[NABS-L] New NABS Group!

Mon Apr 23 12:17:12 UTC 2018

Don et al:

What a fabulous discussion that is indeed relevant as social media evolves into such an essential element of communication. This listserv can certainly serve in that moderated capacity, though I would ask only that we keep a consistent subject line, as to allow those not interested in participating in the thread to easily move through these messages.

I have a few first glance takeaways. Social media creates a venue for open and free dialogue. When members of the National federation of the Blind use social networks to strengthen our organization, it is positive and encouraging. There are endless blind students we have not communicated with through Facebook, Twitter, etc.; and those avenues  facilitate that forum for broadening our reach and expanding our resource-base. My concern with having two Facebook groups devoted to NABS, without a difference in purpose, is that we are separating our community, rather than strengthening our quality and quantity. We are one organization with varying talents and opinions, but that makes NABS all the more exciting and enriching. I feel that one group with less limited settings may allow for exactly what the second group was intended to do. Of course, please correct me if the additional resource serves an alternative purpose. 

Ways in which NABS leadership can ensure posts are openly shared and members are welcomed could include: 
1. accepting all requests unless profiles raise any red flags to us (this is something we are currently doing and plan to continue. We are also intentionally promoting this group to all parents, students, and interested parties.)
2. Have less restricted posting power from group members. Once an idea is shared, let the conversation begin! If this ever becomes an issue, leadership can address it at that point.
3. Please note: the NABS Facebook group our national student board created is for anyone interested, not just our members. There is no reason to be exclusive when we are advancing lives of blind people, whether members or not, right? 

Now, onto the social media piece of the Code of Conduct. Speaking as NABS President, there is always an implicit expectation that our leaders will not post information that would hurt our organization. This is simply because we are proud leaders and want to encourage positive attitudes and ideas, rather than negative intentions and misinterpretations. By no means are the NABS board Members restricted from sharing notions or perspectives freely; in fact, in doing so, our national student board represents diversity and varying opinions. I encourage us, as members, to think about it like that. I also may add that employers look at your social media accounts when being considered for a job. We promote professionalism and respect, as is what employers look for when browsing your accounts.

Sometimes, individuals forget to think about that writing is permanent. You can delete and email, a Facebook post, a message, but the power of technology never infinitely removes something already written. Referring back to Vejas' comment on the conference call last night, he mentioned that there are often emotionally-charged posts. Thank you Vejas! You are absolutely right. That's okay, right? As long as we are respectful and thoughtful, intentional and aware. I encourage continued dialogue on this matter and look forward to hearing suggestions, as well as concerns. President Riccobono, our national board, and our student board care about our members so incredibly much; and with considering your ideas, we can only strengthen the possibilities for the national federation of the Blind.

Thank you,
Kathryn

Kathryn C. Webster
President | National Association of Blind Students
A proud division of the National Federation of the Blind
(203) 273-8463

-----Original Message-----
From: NABS-L [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Donald Winiecki via NABS-L
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2018 12:13 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Donald Winiecki <dwiniecki at handid.org>
Subject: Re: [NABS-L] New NABS Group!

Hi Mikayla and others,

i
 came away from President Riccobono's debriefing with the idea that all members of the Federation are always somehow representing it, even when they are speaking for themselves.  This is indeed a tricky idea especially in the free-flowing world of social media!

I also came away from the call with a reinforced idea that the Federation is at its core an advocacy group that aims to influence public policy for the good of its members and all of society -- rights, common good, and justice/fairness are always goals for the Federation.  President Riccobono's examples illustrated how past actions can continue to reflect badly on individuals and even the whole organization, and perhaps endanger its mission.

He gave us personal experiences and some stories about members of the Federation that he considers to be both positive and negative models.
However, perhaps those models do not exemplify the full range of possibilities that can emerge on social media and in other venues.  I am curious if this is the point on which you would like to elaborate through discussion?

In any case, perhaps we have an appropriate venue for this discussion right here in the listserv?  I have conducted many focus groups in my profession (I am an academic sociologist) and and can help to facilitate such a thing here.

Bur first, let's ask Katheryn and other leaders of NABS if they would support use of this listserv as a venue for such discussion?  Katheryn?

We can decide how to proceed once we know where we can lay out the issues to be brought back to President Riccobono.

