Influence

Early Bird Deadline for "Web Sites Without Walls"

nospam@example.com (Andrew Cohen) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:14:43 -0400

August 31 is the early bird deadline for our September 9 Web Executive Seminar, Web Sites Without Walls. You can register using the widget below. After Aug. 31, the price increases.

And anytime between now and the event, if you sign up with two or more of your co-workers, you all will enjoy a special price of only $50/ticket. We also have a limited number of scholarships for students and organizations with small annual budgets.

The session is going to discuss strategies for syndicating web site content and data to increase your organization's reach and impact. It's going to be an extremely informative session. We're going to hear from Andy Carvin of National Public Radio, DC Chief Technical Officer Vivek Kundra, Sunlight Labs Director Clay Johnson, and David Stephenson, the nation's leading "disaster guru techno-geek."

I hope you can make it!

Of Webcams and Wildlife, Citizens and Science

nospam@example.com (David Strelneck) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 10:33:00 -0400

Successes and tribulations of the new African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) blog, including new leopard camera photos from South Africa, remind me of our experience planning, installing, and operating the innovative QuetzalCam in the cloud forests of Costa Rica way back in 1999.

That early remote-wildlife-cam project, which Forum One implemented with the World Bank and the Tropical Science Center in Costa Rica in effort to help publicize the MesoAmerican Biological Corridor, yielded wonderful photographs and scientific data that seem to resonate with the AWF experience today:

Technology is not the hard part; politics, permissions, and unpredictable animals are! AWF camera abusers include elephants and rhinos. Our vandals were monkeys and a very mean weasel .
To keep web users engaged, it is important to construct a story-line around the image feeds. AWF does this powerfully with their blog. Back in the pre-blog days, we did something similar by having field researchers post updates and educational information. These were some of the most visited pages on the site, as people would come to look at the most recent photos, then flip into the educational and interpretive information to learn more.
Viewers want to participate in the story, not just see the photos, and are willing to reward their involvement with support. (Thanks to a kindly AWF donor for replacing one camera taken out by an elephant.)
The images are powerful for science and fun. Scientists manage AWF's leopard work, and our Quetzal cameras captured thousands of images used by researchers.

Read the AWF blog to track the daily action in Africa, including trials, tribulations, and images from the wildlife research cameras.

Event: Breaking Down Your Site's Walls

nospam@example.com (Andrew Cohen) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:22:00 -0400

We have a great event on data sharing coming up Sept. 9, and early bird pricing ends on Aug. 31. The event is called "Web Sites Without Walls." You can register at the bottom of this post or read more at www.forumone.com/walls.

In our business (and on this blog), we talk a lot about sharing, syndication, and breaking down walls between "data silos." There are big opportunities for organizations wise enough to expose their data and content beyond their own site. There's also exciting possibilities for taking advantage of feeds from government and other organizations to create your own new web site features.

To give a physical world analogue, it's the difference between printing only a single copy of a report and putting it on a shelf at your organization's headquarters or printing thousands and sending them to every library in the country. In both scenarios, you control the rights to the content and get full credit. But in the latter case, your message's reach is much further and wider.

By not walling off all of your content, and enabling others to re-use your content elsewhere, you are gaining valuable access to audiences you otherwise might not reach. This is the power of syndication.

For years, much of the talk about data syndication was theoretical as we had few good examples to point to. Now, thanks to the popularization of common standards, we have numerous good examples. So we're organizing an event feature some of the leading ones.

Representatives from National Public Radio, the District of Columbia, and the Sunlight Foundation are going to talk about how they got started with syndication, how it's benefiting them, how they convinced management that it was a good idea, and what you can learn from their experiences.

You can learn more about this event and our speakers at www.forumone.com/walls. Or register right here:

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Tools for gathering website metrics

nospam@example.com (Oscar Merida) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:45:21 -0400

Over on our tech blog, I've posted a roundup of four tools for measuring website effectiveness. These tools automate gathering common metrics, and perform some rudimentary analysis automatically. They should be in any web team's arsenal.

You have to be careful with the metrics, as they can be very easy to game and manipulate. The tools I look at below will help you see if you are writing content that is valuable to your audience and aligned to your site's purpose, and to make sure potential readers can find your site.

