Peggy Orenstein, in her New York Times Magazine article this past weekend, considers the impact of opening up her family via Skyping with her parents 1500 miles away. She writes:

Now, I like my parents. A lot. I really do. That’s why I make the 1,500-mile trip to visit them three or four times a year. I did not, however, spend the bulk of my adult life perfecting the fine art of establishing boundaries only to have them toppled by the click of a mouse. If I wanted them to have unfettered access to my life, I wouldn’t have put the “keep out” sign on my room at age 10. I would have lived at home through college. I would have bought the house next door to them in Minneapolis and made them an extra set of keys…
To Skype or not to Skype, that is the question. But answering it invokes a larger conundrum: how to perform triage on the communication technologies that seem to multiply like Tribbles — instant messaging, texting, cellphones, softphones, iChat, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter; how to distinguish among those that will truly enhance intimacy, those that result in T.M.I. [too much information] and those that, though pitching greater connectedness, in fact further disconnect us from the people we love.

Every new technology, from the telephone decades ago, to streaming video cams these days, and everything in between, beg many questions about how much information we want to share, where we will draw our boundaries, why, and how.

In this month’s Journal S’hma, I offer some thoughts on how these tools can enrich and starve our Jewish homes, and how we can draw on Jewish concepts of community, home, family and values to guide our intentional decision making about how, when and why we will use (or not use) particular technologies.  Because ultimately, it’s not about the technology, it’s about relationships.

Read the S’hma article and share your thoughts, experiences and approaches on the new S’hma website, or leave a comment here on JewPoint0.

You know those guys who got the URL “templeisrael.org”?  Yup, they were on it in 1995 (how do I know that?  Check out WHOIS).  This Saturday, at 12:01am, Facebook is allowing users to grab their Facebook URLs, which may turn about to be of similar value for many Jewish organizations who have common names, or specific acronyms.

Saturday morning Facebook users will be allowed to created personalized usernames for use on Facebook.  This means instead of your profile or fan page ending in something like “id=592952074″, you can customize the URL to “http://www.facebook.com/johndoe”or “http://www.facebook.com/yourbrand.”

[Note about eligibility -- thanks Rachel and Todd for pointing this out -- Your Facebook Page must meet two requirements to claim a username on Saturday: it must have been live on Facebook prior to the May 31, 2009 cut-off date and have had a minimum 1,000 fans at that time.  However, this limitation is temporary. All Pages created after May 31, 2009 or that had less than 1,000 fans on that day will be eligible to claim usernames on Sunday, June 28, 2009, so mark your calendar for that day if your Page has fewer than 1000 fans.]

This opportunity makes it much easier to market and promote your Facebook presence, rather than making users look you up in the search and attempt to find the correct “Michael Cohen” or “Temple Israel” (which is increasingly difficult as Facebook growth skyrockets).

Those interested in protecting their BRAND should act quickly to a) make sure you get the most straightforward URL (www.facebook.com/templeisrael  instead of www.facebook.com/templeisraelpougkeepsie, for example); and b) to make sure someone doesn’t grab your name to use it for themselves, or to convince you to buy it off of them.   Given that Saturday morning at 12:01 eastern is Shabbat for many of us, you may be asking, “What is a Jew to do?”

Four options:

1. Get a non Jewish friend to do it for you at 12:01. Make sure they can login to your account, or make them an administrator for that day.
2. Do it right after Shabbat ends
3. Proactively protect your name. Facebook has created an online procedure by which trademark owners can prevent their brand names from being registered as Facebook usernames. (more info here). However, your name must be trademarked, and another Temple Israel gets the name, well, it’s legitimate and you’re out of luck. You can proactively fill out the form, which is short and simple. One should be completed for each brand name you wish to protect by Friday June 12, 2009.
4. Reclaim what’s rightfully yours. If someone illegitimately grabs your name, you may have hope. If you discover one of your brand names has been registered as a Facebook username on or after June 13, 2009, Facebook has reserved the right to remove or reclaim usernames for any reason, and trademark owners can report usernames that infringe intellectual property rights via Facebook’s IP infringement form here.

Be on the ball.  Grab what’s rightfully yours.  Just don’t take my name.  And remember to mark your calendar for Sunday, June 28 if your Page has fewer than 1000 fans.

P.S. — consider getting your own personal name too!

