Presentations and other posts relating to Facebook

Join us on Tuesday, March 1 (postponed from Feb. 1 by the weather) for a discussion on privacy and social change on the web.

We’ll have great speakers touching on several aspects of this issue, including:

• Hannah Miller, formerly of the Media and Democracy Coalition, on privacy and online organizing for social change. Is it better to push for privacy and anonymity, or transparency and accountability? How do people use social media differently when they have privacy and when they’re aware that they don’t? Which is better for building effective online communities organizing around social change issues?
• Ivan Boothe, of Rootwork.org, on organizing communities in which anonymity is important. How can human rights activists challenging their governments, people targeted with violence because of their identities, or those organizing abuse survivors still engage in blogging and social media?
• Mario Rodriguez, a doctoral candidate at the Annenberg School for Communication in the area of social network privacy, on how we as individuals and organizations can be aware of the privacy implications of how we use the social web. How can we be smart about the amount of data we allow for-profit companies like Google and Facebook to have access to about our organizations and campaigns? Is “the age of privacy over,” as Mark Zuckerberg has said? Should social advocacy nonprofits take a side in this debate?
• Andrew Sather, of Jenkins Law Library, on privacy and your organization’s presence on the web. Does our nonprofit website need a privacy policy? What should it be? How can we be smart about how third-party tools such as Google Analytics might impact the privacy of our visitors?

In addition to the presentations, there will be ample time for questions and discussion.

Who should come to this event?

• Nonprofit staffers interested in learning more about the privacy implications of their use of the social web and the Internet.
• Online activists and organizers who want to know how to use the social web without compromising the safety of the communities in which they work.
• Techies who are interested in supporting social good and social change campaigns, and helping nonprofits and activists achieve their goals.

Come with your questions, ideas and comments about privacy and social change on the web!

More about the presenters

Hannah Miller is a writer, consultant, and thinker on topics involving written words, sounds, still images, and moving pictures, in their transit over phone and cable lines, through the air, and to your radios, TV boxes, cell phones, etc — in other words, the media. She has been a general assignment and beat reporter, campaigned for progressive candidates, written puppet shows and edited books, worked as a media-policy advocate at the Media and Democracy Coalition, and drawn what might be the world’s only cartoon on net neutrality. Contact: hmiller430@gmail.com or 215-888-8036.

Ivan Boothe is the creative director of Rootwork.org, working with nonprofits and social change groups, developing websites and doing online strategy around advocacy, fundraising and member engagement. He is a community organizer with Casino-Free Philadelphia and the online communications coordinator for the Fellowship of Reconciliation. He has experience in a number of social change and nonprofit groups, including co-founding the Genocide Intervention Network.

Mario Rodriguez is an Annenberg doctoral candidate specializing in social network privacy. His dissertation is a study of Facebook privacy among college seniors as they transition to the workplace. Mario received his M.A. from Annenberg (2008), and his B.A. from New College (2001). He also holds an M.A. in Journalism from The University of Florida (2006), and has worked in journalism, media research and government. You can read his blog at www.visualinquiry.org.

Andrew Sather is a self-described IT and Information Science nerd. By day he is the Assistant Director of Technology Services at Jenkins Law Library. His New Year’s resolution is to start (and regularly contribute to) a blog, which he’s mildly embarrassed to share with you here.

Live online webcast

If you’re not located in Philadelphia, or just can’t make it to the event in person, be sure to follow along on our live webcast. We’ll also have a Twitter backchannel set up using the hashtag #phlnet2, and we invite those at the event and those following remotely to comment and submit questions through Twitter.

The event begins at 6:00 PM in Philadelphia, with time for conversations and networking. The programmatic portion of the evening, along with the live online webcast, will begin at 6:30 PM Eastern. Learn more about the live webcast.

Image: Flickr user opensourceway

This event will be broadcast online live, beginning at 6:30 PM Eastern.

Crowdsourcing Change is a highly participatory event where attendees (the crowd) provide constructive feedback and advice to help three “social changers” who are using — or trying to use — the social web to advance their cause or project.

Join us in Philadelphia

We’ll start gathering at 6:00 PM at the Friends Center, 1501 Cherry Street in Center City. Light fare will be available, and RSVPs are appreciated for planning on Meetup or Facebook.

Join us from anywhere, online

The event will also be streamed live, with a Twitter backchannel discussion, so participation and feedback can come from anywhere. More information about the streaming and backchannel.

Our three Crowdsourcing Change projects

We’ve lined up three terrific projects with which to share our collective wisdom.

Each presenter will display their website and share their objectives. Then the crowd — that’s you! — will participate in a facilitated discussion about how various social web tools and strategies might help them achieve their objectives. It’s a fun format for learning, sharing and potentially making a significant contribution to some important causes.

Our three projects represent local, national and global perspectives:

Police Athletic League of Philadelphia

Presenter: Jo Elkes, Capital Campaign and Development Coordinator

Better known by the acronym PAL, the Police Athletic League of Philadelphia provides free educational, athletic and cultural after-school programs in a safe environment. PAL believes these experiences enable youth to become successful productive citizens. All PAL activities are supervised by Philadelphia Police officers, to help foster positive relationships between youngsters and the Police Department.

Questions PAL would like our crowd to address include:

• How do we expand our presence and increase user interaction on Facebook?
• How can we get young donors to participate in our mobile text-to-give campaign or other social fundraising options?

Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)

Presenter: Joanna Brenner, Public Awareness Associate

FIRE wants students to be able to learn and think for themselves. Its mission is to defend and sustain individual rights at American college campuses. These rights include freedom of speech, legal equality, due process and religious liberty. FIRE combats censored speech with more speech and uses social media as a powerful weapon to spread the word.

Questions FIRE would like our crowd to address include:

• How can we get new members from our existing social networks, and get our online community more directly involved with our activities?
• What should we use for monitoring/analytlcs?

AIDS Policy Project

Presenter: Kate Krauss, Executive Director

The AIDS Policy Project believes the time is now to find a cure for AIDS. The project pressures lawmakers to fund AIDS-related medical research as well as provides opportunities for researchers, advocates and others to share information, brainstorm and collaborate in a worldwide effort to eradicate AIDS.

Questions the AIDS Policy Project would like our crowd to address include:

• What are good tools to foster collaboration within the international research and academic communities?
• How can we use social media on a global scale to change the way people think about the AIDS pandemic?

This promises to be a unique and interesting event. Please join us in person, or online!