· Interview by Maxine of Web Directions ·
This week it's NAIDOC week, so Maxine of Web Directions interviewed me about ANTaR's online advocacy work. This interview is cross-posted on the Web Directions blog.
Did you start at ANTaR in your current role, or did you morph into it from a more traditional web role? I’m interested to know how much awareness there is in the non-profit sector of the potential in online campaigning, in going well beyond simply having a web site and maybe accepting donations online.
I started at ANTaR in my current role. ANTaR’s approach to the web is pretty unique for a nonprofit, in that the organisation employs a full-time staff member (me!) to manage online campaigns. Apart from the large activist organisations like Greenpeace, or those that focus specifically on web campaigns like GetUp!, online campaigners are pretty rare in Australia. It’s more common for somebody in a web manager or community campaigner role to do some online campaigning work as part of their role.
One of the primary roles of a campaigner, regardless of whether you campaign online or offline, is to raise awareness in the community about an issue. But awareness-raising isn’t enough: we also need to build relationships with people and encourage them to effect change where they can. Often this means we’re asking people to put pressure where it is needed (e.g. by getting in touch with their local MP) in order to get something to change for the better.
Generally, youth-run organisations, and those that focus on the environment and/or human rights seem to use the web more effectively for campaigning than other nonprofits. There are exceptions of course, such as Movember, and the Raise The Bar campaign in NSW.
My guess is that some organisations don’t use the web for campaigning because they don’t have much time or money, and so they put all their resources into providing core services in the organisation’s area of expertise. On the other hand, there are some organisations with plenty of resources, but conservative marketing policies mean that they hesitate to get involved in online campaigning because it might damage the organisation’s brand, or because they can’t see how they will get an adequate return on their investment. But as we all know, these problems aren’t unique to the non-profit sector :)
Which social networking platforms do you focus your energies on at ANTaR and how did you choose them?
Our main focus is on Facebook and MySpace at the moment, and we also use Flickr and YouTube a little. We use platforms that will enable us to reach a lot of people and build relationships with them. Tools have to be fairly mainstream among our target audience before we go there, so unfortunately Twitter hasn’t made it onto the list yet but we’re keeping a close eye on it :)
Last year I came up with a formula to help an organisation decide which online tools to use, based on how much time, money and knowledge is required. It’s meant to help an organisation decide whether the amount of effort they put into using a particular platform is worth the effect they’re likely to see, and the results are different for every organisation. You can see how it works in this blog post
How do you actually work these platforms?
In the early days, I was scanning blogs through Technorati to find people who were writing well-considered blog posts on MySpace about Indigenous issues, and then “friending” them. After a while, people started finding us because they were stumbling across our bulletin posts or comments on other friends’ pages, so we didn’t need to use Technorati any more to reach out to new people. Now my focus is on building relationships with our current friends. I find that if you have an ongoing friendship with people who are sympathetic to your cause, they are more likely to offer help than if you approach somebody from out of the blue. I put this theory to the test on MySpace a couple of months ago, and it worked because ANTaR won a MySpace Impact Award worth $10,000. We would not have won that award if our strategy had been different.
Facebook is completely different to MySpace. The ANTaR Facebook group is focussed on the Sea of Hands because I felt that people would be more likely to join a campaign than an organisation on Facebook. That group has grown partly by telling everyone I know about the group, and then those people forwarding it on to their friends. I also participate in discussions on related Facebook groups such as the Close the Gap campaign group (closing the life expectancy between Indigneous and non-Indigenous Australians), which leads some people to the Sea of Hands group too.
Check out ANTaR on MySpace and Facebook.
Any tips you’ve learned for working more efficiently and getting the best returns for time spent?
Yeah - don’t visit Facebook or MySpace more than twice a day!
What sort of returns can a non-profit expect to see from employing someone like you to engage with online communities in this way? Where can they expect to have successes? How long will it take?
This is still a reasonably new area, we’re working it out as we go along, same as everybody else. There’s a few of us who blog about online campaigning methods, return on investment, that kind of thing, so we share what we learn on our blogs and there’s a group of non-profit web people in Sydney and Melbourne (called Social Tech) that meets up once a month to chat about this kind of stuff.
I guess organisations can expect to have success if they are dedicated to building relationships with people. People are more likely to give your organisation favours, to get more involved, to donate, to want to find out more if they have a good relationship with somebody in the organisation. Relationship building takes a long time, and it doesn’t always translate into measurable returns, but it really is absolutely necessary, otherwise your efforts to get people involved are pretty random.
