On July 13th, the Social Media Club Los Angeles hosted a special panel discussion on this subject with speakers including:

• Alexia Tsotsis - Tech/business lifestyle reporter for the LAWeekly
• David Sarno - Los Angeles Times Internet business reporter
• Christina Gagnier - Communications strategist and information broker, with a strong nonprofit background
• Andy Sternberg - Live Earth interactive director; news editor at LAist.com
• Chris Tolles - CEO of Topix

The following are my notes from which I’ve recorded to the best of my ability, combined with my personal thoughts:

On Citizen Journalism

David: Citizen journalism has lots of future potential. Big skills needed are: getting the story/process right, verification, sense of intuition, who to trust. These take time and patience to develop.

Andy: Accuracy is paramount, otherwise credibility is lost. One can’t jump to conclusions in details.

Chris: Massive amounts of information and stories are being made available on a faster basis as events suddenly happen. With this rapidity you have a variety of participants: professionals, amateurs, truthtellers, liars, spinners, propagandists.

Effects on News Consumption and Interpretation

Chris: Transitioned use to newsfeeds, aggregators, blogs, and social media. Understood to be publishing & promotional engines.

David: Greater monitoring of citizen journalism and social media for sentiment analysis. How are content creators, distribution intermediaries, feeling about the story? How are they reacting? Twitter is a great tool for that through keyword searches.

Andy: Instantaneous opportunity to check what the grapevine is saying about a rumor, feeling, event, etc. Ex: earthquakes. As an editor, rules haven’t changed much. Having at least two credible sources still important. Rules matter, but in these times there’s a feeling of wanting to scoop a story first, because others are doing so too. However, this leads to increased number of unconfirmed reports. There’s a definite need to have stories right versus having them first.

Christina: Social media helps intensely spread information. However, Twitter is still only used by a very small number of people. [She references story on especially low use by Milennials of ages 16-24]. Note: See Times.co.uk article on 15yr. old Morgan Stanley intern who wrote work essay on How Teenagers Consume Media, and subsequent findings frenzy.

David: Let’s look at this from the perspective of journalism education. Technology is moving so fast and these trends are so quickly happening, they’re not being taught in schools. Many journalists and students aren’t getting the requisite skills to understand and adapt with the changing nature of the information production, dissemination, and consumption. It’s only to their career benefit if they do, at least from a risk mitigation standpoint.

Chris: Teens and Twitter isn’t important. For young adults though, Twitter is a great networking and promotional tool.

Role of Investigative Journalism

Chris: It’s competing with the masses. Twitter is awesome, but it’s a giant mess! In journalism, narrative creation is highly important and valuable. Curation! Aggregation tools can help in the process.

Andy: Even though I’m a big fan of Twitter, I see it playing a small part in a larger holistic future of how investigative journalism is created, distributed, and consumed. 90% of the work is just getting out there and doing it. Monitoring, notes, verification, telephone calls, elaboration, editing. For simply capturing a potential story, always have a camera with you. Do some basic writing, tag the article, and send it out. Twitter is great as a resource and a conversational search engine.

Guidelines for Journalism

Alexia: Reuters Handbook for Journalism; quote from therein, “Always hold accuracy sacrosanct.”

Chris: Depends on who you’re reporting for.

David: Verifiability. Take the Iran situation as an example of where information was coming from all directions. Make sure that the next person receiving your accounts/story can verify it as well, that way you’re also helping the next person(s) down the line. Makes dispersion frictionless.

Christina: Neiman Journalism Lab, Knight Foundation’s ProPublica, and nonprofit sector as legitimizers.

Audience Member, Serena: Society of Professional Journalists.

Andy: Resources are great. A developing question is what is appropriate and acceptable. Self-policing of journalistic quality is in effect. Rules are being made as we go along. Influencers like Jeff Jarvis, among many others, are giving guidelines.

Changing Landscape and the Future

Chris: Online classifieds were what paved the way for the killing of one of print news’ big revenue streams. No way that Craig’s List can be put back in the box.

David: Business model transformation though content licensing, affiliation, partnerships, freemium options. A simple fact is that the web is not good for reading extended copy because screens can become straining on the eyes. Print and electronic readers like the Kindle make that much easier on the user.

Citizen Journalism’s Effect on Attention Span and Willingness to Read Extended Stories

David: It’s variable. There’s lot of room to continually create longer stories people will read.

Andy: Conciseness and leading (as opposed to burying the lead), are becoming increasingly important to keep readers’ attention and interest.

