social media
Communications Coordinator
Organization:
Center for Digital Storytelling VISTA Name:
Oriana Magnera
Program Start:
9/2009
Program End:
9/2010
Project Description:
We are seeking a CTCVISTA volunteer to assist with the our communications systems, specifically in regards to the development of a series of Project Initiative websites, and the internal and external communications mechanisms for project planning and development. This work would include web design and management, integration of social networking tools for initiative projects, communication support for project partners, interviews and podcasts with initiative participants, the development of online evaluative forms and database.
AmeriCorps*VISTA member will work with CDS staff to organize CDS information systems to support our organizations efforts including:
1. internal staff site for communication and information sharing,
2. public website (story theater, newsletter, curriculum, podcasts, program initiative kit),
3. marketing materials and activities (public screenings, brochures, email information campaigns, video PSA’s, surveys),
4. Training for staff, intern and volunteer in implementation of Initiative-based systems
Project Outcome:
Principal Task: Internal and External Communications including web, electronic and printed materials. Oriana created a new and professional looking electronic and web quarterly newsletter featuring the Program Initiatives for the first time. She created a newsletter template, staff training materials, a form for collecting newsletter submissions, imported and organized thousands of contacts, managed the list and added new names on a quarterly basis. She completed both ongoing website updates as well as a round of improvements to the layout and information on the website. She began research for a new platform and web hosting service as well as prepared information about applying for a Tap Root Grant for web and marketing support which CDS will pursue in the spring of 2011. Creation of “Donate Now” button for CDS website to collect financial/in-kind donations. Creation of a multi-page guide to newsletter production and distribution.
Secondary Task: Oriana has also began making improvements in our internal communications. She has assisted with organizing materials on our internal Staff Site, managed any trouble-shooting issues with our email and web provider, and sent emails to our Program Initiative teams to collect information to place on the Staff Site as needed. She completed a Grant Writing Seminar and gathered and organized current and past grant proposals and resources from staff to place on the Staff Site for reference.
Greatly improved external communication and marketing through newsletter and public website. More connectivity between staff through email and internal staff site.
Oriana also undertook a complete re-layout of our book entitled Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community. This task included converting book files from Framemaker to InDesign, revisions on every page of the book, as well as research for updating Technology Appendices and re-indexing the entire book.
iConnect Project Developer
Organization:
KNON Community Radio VISTA Name:
Mark Woodward
Program Start:
7/2009
Program End:
7/2010
Project Description:
The CTC Vista volunteer will increase our capacity by providing the technical assistance to develop a new media training program, systems for volunteers to use an interactive website, and develop volunteers to become trainers themselves for future participants. The VISTA’s role is to help us through this transition and move KNON into a position where we can provide existing services in newer, more relevant forms. Once the project is completed, the additional volunteers, trainers, training tools, online protocols, online audience, and online tools will augment our community connections by making sure the station is as interactive as possible and acts as a community resource that uses the latest technology to give its listenership a voice in the community and the ability to affect positive change in their own environment.
The CTC Vista will be responsible for:
Work with volunteers to mae presentations to organizations serving lower-income and minority communities in DFW
Work with community members to conduct surveys to determine community media needs
Develop curriculum to train to community organizations and their members to utilize media tools including blogs, audio recording and editing, video recording and editing, and social networking.
Train volunteers to train additional community members to utilize media tools.
Work with volunteers to develop a community media campaign around one identified issue that will be used as a template for future issue campaigns
Develop protocols for volunteers to maintain the equipment and website for volunteer media work
Project Outcome:
Mark developed a list of 100 community organizations and events in coverage area and Developed outreach material describing community media project and volunteer interest forms. Developed on-air announcements and recruited audience members for project Recruited participants from current audience, community advisory committee and existing volunteer p Surveyed existing volunteer usage of social media networks and other online tools Integrated KNON station brand into new station website, facebook and twitter. Established user interface for volunteers and staff to update station’s online presence Activity 3: New Media Training for Community Volunteers Develop ed training series for community members for blogging and video (youtube) origination, editing and uploading onto station webtools. Also developed social networking training. Mark did all of this by reaching out to those at the station and in our audience during meetings and on air. He was assited by KNON volunteers and staff
Fundraising web componants. Developed well and continues to help us in fundraising
Technology Enhancement Coordinator
Organization:
Friends of Trees VISTA Name:
Toshio Suzuki
Program Start:
9/2009
Program End:
5/2010
Project Description:
Friends of Trees’ Technology Enhancement Coordinator (TEC) will help Friends of Trees expand the effectiveness and extent of its communications through blogging, social media, and Google Ads. The TEC will also assist in organizing Friends of Trees’ donor and volunteer data so the organization can efficiently transition from using its current Access database to using its new Salesforce system.