How long does it take? It’s a long-term thing! You should only campaign online because you’re passionate about an issue and enjoy talking to people about it … generally, most people have a pretty good bullshit meter so you have to be sincere. You also have to be patient … bringing about social change can and does take years, so don’t expect to see big results within the first six months (or maybe even the first six years)!
In your experience, what type of non-profit will a foray into online campaigning work best for?
Any non-profit that needs public support for an issue should consider campaigning online. It works best for campaigns that have a clear message, know where their target demographic is hanging out online, and has the resources not only to do the online work, but follow up with supporters that want to get more involved.
How can you evaluate the success of a project and when should you start doing it?
One of the most common ways of evaluating a campaign is counting the number of people who have taken action. This is a pretty good indication of whether (a) the public is interested in an issue and (b) enough pressure is being applied in the right places (i.e. on the person or group that has the power to change things).
Another way we can evaluate a campaign is to see what effect we’ve had in changing government policy. A good example of this is the Close The Gap campaign - made up of a coalition of organisations including ANTaR - which resulted in positive changes to government policy. There were several elements that made up this campaign, the primary public action was for people to sign a Close The Gap pledge on some of the coalition partners’ websites including ANTaR, Oxfam, GetUp and HREOC. ANTaR also asked supporters to email personalised letters to their state and federal politicians (through our online Sea of Hands) and we have had informal feedback from MPs and their staff that these emails contributed to the successful outcome of the campaign. If politicians feel they have the support of the community, they will take action.
We also monitor our website analytics pretty closely, looking for trends and working out why particular campaigns, media releases or search terms are more popular than others.
However there are some things that are very difficult to measure. If a person changes their attitude towards Indigenous Australians, how does ANTaR find out? And how do we know that it’s as a direct result of something that we have told them online, or as a result of something else?
We recently ran a campaign “Racism Makes Me Sick”, which focussed on the effects of racism on the health of Indigenous Australians. When the life expectancy for Indigenous Australians improves (currently an Indigenous Australian will live for 17 years less than a non-Indigenous Australian), then we’ll know that our work has been a success. In fact, when there is a fair representation of Indigenous Australians in parliament, and when 5% of attendees at Web Directions are Indigenous Australians, then we’ll know that our work has been a success.
What do you reckon? Leave a comment »
Monday July 7, 2008
Categories: General
· Wanted: web/IT women in Melbourne ·
Adult Multicultural Education Services is looking for professional women in the web/IT industry who are able to mentor another professional woman in the same industry.
Despite having high levels of English, along with qualifications, skills and experience in their field, a lack of Australian workplace experience can be a barrier to employment for many skilled migrants.
The Professional Mentor Project matches these migrants with Mentors from the same profession or industry, to support them as they pursue their careers in Australia.
The details are on the Goodcompany website.
What do you reckon? Leave a comment »
Wednesday June 11, 2008
Categories: General
· ANTaR won a MySpace Impact award! ·
I was totally blown away last week when I got a call from one of MySpace's content managers telling me ANTaR had won a MySpace Impact award. The prize is $10,000 so we're all pretty stoked about it!
There were three winners (all the same prize), the other two were Oaktree Foundation and Australian Teens Against Animal Cruelty. These are both organisations that are run by young people to engage young people. ANTaR is quite different in that our strategy for using MySpace isn't specifically to engage young people (our MySpace friends tend to be in their 20's, 30's and 40's).
So how did we win? Well it started when one of our friends told us he'd nominated us for an award. So we gave our friends the heads-up, asking them to nominate us.
A few weeks later we found out that we had made it into the top ten, and that the top three organisations would win, which was pretty good odds. Given that a prize of $10,000 would mean a great deal to ANTaR, we invested a couple of days into asking our friends to vote for us, and to spread the word (there's nothing like an endorsement!). We also put it in our email newsletter, as we figured that some of our other supporters might have a MySpace account but not be aware that ANTaR is on MySpace or that we were up for an award.
If it hadn't been for the relationships that we have been building over the past year and a half on MySpace, we would not have had as many votes and may have not won. It comes back to relationship-building again: people are more likely to do something for you when they know who you are and what you're about. If MySpace is part of your online engagement strategy, you need to be in it for the long-term.
