NewsCloud's Community Starter Blog

Wordles - Representation of Hot Dish Stories and Comments

At the Knight Foundation's Future of News and Civic Media Conference at MIT this week, Martin Wattenberg just presented Wordle - a few minutes later... 

1) Representation of all titles and abstracts of stories posted publicly to Hot Dish by moderators and community members:

2) Representation of all comment text posted publicly to Hot Dish by community members:

Hot Dish Action Team leaders: putting it all out there for the environment

Get a behind-the-scenes look at some of Hot Dish's top scorers! These folks are keeping us on our toes with all of their great actions for the environment so we wanted to know more about them - and thought other Hot Dishers might too!

So, who wants to be a backpack journalist and recently got her letter to the editor published in a local paper? What leader says everyone should go veg, and is gunning for the Arctic trip even though her first thought was, "Wow. That would be cold"?  FInd out below...

Allison C. (23,000+ points!)

What are your professional goals?

My professional goal since high school was to be a journalist after I took a journalism elective class and met my mentor who I still talk to and meet with on a regular basis for advice on school and life in general... she actually helped me stay on the print track rather than online)...and then in university it turned into being a backpack journalist (we are being taught in school that the more you can multi-task and the more aspects you know about this struggling profession the more permanent job offers you'll have) and as a backpack journalist my dream goal is National Geographic or Frommers or Time so I can travel the world and write about people's lives...and now it is even more focused into environmental journalism...this area of our profession is growing exponentially at a tremendous pace and will only continue to do so, because let's face it...we all know this: no one likes to hear anything happy in the news, if you realize that...we're also taught that...people are only intersted in the bad...and right now, that's where the enviornment is....and if I can travel and report, photograph and create multimedia projects on people in their environments being effected by all these climate changes, scarce resources, and conflicting opinions...then I feel I can be their lifeline...a voice for the voiceless.

What's your favorite Hot Dish challenge?
My favorite challenge on Hot Dish has been the letter-to-the-editor, because it has allowed me to step outside of my regular journalistic values of being objective. I was allowed to take a stance on a subject matter and let my opinion out. It was actually published in The Arizona Republic newspaper in print and online, and online you can see the opinions others actually wrote back in regards to my letter and so far...they have all been against it, calling me out and everything, so that's been really cool cause I know that people are actually out there reading what I have to say, even if they do disagree. 

How did you hear about Hot Dish, and what did you think?

I heard about Hot Dish in an e-mail sent out from my school. When I saw it I clicked the sign up now link because I am a regular Facebook user and wanted to see how an application could do this. This has actually been the only application I use on Facebook because it's doing more than say...crossing the river on the Oregon Trail, or sucking my friend's blood because I'm a vampire instead of a werewolf...it's educating me and making me feel like my time online is doing something good...and it's even getting me out into my community more and making me re-connect with old friends on these topics.

Kelly Cos (8,500+ points!)

Do you feel like one person really can make a difference?
Of course! I'll admit that occasionally I'll become discouraged and feel like it's impossible for me to make a difference, but then I remember people like Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mother Theresa. People have so much influence on one another that if someone is working towards changing something in the world, they will no doubt establish followers who are all working towards a common goal. It's all about doing your part and influencing others to do the same. 

What prize are you gunning for?
The trip to the Arctic of course! When I first heard about it, I was like "Wow. That would be cold." But as I thought about it further I realized that it's a once in a lifetime opportunity that I would love to experience (especially since it might not be around much longer...).

What’s one thing everyone should do to help the environment?
Go Veg! Seriously... It's the best thing you can do for the environment as well as your health. The production of meat is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than transportation.

Jamie Nicole Jinx (18,000+ points!)

Do you feel like one person really can make a difference?

I feel like I can make a difference! Especially with facebook and all of the ways to communicate on the internet, it is a lot easier for people to see what others are doing and get inspired. 

How did you hear about Hot Dish, and what did you think?

I first saw hot dish on Grist's home page. It said something about facebook, so I thought I would check it out. When I saw that I could win a trip to the Arctic, I got super excited and thought I'd give it a shot. Now there is no turning back!

What are your professional goals?

I am a K-12 art teacher, but after working in outdoor education at Ferry Beach Ecology School in Maine, I have been seriously considering outdoor education. I'm not a scientist or biologist, I'm just a teacher who loves everything about nature. Right now, I'm traveling and doing seasonal work, but in the future when I "settle down", I will be happy doing anything related to education and working with kids.

