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Giving Time, Over the Web, in Small Chunks: A Prediction Mashup for 2010

It looks like it'll be hard to get through mid-January without seeing predictions across the blogosphere for the hottest trends of 2010. (And there're lots of expressions of good riddance to 2009, to boot.)

The most interesting prediction I've seen was published on Mashable and written by Ben Rattray, founder and CEO of Change.org. His predictions concern changes in social good behavior for 2010. He's in a position to know.

His predictions:

1. Social activism will explode across the web.
2. Micro-volunteerism will become extensive.
3. Giving work will become as important as giving money.

Mr, Rattray's conclusion:

These three trends – providing new ways of giving voice, giving time and giving work – represent the future of social change on the web.

I don’t mean to imply that giving money will stop being important. On the contrary, the web will continue to be an essential tool for fundraising in 2010, and for good reason – donations are the lifeblood of non-profits and the Internet is a highly efficient means of raising money. There are also an increasing number of effective fundraising platforms that leverage the unique power of the web to enable new types of giving – including well-known innovators such as Kiva and DonorsChoose, and new entrants such as Vittana.

But fundraising isn’t where the innovation will be in 2010. Instead, we’ll see the rise of new forms of participation that move beyond fundraising and make 2010 the most interesting year yet for social change on the web.

Interesting trends to spot. Read his post. Sign up for The Extraordinaires at BeExtra.org

What do these trends need that we can offer? Communications and great content. And training presentation materials. And more...

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Cross-posted to ContentWordshop.com

Game-changer in communications isn't Apple slate or Google phone. It's Skype on TV.

To me, the big news these days isn't the announcement of the new Google phone, or the hubbub over Apple's impending announcement, perhaps, of the iSlate.

Yes, the rise of the mobile screen is news, but also old news. What's interesting is also the rise of the big screen because of the announcement this week that Skype is going to be incorporated into new television sets.

The introduction of streaming video from the Internet onto television sets has already changed my house. I now stream Netflix movies onto my laptop, and even more importantly, via my blu-ray disc player onto an HD monitor.

Yesterday, I read in the New York Times that Skype is working to bring streaming video calls onto televisions from Panasonic and LG, with the minor additions of webcams and microphones suitable for the living room.

Remember the Western Electric Picturephones from the 1964-65 Worlds Fair in Queens, N.Y., or the videophone from 2001? (Refresh your memories here and here.) Skype is finally bringing it home — more specifically, to my home.

That's a communication change.

The Bottom Drops Out of Newspaper Circulation

A disturbingly impressive graphic depiction of circulation among America's largest newspapers from the past two decades. Via Steve Rubel's Lifestream, at which you can read comments. More comments -- and an explanation of why USA Today is missing -- at The Awl, whence this graphic originated. 

While I mourn the loss of newspapers, I welcome the range of communication tools that the lack of newspaper hegemony is introducing into culture.

Making Thoughts Apparent Globally is Obama's Internet Touch

UPDATED 11:30 a.m. 4 June 2009 -- I also liked receiving an email from David Axelrod, senior advisor to the president, with a link to video of the speech. The White House is pushing this content out beautifully.

ORIGINAL POST:

It is thrilling to see how fluid President Obama and his team have become at making his thoughts and policies apparent to as many people as possible globally using the Internet. The latest piece of evidence comes from the White House's buildup to the Cairo speech today.

According to a New York Times report, "In a bid to make sure that Mr. Obama’s message will be heard, particularly among young people, the White House has mounted an unusually aggressive campaign, including a Web site created in Arabic, Persian, Urdu and English where people outside the United States can sign up to receive the speech via text message. The State Department is to translate the speech into at least 13 languages."

This is a great commitment. I like the idea of people worldwide debating the speech in its original text, even in a U.S.-disseminated official translation text, on their own phones or laptops today. Great move!

Query: Looking for Archive of Front-Page Headlines

A friend is looking for a website that displays major news stories (or just headlines) from any day in the recent past. Surprisingly, I'm finding it hard to locate anything that does what I want. I liked the New York Times' front-page archive at its online store. But I found it hard to display the date I wanted. Newseum looked like it had a good archive. Alas, not searchable. Matthew Somerville of Dracos in the U.K., is putting together an archive of the BBC News home page. But it doesn't seem to have enough horsepower vis-a-vis depth of archives yet. But to solve my friend's need, it holds the most promise of anything I found this afternoon. Suppose I wanted to see the headlines from, oh, Sunday, November 18, 2007? Where should I go to find what was in the news that day? (I suspect the answer to this is going to be obvious and sort of a V-8 moment for me.)

