[blindlaw] NationalFederationof theBlindRejectsNelson-CollinsAmendment

Mon Feb 9 16:29:43 UTC 2009

Hello,

To be fair, the National Center has begun the era of Web 2.0 as it pertains
to youth outreach.  I believe it is not enough to establish a presence on a
system and believe it is sufficient to automatically expand.  One should be
strategic about what features are used and what is the end goal for hosting
said features in the first place, but staff in Baltimore have recognized the
explosion of online communication for what it is.

In the case of legislative advocacy, the implementation of an instant alert
system is not difficult.  A service like Constant Contact would suffice for
an e-mail blast to anyone who chooses to subscribe to the alerts.  A Twitter
account has already been established, and a strategic combination of both
these features on top of a blog with RSS feeds could facilitate the person's
ability to receive the news as it happens.

Unless things have changed, I believe the current alerts only go out to
legislative contacts across state affiliates.  One only hopes these alerts
will be picked up and forwarded to the public list-serves in time to give
people the opportunity to act as requested.

Now, this is only the notification.  Because people are inherently lazy, the
web site needs to be configured to facilitate the user's ability to quickly
find their representative and senators and then be given the choice to
either use a template of the message that needs to go out or generate a
personal message of one's own.  One should also have the capacity to track
changes to pending legislation as is true of the GovTrack service.

I disagree with Joseph that we should settle for what we have.  Yes, by all
means maximize the resources currently available to get the current task
completed, but I see nothing wrong with revisiting the point of expansion.
National Center staff do in fact have a lot on their plate, and it's easy
for us to criticize the things that do not exist because we are not the ones
responsible for programming the systems.  Yet, it is not so easy to merely
volunteer because services like Constant Contact, Sales Force  and Convio
cost money of the variety only the National Center can put forth.  Perhaps
there is a midway point members can offer assistance in a way that rhymes
with the Center's priorities?

Joe Orozco

"Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity."--James M.
Barrie
-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of T. Joseph Carter
Sent: Monday, February 09, 2009 6:23 AM
To: NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] NationalFederationof
theBlindRejectsNelson-CollinsAmendment

Probably the fastest way to reach people is via email.  I received no less
than five emails about the Nelson-Collins amendment in the span of about
nine hours.  But then, I am on the right lists and check my email
frequently.

To that extent, what can be easily done is already being done.  What more
could be done is a complex problem, I think.  I am not surprised it has been
on the back burner waiting for someone with the energy and drive to step
forward and make it happen.  You might have successfully volunteered
yourself to be that person.  *grin*

My point in discussing this particular amendment is that is that there
wasn't time to discuss it.  We had pretty much one day to take whatever
action was to be taken.  And we did, based on what time we had.  There's not
much that can be done when a near supermajority starts trying to cram
legislation down our throats with hundreds of pages and dozens of amendments
unless you are right there and watching it constantly.  You don't have time
to get the word out, and the people you want to get the word out to probably
haven't got time to respond.  It's unfortunate, but this is what we've got.

Joseph

On Sun, Feb 08, 2009 at 11:50:03PM -0800, ckrugman at sbcglobal.net wrote:
> I'm not sure that I understand this logic in that the issue here is 
> methods in which members can effectively be mobilized to take action 
> to support the NFB philosophy when advocating for legislation. When 
> chapter meetings are held once a month and state bulletins and 
> publications such as the Monitor are published once a month this does 
> not provide for timely action on the part of members. The 
> Nelson-Collins Amendment is not really the issue here it was the means 
> that the broader issue came to light as there was a need for immediate 
> action to be taken by members and an inadequate method of members to 
> take such action. While many questions have always been raised 
> regarding the quality of VR services limiting funds for such services 
> will not improve them on any account. Perhaps the NFB needs to spend 
> some time and money on modernizing the way it relates to members and 
> how effective existing methods of communication are in mobilizing its 
> members. Is the current method of distributing legislative information 
> through audio tapes played at chapter meetings the most effective 
> method? I for one would prefer to receive legislative email alerts as 
> is done with most other advocacy organizations as it is much more 
> expedient with regard to use of time at chapter meetings and the fact 
> that it is available in an accessible format for immediate action by 
> members. This does not preclude the use of information published in 
> Braille but it would result in a greater degree of member participation
and involvement.
> Chuck

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