GetSatisfaction.com’s community webcast series
I am a fan of GetSatisfaction.com, a site where customers of companies and organizations can ask questions, share ideas, report problems, or give praise in a public forum. Other customers, as well as company representatives, can then answer those queries.
They’ve begun a “Community Webcast” series. I plan to attend a few and think about how this theme applies for public transit.
Their next webinar, Reducing Customer Service Support Costs by Turning to the Community, is tomorrow. Go sign up!
If you want to see an example of online community-powered support in action for transit, check out yesterday’s conversation on Humboldt Transit Authority’s unofficial GetSatisfaction forum. The discussion is about dogs and the bus. Here, riders have provided detailed information on the law, rules, and regulations. Not only is this at no cost to the agency, but providing a space for this sort of discussion may facilitate greater and broader understanding of and respect for the rules.
Thoughts on “Here Comes Everybody: The Power of organizing without organizations”
By now most people know about Wikipedia, the collaboratively-written encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Isn’t that great and impressive that millions of people who don’t know each other can create such a useful and comprehensive resource? There are many other powerful examples of online collaboration, and sometimes it seems as if there is an equal number of books on the shelves that promise to explain the collaborative production revolution.
Can you tell from my tone that I’ve become cynical about the collection — sometimes it seems like a genre — of books that surround this subject? Well, there’s at least one that I can say is well worth reading — Here Comes Everybody.
Here Comes Everybody is full of examples of internet tools being used for social movements, and collaborative production, including examples that lots of people have heard of (Wikipedia and Linux), and other less-commonly known or discussed examples like political flash mobs in Belarus, citizen journalists in the 2004 southeast Asian tsunami, or the effort to get one woman’s mobile phone back in New York City. Some of the most interesting examples are those which failed, and Shirky discussed what was missing from them — whether it lacked a plausible promise, an acceptable bargain, or just used the wrong technology.
Recently, I returned to some of the ideas and examples in Here Comes Everybody to think about what they may mean for public transit agencies and transit advocates. Read more
Transit wins big in elections! (and Trillium plays a part)
It was great to see U.S. voters come out in support of transit in a big way in the 2008 election. Here in California, some notable victories included Proposition 1A, a $10 billion bond measure for California high-speed rail, Measure R for transit in Los Angeles County, and Measure Q for Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit.
I’m proud to report that Trillium volunteered to be part of the Measure Q victory for Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit, a proposal for a half-cent sales tax to fund commuter rail service along the congested 101 corridor in Sonoma and Marin Counties and connect to San Francisco Bay Ferry service.
The Yes on Q campaign wanted to be smart about their online outreach, so they asked for some help and advice. Especially because there are a few universities, junior colleges, and tech companies in the area, I suggested that creating a Facebook group might be a good way to recruit volunteers and supporters.
