Photo by Paul Henderson under CC.

I owe you a long write up of last weeks event – Barcamp Nonprofits – but I might stay faithful to my blog and focus more on personal learnings than an update on sessions (for that I suggest post of Andrew,Kevin and Paul). Some of you might know that it was a particularly difficult event for me to organise as all my attention was pre-occupied with family – which honestly affected my productivity in recent weeks. I am back on my feet now and I am really happy to see that many of my local and global friends have committed so much energy and support on this one, that we made it happen. We actually made a good quality event and great pilot for a larger, louder, even more, memorable one in 2011. I would like to thank our sponsors, Voice and Oxford College of Marketing; and media sponsors Against Breast Cancer and Just Giving. It is really great to see nonprofit organisations together with agencies expressing their support in this rather innovative form of events. I would like to send warm hugs to Anna and Renata for their help with assets and reception, Bernie for help with goodie bags and projector, Paul for bringing the other one. Pierre did an amazing job of keeping everyone in the loop via official event blog. Graeme took the ownership of the barcamp project, which is really just kicking off now. I would like to stress though that each and every person present on the day impressed me not only with the fact that they appeared at the Oxford University Club on this extremely gloomy Saturday morning, but contributed with their experience and insights all throughout the day! There is also an element of a great learning curve in mistakes we make. I have failed in terms of communication and preparation of few elements  (big hug and I apologise to Claire and Marianne!). We could have dared to do more too and we have notes to take to the next event and to build on, but one is certain – the original form of a barcamp opens discussion on many sometimes difficult topic, reinforced the spirit of collaboration and…is hard work for each participant! So if you like to deliver I hereby invite you to the next Barcamp Nonprofits planned for spring/summer 2011 in London;)

Update: I would like to add that the biggest thank you goes to @zerolab, who was extremely supportive all the way! Thank you!

I have posted few words about this Monday morning meeting with Beth Kanter at the Guardian in London on my company’s blog already, so I would hate to repeat myself. Here, however, I would like to share some of my very personal thoughts about her presentation, and the book itself. Both the Monday presentation, as well as the book reflect clearly my initial experiences with the nonprofits sector when it comes to the challenges of social media adoption. Social media changes the way we think of our organisation, the way our organisations work. Once we step into the new media world we start to question and ultimately re-define our brand (how many times as a blogger have you had to do that?;)). It forces us to respond and communicate clearly and transparently with all stakeholders – and most of it in real-time. Terrifying! But is it really? We, as consumers, have we not changed? Are we not questioning our brand loyalty? Do we not want or sometimes even expect the human contact and personal touch in each of the e-mails we receive from customer service? Do we not hate to wait on the phone for hours? Than why are we so surprised when suddenly our organisation is openly challenged – at the end of the day for good, actually? What Beth Kanter does might seem like stating the obvious – nonprofits are running a bit late with social media adoption, however, the shift is happening within this sector and we have some good case studies to follow. We also have plenty to discuss. I suggest we put aside the endless debate about terminology if it stands in the way of consistency and progress. Let’s just look at good work of people who dare to change and to improve, open up and show the great work they have been doing for years – here and now. And let’s keep up, contribute, drive the change! Beth Kanter’s book is a good catalyst and I truly hope to see more literature on the topic from many more talented and experienced social media marketers – both int he UK, as well as globally.

I have seen similar classifications many times before and despite the fact I remain sceptical (there are so many ways we live our lives!) I appreciate each attempt to pin down few leading ones.  As with any other means of communication, the brand is growing wiser in mapping out the channels with their audiences, so let’s have it!;) Looking at the above categories I would argue that an influencer is also a good networker and communicator, for instance.