Role of the Press Release: Is the traditional format and distribution dead?

Andy: I’m not actively looking for them. There’s many channels through which they’re being dispersed and come across by chance through social media, other news media providers, and especially aggregators (ex: Google News). Of course, they’re continually coming into our email inboxes. The quality of those continued vary in terms of relevancy, good headlines, interesting story, embodied respect for editor’s time.

Christina: Personal interaction is still very important; ex: personalized initial/followup emails and phone calls.

Chris: The content of the release is what matters.

 —  —  —  —  —  —  — -

Hope you enjoyed this!

There’s a variety of factors that make a brand appealing. The traditional marketing principles are still important, but the last five years have shown us that a shift to humanistic branding and personal engagement is increasingly important for gaining and retaining customers. Some of this might imply trying to create a passion brand. In other ways, it can be conceived as doing a better job of customer service.

In the other realm of design/innovation though, there’s a massive contribution to the brand in terms of desirability, appeal, and when done exceptionally well: evangelism. Some of this is visible, such as function and aesthetics. Other areas though, like interaction design lie under the radar. Both of these are just as important as the marketing functions. They all have to meld together nicely. It can be extremely difficult, especially if this holistic mindset and its benefits are not fully understood and applied, or financial and human resources just aren’t available.

So Erik put together this presentation below that highlights much of this thinking in a very thorough manner, using BMW as the example. A service business can just as easily apply. Enjoy!

[Presentation Link for Email/Other Subscribers]

This presentation is licensed under a creative commons attribution non-commercial share-alike license

This post is a collaboration between Mashable’s Summer of Social Good charitable fundraiser, Max Gladwell’s “10 Ways” series, and a wee bit of my own editorial. The post in it’s original form is being simultaneously published across more than 100 blogs.

Social media is about connecting people and providing the tools necessary to have a conversation and spread ideas. That global conversation is an extremely powerful platform for disseminating information and raising awareness about social causes and issues. That’s one of the reasons charities can benefit so greatly from being active on social media channels. Their voice is inherently credible by nature, and people respect marketing that goes beyond the transactional nature of self-interest (brand/personal benefit). So while these organizations are participating in new media, there’s a lot you too can do to help your favorite charity or causes you are passionate about.

Below is a list of 10 ways you can use social media to show your support for issues that are important to you. If you can think of any other ways to help charities via social web tools, please add them in the comments. Share this article with others, or talk about the ideas behind it amongst friends. If you’d like to take the conversation to Twitter or FriendFeed, please use the hashtag #10Ways.

1. Write / Blog

While I will extol blogging as an excellent way you can help a charity or cause you feel passionate about, I will bring about the larger opportunity to write. Period. That means emails, blogging, article commenting, and whatever strikes your imaginative fancy. By writing about issues you’re passionate about, you’re helping to spread awareness among your social circle. Because your friends or readers already trust you, what you say is influential. Here are some free blog outlets to consider: Wordpress.com, Blogger.com, Posterous, Tumblr, some social networks (niche, mass), and media outlets like FastCompany.com which allow community members to publish their own blog.

Recently, a group of green bloggers banded together to raise individual $1 donations from their readers. The beneficiaries included Sustainable Harvest, Kiva, Healthy Child, Healthy World, Environmental Working Group, and Water for People. The blog-driven campaign included voting to determine how the funds would be distributed between the charities. You can read about the results here.

You should also consider taking part in Blog Action Day, a once a year event in which thousands of blogs pledge to write at least one post about a specific social cause (last year it was fighting poverty). Blog Action Day will be on October 15 this year.

2. Share Stories with Friends

Another way to spread awareness among your social graph is to share links to blog posts and news articles via email, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and bookmarking sites like Delicious and Digg. Your network of friends is likely interested in what you have to say, so you have influence wherever you’ve gathered a social network.

You’ll be doing charities you support a great service when you share links to their campaigns, or to articles about causes you care about.

3. Follow Charities on Social Networks

In addition to sharing links to articles about issues you come across, you should also follow charities you support on the social networks where they are active. By increasing the size of their social graph, you’re increasing the size of their reach. When your charities post information or tweet about a campaign or a cause, statistics, or a link to a good article, consider sharing that by email, retweeting that post on Twitter, liking it on Facebook, or blogging about it.

