Wednesday Caption

I guest-tweeted for Lap The Lough using the hashtag #LTL11. It was great to see the event grow, and to see the new faces, as well as people from the previous laps. 

Just like last year everyone got a T-shirt designed by Marc Johns so I thought it would be appropriate to use his image for this week's Wednesday Caption.

Image by Marc Johns

Although the event was great fun for many it was marred by a nasty accident which resulted in a serious injury of a young woman taking part in the event. The accident set the tone for the day for the organisers who had issue upon issue to deal with.

I must say that the way in which the Lap The Lough Organisers responded to the criticism has been absolutely exemplary. It shows courage, bravery and real committment to deal with this level of criticism transparently and openly. They have always done this and it has helped the growth of the event and the loyalty of the lappers.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the young woman who was involved in the accident and her family and friends.

Wednesday Caption

This week's Wednesday Caption is taken from a photo taken from Lap The Lough. Lap The Lough is an annual event of over 1000 cyclists cycling around Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland all raising money for their favourite charities.

Last year I was invited to do live guest tweeting and video making. They have invited me back again for this year's event which is scheduled for this Sunday 28th August 2011. There are still 100 places left which you can sign up for on the day.

You can follow this year's event with the hashtag #LTL11. I'll be using @lapthelough.

Last week we got our first caption from Tucker Sautter in USA as well as a contribution from Peter Young. And of course our own from Nick and myself. We're delighted that this is taking off. This week's amazing photo comes from Lap The Lough organiser Eugene Hamill. Please feel free to give us your funnies.

Neagh problem!

Image by Eugene Hamill.

Guest Tweeting For Lap The Lough

I have been asked to do some weird gigs in my lifetime but this is the first time I have been asked to be a guest Tweeter.

Lap The Lough is an annual event now running in its fifth year (or lap as they are calling it). It's all about raising money for charity by doing a circuit of Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland on a bike.

The brief is to make it as memorable as possible. I have got myself a new iPhone4 for the gig. You can see my first video here.

The event is on Sunday 29th August 2010. You can follow my Tweets via the hashtag #ltl10 on twitter.com/LapTheLough. Neagh problem!

Image by johngirvin

Happy International Women's Day!

I would just like to wish everyone a happy International Women's Day from Bright Beehive. The International Women's Day is a "global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future."

I would like to use today to highlight the cause of one of our clients ASTI. Acid Survivors Trust International is a charity aimed at helping the victims of acid violence. Most of these victims are women, but not all.

Image by lonoakThere is a popular misconception that acid violence occurs in the eastern part of the world when in fact the act of using violence as a weapon originated in the UK during the Victorian times. Also, the popularity of this crime is frighteningly popular.

One particular victim from the UK, Katie Piper, brought great awareness to the crime of acid violence last year. She is now working along with ASTI and I would like to applaud her for the courage and strength she has shown.

I would also like to commend Princess Anne who said that she would not be patron for any more charities. When ASTI approached her however she agreed to be patron of this one last one.

Once again happy International Women's Day. If you would like to learn more about ASTI please visit http://www.acidviolence.org

Katie Piper and The Online Strategy Of A Charity

I've just watched the Channel 4 documentary Katie: My Beautiful Face. Over the past few months I have been working with a charity called Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI) which is a non-government organisation aimed at helping victims of acid attack. Nick and I hooked up with ASTI when they were at a crossroads in terms of online strategy. They could have outsourced their online activity but instead decided to work with Bright Beehive to develop their online strategy and build up their skills in house.

ASTI is aimed at helping victims get medical treatment, rehabilitation and reintegration into the community whilst offering legal assistance. Though global, they are a small charity and have a very hands-on approach with the victims of acid violence so it was a no-brainer that they needed to take as much control of their online destiny possible.

Being a very small organisation and, like all small organisations with large demands, ASTI face the difficult task of raising enough money to survive. I think it is a very exciting and yet challenging time for them simultaneously. Bright Beehive really want ASTI to do well in the online social arena, so much so that we are working on a performance related scheme. The ultimate goal is that ASTI folds because there are so few acid attacks in the world. I hope that day comes sooner rather than later and our online partnership is a thing of the past.

