Topic: How to attract a greater diversity of people on WiserEarth
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That's a very good question in terms of how to attract a greater diversity of people on WiserEarth. While WE is learning to walk, its inhabitants (for good reasons) do indeed mostly consist of the 'converted' so to speak. WE will need their learning and advice to help the movement attract a wider diversity of people and cultures.
I think we can do a lot to actively reaching out to WE members to invite them to create word of mouth among people who have traditionally been 'outside the movement'. It may also help to use other internet marketing techniques to help to make the issues 'more mainstream' in the way that they are presented on the site (the greenwashing group and the 'China makes Crap' goup are both trying to do this and are experimenting with ways to do this). If you need further ideas on raising the issues into the public arena, one of WE's members, Frankpatton is a good person to speak to. This discussion is definitely worthy of wider debate. |
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Hey, all:
On a related issue, some time back I asked if the contact people for the 100,000+ organizations that have been included here had been emailed and invited to join as individuals. It seems a natural that the near unanimous response would be for someone from each to join. A side benefit would be they would update their organization's info. Since the locations of organizations appear to be much more global than the individual people membership at this time, this alone would cause a huge increase in diversity, not to mention individual people. Has this invitation been made? Of course, there would always be some who "didn't give permission for their organization to be used" as one person complained. This will always happen with a very small group. This makes one wonder, why, then, are they on the Internet? Oh, well. Just contacting these 100,000+ people would be a useful move. WE is a network that with less than 10,000 individuals currently, still has a reserve that is left untapped. And using this untapped reserve would greatly improve diversity, improve the network, potential for improvement in the world, and real progress. David Messages done with sustainable energy, with Wind and Sun! |
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Well yes diversity is a necessary component for sustainability.
I myself have other interests which I mesh with my environmental concerns. Its just it requires an organizational structure which is flexible yet meaning and easily accessed and searched and not given to creating to many categories. It has to have a standard directory sort of classification and subject structure. For simplicity sake you could use the one in a phone book directory or the Google directory. It would be good too though to have them spread around on different servers so that there will be some part of the site up if a certain server or site went down as well as backing up the data of course and then theres editing and arranging the site map in a meaningful logical and intuitive way. I wouldn't mind a wiser earth "arts" component myself as there are disciplines and uses for art and music such as art activism. see my homepage |
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Hey, all:
In my answer below I automatically assumed "geographic and cultural diversity" was the issue. From the socio-economic standpoint, diversity is probably limited by lack of interest, even opposition, among many people, and lack of access and more immediate needs by many others. These two groups are distinctly not at all the same. The first probably comprises old men in expensive suits who have too much money, but nevertheless want more. The second group has suits which are carefully handed down from father to son--if they have ever had one. Of course, to avoid charges of sexism, the same could be said with women and their clothing. And to avoid comments about many cultures never having or needing suits, "suits" is just for illustration. This, however, should not confuse the distinction between the two groups who are probably not likely to be attracted to the movement. Despite all this there is a huge population yet to be found and included. David Messages done with sustainable energy, with Wind and Sun! |
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David, yes the contact people for the 100,000 organizations have been contacted. Within a few months I believe, we sent out massive e-mail invitations. I sense a little disappointment from you that there aren't more users...I'm surprised as well. Due to a combination of factors (ignoring the e-mail, wrong e-mail addresses, WE sign-in confusion, lack of awareness that WE is editable by users, inaccessibility of WE from users in certain countries due to lower bandwidth) the activity level has grown not as rapidly as I hoped, but perhaps its for the best. Too aggressive of an outreach plan, when the site is not ready, will turn off users from returning.
The WE team is recognizing this, and are taking steps to work on the basic functions, look & feel, and accessibility of the site. Until this sort of change happens, I don't expect a change in diversity of the folks on WE. |
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Hey again, I wrote that before seeing your last comment. It's interesting really to think about the value that is lost, w/o strong diversity. To play devil's advocate, there also is a need to expand our site's influence with local partners before we set our goals too high, too ambitiously, and spread ourselves too thin by trying to make our site totally inclusive of the world's many ethnicities, languages, regions, needs, wants, etc. The most powerful impact our site can have realistically at this point, is perhaps suited for people and organizations of a particular demographic. However, we should never forget that true diversity on WE would be a very valuable and rewarding thing to see.