You can follow the Summer of Social Good Charities:

Oxfam America (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, YouTube)
The Humane Society (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Flickr)
LIVESTRONG (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr)
WWF (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr)

4. Support Causes on Awareness Hubs

Another way you can show your support for the charities you care about is to rally around them on awareness hubs like Change.org, Care2, or the Facebook Causes application. These are social networks or applications specifically built with non-profits in mind. They offer special tools and opportunities for charities to spread awareness of issues, take action, and raise money.

It’s important to follow and support organizations on these sites because they’re another point of access for you to gather information about a charity or cause, and because by supporting your charity you’ll be increasing their overall reach. The more people they have following them and receiving their updates, the greater the chance that information they put out will spread virally.

5. Find Volunteer Opportunities

Using social media online can help connect you with volunteer opportunities offline, and according to web analytics firm Compete, traffic to volunteering sites is actually up sharply in 2009. Two of the biggest sites for locating volunteer opportunities are VolunteerMatch, which has almost 60,000 opportunities listed, and Idealist.org, which also lists paying jobs in the non-profit sector, in addition to maintaining databases of both volunteer jobs and willing volunteers.

For those who are interested in helping out when volunteers are urgently needed in crisis situations, check out HelpInDisaster.org, a site which helps register and educate those who want to help during disasters so that local resources are not tied up directing the calls of eager volunteers. Teenagers, meanwhile, should check out DoSomething.org, a site targeted at young adults seeking volunteer opportunities in their communities.

6. Embed a Widget on Your Site

Many charities offer embeddable widgets or badges that you can use on your social networking profiles or blogs to show your support. These badges generally serve one of two purposes (or both). They raise awareness of an issue and offer up a link or links to additional information. And very often they are used to raise money.

Mashable’s Summer of Social Good campaign, for example, has a widget that does both. The embeddable widget, which was custom built using Sprout (the creators of ChipIn), can both collect funds and offer information about the four charities the campaign supports.

7. Organize a Tweetup

You can use online social media tools to organize offline events, which are a great way to gather together like-minded people to raise awareness, raise money, or just discuss an issue that’s important to you. Getting people together offline to learn about an important issue can really kick start the conversation and make supporting the cause seem more real. Check out Twestival as an example of an existing movement you can join or use as a model of your own.

Be sure to check out Mashable’s guide to organizing a tweetup to make sure yours goes off without a hitch, or check to see if there are any tweetups in your area to attend that are already organized.

8. Express Yourself Using Video

As mentioned, blog posts are great, but a picture really says a thousand words. The web has become a lot more visual in recent years and there are now a large number of social tools to help you express yourself using video. When you record a video plea or call to action about your issue or charity, you can make your message sound more authentic and real. You can use sites like 12seconds.tv, Vimeo, and YouTube to easily record and spread your video message.

Last week, the Summer of Social Good campaign encouraged people to use video to show support for charity. The #12forGood campaign challenged people to submit a 12 second video of themselves doing something for the Summer of Social Good. That could be anything, from singing a song to reciting a poem to just dancing around like a maniac — the idea was to use the power of video to spread awareness about the campaign and the charities it supports.

If you’re more into watching videos than recording them, Givzy.com enables you to raise funds for charities like Unicef and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital by sharing viral videos by e-mail.

9. Sign or Start a Petition

There aren’t many more powerful ways to support a cause than to sign your name to a petition. Petitions spread awareness and, when successfully carried out, can demonstrate massive support for an issue. By making petitions viral, the social web has arguably made them even more powerful tools for social change. There are a large number of petition creation and hosting web sites out there. One of the biggest is The Petition Site, which is operated by the social awareness network Care2, or PetitionOnline.com, which has collected more than 79 million signatures over the years.

Petitions are extremely powerful, because they can strike a chord, spread virally, and serve as a visual demonstration of the support that an issue has gathered. Social media fans will want to check out a fairly new option for creating and spreading petitions: Twitition, an application that allows people to create, spread, and sign petitions via Twitter.

10. Organize an Online Event

Social media is a great way to organize offline, but you can also use online tools to organize effective online events. That can mean free form fund raising drives, like the Twitter-and-blog-powered campaign to raise money for a crisis center in Illinois last month that took in over $130,000 in just two weeks. Or it could mean an organized “tweet-a-thon” like the ones run by the 12for12k group, which aims to raise $12,000 each month for a different charity.