Thanks to funding from UJA Federation of New York, Darim is launching our first Boot Camp on Long Island.  The Boot Camps are a year long program intended to infuse new knowledge and skills into participating organizations, coach a team from each organization as they take on a social media project (a new plan, a blog, a Facebook strategy, launching a Twitter stream, etc.).  Built on a community of practice model, we will encourage knowledge sharing and examine case studies of successful adoption and impact in other organizations.

The Long Island project grew out of a discussion among local Rabbis.  Eager to learn about social media, and with the awareness that the tools, skills and mindset were essential to engage and serve especially the younger generations, they worked with the SYNERGY program of UJA Federation of NY to fine tune their interests and goals.  Darim’s new Boot Camp model fit the bill perfectly.

We’ll be hosting webinars this month for representatives from Long Island congregations to learn a bit about social media, and to get more information about the year long program which will kick off just after High Holy Days this fall.  Synagogues will be invited to apply for the program this summer.

Are you from a Long Island congregation?  Know someone who is? Pass along the information!  The introductory webinar is free, and we’re offering it at 4 times, for maximum convenience. But you have to register.  Staff, lay leadership and volunteers from Long Island congregations are invited. Multiple representatives from a single congregation are encouraged!  Learn more and sign up here.

Readers of JewPoint0 know we are pretty hot on Twitter and its potential for supporting the work of Jewish organizations and community building. You also know that we believe that Twitter is most effective when it is aligned with an organization’s overall community strategy and culture.

Some of you may have already taken the plunge; others are still trying to get the hang of it.  If you are looking for a good framework from which to consider integrating Twitter into the communications life of your congregation, take a look at Anthony Coppedge’s ebook, The Reason Your Church Must Twitter.

This highly readable publication lays out reasons for congregations to use Twitter and how it can be integrated into your communications and community building strategies.

Coppedge views Twitter as a means of engaging members in conversations; a way of accessing and getting to know congregational membership, clergy, staff, and lay leaders in different ways; exchanging information and putting out calls to action; and, supporting a sense of connection within the community – as well as fostering connections with potential new members. In addition, he explains the basics of Twitter culture, how to get set up, and tips and techniques for effective communication.

The book is available online at $5.00 a copy (churches are encouraged to buy a copy for each staff member who would benefit from it, and to share it with volunteers for free).

Other articles and resources about Twitter and congregational life:

Reform Judaism: Cyber Innovations

Twittering in Church, With the Pastor’s OK, Time Magazine, May 3, 2009

Twitter Church post by Vertizontal

The Networked Congregation: Embracing the Spirit of Experimentation by Andrea Useem

Twitter Group: Jewish Social Network

Jacob Richman’s Twitter List including Jewish and Israeli Twitterers

Nine Great Reasons Why Teachers Should Use Twitter

Twenty-Three Interesting Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom

Be sure to follow Darim on Twitter!

What do we know about the makings of good Jewish supplementary education? What are noteworthy characteristics of schools that work? What factors enable successful learning communities? What are emerging policy recommendations toward creating and sustaining effective, vibrant complementary education?

These questions are addressed in the report, Schools That Work: What We Can Learn From Good Jewish Supplementary Schools, authored by Dr. Jack Wertheimer on behalf of the AVI CHAI Foundation, March 2009. In conjunction with the release of the report, JESNA recently hosted an ADCA webinar with Jack Wertheimer to discuss the report and the role of central agencies for Jewish education.  The webinar is available at JESNA’s Sosland Resource Center.  ADCA is the Association of Directors of Central Agencies for Jewish Education.

We wrote about other resources on complementary and congregational education published by JESNA - be sure to take a look at them as well.

What are some of the most powerful characteristics of success in your school? What would you add to the report’s list of policy recommendations? What else do you want to know about successful complementary education?

The first year of the Darim Online Educators Learning Network is coming to a close.  The Learning Network, funded by a generous grant from the Covenant Foundation, facilitated a community of technology-using congregational educators as they dove more deeply into integrating new media resources into their work.

The theme of change has emerged in many Darim Educator conversations.  The projects that the educators created and the learning with which they are engaged often lead to other, unanticipated benefits that impact their schools and congregations in positive ways.  Many of these educators took the initiative to lead change by example, catalyzed by the opportunity to translate their “big ideas” into tangible projects.

