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MTV.com: Fighting digital harassment with social media tools
Yesterday MTV.com launched a new tool to help young people gauge digital harassment by asking their peers whether a particularly racy text or Facebook message is “Over the Line.” On the site that Fast Company called MTV’s “online morality meter,” teens can submit anecdotes about situations they’ve been in — whether its someone posting smears on one’s Facebook page, or a boyfriend or girlfriend constantly checking the other’s text-message inbox, two current examples — and then see what others on the platform have to say: “over the line,” under, or neutral. (To prevent bullying on athinline.org, the posts and comments themselves are also moderated.)
Athinline.org also hosts a quiz, hosted by rapper Asher Roth and actress Michelle Trachtenberg, that helps site visitors determine what they think is appropriate and inappropriate (sample question: “Your boyfriend texts you over 100x/day to ask where you are, what you’re doing … You think …”); facts and definitions of “sexting” and “spying” online; and tips on how and where to get help with such a problem and support others in sticky situations.
Posted in: News, News & Information, Uncategorized | Tagged: digital abuse, digital activism, MTV, sexting, social media, social networking
A conversation about social media, China and freedom: a follow-up
For those of you that didn’t catch last night’s conversation between Chinese digital activist Ai Wei Wei, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, and Richard McManus, founder of ReadWriteWeb, here’s some initial coverage of the event. (You can, of course, also check out the Think Social live blog of the event, here.)
And while you’re reading, what’s interesting is to note different takes on some of the night’s more notable moments. Key points? I’d include Jack Dorsey admitting that he didn’t know Twitter was blocked in China (and the discernible disappointment in the audience and pointed follow-up questions directed at Dorsey); the witty and often downright bawdy Ai Wei Wei cracking jokes about the power of Twitter in courting girls and how his eight hours a day using the platform made it a “true lover”; a heated back-and-forth on whether Chinese people were happy or actually oppressed, and discussion about a timeline for Chinese democracy, between Ai Wei Wei and a Chinese businesswoman in the audience; and Richard McManus talking about Google’s “brave move” in pulling out of China and refusing to self-censor, and the panel’s discussion of whether internet companies were responsible in acting to preserve people’s internet freedoms. (The answer to the last point was a decided yes — Ai Wei Wei said there’s no excuse for not acting out “for human values.”)
“Digital Activism in China: A Discussion Between Ai Wei Wei, Jack Dorsey and Richard McManus”
Check out ReadWriteWeb’s recap of the event — pretty straightforward. For a refresher on censorship in China, it’s helpful to check out Kaiser Kuo’s SXSW presentation on Google in China this week or his earlier interview with ReadWriteWeb.
Read on for more after the jump … READ MORE
Posted in: Art, Culture & Expression, News, Public interest category | Tagged: Ai Wei Wei, Asia, censorship, china, digital activism, Jack Dorsey, Richard McManus, social media, translation, twitter
Ai Wei Wei, Richard McManus and Jack Dorsey at the Paley Center
We’ll be coming to you in real-time (or just about) this evening at the Paley Center conversation between Chinese artist and activist Ai Wei Wei, ReadWriteWeb’s Richard McManus, and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey. If you’re not in the audience, check in to the web site of our parent organization, the Paley Center, for a live stream. Or search for #aiweiwei on Twitter. Read on after the jump.
Posted in: Uncategorized | Tagged: Ai Wei Wei, democracy and the internet, digital activism, Emily PArker, Jack Dorsey, Richard McManus, twitter
Africa Rural Connect competition for 2010
The National Peace Corps Association launched competition last year where past and current Peace Corps volunteers could share and vote on ideas for Africa, winning up to $20,000 of funding to put in place those ideas. The Africa Rural Connect competition is back for 2010. This year, the site has expanded to allow participants to upload videos, photos and other support documents to help illustrate their ideas, and there are a few tweaks to the selection cycle — but we’ll let NPCA explain, via video:
What do you think of online collaboration spaces? Are you part of any online communities for sharing social actions or ideas? Comment and let us know.
