Tweet thread from a city’s annual town meeting

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Since moving back to the USA in 2009, and before the pandemic, I attended a lot of public meetings by local, state and national officials, both elected and otherwise, and for some meetings, I live-tweeted what was happening. My goal was to try to generate some excitement for civic engagement and, in the cases of meetings that aren’t recorded and available later for public viewing, like town hall meetings with US Senators, to capture how certain things were being talked about / addressed. I also wanted to see if city, county, state and national officials were paying attention to Twitter, seeing if they responded when they were tagged or named in a post, etc. (for the most part, no, they aren’t paying attention).

The city of Forest Grove, Oregon held its 2021 annual town meeting online rather than in person because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And even though, I assume, the meeting was recorded and will be made available for viewing any time somehow, I decided to live-tweet the event, both to offer my commentary and to show as an example in workshops and classes I teach about what live-tweeting an event can look like. I also find it amusing to see how live-tweeting can affect search engine results.

I have the text of all the tweets below, with each tweet as a separate paragraph. Also here in this blog, I embedded the links that I attached to tweets. Sorry for misspellings and any confusion – live-tweeting requires fast typing and you cannot go back and correct tweets once they are out there:

Tweets began at 9:44 AM · Jan 30, 2021:

About to log in to the Forest Grove, Oregon annual town meeting, 1st-ever via the Interwebs. On the agenda: police. We’ve had some ugly incidents here & they still haven’t been addressed. If I decide to live-tweet it, it will be in the replies below.

Logged in & we’ve already had our first “does anyone know how to…” from a panelist. 

Mayor is warning not to be cute and make your Zoom name and title “Jake from State Farm.” He did that for a meeting and was kicked off because they didn’t know who he was. 

Lowell Greathouse of the Committee for Community Involvement is kicking off the meeting. He’s the MC of this meeting. I so wish the CCI was on Twitter and Facebook & Reddit.

Background: Here’s the 1st story from the local Forest Grove newspaper, the @FGNewsTimes, about the ouster of the police chief more than a year ago, which kicked off the growing distrust of the community regarding the police.

Now speaking is the city manager, Jesse VanderZanden. He’s introducing all the city officials & staff in attendance. VanderZanden played a key role in Forest Grove Police Chief Janie Schutz. 

VanderZanden is now addressing the departure of Chief Schutz. He is saying he is not anxious to discuss personnel matters. 

City manager is saying that the city has been transparent, having released emails between the chief and him, all official documents. He says all are available for the public and that they “tell the story.”

“We could have done a better job” regarding communication – city manager. Public disclosure procedures have been revised to make it easier for public to get info. 

“What I’d like to do is thank the former chief.” He’s now praising her transparency, how she built community connections, and what she did to promote the police facility. 

My opinion: THIS IS SO RIDICULOUSLY OVERDUE. Shame on the city for taking so long. Reprehensible. 

How Forest Grove, Oregon police are funded (from the slides now)

Forest Grove police funding levels. Along with this slide, the city manager when through the why costs increase (primarily salary and benefits, some additional staff).

Says interim Forest Grove police chief will get the option to stay another year. Here is how city will advertise for the chief’s position. Says city will have opportunities to participate in the hiring process.

Now talking about how they will create community panels for the hiring process, how they will try to make it a diverse representation from the community. 

If you have things you want the Forest Grove police chief job description to have regarding what kind of qualities the person should have, etc., the city manager says they want this feedback from residents. Here’s how to do that:

Apologies for not putting in alt text on the pics. I believe the slides will be available on the Forest Grove, Oregon’s city web site and I certainly hope all materials will be accessible for people with disabilities. 

He’s now reviewing why the city needs a new police station and the current design process. If you went to the police station open houses in 2019, or watch Chief Schutz’s excellent video on the subject, you know all this. 

City manager is now making a pitch for why the cost is cost-effective, the difficulty of passing a bond, the reluctance of residents regarding paying for this, etc. The presentation is now done.

Now Forest Grove, Oregon interim police chief Henry Reinmann is speaking. He’s touting that the station is more transparent, policies they have adopted, etc. 

Says these police policies have already been adopted in Forest Grove, Oregon. Now going through stats: type of calls, number of calls, etc. You can see these stats in the presentations that will be available on the Forest Grove city web site (or should be).

Now talking about mental health resources. Now talking about history. 

Now going through the history of policing. While he’s doing that, here’s one of the issues last year: Forest Grove Police Officer Steven Teets, off duty, terrorized a family in the middle of the night. & was NOT immediately arrested

Officer Teets is still employed, FYI, as are officers that initially covered for him. This incident, plus Chief Shutz’s firing, plus someone dying after being tased last year, & other things that haven’t made the news, have affected trust of police here.

Interim police chief is still doing his “history of policing” and very general presentation about approaches to policing. Has not made any reference to Black Lives Matter, to warrior training, white supremacy in police ranks, etc. Just very general stuff.

Now touting the relatively new Community Policing Advisory Commission, which replaced the citizen’s committee that was focused on BOTH police & fire (there is now no citizen’s committee regarding fire services). 

Forest Grove interim chief is still touching on very general things. No specifics about what the city of Forest Grove, Oregon is doing – just general things about what’s needed – “transparency” and “trust”, etc. This is all in his sides which will be available on FG web site. 

Finally is giving examples of specific changes. Says sergeant promotions interviews at Forest Grove, Oregon had no tactical questions – questions were about diversity, equity, etc. Says they will change how they train and who they hire. 

Forest Grove interim police chief reviewing state and national changes that will affect the Forest Grove police department. Says they will change what they test for. Will focus more on behavioral competencies. 

Is talking about systemic bias of society, in general, but has not acknowledged that police, specifically, have a problem with systemic racism. Is framing police problems as a reflection of all society’s problem. 

Now referencing Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A Changin’.” And returning floor to meeting chair. 

Now going to the questions submitted in advance. First question is regarding having a problem like “Cahoots” in Eugene in Forest Grove, Oregon, regarding unarmed mental health staff going to some calls. Interim chief says, instead, they are using the “Colorado model.” 

Mayor can’t get his video to turn on. But we can hear him. 

Mayor is reminding everyone that all of these changes will have financial costs and that there is no one big fix that can solve everything. 