This trigger video clip, “A Tale of Power and Vision” may resonate for many of us regarding issues of vision and change and leadership.

Another interesting resource about effecting change is David Dorsey’s article, “Positive Deviant,” published in Fast Company. Dorsey writes about one person who effected change from within by capitalizing on successes in the community:

Jerry Sternin’s job was to help save starving children in Vietnam. Faced with an impossible time frame, he adopted a radical approach to making change. His idea: Real change begins from the inside…. [Y]ou have to find small, successful but “deviant” practices that are already working in the organization and amplify them. Maybe, just maybe, the answer is already alive in the organization — and change comes when you find it. Read more….

It is worth taking opportunities to step back and consider: How do we see ourselves as change agents? How does our work impact others in our communities - students, fellow educators, clergy, synagogue colleagues, parents, lay leaders? What successes do we capitalize on? What challenges are we experiencing? How do we addresse these challenges?

What are your stories? Share your “special agent” insights!

It was an honor and pleasure to see new faces at 09NTC (the Nonprofit Technology Network Conference) this year, including Adam Simon of the Schusterman Foundation.  I first met Adam when he was the Executive Director of Northwestern Hillel, and had recently been awarded a Covenant Foundation grant to put his Hillel’s social media strategy on steriods.  He was then recruited by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, and is doing some serious investigation into how the Jewish community can put technology to use to achieve our goals.

The first day of the conference I found Adam diligently engaging many vendors and consultants, thirsty to understand how the non-Jewish nonprofit world thinks and acts in this space.  The first words (nearly) out of his mouth: “Ok, Lisa … now I get it.”

Today’s JTA Fundermentalist blog features Adam as a guest, articulating what he “got” and “gets”:

Emerging social media tools offer radically different ways of engaging Jews and inspiring meaningful Jewish thought and action. Yet what too often passes for “technological innovation” in the Jewish world is simply pasting the rabbi’s sermon on the Web. For a community in need of revival, that standard is too low…

In a world where new technology empowers individuals to self-organize, Jewish organizations must shift their strategies, tactics and communications to provide something value-added beyond what individuals can do on their own. New media tools can energize Jews with interactive communication, dynamic connections with other Jews and the creation of community around shared interests. Jewish institutions can become facilitators of such creation, providing structures and support without dictating a specific vision for Jewish life…

Jewish social entrepreneurs associated with the ROI Community, Darim Online and PresentTense Institute are using and promoting strategies to engage hard-to-reach Jews not through flashy marketing, but by fostering opportunities for Jews to craft their own experiences and engage in open conversations with each other about why Judaism matters.

I couldn’t have said it any better.  While Darim is working tirelessly to help Jewish organizations understand this exciting moment and embrace it productively, there are many other valuable resources in the nonprofit technology community to explore as well.  NTEN (the Nonprofit Technology Network) is one.  Come find the Jewish orgs in NTEN at our affinity group, The Tribe.  And join us at NTC next year (April 8-10, 2010 in Atlanta).

In Adam’s words, “Jewish organizations can and must begin earnest and advanced evolution from simply applying our old means of engagement online to unleashing the full power of new media. The Jewish people deserve nothing less.”

Read his full post here.

In their recently published op-ed in JTA titled “Invest in Innovation”, Felicia Herman and Dana Raucher disagree that at a time of economic downturn we should follow the “calls for greater consolidation and a return to the more centralized infrastructure of yesteryear.”  These two brilliant women (Felicia Herman is the executive director of the Natan Fund, and Dana Raucher is the executive director of The Samuel Bronfman Foundation) are not looking backwards for solutions, but looking forward.  They write:

We believe that the young, and often small, nonprofits that have emerged in the past decade, and the very de-centralization they reflect, are here to stay.  We believe that this interconnected network of smaller, niche-based organizations reflects the organizational transformation now under way in American culture: a revolution in the way that people connect, organize and affiliate, brought about by technological advancements that have dramatically shaped our ways of looking at the world. That revolution already has utterly transformed so much of our lives — the way we shop, network, share information, learn and teach. We don’t believe there’s any going back.

I completely agree with their observations. In addition to encouraging you to read the new report, The Innovation Ecosystem, that they developed with JumpStart, I want to reinforce their de-centralized vision, and encouage us to questions our assumptions and the status quo of how we go about doing our business.  The top down models that have worked in the past are no longer the only solution.  Self-motivated, creative and empowered individuals and groups now have the ability to self-organize, creating the programs and organizations that embody the bottom-up culture that is so attractive.