1) Establishment of a Friends of Trees staff, board, and arborist partners blog.
2) Expansion of our social media and online networking.
3) Fine-tuning of our Google Ads through tracking and analysis, the updating of keywords and ad content, and the creation of new Google Ad campaigns as appropriate.
4) Assistance in completing, cleaning, and managing our data in the migration from our old Access database to our new Salesforce database.
Project Outcome:
Toshio started working with Friends of Trees in July 2009 and immediately began researching how other nonprofits handled their blogs, inviting our community partners to contribute to our blog once it was set up, collecting blog post ideas, taking photos, creating videos, and doing other work in anticipation of creating a blog for Friends of Trees. Since Friends of Trees was in the process of designing a new web site and we needed to set up the blog in sync with the new web site, in a format that could be integrated with the new web site and complement it in appearance, Toshio wasn’t able to officially launch the blog until some of our design decisions were made. Toshio launched the blog on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009. On that day, the blog had two visitors. As of my writing this report, the blog has more than 3,000 visitors a month and more than 200 visits per day. Each visitor spends about two and a half minutes on the blog. Through the blog, and through his comments on other group’s blogs, Toshio has increased Friends of Trees’ visibility and importance in the community in addition to driving many more people to our web site than visited it previously.
In addition to his accomplishments with our blog, Toshio’s work on our Google AdWords account has enhanced our online presence. One measure of his success is how much of our allotted $10,000 of in-kind Google ads per month we’re using, since the more we spend, the more people must be clicking on our ads. Since July 2009, our monthly spending has increased from $7,000 to the maximum $10,000. The number of clicks on our ads per month has increased from 8,000 to 14,000, and the number of impressions or times that people see our ads per month has increased from 400,000 to 620,000.
Toshio also manages our Flickr, YouTube, and Facebook accounts, posting photos that Friends of Trees staff and volunteers take at weekend plantings and adding comments to the photos as well as a link to our web site. This not only engages our supporters, who enjoy seeing the pictures, but also drives new people to our web site when our photos show up on Google Image searches. Toshio responds regularly to postings on our Facebook Fan page to keep that part of our online community engaged. We now have 900 Facebook fans. More recently, Toshio set up a Twitter account for Friends of Trees, and by tweeting a few times a day, he’s further increased traffic to our blog and web site and spread the word about our plantings and partnerships through numerous retweets. Toshio has produced many videos for both our blog and our YouTube site, and has posted the videos on local TV and newspaper web sites as well as sent them to elected officials featured in the videos, who have then posted the videos on their web sites.
Toshio accomplished a number of additional projects, including working with an IT consultant to add memory to our server so we could make regular backup copies of our extensive data. Toshio took on the project at the start of his service with us, when he was waiting to launch the blog as we made design decisions for our new web site. Another important project that Toshio took on as he waited for our blog to be set up was our organization’s transition from using MS Outlook to using Gmail. Toshio did online research and carefully timed the transition so it went very smoothly. Toshio also trained staff members how to use the various features of Gmail. We were eager to switch to Gmail because of the great amount of spam we received through our Outlook account. Gmail has been much better. Toshio also was an invaluable resource in producing some of our printed materials. In November, as I spent an unanticipated amount of time organizing Friends of Trees’ 20th anniversary celebration, Toshio agreed to design the printed newsletter I would ordinarily have produced. He knew InDesign software already, which was helpful, and he’s an excellent writer. He did a fine job on the newsletter.
Impact Quote:
Toshio brought his own expertise to the job. He already knew how to use WordPress and had created a blog of his own before he joined Friends of Trees. His writing skills, his ability to take photos and make videos, his willingness to learn about social media possibilities, and his openness to learning about all aspects of our work made it possible for him to accomplish a great deal quickly. Toshio’s personable way with Friends of Trees staff, volunteers and community partners also invited their participation in the blog.