Best,

_don

On Sun, Apr 22, 2018 at 7:20 PM, Mikayla Gephart via NABS-L < nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Hi Katherine and all,
>
>      Thank you for this great discussion, and the wonderful conference 
> call. After listening to the call and hearing the questions about 
> social media, I think we need more discussion on this topic. Our goal 
> is to educate people on our philosophy, but what we think might be 
> helping might further dissuade people from joining. It sounds like we 
> as an organization need to have further discussions on effective use 
> of Social Media. The main question I ask myself when promoting our 
> organization is “could this negatively impact peoples’ impressions of 
> our organization?” However, everyone could benefit from learning more and discussing this topic.
>
> Thanks for the great discussions,
> Mikayla
>
> > On Apr 22, 2018, at 7:55 PM, Kathryn Webster, President,      National
> Association of Blind Students via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> >
> > Good evening everyone!
> >
> > Sorry I did not chime in sooner, as I was on a flight back from an
> energizing regional student seminar in Chicago! I love the enthusiasm 
> behind providing as many resources to blind students as possible. In 
> fact, let's have these conversation surrounding the most effective way 
> to spread our message and share our experiences on the world of 
> Facebook. I don't think that necessarily should mean having two 
> Facebook groups separately. I think we could explore having a more 
> vibrant and resourceful NABS group, as promoted a few weeks ago. Most 
> notably, let's talk about how to make the NABS group more inclusive, 
> welcoming, and available. Maybe this means having less restrictions on 
> posts, or maybe it means having more group moderators to manage the 
> traffic. Whatever it may look like, let's talk about it!
> >
> > It is important to also note that, while sharing the NABS brand far 
> > and
> wide is critical in meeting our organization's mission, the use of the 
> NABS name in a formal manner, particularly on social media, should be 
> discussed with and approved by both our national president, Mr. 
> Riccobono, and our national student board. I encourage students to 
> voice how we can improve the sharing of ideas in all ways beneficial to students.
> >
> > Thanks; and I hope to chat with you in five minutes on our Code of
> Conduct call!
> >
> > Love,
> > Kathryn
> >
> > Kathryn C. Webster
> > President | National association of Blind Students
> > (203) 273-8463
> > Nabs.president at gmail.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: NABS-L [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Amy 
> > Sabo
> via NABS-L
> > Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2018 7:10 PM
> > To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> > Cc: Amy Sabo <amieelsabo at gmail.com>
> > Subject: Re: [NABS-L] New NABS Group!
> >
> > hello chris and all,
> >
> > as to having a another group for nabs on facebook is a good idea imo..
> > in all means of social media fb has many groups and pages for all 
> > kinds
> of organizations, business, and companies. it's just a another way for 
> pr work and, also for networking and socializing in the internet community!
> we all need many kinds of ways to interact with each other and, also 
> to educate the public and society on blindness and the nfb!  it's just 
> good business imo...
> >
> >
> > just my 3 cents worth in the pr perspective:)
> >
> >
> >
> > hugs,
> > amy
> >
> > On 4/22/18, Chris Nusbaum via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> >> It sounds to me like this group is meant to be more of an 
> >> unofficial open forum for the exchange of ideas and information 
> >> among NABS members. These kinds of pages and groups are common in 
> >> social media, most notably in the form of the unofficial "fan 
> >> pages" or Twitter accounts which fans of musicians and other 
> >> celebrities have created over the years. In our own community, 
> >> someone created a Facebook group about a year ago for NFB members 
> >> and supporters, which I believe was called "NFB Fans." As far as I 
> >> know the group was never officially endorsed by our national 
> >> office, but there are quite a few members in it, though traffic has 
> >> decreased in recent months. Of course official announcements from 
> >> NABS would need to be sent through NABS's official communication 
> >> portals, but I don't see anything wrong with another resource being 
> >> out there for our members, even if it's not endorsed by
> the organization officially.
> >>
> >> My two cents,
> >>
> >> Chris Nusbaum
> >>
> >>> On Apr 22, 2018, at 6:26 PM, Veronica R Gaspa via NABS-L 
> >>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> While I understand where Chelsea is coming from, I have never seen 
> >>> a policy that says we need approval to create social media groups, 
> >>> and Facebook is an open forum. I was just taking initiative, and 
> >>> if people want to join both groups, there is no reason they cant.
> >>> Furthermore, this was not created to conflict with the other 
> >>> group, this is simply a different style of group. No matter what 
> >>> social media approach we choose to take, we are all in it for the 
> >>> same reason, to build the National Federation of the Blind and the
> blindness community!
> >>> Best,
> >>> Vee Gaspa
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> From: chelsea peahl <chelsea.peahl at hotmail.com>
> >>> Sent: Sunday, April 22, 2018 6:05 PM
> >>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
> >>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> >>> Cc: Veronica R Gaspa <veronica.gaspa at student.shu.edu>
> >>> Subject: Re: [NABS-L] New NABS Group!
> >>>
> >>> Hello all,
> >>> Shouldn’t this be done with NFB and NABS approval? For example, 
> >>> the group created has approval.
> >>>
> >>> Chelsea Peahl
> >>>
> >>>> On Apr 22, 2018, at 4:01 PM, Veronica R Gaspa via NABS-L 
> >>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> Good evening Nabsters!
> >>>> I have just created a new NABS group on Facebook. The differences 
> >>>> between this group and the one that was made a few weeks ago are:
> >>>> Every person does not have to be approved to join the group, 
> >>>> whether you want to be super active in NABS, or just check out 
> >>>> resources you can join the group.
> >>>> Secondly, your post does not have to await moderator approval. If 
> >>>> you have technology problems at midnight you can post, and it 
> >>>> will be live right away. In the other group a moderator may not 
> >>>> see it until a day later, and it may be too late.
> >>>> This group will be updated frequently with NABS information and
> updates.
> >>>> To join the group search on Facebook for: NABS: a resource for 
> >>>> blind students.
> >>>> Or use the following link:
> >>>> https://m.facebook.com/groups/4405289230479922
> >>>> I hope this group renders helpful to many of you!
> >>>>
> >>>> Best,
> >>>> Vee Gaspa
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> Vee Gaspa
> >>>> President, New Jersey Association of Blind Students Brother, 
> >>>> Alpha Phi Omega Writer, the Setonian
> >>>> Phone: 434-989-1868
> >>>> Email:
> >>>> veronica.gaspa at student.shu.edu<mailto:veronica.gaspa at student.shu.
> >>>> edu
> >>>>> Remember, you can live the life you want!
> >>>>
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