changemakers - online groups guide - 2009

7/31/2019 ChangeMakers - Online Groups Guide - 2009

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C-PdCd :

OctOber 2009

Changemakers Online grOups guide

cOme cOnnect with Our cOmmunity and a wOrld Of pOssibilities


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1. Overview...............................................................................................................2

hats a group? .................................................................................................................................2

ow groups interact with Changemakers.com ......................................................................2

2. HowTos................................................................................................................3

Sign in ....................................................................................................................................................3

Fin an join groups ........................................................................................................................4

ake action ...........................................................................................................................................4

xplore the group .............................................................................................................................5

Start a group: 3 asy Steps .............................................................................................................5

Start a iscussion an post a comment ....................................................................................6

nvite others to join ...........................................................................................................................6

ploa ocuments an images ...................................................................................................7

A vieo .............................................................................................................................................7

nhance your group .........................................................................................................................8

* Select the main pictures for your group: ..............................................................................8

* entify relate issues an competitions ..............................................................................9

* Connect & collaborate with the community ...................... ........................ ....................... 10

3. Tips&support.................................................................................................... 11

Market your group an buil membership ...........................................................................11

Connect with us ...............................................................................................................................11

4. Aboutthecreationofthisguide....................................................................... 12

he guie creation process ....................... ....................... ........................ ....................... ............ 12

Changemakers ....................... ........................ ....................... ........................ ....................... ............ 12

Aaptive Path................................. ........................ ........................ ....................... ........................ ... 12

COnTenTs


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WhaTs a grOup?

Groups support the long-staning core mission of our community: collaborating tomake positive change. heres power in numbers. Not to mention a lot more fun. urgroups are an open house, a place to: debate the big issues. Float your ieas. Fin anbe a mentor. ash out solutions. Connect with people far an wie. discover ways to getinvolve. Plan events an get together to take action online an off. t can all happen inyour group.

hOW grOups inTeraCT WiTh

Changemakers.COm

Groups are relate to the other parts of the Changemakers site in the following ways:

You can join a group an it will appear in your prole.

elate content is presente on the right han sie of the page. You can n othergroups that are committe to similar issues, stories about people an programs arounthe worl, an competitions where you can submit your ieas an n inspiringsolutions.

You can also share a group with other people on Changemakers, such as your friens.

Fin relevant groups by issue or place. ntereste in sustainable agriculture? he ssuespage collects all the relevant pages. Locate in ashington dC an intereste inning other people with similar interests? Look uner Places to see whats hopping inyour areas of interest.

OVerVieW1


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sign in

You must sign in before taking any action on the website. Click on sign in at the topright han corner of any page.

f you have not yet create a Changemakers prole, it only takes 30 secons. Afteryouve clicke sign in, enter your e-mail, a username an a passwor.

hats all you have to o, but we encourage you to share a little etail about yourself.You can use your prole as a professional an personal marketing tool to attractstronger connections an possible opportunities linke to the Changemakers anonor community.

hOW TOs2


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Find and jOin grOups

You can n an join groups in a number of ways:

se the search box at the top of the site to enter what you are looking for. hesearch results will point you to groups an issues.

Go to the groups home page an click on the tab that says n a group. heresalso a tab for feature groups that might be of interest to you.

Go to a competition home page an see which groups are relate to thatcompetitions topic in the right han column.

he issues an places pages have a irect link to groups.

Take aCTiOn

nce you n a group thats of interest to you, just click on the icons in the akeaction box in the top right corner to: join the group, start a iscussion, a to yourlist of favourites, or share the group with your other social networking sites suchas Facebook, witter an MySpace.
http://www.changemakers.com/en-us/groupshttp://www.changemakers.com/en-us/groups/findhttp://www.changemakers.com/en-us/groups/featuredhttp://www.changemakers.com/en-us/mentalhealthhttp://www.changemakers.com/en-us/issueshttp://www.changemakers.com/en-us/placeshttp://www.changemakers.com/en-us/placeshttp://www.changemakers.com/en-us/issueshttp://www.changemakers.com/en-us/mentalhealthhttp://www.changemakers.com/en-us/groups/featuredhttp://www.changemakers.com/en-us/groups/findhttp://www.changemakers.com/en-us/groups


