Alan Gutierrez

I’ve been invited to a poverty conference tomorrow. Those two words together made me groan. When I mention it to any of the neighbors, the make that almost laugh exhale puff, because it is that close to being funny. I’m sure this is being conducted in New Orleans, because of the horrendous poverty exposed by the levee breech, but New Orleans residents have had too close a look at nonprofit world. They are launching a website as part of the event. Yes, website. Take that poverty! Poverty is an industry. This sounds like a trade show.

The Supernova 12. Did they?

Recently, I’ve decided to fund the further growth and development of my public relations and social media venture by issuing underwear bonds.

These are bonds that are backed by the contents of my underwear drawer. Not only does this include an assortment of 17 Fruit of the Loom boxer briefs, but also 39 Hanes Cushion Crew socks. They are all white. Making a matching pair is a snap.

Thus, the $2,300,000 I intend to raise will be secured by my haberdashery, which will continue to serve me in my role as Chief Executive Officer, but will be promptly liquified upon default. (Also, laundered.)

Hat Tip: Recovery Czar Dr. Ed Blakely for the novel idea to create an asset-backed security from a liablity.

I replaced the PHP implementation of Textile with RedCloth. Now I have the same Textile interpreter for all the 37Signals applications, Instiki, and WordPress. It is the ugliest hack.

I’m certain that PHP’s effect on the brain is similar to ether. I despise this language. It is joke gone too far.

I’m in email triage. I am applying my new habit. My new habit for email triage is to tag. This is the processing step of my getting things done regimen. (Getting Things Done is an organizational principle for people who work in information and communications heavy fields.)

Today, I come across an email message from an academic and I take pause. Why don’t I care about helping academics with their social research on New Orleans, I wonder? They are kind enough students. They mean well.

Certainly, there are good friends in New Orleans who’s work I assist in any way I can, who work for or study at a university. I’m referring to the academics that rotate in and out of our crisis.

When someone writes me asking for help with the Road Home, housing, or for a connection into the neighborhood organizations when they are a neighbor, I take the time to answer, as best I can. This is my mission.

However, someone who doesn’t have connections and is turning to me for connections, for the purpose of a paper, doesn’t motivate. That’s an email that sits in my inbox. Now, finally, it triggers the business sense that I’m struggling to develop.

Perhaps it’s common sense of some kind. (I have common sense, I just don’t listen to it.)

Tim Ryan of NOVAC sent me an email yesterday looking for technical assistance on a grant. I called immediately. A successful local nonprofit needs technology input to raise money. Common sense says that this is perfectly aligned with my professional objectives. Common sense says pick up the phone and call.

Fortunately, I have emails that are just that actionable, that I can place in contrast to the request to do public relations work for a research paper. An inbox is one imperative after another. It helps you tackle that inbox if you know how to say no to a bulk of those calls to action.

Getting over it, and going pro, means that you must realize that helping is not question of equity. Not every request needs to be fulfilled. You can tell when a request should be fulfilled, because it tugs on your sense of decency. That is the mission oriented stuff.

Otherwise, it’s all business. (Ergh. Something about that sentiment makes me wince. I am an approval junkie.)

At second glance, the academic seeks interviewees. In return, I’m offered the research for any projects. That sounds like doing work and in return I get more work.

I don’t know that we have time for more interviews that do not lead directly to material help for our recovery.

How do you decide to help an academic with their research?

Originally, I posted this in the comments of another blog, but want it as a point of reference.

How does someone engage with the industry about (one specific example of) real world use of social networking, without being overwhelmed by the Web 2.0 nonsense?

I’ve been teaching people how to use blogging to tell stories about their recovery in New Orleans. Stories and information sharing. People who’ve taken interest in my project in the industry have this horrifying attitude:

I couldn’t help but notice that you’ve created a user base, you obviously have not heard of the transformative power of (tagging / rss / podcasting / ajax). Have you told your user base about the exciting new startup datataggr.tv? You enter in all you contact information, the contact information of everyone you know, and then you (tag it/syndicate it/podcast it/jax off to it). It empowers your user base to be empowered.

Seeing as how there is no cost to me to have you deploy, endorse, or provide technical support for datataggr.tv, there must be no cost to you to do the same.

I’m sure that if you set people in front of datataggr.tv they will gladly spend hours exploring the user interface, divulging personal secrets, and that they will forgo their recovery planning meetings, coffee klatches, lunches, church services, mardi gras krewe parties, jazz concerts, and second line parades so that they can build their social network.

I can’t tell you how many times someone sends me a link to a startup website and says, hey bonehead, you need to sign people up to this one. Extra groan for each instance of the word empower.

I’ve got a nonprofit with a mission and it’s not to provide startups with beta-testers.

I know that some of these startups end up getting sold on eBay, with Dukes of Hazzard lunch boxes. How can someone seriously suggest that I direct people to pour their post-K recovery stories into the latest Web 2.0 information orifice?

I flog Flickr and WordPress. I’m thrilled when someone who attends a workshop actually starts to post entries in their new recovery journal, or neighborhood newsletter, (not a blog, it’s a FUD word).

I’ve answered my own question. It’s that stupid long tail again.

I went to the communications and outreach meeting that Concordia held. It was disturbing.

We are shortly approaching the anniversary of the flood. In the meeting, we were asked to brainstorm on ideas outreach. Let’s define the problem, and start spit-balling. This is where the frustration the neighborhoods felt, is felt by me. You cannot tell me that we need to start with a blank sheet of paper. Bettie Hill was literally writing “Phone Banking” on a blank sheet of paper on an easel.

WWL-TV was there. Not to brainstorm, sadly. They were there to film the event for the evening news. The correspondent had to explain to Stephen Bingler, that there were ethical boundaries that prevented WWL from participating, now that they had been invited to cover the meeting, rather than contribute to it. Despite the fact that she wishes she could, she would have to be invited, and no, it was too late to change.

That was a glaring failure on the part of this krewe. It was a stunning admission.
It is now obvious that television to them means publicity for Concordia, and not outreach. Had they been in touch at all with local television during the UNOP carnival?

Concordia did not want television at the UNOP meetings. Concordia wants to control the process, as if it were a product launch.

Which it may well be.

The meeting was another display of the Concordia’s “Gosh, this is hard,” fig leaf. They have no idea what they are doing, and they have no shame in displaying their ignorance, despite the handsome sum they are being paid for their guidance in the process. Yet they have no guidance to offer. They best they can do, is beg for answers at every turn. They love to remind us that this is a unique catastrophe, and to our criticisms, they respond, well can you suggest anything better?

The answer to this tidbit of rhetoric, is always yes, but it’s too late by then. Without the easel with the big sheets of paper, how can they capture your idea? Gosh, this is hard.

That was the case with my recent article, For the Record, This Is Not An Election. In it, I offered a viable solution for voting. One that deserves a follow up. There are may viable solutions on offer over at Think New Orleans. Myself and other volunteers are following up on these daily.

There an an old software industry trick. It’s called Vaporware. Tell your use based something new and better is coming, gather user feedback, have press conferences, and while they wait they’ll make do with what we’ve got for them already.

By promising answers and not delivering, this process obstructs progress, it makes us wait until the official communications and outreach plan is released, doing without. Suffering.