Flickr photo: solangelemOne of the great things I've noticed since I started participating in this community of "techies for good" is that not only CAN we support and learn from each other by sharing ideas and resources, but that so many of us actually DO share.

This struck me after a panel discussion I attended last week in Portland (Maine). It brought together representatives from the online campaign strategy teams of five local candidates who had gone head-to-head in the recent primary season. These were competing campaigns who sat on a panel together and shared experiences and specific details about their tactics, tools, and even -- gasp -- list sizes!

It all started with Karin Roland, Web Manager for MoveOn.org, who asked the simple question of herself and anyone who would listen:

Why don't we try to learn something from campaign successes and failures, and try to translate even failed campaigns into something to help future advocacy efforts?

Here is a summary of what struck me as important lessons learned from these campaigns:

Flickr Photo: provos @monkeyI read a lot of reports, at least one a week. I don't blog them all because I can't keep up. But every once in a while, a gem will cross my inbox, like Colin Delany's newly updated Online Politics 101.

If you run any kind of campaign -- education, political, or otherwise -- I highly recommend you read Colin's piece. There's nothing revolutionary in the report; it's just good common sense, but that's its strength.

Charles Lenchner, DemocracyInAction

Online advocacy at its best is about giving more citizens more power to act together in creating social change. At its worst, online advocacy is a fundraising technique and promotional strategy that can work, while generating some very negative inadvertent outcomes. Organizers working for the common good need to do a better job of articulating good online advocacy strategies and resisting demands that our work be measured in dollars raised or a higher public profile.

What we have at stake is not (just) the integrity of our cause or organization, but the effectiveness of our mission.

The conflict between the different ends of the online advocacy spectrum can be captured in a phrase: Mission over Membership. When we focus on mission, we can sleep well at night, knowing that the actions we request from our supporters will in fact lead to the change we want effected. If, on the other hand, we use the language of change primarily in support of fundraising and organization building, we run a serious risk: that online advocacy messaging becomes devalued, along with the emails from our organizations.

LOLnptechAmy Sample Ward gives a summary of takeaways from the 501 Tech Club Portland Brown Bag Lunch event this week, at which Jeanette Russell, from DemocracyInAction, discussed online advocacy. I also caught some live tweets from Amy while she was at the event.

Kintera announced the "Connect Developer's Challenge" with cash prizes (of up to $15k) for "entering a software application or applications that integrate directly with Kintera's platform or customize an existing Kintera application."

Britt Bravo blogs about a request for virtual meet-ups for rural NetTuesdays. What are some technology tools/options out there for this? SecondLife, elluminate, wiziq, and Skypecasts were all suggested. Other ideas?

Marnie Webb is back this week urging all those nonprofits who took her advice about searching last week to take the next step -- and "follow". She's working on her series of tips for nonprofits getting started with social networking and web2.0, but her advice really applies to anyone starting out with online research. I'm looking forward to next week's installment!

Michelle Murrain was at the Politics Online Conference this week, speaking about -- what else? -- open source tools. She shared a panel with other NTEN members, including Ryan Ozimek, Jo Lee, and Alan Rosenblatt.

TechSoup announced new Flickr accounts for nonprofits through the "Flickr for Good" program. The NTEN organizational member and general nonprofit technology contributor is partnering with the photo sharing site to donate 10,000 1-year Flickr pro accounts. OK, NTEN community: how will you use yours?

Ruby Sinreich is Twittering as I post this about her day in DC with the Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership, practicing "nonviolent civil disobedience" (hint: find the #OBIPP tags). Will she have been arrested by the time you read this?