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explOre The grOup

Basic information about a group can beviewe uner an array of central tabs.ere you can n out about the groupsactivity, its members an iscussions, aswell as check out the ae resources,images an vieos.

xplore whats going on an who themembers are. o learn more aboutothers, simply click on their name toview their prole. You can also take the

following actions: a them as a frienan sen them a private message.

sTarT a grOup:

3 easy sTeps

Groups are conversations. f youhavent foun a group that aressesyour interests, its easy to start theconversation yourself. n the groupshome page, click on the link markestart a group. All you have to o is giveit a name, escribe it an click on thebutton marke create it! ts as simpleas 1-2-3.

As the groups creator, you have accessto certain aministrative abilities. Annow that youve starte, here are somemore actions you can take:


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sTarT a disCussiOn

and pOsT a COmmenT

Tostartanewdiscussion, in theake action box, click on iscusswhich will take you to the iscussionspace an then click on a acomment. A your subject title ancomment, then preview. f you aresatise with your comment clicksave. r, if you want to revise yourcomment before publishing, makerevisions then save.

Topostacommenttoanexistingdiscussion:Click on the title of thecomment you like to respon to.Next, click on a a comment in the

ake action box. A your subjecttitle an comment, then click preview.f you are happy with your postingclick save. f you like to eit somemore, go back to your comment anclick eit. hen youre happy, presssave.

inViTe OThers TO jOin

n the ake action box you can click oninvite someone to sen an invitationto people you like to have join thegroup. n the invite users el you canenter up to 50 email aresses, thenclick on the sen invitations button.ach contact will receive an invitation,which they can accept or reject.

Both members an aministrators caninvite people. owever, aministrators(group creators) also have access tothe following amin tabs that allowthem to view an manage etails ofinvitations, membership requests anmemberships.

f you like to be notie when comments or replies are poste, checkthose boxes; selecting these will also allow you to follow the groupsevelopments an stay connecte to members.


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uplOad dOCumenTs

and images

o further enhance your group, youcan also a ocuments an imagesby clicking on this button in the akeaction box.

documents will appear uner the reresources tab on the main page anmay inclue things such as informativebrochures, work ocuments, yers,backgroun papers, etc.

mages that are ae will appearuner the re images tab an coulinclue items such as PowerPointpresentations, PdF les, an extrapictures that you woul like to sharewith the group.

add VideO

Group creators/ aministrators mayalso a vieo to the resources byclicking on the amin eit tab thatappears when you are signe in, theninserting a vieo link from most majorvieo sites such as Flickr Vieo, GoogleVieo, Myspace, Vimeo an Youube.hen you are one, scroll own tothe bottom an click the save button.Your vieo will now appear uner a revieo tab on the groups main page.


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enhanCe yOur grOup

here are many ways for a group creator to enhance an raise the prole of the group. ere are threesuggestions:

Selectthemainpicturesforyourgroup:

here are three main images that will visually represent your group on the site: the gallery banner, thelisting image, an the feature carousel banner. hey have very specic size requirements.

Thegallerybanner is the main image thatappears at the top of your groups page it s

locate uner the group title an must be 640pixels wie x 275 pixels high.

Thelistingimage (also referre to as the resultsan thumbnail image) is the square image that

appears on the central listing page which showsall the Changemakers groups on the website.his image appears next to the groups name anmust be 275 x 275 pixels. aving a listing imageis one way to make your group stan out amongmany.

Thefeaturedcarouselbanner is the longrectangular banner that you see on the websitescarousel of moving images. Changemakersuses these spaces to give community members

an groups extra visibility. You can helpChangemakers promote your group on thewebsites home page carousel or the featuregroups carousel by adding a featuredcarousel banner image that is 950 pixelswie x 300 pixels high. You can contact us if youlike to have your group feature.


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UploadinganyoftheseimagesisdonethroughtheFileattachmentssection:

ach image can be ae separatelyuner attach new le. After you havelocate an selecte your picturesusing the browse function, click on there attach button. hen you are oneselecting all your images you nee toclick on the save button at the verybottom of the page or they will not beattache.

Please note that to a any of thesethree images, they must be the exactsizes mentione above or the systemwill not accept them. e recommenusing high-quality JPG or PNG images.

