[IAEP] [Grassroots-l] Grassroots building: learning from other campaigns

[Edward Cherlin]

+1 for organization.

On Sun, Oct 12, 2008 at 4:28 PM, Mel Chua <mel at melchua.com> wrote:
> Okay. How can we learn from this? (Ignore, if you like, who and what the
> campaign is for - my point is that we should learn from their tactics
> whether or not we agree with their cause.)
>
> http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/546
>
> "We decided in terms of timeline that [our organizers] would not be
> measured by the amount of voter contacts they made in the summer—but
> instead by the number of volunteers that they were recruiting, training
> and testing. It was much more an infrastructure focus. So there would be
> no calls from Chicago saying, 'Why haven't you made more calls?!'
> Instead there would be calls saying, 'Where are your neighborhood team
> volunteers?' Or, if the numbers seemed high, 'Are they real?' It was a
> whole shift in mentality that was really, really good."
>
> Also, see:
>
>     "Rather than say we have X leadership roles to fill, we're creating
> leadership roles for as many leaders as we have. So we have people in
> charge of whatever they ARE.

Exactly.

> We are saying, 'What's your social
> network?'

My biggest and most productive network so far is on LinkedIn, but I
have just become an Editor on Wiser Earth. I list others at
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/User:Mokurai

> We say, 'OK, you're The Balcony Coordinator—your job is to go
> party at Balcony [a local bar] every weekend—like you do anyways—but now
> wear a Barack Obama button—and bring voter reg forms.' Or, 'Hey, you
> work at Brunos—when you go out on deliveries—as long as it's OK with
> your boss—ask people if they're registered. You're going to be our, um,
> pizza coordinator.' "

I'm the Bay Area bid chairman for PyCon. We had an XO code sprint in
2008, a booth on the display floor, and a talk by Ivan Krstić. I would
like to have multiple code sprints in the future for Bitfrost,
Glucose, and Fructose, and bring in children to teach the grown-ups
how to use an XO.

I give talks on the XO and Sugar at numerous user groups and conferences.

I administer Haitian Kreyól and Cambodian Khmer localization for
Sugar, because the GiveOneGetOne program announced its intention of
sending more than 10,000 XOs to each, but gave no thought to getting
the software ready. I'm always on the lookout for other essential jobs
that nobody is doing.

I am recruiting people and organizations for an Earth Treasury project
combining renewable electricity research, broadband (WiMax) Internet,
and microfinance with XOs. We will also tackle issues in curricula,
redesign of textbooks, and teaching children around the world how to
create sustainable international businesses together.

I'm getting ready for a trip to Ghana and Uganda to get computers into
schools and set up community businesses in conjunction with local
organizations.

I will be out raising money to do much more of this, and to support more of you.

I also heckle management when they won't listen to or talk to the
volunteer community. See http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Controversies. BTW,
it's happening again, and I am about to go public with more of it.
That's what I like most about being a volunteer. They can't fire you
for doing your job.

I do some of my heckling and also boosting the XO at olpcnews.com.

> Discuss.
>
> -Mel
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