Web Software + New Toilets = Solve Global Health Problems

nospam@example.com (David Strelneck) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:10:15 -0400

I'm in a meeting right now in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where a small group of social entrepreneurs is conspiring to revolutionize the world: they plan to combine new software design and new toilet designs to bring clean sanitation to hundreds of millions of people worldwide.

As targeted by the Millenium Development Goals, over two billion people suffer disease, water pollution, and economic woes because of inadequate sanitation. And promising solutions in some cultures and economies are inhibited from scaling larger because producing appropriate toilets takes time. Especially if we're talking millions and millions of locally appropriate toilets!

But this group of entrepreneurs gathered in Thailand this week, sponsored by Ashoka, has a new idea: Start producing the toilet components centrally at a huge scale rather than in scattered places around the world. Then use the web to give local groups in any country access to this single global source, through a single portal or marketplace. The massive global demand channeled through a single web marketplace will justify entrepreneurial investment in the huge volume, high quality, low cost supply side to begin with.

Mr. Jack Sim of Singapore, founder of the World Toilet Organization, and Mr. Hamzah Harun Al'Rasyid of Indonesia, will carry on these discussions during World Water Week August 17-23 in Stockholm, and Ashoka will help develop the idea further. It is an exciting prospect for the health of hundreds of millions of people around the planet, and an exciting example the powerful role the web can play in changing approaches to global problem solving.

A Beautiful Day in Our Neighborhood

nospam@example.com (Andrew Cohen) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:17:12 -0400

The Alexandria Times, our local neighborhood paper, included a nice mention of Forum One in their August 7-13 issue. The article, High Tech Here at Home, points out that our little neighborhood of Del Ray is home to a number of high tech firms. Del Ray is the area of north of Old Town Alexandria where we've owned our building since 2000.

As per the Alex Times story:

The neighborhood is also home to Forum One Communications, which plans and develops Web sites for nonprofit and public organizations.

The company, with about 35 employees, was founded 12 years ago by graduates of Harvards Kennedy School of Government. Forum One quickly attracted a broad base of prestigious clients, including the African Wildlife Foundation, the EPA and the American Academy of Pediatrics, for whom the company develops informative and interesting Web sites.

Andrew Cohen, a project director, said that he is happy the firm operates in Del Ray. "We enjoy the nice mix of residential and businesses on Mount Vernon Ave.," he said. We feel like we're part of a community here."

He didn't put this in the article, but I also told the reporter that when you visit nearby businesses you frequently meet workers and patrons who know someone on our staff. A number of our staff live right here in the neighborhood and walk to work. It's a good place to live and make one's livelihood.

Conservation International - Live Interview with Primate Expert Mike Hoffman Aug 5 1 PM EST

nospam@example.com (Chris Wolz) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 09:17:54 -0400

Conservation International is hosting another of its "CI Live Discussions" today, Aug 5, at 1 PM EST with primate expert Michael Hoffman to discuss

Primates: Saving the Species: Around the world, primates are coming under increasing pressure. They are threatened by the illegal wildlife trade, the bushmeat economies, habitat loss and disease. Join us as we discuss what is being done to save the species.

You can submit questions and view answers during the live interview, or submit your questions in advance, and also check questions and answers *after* the event, all at http://discuss.conservation.org/

The "CI Live Discussions" use Forum One's very cool LiveInterviewsOnline service.

conservation international

2008 AIDS Conference Kicked off Yesterday, Lots of Online Services

nospam@example.com (Suzanne Rainey) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:01:01 -0400

The XVII International AIDS Conference kicked off yesterday in Mexico City and will last through the week. To most, it's the premiere event on HIV/AIDS worldwide and it occurs every two years. I was fortunate to attend in 2002 when it was in Barcelona, Spain and our Chairman Jim Cashel attended in 2004 in Beijing. I recall at the time that the online offerings that we would have hoped would accompany the actual event were rather meager, and I'm happy that they have stepped up their online offerings quite a bit for those of us who cannot attend. Some interesting features on the web site include:

Ask a question to a moderator of a session in advance
Webcasts (live and archived) of the major sessions and press conferences from the Kaiser Network
A nice, interactive, action-oriented site for youth
A fairly extensive media center with fact sheets, speaker bios, a high res photo library, etc. (In my opinion this is all critical because I definitely notice a surge in coverage of the AIDS pandemic during this event, and this is so crucial in terms of reaching the general public and keeping the issue in front of us despite our own challenges.)