Investments in innovative organizations are important, because we do need to evolve our Jewish community to continue to be relevant to its participants.  Furthermore, we need to invest in helping more traditional organizations also make this shift to realign themselves with a rapidly changing paradigm. The “revolution” which Felicia and Dana refer to is in fact a tectonic shift, largely empowered by social media, that we cannot ignore.  So where to begin?  While the strategic questions may feel overwhelming and insurrmountable, dipping our toes in the water to begin to understand the evolving culture and the potential of the technology tools is a fruitful (and dare I say FUN) place to start.

Often I hear staff say “but where are we going to find the time to do this social media stuff? I don’t have even 10 minutes a day to spare.”  While that may be true, we are spending a tremendous amount of time and energy (and dollars) in our “business as usual” routine, the products of which may or may not be the most efficient and effective way to achieve our goals and mission.

Take for example the synagogue newsletter.  This 12 or 24 page monthly publication takes thousands of dollars per year in paper, labels and stamps, plus who know how many hours to write, edit, layout, photocopy, stamp and send 500, 1000, or 1500 copies each month.  Can you tell me how many people read it cover to cover? What’s the most popular column?  How many throw it in the recycling without even a glance? Even those who do read it cover to cover — what’s the impact on their participation, education, engagement, identity or support?

Now, can we borrow just 10 minutes a day from the team of people who put countless hours into that newsletter?  I’ll help you measure the return on your 10 minutes. My guess is you’ll find it worthwhile.

There is no looking back.  So we might as well start looking forward.  How do you spend your 10 minutes of social media per day? What are the outcomes?

I know mobile is the future. To some degree I experience it and participate, for example through Twitter.  I use Twitter both personally (@LisaColton) and professionally (@DarimOnline), and use Twitter clients on my iphone to read and post and connect all over the place.  The last 48 hours at NTEN have perhaps been the most prolific to date - there’s so many excellent nuggets of wisdom here.  (Check out my twitter stream, and the #09NTC steam from all participants).

But as I think about mobile fundraising campaigns, etc. I remain somewhat skeptical.  Let me revise that: I feel that the technology is still “in the way”, and as Clay Shirky said this morning, “the tools don’t get socially interesting until they get technologically boring.”  Mobile technology just isn’t boring yet, but it is moving from awkward to interesting.

My conference session evaluation via SMS, on my iPhone

NTEN has engaged Mobile Commons to set up a text message based evaluation system for this conference. That’s right, you TEXT your rating and comments, rather than writing it on paper.  Less paper, easier to compile the data, super convenient.  I was at first confused how it would work, but then I just went for it — texted the session number NTC189 to the short code they gave us 68966. Half a second later the first questions popped up. I entered my rating and hit send.  The next question. IT WAS SO SIMPLE and satisfying. Success.  I do expect that it will take some time before the masses are comfortable with such uses of mobile, but the future will be here shortly, and thus it’s useful for us to learn what the early adopters are doing, and start to dip our toes in the water.

Other examples shared here have been integrated with video, advocacy campaigns, fundraising and more.  What’s the lesson?  Though you may not be using mobile campaigns now, it is the future, and thus you should be collecting your constituents cell phone numbers now. They will come in handy a few months or years down the road.

Jewish folks gather for lunch at NTEN

For the first time, there is siginificant representation from the Jewish community at The Nonprofit Technology Network Conference. I’m giddy!  I consider it an important milestone that Jewish organizations are realizing the need to get outside of our bubble to learn from the broder nonprofit community’s work in this area.  We gathered at lunch today to meet each other, learn about what brought us to NTEN, and to identify the issues we’re wrestling with and dreaming about.

Participants include Judy and Matt from PEJE, Adam Simon from the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, Morgan from AJWS, Rina from the Foundation for Jewish Camp, Royi Biller from the Rothchild Foundation in Israel, and many more.  We had to squeeze extra chairs into an already full table to accomodate everyone.  Hallmark of success?  Everyone asked if we can sit together at lunch tomorrow to continue the conversation, and launch a Google Group to continue the discussion and add others from our organizations who aren’t at NTEN.  Yes and Yes!