Stopping GMOs

The overall goal of my final project for ATLS3519 Social Media for Social Good During Crises was to spread awareness of genetically modified foods. Using social media I chose to focus on raising support for the Genetically Engineered Food Right To Know Act. This act would make it law in this country that any food product containing GMOs would require a label signifying so.

The main action I took was to create an “Event” on Facebook that would encourage people to go to a link where they could fill out their name and address and send a pre-scripted letter to their congress representatives. This letter clearly described a desire to have the GE Food Right to Know Act passed in congress. I invited all of my friends to attend this event only if they filled out the letter and submitted it. I also requested that they forward the invite to all of their friends as well since my participation on Facebook is lacking, as is my friend count. This was effective in spreading to a larger number of people than my immediate friends, almost five times the number in three days. Although only a fraction of the invitees accepted and attended the event there were still plenty of people who got the information.

On the event page itself I posted relevant articles and several videos explaining the issue being addressed. I also tweeted and blogged on my efforts and referred back to the group as well as the letter itself. My goal was to spread the word with as many platforms as I thought would work. The blog didn’t help too much but my tweet was picked up by a friend who is a regular on twitter and retweeted it out on his account

One of the ongoing tactics that I didn’t get too much time to work on but will continue is create a fact campaign using short videos. I think quick, to the point videos that address a specific topic can be effective in reaching a large audience. This is where I’ll need more time to research and create quality videos that look better than the bouncing camera phone that dominates YouTube. I want to make sure that what I create is backed up by reputable sources and is still entertaining. The video I was able to create for my presentation was a mash up of several different videos pulled from youtube. I’ll probably use this as a rough draft and elaborate on it. Looking through endless youtube and Google videos taught me a lot about the issues as well as what kind of videos have already been done.

I enjoyed immersing myself in a topic that motivates me to take some action and put some effort into it. I’m glad we were able to choose our own topics and tailor them the way we wanted. This will be something I continue to work on and enjoy spreading awareness of GMOs and their implications.

Genetically Engineered Food Right To Know Act

My campaign has officially launched to get people behind the Genetically Engineered Food Right To Know Act. The first stage is an 'Event' I created on facebook that is aimed at getting people to send a letter to their congress representatives advocating the need for any genetically modified food to be labeled as such. I requested that people only "Attend" if they go to the link and send their predrafted letter to their respective state representatives. We will see where it goes.
Join the Party! http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=110692202357942

Boulder Creek

Good field trip. Even though we went to many of the same spots as in the videos it was still great to see them in person and think about them – since I see most of the places on a regular basis. I am a frequent user of the creek path, as many are in Boulder, but I’ve never thought about any kind of flood mitigation around the creek before. I knew they raised Pearl St. a while back but that’s about it. I also didn’t realize how much they have prevented a more disastrous flood area. The flood plain for a big storm (not sure if it was 100 or 50 year) was much smaller than I imagined. Living at 20th and Goss St. I just assumed I’d be swimming if there were to be any kind of sizable creek overflow. I guess I’ll hold off on that flood insurance for now, although I would definitely get it if I were any closer to the creek.

The creek artifacts I posted to flicker and Facebook reflect, in a way, my priorities and interests regarding the creek. I’m a big proponent of relaxation so the bench slash foot bathing station is both practical and amusing to me. I would be disappointed if we lost any of the many kickback and relax spots along the creek due to flooding. I’m sure they would return eventually.

Also, I figured I’d share myself capitalizing on the high water flow that creates amazing waves in certain spots. I’ve always scoped out the good holes on the creek that seem to build very ridable standing waves. Unfortunately, for my purposes this only happens here on Boulder Creek for a brief time each year. So, even though there were a few signs deterring tubers and “Other Floatation Devices” (which we didn’t see until we had gotten fully soaked) from using the creek I was forced to ignore them for a higher purpose… fun. And it was. We took our time scoping out our locations for our entry and exit from the river (some more dicey than others) and were very aware of the dangers. A rule to go by is always being aware of the risks involved and accepting them as possibilities but not to let the negative possibilities deter you from enjoying natural recreation.

