Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with grassroots

Please recommend books on infant mortality rates in Peru

Solomon — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:57:40 -0800

Please help me find a present for my sister's 30th birthday. She's asked for book(s) on certain topics that she's interested in, but I have no idea about these particular genre's. The first genre she mentioned is India. She wants a book about the country, with specific leanings towards things like female literacy, projects that help the poor, infant mortality, etc, and less on the geography and politics of the county. Basically, what is being done there on a grass roots level to make people's lives better for them.

The other genre she mentioned is what sounds to me like an atlas of world issues. It seems to be about things like freedom of speech, poverty levels (and stuff like the example above), around the world. She's been to South America, and speaks Spanish, so maybe something about SA would be nice.

She works with less-well-off communities as a job, to help improve people's local spaces, if that's relevant. I bought her a Kiva gift certificate for Christmas, and she's been quite into that ever since.

I've tried looking on Amazon, and Googling, but I know very little about such things, and I'm not having much luck. I'm looking to spend about £20-25, which is about $35-45, I think. Product recommendations would be great, or links to websites where I can have a poke about would be cool too.

How to Fertilize the Grassroots?

Scram — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:18:22 -0800

Can you point me to a good web platform for hosting a grassroots activism campaign, including supporter mailing lists and the ability to send customized emails to people in power? A group I'm working with is about to launch a website announcing a grassroots campaign that will probably attract a lot of attention. We have worked with Drupal sites in the past and plan to use Drupal again. We are looking for a way to organize information on a large number of citizens who want to be kept informed about the campaign, and to allow them to simply send a customized email registering their feelings to people who have the power to change policy.

We are looking at the site CitizenSpeak.org, a free Drupal site which promises to do all these things.

I'm wondering if anyone has experience with CitizenSpeak as a campaign management site, or if there are other options we might not be aware of.

Press release etiquette?

bubukaba — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:31:40 -0800

What is proper etiquette for writing and distributing press releases? General advice, book/website suggestions appreciated; more specific questions inside. I've been publicity chair of a film society in Chicago for about two months. We have a 500-seat cinema, we screen films every night of the week on 35mm whenever possible (often rare or archival prints), and we have some of the most interesting, eclectic programming in the city. So, in some senses we're very professional.

But the reality is that we're actually an all-volunteer organization staffed by unpaid undergraduates (I'm one, too) and occasional cinephiles from the City. The University is completely uninvolved in most of our work.

So, two months ago I found myself in charge of all of our publicity - with pretty much no experience. I think I've done a pretty good job so far, but I'm concerned that my lack of experience is leading me to make a lot of assumptions about what is and isn't okay to do when dealing with the press.

1: I've mostly been emailing our press releases (we send out one announcing our quarterly calendar and about one a month about special events). Is this a terrible idea?

2: Is it bad form to BCC it to everyone with a generic greeting and "this is the press release for ____. Thanks a lot, etc etc" kind of opening letter? Should I be emailing each reporter individually instead?

3: What should the subject line to an emailed press release read?

4: Should I still put -30- at the end of an emailed press release? (What about a paper one?)

5: Is sending an attached .pdf always bad?

6: Under what circumstances should I mail a paper copy?

7: Should I write to ask if people would like to be added to our press list, or if they want to remain on it? How do I build these sorts of relationships? (This is the kind of thing that seems particularly hard in a four-year institution).

8: How do I inform the press of corrections to my initial press releases?

9: Are there differences in how I should approach newspapers and how I should approach blogs? (I'm particularly worried about my dealings with the Slowdown section of Gapers Block - they seem to have completely ignored everything I've sent them, including questions about how to best submit our calendar of screenings to them).

10: Should I write to thank journalists who write things about us?

11: How long should a press release be?

Any suggestions of web or print resources on figuring this whole game out would be enormously appreciated.

DIY or...

2or3whiskeysodas — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 10:14:39 -0800

Inspire me, punk-rock style. I've been kicking around ways that I could more directly apply my talents and energy to my adopted hometown's pleasantly/frustratingly insular indie-punk scene. For example, I'm inspired by the history of Dischord Records, a label that started mostly to document the scene in Washington, DC at that time, but grew to be an important force in popular music, all the while maintaining their punk/DIY ethics. Or, like, I'm greatly impressed with The Smell, a decidedly positive performance and art space that has become a lynchpin of LA's latest punk wave.

So then: I'm looking for other examples of grassroots, locally-focused artists/labels/spaces/organizations that have managed to make truly rad stuff happen without straying too far from their DIY principles. I should emphasize that I'm not necessarily asking about stuff directly linked to punk music, but rather stuff that has roots in that culture and mindset.

