In the coming days and weeks we’ll be sharing 10 things you should have on your radar screen for 2010. If you’re already on top of them – mazel tov. Share with us what you’re doing in the comments. If not, time to get hip to the new decade. Don’t put it off. This isn’t the future, it’s the present, so pay attention.
To kick us off, mobile mobile mobile. Everybody’s got a phone in their pocket, and increasingly it’s a pretty intelligent one. The iPhone, Blackberry, Android and others are taking over the market, and shaking up the status quo. Assume that people are looking for and engaging with you while on the go, not just while sitting at their desk.
Some things to know:
- Compose your emails for easy reading on a mobile device. Send a test and check it out on a Blackberry and iPhone. Some Blackberry users are reporting a lack of patience with graphic emails because it takes too much time to wade through. “Give me the bullet points and important information straight up and in brief” seems to be the attitude.
- Start learning about fundraising via mobile. I just made my first donation by text message to a radio show I love, This American Life, when I saw a tweet. $5 went on my AT&T bill. So easy! Check out http://www.mobilegiving.org/ to see how they do it. Sophist Productions has been hosting events (a UJA Young Leadership cocktail party, for example) where people “text to pledge” their donation, and pledges are projected on the wall. Yes, it is a new world. And it works. Read more here on text-to-give programs.
- Redesigning or tuning up your website? Make sure you’ve got a mobile friendly version. Check out a Google tool here to see what your web site can look like on a mobile browser. Beth Kanter iPhone-ized her blog with an easy $200 IPhone app tool. Learn about it here.
- Twitter was conceived of, and largely used as a mobile tool. Thus, don’t neglect this community when you are putting together a mobile strategy.
Want to learn more?
http://mobileactive.org/ is a great org with useful resources and a discussion list on how nonprofits are using mobile in their work.
http://www.mobilecommons.com/ offers services for marketing, advocacy and fundraising via mobile (and thanks to Mobile Commons for donating their services for our Boot Camps)
http://www.mobilecitizen.org/ has excellent resources for mobile use in education and nonprofits.
Great resources from Wild Apricot: Is Your Nonprofit Website Mobile-Friendly?
Examples of cool, mission-centric mobile uses from nonprofits, on Beth Kanter’s Blog
[cross-posted on jlearn2.0]
Fascinating story about community and more, presented by Alon Nir (@TheKotel) at Jeff Pulver’s (@JeffPulver) #140 Characters Conference in Tel Aviv earlier this month:
Read Alon Nir’s blog post about the experience, and learn more about Jeff Pulver and the #140 Conference – see if there is a meet up or conference in your neighborhood…
I just registered for #140 Characters Conference NYC ‘10 in April – and in return I received a discount promo to share with my friends - how cool! So, come on and join me, friends!
Read all about it: “Synagogues Blogging and Tweeting their Way to New Kinds of Communication,” by Sue Fishkoff on JTA!
The article describes how congregations around the country are taking advantage of resources such as webcasts, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and video. Darim’s Lisa Colton notes that synagogues and religious schools are using social media to foster new models of community participation and engagement.
Props to our Darim Online members and friends - including Ellen Dietrick @cbipreschool; Gabby Volodarsky, Temple Sinai Oakland; Rabbi Alan Lucas and Rabbi Jeni Friedman at Temple Beth Sholom, Roslyn; Rabbi Jonathan Blake, Westchester Reform Temple; @Sixth & I; and, Congregation Ner Tamid - for diving into social media territory and sharing their stories!
How is your synagogue or religious community tapping into social media? Share YOUR stories!
[cross-posted on jlearn2.0]
By now, you may have already seen the ebullient flash mob video produced by Nefesh B’Nefesh:
What is particularly compelling is a) how Nefesh B’Nefesh used the concept of a flash mob to communicate its work and underscore its message – “Make Aliyah in a ‘Flash‘: Join 23,000 Nefesh B’Nefesh Olim celebrating Hanukkah in Israel ” – which also emphasizes aspects of its mission: you are part of a larger community through Nefesh B’Nefesh; you are not alone in your aliyah adventure; individuals join together through the organization to create community; each individual is essential to the community’s success; and, b) how Nefesh B’Nefesh was able to mobilize volunteers to join in the festivities.
Did you know that invitations to participate went out on Facebook five days before the event – and the sole rehearsal with the group was held an hour and a half before the flash mob itself?