The power of the water was very visceral in our exploration of the creek. It was easy to imagine what kind of destruction could come from anything more than the routine water level.

Future Lab Study

The future lab study was an interesting look at the kinds of things PIOs are faced with during and after a crisis situation. It was definitely a new way of thinking about a crisis that I hadn’t thought of before. I was a little difficult to think as a PIO not having any previous experience doing so.

I thought that the overall format of the situation cards was a good way to guide the discussion. They allowed for the discussion to be focused and still vary in topics. I do think the cards could be a little more specific. The open discussion format also worked well. I don’t know if the mock iPhones were necessary. A real phone or tablet might work better. I agree with the comments made about changing the location of the hypothetical situation. Having the same scenario as the Boulder Fire made it easy to get stuck talking about what did happen instead of what could happen in the future.

This is a good way to think about crises ahead of time and I think you could get some really good ideas from future lab studies.

Katrina and Columbine

These two separate crises bring up a lot of issues regarding disaster management. They are both unique scenarios that require very different strategies to manage from a PIO’s standpoint.

In the cases of Hurricane Katrina there were warning signs and at least some time to plan for the disaster. In the Columbine High school shooting there was no warning at all. This difference in the onset of these two crises situations presents varying difficulties such as who needs the most immediate help and who is in the most need of the information about the situation.

The fact that Columbine was a quick incident and not as ongoing as the flooding following Hurricane Katrina means that although there were still many devastating effects of the shooting, the incident was at least over where as the destruction of Katrina continued for many weeks after.  The PIOs would have much different challenges in these two different scenarios. 

Guest Speaker: Sue Salinger

Naturally, since I had to miss our second discussion I’m kind of forced to stick with the first one from today’s class. Maybe I’ll get an idea from the other posts in the class but seeing that I’m writing this on a plane, I’ll have to wait until later for any second-half investigations.

I don’t know about you all, but I found myself smirking and chuckling inside during Sue’s discussion because of the rapid barrage of questions and theories. I enjoyed it a lot because of the open-endedness of her discussion. She seemed very passionate and knowledgeable on what social media might be. She obviously has thought about it in great depth. I could barely wrap my head around a question before she threw out two or three more in succession. A bit reflective of how our media has developed. We are constantly bombarded with information as we socially surf on the web. It’s hard to know what information to take and what to leave. We surely do not stop to think about the how or why our information is the way it is. I think this is a very interesting topic that will continue to develop and need to be addressed. The theory behind our social media world may have been somewhat conceived by Mr. Tim Lee, but I wonder if he ever imagined it would grow to the extent that it has today.

Sue didn’t quite make a social media theorist out of me today, but she definitely made me think in ways that I hadn’t before. Anyone else?

From Designing for The Social Web

“Amazon’s reviews are about more than money.” – Porter, “Designing For The Social Web

This is a very interesting observation to me. Not just in the context of Amazon, but also in the light of our ever-changing economy. The fact that individuals volunteering their time and effort challenge the principles of economics is an interesting shift in how work is perceived. Money isn’t the driving force behind personal reviews. It is a willingness and desire to share personal experience with complete strangers that seems to be influencing reviewers. They are doing it not for financial gain, but for a more basic human need to share information. Professional economists must be picking their chins off the tables. I bet they can’t understand how or why all these people are contributing to the marketing of goods without any compensation. I find it very amusing that the “volunteers” are beating the experts, to paraphrase Benkler, in this new web economy. The money must be made somewhere else from now on.

The way that technology is changing the economy is reflected all over the place. With computer graphics and illustration software becoming less and less expensive and increasingly user friendly it becomes more and more accessible. The ability for individuals and smaller businesses to, let’s say, design their own logos and advertisements takes away from the big ad agencies who might otherwise be doing their marketing. More power is being put into the hands of individuals who can now also reach a larger market with a few well chosen tags in their website. This shift in power will surely continue as accessibility grows all over the world. Big companies will always find a way to make money, but they may have to settle for a bit less profit in this socially and technologically shifting market.