Posted in: Uncategorized | Tagged:
More social media activity in the fight against malaria
Today the United Nations Special Envoy for Malaria, Ray Chambers, announced a special “social media envoy” group dedicated to engaging social media audiences about the subject of malaria prevention and control. Envoys will take one social action — i.e. a tweet or a blog post or Facebook wall post — a month pertaining to malaria, for the next year, and everyone will perform one coordinated social action on World Malaria Day, April 25.
Read more after the jump on the members of the envoy group, all chosen for their “influence, size and engagement of their Social Web and broadcast audiences,” according to the U.N. There might be some names you are — or aren’t — surprised to see.
Posted in: Uncategorized | Tagged: Malaria, social actions, United Nations, World Malaria Day
Catching up with Malaria No More: “Twitter net” delivery, World Briefing and more
The last time you heard about Malaria No More on this site, it was for a Think Social Award nomination last fall.
Think Social caught up last week with Scott Case, CEO of Malaria No More, a non-profit dedicated to ending malaria deaths. Last April, for World Malaria Day, Malaria No More launched a social media campaign to spread awareness about malaria and asked people to tweet donations that would go toward mosquito nets for families in Senegal. Thanks to a little support from Ashton Kutcher — and Kutcher’s subsequent race with CNN to one million Twitter followers, his pledge of 10,000 nets and resulting “Twitter net” retweets — Malaria No More was able to raise funds for 89,000 mosquito nets. The nets are being delivered now in Velingara, Senegal.
Read nore on Twitter nets and Malaria No More’s new campaign after the jump.
Maggie Hallahan for Malaria No More
Posted in: Interviews, Uncategorized | Tagged: Ashton Kutcher, closing the feedback loop, CNN, Malaria, Malaria No More, Non-profit, Scott Case, short-codes, slacktivism, twitter, World Briefing
Wikis and the political process: Introducing WikiMeg
Meg Whitman, former eBay executive, is now running for California governor on the Republican Party ticket. Democratic Coalition group Level the Playing Field 2010 is trying to stop her — by digging up dirt, with the public’s help.
Opposition research (“oppo research,” in politico parlance) into possible skeletons in the closet is nothing new, but Level the Playing Field uses crowd-sourcing to do so. WikiMeg launched Monday, so give it some time to see what people turn up.
Some concerns, however, have already been brought up — and eloquently so — by a San Francisco Chronicle piece when the site launched and a write-up on TechPresident, and here too on CBSNews. Though the web site’s “welcome” message requests that contributors add to the information on the site in a “positive and constructive way,” especially because it is a partisan site, who is to say that it won’t just become a database of unfounded smears? (Or, as TechPresident Nancy Scola says, “a slime site.”) WikiMeg’s contributor guidelines do ask people to link to sources when possible — which should help on the verity issue, as long as people are citing credible sources — but also allows first-hand reports.
In saving money and time otherwise spent on research, and making volunteer contributors feel like more instrumental cogs in the political process, Level the Playing Field has come up with a smart product. Time will tell on how useful — and true — it actually is, but there’s potential here so keep an eye on it.
We also talked about crowd-sourcing in our Blueprints version 1.0, using TED’s Open Translation Project as an example of constituents (because we’re all digital constituents with allegiances and dependences, aren’t we?) volunteering toward a greater effort, in TED’s case, translating TEDTalks. While wiki-style research is not yet common in politics, there’s been several examples in “citizen journalism,” such as ProPublica’s “Stimulus Spot Check,” launched last summer.
How do you think crowd-sourcing should be used in politics?
Posted in: Uncategorized | Tagged:
You might be reading this on your iPhone
From an interesting study on a social-networking trends, released in the last week by web traffic trackers comScore, Inc. …
A new survey by comScore, Inc. shows that Facebook and Twitter access via mobile has grown by triple-digits in the past year. Via the release:
The study found that 30.8 percent of smartphone users accessed social networking sites via their mobile browser in January 2010, up 8.3 points from 22.5 percent one year ago. Access to Facebook via mobile browser grew 112 percent in the past year, while Twitter experienced a 347-percent jump.