Dave Scott (21,000+ points!)

Do you feel like one person really can make a difference?

I feel like one person can really make a difference only under extraordinary circumstances, as with Rachel Carson or Ed Muskie. For most people, and most of the time, no, I don't.

How did you hear about Hot Dish and what did you think?

When I first heard about Hot Dish, I didn't think much of it, until I saw that it was being co-run by Grist, which impressed me.

What prize are you gunning for?

I don't gun for prizes, or gun for things. That's not a mindset I enjoy.

What are your professional goals?

My professional goals are to work connecting people with place, in a setting where I can educate people without lecturing them or talk at them.

What's your favorite Hot Dish challenge?

My favorite challenge... write your local lawmaker. When pols know enough of their constituents are calling for something, they do it.

What's one thing you think everyone can do to help the environment?

One thing everyone can do for the environment... make their homes efficient. Simply switching off, turning down, and unplugging saves people money while helping the environment. Saving money is something everyone can get behind, even non-treehuggers.

Hot Dish and MnDaily Featured in Knight Center's News Leadership 3.0

Facebook: Engaging young people in news

Two experiments look at ways to engage young people with news (and potentially with advertisers!)

Is Facebook a potential missing link between young people and news consumption?

With a third of young people saying they get no news on a given day, two just-launched experiments are putting their content on a new Facebook application and using an “Action Team” model to engage young users.

Read more

Hot Dish weekly winners: Dishin' it out for the environment!

Things are really heating up on Hot Dish! Last week there were tons of award winners as we gave out 10 adoptions of monkeys at the Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary, 20 gift certificates to socially-conscious t-shirt maker, Common Threadz, and 50 $25 iTunes cards.

This week Hot Dish-ers are competing for 40 $25 gift certificates to greenandmore.com and 6 $50 REI gift certificates. The competition is already hot and heavy, with Allison C. and Jamie Nicole Jinx neck and neck at over 1,000 points each  - and it's only Tuesday!

If you're not in on the action, you're really missing out. Join the Hot Dish community now!

Hot Dish weekly winners: Dishin' it out for the environment!

Congratulations to this week's weekly prize winners on Hot Dish! This week Dave Scott, Inna Leavitt, Kelly Cos, Jamie Jinx, Ian Erickson and Brittney Herzog each won a $50 gift certificate to TicketsNow. Hope they all enjoy whatever fun event they cash 'em in for!

A whole slew of other Hot Dish-ers got a fun, 100% recycled license plate frame proclaiming "My other car runs on two feet". 

Next up, top Action Team point earners are eligible for, awwww...., adoptions of needy monkeys at the Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary, a premiere facility for rescued primates, gift certificates for really cool CommonThreadz t-shirts and $25 iTunes gift cards!

Hot Dish on the Tube: Can social networking save the environment?

Before former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens called the Internet a series of tubes, there was the original tube, television ... today, Hot Dish crossed over from it's Facebook home onto the old-school "tube" in North Carolina:

Environmentally-friendly teacher, Kevin Murphy, signifies the importance behind the project. "Obviously, our kids are the future. They are the ones who are going to grow up and be our political leaders, they're going to be our environmentalists, they're going to be our athletes and the more they know about the environment, the more they care about the environment the more they're going to get the message out to help out the environment," he said. "It's going to get out to millions of kids. It's going to be the not-dorky thing to do - to go pick up and help clean up trash. It's going to be the cool thing to do,” Murphy said.

Read: Can social networking save the environment?

Watch the video here 

Visit our press room for more coverage

Applying Hot Dish Technology to Online Organizing

Many organizations use news and current events to keep their websites fresh and engaging, but until recently, the tools to fully harness these features in organizing strategies has been missing.

Last week, NewsCloud announced Hot Dish, a joint research-driven project with Grist.org and University of Minnesota researchers, funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. With news readership among young people on the decline, we are seeking new ways of engaging this audience using news and current events on social networks where time online is skyrocketing.

Hot Dish is the first of several publications being used to experiment with engaging younger readers on Facebook.

For two months, 16- to 25- year old U.S. residents can sign up for the Hot Dish action team, share news and participate in one or more online and offline challenges. Completion of these challenges earn them points which place them in competition for some great eco-prizes: from a trip to the Arctic with Quark Expeditions complete with CO² offsets, to a green MacBook, a $100 nonprofit donation of their designation or $150 in yoga classes.