All of this seems totally insignificant when I hear Katie tell her story. What a true legend she is. With all my visits to ASTI and hearing the stories from the volunteers, nothing prepared me for hearing a first hand account. I urge you to please donate whatever you can to ASTI. Thank you.

Katie: My Beautiful Face, ASTI and me

Having a small charity for a client is a strange experience. Compared to the large corporates, professional service firms, or small commercial businesses that I have worked for, there is a discernible but hard to define difference. Perhaps it is because the enthusiasm and motivation of the people is deeper but does not need to be frequently affirmed, and reaffirmed? Perhaps it is the slight weariness that comes from having to work with hand me down tools, and inadequate (by successful corporate standards) resources? Perhaps it is the clarity of, and buy in to, a vision that most commercial organisations cannot realistically hope to achieve? In any case it is a different mix.

by akegWorking for ASTI has more than its share of joyful moments but I cannot put aside the nature of the charity. A large part of what they do is helping to repair the lives of those who have been victims of violence, where acid is the weapon. The pictures of the victims harrow me. In part it is that the attack seems targeted at the eyes, which for me are close to the essence of the person.  It makes me feel sad when I see the pictures. My wife teases me that I won't read a book if I know it has a sad ending. So I try and avoid the pictures and try and try not to think about the victims, and that in turn makes me feel embarassed and guilty because I do not belive that can I really support ASTI whilst avoiding thinking about what they are there for.

The last few days have helped me resolve my feelings.  It has been seeing the interviews on TV with Katie Piper, who has been the subject of an horrific acid attack. The full programme is on Channel 4 tonight at 9pm. The 8 minute clip of her interview on the BBC Breakfast programme moved me close to tears at the point where she talks to her mother. The courage that Katie demonstrates in so many ways is awesome: by coming out and telling her story; by her day to day grit; by her determination to see the attack as something that did not destroy her life but just put it onto another tack; by smiling; by not hiding; by so many things. Her courage has raised her above being a victim.

And that has made me reassess my feelings for the hundreds of other, mainly, women who I have been seeing as victims whose lives have been destroyed. I can now think of them as subjects of violence who may, with the help of organisations like ASTI, be able to do what Katie has done.  I can now feel a true fellowship for them as equals not victims. I can now see the person and not the facial scars. I can now see the opportunity for a happy ending. And I can now engage with what ASTI is doing without flinching.

Thank you Katie.

Nick's Links

by Max KlingensmithOur work means that we are always on the look-out for blog posts on social computing.  We are interested in case-studies, discussion of strategy or policy, on tips and best practices, in fact on all aspects of the topic.   We use RSS to follow specific blogs and to keep a persistent search for certain terms across the Blogosphere and Twitterverse.  Each week we bookmark dozens of articles to Delicious, under the account name BrightBeehive – you can see them all there. 

This is a short selection of posts that I have found of most interest over the last week.

Seeking: How the brain hard-wires us to love Google, Twitter, and texting. And why that's dangerous. By Emily Yoffe.  This post explains why seeking information becomes addictive in the most basic sense of the word –where getting a fix is not fulfilling but compels you to look for more. Euan Semple’s newsletter alerted me to this.

10 Twitter Tips for Nonprofit Organizations. By Heather Mansfield. The whole blog is full of advice for charities and not for profit organisations.  But the advice is good for all and well written.  This particular post is from 6 months ago.  Not sure why it hasn’t surfaced earlier, but Heather posts regularly.

And two on a similar theme.

Implement Social Media Guidelines, Now. By Dan Schawbel makes the case for organisations to develop social media policies before they are forced to by some perceived or actual disaster. He also makes the point that it is in the interests of individuals working for an organisation to push for such guidelines for their own benefit.

To Tweet Or Not to Tweet – Handling Employee Use of Social Technologies. By Joshua-Michéle Ross is about more than Twitter, again it makes the case for having guidelines and policies, but also suggests good starting points.  Available as video and short transcript.