On the other hand, I'm a bit perplexed about a link on their main navigation that takes you to what looks like a nice community site called 'Global Village'. At first this sounds fantastic...but it's all Spanish. Maybe some of you will be able to benefit from this more than me.

I'd love to hear from any of you who are attending the event this year!

Bill Clinton's new 'Trip to Africa' blog

nospam@example.com (Suzanne Rainey) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 12:46:05 -0400

I'm watching with interest th Clinton Foundation's new blog about Bill Clinton's trip through Africa last week, during which he visited some of the programs his foundation is spearheading. He's about to speak now at the 2008 International AIDS Conference and I look forward to some live posts from that event. I hope he renames this blog and continues to post his other travels and activities here--it would be interesting to see firsthand what the foundation is doing from this perspective.

Who is Using Open Education to Support Global Health? Are You?

nospam@example.com (Dave Witzel) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 11:23:16 -0400

In September the Clinton Global Initiative will host its flagship meeting in New York. Since it was started in 2005 by former President Bill Clinton, CGI has mobilized almost 300 commitments from its members valued at over $2 billion.

This year CGI is interested in commitments focused on the nexus of education and global health, two of the four focus areas. We're helping them look, particularly for projects that are being planned or are recently underway, that use open education (OER) approaches to support global health. Are you involved in a project like this or know of one? If so, please let me know via email (dwitzel@forumone.com) or phone (+1 571 641 3029).

All help greatly appreciated!

Web Strategy Homework: Some Fun Examples to Explore

nospam@example.com (Chris Wolz) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 22:19:50 -0400

We are doing a web strategy workshop with a client this week, to help them explore what are some possible ways they can use the web to be more effective. (The approach to web strategy that we find valuable is to base it on a mission-driven, audience-centric approach. To get there we follow an approach outlined here. )

As part of the session, I am posting here a listing of examples I often use of different web strategies. We often ask clients to review a list like this and come prepared to discuss:

- What are these organization trying to accomplish?
- Who are they trying to engage online?
- Why will their target audience bother coming back to this site a 2nd time, a 22nd time?
- How is their web strategy going to help the organization be more successful?

These examples are interesting for varied reasons:

The Nature Conservancys Jonathon Colman on Digg:
http://digg.com/users/burkinaboy/history.rss and http://digg.com/users/burkinaboy

Gapminder: Sustainable global development through statistics
Watch: http://www.gapminder.org/video/gap-cast/gapcast-10---energy.html

Changemakers; Open Sourcing Social Solutions http://changemakers.net/en-us/competitions

TED: Ideas worth spreading http://www.ted.com/

NASA: http://www.nasa.gov

The World Bank: http://www.worldbank.org/

CARMA: Carbon Monitoring for Action http://www.carma.org

ProCon.org http://deathpenalty.procon.org/viewanswers.asp?questionID=1038

The Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/green/

Center for Global Development / Blogs http://cgdev.org/section/opinions/blogs/

National Rifle Association http://www.nra.org/home.aspx

ProFootballTalk! http://www.Profootballtalk.com

Oceana /Ocean Heros http://community.oceana.org/heroes

Center for Fire Research and Outreach http://firecenter.berkeley.edu/

Global Voices aggregates, curates, and amplifies the global conversation online
http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/-/world/east-asia/china/

Please share ideas about these, suggestions for other innovative web strategy examples - thanks!

Chris

Chess photo courtesy of gabork / flickr

InterAction seeks intern for social networking

nospam@example.com (Suzanne Rainey) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:11:29 -0400

InterAction the largest coalition of U.S.-based international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) focused on the worlds poor and most vulnerable people is seeking an intern to assist in expanding its presence on the more popular social networks.