The kinds of challenges they can take on vary widely. Some challenges reward participation online in the Hot Dish community e.g. posting stories, sharing a comment, inviting their friends to the application. But many challenges require them to get involved in their communities e.g. installing a CFL light bulb, hanging their clothes out to dry, writing a letter to lawmakers or to the local newspaper, volunteering or taking part in an earth day activity. There is even a bonus challenge that allows for improvisation.

When young people submit their challenges, they are often required to share photo or video evidence of their accomplishments. After our Hot Dish moderator reviews these, points are awarded and the member’s story is shared with the entire Hot Dish community in the action feed.

We don’t think it’s necessary to provide prizes as incentives. For many communities, being seen as an active online member is enough recognition. However, for the purpose of building a large community quickly for this research, we decided to test the use of incentives for this project.

Hot Dish helps us keep tabs on the demographic of our community, as well as the issues and stories that are driving participation and growing in importance. We can even link challenges to specific stories. For example, later this month, we’ll be sharing stories with the Hot Dish community about the need for Earth to return to levels of 350 ppm CO². With each story, we’ll encourage members to take specific actions related to the 350 movement.

By leveraging Facebook, Hot Dish helps mission-driven organizations reach not just their members – but also their members’ friends. Hot Dish features have been designed to drive and reward interactions between readers and between readers and their friends. This makes Hot Dish an outstanding recruitment and retention solution.

Hot Dish provides support for many of the advanced Facebook application elements: minifeed stories, the profile box, the wall publisher, email attachments, the application tab, notifications and requests. With Facebook, we can quickly determine which of our members are the most highly networked and the Hot Dish leader board helps us identify our most active community members.

   

 

 

Not only does Hot Dish provide mechanisms for tracking member activity online and offline, but it gathers statistics about the activities of the community for our research, data which is also helpful to organizations wanting to learn more about their online membership. Facebook also provides statistics data with each application. And, integration with Google Analytics is also quite easy.

The technology behind Hot Dish has been built to be easily replicable. In fact, next month, we’re launching two more sites for the University of Minnesota and University of Washington (these two will go lighter on the action team).

Facebook applications on any topic can be easily constructed, either as branded, private label sites or as cooperative coalitions of organizations working together to build support for specific topics.

Organizations can work cooperatively publishing and sharing news on a specific topic, building community online on Facebook, even if they user different web platform technologies or are separated widely by geography.

In the future, NewsCloud hopes to expand its support for PHP and build Drupal and Plone extensions – these features will allow any organization running these website technologies to collaborate in Facebook with other organizations while presenting the entire news and action team concept within their existing website.

The source code for Hot Dish will be released to the open source community at the end of our project. You can learn more about the research here.If you are interested in learning more about Hot Dish technology, please feel free to contact me at jeff at newscloud dot com.

Hot Dish: First Week's Winners and Week Two Prizes!

Hey Hot Dishers, congratulations to Ian Erickson, who won last week's $100 TerraPass Gift Certificate and the rest of you climate rawkstars who earned $10 in Fandango Bucks. This week, you're competing for 5 Equal Exchange gift baskets and 250 Hot Dish t-shirts! Keep dishin' up hot climate change news and activism!

Oh, the stuff you can win: Hot Dish Action Team Rewards

Here is a summary of the rewards that are available to Hot Dish members who qualify (see official rules for details, but basically 16 - 25 year old U.S. residents).

There is a grand prize and nine runners-up rewards. These will be awarded in order of finishing to the top ten Hot Dish members at the end of the contest, May 3, 2009.

There are weekly prizes each week of the contest which will be awarded to the top participant for each week. So, it's never too late to sign up for the Hot Dish action team and win great prizes.

Regardless of age, everyone who signs up for the Hot Dish action team can download free endangered species ringtones from the Center for Biological Diversity and get free shipping to the U.S. at the online Equal Exchange store.

Grand Prize and Runners-up Rewards

These will be awarded to the top eligible participants based on order of finish at the end of the Action Team contest. The contest ends May 3, 2009.

Trip for 2 to the Arctic!
GRAND PRIZE: ARCTIC VOYAGE FOR TWO FROM QUARK EXPEDITIONS, AUGUST 4 TO 14, 2009

This once-in-a-lifetime adventure begins and ends in Spitsbergen, the largest of Norway's glacier-topped islands in the Svalbard archipelago. You'll sail amongst icebergs, hike snow-covered ridges, and tour old whaling stations on this 11-day expedition cruise.

