Debates about social media as catalyst, about political responses to economic crises, about open internets, about the care of our health… can help us sharpen our own positions and/or encourage us to take on ideas that we had avoided. This particular blog outlet tends to focus on the nexus of nonprofits, politics, and communications technologies, […]
#INTERVIEW: Kristen Cambell of the National Council on Citizenship
When was the last time you tested your ‘Civic Health’ to find out if your actions, attitudes, and behavior indicated your full participation as an American citizen? The National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) has established a ‘Civic Health Index’ to measure this very thing. Founded in 1946 and chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1953, […]
Resolved: Social Media Produces Social Good (Part 2: Arguments For The Negative)
In the debate over the influence social media has in steering social and/or political movements, the assumption seems generally to be that, yes, the ‘socially-engaged’ businesses, philanthropies, NGOs, etc., have found meaningful ways to leverage SM to further their causes. Two oft-cited examples are the impact that groups like MoveOn.org had in the election of […]
Resolved: Social Media Produces Social Good (Part 1: Arguments For The Affirmative)
As a buildup to our upcoming Perspectives interview with Kristen Cambell, Director of Programs and New Media the National Conference on Citizenship, that will be published this Thanksgiving week, we wanted to point our loyal readers to a brewing debate about social media as a change-agent for good – that social media have the capabilities […]
Social Media Remain New Communications Technology For Us All
Some try to create a mystique around social media, suggesting SM has reached a maturity that only ‘the experts’ understand or that it is a tool only they should wield. Indeed, with a modicum of resourcefulness, one can find a number of video parodies online of such social-media expertise. Once we recall that most social-media […]
Nonprofits Prepare For Changing Political Landscape
Image via Wikipedia Yes, the elections were a whole week ago. The new Congress will not be seated until January 2011, anyway. But some voices in the nonprofit world are still responding to the former and preparing for the latter. We would encourage our readers in the mission-based community to continue to do the same. […]
Obama Administration Cuts Tax On Small-Business Property Investments
Even as the dust continues to settle over this week’s midterm elections, the IRS has been reminding small- and medium-business owners that changes in the tax code could mean appreciable tax savings over the next few years. These saving are not part of the soon-to-expire Bush Administration tax cuts, whose continuance and in what form […]
Media Pundits Scramble To Explain ‘Rally To Restore Sanity/Fear’
A good deal of e-ink has been posted on the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert Rally to Restore Sanity/Fear this past Saturday, much of it impressed by its size yet unsure what it was for. How it might (not) sway voters leading up to tomorrow’s midterms also has been a running theme in today’s 24-hour news cycle. […]