In March, 12for12k ran a 12-hour tweet-a-thon, in which any donation of at least $12 over a 12 hour period gained the person donating an entry into a drawing for prizes like an iPod Touch or a Nintendo Wii Fit. Last month, 12for12k took a different approach to an online event by holding a more ambitious 24-hour live video-a-thon, which included video interviews, music and sketch comedy performances, call-ins, and drawings for a large number of prizes given out to anyone who donated $12 or more.

Bonus: Think Outside the Box

Social media provides almost limitless opportunity for being creative. You can think outside the box to come up with all sorts of innovative ways to raise money or awareness for a charity or cause. When Drew Olanoff was diagnosed with cancer, for example, he created Blame Drew’s Cancer, a campaign that encourages people to blow off steam by blaming his cancer for bad things in their lives using the Twitter hashtag #BlameDrewsCancer. Over 16,000 things have been blamed on Drew’s cancer, and he intends to find sponsors to turn those tweets into donations to LIVESTRONG once he beats the disease.

Or check out Nathan Winters, who is biking across the United States and documenting the entire trip using social media tools, in order to raise money and awareness for The Nature Conservancy.

The number of innovative things you can do using social media to support a charity or spread information about an issue is nearly endless. Can you think of any others? Please share them in the comments.

Special thanks to VPS.net

A special thanks to VPS.net, who are donating $100 to the Summer of Social Good for every signup they receive this week.

Sign up at VPS.net and use the coupon code “SOSG”to receive 3 Months of FREE hosting on top of your purchased term. VPS.net honors a 30 day no questions asked money back guarantee so there’s no risk.

About the “10 Ways” Series

The “10 Ways” Series was originated by Max Gladwell. This is the second simultaneous blog post in the series. The first ran on more than 80 blogs, including Mashable. Among other things, it is a social media experiment and the exploration of a new content distribution model. You can follow Max Gladwell on Twitter.

This content was originally written by Mashable’s Josh Catone.

[Video Link for Email/Other Subscribers - 60min]

I met Robert last month at Sustainable Brands 09, where he discussed this same topic. This video though, comes from the Interaction 09 conference by the IxDA. While you can watch the whole video if you’d like, I would recommend at least watching from 42:30, during which he talks about the South African mobile health/AIDS project (quite fascinating!).

In his own words:

At the core of all sustainability efforts is behavior change of some kind. Too much of the discussion within the design community has focused on materials and processes, as exemplified by initiatives like the Designers Accord. Yet most of the negative impacts of product and services do not occur at the point of consumption, but through ongoing use. There is a growing awareness amongst Interaction Designers that we must play a central role in understanding existing patterns of behavior and developing new models for motivating meaningful, sustainable behavior change.

To date these efforts have relied on a very rational approach, overlaying additional layers of information onto the products we use to help us better evaluate different choices and see the impact of our behavior. While the reasoning behind this approach is sound, it assumes a very rational, considered response from the consumer. However, we know that most decisions are irrational, particularly when we are presented with overwhelming amounts of data (just look at the financial markets). In order to motivate people to make sustainable changes in their behavior we must appeal to their emotions instead.

This talk will provide an overview of existing design approaches, what is working and not working. Ideas from Cognitive Psychology and Behavioral Economics will be considered in framing a discussion around new approaches that might achieve more meaningful and sustainable impacts.

About Robert:
Robert Fabricant is Vice President of Creative at frog Design where he leads their efforts to expand into new markets. Robert has been with frog since 2001, leading a multidisciplinary creative team in New York in a broad range of initiatives that span product design, interaction design, environments and branded experiences.

He can be found tweeting at: @fabtweet

So I came across this marvelous new book out of the UK called Social by Social, available in print and online. Here’s some snippets from their About page:

Social by Social is a practical guide to using new technologies to create social impact. It makes accessible the tools you need to engage a community, offer services, scale up activities and sustain projects. Whoever you are, it shows you how to take technology and turn it into real world benefits.

We want to help people in the public and third sectors do more good, by showing them the power of these technologies and how to access them. In the process, we hope we can also educate funders and policy workers about the huge shift of mindset and expectations needed to commission these projects successfully, to give the innovators more space to work.

To make it more accessible for everyone reading, I’ve specially compiled a list of all the chapters and sections below. I hope to visit and review some of the case studies in future blog posts. Anyways…enjoy.