Clear Discussions of Our Problems with Economy and Environment

Two publications I came across this past week have unusually clear explanations for two of the major problems facing American society now: the economy and the environment. On Saturday, the New York Times published a story explaining the Chicago Fed National Activity Index. This story doesn't make the economy any less unpleasant, but it does provide a graphic that rings true to me and lets me appreciate the economic trend at a glance. (The Chicago Fed has a webpage devoted to the index.) Also, I read the November/December issue of Mother Jones, which is all about a call for a new economy based on saving the global climate from the fossil fuel economy. Two Nobel Prize winners write articles: Al Gore and Joseph Stiglitz. The issue is titled, "How to Rescue the Economy and Save the Planet." (At this writing, the November/December content has not been published to Mother Jones' website. It's still showing the September/October issue.)

Why Not Talk About It? This Economy Is A Reality Check, Even For Alfred E. Neuman

What, me worry? Given the developing economic slump in the United States, if not throughout the world, corporate blogging expert Paul Gillin thinks that even the best corporate blogs are keeping their pens -- if not their heads -- in the sand and just try to ignore our festering troubles. As Debbie Weil points out, Gillin's headline says it all: "Corporate Blogs Blather While Markets Tumble." After reviewing blogs for 15 blue-chip corporations, Gillin writes:

Between checking Marketwatch.com and commiserating with colleagues, it’s safe to say there wasn’t a lot of work getting done this week. Nervous investors flocked to the Web for some sign that the turmoil in the financial markets would soon die down. With so much attention riveted on the future of the economy, this seems an ideal time for corporations to use their blogs to provide guidance and reassurance, or at least perspective, on the Wall Street meltdown. However, a quick tour of 15 prominent sites demonstrated that they were doing anything but that.

Three companies from Gillin's research are worth calling out because they bucked the trend set by the rest.

1. General Motors, which is famously synonymous with the U.S. economy, has a recent post on its highly regarded FastLane Blog containing a YouTube clip from CEO Rick Wagoner favoring federal financial intervention in the form of loans to automakers to meet fuel economy mandates. Give GM lots of credit for currency and realpolitik on this one.
2. The BenettonTalk blog has had two entries on the crisis. On Sept. 30, Benetton's blog addressed the economy's disintegration. And the next day, the economy was back with a blog review of Americatown, an HBO serial that looks at a near-term future in which U.S. economic dominance has waned.
3. PriceWaterhouseCoopers addresses the crisis from the standpoint of corporate directors.

On the other hand, Southwest Airlines, whose Nuts about Southwest blog just won the best blog award for the second year from PR News, has said little about the financial markets crisis. I agree with Gillin's conclusion about the need for straight talk and clarity about the economy and our roles in it. Here's how Gillin concludes his review:

My point isn’t to ridicule these companies as much as it is to demonstrate how far we still have to go in achieving the culture of openness that new media enables. Here was an opportunity for some of America’s most respected corporations to offer guidance and thought leadership to frightened consumers. Instead, most have chosen to serve up the same old happy-talk mush they’ve delivered for years. That’s their right, but that isn’t leadership. These are historic times that offer businesses the chance to break through the noise and do something daring and different. So far, corporate America has fumbled the opportunity. Perhaps, as the economic picture becomes clearer, some will start talking with their customers instead of marketing at them. That would be a welcome development.

Chicago Tribune hesitant on Saturday morning re: Biden. Is it still that "Dewey Beats Truman" thing?

Was the Chicago Tribune feeling tentative for some reason, compared to the snappier Chicago Sun-Times? Is the Tribune still acting out over that "Dewey Beats Truman" thing from 1948? Wasn't that 60 years ago? These are the news racks at one of the entrances to Rush University Medical Center this afternoon.

Telltale Signal that Social Networking has Become Mainstream

Online social networking was the subject of two articles in Wednesday's Chicago Tribune. That has to be a clear signal that the entire concept is going mainstream.

1. The business section sported a feature with inventive artwork about the use of social networking by charities to raise funds from young people. The feature by Wailin Wong was headlined, "How non-profits are using social networking to raise money and awareness: Charities see potential in tapping young Web users to promote their causes online."

2. In the lifestyle section, called "Tempo," columnist Steve Johnson's piece was headlined, "All praises to social networks." Johnson writes Tempo's "Hypertext" column on using the web.

Global Warming: Gore Eloquent in Nobel Peace Prize Speech

Al Gore's speech yesterday accepting the Nobel Peace Prize is a classic. I loved its eloquence and its imperative.

A speech is a derivative of face-to-face contact. A good speech can change the world. In the case of this particular speech, I certainly hope that it does. Al Gore is one of my heroes.