Euan has made a point about word ‘digital’ yesterday and inspired to re-think it a little bit. How do we use the word? Do we live a digital life? If so, what is it? Me, well, probably more than most of my dearest friends who simply love to sit down and read a book or go for a walk and enjoy the autumn’s changing colours. I live the fairy tale of perfect relationship where ‘the digital’ co-exists with the traditional rather well. But is it an overall trend? For me sometimes only objective studies help to understand where we are heading. So here is one. TNS has conducted a global study called ‘Digital Life’, which you can find on their site. What is really interesting in the results of their survey is the correlation of e-mail and social media usage. Look:

Taken from ‘Drivers of Online Behaviour’ here (pdf).

I am really happy to see those stats, as I am constantly asked why do I work and live to convince brands and organisations to join social media platforms (providing their work is actually valuable, of course;)). See, I have a feeling, and it looks like it is the reality of many of us too – that the social media channels become an integral part of our lives. Now, please note: integral does not mean: most important! On the contrary – it implies that the channels we are talking about are nicely embedded within the entire system of communication tools.

As for our ‘digital’ lifestyle – the study presents few interesting ideas

INFLUENCERS The internet is an integral part of my life. I’m young and a big mobile Internet user and generally access everywhere, all of the time. I’m a blogger, a passionate social networker with many social network friends. I’m also a big online shopper, even via my mobile. I want to make sure as many people as possible hear my online voice.

COMMUNICATORS I just love talking and expressing myself, whether that’s face to face, on a fixed line, mobile or on social networking sites, instant messaging or just emailing people. I really want to express myself in the online world in the way that I can’t in the offline one. I tend to be a smart phone user and I’m connecting online from my mobile, at home, at work or at college.

KNOWLEDGE-SEEKERS I use the internet to gain knowledge, information and to educate myself about the world. I’m not very interested in social networking but I do want to hear from like-minded people especially to help me make purchase decisions. I’m very interested in the latest thing.

NETWORKERS The internet is important for me to establish and maintain relationships. I have a busy life whether it’s my profession or managing the home. I use things like social networking to keep in touch with people I wouldn’t have time to otherwise. I’m a big home internet home user and I’m very open to talking to brands and looking for promotions. That said I’m not really the kind of person to voice my opinions online.

ASPIRERS I’m looking to create a personal space online. I’m very new to the Internet and I’m accessing via mobile and internet cafes but mostly from home. I’m not doing a great deal at the moment online but I’m desperate to do more of everything, especially from a mobile device.

FUNCTIONALS The internet is a functional tool, I don’t want to express myself online. I like emailing, checking the news, sport & weather but also online shopping. I’m really not interested in anything new (like social networking ) and I am worried about data privacy and security. I am older and have been using the internet for a long time.

It also flags up some major issues with the way big brads approach consumers. The add below is nice, as it appeals to our emotions, but is it enough to keep us happy when we call the customer service of the brand and come across many difficulties during one simple call? Or would we rather have a reliable, personal contact with the brand just on the other side of a Tweet? See, my ‘digital life’ is based on human interactions and reliability of my relationships. I am doing my best to practice what I preach. I take it seriously, so seriously I hate myself for occasional failing in that regard. So I guess I know the nature of my ‘digital’ life. I leave the virtual world behind when I feel the need for a walk and have no issues with so called ‘disconnecting’. I wonder if I match any of the ‘typical’ profiles…do you?

I am seriously back with my readings. So badly, that I missed the announcement on the last group of THINK3 European Blogging Competition winners who will be going to Kenya in February 2010. And guess what…I am on the list! I cannot express how happy I am that my posts (also cross-posted on this blog) have earned me the privilege to join the great team of ambitious bloggers and journalists on that trip!

So what happens now? I took some time off THINK3 and I am not sure when I can go back, but I am glad that others keep posting and slowly prepare the ground for our reporting trip to Kenya. For a start, I really recommend Benno’s post here.

What will happen in February 2011?

The lucky winners will travel to Kenya on an exclusive reporting trip, which will include:

1) Visits to Dutch-funded projects in and around Nairobi

2) Visit at the very first Millennium Village which is in Kisumu. The trip will be 5-full days (excl. travel time) on 31st January- 4th February 2011.

