Monday, November 13, 2006, at 12 noon, U.S. Eastern time

Social Change and the Connected Age (11/9/2006)

The Guest

Allison H. Fine is a senior fellow at Demos: a Network for Ideas and Action, a New York group. She is the author of Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age, which was published last month by Jossey-Bass. She is former chief executive of the E-Volve Foundation, which supports efforts to use technology to increase citizen participation. In 1992, Ms. Fine founded the Innovation Network, which helps charities improve their planning and evaluation of programs. She will respond to questions and comments about these issues on Monday, November 13, at 12 noon, U.S. Eastern time. Readers are welcome to post questions and comments now.

A transcript of the chat follows.

Jennifer Moore (Moderator):
Hello everyone and welcome to our online discussion today with Allison H. Fine. I'm Jennifer Moore, managing editor here at The Chronicle of Philanthropy, and I'm pleased to welcome Allison to this forum to take some of your questions.

Allison H. Fine:
Welcome! I am delighted to have this opportunity to chat with you today about my new book, which focuses on the intersection of passionate activism and new digital technology. Let's talk!

Question from Non profit w/ affiliates:
Although sites like Myspace and Facebook are banned in most schools (probably rightfully so!), if social networking will undoubtedly be a major part of society in the future, shouldn't school systems be taking advantage of such an efficient communications platform, both at the administrative and instructional level? If you agree, what are your thoughts on the time frame and shape the system shift will take? Thanks!

Allison H. Fine:
You're just right, social networking is a key component of social change in the future -- as it always has been in the past. The difference now is that the social networks are potentially so much bigger, broader, faster.

Schools are struggling with online social network tools. When they work well, like sharing resources or happy news among a network, they're great. When they don't work well, when it becomes gossip that used to be on the bathroom walls now plastered on the Internet, they can be devastating. Many schools will probably head to closed Intranet-type, private systems to give kids the experience of social networking in a controlled environment.

Question from Shannon, Pittsburgh Symphony:
How can we incorporate these new trends without excluding our older donors who may not be as familiar with the new technologies?

Allison H. Fine:
Shannon, this is a key question for moving ahead in the sector without leaving anyone behind. People have a tendency to think that when we talk about working more online we mean only online. Social change is going to continue to happen online and on land.

There is no one-size-fits-all prescription for how these components will work for each organization. And clearly, for a time, we will have to make sure that we are still snail mailing information to donors and participants who are mainly on land. It's a process that will require each group to keep talking to their key constituents and asking them how they want to participate.

But don't be afraid to try new ways of reaching out and including people. The worse that happens is that you learn something -- and the best that happens is people have discovered a new way to connect to one another and to your cause!

Question from Bart Brophy:
If we are wondering why are communities are not getting closer and closer to equal access and enjoyment, it is the lack of ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] Coordination! If states, counties, and cities followed the federally required regulations with a qualified proactive ADA Coordinator that include stake holders and citizens with disabilities in the proccess as required, would not our odds of success be great?

Allison H. Fine:
I am always happy to admit when I don't know things -- and it always seems to be more and more things that I don't know! I am not an expert on ADA and it's implementation history, but I do know that the Connected Age with its leveling affect is the greatest opportunity to involve people who have traditionally been marginalized in society because of their race, color, income or physical abilities.

Computer companies are great examples of this. Women do well in these companies because you can either write great programming code or you can't.

Think about what this means for social change. We can unleash a tremendous amount of participation by people across societal lines - whenever and however they want to join in. Count me in for social change where everyone can fully participate!

Jennifer Moore (Moderator):
We received this message from United Cerebral Palsy: "Just checking to see if this is how we participate in the discussion. Excited about discussing your book."

Yes, just use the same link to send in a question and we'll post the question and answer as soon as Allison has had a chance to respond. Thanks for checking in.

Question from Sarah Davies, FreedomForIP.org:
I see technology as a generational trend. Many recent technological advances -- P2P [peer-to-peer] networking, blogging, tagging -- have been developed and deployed by teenagers. What do you think is the best way for the social sector to utilize this teen knowledge and innovation, and what is the best way for teens to actively contribute to the social sector?