Technology Coordinator
Organization:
Sanctuary for Independent Media/New York Media Alliance VISTA Name:
Chris Gang
Program Start:
9/2009
Program End:
9/2010
Project Description:
We are seeking to recruit a Technology Coordinator who will help organize our audio, video and computer infrastructure and create a strong technology platform on which we can build for the future.
The Technology Coordinator would work with staff, college interns and volunteers to develop and maintain the facility. Most of our equipment was donated; we consciously avoid cutting edge applications to the extent possible to avoid the problems commonly experienced by early adopters that we do not have the staff to troubleshoot. A major benefit of this strategy is that we can take advantage of cast-off equipment with plenty of life remaining. Our plan for technology upgrades is to constant solicit donations in good working order to replace dated and aging inventory. We use earned income and grants to selectively purchase modern technology when absolutely necessary.
We’re now at the point at which we need to inventory our gear, eliminating anything of questionable usefulness. The remaining technology needs to be properly installed and documented, with a training plan developed and implemented. Finally, a technology plan needs to be developed to guide future strategy.
This project will increase community engagement because media technology is at the forefront of our outreach and training efforts. Virtually everything we do revolves around the technology infrastructure we have put into place.
Goal 1: Assess our technology infrastructure, inventory and organize it, install and troubleshoot gear, dispose of surplus items, develop user manuals and training procedures, and work on development of short and long term technology plans
Project Outcome:
Chris Gang achieved the goals of assessing, inventorying and organizing our technology infrastructure. He also achieved the goal of developing user manuals and training procedures, and helped us move forward with our short and long term technology plans.
Chris vastly improved our internet infrastructure, particularly in the area of social media and open source software. In order to ensure that it can be sustained, he trained staff and volunteers and maintains a consulting relationship with us.
Chris also helped to develop our live video web-streaming capability. After going to several conferences and workshops, he noted the importance of web-streaming in the digital age, and strategized with our Executive Director to create an action plan to bring this capability to fruition. Although beyond the scope of our proposed project, this accomplishment in fact helps sustain our infrastructure, mission and outreach. Also, Chris Gang helped to develop our media archive infrastructure, after observing the need and creating a system, both in the physical space and with a computer interface.
Online Outreach and CTC Implementation
Organization:
Socio-Economic Development Center for Southeast Asians VISTA Name:
Rachel Rose Sandow
Program Start:
9/2009
Program End:
9/2010
Project Description:
This project grew out of a strategic assessment and will improve communication with collaborative partners, constituents and improve the utilization of an existing organizational resource. There will be three components:
Development of sustainable communications strategies: E-newletter - To communicate with supporters, collaborators and constituents on a regular basis. The development of an agency brochure and template that can be updated or reused for new programs.
Web-site: To up-grade and improve web-site with information and links to Southeast Asian resources for adults and youth. To provide detail about accessing basic services that supports the work of SEDC’s case managers and links Southeast Asian communities nationally.
Computer Lab: An underutilized resource, provide technical support, develop policies for use and maintenance. Research opportunities for free and low-cost software. Solicit college student volunteer to staff computer lab and work with clients.
Goal 1: Improve communications with constituencies
Goal 2: Re-open Computer Lab
Project Outcome:
The VISTA member worked along with SEDC staff to improve communication and collaboration throughout the agency. She developed a sustainable communications strategies, including starting up SEDC Web-site and maintained the site throughout. She interviewed staff and wrote the contents for the web. She established newsletter and distributed widely in the community. She also assisted in setting up computer lab for after school children to use. She spearheaded on all of these projects by collaborating with SEDC staff. The projects that she worked on are still active and we hope to continue it for many more years.
Development and Communications VISTA
Organization:
Prometheus Radio Project VISTA Name:
Ian Smith
Program Start:
9/2009
Program End:
9/2010
Project Description:
The Development & Communications project would entail directing a fundamental change in fundraising policy, moving Prometheus towards a more grassroots fundraising strategy. This project would also include developing and maintaining systems for Prometheus’ donor and paid technical service relationships. It also entails creating communications tools, such as a regular and targeted donor appeal, for soliciting a broad base of financial support from those that access our services.
Goal 1: Help build and solidify Prometheus’ ability to engage community radio stations and community radio supporters in opportunities to support Prometheus financially and in a regular and sustainable fashion.
Goal 2: Create a more sustainable source of funding by developing technical services and products that Prometheus can offer for a fee.
Project Outcome:
Ian’s work as been essential at building the capacity of the organization at a key time of growth and transformation of Prometheus.
