Five for Friday….28th October

Sorry for a quiet week on the blog, but work has been rather busy! Anyhow, here are five things that every campaigner should read this Friday.
1. Can’t decide which e-campaigning tool to choose. Hugh Mouser has done the hard work of comparing them for you.
2. The Guardian Voluntary Sector Network has insight from National Deaf Children’s Society about how they built and launched an effective media campaign against government cuts.
3. POLIS has a write up of seminar about how investigative journalism can help campaigns. (h/t @framingthedot).
4. I wrote earlier in the month about how 38 Degrees was encouraging supporters to lobby a Lord. Lib Dem Lord, Paul Tyler has some feedback for them. (h/t @nicseton)
5. The Huffington Post has a video interview on the role of civil disobedience in making change happen with Kumi Naidoo from Greenpeace.

Five for Friday….14th October

Here is a new selection of articles that might be of interest to campaigners….
1. David Mills uses Freedom of Information to find out what Newspapers and Magazines government ministers are reading.
2. Red Pepper has suggestions for the apps that every activist should have. (h/t @LucyPearceOx)
3. The #OccupyWallStreet protests have sparked a new round in the Clicktivism debate. Here is Adbusters Micah White’s on the topic and the thoughts of James Sadri on his halfiranian blog.
4. Should charities campaigns? Tory MEP Daniel Hannan thinks we’ve got more influence than most of big business, while Third Sector reports on a fringe on the same topic at Conservative Party conference.
5. Finally, a use for Google +? Fairsay suggests you can use it to organise global press conferences at no cost. (h/t @day_jess)
What else have you been reading on campaigning that you’d recommend to others?

Five for Friday….16 September

Here is the latest selection of articles that might be of interest to campaigners….
1. Great guide from Fair Pensions about how you can become a shareholder activist.
2. Short but useful guide from movements.org about campaign planning.
3. Some good suggestions from M+R Research Labs about what makes a successful e-campaign action.
4. Brian Lamb argues that e-petitions are a shallow form of campaigning.
5. Finally, I think this action from Swiss organisation, SOLIDAR is excellent. Great target selection, a funny video and a clear message.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhzHRuhzPSE]

Campaign tweeters you should be following

A very lazy Sunday evening post, but here is my list of some of the people I think you should be following on twitter for interesting thinking about campaigning.
It’s the list of campaigning people I look out for in my twitter. I’ve tried to avoid the corporate feeds from organisations but I’m sure I’ve missed people.
Additional contributions encouraged.
Monday 14 Feb – UPDATED with some new additions.
@forumforchange – Forum for Change from NCVO – consistantly useful sources of information, UK NGO sector should always grateful for what Forum For Change is doing.
@fairsay – Duane Raymond, Fairsay – was talking about e-campaigning before Malcolm Gladwell had heard about Twitter!
@j_chatterton – Jonny Chatterton, 38degrees – the latest from 38 degrees and lots of other interesting things aside.
@mcgregormt – Matthew McGregor, Blue State Digital – works for Obama’s ‘favourite internet strategy firm’ but used to work for War on Want so get’s UK campaigning.
@SMKcampaigners – Campaign Central from Sheila McKechnie Foundation – supporting the next generation of campaigners.
@brandzel – Ben Brandzel – appears to have been involved in almost every big e-campaign you’ve heard about, taught me the concept of ‘crisis-tiunity’ which I’ve bored colleagues with every since!
@HUdigital – Hands Up Digital – great little campaigns consultancy run by former colleague of mine (@benclowney).
@paulhilder – Paul Hilder – involved with Avaaz, author of Contentious citizens: Civil society’s role in campaigning for social change.
@kelcurrah – Kel Currah – should have more followers, heads up What World Strategies, knows lots about global campaigning.
@PolDyn – Political Dynamite – I’m biased, but constantly challenging blog about what’s working in campaigning.
@GlenTarman – Glen Tarman, BOND – consistently useful source of info about campaigning and the UK development scene.
@BenNiblett – Ben Niblett, Tearfund – my boss but also tweeter of interesting things, especially on climate change.
@stevenbuckley – Steven Buckley, Christian Aid – lots of useful tweets about comms trends, my bridge into the scary world of corporate comms and fundraising!
@timsowula – Tim Sowula – fellow collaborator in the short lived ‘Young Campaigners Forum’. Thinks alot about comms and campaigning.
Suggested by @BenNiblett
@imchrisjohnston
– Chris Johnson – author of the brilliant http://activismismyrent.wordpress.com/ blog
Suggested by @timsowula
@aaronjohnpeters Aaron John Peters – blogs at http://radicaldandy.wordpress.com/
@caspertk – Casper ter Kuile, Co-founder of the UKYCC – blogs at http://www.caspertk.co.uk
@KenRoth– Ken Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch
@AdamRamsay – Adam Ramsay
– blogs at http://www.brightgreenscotland.org
Suggested by @haroldforbes
@billmckibben – Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org

Update 2
@nicola_gilbert – Nicola Gilbert, Campaign Effectiveness Officer at NCVO
@hackofalltrades – Liam Barrington-Bush
@emmataggart – Emma Taggart

Lists of people who matter

Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m a big fan of lists. Although I’m not a natural Daily Telegraph reader, their annual profiles of the top 100 most influential people in each of the political parties is an invaluable resource when it comes to planning routes to influence.
100 Most influential Left-wingers – 1 to 25, 26 to 50, 51 to 75 and 76 to 100

100 Most influential Right-wingers – 1 to 25, 26 to 5051 to 75 and 76 to 100

Top 50 Lib Dems – 1 to 25 and 26 to 50

Other lists produced in time for Conference season include;
Left Foot Forward – most influential left-wing thinkers
New Statesman – 50 people who matter
Has anyone else found any useful lists?

Summer Reading

If you’re heading off to the beach or on a long journey in the coming weeks the following resources might be of interest. I’ll be ploughing through them (on the train to work alas!) and put up a summary when I can.
Kumi Naidoo – Boiling Point: Can citizen action save the world ?
NCVO – Understanding power to achieve social change
Sheila McKechnie Foundation – People Power Conference Report
What’s your summer reading? Let me know and I’ll add it to the list.

Links I like – w/b 16 Feb

Because no blog is complete without it! A few links I like from this week.
George Monbiot on politics is broken and the launch of DoSomethingAboutIt

Video of debate to mark the launch of City University’s new MA on Political Campaigning – Political Campaigners and Reporters – partners in democracy or rats in a sack.
Notes from BOND event on Campaigning Effectiveness and using new media