Allison H. Fine:
Thanks for the question, Sarah, this is perhaps the most important issue that nonprofits are facing.

I call the teens the Net-Gen in Momentum, and they are an awesome generation of creative, energetic, idealistic people.

Young people work entirely differently than anyone before them has. They are used to downloading any information or song or video that they want, when they want it. They are used to sharing information with a wide-flung social network of friends, and organizing groups of people quickly by email, text messaging, instant messaging and blogs.

All of this is great news for social change, but it also poses great challenges for nonprofit organizations. Organizations are not used to working this way - to sharing information with everyone, having young employees set their own strategies and reach out through their own social networks.

Are we ready for Net-Genners? If we expect them to work the same way that we do, they won't stay. They will start their own organizations and do their own thing. We must change the way that we work and are organized. We have to become more open and work side-to-side to embrace the way that young people work not dilute or reject it.

Question from Scott Freiman, Second Act Foundation:
Ms. Fine: What role does an on-land strategy play coupled with the use of technology that you recommend in your book?

Allison H. Fine:
Hi, Scott, it is very funny how often people think when you write about something new, like online organizing, they assume it means you want to throw out the old on-land organizing.

Online and on-land organizing are symbiotic, not a zero-sum game. They reinforce and strengthen one another. Meetups are online organized meetings of people with common interests - say knitting or pug dogs or environmentalism. These strangers sign up on line and then meet on land. It is a very efficient way to organize themselves -- and then their relationship is strengthened, deepened when they meet in person.

The opposite is also true. When you work with a group in person, you can then go on line to share minutes, keep talking about an issue, assign tasks, etc. And all of those activities help to keep your Momentum (!) going until the next time you meet in person.

When online and on-land organizing activism go hand in hand social change becomes rooted in a place and sustainable over time -- pretty important things to aim for!

Question from Monica Heuer, CFAR:
What are some of the ways that you have seen nonprofits use technology effectively to better reach peers and access resources?

Allison H. Fine:
Thanks for the question, Monica. Technology means so many things and has so mnay uses. For Momentum, I focused on social media, the new digital technologies.

Some of the new social media tools are e-mail, blogs, cell phones that you can use to text messaging or e-mail and even podcasts. The difference between these tools and old broadcast media are several-fold: 1) These are increasingly inexpensive and wireless, 2) they allow for two-way interactions between two people and between groups of people, and 3) they are very easy to use.

The difference was so clear to me watching election returns last week. I was watching CNN on the TV with my laptop on my lap. The CNN folks talked and talked and then ran lots of ads -- and I had to keep waiting for them to get to the topic I wanted to hear about. On my laptop I was clicking on news sites that were bookmarked right to the sections I was most interested in. I was also blogging, commenting on blogs, and e-mailing people. OK, it was rather frantic multi-tasking, but it was also lots of fun!

Nonprofits are beginning to use all of these tools in a variety of combinations to allow their people to talk to one another, get and pass on news quickly, create their own blog posts. We live in interesting and fun times!

Question from Jason Fladager, Dakota Communities Inc.:
Making yourself 24-hrs "available" to all my employee's is a priority when managing a home servicing adults with disabilities. If my entire team were to be connected by way of a BlackBerry we could see dramatic change in efficiency; however, staff would probably use the Blackberry for personal use as well.

Do you think employee's using the Blackberry for personal use is a fair trade-off if our services ultimately improved? Monitoring personal use could be an infringement on privacy.

Allison H. Fine:
Jason, there was just a very long and passionate debate about this on the N-TEN listserve. (N-TEN stands for National Technology Enterprise Network -- I was part of the initial planning group for N-TEN and still don't know why it was called that!)

Anyway, I feel strongly that trying to separate out people's e-mail interaction business from home is very artificial, enormously time-consuming for organizations, and ultimately not worth the effort in the lack of trust it conveys to employees.