All internship applicants must be currently enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs, able to work with minimum supervision and commit to a minimum of 20 hours per week to be considered. Applicants should have excellent written and spoken English skills, strong computer skills (including Microsoft Word and Excel) and good interpersonal and organizational skills. Interns receive a stipend of up to $50.00 per month toward the costs of traveling to and from InterAction.

Collectively, InterActions 167 members work in every developing country. The U.S. public shows its support for this work through contributions to InterAction members totaling around $6 billion annually. InterAction leverages the impact of this private support by advocating for the expansion of U.S. government investments and by insisting that policies and programs are responsive to the realities of the worlds poorest and most vulnerable populations.

To Apply:

Submit a cover letter and resume to intern@InterAction.org, with Social Networking Intern in the subject line. Due to the large number of anticipated applications, only short-listed candidates will be contacted. No phone calls, please.

For more information on InterActions internship program, visit http://www.interaction.org/internship

The Progress of Online Collaboration Tools, Sort Of

nospam@example.com (David Strelneck) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:02:45 -0400

In 1999, while reflecting on work we'd done for the US Environmental Protection Agency, some colleagues and I had an idea for a project coordination web page where project documents, a schedule, and staff contacts could easily be listed. Having worked with teams involving government workers plus private sector contractors, I thought this idea offered huge opportunity for efficiency increases, simply by creating a shared space which different members of the same team could all access easily.

We developed the new tool quickly, and it worked well for those we introduced it to. In fact, refinements and enhancements led in part to Forum One's development of the popular ProjectSpaces online project coordination tool, which anyone can start using today with the click of a button.

But in this summer of 2008, nine years later, I am reminded that much of the huge potential for efficiency gains in public sector work remains untapped. I've participated recently in three unrelated meetings that hit me over the head with this point one in New York with program planners from agencies like UNICEF and the World Health Organization; one in Peru with a group of water management entrepreneurs; and one in California's Sierra Nevada mountains where small town residents make local land-use planning decisions. About half-way through each meeting, someone suggested that the group use internet tools to coordinate the information flow and planning. And, after a quick round of affirmations and nodding of heads, each group then went back to the business at hand, and the idea was never mentioned again.

At least there is general awareness of the potential for these efficiencies now. But there are also many perceptions (and even some realities!) which often defeat the idea. Every new tool requires time to learn. People are busy, and overwhelmed with glitzy web ideas. And frankly, in the eyes of many novice users, these web systems appear too complicated. Which is a conundrum, because as new people do start using such systems, they tend to want more complex additional features and functions added quickly, yet those same complexities scared them away initially.

Some tools are now truly easy enough to adopt to make this crowd happy, I believe, but a challenge remains in how to bring this idea to life at the moment it arises, pretty consistently these days, in these kinds of multi-agency program and policy meetings.

Job Opportunity: Web Internship / Pew Environment Group

nospam@example.com (Chris Wolz) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:44:00 -0400

Our friends at the new Pew Environment Group (recently formed when the National Environmental Trust joined with Pew's environment programs) are looking for a web intern. Will be a great opportunity!

Web Internship, Pew Environment Group

The Pew Environment Group is seeking an online communications intern for the fall semester. This full-time job with the Web and Communications team is a great opportunity for somebody who is just starting out in the field.

Duties and responsibilities include online work on multiple campaign websites and support in developing potential new sites. PEG web interns typically work on dozens of different projects as well as participate in communications strategy discussions, planning meetings, brainstorming sessions and occasional training workshops. We're looking for somebody who's quick on his or her feet, adaptable, learns fast and has good attention to detail. Specific skills (html, design, etc.) are useful but not essential; some can be learned on the job. What's more important is a positive attitude and strong initiative.

We offer a competitive internship hourly rate. Please visit www.pewtrusts.org to learn more about Pew, view the full job description and apply online.

Come Join Our New LinkedIn Group for Global Health Professionals

nospam@example.com (Suzanne Rainey) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:12:41 -0400

I've just become co-chair of a new LinkedIn Group for professionals working in global health, called Global Public Health.

I suspect the summer will be quiet but we'll ramp up in a month or two and use this group as a way to tell each other about interesting news and events and to stay in touch in general.

If you'd like to join us, please do! Here's a link: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/120372/28CBE05C8ACF