Interim chief is now addressing what the subjects are covered in the police academy and who makes that determination. 

Questions regarding diversity training, number of officers that identify as people “of color,” etc. Interim chief is noting that the force makeup does not reflect the community. One officer “of color”, three women. Says they will do better. 

Question about Chief Schutz’s departure. City manager says former chief never made a complaint “about gender or otherwise.” Me: this is in contrast to what she said in the previous articles I shared earlier in this tweet thread. 

City manager is now saying that the city’s policies cover gender discrimination and how the policies and work place culture aren’t at all discriminatory, that people are held accountable, etc. 

City manager is now reviewing stats and diversity. 

Questions in Q & A box is filling up. I just submitted this: “Is there a prohibition on Forest Grove police officers taking so-called ‘warrior’ training? Does the chief know which officers have had such training and what do they do to address that?”

They are now addressing a question I submitted previously regarding the Western Washington County Fire Department & relationship with the T V F & R. 

They are now clarifying titles and terms. Mayor says there is no effort nor interest in becoming a part of TVF&R. Noting (sudden!) retirement of former chief. Says interim chief hiring is not a precursor to joining TVF & R. 

Councilor Ewing says a team has been formed that is working through “facts.” Says she is still gathering facts. Says she can’t raise her hand for or against TVF& R until she has more info. 

Forest Grove Interim fire chief Patrick Fale, who is from TVF & R, says he knows of no interest by that agency to expand into Western Washington County, Oregon. Says there is a meeting in February about future of fire departments in this area. 

Now a question and suggestion about backyard burns from someone who suffers from lung issues. Mayor is clarifying current regulations. 

Mayor says the Forest Grove sustainability commission needs to look into a year-round burn, if that really needs to happen. Says advisory commissions need to advise. Council member Ewing is now weighing in. 

Council member Ewing is now talking about “equitable” issues regarding people who need their fireplaces for warmth, older people who cannot afford to get rid of yard debris any other way. 

And now the obligatory grocery store question. Paul Downey is answering, but I have no idea what he’s talking about. Sorry, folks. Something about a developer, a grocery store, affordable housing, etc. 

MC is now about to list all of the questions relating to the Officer Teets situation (see my earlier tweet with link to the story). Notes that, because of the legal nature of the outstanding issue, some things won’t be answered at this meeting. 

Interim chief is noting there are two different investigations – one regarding Officer Teets, one regarding the response by the other Forest Grove officers. Notes he can’t say much more because it’s a current investigation. 

Question regarding make-up of CPAC and why there’s not a member of the chamber or business. I think – I was typing and missed both the question and answer. Sorry. 

CPAC seems to not yet be meeting regularly. They haven’t set a regular meeting. It sounds like they’ve had only one meeting. 

Question someone has submitted, similar to what I have submitted, still not answered: “Do you know if any of your police officers are involved in domestic terrorist groups in their personal lives such as proud boys etc
And what are you doing to check this?” 

councilmembers are now lauding the CPAC & the interim chief instead of answering the questions submitted. This has gone on for several minutes, celebrating Forest Grove CPAC instead of addressing questions. 

Now again answering questions on diversity training. Interim chief is again talking about systemic bias in society but not systemic racism in police departments, specifically. No questions related to this have been addressed (I am making a list of them). 

Comment and discussion regarding hiring and diversity. No specifics, just general comments about turnover and recruitment. 

A question in regarding food banks and how the city is supporting them. I’m not going to tweet the response. Sorry, my fingers are getting tired. 

Reading through the Q & A. Someone, maybe more than one person, is posting racist comments, attacks on the “political left.” His/her comments are all anonymous, of course. So disturbing. But absolutely representative of some people in Forest Grove, Oregon. 

Someone asked how to volunteer during the pandemic. You have to freakin’ be kidding me. Did anyone reference me? No. Do they know about me? Yes. So, frustrating. What I posted on the Q & A “volunteering during the pandemic? If only there was someone in the community was an expert in volunteering, including virtual volunteering (sigh). Who writes and blogs extensively on this subject specifically. (sigh).”

They are asking my question – might be the last one. Here it is: “Research is showing that a lot of police departments have members that are white supremacists and/or identify as “sovereign citizens.” Does either (fire or police) department have screening, interview…” 

“… social media and supervision practices and policies in place that would help prevent such people from becoming a part of the ranks and would help identify such people who may already be a part of either department?” 

Interim chief says only that the they look at social media activity. Did not address the question at all. 

Mayor says the city has “taken a stand” regarding “hate.” Says they need to have that attitude all the time. Feels good that they’ve had conversations with groups. But still hasn’t answered the question regarding how white supremacists are identified in the ranks. 

Council woman Ewing is now making statements about these difficult times. 

Me speaking now: I encourage all of you who asked questions about identifying members of the proud boys, sovereign citizens, etc. in the police department to attend the next Forest Grove city council meeting and ask them AGAIN. & to write them directly, again, to the city. 

Chair is trying to get the participants to please address the questions regarding membership in proud boys, sovereign citizens, etc.

Interim chief says social media review & interviews of new hires addresses this. Interim chief is implying that social media monitoring of police officers is ongoing. Now Council Wenzel is celebrating how well the town meeting has gone, staff that helped, etc. 

Meeting over. Survey at the end. Hope lots took it. With all my problems with how some questions were not answered, I have to give kudos to Forest Grove, Oregon for doing this meeting. Lowell Greathouse was a terrific MC – WELL DONE, sir! & now, to walk my dog. 





Can volunteerism repair a nation?

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Can volunteering repair a nation? I don’t mean dealing with infrastructure after a war or natural disaster – we know that volunteers are terrific at repairing homes, clearing roads, helping at shelters, rowing boats, etc. I mean can volunteerism be an effective tool when a nation’s people are so divided that they don’t even see reality the same way?

Maybe.

I confess that I am not one for talking about volunteering as a way to access “warm fuzzies” – for optimistic, hopeful moments of restoration of faith in all humanity. Personally, I’m a skeptic at best and a cynic at worst. But I do believe in volunteer engagement as an amazing tool: to build awareness about an issue among a group or population, to give the community a hands-on experience regarding a cause, to educate a group about the realities of a topic, to build understanding among people who may not know much about each other, or might even be hostile, and maybe, just maybe, to restore faith in institutions and other people.