Social by Social - Table of Contents

The Shape of Things to Come

1. This is a Book About the Social Uses of Technology
2. You What?
3. So What?
4. Yes, But…
5. So Why…?
6. And So…?

Navigating Social by Social

1. You are Here
2. Where Do You Want to Go?
   1. Context is King
   2. Focus on the goal
   3. Don’t jump for the tool
3. Before Setting Off
   1. What to research
   2. Understanding the technology
4. Down the Rabbit Hole
   1. Getting into the conversation
   2. Experimenting with the technology
5. Designing the Project
   1. Set goals, but expect your users to change things
   2. Dealing with resistance
   3. Making the case
   4. Building a team
   5. Budgeting and allocating resources
6. Engaging the Community
   1. User-centred design
   2. Engaging your future users
   3. Using events to build engagement
7. Building the Technology
   1. An art, not a science
   2. The technology layer cake
   3. What are your options?
   4. Choosing tools
   5. Design for your users
   6. Work in iterations
   7. Remember the 80-20 rule
   8. Choose your words carefully
8. Things Get Real
   1. Attracting users
   2. A marathon, not a sprint
   3. Taking care of your community
   4. Evolving the platform
9. Sustaining the Project
   1. Business models for non-profit services
   2. Challenges for non-profit organisations
   3. Don’t confuse money with value
10. Rounding Up
    1. What to measure
    2. Measuring the unmeasurable
    3. User intelligence
    4. Handling success and failure

Meet the Pioneers

1. The Future Has Already Arrived
2. ColaLife
3. The Nag
4. Genesis: Friend or Foe
5. The Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and Chosen
6. Tudiabetes
7. IDeA: Communities of Practice
8. Savvy Chavvy
9. Talk2Croydon
10. FreqOUT!
11. Patient Opinion

The Social by Social Propositions

A to Z of key terms

1. Jargonbuster
2. Key Concepts
3. Emerging roles

The Companion

1. Essential Tools
2. Resources
   1. Search and Search Engine Optimisation
   2. Listening, bookmarking and aggregation
   3. Metrics and Return on Investment
   4. Blogging and microblogging
   5. Online Communities
   6. Social networking
   7. Rich media and content-sharing platforms
   8. Marketing
   9. Project Management and Collaboration
   10. Innovation and risk management
   11. Events and facilitation
   12. Website design and content
   13. Legal, licensing and content sharing
3. The Social by Social Game
4. How-Tos
5. Still Want More?

What this Means for You

1. What this means for the Government
2. What this means for Managers
3. What this means for Charities
4. What this means for Membership Organisations
5. What this means for Public Services
6. What this means for Social Entrepreneurs
7. What this means for Campaigners
8. What this means for All of Us

A Word From the Authors

About Social by Social

1. About this Book
2. Why Social by Social?
3. The Creation of Social by Social
4. How to Publish a Book
5. List of Images
6. The End

[Video Link for Email/Other Subscribers - 3min]

From AdAge comes this quick story coverage, as quoted from the video description on YouTube:

NEW YORK (YouTube.com) — In an effort to improve the public’s perceptions of its products, the plastics industry will launch a $10 million social media blitz aimed at Millennials. Created by the Apco Worldwide agency for SPI, the industry trade group, the four-year effort is designed to spark viral conversations among Millennials about the many benefits of plastic.

It wasn’t a marketing agency that put this together for the U.S. Red Cross. It was a leader within them: Wendy Wharman.

While you can browse the handbook for useful tidbits in using social media, I recommend examining the larger case study at hand of how a nonprofit with regional chapters can collectively better employ online marketing, raise funds, and connect with audiences - with agility.

Below is the slideshow and table of contents. Accompanying this on the Google Sites page, but not shown here, are online communication guidelines.

Slideshow Link for Email/Other Subscribers]

Outline

1. 1. What will the guidelines guide me to do?
   2. What will I find in here?
   3. Who is this document for?
   4. How should I use this document?
   5. A note from the editors

1. The 12 steps to social media adoption for your chapter or blood region
   1. Step 1: Get Social Media Savvy
   2. Step 2: Learn National’s Social Media Philosophy
   3. Step 3: Learn to Listen to the Existing Conversation
   4. Step 4: Engage and Participate in National Social Media Presence
   5. Step 5: Follow Local Social Media Activities
   6. Step 6: Evaluate
   7. Step 7: Create Your Local Social Media Strategy and Goals
   8. Step 8: Choose Social Media Tools that will Achieve Your Goals
      1. Blogging
      2. Facebook
         1. Facebook Page
         2. Facebook Cause
      3. Flickr
      4. YouTube
      5. Twitter
   9. Step 9: Consult with the National Social Media Team
   10. Step 10: Implement Your Plan
   11. Step 11: Measure your successes and challenges
   12. Step 12: Send your links and measurement data to national so we can aggregate the great stuff you’re doing

1. Resources
   1. Get an RSS reader
   2. Put these blogs in your RSS reader

Most importantly: Have fun! Be human! Be honest!