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Hey, all:
Yeah, Michael, it is disappointing that the response to the email notice was so poor. On the other hand, one of the old but-nevertheless-valid rules of salesmanship is that many many successful sales often start with "No". Without being too crass, there is some sales effort involved here, so this principle is appropriate. I would suggest simply that it be done again, perhaps as a request for feedback, and addressing as many as the reasons you provide in the process. Indeed, the first reason--ignoring the email--is one common response to any sales pitch--tantamount to "No". WE might aggravate some in doing so, but gentle persistence in contacting organizations would yield a lot more participation. That is the nature of sales. Noting the "devil's advocate", I understand what you say about developing more locally, and then spreading and branching once things are better developed, but I see such thinking as having a down side. This is the tendency to become more parochial, thereby exclusive. I even see it many of the references here, and have commented on it. I hope I don't step on too many toes, but one is the sad presumption that there is only one "Bay Area". Historically, there were bays around the world occupied by perhaps millions while only a few people in loincloths (or much less) were collecting mussels on the shores of San Francisco Bay USA. Now, probably billions could be counted around other bays. Writing "...in this country... ", "...where we live... ", etc., with no context for others to relate to, has a strong isolating affect. To alter a well-known concept, "Think/write globally, act locally." It is also a demonstration of humility, which itself invites others. I also think it really does not matter on what scale WE exist until WE 'gets all the kinks out', and in fact WE could benefit from a wider effort Yes, I know there are growing pains and confusion of the types you mention. But I also think that the more time goes by before the movement really takes hold and is able to affect a shift in consciousness globally, the greater the losses that will be incurred. This is certainly not WE's fault, but WE do have the potential to create real progress. I don't know--just color me "impatient". I certainly do agree that "true diversity on WE would be a very valuable and rewarding thing to see." Indeed. David Messages done with sustainable energy, with Wind and Sun! |
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May we all see the correspondence that has gone out to potential users/organizations? I think a group effort in refining our pitch could do it some good. Thanks!
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Might it be possible for WE to make anonymous user-information (most common words used in about sections, geographical numbers, AOF selections, etc) publicly available to enable us to contribute to an analysis of the best way to move forward? It seems that the principles circumscribing the movement that WE represents demands that information like this be made available when the cost is not great.
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What email messages have you (anyone reading this) found to be successful in encouraging invitees to join WE? Perhaps we should post this sort of information and gather it together in (a) group(s).
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Here is the email that was sent to organizations listed on WiserEarth. Please feel free to comment and improve. We hope to send this out on an annual basis.
WiserEarth LOGO Translations of this message: Español, Francés, Portuguêse, Deutsch, Italiano, Chinese, Arabic Dear colleagues at NAME OF ORGANIZATION, Your organization is included in WiserEarth.org, a web site that encompasses more than 100,000 non-governmental, social benefit organizations working towards social justice and the protection of the environment. Click here to view your organization's entry. We invite you to register in order to update the information on your organization's profile. It only takes a minute. Once you have logged on, you can add to or update any information you see on WiserEarth by clicking 'edit'. Q: What is WiserEarth? WiserEarth supports the people and organizations that address the central issues of our day: climate change, poverty, the environment, peace, water, hunger, social justice, conservation, human rights, and more. Here people can connect, share knowledge, launch projects, recruit staff, seek funding, and build alliances. It's a searchable library of resources, events, people, and organizations -- growing larger every day. WiserEarth belongs to its community. It is your site to create, edit, and change. There are no sponsors or advertising. Q: Who is behind WiserEarth? WiserEarth was launched by the Natural Capital Institute. We are a team of researchers, activists, writers, social entrepreneurs, students, volunteers, and open source software technicians. We built WiserEarth to provide a system of support, communication and collaboration for the people who are transforming the world. Q: I think you sent this email to the wrong person! We're very sorry. If you are not the appropriate person within your organization to be receiving this message, please pass it along. If you're not affiliated with this organization at all, please reply to this e-mail so we can correct the mistake. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We invite you to sign up, introduce yourself, search for what you need, and share what you know. - The WiserEarth team We may send an email to your organization on an annual basis, inviting you to update your organization profile. Please click here if you do not want to receive emails in the future. |
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YES!!! I had been looking for this post for a while now. I need to remember to use the watchlist feature! I'm sorry to all those folks I asked about this issue before now. I'd like to suggest that we make watchlist additions an opt-out feature rather than opt-in. That is to say, when I contribute to a discussion or comment on something, it should automatically add that item to my watchlist. Even better would be to allow users to switch this function back and forth (from opt-in to opt-out and vise versa).