I (would like to) use anarchy

cadge — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 18:33:49 -0800

What books or web resources are there for learning about practical anarchism? I'm interested more in faciliating group decisions and consensus rather than in political/theoretical aspects. A while back, I went to a talk given by some street medics with anarchist leanings. Part of what they described involved their methods for coming to decisions as a group - all sitting down and discussing, reaching consensus, etc.

I am really interested in this - not so much the political angles and theory of anarchism but the practical aspects, how it's actually carried out, group decisions rather than decision by hierarchy.

Are there any useful books or web resources out there for learning about practical anarchism? I'm not even sure if I'm using the right search terms - does this kind of thing go by other names?

Does anyone have experience in starting a co-op?

humannaire — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:19:41 -0800

How do I start a grocery co-op? Do any mefites have experience with this? Here on the island of Key West, a crisis has developed. Our island's best grocery, Waterfront Market, supplier of fresh seafood and all sorts of goodies for Islanders, our boating communities and the dock workforce, is being by forced to close by a combination of bureaucratic greed and ineptitude. But there is hope!

A very solid group of neighbors and citizens has banded together with the idea of taking over the reigns of the market and transforming the successful business - 20 years with 45 employees - into a co-op. And I am spearheading the movement! Any insight or recommendations?

(My applicable background is in market research, organic farming, and ecology. I have done the google work, and come up with some very good/well-established groundwork. What I am looking for is recommendations and insight based on personal experience in starting a co-op.)

What if I could change the world during coffee-break?

Ziggurat — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 00:31:46 -0800

I have an idea for a blog that might actually make the world a better place. Could it actually work? I am consistently impressed with the general...um...goodness (for lack of a better word) that frequently comes out of Ask MetaFilter...and it just occurred to me that something similar could be harnessed to change the world for the better, one suggestion at a time.
What if there was an online community/blog/whatever-you-want-to-call-it, that worked like this:
A member of the community (we'll call her/him "Member X" adds a description of what they do for a living. Say, they work in a coffee shop.
Other members of the community post suggestions for little ways that Member X could, in the course of their job, do some good. I'm thinking that these suggestions should be extremely simple and easy to accomplish. They should be suggestions that Member X would actually do, without having to spend significant hours, or dollars. (like, contributing a small percentage of their tips to a charity)

Now, along comes Member Y, who has a completely different job. (say they work in a small grocery store.) But the community posts a few little ways that Member Y could help make the world a little better. (i.e. they could start suggesting to the management to promote products that are "grown locally")

The net effect of taking these actions would be very small, insignificant really...until the community started getting more and more members...within a broad range of occupations. Pretty soon there could be hundreds or thousands of suggestions detailing how hundreds or thousands of people could, within their occupations, do a little bit of good.

The trick would be that if this community started building some momentum, it would make it easier and easier to motivate people to take part. If I work in a coffee shop, donating a few bucks of my tips to a charity is going to seem pretty small potatoes. But If I know that hundreds or thousands of other people working in coffee shops are doing the same thing...or taking other small suggestions and doing small bits of good...then maybe I'll be encouraged to keep doing these things.

The idea would be to harness online community both to come up with lots of cool little suggestions on doing good...but also to give those who partake a true sense of community, to give them a sense they're part of something bigger.

A couple caveats...no, I'm not promoting some blog. No, I'm not a sneaky marketer. No, I'm not going to Get My Own Blog (well, maybe later). I ask this here, because I'm not looking for ideas on how to make the world a better place... I'm purely curious as to whether members of a community like this one would consider an idea like this interesting.

I apologize if this question breaks a rule. But I'm hoping that because no actual community like this exists, I won't be considered guilty of trying to leverage mefi to start another site. That ain't my intent.

How can I use the Internet to promote an interactive film and arts site?

Elle Vator — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 09:15:54 -0800

There are a lot of buzzwords being bandied about regarding the 'viral' 'grassroots' ways that 'Internet 2.0' can be used to 'create a groundswell' through 'guerilla marketing'. What? What do these buzzwords actually mean? After getting vague advice like 'use MySpace' by people with marketing degrees who don't use the internet to market anything, I am interested in cutting through the crap by hearing from real people with actual experience in these matters. How can the Internet be used to promote a site with interactive stuff, games and short film... and little-to-no budget for marketing?

Watching the evangelicals

Miko — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 09:19:45 -0800

I'm worried about the aggressive attempt at cultural and political dominance being perpetrated by evangelical groups like this. Can anyone point me to grassroots watchdog groups / info clearninghouses / think tanks? Basically, I'm looking for any organization that is tracking and analyzing the strategies and propoganda of evangelical christian groups. I want to start paying some serious attention.

(No matter how I construct my terms, My Google searches are only returning grassroots watchdog groups made up of evangelical christians who are keeping an eye on the rest of us).