Jason, people are working and living their lives all rolled up in one, particularly for an organization like yours that is on 24/7. Get the Blackberries and let people use them however they like. As long as their work is good and they are responsive, I wouldn't make a fuss.

Hope my two-cents helps!

Question from Robert Egger:
Hey, Allison...first and foremost, great book on an amazingly timely subject.

I'm up in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the Micro-Credit Summit, and we are hearing all about how micro loans to help women access simple technology like a cell phone can break the devastating cycle of poverty and lead to self sufficiency. How can access to technology not only help the social service sector better deliver, but also liberate those we serve?

Allison H. Fine:
Great question, Robert, thanks! Whenever anyone asks me what the most recent technology development is, I always say it's the cell phone.

Cell phones offer protection for people in danger of, say, domestic violence. They allow people to move without losing their telephone numbers which is incredibly important to homeless people. And they offer instant organizing capability as in the immigration marches when young people were text messaging their friends to join them in the marches.

One of the most exciting aspects of the Connected Age is way that the tools and gadgets that make up social media allow us to meld our lives into a continuous span or life, work, and volunteering. We don't have to stop and volunteer, we can click on a petition while we're looking at our email in the morning. And, as you mention about women and cell phones, the tools themselves are critical for social change efforts not only from the outside as volunteers, donors and board members, but also from the inside as clients.

We are just beginning to scratch the surface of all the ways that we are going to be able to connect with one another, help one another and help ourselves in the Connected Age as we move forward.

Question from Stacey, Nonprofit Activist:
There are so many in the world still without the luxury of this amazing communication technology. How do we bridge the gap? Especially given that so many that those that need this type of empowerment are the ones without the tools?

Thanks.

Allison H. Fine:
Stacey, although a digital divide still exists, it is closing rapidly. A lot of the examples and lessons that I studied for Momentum were actually taken from overseas -- and again, it's back to the cell phone, many of which are now as powerful as a desktop computer. Also, cell-phone usage is much less expensive overseas which is why they are becoming so prevelant.

All of that is to say that I don't think we should worry about bridging the gap. That doesn't sound very nice or nonprofitty, but the reality is that the gap is closing by itself. I would prefer that we keep looking forward to exploring creative ways to use the technology to involve more people in social change efforts.

Question from Kirsti Lattu, consultant, international public health:
I subscribe to a number of listserves that keep me up-to-date on political issues, promising practices, and new resources. To some degree these allow discussion and comment. However readership and participation are limited to a self-selected group. ...

Do we risk becoming increasingly isolated within e-communities of our choosing? E-ghettos, if you will?

Allison H. Fine:
Kristi, one of the real dangers of online organizing right now is that like-minded people tend to talk in echo-chambers to one another.

I think that this is where the importance of the online and on-land connection comes in. Groups like Public Agenda and the Apollo Alliance (a wonderful new climate-change organization) are working hard to create connections between people across different groups and perspectives on the ground that can be transferred online. This is the hard work that we're going to have to do to break the boundaries of the E-ghettos are you call them.

Question from Pierre Omidyar, Omidyar Network:
Ms. Fine: Do you have any suggestions in your book for how foundations can improve communication with their donors?

Allison H. Fine:
Thanks for the question, Pierre. I am assuming that you mean donors for donor-advised funds? I hope so, because this is a great opportunity for connected activism. Donor-advised funds for folks who aren't familiar are groups of donors who give to one organization who then donates to grantees.

Too often, the foundations speak to each donor only. This is a missed opportunity for connecting donors to one another. They could be building their own relationships and learning from one another about philanthropy.

And when they build a strong network sideways between donors, their allegiance to the foundation will only grow. This is what pushing power to the edges means -- it may feel like more work initially, but ultimately it adds up to stronger relationships.

Question from Anonymous:
Allison, How do you respond to people who say that the impersonal nature of technology makes it more harmful than helpful in bringing people together to solve problems?

Allison H. Fine:
I know that a lot of people feel that technology gets in the way of human relationships. When used well, it does just the opposite. Think about how often you can "talk" to your sisters or parents or children now by email or instant messaging? Think of people you may have lost contact with you can find and re-connect with now.