If you haven’t already seen the back story of the “The Making of the Nefesh B’Nefesh Jerusalem Flash Mob,” be sure to check out this video and enjoy the show:
What would Eliezer Ben Yehuda Tweet? Well, from what we know of the eccentric father of modern Hebrew, he probably would have found the technology (let alone the prospect of naming it) overwhelming. But that doesn’t mean we have to…
The latest initiative from NJOP (National Jewish Outreach Project) is a Hebrew literacy initiative, with Twitter and social media as its hook.
The project is an outgrowth of NJOP’s popular Read Hebrew America program, said NJOP publicist Ilya Welfeld, founded with the idea of reaching people who aren’t inclined to join a community class – the Jewish Tweets social media brand was a perfect background, providing a little kitsch and allowing people to learn Hebrew in “bite-sized pieces.”
“Right away, almost 200 people officially registered,” Welfeld said, noting that these are just the people who proactively want to be receiving everything directly to them. But on a daily basis, several hundred people are participating however they want. The intent was to create learning that was “at your own pace, in your own space.”
Twebrew School provides three free learning options: Tweetups, video lessons, and newsletter signup; and if you already know Hebrew, you can sign up to be a Twebrew School teacher . Check out your Twebrew twoptions at this twebsite http://www.twebrewschool.org.
Have you joined the ranks of Twebrew School teachers? Do you know someone who’s using NJOP’s Twebrew School program in their local community? Share your experiences and feedback with us here.
Haven’t seen the Twebrew School videos yet? Begin your education with Lessons 1 & 2.
This post is an expanded version of the original, which appeared on Esther’s blog, My Urban Kvetch.
Got a Big Idea for Jewish learning and new media? Are you an educator in a North American congregational / complementary Jewish setting? What are you waiting for? Apply now to the Darim Educator Fellows program!
Darim will work with up to 3 individuals through coaching and mentoring over a five month Fellowship. Check out details and the link to the application form here: http://bit.ly/defspring.
Meet our current Fellows:
- Joshua Altman, Temple Sholom, Greenwich, CT – Josh is creating an online collaborative newspaper / blog with his religious school students.
- Lynne Lieberman, Friedman Commission for Jewish Education, West Palm Beach, FL – Lynne is developing an online professional development course on differentiated learning for synagogue educators.
- Rachel Sesser, Temple Sholom of West Essex, Cedar Grove, NJ – Rachel is creating an online community resource for students and their families to engage in classroom and extracurricular activities.
- Viki Shayna, Temple Beth Emeth, Ann Arbor, MI – Viki is developing an extension of a community collaborative project that will bring together American and Israeli families online.
Get your creative juices flowing this holiday weekend! Applications are due Friday, December 4, 2009. Questions? Give us a shout at learningnetwork@darimonline.org.
Helpful hint: we posted a preview of the application on the Fellows information page so you can prepare your longer responses in advance and cut and paste them into the online application form.
The Darim Educator Fellows program is made possible by a generous grant from the Covenant Foundation.
The Social Sermon: An Innovative Approach to Community Building, Engagement and Torah Study
Social media, like other major communication revolutions before it (think: printing press) have radically changed the way we learn, connect and organize. The impact on culture and behavior is significant – we have new ways to connect with our communities, find meaning, express ourselves and engage. The new ease of organizing is fundamentally changing the role that organizations play for their constituents. This is great news for the Jewish community, if we are able to take advantage of it.
We invite you to try a new approach to Torah study, community building, and perhaps even sermon writing in your congregation, The Social Sermon, an idea comes from acknowledging three things:
1) That many people can’t get to the synagogue for a lunch or evening Torah study class, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t interested;
2) That people want the social experience of learning, not just passive reading or listening to a lecture, and that connection through learning enriches a local community; and
3) Social technologies can be a wonderful tool to enrich and augment Torah learning in local communities.
Imagine a Saturday morning sermon that’s the work of not only your rabbi, but you as well. Let’s take it a step further: what if it weren’t just you and your rabbi, but also your fellow congregants, young and old, those new to the community and the stalwarts of your city? By the time your rabbi delivers his Shabbat remarks, he or she could be drawing inspiration from, or even representing the discussion of, hundreds of his congregants!
What does The Social Sermon look like? At the beginning of the week a Rabbi posts a question on his or her blog, or on Twitter with a particular hashtag (e.g. #CBSSS for Congregation Beth Shalom Social Sermon), or as a Facebook post on the congregation’s Page. The first post would describe a theme of the parasha, or link to some text, and at the end, pose a question.
