Social Media and Activism Workshops

March 24, 2011 in Rants & Raves, Thoughts
Tags: bloggers, blogging, blogosphere, blogs, campaigning, FaceBook, information, multimedia, online activism, online activists, online campaigning, political activism, political technology, social media, social networking, Twitter, videos, workshop, YouTube

SocMed & Activism Workshops

Interested in using social media for your favourite cause(s)? Keep reading!

You might have noticed I’ve been putting up some tips, hints or short pieces here and there about using the Internet and social media for activists, and campaigns. More recently I’ve been delivering workshops and presentations about online campaigning, strategies, and techniques. Oh yeah, just in case you didn’t know I’ve been using the Internet for political and community campaigning and organising. [In 2001, I ran my own campaign website as an independent candidate for a local shire council by-election; the only one to do so from the eight candidates.]

In all of this I’ve realised it’s actually more important to empower people than explain the importance of using social media for organising and activism. People understand that they need to have a website and do ‘social media’ but it’s not always as straight forward as it seems. It’s very interesting to watch some of the ‘light-bulb’ moments.

So I’ve decided to run some workshops of my own; a sort of ‘open source’ approach. The first of many “Social Media and Activism” workshops starting on May 21st (details below).

The workshop will cover different aspects; including:

blogs and blogging;
using Facebook and Twitter;
multimedia; and
practical exercises to get you started; or to keep you going.

The workshop runs for 3 hours (not including breaks) but depending on how things go, the workshop can go for shorter or longer periods of time.

There’s even a little workshop pack for participants.

Venue Suggestions?

With all that being said there is one last thing to work out before any workshop can be conducted – a venue.

I’m looking for a low cost option (under $200) that can be accessed on weekends. Venues should have access to the Internet and a whiteboard (and markers). If you have any suggestions leave them as a comment below.