Social networks and charity

Flipping through the pages of a local history book, I noticed that American communities in the early twentieth century relied heavily on service clubs (such as the Lyons Club, Rotary International, and the Shriners), to accomplish charitable works and large-scale community projects. When I was growing up, these kinds of clubs barely caught my notice. I remember parades where funny guys in fez hats rode around on little cars (Shriners), I was vaguely aware that Rotary funded exchange students, and I knew of a few lady's clubs that gave out scholarships. This is in no way to diminish the great work these clubs have accomplished, but simply to note that their membership and prominence in the community has definitely declined since the second half of the twentieth century.

As I was chewing on all this information, I was struck by an idea. Service clubs are about two things: service to the community, and social gathering. People enjoyed hanging out together, and they used their friendly, social time to plan and act for the greater good of the community. Given the symbiosis of social gathering and charity that founded these service clubs, why don't service clubs today use the online social network model to keep their clubs alive and well?

No sooner had I formed this thought, then I began noticing social networks geared toward charitable causes. Change.org is a prime example of charity and social networks interacting- as members can join, affiliate with causes and specific non-profits, or simply read or talk about the causes that interest them. I am certainly not the first person to notice that online social networks and charity have an affinity similar to peanut butter and jelly.

Still, when I visited the home pages for the Shriners, the Lyons Club, and Rotary International, I didn't see any evidence that they were using online social networking. Their pages were oriented toward accepting donations, making their good work known to the public, and helping potential members find local chapters.

I don't think it's such a big leap from walking downtown to the lodge, to logging into a social networking site, where members from all over the world can meet for fun and to make the world a better place. I predict that the service clubs who are willing to incorporate social networking technology into their club culture will still be making the history books, and maybe still be making a difference, many generations from now. I fear those clubs who insist on local, exclusively face-to-face member interaction may be lost to dust and yellowed pages.

Digital Trend

"I'm all for compassion, just not on my dime."

-from the "Bank Job" Barenaked Ladies Are Me (Page, Robertson)

What a great song lyric. The first time I heard it, it hit me right in the solar plexus. I could have written reams trying to explain the morality of the world I am living in, but Ed Robertson and Steven Page said it in a single line. The fact that they slid this profound insight into a story about guys sticking up a bank filled with nuns makes the Barenaked Ladies my heroes of the week.

So, how did I get to hear this BNL album on September 12th, right on the release date? Did I rush to Union Square and pound down the doors of the Virgin Megastore? No way! I just logged onto Rhapsody, and grabbed it- no extra charge, just part of my subscription. I get an all-you-can-eat buffet of awesome music for a monthly subscription fee that is less than the price of a single CD. Kind of makes you happy to live in the digital age.

Pioneered by iTunes, digital music has been around- and profitable- for some time. It seemed inevitable that digital video would follow. I've actually been tapping my toes, glowering as my bookshelves fill with DVDs (I'm buying eBooks now whenever possible- though some dead tree books constantly trickle into the house). Sure enough, this week both amazon.com and iTunes announced digital video stores. My husband and I sped through cyberspace to check them out- looks like Amazon has some software issues to sort out before it is really usable. As expected, iTunes digital video store is slick and easy to use. Right now they only have titles from Disney- but not all of them are cartoons. And, hey, what's wrong with cartoons? Apple had to start somewhere, but I'm looking forward to wider selection.

In addition, this week Apple announced the ILoad , a device which will load content directly to your living room TV. We're using a less groundbreaking, but equally cool device to play any of our millions of Rhapsody tracks on our living room stereo. It looks like tech is finally getting ready to cozy up on the sofa.

An interesting phenomenon about iTunes music and video stores, and about Fictionwise's eBook store, is that when you purchase digital media it is stored on a virtual bookshelf- which doesn't take up any room in my apartment! The idea is, that if I accidentally erase an eBook off my Palm, or need to make room for more music on my portable digital music player, it's no problem. I have bought the rights to to the music, and virtual stores remember what I bought and let me access it from my virtual bookshelf whenever I need it. No need to clutter up devices

So, how do I access my virtual bookshelf? All I need is an internet connection...and a password. I need a password for almost everything I do: ordering a book, ordering my groceries, balancing my check book. Blog post coming soon- "Passwords: modern-day magic words."