Final Report/Blog Post for Project 1 – Group 1
4 August 2010Global Potential Alumni Experience and Mentoring Program
Past:
When our group first looked at the existing platforms that Global Potential (GP) created, we couldn’t help but notice the lack of usage by GP’s target audience of the platforms: Alumni of GP’s program and current and future GP community mentors. The lacking factors we noticed on the different platforms used (website, Facebook page, and personal blog) were as follows:
1) Numerous spaces to communicate with instead of central surface to communicate which led to a decomposed and a non-flowing discussion.
2) Lack of interaction between Alumni as a result of non-engaging, misdirected platforms for them which equated to staleness like feel.
3) Generic looking platforms that did not speak to their target audience but rather seemed to speak to potential donors and/or outsiders (i.e. us before we took on this project).
GP's Website
GP's Old Alumni Facebook Wall Page
GP's Alumni Blog
However, the positive aspects we noticed regarding the tools put in place for the Alumni were:
1) The usage of Facebook, a trendy social networking website that appeals to everyone, especially our target population for that fact that they are familiar and comfortable using it and that probably most of them already consume on a regular basis.
2) The utilization of Twitter, another platform which the youth is accustomed to. It is as well very easily accessible to our target audience.
3) The customized touch given on the GP blog with the incorporation of the use of biographies.
4) The addition of picture and videos of the Alumni on GP’s blog and Facebook page.
Present:
Our goal for this project was to create an ongoing, rich alumni experience through online platforms that keeps the goals of the program running, continues engaging the students in global issues and social entrepreneurship, and facilitates and augments the mentoring program. Our main objective was mostly focused on making sure that the Alumni would be involved in every step of the way to assure that they would be actors in their own platforms and not passive spectators looking at a platform that we thought would suit them best.
You will find below thoughts and ideas we came up with as well as the key components we needed to implement so that Alumni can have their own virtual personal space to share and gather:
1) Building a space that the Alumni can call their own hence we decided to create a fan page within the walls of Facebook.
2) To ensure frequency of use by the Alumni on their own fan page, we thought that it would be beneficial to have GP seek for Alumni that are somewhat tech savvy and willing to take responsibility to maintain the upkeep and constant communication between the Alums. The six roles we came up with of Alumni volunteers that would make sure that their Facebook page would continue to flourish are:
- Youth Alumni and Mentor Coordinator for Text Blogs
- Youth Alumni and Mentor Coordinator for Photo Tagging
- Youth Alumni and Mentor Coordinator for Video Blogging
- Assistant Youth Alumni and Mentor Coordinator for Text Blogs
- Assistant Youth Alumni and Mentor Coordinator for Photo Tagging
- Assistant Youth Alumni and Mentor Coordinator for Video Blogging
3) To give a certain dynamic to the life of the fan page, we decided to incorporate.
- Text Messaging (SMS): this option will allow the Alumni to post on their other peers’ walls on Facebook.
- Direct Link to LinkedIn: by starting to build their profile on LinkedIn, it will allow the Alumni to take their first steps towards professional networking in conjunction with social networking.
- Twitter: application already used in the past and we believe that maintaining it would be proficient to an active participation.
4) Micro-donations: starting a fund-raising campaign by getting micro-donations ($1.00 to $10.00 cash or credit) from friends and family which will be tallied up either daily or weekly by GP’s fund collectors. The micro-donations raised will then be placed next to their names on the Facebook Page which would be represented by a small fundraiser meter graphic. Giving a little something to GP will give the Alumni a sense of responsibility for raising money for a cause that was once their own as it will at the same time increase their stake in the organization.
Note: Since the Alumni are not using their new Facebook page yet we can’t add the micro-donation meter next to their name yet however, when they start using their new Facebook page the instructions on how to create a micro-donation meter for individual Alumni are here.
5) Logo: Since the alumni will have a specific virtual space (Alumni Fan Page), they should have a visual identity of their own. We then thought that the Alumni should have a logo that would speak to them. To assure that they will be part of its creation, we thought that launching a contest among them would be successful. The Alumni participants would have to draw a logo on paper that could then be uploaded by scanning it. Global Potential would decide who would be the judges in this competition. Once the winner will be selected, the logo will be uploaded on their Facebook Fan Page.
6) Keeping in mind that our main goal is to encourage discussion, sharing photos, videos, thoughts (…etc), our group would like to see new comers (that will become alumni shortly after) ask questions on the Fan Page about the whole experience or simply have technical questions about what they should bring on the trip and so on. In this direction, the Alumni will feel that their advice and experiences are valuable and helpful to the “freshmen”. Secondly, the new members will be happy to connect with members of their own age that have lived these experiences.
GP's New Alumni Facebook Wall Page
GP's New Alumni Facebook Info. Page
GP's New Alumni Facebook Discussion Page
Future:
We had a couple of suggestions that Global Potential can review and might use in the coming years. Due to time constraint, we could not put in place these ideas but our group thinks that by implementing the following, the GP Alumni group would take a step further:
- Run a survey among the youngsters including four basic questions: Do you have access to the Internet from your home?/Do you have an X-Box?/Do you have a Wii/Do you have a Play Station?
Depending on their answers, Global Potential could organize meetings on multiplayer games through one of these consoles but also, the alumni could meet online in Netflix for instance and share the experience of watching a movie together.
- Get Feedback from the youth on their new virtual space. Through a very short questionnaire, we could find out how they feel about their new space and what they would like to add or get rid of.
- Contest of Micro-Donations: The one that gives the most could earn something.
- Photo tagging: Since we have no pictures of the members nor or we familiar with their names, we want to mention that photo tagging will commence amongst the alumni after the platform we created for them will be in use for a little while.
A few final words on the overall project…
During these nine weeks, we used various platforms to communicate with each other. Given the time frame we had to work on this and the fact that this is an online class we got the process started by communicating with one another through emails, Google Groups, Google Wave, Google Chat, Tokbox, and a project wiki page. After multiple exchanges, we realized that Google wave and TokBox were the most suitable for us.
While working in a group in real life is never easy and working in a group virtually has its challenges as well, we still managed to clearly state what we all desired and had in mind for our final product. The asynchronous and synchronous multiple platforms that we used were the tools that helped us collaborate, coordinate and put together this new platform for the truly deserving youth. We must say that doing this project for such a wonderful purpose really helped us stay focus and motivated throughout the entire process. We felt privileged to create a virtual communication tool for these deserving teenagers.
Finally, building a project for not only a real cause but a great one, helped us give some reality to our virtual reality!
