project on and now I’m even more glad with what community members, staff, and I have come up with.

In addition to it looking pretty, community members can now edit the content of the site without having to rely on someone who has code knowledge. Some of the features include:

A photo gallery where Calvin Kimbrough and other community photographers can upload their latest pictures.
Blog functionality for both news and testimonies augmenting the printing of the community newspaper Hospitality.
An archive of past issues of Hospitality going back to January 2003.
And (this is my favorite) integration of community artist Nelia Kimbrough’s fine work throughout the site.

So, go check it out at www.opendoorcommunity.org and let me know what you think.

Welcome!

Kyle Lambelet — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:00:18 +0000

I’m rolling out this new blog for rhizome studios. I guess I figured if I’m setting up sites for other folks with blog functionality, I should use one myself so that I can know the joy and the frustration. Take a look around, subscribe to the feed, and come back soon when I have more posted!