Social Ch@nge

The latest version of Google’s SketchUp software was released yesterday.  Aside from having a cute name, the software has some great potential use in your non-profit toolbox.

For those that haven’t played with it, SketchUp is a three dimensional modeling program.  That means you can create little virtual models of practically anything: a house, a train, a space station, a dinosaur.  Well, it’s really geared towards mechanical things - my dinosaur comes out looking a little funky.

There are two aspects of SketchUp that make it stand out from your usual high-end, computer-aided-design, rocket scientist-friendly software.  First, it’s not just designed for architects: anyone can get a handle on it pretty quickly.  Second, you can share your designs, in a virtual Google Warehouse, for others to use - and you can place them in Google Earth.  Build a virtual Eiffel tower, and place it in Paris.  Or share it with others, and let them build an addition onto it - sacre bleu!

C'est magnifique!

So, although great fun for the Lego builder set, how could this tool be useful to a non-profit?  One example can be found in the Sportables competition that Google and Architecture for Humanity launched back in June.  They put out a call for designs for something called a sportable: “highly transportable and deployable play spaces that are sustainable infrastructure nodes.”  In human-speak, that’s a pop-up facility to rent sports gear as well as a safe space for youth to play in. They are designed for tough urban areas, where opportunities to engage youth in a positive experience with sport might be few and far between. When the youth are done, the sportable could pack up and tuck away - or be carted off to the next location.  In the end, the sportables competition created some great designs, and brought attention to both Architecture for Humanity, and issues of youth and sport.

Now, how could you use SketchUp?  Here’s a couple of ideas…

1) Have a contest to redesign your headquarters.  Not your real HQ - instead, ask the SketchUp community of amateur designers to create your ideal secret lair.  Set out your organisational goals, who you work with, what you do on a daily basis.  Maybe you’ll end up with the world’s greatest soup kitchen - the point is, by getting people to focus on what you do and showing this in a design, you help communicate your mission.

2) Build a cyber-amusement park for your non-profit.  Take your core issues, and create virtual kiosks that explain them to visitors.  Okay, this is a little more intense - might want to enlist the help of a high school class, or some engineering undergrads.  But create a virtual space that promotes what you do in a fun and interactive way.

3) Related to this, if your non-profit has a geographic focus, create a Google Earth map with buildings to explain what you do.  For example, maybe you work in the inner city - map it out, showing the services that you provide.  Or if you’re working on saving wildlife, take people on a tour of the habitat.

As often seems the case, SketchUp can be a great non-profit tool, not just because of what it does - but because it creates a community around it, and allows you to communicate ideas easily to that community.  If you’re interested, check it out - note that Google does offer deals on SketchUp to non-profits.

Yesterday morning, 1.2 million people in 6 major US cities read a morning edition of the New York Times that was a little…different. The Times was dated July 4, 2009, and announced that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had ended; global warming was fixed; and the economy was on the upswing. Good news! Or was it news?

Of course, this wasn’t actually the staid, grand grey lady of the NY Times. Instead, a collective of activists had created the spoof, with the intent of encouraging President-Elect Obama to stick to his election promises. Gawker has a good story on some of the incredible logistics behind-the-scenes, and the technical work that was done to pull off the creation and delivery of the papers.

In recent months, it seems like political pranks have been on the rise. Some have been aided and abetted by high technology, like the extensive website of Martin Eisenstadt - a political expert according to the mainstream media, who was, in fact, a hoax.  Several major networks fell for the fake pundit. The pretend political expert was actually the creation of two filmmakers who wanted to draw attention to lack of fact-checking by the media during the election. “Martin” had an official looking blog and a series of professional YouTube videos. He was just a little lacking in actual credentials.

Then there’s the tried and true, low-technology weapon of choice: the phone. Take, for example, a prank call made to Sarah Palin by a Montreal radio DJ posing as French president Nicolas Sarkozy. A highlight of the conversation built upon Sarah’s memorable earlier remark that she had insight into foreign policy because she could ‘actually see Russia from here in Alaska.’ The fake Sarkozy remarked that he had this in common with her - except that from his house, he could see Belgium.

Pranks in the name of politics, or in the name of any social cause, can be an effective way to get some attention. In doing so, you put yourself on the subjective knife-edge of good taste and poor judgment. As our technology gets better, it gets easier to pass off a hoax for the real thing. But I think that it’s the intent, not just the execution, that matters. What impresses me most about the NY Times hoax is its optimism and compassion: maybe it will create a better future tomorrow, by pretending that it’s truth today.

Update: Okay, I don’t know how the Yes Men escaped my attention before.  This is the gang that are partially behind the NY Times prank.  Their website is well worth a visit, and the 2004 documentary is both hilarious and disturbing, in a “Ha ha…yeesh…” kind of way.

You’re ready to get your non-profit online and make a difference. Grand. Except…there’s just a few basic things you’re not quite sure how to do. Like edit a wiki, back up your computer’s memory or um, code.

Off with you to Wired’s How-To Wiki, which happens to be the most empowering place I’ve discovered for acquiring any internet skills beyond checking your Facebook.  Get started with our selected list of their how-to’s here:

First, learn to back up your non-profit’s computers.

Edit Wikipedia.  Yes, we all know it’s the encyclopedia anyone can edit. But actually editing it and making your changes stay put - that can be a bit daunting. They’ll tell how to do it.

You can also learn the basic language for wiki sites that you want to format slightly that don’t have a button marked ‘bold’ or ‘italic’ here.

Once you’re tired of editing other people’s webpages, start your own. Here’s how to buy a domain name and get hosted.

Teach yourself to code. (Yes, the title of this entry is ‘Teach a Kid to Program’. But if it works for a five year old, it works for me!)

Be a free internet spot. Let your non-profit’s clients connect to you in a new way.

And once you’ve mastered that, make a map using this how-to hack of Google maps. We’ve written about maps and social change in previous posts. Hack a map of vegan cafes in your city, of bike paths, of free internet spots. Map where the cops keep arresting kids, map cancer rates, map the way that Ushahidi maps for good. Link your map to our maps so we’ll understand eachother better, and show us your community.