A lot of politicians are talking about coming together and unity among people in the USA, but, as we all are fully aware, that’s going to take more than just talking about it. It’s also only a matter of time before some of those same people start suggesting volunteerism as a salve to heal the nation’s wounds and “unify” the people. They are picturing people of different political parties working side-by-side to clean up trash or paint over graffiti or build something.

But here is what’s going to be missing from that call-to-volunteer-and-let’s-come-together rhetoric, and what it’s going to take for volunteer engagement to lead to bridge-building among people who are oh-so-polarized:

  • Nonprofits expected to involve volunteers, especially MORE volunteers, need MONEY. Why? Because volunteers are never free. Want nonprofits to create more roles and tasks for more volunteers? Give those nonprofits cash: for staff to supervise and support volunteers, for staff training in effective volunteer engagement, and for all of the snazzy tech tools you want nonprofits to use to engage with volunteers. And that’s just to start: these nonprofits will also need training in recruiting for diversity, in conflict management, regarding effective facilitation, in inclusive volunteer engagement and communication, and more if you want them to fulfill your dreams of unity – and that requires skills they may not have, and to get those skills requires classes and consultants and that costs money.
  • Ready to fund childcare? Because if you want more people to volunteer, and you want a greater diversity of people to volunteer, someone is going to have to pay for childcare for volunteers with children.
  • Government has to bring nonprofits to the table for discussions about how to bring disparate groups of people together. If the mayor is having a council on ways to create reconciliation among a diverse city, local nonprofits need to be in the discussions. If a regional or state government body is exploring methods, nonprofits have to be there – not just the big, major nonprofits but the small grassroots groups too. And a key segment that has to be there in discussions: ARTS GROUPS: theater, dance, music, literature and fine arts.
  • We all have to stop talking about volunteering only as a way to get tasks done. We have to talk about volunteering as a way for all participants – volunteers, employees and clients – to have a transformational experience. And that means that, often, involving volunteers means tasks will not be done as efficiently and economically as possible: it’s much easier to hire one person or involve one highly-skilled volunteer to do a task than to create a way for a group of dissimilar people with a range of skills and experiences to do it at a time when everyone in that group might be available. It also means making volunteering about learning about an issue related to the mission of the organization – climate change, the reasons people are homeless, the challenges faced by under-employed people, etc. – again, not just getting work done, and not all people charged with creating volunteering tasks and roles and managing volunteers have the skillset to do that.
  • Accept that some people aren’t going to be engaged as volunteers because of a requirement at many nonprofits and community groups regarding respect and conduct of employees, consultants and volunteers, because of requirements regarding safety, and because of the potential of volunteers to spread misinformation about the focus of the nonprofit or the cause it addresses. For instance, someone who believes and promotes misinformation about child trafficking on their social media is going to be inappropriate to help at organizations related to children. Someone who does not believe in the safety of vaccines or believes the Earth is flat or refutes other science, and let’s that be known, is going to probably be inappropriate in a range of volunteering roles related to human health, marine health, outdoor geological sites, etc., especially if they will interact with other volunteers or the public. Many nonprofits have a stated commitment to creating a work culture that promotes respect and prohibits words or actions that create a hostile work environment for others. Many nonprofits have a stated commitment to equality and inclusion, and a stated refutation of racism, sexism or hate speech, and a volunteer or employee engaging in actions or language outside of their work that is in contrast to that culture could, as a result upon discovery, be dismissed. Nonprofits should not be pressured to involve volunteers who engage in misinformation that would harm the clients a nonprofit works with or that runs counter to the mission of the organization. Nonprofits should not be pressured to engage volunteers who carry weapons if that nonprofit has a policy that prevents weapons from their workspaces. And all of that means some people are going to be excluded from volunteer engagement at some organizations. Before you decide that’s somehow wrong, that everyone should have a right to volunteer anywhere they want to, note that I myself am excluded from volunteering at some organizations because I cannot adhere to their religious belief requirements, and I accept that.
  • It’s a tall order to ask organizations focused on some aspect of the environment and outdoor spaces – wildlife habitat preservation, restoring wetlands, cleaning up trash at the beach, rescue groups, etc. – to engage in additional activities to counter misinformation among volunteers regarding climate change, but that’s exactly what nonprofits need to be funded and empowered to do if we are going for “unity.” The lack of science literacy is resulting in many of the divisions in the USA, and if governments and corporations desire nonprofits to address science misinformation and lack of trust through volunteerism, they need to be prepared to fund the activities needed to train staff to make that happen, and to give staff the time to make that happen. .

So, governments and corporations: are you ready to invite nonprofits to the table, as well as to fund all that’s necessary for this monumental task of unity?

Also, see:

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Nope, volunteering is not always inherently “good”

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graphic by Jayne Cravens representing volunteers

I have to start this blog with three disclaimers, because if I don’t, I will get accused of hating volunteerism, hating charity and not liking days of service:

  • First: yes, I support volunteering. I am, in fact, a passionate supporter of volunteer engagement. I believe nonprofits, NGOs, charities and any community-focused initiative should create roles and task for volunteers, specifically, and should have an ongoing commitment to volunteer engagement. If I didn’t believe that, I would not have devoted a significant portion of my career, my web site and my blog to the factors for success in volunteer engagement.
  • Second: No, I am not opposed to all charity. Sometimes, absolutely, the best thing to do in a situation is to provide temporary relief, like food or a tent. But I do have some reservations about people’s emphasis on charity rather than transformation.

Jerome Tennille has recently tweeted:

The road to hell is lined with good intentions. The statement is even true when about the act of volunteering. Volunteerism is a social construct that’s taught, when done thoughtlessly (with good intentions) can result of negative outcomes. January 13, 2020.

and

The act of volunteering is a social construct. This is taught to us. But, maybe we need to unlearn some of what we understand about it. Why? Because it’s not universally valued globally. Maybe we need to reimagine it philosophically. January 12, 2020.

Both were tweeted in association with his recent blog: The Misunderstood Social Construct That “Does Good”. And for many, this is NOT going to be an easy blog to read. But anyone who wants to promote volunteerism, and in particular, any corporate program that wants to mobilize its employees to volunteer for a cause or any individual that wants to mobilize friends or fellow students to volunteer, really needs to read Jerome’s blog, which says, in part:

We must decouple community service from holidays and societally prescribed dates in history, then position volunteering as something to do based on need year-round and think about our place in solving an issue and whether that conflicts with our (or others) expectations.