I have a comment tangentially related to bringing greater diversity to WiserEarth. I think the key to bringing more active users of a great diversity to WiserEarth (I draw a distinction here between active and non-active users) is actually to focus on inviting very like-minded and closely related people to join (and even combining the invite function with invites to events, groups or any other object). These are the people most likely to accept as well as those most likely to actively participate and invite more people. This in turn, will have the potential to actually bring more real diversity to the site than appealing to unconnected people and organizations, since they have a domain in which they are comfortable working and exposing privileged information (which may not include the WiserEarth community). Anyway, this may be duplicating a post elsewhere. I wanted to post another idea I have considered, which is involved in how we go about posting objects to the site. I like to practice a form of 'stream of consciousness' when adding groups, events, jobs or inviting people to the site. That is, I move from one activity to another by following ties based on Areas of Focus, geography, personal connection or any other linkage. I think it would be great if we encouraged more of this way to use WiserEarth by adding as many one-click moves as possible from adding one sort of entity to adding another or from an invitation email to actually engaging the person who has invited you. I was prompted to post this idea by my feeling that invitation emails should be unique to the person reading it, that is, a recruiter doesn't need to know that WiserEarth is a place to find events in your area or that it is a repository of sustainability information. He or she just wants to know why it is a powerful tool for finding passionate job-seekers in the appropriate field. Anyhow, sorry to be so verbose. Please let me know if you have some suggestions of how to implement some of this idea or if you find that I am mistaken in some way. Thanks! |
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Michael K wrote: "It's interesting really
to think about the value that is lost, w/o strong diversity. To play
devil's advocate, there also is a need to expand our site's influence
with local partners before we set our goals too high, too ambitiously,
and spread ourselves too thin by trying to make our site totally
inclusive of the world's many ethnicities, languages, regions, needs,
wants, etc. The most powerful impact our site can have realistically at
this point, is perhaps suited for people and organizations of a
particular demographic. However, we should never forget that true
diversity on WE would be a very valuable and rewarding thing to see."
I think that is a great comment. It seems to accurately reflect what the decision making process and site development priorities currently are... (yet I think WE should not settle for that...) .. and we must remember that what WE markets itself as must align -- for the sake of our values -- with what it is. I also like some of MorganF's comments in the For Profit Disscusion (ties in with my idea about having a WiserBusiness Certification program): "the real value of a green social networking site is the ability to create a critical mass and effect change in local communities. For example, if we could get enough people in the Bay Area to join WiserEarth and simultaneously set up a system that reviews businesses in the area (e.g. yelp.com) based on the values which we identify (green, socially just, etc.) then we could actually create a system that holds businesses accountable for their values. This is the real power of WiserEarth." and "If the problem is resources, the natural question becomes how can the resources be obtained. It is here that we butt up against a bit of a catch-22: the best way to get resources for the site is to get more people involved and excited about the site while the best way to get people involved and excited about the site is to have an established network that has proven its ability to create change. My original idea was based on the desire to use the site to create change in the economic sector. This was a macro-phase effect; perhaps if we could focus some energy on finding ways to use the site to create tangible micro-phase changes we could show people that this site is an amazing tool for revolution. It all stems from the question that a philosopher like myself is just learning to ask: What can we do here? This is what must guide us." Those are great comments. Perhaps there could be an area on WE where WE users could post great connections they made via WE etc. a sort of "success story" group. Leads to the question ... Are their any WE users who have used WE effectively to put create meaningful change? Who are they? Where are they? What are their stories? Are the mapping/ discovery efforts drawing in new people to the movement or is the website working as a barrier for people new to the movement; does it turn them off due to its complexity, busy homepage, attitude of users/ staff etc.? In other words is it truly bridging the gap