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Theory: Tactics Are Not Strategy
Written by Mary on April 2, 2008 – 3:25 pm -So far I have been writing about the tactics of digital activism without explicitly stating what a “tactic” is. However, a recent e-mail from a DigiActive team member showed me that in fact the definition of what a tactic is - and how it is different from strategy - is not clear. The purpose of this post is to clarify that critical difference between tactics and strategy and how they relate to digital activism.
When explaining the difference between tactics and strategy, I find an analysis of the roots of the two words extremely helpful. Strategy comes from the Greek work “strategos” meaning “general.” Tactic comes from the Greek work “taktikas” meaning “foot soldier”.
As you can see from the image below, the strategy (general) guides the tactics (foot soldiers) within an activist campaign. Tactics are the actions which allow you to achieve your strategic goal.
Tags: neworleans, nptech
Posted in Americas, Theory, Video | 1 Comment »
Tool: ChipIn Makes International Fundraising Easy
Written by Mary on March 26, 2008 – 6:19 pm -Tool Description: ChipIn allows you to create an embeddable fundraising widget for your blog (see below) that allows to you to receive donations internationally through your PayPal account.
Activist Application: Although you can make a lot of social change without money, sometimes its useful. ChipIn makes online fundraising accessible to grassroots organizations.
Ease of Use: Really easy. Go to the ChipIn site, www.chipin.com, and enter some information about your fundraising campaign: 1) campaign name, 2) fundraising goal, 3) fundraising campaign end-date, 4) your Paypal account. Then ChipIn will create an animated widget which you can embed in your blog. When a donor clicks the “ChipIn!” button on the widget they are taken to PayPal, where they make the donation.
Tags: chipin, nptech, widgets
Posted in Tools | No Comments »
Digitally Active Org: The Sex Workers Project
Written by Mary on January 15, 2008 – 1:14 am -Web site: www.sexworkersproject.org
What was it?: The Sex Workers Project, based in New York, has used technology in its mission to defend the rights of sex workers around the world. One of their goals is to remove a rule prohibiting organizations that work with prostitutes from receiving money from the PEPFAR AIDS prevention fund and the federal development agency USAID.
Where is it?: New York, USA
Tools: podcasts, digital video, blog, listservs, SMS
Tags: , AIDS, Americas, asia, india, nptech, pepfar, sexworkers, USA, USAID
Posted in Asia, Blogs, Listservs, Mobile Phones, Organizations, Video | No Comments »
Tool: Google Grants
Written by Mary on December 27, 2007 – 1:38 am -
Google has begun offering free AdWords to non-profits through a program called Google Grants. The program allows non-profits in the US, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK to post cause-related AdWords for free. These keyword-based ads can be used to promote the organization itself or a cause which the organization supports. (Here’s a short video about how AdWords works and here’s a long video that gives more detail) Read more »
Tags: adwords, Fundraising, googe, googlegrants, nptech, promotingyourcause
Posted in Tools | No Comments »
Tools: The Best of 2007 - How Can We Use Them for Activism?
Written by Mary on December 25, 2007 – 2:11 am -Here is lifehack’s list of the best web apps of 2007. They haven’t been used for activism yet, but use your imagination and see if you can be inspired.
bubbl.us allows you to brain-storm by creating visual idea maps. Take a look at this video to get a better idea of how it works. This might be a good way to for activists to work through ideas collaboratively.-
Buzzword is an online word processor. Here is a video that explains how it works. This might be a good way for activists to collaboratively create documents online. It appears to still be in alpha. 
Empressr allows users to create and share slideshows using text, images, videos. Presentations can be shared on the Empressr site and can also be embedded in users’ own pages. Here’s a video that shows how it works. This might be a good way for activists to share presentations. Read more »
Tags: bubblus, buzword, digitalactivism, empressr, highrise, jott, lifehack, mint, nozbe, nptech, sandy, scrybe, todoist, tool, vitalist
Posted in Tools | No Comments »
