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Working group representatives: prior to the 4/26/10 conference call, please submit your written report below. This information will be used to help draft the agenda and will allow other working groups to be prepared with feedback.

Each report should include the following:

  • Summary of working group projects, activities, and/or organizing work.
  • If applicable, summary of working group (sub)committee projects, activities and/or organizing efforts.
  • Upcoming deadlines or milestones.
  • List of feedback, direction, and support needed from the OC and/or specific working groups.
  • Name of representative(s) who submitted the report.

To edit this page, click the "edit this page" tab at the top of the page, scan down to the header for your group and type or cut/paste your info. Use wiki coding to enhance your text, save at bottom of page. Brief wiki coding (or use icons in edit box):

* = bullet
: = colon will indent or force new line
'' = 2 apostrophes around text for italic
''' = 3 apostrophes around text for bold


Comm-Media

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS/INFO SESSIONS

MEDIA/PRESS

(coming soon)

WIKI/TRAINING

  • wiki now listed in Get Involved section on site.
  • wiki front page is streaming news & major dates
  • directory of email lists being formed
  • continued information updates & trainings

EMAIL MARKETING

  • Charles L took a new job and Email Marketing was transitioned to B Loewe with oversight from David & Comm WG.
  • Last e-blasts sent on April 6, 16 and 20. Listserv is still at a humble 8924, though opens are higher- at about 1,800 per email. We

need confirmation from ICT that registrant & organizational emails coming in are going into listserv.

  • We're moving toward weekly e-blasts & social media pushes leading up to June 22.
  • We're checking with ICT to make sure registrants emails are being synced there.

SOCIAL WEB

  • Social Web links bar was added to website front page
  • Facebook, twitter, soundcloud, youtube, world social forum TV and flickr pages are up to speed now and can begin a rhythm of being

updated & engaging with those online communities. They're also now prepared to carry out online contest/media sharing campaigns.

  • Currently using Vimeo for video hosting/sharing because it's the best quality and doesn't output a corporate logo.
  • Delicious account is in place, handling tags of news stories, blog mentions & online community announcements with the help of COMM

online research team, and links are feeding into a News Archive page on our website at http://www.ussf2010.org/newsarchive. Video & Radio coverage will be feeding there soon.

  • Youtube videos are buzzing half-well(460 views on PMA video), but hasn't taken off yet.
  • Soundcloud has been really helpful for audio sharing & downloads. Official USSF National & Detroit Audio PSAs released, in addition

to a Vendors PSA for Detroit radio. (1000+ plays of Online info session, 300+ plays of PSAs).

  • Facebook has really taking off and is primed for some buzz-building, online dialogue. We maxed out at 5,000 friends on the main

account, started a youth USSF account (440 friends), Fan Page (10,800), Group (3,100 members), event page (1,992 "confirmed guests", 20,000+ invited), a few dozen self-organized groups & events. Planning to do some media/event campaigns here in next month.

  • Planning to roll out online ads in next weeks.
  • Next month- rolling out of media/online outreach/fundraising/art campaigns through website/social media.

WEBSITE CONTENT

  • Continuing to shore up website information, navigation and media on USSF website. Now have Program, Logistics, Fundraising &

Press/Media sections and just rolled out a News Archive page and shortly will have improved In Motion (ABCs) and Arts & Culture sections.

  • Email signup & improved donate button are now on front page.
  • Logistics section has been updated.
  • New Powerpoint is up.
  • New banners/media sponsorships page coming soon.
  • many official videos/audio/photos are now directly on the site.
  • Some graphics & buttons upgrades made
  • Some team building done for Comms side of Language Access & translations
  • Workshops submissions process closed and workshops/culture submissions language taken down.
  • Next steps: improved registration page, culture, in motion page, access link, multiple news feeds, improved media & get-involved

sections, volunteer sign up section, housing & ride board annoucement.

PROPAGANDA/DESIGN

  • Comms is supporting Tshirt design process, working with Centro Obrero on official Ts and Liberation Ink on their contest Working with

Resource Mob on merchandise design questions. Working with Left Turn, Justseeds, Beehive, Vanessa L & Trust Your Struggle Collective on poster line ideas. Vanessa has drafted a really fantastic USSF poster that's going to be off the chain.