As comments and responses start to be posted, the Rabbi then facilitates an ongoing conversation through the week — responding regularly with insight, text, links, answers to questions, and more questions to guide the discussion.
By the end of the week, several things will have happened:
- New people are engaged in Torah study. Likely a portion of the online participants are a demographic that doesn’t often come to mid-day or evenig adult education classes. (On-site classes – adult and youth – can also participate);
- Participants will have formed new relationships through the online discussion, perhaps following each other on Twitter, friending each other on Facebook, etc. which leads to ambient awareness, thus strengthening your community;
- The Rabbi will have a better understand of what aspects of the parasha resonate with the community, and be able to design a Shabbat sermon that is the most relevant for the congregation, and will have ideas, quotes, context to make the sermon even more rich; and
- More people may show up for Shabbat services, feeling more educated, connected and like they have some ownership over the sermon that week.
And for those that missed the service, they could read it the next day when the rabbi posts the sermon back on the blog or web site, with a link on Twitter and/or Facebook.
Interested? Use the SocialSermon tag on this blog to find posts about the Social Sermon, and for case studies and guest posts from Rabbis and educators who are doing it. Follow #socialsermon on Twitter for updates, links to these blog posts, and to connect with others who are doing it. Join us on Facebook to be connected others who are doing Social Sermons and get important news.
Feel free to adapt the concept — a confirmation class could do this throughout the week between class meetings, a youth group could do it with their adviser or a parent facilitator. Please report back and let us know how it’s going, and what you’re doing. Please let us know if we can help you at any stage – leave a comment here, or any other space mentioned above.
Want more “hand holding”? Darim offers hourly consulting, and we are working with interested Social Sermoners to find funding from a donor or Federation small grants program to work with a group of Rabbis in your local community. Holler if you’d like more information.
Ready, Set…. Social Sermon!
For some, social media is a bit scary because it empowers the public to voice their thoughts. While hopefully in the vast majority of circumstances this means engaging in more meaningful conversations, learning about new supports, and amplifying your message through valuable networks, it also means that critics can make their rants public. This is scary, and threatening. Partially because of the potential content of those rants, and largely because it represents a loss of control.
I often remind those concerned that control is largely an illusion — those rants and conversations happen in the parking lot, the dinner table, via email and on Facebook. The companies that have done a great job of turning around their brands (Comcast, Dell) have done so not be trying to shut down the conversation or ignoring it, but by listening, acknowledging, and learning from it. (For stories about what they’ve done, read Twitterville.)
Chris Brogan, a widely known and well respects new media marketing specialist, writes a very prolific (and insightful) blog and weekly e-newsletter. This week he talks about critics, and offers some advice :
If you are fortunate enough to have critics, you’re doing something right … I want to share with you how I deal with critics, and what you might learn from the gifts they give you.
Thank them. No matter what a critic says, say “Thanks for your thoughts,” or a variation. They have taken the time to offer their opinions, however invalid or unhelpful, with you. Say thanks. It’s the only good response to a criticism.
Don’t defend yourself. The person giving you the opinion probably doesn’t care what you have to say about it. They just wanted to share their take. You can reply and reflect back what they’ve said, but try not to defend. It only comes off as making you look defensive and it just goes nowhere fast.
Decide for yourself, in private, if you agree. You don’t have to take every critic’s opinion, but listen to whether there’s any grain of truth in what they say. I learn when my critics are my friends, but I learn LOTS when they are people who don’t much like me. Sometimes, I’m able to adapt their mean words into something of great value to myself.
Don’t just throw it out, is my point. Criticism can be helpful, even non-constructive criticism, if you are willing to hear a bit of it and throw away the junk. Thing is, don’t necessarily run around seeking it, either. It can build up like toxin in our veins, and if we’re only hearing a stream of icky things, that doesn’t help us at all.… It took me a long while to believe in myself enough to not believe in critics. There’s a great bit from an interview (and I forget who the subject was), where she said something about really loving her positive reviews, but then her agent said, if you believe all the positive reviews, you have to believe all the negative critics. That’s stuck with me.
Personally, I’ve found most of the criticism we receive on the JewPoint0.org blog is really helpful — it teaches me where I can improve, adds value to the conversation, and often helps me identify knowledgeable folks who are invested in our mission.
How do you think about critics and criticism, whether it be on or offline? How do you use it as a productive feedback loop? How to you respond to critics? What have you learned?