Are you surprised, or not surprised? And what could that mean for us? Some thoughts after the jump.
Posted in: Uncategorized | Tagged: chatroulette, facebook, friending, Noam Cohen, The New York Times, things to read, twitter
Short-codes for “The Cove”: Mobile activism, Oscar-style
In a night of quote-worthy Oscar speeches, from Mo’Nique to “Music By Prudence’s” Kanye moment, activist Ric O’Barry’s short-code spoke louder than words.
O’Barry held up a sign that said “TEXT DOLPHIN TO 44144” when he and others involved in the making of ”The Cove” — a documentary about efforts to stop an annual dolphin hunt in Japan — took the stage for their Best Documentary Feature win at Sunday night’s 82nd annual Academy Awards.
Following O’Barry’s instructions signs you up for the film’s mobile campaign, connecting you to more information on the film, trailers, a petition against the hunt in Taiji, Japan, and other materials to promote “The Cove” and the cause behind it.
Some viewers watching on television might not have caught O’Barry’s message; the cameras cut away soon after he raised the sign above his head. The Academy Awards show producers, after all, are famous for trying to keep things short and on schedule — and relatively politics-free.
Posted in: Environment, Mobile, News | Tagged: Action, advocacy, community, documentary, film, Oscars, short-codes, The Cove
Trends that are Shaping Social Media in the Public Interest: Social Production/Mass Collaborating
Next in our series “Trends that are Shaping Social Media in the Public Interest” is Social production or mass collaborating, which occurs when large numbers of people work independently on a single project, often modular in its nature, to create a product of significant value and complexity. Wikipedia is probably the best known example on the Internet, but many more in almost every area of endeavor are being organized by individuals, organizations and companies.
This participatory, reciprocal service of crowd-sourcing has enabled organizations to tackle ambitious, large-scale projects, otherwise near impossible to do with just a staff and limited budget. As the motto to mass-sourced reporting service Help a Reporter Out (HARO) says, “Everyone is an expert at something.” While recruiting many people to pitch in to actualize a product is not a new idea, the examples we found in the past year highlight how new technologies allow projects of greater scale and ambition to become reality.
Examples include:
- This May, TED launched an ambitious, mass-sourced endeavor to translate TEDTalks into the world’s languages. Run from a platform by dotSUB, version 1.0 of TED’s Open-Translation Project launched with 300 translations in 40 languages, and 200 volunteer translators. To start, a handful of talks were translated professionally into 20 languages, but going on the project will be completely reliant on volunteers from Beijing to Beirut, who use a platform created by TED and technology partner dotSUB. As of this past weekend, there were TEDTalks in 58 languages, from 1267 translators providing 2907 translations. On the TED site’s translations page, there are charts that illustrate how many translations are in each language, and profiles of translators.
Architecture for Humanity is dedicated to “building a more sustainable future using the power of design,” which includes not-for-profit projects that range from schools in Uganda to skate-boarding-and-life-skills center in Afghanistan to community-designed housing in the American Southwest. Part of that mission includes its Open Architecture Network, an open-source platform where designers, educators and non-profit organizations who have volunteered their time and resources can share and comment on each others projects, and collaborate with each other.
- The power of crowds can also be seen in one aspect of PatientsLikeMe, a network of web communities where members are united by their chronic and terminal illnesses: the data that members provide is funneled to research institutions and companies, who then use the information to improve care and treatment for those diseases. Money that these partners pay for the data then goes toward running the PatientsLikeMe online communities.
Read the full Social Media Blueprints report and learn about the other trends that are shaping the use of social media in the public interest: Social Media Blueprints 1.0
Posted in: Uncategorized | Tagged: DotSub, HARO, masscollaborating, PatientsLikeme, TED, wikipedia