between those who reside in the loci of power (within the global social justice and environmental restoration community) and those who do not reside in power (inclusive of those not within the movement)... or is crystalizing the distance between the two...? Why is user activity so limited, and why is the activity that takes place so limited to a certain demographic that seems to run consistent with those that fund and are employed working on WiserEarth.org? Why do past interns/ employees use this resource so sparingly? What can we do to correct this? wen2li3 's comment "This in turn, will have the potential to actually bring more real diversity to the site than appealing to unconnected people and organizations, since they have a domain in which they are comfortable working" I agree 1. but the problem is psychological: we think of ourselves working professionally, volunteering, living, recreating etc. within certain domains. That is what hurts the growth of the movement. By operating within domains we eliminate/ radically decrease the potential for change -- for ourselves as individuals and for the network/ global society as a whole. We focus on what we know rather than what we do not know. We view peoples comments/ ideas in the context of our perception of the user's merit rather than the comment on its merit alone. We cannot see the merit of the comment we are blinded by our perception of the speakers worth. We are persuaded by the subconcious. We envison ourselves as open-minded and thus categorize ourselves within a domain of open-minded people and thus become closeminded; we think that we think out of the box and thus define the space where we think, and categorize the type of thinking that we do and our similarities to a type of people (demographic) that engage in similar thought (there is no box to think out of in the first place!). A question would be: What are some ways to make WiserEarth more of a 'free spirited' and useful space for people not within the current demographic of users? ... (I am thinking things like increasing Group Functionality; like Lauren's suggestion about folders, and things like making profiles have a private vs public option etc....) Would a start be respecting current users who are not from within the majority demographic? What could something as simple as that accomplish? Is that being done? 2. (and I understand that the short term focus in mapping/ discovery/ connecting existing entities...) but I believe WE should figuratively try to kill both birds with one shot: I think one of the most relevant criticisms of the current system and approach is that new-users are not encouraged/ provided with instructions/ examples of ways to use the website to become involved. They are almost encouraged to maintain non- active status. I realize WE targets a certain demographic, but the largest historic flaw of the environmental movement is that it is not mainstream... could even be described as elitist. That is a flaw that WE should work to correct. And WE should be able to correct it by instituting an aggressive plan for involving the established community networks: not just those within the demographics of the origins of NCI/ Interra project, but on the national / global level. It goes back to wen2li3's comment ( from For Profit Inclusion); "Interesting fact: the success of Facebook was largely dependent on its reliance on trust in and networks within academic institutions. Without the connection to this very real world institutional framework, it would not have overtaken MySpace as it has for general Social Networking. Perhaps WiserEarth can draw lessons from the strengths and failings of networks like Facebook to figure out how to generate the social capital necessary to accurately represent civil society." I agree. I think it would make sense for WiserEarth to follow in FaceBooks figurative footsteps: once they implement the public vs private user profile option WE should be positioned to try to connect with all 'Green' groups within national Universities/ Colleges, and work with them to provide them with a space that meets their needs. Is NCI / WE strategically positioned to initiate an original national or global initiative? Probably not. What about partnering with developing Groups: for instance - 1sky - http://www.1sky.org/ - to involve all the local/ state-wide communities that are involved with that campaign, trying to get all those people to become active on WE is a solution that could be explored as well. NCI partners with 1sky to serve their needs? Why should organizations / initiatives use WiserEarth over/ or in addition to Myspace/ Facebook? What does WiserEarth offer that the others do not? Is anything offered that is unique and priceless? What is it? Is there a community on this website that is working together toward a common goal? In addition to the goals of their personal networks/ organizations: those that they belonged to prior to their initial activity on WE, and belong to outside of their activity on WE? What is this common goal and where is it defined? Could NCI/ WE prove the worth of WiserEarth.org's networking usefullness and make the