What do you reckon? Leave a comment » [4]
Sunday June 1, 2008
Categories: General
· Australian Community ICT Awards 2008 ·
This year, I was one of the three judges for the Australian Community ICT Awards 2008, which were announced at a dinner on Monday night as part of the Connecting Up conference. If you didn't win, please don't hold it against me, there were some fantastic entries this year.
Best use of software in nonprofit settings
All the judges had difficulty singling out a winner, so we awarded two organisations this prize: Arwarbukarl Cultural Resource Association, an organisation that uses technology to assist in preserving and reclaiming our native languages; and Support Link, a web based application that enhances early intervention outcomes for vulnerable individuals and families. The ingenuity of both of these projects blew me away.
Best use of telecommunications in nonprofit settings
The winner here was Young People Connected, a project by a coalition of non-profit organisations Barnardos Australia, Mission Australia and Father Chris Riley's Youth Off The Streets along with Vodaphone. The project uses customised mobile technology to help youth workers to stay in touch with young people who are homeless or living in unstable accommodation. Awesome idea :)
Best web strategy
The winner was GetUp.
Community ICT Innovator of the Year Award
The winner was Karma Currency, Australia’s first not for profit Charity Gift Voucher website. I've blogged about them before, it's a pretty nifty idea.
Using ICT to connect to the Community - Business of the Year Award
The winner was UCare, an online database that allows churches to keep in contact with church members & visitors.
What do you reckon? Leave a comment »
Wednesday May 21, 2008
Categories: General
· Lunch with Beth Kanter ·
I've just been back "home" to Brisbane over the last few days for the Connecting Up conference for non-profit ICT professionals. Beth Kanter was one of the keynote speakers at the conference, so while she was in the country I took the opportunity to catch up with her for lunch last Sunday.
Beth and I have "known" each other for quite a while now. Needless to say, we met online (one of us left a comment on the other's blog, but neither of us can remember who contacted who first). For a nonprofit techie with a huge profile, Beth is totally down-to-earth and easy to chat with. I hope I'm like Beth when I grow up :)
So anyway I know a bit about Beth and her thoughts on the non-profit sector and the use of social media through reading her blog, so I wanted to find out who the *real* Beth Kanter is.
Did you know Beth stared her career playing the flute, and her first jobs in the non-profit sector were spent working with other performers, which eventually lead to her ICT work? She loves working in the sector because non-profits are laboratories for learning. Well, you know, we all have to be extremely creative at times, working with few resources and high expectations :) Beth really walks the talk by doing what she's passionate about.
I asked Beth how she deals with compassion fatigue. She makes sure she "feeds herself", ensuring she has time to chill out from work. She has a good life balance, in other words.
I also wanted to know how she finds the time to keep up with her blogging, after all she's quite prolific and knowledgeable. She says blogging is part of her routine. She stays on top of her blog roll and her posts to ensure she doesn't become overwhelmed.
I also interviewed for Beth, except unlike my analogue interview (paper & pen), Beth's was high tech (she filmed me on her Nokia and live streamed it to her site using QIK). You can check it out on her blog.
Anyway, it's been a pleasure to spend time with Beth over the last couple of days and get to know her better. If you happen to be in Sydney this Friday night and you're currently employed at a non-profit as a web professional, please join Beth and a few of us Social Tech colleagues for dinner in Surry Hills ... see the Social Tech Facebook event page for more details.
What do you reckon? Leave a comment »
Tuesday May 20, 2008
Categories: General
· Bloggers Unite for Human Rights ·
Today is the "Bloggers Unite for Human Rights" day. As you know, there's human rights violations going on right across the world so it's difficult to decide which aspect to write about!
Anyway, I've decided to focus on Australia and highlight the Human Rights Act for Australia campaign, which was started by New Matilda in 2005. I find it really embarrassing that:
We are the only democracy lacking a comprehensive charter or human rights act to protect basic rights such as freedom of speech, of movement, of religion, of association, the right to vote, to a fair trial, freedom from torture, freedom from detention without trial.
It's also embarrassing that there are still human rights abuses happening in our very own country. (It's embarrassing to me because we're a first-world country yet we still treat our first nations like crap.) So while I do take part in campaigns against human rights abuses in other countries, I believe that you have to look to your own backyard too.