Identifyrelatedissuesandcompetitions

Group creators/ aministrators maychoose up to seven issues from a wierange that relate to their group. hewebsite will then link your group toother website content by automaticallylisting it accoring to relevance unerthe relate content: groups right-hannavigation bar. his will enable moremembers to n your group.

You can also associate your group toany number of relate competitions byselecting from the list of competitionsin the elations el. You can selectmore than one competition by holingown CNL an clicking thecompetition title. he site will presentyour group in the competitions relatecontent section.


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Connect&collaboratewiththecommunity

here are many ways you can connectwith the Changemakers community.

hese are just a few suggestions:

Fin an offer mentorship amongothers in your el by joining groupsthat focus on your interests

Share resources post PdFs, PowerPoints, ocuments, vieos an linksuner the resources tab of the group

xpan both your online an off-line networks. Members can norganizations to partner with on newinitiatives an n supporters whohelp them expan an thrive.

discuss ieas an solutions wherelike-mine changemakerscongregate.

Broacast your successes an sharenew evelopments.

Fin an post opportunities. hecommunity shares informationabout grants an other support forsocial action organizations. You willn this in iniviual groups, theChangemakers Group an/or theChangemakers Support anesource Group.
http://www.changemakers.com/en-us/ChangemakersGrouphttp://www.changemakers.com/en-us/ChangemakersSupportGrouphttp://www.changemakers.com/en-us/ChangemakersSupportGrouphttp://www.changemakers.com/en-us/ChangemakersSupportGrouphttp://www.changemakers.com/en-us/ChangemakersSupportGrouphttp://www.changemakers.com/en-us/ChangemakersGroup


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markeT yOur grOup and build membership

se the invite someone feature in the ake action box to sen friens, family orcolleagues an invitation to join the group.

Pull in your other networks by using the Share this group function in the akeaction box to link to social networking communities an sites, such as Facebookan witter.

Mention the group an link to it in an email, on your website, in a newsletter,mailing list or press release.

A your group name an L to your e-mail signature.

COnneCT WiTh us

Join the Changemakers Support an esources Group to n the guies,resources, tips an tools you nee for success as a social innovator.

You can also get in touch with us by clicking the contact us link on the top righthan corner of the site or by sening an email to: [email protected]

Tips & suppOrT3
http://www.changemakers.com/en-us/ChangemakersSupportGrouphttp://www.changemakers.com/en-us/ChangemakersSupportGroup


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The guide CreaTiOn prOCess

his guie was create by Ashokas Changemakers an Aaptive Path in orer to giveour community a better sense of how to benet from our online groups, an to helpiniviuals an organizations achieve their social change goals more effectively, usingthis tool.

e woul like to thank the group creators an members that participate in thecollaborative online process that we use to collect feeback an insights. hanksto their gracious contributions we arrive at a better unerstaning of what type ofinformation shoul be reecte in this guie an how we can work to improve thecommunitys online experience.

Changemakers

Changemakers is an initiative of Ashoka, an organization with over three ecaes ofning, funing an expaning the work of social entrepreneurs across the globe.

he Changemakers online community buils on this history an expans the Ashokavision by creating an veryone a Changemaker worl through networking an

relationship-builing. Changemakers creates opportunities for those who want tobe at the centre of social change by offering competitions that are supporte byphilanthropic organizations. he competitions an the community connect those whoare passionate about change an make ieas come to life.

adapTiVe paTh

Aaptive Path esigne the entire Changemakers web site from the groun upwith the goal of creating a category-ening user experience for the Changemakerscommunity. You can rea more about the reesign process here.

Aaptive Path is a user experience strategy, research an esign rm that helpscompanies eliver great experiences through their proucts an services. ielyrecognize as thought-leaers in the emerging el of experience esign, Aaptive

Path has worke with leaing organizations such MySpace, Flickr, Citysearch an thenite Nations. For more information on Aaptive Pathplease visit www.aaptivepath.com or [email protected].

abOuT The CreaTiOn

OF This guide

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http://www.adaptivepath.com/aboutus/news/2009_06.phphttp://www.adaptivepath.com/http://www.adaptivepath.com/http://www.adaptivepath.com/aboutus/news/2009_06.php

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