It is something I’ve been blogging about for a while myself, and NOT to much fanfare – in fact, I’ve made some people mad for daring to question some volunteerism initiatives and activities by volunteers themselves, especially DIY volunteers. Here are the blogs I’ve written over the years on a related note:

And that list excludes most of what I’ve written about the ethics of voluntourism – of people paying to “volunteer” abroad – or of the growing number of anti-volunteerism initiatives (yes, there are initiatives opposed to some or all volunteering (unpaid work).

Absolutely, there is an entitlement regarding volunteerism, even domestic volunteering, that I find really, really distasteful, patriarchal, colonialist, classist and, at times, racist. And I’m so, so happy to not be alone in this feeling.

Keep asking the hard questions, Jerome.

January 20, 2021 update: After tweeting about this blog, someone suggested I read the 2006 piece “What We Don’t Talk About When We Don’t Talk About Service” by Adam Davis, which proposes that volunteering / community service is an expression of how we “cherish inequality.” An excerpt: “I want to call into question the assumption or conclusion that Service Is Good (SIG)… Here is an exaggerated pass at the relation between inequality and service: I serve you because I want to; I choose to. You receive my service because you have to; you need it. I live in the realm of freedom; you live in the realm of necessity. Serving you, I confirm my relative superiority. Being served, you confirm your inferiority… Do acts of service move us toward equality? Might some acts of service enshrine and even extend the very gap they mean to bridge?” A good piece, if a bit too lengthy.

If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site or my YouTube videos and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help. 

Hearing Directly from Programs Involving Online Volunteers

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On Wednesday, December 2, 2020, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hosted a webinar on “Virtual Volunteerism.” The purpose of the webinar was to illustrate how broadband allows volunteers in a variety of regions to engage in substantial, high-impact virtual volunteering activities. The webinar presented a panel of representatives from virtual volunteering initiatives – nonprofits that have programs that involve online volunteers primarily, rather than traditional programs that added an online volunteering component (a screen capture of participants is above). I was pleased to have been called on by the FCC to make recommendations about programs they could feature in this webinar, some of which are profiled in The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook.

The webinar featured representatives from:

The webinar was facilitated by David Savolaine from the Consumer Affairs and Outreach Division, who contacted me for references for presenters, and Eduard Bartholme, FCC Associate Chief in the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau.

The webinar panelists talked mostly about the specifics of how their initiatives involve online volunteers (the exact roles that volunteers undertake), how those volunteers are supported and how those volunteers are central to their initiative’s online program delivery and mission.

It’s rare that there is a presentation on virtual volunteering where audiences get to hear directly, at length, from organizations that are engaging online volunteers. Most presentations on virtual volunteering are by people like me – researchers and consultants about the practice – or by people from the corporate sector either bragging about their employees that volunteer online in a program they designed or that have launched yet another web-based platform to recruit online volunteers. There’s no better place to learn about factors for success in engaging volunteers online than by talking to the nonprofits and NGOs engaging such volunteers – which is why The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook quotes extensively a variety of organizations that involve online volunteers, to illustrate how the recommendations in the book are put into practice.

The panelists talked about the makeup of their online volunteers (quite diverse), the personal, substantial relationships online volunteers have with clients and each other (something I devoted an entire video to on YouTube), and what’s key to success in supporting the volunteers to ensure they are successful – keys that are detailed in The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook. I’ll summarize them below:

Recruitment

When asked how they recruit people to volunteer with their initiatives, all of the panelists said they don’t actively recruit – instead, volunteers find them. Be My Eyes noted that they had 10,000 people sign up to volunteer within the first 24 hours of their launch – far more than they have opportunities for. The representative from Be My Eyes noted, “The key is people having a great experience and they tell their friends about it. We haven’t spent any money on marketing on anything like that.” Infinite Family and Open Street Maps affirmed that volunteers having a great experience and telling their friends is key for not having to actively recruit volunteers.

Per the disproportionate number of roles and assignments for online volunteers versus demand that so manhy virtual volunteering initiatives report, Naoual Driouich in the United Nations Volunteers New York office said, “For the volunteers, I will say to be patient and to continue applying for opportunities, not to give up, even if the opportunity closes, even if there is a waiting list. Just continue looking for opportunities.”

It’s worth noting that in my four years of managing the Virtual Volunteering Project and the four years managing the UN’s Online Volunteering service, those programs were never marketed to people to encourage them to volunteer online – instead, we marketed exclusively to programs to host online volunteers. And, yet, there was always, always, far more people contacting me that wanted to volunteer than there were roles and tasks for them to do.

Make the experience collaborative

Mikel Maron of the Open Street Map Foundation noted a key to ensuring sustainability of a program that I would love to write an entire blog about, and it would make a great research topic to see how this works at other organizations:

I think opening up the opportunity to your volunteers to create with you and to figure out what you’re doing together is really an amazing way to build something, to build a platform. It takes some humility because you don’t know everything, but the result can be – if you can find a way of gathering together and figuring out things together its amazing, and it created more dedicated volunteers if they really have a stake, not just in what they do, but how they do it.

Amy Stokes, Infinite Family, agreed:

I think we’re all learning together, certainly we are in our organization.

Support Volunteers

Infinite Family is an international online mentoring program, which brings together adult mentors in the USA together with students in South Africa, via a special platform the organization uses for interactions. Amy Stokes of Infinite Family noted in the webinar,

One of the things that we found that is really important is (providing) ongoing support for the volunteers throughout the relationship. We have an on-call site all the time (to help with) stressful situations tech problems, whatever. Volunteers know there’s always somebody there to help with ongoing challenges.

She noted that volunteers are all using different tools to access Infinite Family’s tools and resources – they are using different browsers and different operating systems – and so the nonprofit has tried to create a platform that will work across these systems – and it doesn’t always.