Social media tools are are not the big box computers that substitutes for human beings -- they are just connectors that allow us to strengthen our relationships with other people in the next cubicle, across town, across the world.

Jennifer Moore (Moderator):
Well, that's good way to wrap up this chat. Thanks to all of you who participated, and to Allison for fielding all those terrific questions.

The following questions were received during the online discussion but were answered by Allison Fine after the talk had concluded.

Question from Loren Blackford, Sierra Club Fdtn Trustee:
Are you seeing any particularly promising social-change strategies seeking to address the climate crisis?

Allison H. Fine:
The Apollo Alliance has been doing a super job of creating on land trust and relationships between unlikely bedfellows on this issue including environmentalists, businesses and evangelicals. They are just beginning to take these conversations on line because the in person trust building was so important. I am surprised, though, that there hasn't been a moveon.org for climate change around the world -- it is the perfect issue for global advocacy that cuts across countries, cultures and economic divides. Loren, why don't you get it started?!

Question from United Cerebral Palsy:
Speaking of ADA... We noticed that this chat is not fully accessible. It is limited to those who can only participate visually. What are your predictions for when Universal design will be embraced by the majority of the Internet/technology?

Allison H. Fine:
This is a great question and important issue, but, alas, I don't know the answer. I would be happy to learn more about the trends in Universal design - are there websites you can point us to?

Question from Kathleen, grad student:
I am doing my geography thesis on the role and effectiveness of tourism-oriented NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] in poverty reduction in developing countries. Have you found with globalization and technology that we are coming closer to narrowing the gap between the developed world and the developing or underdeveloped world?

Allison H. Fine:
The word gap has so many applications that it's hard to know exactly how to respond. Certainly, people and countries in the underdeveloped world have access to information and tools like never before -- but that's not the same as having access to social and financial capital. I would say that there are opportunities for economic development throughout the world like never before, but there are still significant hurdles in terms of local infrastructure, education, and financial resources that separate and define haves and have nots.

Question from Anonymous Volunteer:
Related to an earlier question, it seems like there is still a large group of people working within social-change and other organizations that feel like much of today's new technology and resulting new forms of communication are only used by "those kids" or the "younger generation". How do we overcome some of the generational resistance to new technology and get some of the more resistant people to "dive in" and try new things and adopt new thinking around ways to succeed in our missions?

Allison H. Fine:
I think your point is awfully important: we cannot assume that everyone "gets it" and we can't ignore older volunteers and workers who are intimidated or unpracticed using social media. We can easily slip into an agist assumption that social media are only for young people which simply isn't true. I mentioned earlier the changing role of institutions. Here is a perfect example of how we still need organizations to train and support their constituents. We train volunteers in the content of social change work, I think we also have to train them in the process of it, which means not only teaching people to work within and through networks but also to use social media tools.

Question from Mark Johnson, Shepherd Center:
Where does YouTube fit into the equation? How long with these Q&A's stay posted? Do you plan to be in Atlanta any time soon?

Allison H. Fine:
YouTube is huge! It means that anyone, anywhere at almost no cost can be their own TV station. Two weeks ago we saw the results of the first YouTube national election - and two senators, one in Montana, the other in Virginia -- are out of jobs because of it. I wrote an op-ed about the YouTube election that ran in the San Francisco Chronicle right before the election (prescient, eh?)

I don't now how long these Q&As will stay up - a few weeks I would guess.

Don't have any immediate plans to be in Atlanta before the Alliance for Nonprofit Management conference next July, but would be happy to visit if you want to fly me down, Mark!

Question from United Cerebral Palsy:
Why is the technology gap closing so quickly? feel free to be brief.

Allison H. Fine:
The gap is closing between wireless technology is much less expensive than even five years ago. Because it's wireless, countries that weren't developed don't have to wire anything. Wireless and mobile also means that cell phones are becoming the primary ways to contact young people who move often. Thanks for the encouragement to be brief - my husband tells me that a little of me goes a long way!