Along the way, you'll likely encounter polar bears, beluga whales and walrus in their natural habitat -- an awesome experience in the true sense of the word. The aim of this expedition is to circumnavigate the coastline of Spitsbergen, but the exact route we sail will depend on weather, ice and wildlife conditions -- the only thing you should expect is the unexpected!

For further details on Quark Expeditions and this trip, visit www.QuarkExpeditions.com/HotDish.

In addition, through the Knight Foundation, NewsCloud is providing carbon offsets (up to $1,000 maximum)! … more

New green MacBook! (2nd place)
No, this is not a joke. This is the best runner-up prize ever! This new green MacBook comes in 41 percent less packaging than the previous generation, and you can even return it to Apple for recycling at the end of its life! … more

iPod Touch (3rd place)
Your very own 8GB iPod Touch. Think of all the waste you'll save filling this baby up with downloaded music, rather than continuing to buy CDs in yucky plastic cases! … more

$200 Non-Profit Donation (4th place)
We'll make a $200 donation in your name to the environmental or earth-friendly non-profit organization of your choice. … more

$200 REI Gift Card (5th place)
$200 gift card to REI. Get that piece of outdoor hardware you've been yearning for. Or be a sweetheart and give it to someone you love. … more

Yoga is a Good Thing (6th place)
$150 to the yoga studio of your choice so you can stttreeettcchh yourself! … more

$150 Amazon.com gift certificate (7th place)
$150 to spend on Amazon.com any way your huge heart desires. … more

$150 MooShoes gift certificate (8th place)
Who doesn't love shoes without the moo? Get yourself some good-lookin', animal-friendly wear for your feets. … more

$100 Non-Profit Donation (9th place)
$100 donation in your name to the earth-friendly non-profit of your choice. … more

Solio universal solar charger (10th place)
Everyone could use a Solio universal solar charger -- use the sun to power your cell phone, iPod, Blackberry, and more. Imagine the impact if everyone really did have one. Start the rage! … more

Weekly Rewards

These will be given to the top eligible participants for a specified week during the life of the Action Team contest based on their points earned during that week. For weekly prizes, everybody starts at zero at the beginning of each week. It's never too late to get involved and compete for weekly prizes.

Week ending March 8th, 2009

1 available for week ending 3/8 - First place finisher
$100 TerraPass gift certificate
Offset your emissions or green up a trip for your friends or family. … more

100 available for week ending 3/8 - Next 100 finishers
$10 of Fandango Bucks
$10 gift certificate for purchases through movie site fandango.com! … more

Week ending March 15th, 2009

5 available for week ending 3/15 - First five finishers
Equal Exchange Gift Basket
This gift includes a variety of Equal Exchange products in a fairly traded kaisa grass basket imported by Ten Thousand Villages from Dhaka Handicrafts, a non-profit that works to improve the lives of children and rural families in Bangladesh. Valued at $75 … more

250 available for week ending 3/15 - Next 250 finishers
Hot Dish t-shirt
100% organic cotton Hot Dish t-shirt reads "Global warming's got me hot and bothered." Seriously, who isn't? Available in men's and women's: M, L, XL Note: Shirt color is "natural," not white … more

Week ending March 22nd, 2009

6 available for week ending 3/22 - First six finishers
$50 TicketsNow gift certificate
$50 for the tickets to your favorite concert, game, whathaveya on Ticketsnow.com. … more

250 available for week ending 3/22 - Next 250 finishers
Hot Dish License Plate Frame
This 100% post-consumer recycled plastic license plate frame will remind everyone behind you to walk more! "My other car runs on two feet" license frame is green with white text and a great way to keep the conversation going, even when you can't walk the walk. Hey, if you have to drive every once in a while, might as well send a message while doing it. … more

Week ending March 29th, 2009

10 available for week ending 3/29 - Top ten finishes
Adopt a Primate
This adoption of a primate from the Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary helps care for the more than 500 sanctuary residents rescued from abuse and exploitation. Makes a great gift for a friend or family member that loves animals! … more

20 available for week ending 3/29 - Next twenty finishers
CommonThreadz Tee
$38 gift certificate to redeem for one of CommonThreadz.com's amazing t-shirts. 100% of the proceeds go to schoolchildren in developing countries for books, uniforms, and more. We heart CommonThreadz! … more