The interaction between the browser, the operating system, the application, whatever your ISP is doing that day – all of a sudden, something that worked a week ago beautifully won’t work at all. Sometimes, tech companies don’t put out notes to say, ‘Oh, we’re going to do this and it might affect the rest of your system.’ And so, sometimes, a volunteer reaches out and says ‘What is going wrong?’ It might not work today, they might not be doing anything wrong. We find that it helps if we tell them upfront, at the very beginning, ‘You know, this is a tech thing. You’re probably used to everything working in your world and you can control it. But now you’re working in a lot of other worlds at the same time, and we can’t control all of those things…’ I mean, how many times do you log in at the last minute to do something and the app pops up and says, ‘Oh, no, you’ve got to change your password. Or, Oh, no, you’ve got to upgrade, please download.’ You just have to build in a kind of flexibility.

Ashley Womble of Crisis Text Hotline also talked about the importance of support to volunteers when you are asking them to use a custom online tool:

We teach as part of our training how to use our platform. We don’t expect crisis counselors and volunteers to come to us knowing how to use our platform at all. We built it and we have to train them… certainly, we can’t know whenever people are going to have Internet issues, but we do help in the beginning (with training) and that reduces a lot of the stress.

A diversity of people and experiences

Mikel Maron of the Open Street Map Foundation noted the importance of remembering that every place in the world is not the same when you are dealing with online volunteers that are in other regions, especially in other countries.

I spent a lot of time working in Kenya and it looked very different to volunteer in a place where you may also have a struggle to make ends meet day-to-day. But people (from those places) also want to contribute.

So Open Street Map has to help support those online contributors. “How do you testify what a road is in rural Kenya versus the middle of London?” He says that organizations need to consider how different people from different places communicate online.

We’re a global project and even if you all speak English… there’s just a lot of assumptions about our communications and we miscommunicate all the time…. Within Open Street Map that just means we’re constantly on our toes and learning about how we can connect to others. On the flip side, it’s amazing we get to connect with others through what we do. We learn so much about other places and other people and really build rich relationships with people on the other side of the world and around the corner.

Crisis Text Line had a unique approach:

We’re also gamefied our program a little bit. Based on the number of conversations people have, they get to a certain level, and people want to work up the ladder so they can unlock different perks, as you might in a video game. That’s worked really well for us. I know I’m personally very proud that I’m a level four, and I can’t wait to become a level fie, and I’ll be spending more time myself volunteering in the organization.

Final advice

Naoual Driouich in the United Nations Volunteers New York office had this advice for organizations that want to involve online volunteers, and I think she’s absolutely correct:

Please put yourselves in the shoes of the online volunteer when you put together the opportunity. Make sure it is complete and straight forward.

I absolutely agree. When host organizations put themselves into the shoes of volunteers, thinking, “What would I need to be able to do this assignment if I was not already a part of this organization? What would I need to be successful?” they end up instituting the support volunteers need.

It was a terrific learning experience, and if you missed it, here’s the full information about the webinar and here is the recorded webinar on YouTube. Congrats to the FCC on an excellent webinar.

cover of Virtual Volunteering book with hands raising up various Internet connected devices

As noted earlier, some of these initiatives, and all of what they noted was essential to success, are profiled or detailed in The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook. The book, available as an online book and in traditional print form, offers much more detailed advice on creating assignments for online volunteers, for working with online volunteers, for using the Internet to support and involve ALL volunteers, including volunteers that provide service onsite, and for ensuring success in virtual volunteering. It also talks about policies and procedures, such as how developing written agreements to be signed by both online volunteers and their host organization (page 66) can prevent problems down the road, not only regarding ownership and use of what an online volunteer create, including web sites and code, but also regarding confidentiality and privacy in using of the volunteer’s information, including images of them, regarding confidentiality regarding the organization and the information the volunteer has access to, particularly client information, regarding how the online volunteer should represent his or her association with the program online (in emails, on social media, on LinkedIn, etc.), and liability regarding malware.


Copyright, ownership & works by volunteers

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Happy New Year!

When I directed the Virtual Volunteering Project back in the 1990s and did workshops introducing virtual volunteering to a room full of representatives from nonprofits and government agencies, an early question I got was, “Who owns what an online volunteer creates as a part of their service?” So I asked the various experts in traditional volunteer management for the answer – and they didn’t know! That question had never come up for them. It took cornering a panel of lawyers at a conference (they were presenting on liability and volunteers) to get the answer: volunteers own what they create.

Two more recent articles confirm this:

In this article from INFORMATION OUTLOOK V16 N04 JULY/AUGUST 2012, Volunteers are Copyright Owners, Too!, author and copyright lawyer Lesley Ellen Harris notes, “Whether it be an article, image, video, business plan, table based on research, or other type of content, it is possible that the material being created by your volunteers is automatically protected by copyright (yes, even without registering the material or using a copyright symbol).” The article strongly recommends entering into a copyright agreement with volunteers to help prevent problems, such as a volunteer quitting and demanding that you stop using their work.

This February 2019 article from copyrightlaws.com, Who Owns Copyright in Works By Volunteers, affirms the previous recommendation: “You may want to consider developing an agreement with your volunteers that transfers to your organization the copyright in any works they create for you. Such an agreement ensures your organization can use their work as needed. It can also address the liability of volunteers using third-party works without obtaining permission.” It’s something companies frequently include in a contract that an employee or contractor/consultant signs, but that they often forget to have volunteers sign.

cover of Virtual Volunteering book with hands raising up various Internet connected devices

As noted in The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook, developing written agreements to be signed by both online volunteers and their host organization (page 66) can prevent problems down the road, not only regarding ownership and use of what an online volunteer create, including web sites and code, but also regarding confidentiality and privacy in using of the volunteer’s information, including images of them, regarding confidentiality regarding the organization and the information the volunteer has access to, particularly client information, regarding how the online volunteer should represent his or her association with the program online (in emails, on social media, on LinkedIn, etc.), and liability regarding malware.

That said, I regularly look for controversies regarding volunteers and the materials they create for programs they support, particularly regarding copyright, and haven’t found anything. But just because there hasn’t been a newspaper article, newsletter article or blog about it doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened.

And note: I’m not a lawyer. Don’t use this blog as your ultimate, last guidance. If volunteers are creating things for you, or engaging in activities that result in a product or program you use (photos, a strategy, a database, etc.), talk to a lawyer about legal agreements you may want to have volunteers sign regarding use and ownership of what they create for your program.