Whether or not you're familiar with the Human Rights Act for Australia campaign, please visit their website now to (re)familiarise yourself with what it's all about :)
Oh yeah, and if you have a blog, join the Bloggers Unite email list so you're prepared for the next global blogging event :)
What do you reckon? Leave a comment »
Thursday May 15, 2008
Categories: General
· Events coming up ·
There's some great events coming up:
- Connecting Up - Brisbane in May - one of the main nonprofit tech conferences. This year I will be presenting with the lovely Emily Turner of Philanthropy Australia. I'm not sure if we're allowed to reveal what we're talking about yet because the abstracts aren't online. Needless to say, we will be GREAT. Oh yeah, and Beth Kanter will be there too.
- Activating Human Rights and Peace conference - Byron Bay in July - "This international conference is for everyone who cares passionately about human rights and peace, and who wish to activate/re-activate human rights and peace and their importance in the twenty-first century." This is on the "yeah, I wish" pile for me, but hopefully some of you lovely readers can go :)
- Web Directions - if you have the budget to attend a web conference this year, consider this one. In Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney. Hopefully I'll see you at the Sydney gig.
- Making Links - Melbourne in October/November - one of the main nonprofit web conferences.
What do you reckon? Leave a comment »
Wednesday April 2, 2008
Categories: General
· NTEN report - Nonprofit IT staffing ·
NTEN has released their report on nonprofit IT staffing: budgets, training, salary and planning.
There's plenty of interesting information about salaries and ICT budgets (in US$) in the report that you might want to take a look at. But I wanted to highlight what type of ICT projects nonprofits have undertaken in the past year:
Seems as though website redesign has been a high priority in comparison to other ICT projects at all but the very large nonprofit organisations. Around 75% of small and medium nonprofits (in the US?) have been working on a website redevelopment during the past year. I wonder if that trend will continue over here?
What do you reckon? Leave a comment »
Friday February 29, 2008
Categories: General
· is sorry ·
There has been so much debate, both among the general public and in parliament, about the apology that Parliament will make to the Stolen Generations tomorrow morning. Who would have thought that "sorry" could be such a difficult word to say?
There are many ways you can say "sorry" - it does not have to mean "yep, I'm personally to blame". It can be used to express shame or guilt, but it can also be used to express empathy or regret.
And anyway, it's not simply about how you feel when you say "sorry". How does it make the person (or people) who you are saying it to feel? Perhaps, if it's spoken with empathy, it can begin the process of healing.
So tomorrow, how can we say sorry? I found a wonderful blog post today on Anecdote that explains, in general terms, how to say sorry:
How to say sorry1
- recognise and acknowledge that a violation has occurred
- determine the nature of the violation—that is, what ‘caused’ it—and admit that one has caused the event
- admit that the act was destructive
- accept responsibility for the effect of one’s actions
- offer some form of forgiveness, atonement, or action designed to undo the violation and rebuild the trust
1 Lindskold, S. (1978). “Trust development, the GRIT proposal, and the affects of conciliatory acts on conflict and cooperation.” Psychological Bulletin 85: 772-793.
So this is the sentiment that I expect to hear in Kevin Rudd's speech tomorrow morning (which, incidentally will be shown on ABC at 9am, and public screenings will be in most capital cities). Sure, he didn't *personally* take Aboriginal children from their parents, nor did he vote for the mob who did, but as the current spokesperson for Australia the responsibility lies with him to apologise.
The blog post above also expresses where I'm coming from when I say sorry to the Stolen Generations: I regret that this happened to you, and I realise that it caused suffering and anguish for you and your family. I hope this never happens again. I've changed my Facebook status to "is sorry" ... if you feel the same way, please change yours.
An extract from Paul Keating's Redfern Speech, December 1997:
... The starting point might be to recognise that the problem starts with us non-Aboriginal Australians.
It begins, I think, with that act of recognition - recognition that it was we who did the dispossessing. We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life.
We brought the diseases. The alcohol.
We committed the murders.
We took the children from their mothers.
We practised discrimination and exclusion.
It was our ignorance and our prejudice. And our failure to imagine these things being done to us.
With some noble exceptions, we failed to make the most basic human response and enter into their hearts and minds.
We failed to ask - how would I feel if this were done to me?
As a consequence, we failed to see that what we were doing degraded all of us.
Pic: Radical Cross Stitch kindly allowed me to republish a pic of her fantastic Sorry cross stitch kit. She also has an Etsy shopfront.
Tuesday February 12, 2008
Categories: General
· my interview with Squiggle ·
Have you subscribed to Hootville's Lowdown (email newsletter) yet? If not, go do it now ... today you missed a great interview that I had with Squiggle (pictured below), Australia's leading canine communications commentator:
Squiggle: Let’s start with a blatant plug – who is ANTaR and what do you do?