Sounds very exciting and once again I would like to thank my current colleagues for supporting my efforts all the way!;) Now, I guess I better prepare even more. And by the way – if you are interested in participating in the next competition, you will need to post about climate change and do it by the 15th of December 2010 – all the info is here.

It looked like a very busy fall, but now that the Barcamp Transparency UK was moved to spring, I am fully focusing on Barcamp Nonprofits (which anyway will address transparency issues too). The wiki and website are up, Twitter feed is active and first guests speakers are already flagging up their ideas for sessions. I am personally really excited about the range of topics on both sides of the social media-nonprofits scale: from accessibility and transparency, through specific projects like Twestival or Wychwood blogger engagement, to the challenged on the organisational level. I really hope we will be able to bring as many various aspects of social media for nonprofits as possible, and ultimately provide the bridge between two worlds. I must warn you though that this barcamp might be a bit different from the previous events hosted in Oxford, as it will address mixed audiences. One one side we have social media and IT professionals, on the other nonprofit employees and activists. Clearly, both audiences have many cross overs but we needed to adjust at least the description of the event a bit. Hence why you will see a list of proposed sessions and list of speakers – and here by speakers, I mean every single person who has an idea for the sessions. We do this to show all new attendees the potential of the event and really what they can expect. I hope it works, and I hope you will like it. Tickets (free entry) will be available on Sunday at midday GMT. Initial thank you hug goes to Voice, JustGiving and Gemma for support!:)

(rest of photos here)

Work has taken me to Amsterdam this week. On the way in I got hold of a virtual friend, @PaulusVeltman, who was available for lunch! How lucky! And how very inspiring! Paul knows everything about Twitter and spends 200% of his time on educating people in the usage of how we agreed to call it – NEW media;) He showed me the place where geeks meet to discuss projects, business and life – Cafe Kobalt. It is such a privilege for me to know him and be able to share ideas, listen to very inspiring plans he has and simply have a coffee! I have learned quite a bit about Dutch social media and a little bit about nonprofits here too, but most of all felt yet again the magic of meeting people, whom we converse with on-line, in reality. And there is nothing better than that. I stay inspired and as I walk the streets of Amsterdam – pretty jealous of him, who lives here and walks those streets every day;)

Mistakes happen. I have recently made few major ones, so I know how it hurts to fail. Now, Tony Bowden from mySociety.org, has seen a lot of projects and/or people fail in various places and on various levels – but all of them in the process of establishing a project dedicated to civic engagement or other nonprofit activity. And the good news is the fact, that Tony decided to share his experience in a very creative, interesting and most of all – honest way: by blogging it;) Here is why:

From the numerous questions that I’ve been asked after my presentations, the conversations I’ve had with both hacker/activist types and also existing NGO/CSO staff, and also the large numbers of proposals that I’ve evaluated for the mySociety CEE project, for other OSI funding, and for multiple Social Innovation Camps, I’ve come to realise that there are many key flaws in people’s thinking and approaches to building these sorts of civic and democracy enhancing websites. As such my presentation has gradually evolved away from describing what we do and how we do it, and more towards explaining why we do things in certain ways.

I’ve also come to learn that many of these core ideas are interlinked. There’s an entire philosophy and mindset behind them. You can’t just change one thing about your approach and have everything come together smoothly. But it’s impossible to get across all of these ideas coherently in a 30-minute presentation, and that’s also restricted simply to the people who can attend.

Tony will post his thoughts every day this month, so make sure you read it and learn!;)

In case if you have not seen it on the Barcamp Transparency blog, Dave Briggs posted his interview with Tim Davies today. Their discussion on the current state and future of open data for government transparency and civic engagement is very interesting, so navigate over to Dave’s space! I am sure you will find those two UK voices very inspiring!