[Video Link for Email/Other Subscribers - 21min]

Highlight clips put together from the documentary “Blue Vinyl” - http://imdb.com/title/tt0303307/

I put this together because the story needs to be told to a larger audience. It was originally produced in 2002, before the era of YouTube. Right now it’s collecting dust in distribution neverland.

The documentary film discusses the history of vinyl and its toxicity in the context of investigative journalism, with the backstory of the director’s parent’s decision to use blue vinyl siding for their house. Remarkable story in all, but what it shows us is the danger this plastic holds within its entire life cycle. Consumer exposure to vinyl & PVC in a solid, fabricated state is relatively benign. But what about when babies or pets are putting PVC toys in their mouths and chewing on it? Ewww! Secondly, the vinyl chloride presents a health and environmental hazard in its production, fabrication, and end-of-life scenarios. Recycling options are practically non-existent. The big evil byproduct are Dioxins.

The father of Green Chemistry and EPA Research Chief Paul Anastas, has been quite vocal about supporting its elimination and calling for innovating practical alternatives. Let’s look at the practical steps for achieving the solution:

• Chemical innovation and funding for developing substitutes for the applications in which vinyl & PVC are currently used
• Designers and Engineers seeking alternative materials first
• Consumer education about the issues, and practical advice on how they can adjust their purchasing habits
• Retailer pressure to avoid purchasing items with these materials and/or category managers expressing avoidance preferences (vocal/written) in new-item RFPs (request for proposal) and during presentations
• Groundswell support for companies using safe alternative materials; developing effective marketing copy and social media campaigns that stress product benefits first, human health & social responsibility second, price third, environmental benefits fourth.

So these clips constitute 21.4% (21min of 98min total). Under “Fair Use” for the purposes of review and citizen journalism, I hope that these curated segments will be not only legal to show, but also interesting for viewers.

Related Posts:

• Green Chemistry and Environmental Health
• The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry

How Confucianism Could Curb Global Warming

This article talks about China and its government’s consideration of philosophy’s role (Confucianism, Taosim, Buddhism) as a moral groundwork for sustainability and the preservation of natural capital. Since I’m a student of eastern philosophy, it grabbed me right away. There is a distinct role for living philosophy to play in the direction of people’s lives, organizational, and societal behavior.

Faith and philosophy can play a massive role in the world’s transformation to an increasingly sustainable society,at least from a personal living and consumption habits standpoint. What it comes down to, across all religions/philosophies, is the understanding of interdependence, cause/effects, and generalized systems thinking.

It’s my hope that these last lines of thought can reach wider social reach, because from my point of view (and belief that we’re inherently wired to care), this acts as a preemptive psychological mechanism for always doing the right thing to begin with, or at least being more prone to consider the causes & effects of actions we (may sometimes for various reasons) take. Both self and other-interest can be served.

But back to the story though. If many of China’s citizens accept the moral responsibility to ensure the future livelihoods of their children, where does that leave America? Much of this country is agnostic, much of it Christian. The orthodoxic nature of Christianity has been world-renowned to place social/interpersonal care at the top of its agenda, but drastically less-so nature.

Given the American affinity toward pluralism of faiths and ideologies, the burden will be on each of them to integrate this systemic thinking and care for nature into its teachings. It is my sincere belief that many of today’s ills cannot be solely addressed through reactivity and compassion. Rather, we must smartly address the cause of many sorrows. Leadership, Education, and Awareness is the essential first step, followed by rational guidance.

From Ralf Beuker @iterations, comes this awesome diagram he posted on Flickr last month (click on picture or here for full detail version). Here’s his official description:

“In the course of the strategic collaboration with my friend and business partner Erik Roscam Abbing from Zilverinnovation.com we’ve recently dedicated a whole day on framing our key areas of expertise in a meaningful concept.

What we came up with is a map that is defining our view on what a ‘Design Strategy’ actually comprises and how to transform ‘Design Strategy’ into actionable, logic steps.

In order to give interested folks a better idea on the tools and outcomes of our approach we’ve added some examples from recent client projects as well.”

Great job guys! Love it