Towards goal #1 of increasing regular, constituent contact, Ian has: shepherded the development of a new database merging 4 into one, developed a system for maintenance, trained all staff, coordinated a monthly eNewsletter, coordinated an annual mail appeal, implemented CiviEvent for pre-registration for events, and implemented a paper sign up sheet system for events. As a result, our database list grew by 7,456 new contacts, including over 600 from the US Social Forum where Ian’s sign up system was first used. We now have over 1000 facebook fans who receive regular updates thanks to Ian’s merging of our email, web, and facebook communications. A database consultant worked with Ian to build the CiviCRM database after which he largely implemented the above with input from Prometheus collective members.
Towards goal #2 of building grassroots fundraising support, Ian has helped develop a work plan and donation calendar for the Development Team which has guided our work throughout the year and made reporting on progress much easier. He designed and launched our new Sustaining Funders program. He also designed and launched out new major donor program by identifying potential donors and inviting them to key events and creating a donor packet. Ian assisted in writing a number of grants and grant reports for Prometheus, helping to gather statistics on the effectiveness of our programs and the demographics of our constituents. He did these in conjunction with our Development Director.
Towards goal #3 of developing web donor tools, Ian has built a number of custom donation interfaces to our new database and build contact and other forms on our website. As a result, the new website will integrate seamlessly with our database, cutting out costly duplication of data. We can now track what appeal or route online donations come from and better assess the success of our specific fundraising efforts. Ian was trained by our web developer to create these forms.
Online Community Manager
Organization:
National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC) VISTA Name:
Rachel Allen
Program Start:
9/2010
Program End:
9/2011
Project Description:
The Corps member will layout the foundation for a strong and robust social media network, where NAMAC can model behaviors and techniques, and then, in turn teach them to NAMAC’s membership. The Corps member would be able to help create the social media plan, implement and refine it, and develop it further through the duration of service. The overreaching goal is to connect real people to people, and to develop long-lasting professional relationships that can enhance the capabilities of NAMAC’s nonprofit members.
Multi-media platform capacity building
Organization:
Chicago Access Network Television VISTA Name:
Michael Ewing
Program Start:
9/2010
Program End:
9/2011
Project Description:
The Corps member will be part of CAN TV’s strategic moe toward helping groups repurpose content for strategic placement on multiple platforms such as social networking and video sites, RSS feeds and other resources. The Corps member will work with 5-10 nonprofit groups that use CAN TV and will help determine how to best extend content via multi-media platforms to achieve better results. The findings will help inform the updating of CAN TV’s workshops and classes to better respond to a transitioning media environment.
The Corp member will work with staff to evaluate client needs, examine best practices and elicit information about “lessons learned.” Curriculum will be developed that integrates new media tools and responds to client needs. CAN TV’s participation on multiple media platforms will provide an opportunity to learn by doing, training the trainers that work through CAN TV, who will then be responsible for training the public.
Website and Online Development
Organization:
Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Association VISTA Name:
Philip Dahl
Program Start:
9/2010
Program End:
9/2011
Project Description:
The Corps member will work closely with both PIFVA and Termite TV staff to analyze their technology plans, develop strategies and priorities, and implement the plans into concrete and visible results. The VISTA will move work develop websites, social media strategies, and online database/archiving system for both PIFVA and Termite TV.
Regional Collaborative Coordinator
Organization:
CMAP/AMP Community Media Collaborative VISTA Name:
Ericha Hager
Program Start:
9/2010
Program End:
9/2011
Project Description:
The VISTA regional collaborative coordinator will manage the initiatives determined by the staff and board of MAP and the other participating stations around sharing specific technology, educational curriculum development, new/social media and PEG management practices. The VISTA will work with CMAP’s Executive Director Kathy Bisbee to increase outreach to regional media centers, continue collaborative efforts with existing partners created during the first VITSA year and implement new technology, marketing and fundraising strategies with both current and emerging collaborative partners.
To fulfill this role, the VISTA will be required to coordinate monthly conference calls and regional meetups; utilize social media tools and Web 2.0 technologies as effectively avenues of communication and education modules between centers; define the roles of each media center in collaborative efforts; schedule site visits to each center, document conversations between centers and determine best practices; identify thought leaders and innovators within the industry; and incorporate new insights into the existing cookbook for regional collaboration.