proper connections and initaite some sort of creative media contest/ challenge targeting the demographic of U.S. undergraduate environmental/ sustainability groups? With prizes and a final on TV? Maybe a reality show? What is holding NCI / WE back from pursuing an angle like that? Why would that not be an solution? Is that a type of work that NCI / WE does not engage in? Why is NCI/ WE limiting themselves by defining the domain that they operate within? Does that outlook position them -- and subsequently us -- as a global movement, to be effective? (Is the very lack of a unifying goal WE's biggest flaw? What is there on WE that excites a new user? I remember I got on this site and than didn't look back for a month, most people seem to never return... Is mapping the sustainable a sustainable idea? Does it increase the liklihood for a global movement in the direction of sustainability? Can you prove that by citing instances where WE has helped new WE users make needed connections that induced real world change?) This ties into this article: The Facebooker who Friended Obama: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/07/technology/07hughes.html?ex=1231041600&en=0f0753405c28e3ed&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=TE-D-I-NYT-MOD-MOD-M051-ROS-0708-HDR&WT.mc_ev=click&mkt=TE-D-I-NYT-MOD-MOD-M051-ROS-0708-HDR or: http://www.wiserearth.org/resource/view/3c9617a78acf435687281ddaa998d5d2/new/1 |
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philosophically some other relevant questions to ask our wiserselves;
how does getting involved -- with using the WE resource -- align with getting involved in an exciting real world activity that unites all WE users (or at the least a majority of users) working on something meaningful that we did not do prior to becoming involved with WE, and that we cannot do outside of WE?
Something that enables our local, personal networks to have the option of being empowered working on something additional that aligns us with all other WE users and their personal networks. Something exciting, unique and priceless to the WE community... something that works to simultaneously
1expand the audience/ influence of the demographic WE targets
2while exponentially expanding the targeted demographic (that defines the social justice/ environmental movement.)
if you were given a sustainable solution to all the problems would you be able to identify it? From a theoretical perspective -- what is the most 'creative'/'effective' idea that you individually could come up with that would fit the above criteria? (Do you think it is better than the reckless ambition of wiser***? are you sure you understood the idea?) Do you believe you have the intelligence/ humility to identify a solution when it is presented to you? Do you care more about the success/ effectiveness of the movement or your image with the movements current dominant demographic? Why is the entertainment industry not the correct resource to tap? Why are you afraid to risk endorsing the impossible? Why does WE exist? What real world change (improvement) has it accomplished since its inception? Who has benefited and how can you prove that they benefited by WE in a way that they could not benefit by other established means? How did WE enable them? Can you prove it?
Is wiserearth's purpose to improve and expand the 'movement' -- or isolate, define and categorize it?
If you include for-profits on this site you abandon the original vision. Why are you defining the domain/ possibilities of the 'movement'? Does that strategically position the movement to be effective and successful?
Philosophically... Who is 'in control' of this website right now... and why are they in control? Is it because of the 'nature of their intentions'? Is the nature of their intentions consistent with the original idea of the movement? Can you prove it?
Am I in control of the website? because I justly demand dialogue? If I am not: who is and why?
In any instance of wiserhistory thus far does developing a user profile correlate with the accomplishment of something meaningful/ dramatically influential in the real world? it has been a year; how soon can you prove it works?
should the wiserearth project be called off if WE are not willing to go the distance with the original vision? if WE are willing to settle for the limitations of the past? if we are not willing to reward the impossible?
if an influential visionary financial contributor had come up with ideas consistent with mine -- would they have come to fruition?
is this whole thing an exercise in futility?
does it have impact? |
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When I was in charge of publicity on my last project, I was tasked with reaching out (via direct marketing) to diverse groups of people across the U.S. I had to get a good mix of different races, different income levels, different education levels, etc. The tool we used to identify diverse neighborhoods was ZipWho.com - Free ZIP Code Demographics, which is a really useful site for identifying neighborhoods with different demographics.
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