(Note:  I'll be in the Bay area in October 2006 and could meet face to face.) 

Goal:  Find the right combination of Web2.0 tools for a volunteer core group to use to help turnout people for a local social-justice event, scheduled in 3 months.

In just one volunteer network, for example, nationally there are 10,000+ local people, already involved in various communities, to mobilize for particular events.

Tools I have so far:

• WhizSpark event website summarizes the event, displays photos and fosters interaction through e-mail invitations.  This page then serves as an event artifact.
• PR Web press release distribution.

Tools I need: 

A local community network and project-oriented collaborative web space. Coordinators first learn to use this at a local face-to-face meeting.  Then together for 3 months they utilize it asynchronously to help build participation for a successful event.  The website would include simplified workplace e-tools and short videos, appropriate for busy volunteers.

Its purpose is social facilitation: to encourage people to perform better at simple tasks when they know they're observing one another.  Tasks include extending personal invitations to attend the event, listening and engaging others to participate based on their particular interests and gifts.  See: 12 Guiding Principles of Community Engagement.

WhizSpark invitation websites produce Excel spreadsheets. I want to mash up and report invitations sent, etc. graphically in the collaborative web space for others to see.  Bar charts and a campaign thermometer would help build campaign momentum by representing:

• Event invitations sent so far

• RSVPs received
• 1-on-1 Visit (survey) results, represented with tags.

Simplified, volunteer-appropriate features in collaborative web space might also facilitate:

• mailing list (spreadsheet) display
• project management
• document downloads
• a discussion forum.

Today there is a downward spiral of civic apathy.  Our national stockpile of social capital  -- our reserve of personal bonds and fellowship -- is seriously depleted.  We need  democratic social-capital strategies like this to enable busy people to act bettertogether.

There's also a market for such event-organizing tools.  Example:  school reunions.  But on this wetpaint.com High-School reunion wiki notice the last comment:  Poor planning.

Web2.0 tools could help facilitate more effectively-planned events by supporting grassroots coordinators online to engage and mobilize busy people.

Mac Johnson  psmcovky at usa.net

New Richmond, Ohio (Cincinnati area)

"...Remember me as a drum major for justice."  -- Martin Luther King Jr.

I have been interested in the internet for a few years now, a newbie compared to many. I started to become excited about the possibilities of the Internet as I learned more and more what it was capable of accomplishing. I currently work for a non-profit gallery performance space as the Associate Director in charge of maintaining the website (which I designed http://www.puffinfoundation.org/forum/forum_new/index.html) and public relations. In the beginning I new very little about the revolutionary things happening on the web and how they could help my organization, but I had a sense of it and often tried to explain it to my boss. With the little understanding I had, it didn't come across as exciting as I felt it was, but my boss was keen on learning how to use webcasting and podcasting to record and broadcast our performances, anything more than that he wasn't to open to.

I've tried to introduce the idea of blogging with this in mind...our organization has personality, we have potential content that I can see being valuable to consumers. The craziest people come through here, with great ideas and talents, I can see us having a great blog. My problem now is to write a proposal that would be convincing enough.

The problems are these: My boss sees this endeavor as a drain on his resources, there would have to be writing and updating and researching, which I can understand. Also, the benefits are vague and hard to get a handle on...what would reaching out to people all around the world do if we are just trying to get butts in the seats here in Teaneck NJ? And finally, who is the audience? how do we reach them and ofcoarse how do we have a successful blog when the chances are we would be throwing effort into the abyss, or so people may think.