50 available for week ending 3/29 - Next fifty finishers
$25 iTunes gift card
$25 iTunes gift certificate. You totally need the new Lily Allen album. Or maybe the soundtrack to "Slumdog Millionaire." Or maybe create your very own treehugging playlist! … more

Week ending April 5th, 2009

6 available for week ending 4/5 - Top six finishers
$50 REI gift certificate
$50 toward amazing outdoor gadgets and goodies at REI! … more

40 available for week ending 4/5 - Next forty finishers
$25 GreenAndMore gift certificate
$25 gift certificate for GreenandMore.com. This site has more green things than we could have ever imagined! Wowee! … more

6 available for week ending 4/5 - Next six finishers
Center for Biological Diversity cap
Rock this sturdy, adjustable organic cotton cap when the sun comes out. Embroidery on front and back reflects the Center for Biological Diversity's name and an awesome amphibian. … more

Week ending April 12th, 2009

12 available for week ending 4/12 - First twelve finishers
$50 Amazon.com gift certificate
$50 to spend on whatever you want on Amazon.com! … more

6 available for week ending 4/12 - Next six finishers
Center for Biological Diversity t-shirt
Strut your animal-lovin' stuff in this long sleeve, navy blue tee made from in high quality, ring-spun, combed organic cotton. A long list of species the Center for Biological Diversity has earned protections for graces the back of this shirt. Share CBD's pro-species and anti-global-warming message and stay warm at the same time. … more

50 available for week ending 4/12 - Next fifty finishers
Free game download
One game download from Gamehouse.com. Choose one and get your game on! … more

50 available for week ending 4/12 - Next fifty finishers
Wake Up and Smell the Planet
A copy of Grist's hot, hot book on how to green your day without going insane. … more

Week ending April 19th, 2009

1 available for week ending 4/19 - Top finisher
Ask Umbra video exclusive!
You get the pleasure of asking Umbra a video question on Grist.org, for the eco-savvy advice maven to answer! … more

1 available for week ending 4/19 - Second place finisher
Smarten up your voicemail
Smarten up your voicemail: Eco-hero Thomas Linzey, co-founder and CEO of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, will record your outgoing message and make you look really, really, really good. … more

40 available for week ending 4/19 - Next forty finishers
$25 Lush cosmetics gift certificate
$25 gift certificate for Lush Cosmetics. This stuff is so awesome and smells so good you will want to eat it - or maybe just rub it all over yourself. Which is good since that's usually what you're supposed to do with it. … more

40 available for week ending 4/19 - Next forty finishers
ReusableBags.com gift certificate
Laugh in the face of landfills with this $25 to ReusableBags.com. You can use it to get some sweet gear that will reduce your waste, like a stainless steel travel mug or a hip reusable tote! … more

Week ending April 26th, 2009

1 available for week ending 4/26 - Top finisher
Amazon Kindle 2
A sleek, new, paper-saving Kindle 2, just for you! Read books, save trees, and be cool in more ways than one! … more

10 available for week ending 4/26 - Next ten finishers
Bill McKibben Reader, autographed!
Get your very own autographed copy of "The Bill McKibben Reader." A collection of powerful, impassioned essays on living and being in the world, from the bestselling author of "The End of Nature" and "Deep Economy." … more

500 available for week ending 4/26 - Next five hundred finishers
Plant 10 trees bookmark
When you open that chemistry book, this 100% recycled paper bookmark reminds you of the great work you do for the environment. Oh, and so will the attached seeds. Grab some friends and plants some trees! … more

Week ending May 3rd, 2009

1 available for week ending 5/3 - Top finisher
Painting by artist Maria Coryell-Martin
"Pleneau Bay, Antarctica" 12" x 6" original watercolor Archivally matted 16" x 12" In 2008, Expeditionary Artist Maria Coryell-Martin traveled to Antarctica as artist-in-residence with Quark Expeditions for her project, "Portraits of Ice, Witnessing Climate Change." This original studio watercolor is developed from Maria's fieldwork. To learn more, please visit: www.expeditionaryart.com … more

50 available for week ending 5/3 - Next fifty finishers
$20 REI gift certificate
$20 gift certificate for REI. Get yourself a little goody or put it towards that big purchase you've been saving up for! … more

50 available for week ending 5/3 - Next fifty finishers
Grist logo Chico Bag
Paper or plastic? Neither! This groovy reusable Chico tote bag can handle your groceries, and it packs down to a portable size. Plus, it features the Grist logo on an ocean-blue background, so you can hit up the farmers' market in style. … more