Introduction to Blogging

EarthAction is currently in the process of redesigning and redefining our presence online, so that we can better connect with our partner organizations and individuals, forge new relationships, and take advantage of the incredible information dissemination capabilities of the internet.  This has been and is a serious learning process for us.  We want to share the information and resources we are using with others (non-profits especially) who are considering establishing or readjusting their online presence.  We are definitely still learning ourselves, and it’s never too late to try something new.  Especially for non-profits, it is essential to utilize the internet to its full potential.

Here is an in-house “Introduction to Blogging” document that one of our interns created to define blogging and its potential uses. 

Who are bloggers and what are blogs? Blogging is simply a form of communication (written, visual, and even auditory with videos and podcasts), and just like normal speech, covers a vast array of topics.  Sometimes blogs will seem intelligent and witty, or heartwarming and inspiring, or very mundane, and everywhere in between, but they are always a form of personal expression—and the more interesting they are, the more likely people will be to come back and read them.

What are the benefits of a blog for an organization? A blog makes an organization more personal and less “faceless.”  A blog can show the inner workings of a big (or small) non-profit or corporation.  A blog can show a campaign in motion, with text, personal stories, pictures, and videos.  You can be entertained by a blog, you can learn from a blog, you can feel like you are part of a greater community by posting and commenting on blogs.

Things we learned from researching other blogs:

The whole point of web 2.0 is interaction.  We should emphasize this like crazy on our blog.  This means CONSTANTLY asking for feedback and input.  Maybe we should make it a practice to always ask specific questions at the end of posts, and should outright say (either in blog posts, or on the side bars) how important it is for this blog to be a community.  We welcome your feedback!

Update regularly! We’ll need to decide what this means (once a day?  three to five times a week?)

Be a hub!  Link to interesting articles and bloggers!  Send people all over the web to very interesting places that they’ll be thankful to have gone to.  These links will probably come back.  Popular and interesting blogs are always sharing what they find with others, they are a source of information.

Appeal to all senses! We should think about including one visual element with each post (see happiness-project.com), like a simple picture, and about including videos regularly, links to other multi-media features like podcasts.  We have the technology, let’s use it to the maximum!  Engage people with all their senses.  (This is an important way to show a campaign in motion.)

Make it easy to reference to your site and be connected to other communities. (digg, del.ic.ious, technorati, RSS feed)

It is appropriate to have more “formal” or technically (renewable energy) based articles, but I think it is just as, if not much more important to be relatable humans.

Resources:
    These are sites with more resources about how to move your organization online and how to blog.

-http://www.echoditto.com/best/blogging (Recommended blogging introduction.)
-http://www.movabletype.org/documentation/business-blogging/ (A guide to blogging.)
-http://www.movabletype.org/documentation/business-blogging/checklist.html (A checklist for blogging.)
-http://www.echoditto.com/insights (Interesting articles about how organizations can better utilize the Internet for advertising, fundraising, etc.)
-http://www.fundraising123.org/fundraising (Many articles about online funding for non-profits.)
-http://www.fundraising123.org/article/online-fundraising-handbook (A link to a PDF download of a great handbook that explains in more detail the benefits of having your organization online)

Looking at Blogs

The best way to become more familiar with the blogging world is to start reading blogs. When we’re looking at other blogs, we should pay attention to the styles in which they are written, if they’re creating a community and involving people (through comments, etc), how they act as “hubs” of information, how they fill a niche to draw readers in, how appealing the design is, how easy it is to find critical information, how easy is it to subscribe through an RSS feeder, to “digg,” etc.”  Here are a few links to get started.

http://www.worldchanging.com/ (A site that aims to bring together those who are working on the "tools, models, and ideas" for a brighter future.)
http://www.treehugger.com/(This site is the self-professed "leading media outlet dedicated to driving sustainability mainstream.")
http://www.dailykos.com (A political commentary site with user generated comment.)
http://understory.ran.org/(Rainforest Action Network's activist blog.)
http://www.cispes.org (Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador blog.)

I also looked at personal blogs just to become better familiar with the many different types of blogging communites.  (For example, decor8.blogspot.com , 101cookbooks.com , dooce.com , happiness-project.com.)

(Photo courtesy of Flickr user fd, shared under a Creative Commons license.)

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[Francisco Casas]

Recycling a Sustainable City (Chile)

SUMMARY OF THE IDEA

Municipal Recycling Plant is designed to be a project to create sustainable employment in the city, reducing the accumulation of waste in the landfill and be a model on local environmental policy.