Also see legal issues and virtual volunteering.

If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site or my YouTube videos and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help. 

Reflections on Virtual Volunteering in 2020 (& My Most Popular Blogs for the Year)

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When the end of a year approaches, I look over my visitor statistics for my blog and my web pages to see which of my resources were the most popular in the last 12 months. It helps me to know what topics resonated in that year – it’s always something different – and what promotion is most effective. It’s something your nonprofit or government agency should do as well, regarding your online resources (your web site, your blogs, etc.). It’s not just looking at numbers – it’s looking at when pages launched, what people clicked on to get to a resource, etc.

As is true every year, my blogs that got the most traffic are the ones that other people amplified, posting about them on their own social media channels, or referring to them in workshops they did, so if that’s you, THANK YOU. I hope my sharing of others’ material on my social media accounts was also helpful to colleagues and many people I admire as well.

In 2019, I wrote about communications, community relations and ethics in nonprofits far more than volunteer engagement. I had intended to do the same in 2020 – it’s not that I want to downplay volunteer engagement, or not to explore it anymore, but I find those other subjects just as interesting, maybe more, and I work professionally in those fields even more than I do regarding volunteer management. Plus, I just wasn’t sure what else there was to say about virtual volunteering, a subject I have researched and talked about since the mid-1990s.

But then came the novel coronavirus and the massive pivot by thousands of organizations for the first time to virtual volunteering – and suddenly, I was reviving lots of my previous work, filling lots of orders for my book on virtual volunteering, trying to keep up with requests to lead trainings and producing a lot of videos on YouTube to bring everyone up-to-speed about the history and basics of virtual volunteering.

I promote my blog, web site and videos through my Twitter account, my Facebook account, my LinkedIn account, some Subreddits, and some LinkedIn groups. I’m a one-person shop and create and promote these resources entirely on my own – and it’s getting harder and harder to get my voice out there amid a growing sea of competition for attention. Even in the area of virtual volunteering, lots of new “experts” have emerged (please remember that, to be an expert, someone should have experience engaging volunteers online and being an online volunteer themselves).

As I say each year, the blog visitor numbers are great – but the emails and comments on resources are what really keep me going, so please keep them coming!

What did I write that got people’s attention in 2020? Here’s (almost) all of my top 11 blogs for 2020:

How to Immediately Introduce Virtual Volunteering at Your Program: roles & activities a nonprofit, charity or other program could launch immediately to involve online volunteers.

Free training in virtual volunteering (involving & supporting volunteers using online tools): a list of my videos on virtual volunteering in 2020.

Ethics of Paying to Volunteer Online.

Systemic Exclusion in Volunteer Engagement and More: systemic racism in volunteer engagement.

Why qualified people get passed over for jobs.

Saying “no” to recruiting volunteers for certain tasks.

Three resources for your COVID-19-related volunteering.

You do not need to meet via video conference with every potential volunteer.

21 simple things to do while your programs are on hold during COVID-19 quarantines.

I also had a look at my most popular web pages. Some were quite a surprise. These aren’t in the exact order of popularity:

But the two big news items regarding virtual volunteering for 2020 aren’t necessarily reflected in these stats:

  1. I’ve now identified more than 100 research and academic articles on virtual volunteering (the announcement got shared and retweeted a LOT) and
  2. virtual volunteering becoming a necessity because of the novel coronavirus, surging in popularity and being embraced by organizations that have shunned it for decades.

Over the years, and until this year, I’ve made and appeared in many videos about working with online volunteers for nonprofits I’ve been working or volunteering with, but just one about virtual volunteering that wasn’t on behalf of someone else, back in 2012. By contrast, this year, 2020, I’ve made seven videos for my own channel, including a 36-minute introduction to virtual volunteering. In fact, I made 11 additional, private videos for a consultancy I did regarding a user experience related to online volunteering. You can see all my free trainings on my YouTube channel.

It’s been exhausting to say, over and over in 2020: virtual volunteering is not new, it’s more than 35 years old. I’ve said it in my book. I’ve said it on the Virtual Volunteering Wiki. I’ve said it in a video. I’m exhausted from saying it. What I haven’t said is that I’m stunned that so many people from both the nonprofit and corporate world seem to have never heard of involving volunteers remotely, of using the Internet to engage volunteers, a WIDESPREAD, popular practice that’s more than 35 years old. It’s been disheartening to see just how many nonprofits, foundations and corporate social responsibility programs have kept themselves in the dark about virtual volunteering for decades – and I say kept themselves in the dark, because I know just how much, how often, the practice has been talked about in publications, at conferences and in presentations by nonprofits. It has taken a lot of effort on the part of these folks to ignore this well-established practice over the years. I hope that, at last, that has changed.

I’ve also had a very traumatic, challenging time professionally, one that I’m not ready to talk openly about yet. But I will say: please ask colleagues – co-workers, staff at partner organizations, volunteers you work with, etc. – how they are doing. Ask them what challenges they are facing. And ask about safety issues – bluntly ask, “Are you feeling safe in your work? Are you feeling safe online?” Be prepared to eventually hear, “No, I’m not okay. I don’t feel safe. And here’s what I’m facing…” And for anyone you know who isn’t feeling safe online, I have this page of resources regarding online harassment, defamation & libel. 

And thank you to everyone who has supported me this year – I learned this year just how many people have my back. My gratitude to you knows no bounds.

May you have a safe, prosperous, healthy transition into 2021.

cover of Virtual Volunteering book with hands raising up various Internet connected devices

A reminder yet again that The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook provides detailed advice on creating assignments for online volunteers, for working with online volunteers, for using the Internet to support and involve ALL volunteers, including volunteers that provide service onsite, for ensuring success in virtual volunteering, and for using the Internet to build awareness and support for all volunteering at your program. Tech tools come and go, but certain community engagement principles never change, and those principles are detailed in this comprehensive guide. You will not find a more detailed guide anywhere for working with online volunteers and using the Internet to support and involve all volunteers – even after home quarantines are over and volunteers start coming back onsite to your workspace. It’s available both as a traditional paperback and as an online book. It’s co-written by myself and Susan Ellis.

If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site or my YouTube videos and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help. 

