Do you really digg your town?
Some people really dig their town, and Manor, TX is trying to tap into this passion through its crowdscouring site Manor Labs. The site has many social media features from sites like Digg. It seems fitting that its CIO Dustin Haisler, who is 23, spearheads this effort; perhaps this is what you get when you give a millennial authority. He is doing something bold. Check out the May 2010 Government Technology profile of his efforts titled "City 2.0."
Like Digg, Manor Labs enables people to vote up or down each idea, and the more popular an idea is, the more likely that the town will take action on it if it is reasonable and feasible to do so. Participants are also given "Innobucks" that they earn by contributing to the site. They can cash them in at the site’s store for privileges like the opportunity to serve as a honorary mayor for the day (complete with lunch and dinner with the mayor and city manager), a ride with the police chief in his car for an entire shift, and — my favorite — the opportunity for the town to officially name a week after the person through proclamation. It is important to give participants incentives — even if it is an ego boost like getting a week named after you, which comes at very little cost to the town. Further, I wonder how many boys between between the ages of 3 and 10 years old who are begging their parents for a ride in a police car… Very clever.
There’s little need to touch upon peddling and purchasing influence since the spirit of the effort is to encourage improving the town for everyone. 
Another advantage to this type of crowdsourcing is that it is done in a venue that promotes transparency.
As I have noted before, there are participation inequality issues. Not everyone has the ability (whether access or competency) nor the desire to participate in such an effort. What happens when the digitally savvy and excited over represent themselves? That was the case when the Utah State Legislature passed a school voucher bill back in 2007; many pundits attributed some of the success to a discussion about the bill on the Politicopia wiki set up specifically discuss political issues in Utah. After the bill’s passage, the bill was killed by a voter referendum. Thus, even though people get excited about an idea online, it does not mean that most of the other affected people agree with the direction of the discussion.
However, it is important not to throw out the baby with the bath water. Organizations that use social media to gather opinions and feedback from their constituents must acknowledge that their entire constituency likely does not use one channel of communication and participation. Thus, they must take such feedback and participation in context and solicit feedback through other means to involve a more diverse group of stakeholders. If Manor, TX does this, it likely will avoid what happened to the Utah State Legislature.
Reclaim your Facebook Privacy
Matt Pizzimenti is concerned about how Facebook’s privacy policies and settings have evolved over the last little bit; that is why he started the ReclaimPrivacy project. He has created an application that people can easily use after they login into their Facebook account.
The application scans their privacy settings and provides alerts about several settings that one can use to hide various aspects of their account from anyone’s view. One of the things that I particularly like about this application is that it provides instant links to the place where a person can adjust their settings to ensure that their information is only shared with those with whom they desire.
Pizzimenti links to several recent articles that explain that Facebook’s recent actions have aggravated privacy advocates. One thing that has irked them is that in some cases new settings have default values that allow the site to share account holders’ information with the public. Pizzimenti’s application will help individuals better understand all of the privacy vulnerabilities that they face. It appears that it will flag any setting that is set to share information with Everyone (versus "Only Me" or only friends). However, the application does not change anyone’s settings; it simply alerts them to vulnerabilities. I think that this is an excellent idea since some people may want to have some information publicly available as this facilitates people finding them.
Regardless of how one feels about Facebook’s actions towards privacy, it is a good idea to continually examine one’s account settings on a social networking site.
The Magic Is In the Makeup
In the world of website and graphic design, image is everything, and with it, the art accompanying the project just as significant. While businesses frequently face the challenge of finding images that appropriately represent their organizations and/or services, it is not to say that success will be found 100% of the time. Surprisingly, the most important aspect of their presentation can often times appear rushed, or other times under cooked.
The entire concept of image retouching is similar to that of a magician: The viewer should never be in on the trick.
Image manipulation is truly an art, and nowadays when a 15 year-old can remove a lingering pimple before posting party pics to Facebook, everyone is in on the act, albeit with mixed results.
I am always on the search for examples of what I’d like to call "photostopping,” where both the photo and reality end, leaving you wondering why an effort was made at all.
I find myself endlessly entertained by the website Photoshop Disasters, featuring examples of poorly implemented designs that actually make it past the cutting room floor. Viewing the site, you would be surprised at the epidemic of models missing limbs in advertisements.
This example comes from the Polish edition of the Microsoft website. While it is not uncommon to come across websites using the same stock images, it would seem that there are only so many of the standard “diversity” business shots available.
In the image, one businessman is clumsily swapped for another, going as far as neglecting the color of the replaced man’s hand. While you could potentially excuse other companies for shoddy design, please remember— this is MICROSOFT!
And I haven’t even touched the subject of the obvious white MacBook prominently featured in the center of the shot.
Source: Photoshop Disasters
Further reading: Joe Wertz: The Politics of Photoshop — 10 Historic Doctored Photos
Best U.S. Think Tank Websites
As part of my research for a project we are working on, I recently looked at the websites of around one hundred U.S.-based think tanks to see what the best practices are. All and all, this was an inspiring set of websites and not nearly as extraordinary as the list of best university sites I put together recently, but there are a few that stood out. Below is a list of the five best of the ones I looked at, in alphabetical order.
This site has a very cleanly designed homepage, and I really like there interactive top story feature.
Charity Water: A Great Use of Online Video
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Charity: Water is a great organization, and as an online communicator I’m constantly impressed with the innovative ways they have built a movement in support of clean drinking water for everyone.
In particular, non-profits and charities should pay close attention to their web videos, which are the gold standard in my opinion. After you watch the video above, it is hard not to be left with an overwhelming desire to walk through a wall for Charity:Water. Lots of people make great videos, but what makes this one so special is that it almost compels you to take action.