Priscilla: ANTaR campaigns for the rights of Indigenous Australians. We give people the facts, and encourage people to take action.
I'll ignore the absence of advocacy for canine Australians. I believe you run both a MySpace and a Facebook profile?
Yes we do! On MySpace we're ANT4R (because somebody beat us to ANTaR) and on Facebook our group is Sea of Hands, and we're also very active on Close the Gap – Indigenous Health equality in 25 years.
Indulge me a little, with answers and back rubs, why both? Aren't they the same thing?
No, they're quite different. They are both online social networking tools, but allow people to speak their mind in different ways. Facebook groups tend to focus on specific issues and ideas, whereas MySpace profiles tend to focus on organisations and their activities.
Well, ideally I'd like both. Which one’s easier?
It's technically easier to set up a Facebook group than a MySpace profile. To set up a Facebook profile, you simply need to click a few boxes and you’re done, which means all Facebook groups look very similar. To set up a MySpace profile, you can choose to hack the code so your profile looks just the way you like it. As a result, some of the profiles are fairly psychedelic, but that's part of the charm :)
Oh, I know what you mean about MySpace. I've never been gladder that I can't see in colour.
So, who do you reach with these fancy profiles? Just the young pups or are old dogs learning some new tricks and logging on?
It depends who you ask – every survey shows a different answer. Generally, the majority of users in Australia for both Facebook and MySpace are in their 20's and 30's (that’s ages 3 to 7 in dog years). So it's not just for the young pups – besides, they're all hanging out on Bebo and Xanga.
Bebo? Xanga? They sound like names you'd give a Siamese. Anyhoo, of the two sites, which one would you give best in show to?
We would award Best in Show to MySpace. It is easier to build a personal relationship with supporters there, and it's easier to engage people that you have a personal relationship with.
Now, colleagues of mine have joined an ANTaR "group" on Facebook that you run. What’s involved in that?
That's great, your colleagues must like what ANTaR does. Because they're in our group, their friends can see that they like us and support Indigenous issues. It also means they are among the first to know when we’re holding Sea of Hands events. Give your colleagues a friendly tail-wag for us, please!
Done! Now, I'm an old-fashioned dog and sometimes find it a bit difficult to learn new technology tricks. What's the best advice you can give me on using Facebook and MySpace for my NGO – Dachshunds Without Leashes?
On Facebook, join all the groups that might have something in common with you – maybe you could start with a general interest group like Doggy Style.
Once you're in the group, you can join the conversation on The Wall. Next time Dachshunds Without Leashes runs a campaign, post a link to your action or media release on the Posted Items section – it's a great way of telling other group members about what you're doing.
On MySpace the best way of keeping friends up to date is by updating your organisation's Friend Status.
Next time you're feeling a bit peckish, you can write something like "Dachshunds Without Leashes is desperate for some chicken necks" - it's the first thing people will read when they log in. If your friends have some chicken necks to give away, they'll be in contact with you.
You can also add the text from your campaign or media release on a Bulletin or a Blog just to make sure the message gets through.
Then visit all your top friends and leave a message on their profile begging for treats – your best friends will be most likely to help you in times of desperate need.
Now with Facebook you can actually add little bits, called applications, to you profile to make it more interactive. When I still had my profile I had a Wall, a Super Wall, a Fun Wall and a Omnimegahyper Wall Deluxe.
One that I’ve noticed since then is an application called "Causes" which allows you to nominate causes you support and even have your pack donate to them. Your thoughts?
Organistions set up a Causes page in the hope that people will tell their friends about the organisation and raise money for them. Unfortunately, only non-profit organisations based in America or Canada can raise money on Causes at the moment.
For Australian non-profits there's not much difference between setting up a Causes page or a group. A group page allows you to add events and videos, which you can’t do on Causes. However a Causes page allows you can see which friends are referring the most people to your organisation (so you can thank them).
Finally, Priscilla, on a scale of one to ten, how outraged are you that Facebook deleted my profile on the grounds that I'm not human?
I am totally outraged. You were one of my best friends. Who can I feed my bag of doggy treats to, now?
All chicken necks can be couriered directly to Hootville. My staff will put them on ice for me.
What do you reckon? Leave a comment »
Thursday January 31, 2008
Categories: General