Drumbeat/website/contentstrategy/action

Drumbeat ACTION

Overview

The ideal Drumbeat ACTION is:

"Something someone can do today with their own labour that helps the Internet"

This spreadsheet contains our best current Action examples and suggested workflow for capturing more: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AtUL2YEyEmX_dDllcHVGUmRSeXc5UmpKR3BGWXN6enc&hl=en

[Need to update what's below based on recent conversations:]

• Use short presentations to instruct people in a concrete thing they can do to make the web better.
• Short (under 5 min) slide presentations, videos, etc. Like a short instructional video on how to do something that makes the web better.
• Community-source great actions people can take to make the web better -- while getting beyond the usual predictable stuff and standard “button-click campaigns.”
• Build out a ground game and local heroes. Showcase local stories of people making presentations and encouraging local action. “Check out this cool presentation I made last week at my school in Bangalore.”
• Encourage remixing and adapting of other people’s presentations, etc.
• Piggyback on existing local event streams (BarCamp, etc.)
• Include a standard slide at the end of each presentation plugging Drumbeat (e.g., “Help send me to Drumbeat 2010 in Istanbul”)
• Make use of standard formats / conventions (e.g., Pecha Kucha, Ignite, etc.)
• ACTION may also have opportunities to tie in with DONATE. Could include the ability to donate money to specific PEOPLE / IDEAS.

RAW NOTES PAST THIS POINT

Mark Surman, Matt Thompson, David Eaves 10/26/09

Problem Statement: Everybody loves the idea that Drumbeat can be a thing that anybody can do. Could take an action that somehow makes the web better. People like that in the abstract -- but when you get to concrete things, this is the most difficult. Coming up with concrete stuff that is a) simple enough to do b) concrete enough that it has an impact. (e.g., I heart the web campaign), but don't make web better in a measurable way. OR, like "Kiss IE6 goodbye" which seems too close to Mozilla's exsit

Purpose: Crowd-source those kinds of activities. Can you think of a thing that an average person can do to make the web better? and secondly: can you go out and tell people about that?

Propose an action (e.g., how to set up a community wireless network) OR write and give a talk on it. Produces assets, exists locally.

David: Trite actions may be ok. "Joining a Facebook group" is not real action. It's a weak action but its still an action.

David: policy / regulatory world One set of actions: identify bills & regulatory discussions going on internationally One thing you can do: is write / lobby representatives

Is the framework for proposing actions Please propose an action that makes the Internet better And then make a slide presentation -- Too broad. "How to make Internet better" is like "How do you make the world better." Way we address that: give them a set of themes / topics / examples. Then have them enter a speaking contest.

e.g., Mark Surman:

e.g., David Eaves: how open civic data makes the web better and how other people can advocate for that.

Both revolve around giving a talk Number of people comfortable / skilled enough to do that is relatively small pool

We want people to give talks about doing things LIKE putting htat widget on their blog Some kind of incentive and contest where people are invited to articulate and explain and evangelize to people particular actions

Going to get more people to do stuff through person-to-person action, and you're going to produce media assets that will help explain and evangelize

Could be a small number of people: maybe 500 who create those stories around action

then a larger number of people who will pick up and use those assets to evangelize

potential risk: google power 10 -- submit idea and process for determining who's ideas are best and get profiled more concern: if we are going to resource the best ideas but if not, not sure if we offer the opportunity -- could hurt a lot of ideas don't require resource people start to act on it, ideas gains momentum