Cultivating Online Civility

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When I began writing about online culture, back in the late 1990s, misinformation was at a minimum and easy to identify, and hateful trolls were oh-so-quickly banned from the online communities they tried to disrupt.

Now, hate and misinformation rage online, and not just among strangers – neighbors are raging against each other on local online communities.

Back in the 1990s, in promoting virtual volunteering – using the Internet to support and involve volunteers – people who were new to the Internet (yes, there used to be such people) would ask lots of questions about what it is like to work with people remotely, rather than onsite, in-person. I created a section of the Virtual Volunteering Project web site, and then my own web site, specifically to talk about online culture, about the different ways people expressed themselves online and how to appreciate those differences, and how to quickly ramp up your skills for working with others online. I linked to some netiquette guidelines, but didn’t put much emphasis at all on online civility, dealing with trolls or addressing misinformation.

My, how times have changed…

A recent Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that Facebook was aware of its Facebook groups feature’s polarizing tendencies as early as 2016, and the Facebook groups feature continues to serve as a vector for lies, especially regarding COVID-19, as this Wired article, Facebook Groups Are Destroying America, notes:

Facebook users have been seeing more content from “friends and family” and less from brands and media outlets… Dynamics in groups often mirror those of peer-to-peer messaging apps: People share, spread, and receive information directly to and from their closest contacts, whom they typically see as reliable sources. To make things easier for those looking to stoke political division, groups provide a menu of potential targets organized by issue and even location; bad actors can create fake profiles or personas tailored to the interests of the audiences they intend to infiltrate. This allows them to seed their own content in a group and also to repurpose its content for use on other platforms... Related memes and links to fringe right-wing websites have been shared millions of times on Facebook in the past few months. Users coordinating their activities across networks of groups and pages managed by a small handful of people boost these narratives. At least nine coordinated pages and two groups—with more than 3 million likes and 71,000 members, respectively—are set up to drive traffic to five “news” websites that promote right-wing clickbait and conspiracy theories. In May, those five websites published more than 50 posts promoting Obamagate, which were then shared in the linked pro-Trump groups and pages. The revolving door of disinformation continues to spin.

And that doesn’t even begin to address the problems with dedicated trolls – people who target others online with insults and harassment in an effort to drive the person offline.

I now have a curated list of resources on online civility, and I continue to update my long list of recommendations on how to address online misinformation, which I’ve been maintaining for more than two decades. I also now have a web page of resources regarding online harassment, defamation & libel, and I regularly share on the TechSoup Online Community about how women worldwide are the frequent targets of harassing trolls who dedicate their time to silencing those voices. I never dreamed back in the 1990s things would be so overwhelmingly negative now and these would be the highly critical issues that they are. But, here we are.

Can online civility be restored? Is it possible to challenge misinformation and destructive speech in the strongest, most deliberate of terms without being accused of hate speech yourself? Can there be rules for online civility that don’t stifle much-needed debate? I hope these curated resources can help answer those questions – but, honestly, based on what I’ve experienced myself this year, I’m deeply skeptical. Perhaps I need to create a list of resources on “Learning to live and thrive in a world with hateful, hate-filled people.”

Also see:

Also, the Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook: Fully Integrating Online Service Into Volunteer Involvement can help you better work with people online – specifically volunteers. These can be volunteers in short-term, “microvolunteering” tasks or longer-term, more high-responsibility roles. These can be volunteers who do some or most of their service onsite, at your organization or volunteers who do most or all of their service remotely, rarely or ever onsite and in-person with you. This is the most comprehensive resource anywhere on working with online volunteers, and on using the Internet to support ALL volunteers, including those you might not think of as “online” volunteers.

If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help. 

Contributing to online communities can help you professionally

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I see lots of young people online who are wondering how to build up their skills and résumés in this time of COVID-19, or to explore careers with so many onsite experiences closed to them. I want to remind them all (they all read my blog, right?) that volunteering to help with an online community is a great way to get experience, to build your skills, to build your knowledge, to build your portfolio and to network for jobs.

Don’t believe me? I’ve been helping with online communities since 1993 or so, mostly as a volunteer. And those experiences have played a substantial part in both getting professional positions and getting experience that’s helped me in my offline work.

The first online community I participated in was the soc.org.nonprofit USENET newsgroup. It was created in June 1994 and gatewayed to the email-based mailing list USNONPROFIT-L. The community was for the discussion of nonprofit management and program issues. I found it soon after it was created and, after a couple of years of participating, because I was such a prolific contributor, I got asked to co-moderate it, as a volunteer, and I did so for several years. My participation there, and some onsite volunteering and collaboration, lead me to being offered a paid position: to direct the Virtual Volunteering Project.

In the late 1990s, I participated in three other online communities, all on YahooGroups: CyberVPM, UKVPMs, and OZVPM, all focused on managers of volunteers. It was because of my participation in those three communities, talking about the VV Project and virtual volunteering in general, that I got noticed by a United Nations agency in charge of the online volunteering portion of NetAid, and ended up directing what became the UN’s Online Volunteering Service. I also have lifelong colleagues and friends because of my volunteer participation in those three communities specifically.

In 2001 or so, while living in Germany and working for the UN Volunteers program, I started participating in the then newly-launched TechSoup online community. You can see an early version of that community on the Internet Wayback machine. I was a very active volunteer contributor and ended up getting asked to be a volunteer moderator, helping to introduce topics, answer questions and delete spam, and to lead a couple of online events. And years later, in 2009, after volunteering on and off, I got a part-time contracting gig helping with the community and some online events. I’ve done that off and on ever since (including now!).

Around that same time, someone set up an online community for people working in international aid and development work. I joined that community and, once again, I was a prolific contributor, as a volunteer, and eventually got asked to be a volunteer board member of the newly-formed nonprofit that got set up to support the community. The Aid Workers Network lasted for just a few years, but I got asked about that experience regularly in job interviews, and there are two people that remain my professional colleagues to this day.

On Reddit, I’ve been the volunteer moderator for the volunteer community, the community service subreddit, and the inclusion subreddit, for a few years now – and I got a short, well-paid consulting gig earlier this year because of my activities on the volunteer subreddit specifically.

