Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age

by Allison Fine

Overview

A new and empowering way of looking at and organizing social change! How can we move from serving soup until our elbows ache to solving chronic social ills like hunger or homelessness?  How can we break the disastrous cycle of low expectations that leads to chronic social failures?

The answers to these questions lie within Momentum, a fresh, zestful way of thinking about and organizing social change work. Today's digital tools—including but not limited to e-mail, the Web, cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), even iPods—promote interactivity and connectedness.  But as Momentum shows, these new social media tools are important not for their wizardry but because they connect us to one another in inexpensive, accessible, and massively scalable ways.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780787984441
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	09/29/2006
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.45(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.91(d)

About the Author

Allison H. Fine is a successful social entrepreneur and writer dedicated to helping grassroots organizations and activists implement and sustain social change efforts. Fine is a senior fellow at Demos, a network of action and ideas based in New York City. She is the founder of Innovation Network, Inc. (InnoNet), and the former CEO of E-Volve Foundation. Currently she serves on the board of directors of Just Vision. She lives on the banks of the Hudson River with her husband, Scott, and three sons, Jack, Zack, and Max.Join her interactive conversation on social change in the digital age at [e-mail].

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Table of Contents

Foreword (Joan Blades).

Acknowledgments.

Preface: The Promise of Connected Activism.

Introduction.

Part I: Connectedness in Action.

1. Celebrating Self-Determination: Developing a Mind-Set of Powerfulness.

2. Becoming a Connected Activist: Enhancing the Effectiveness of Social Media.

3. Beyond Bowling Alone: Leveraging Social Networks for Social Change.

4. All Aboard! Embracing the Leveling Effect of Social Media.

5. Embracing Authentic Conversations: Overcoming the Listening Deficit.

6. Powering the Edges: Shifting Power from the Inside Out.

7. Encouraging Individual Activism: Working Together to Optimize Your Efforts.

Part II: The Future of Social Change.

8. Peeking into the Digital Future: Balancing the Opportunities Ahead.

9. My Diet Starts Next Tuesday: Embracing a Recipe for Success Now.

10. Are We There Yet? Measuring Progress in New Ways.

11. The Future of Funding: Rethinking Philanthropy and Fundraising Using Social Media.

Conclusion: Moving Forward as a Connected Activist.

Resource A: Free Schuylkill River Uses CitizenSpeak to Expand Its Coalition (Jo Lee).

Resource B: The Cluetrain Manifesto (Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, David Weinberger, Rick Levine).

Notes.

The Author.

Index.

Editorial Reviews

Fine (founder, Innovation Network, Inc.), a New York social entrepreneur, writes on the way new social media-the Internet, cell phones, digital tools-allow activists to create new groupings of self-directed and self-responsible progressives. She believes that in this new connected era of the Internet, activist networks trump hierarchy, and she touches on how social media have already facilitated progressive actions. She points out the need for activists and progressive organizations to harness the new technologies while genuinely listening to those engaged in the new social media. She also ponders the future of activism in a connected age. This work contains some practical-and even inspiring-advice but is really a meditation on the interaction between technology and traditional activism. Most useful in academic and large public libraries. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

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