So, that’s my story on how volunteering to contribute, moderate, facilitate and lead online communities has helped me professionally. It could help you, too:

  • Look for Reddit communities that represent what you want to do professionally or as a volunteer. Read a lot before you contribute, and always read as much as you yourself post. When you feel ready, post helpful, on-topic questions, advice and comments. Follow the rules. If you do this regularly, don’t be surprised if you end up getting asked to be a moderator. Even if you aren’t asked to be a moderator, if you think your contributions show your expertise, workstyle and character, consider including a link to your Reddit profile on your résumé.
  • If you use computers or your smart phone as a part of your volunteering or professional work with nonprofits, NGOs, charities, community groups, advocacy groups, libraries, religious groups, etc., and you want to share your experience and help others that might be trying to do so, consider joining the TechSoup online community and contributing to the subjects there, like Databases and Software (including apps), Web Building, Digital Engagement, Hardware, Servers & Networks, Security, Privacy & Safety, Tech in Disasters, Tech Planning and Policies or Tech4Good, Tech Making a Difference, Tech in Society.
  • Use Google, Bing or Duck Duck Go, and on Facebook, to find online communities hosted on other platforms that relate to what you want to do, whether its humanitarian work, nonprofit theater management, rescuing wildlife, logistics after disasters, whatever. As always, read a lot before you contribute, and always read as much as you post. Post helpful, on-topic questions, advice and comments and follow the rules. You might get asked to be a moderator, but regardless, you’ll create an online profile potential employers might find quite interesting.

And if your nonprofit, NGO, charity, library, etc. has an online community, the contributors to that community are volunteers, even if you don’t call them such, even if you also call them clients or community members instead. If they are asking questions, offering comments and advice, introducing discussions on your community, even debating (but are staying on topic) and you aren’t paying them, they are online volunteers, they are contributing their time and talents, and you are engaged in virtual volunteering.

cover of Virtual Volunteering book with hands raising up various Internet connected devices

For detailed advice on creating assignments for online volunteers, for working with online volunteers, for using the Internet to support and involve ALL volunteers (including those providing service onsite), and for ensuring success in virtual volunteering, check out The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook. You will not find a more detailed guide anywhere for working with online volunteers and using the Internet to support and involve all volunteers. It’s available both as a traditional paperback and as an online book. It’s co-written by myself and Susan Ellis. If your organization wants to better engage the people who contribute to your online communities – and, yes, those are online volunteers – this book can help.

Also see:

If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help. 

Apps4Good should be based in reality, not be tech fluff

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I sent out this tweet thread December 3 from my Twitter account:

Listened to a podcast by someone wanting to develop an app to address a particular community need. He has no stats regarding the need, no research showing his approach is what partner agencies or potential clients want. Just talked about #app4good he’ll develop. (1/5) #CSR

This project leader has no experience regarding this particular community need. None. It’s another case of someone from the corporate world deciding that he knows what nonprofits or at-risk community members need, with no data or research to back that up. (2/5)

Looked at the web site. It’s very slick, uses all the buzzwords. You have to really read (which most folks won’t) to realize every project is in development, that no people with actual expertise in this issue are involved in this supposed nonprofit effort. (3/5)

It’s great that folks from the corporate / business / tech world want to help with community issues. Your involvement is vital. But just as you have to do your homework before developing an app for consumers, you have to do research before you develop an #app4good. #CSR (4/5)

Years of experience in the tech sector doesn’t prepare app creators for addressing homelessness, hunger or street harassment, or navigating mass transit, or working in emergencies. You must talk in-depth with the experts: nonprofits & their clients. (5/5)

I’ve written a LOT about how folks from the corporate world, from executive directors to app developers, don’t talk to nonprofits before they develop tech tools for their clients. Here’s more:

And then there is this brilliant tweet from World Bank Water, an initiative of the World Bank:

To paraphrase a comment I wrote in a previous blog, it’s wonderful to see so many tech4good / apps4good / hacks4good initiatives anywhere in the world, but I see way too much attention being spent on their launch, on their promise, and not nearly enough researching if this is really what clients or the community wants, let alone evaluating their impact and sustainability after launch. And if we don’t focus on those things, then they are just tech fluff.

Please share about your experience working with online volunteers

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If your nonprofit, NGO, library, school or other mission-based program is involving online volunteers, or if your business / corporation has a virtual volunteering component in its employee volunteering program, below is a list of public online spaces where you can share information about your program: what software volunteers use to check-in or communicate with you, what they use to collaborate with each other, what tools and techniques (IT-based or otherwise) you use to support online/remote volunteers, your successes, your challenges, etc. These are also great places to ask questions and for advice regarding virtual volunteering:

You can share exactly the same information across all three of those online communities because each of those communities reaches a very different audience – the Linkedin group reaches a mix of people at a variety of programs working with volunteers as well as corporate representatives and university students and faculty. The subreddit reaches a younger and mostly male audience that you probably won’t reach otherwise. The TechSoup community reaches a mix of nonprofit folks and tech-savvy people who care about nonprofits. In short, there is very little audience crossover on those three communities.

(note that only the Reddit group is for recruiting online volunteers; on TechSoup, you should use this forum to recruit online volunteers)

Why share publicly about your experience working with online volunteers, including challenges? It’s a great way to both brag about what you are doing – and what you are doing is worth bragging about – and to learn from others. No one has a monopoly on knowledge about virtual volunteering – everyone is constantly learning, including me – and this is how we can all learn together.

The reality is that there needs to be a much greater diversity of contributions to those groups regarding virtual volunteering and I’m NOT going to work forever. This call is also my effort to try to cultivate a greater number of voices talking about virtual volunteering – there was far, far more online discussion about it back in the late 1990s than there is now!

Full disclosure: I am a moderator for all three of those groups, and I’m also hoping to see emerging leadership such that I can hand over the reins on these eventually!

cover of Virtual Volunteering book with hands raising up various Internet connected devices

For much more detailed advice on creating assignments for online volunteers, for working with online volunteers, for using the Internet to support and involve ALL volunteers, including volunteers that provide service onsite, and for ensuring success in virtual volunteering, check out The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook. Tools come and go – but certain community engagement principles never change. You will not find a more detailed guide anywhere for working with online volunteers and using the Internet to support and involve all volunteers – even after home quarantines are over and volunteers start coming back onsite to your workspace. It’s available both as a traditional paperback and as an online book. It’s co-written by myself and Susan Ellis.

If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help.