Gender Justice

Gender Justice Report

Work Done and in process:

  • Conference calls on a weekly basis continue
  • Submitted proposal for Gender PMA at the Social Forum
  • In process of developing a Gender printed program

What we need:

  • Specifics on how we can rent a tent at the forum
  • Contact and regular communication with logistics given gender sensitive security and bathrooms issues

Indigenous

ICT

  • Handled a huge flood of desperate workshop submitters who waited until the last minute to submit their workshop (both prior to 20th and 25th deadlines). To our knowledge, we got everyone taken care of who contacted us prior to the last deadline (we entered a half dozen workshops by hand that we received by email). We had 12 folks who requested support after the deadline (confusion about the time zone of the deadline and very last minute technical problems). We submitted a complete report of these people to P & G for a decision on how to handle them.
  • Server move: we moved both the community.ussf2010.org and organize.ussf2010.org web sites to the dedicated USSF server (the www.ussf2010.org site has already been moved). Thanks to the move, during the rush on the 20th, the registration site kept going strong. The organize site (for workshop submissions), however, was under very heavy load for the 20th which caused up to 30 second delays to load a page (but it kept running). We made additional configuration changes later in the week, so that for the rush on the 25th we experienced absolutely no lag or delay on any of the USSF sites.
  • Continued improvements for mail-in registrations: now, administrators can accept additional payments to add more registered users for an organization
  • Major advances in live video streaming: thanks to the experience of Jamie and Mallory in Cochabamba, Bolivia (for the Global Climate Summit), we now have the skills and server setup to accomodate live video streaming for the US Social Forum

On the horizon

  • We're almost through with having registrants convert their pay later registration with an online credit card payment
  • Continued work on assigning rooms to workshops
  • Big plans for Peoples Media Cente

Language Access

Technology: - requested from ICT an access link on home page - check in with ICT re venue tech (A/V) - figuring out how to harvest language requests from both participants and workshop presenters - setting up mechanism for orgs to provide their own translations of their org names when they register

Translation Pipeline - finishing up translation of main pages on website – mapping rest - prepping for translation of wksp descriptions (push 4/26-5/12) - after 5/12

Finance: - prepping cash flow thru june for finance wg o equipment o terp travel and reimbursement o contracts - Detroit budget did not have line item for ASL interpreters pending convo with DJWG; post convo need to add at a minimum $4K line item for ASL terps - Drafted contract for services for interpreters and translators outlining value of donated services and USSF’s commitment to travel/lodging support; pending approval

Equipment: - Put out call for orgs with terp equipment - Mapping who is down for lending for forum – trying to negotiate folks bringing with or donating shipping cost so ussf doesn’t have to pay to ship - Designing system to track all this equipment at forum - Trying to finalize decision on whether or not to have a booth

Detroit: - Reaching out to local interpreting community (thanks Rocio) - Hoping to have an interpreter training in Detroit a few weeks prior to the training

Asks from other groups - Help recruit more interpreters/translators (still) - From ICT – work out the A/V of interpreting at venues - Finance – pending questions of budget, moving fwd with equipment purchase, terp travel, contracts, etc - Program – communications to workshop presenters re organization names and sending best practices email for wksp providing their own interpreters - ICT/Program – how to start harvesting language requests from both participants and and presenters - ICT/DJ – tracking requests for ASL intepreters

Submitted 4/23/10 by Roberto Tijerina

Logistics

Outreach

People's Movement Assembly

Poverty

Program & Culture Working Group

Program

what we've been working on:

  • deadline to submit workshops was last night at midnight. as of 12:45am EST, we'd received:

--950 total workshop and PMA submissions (online; these are not counting the workshops submitted by hand or mail to the Detroit local office) --of these, 113 are 4hour workshops --of these, 36 are 4hour PMAs

  • manually inputting all of the workshops received by mail or by hand into the online review system:
  • thus far, folks with administrative access have been submitting workshops to the online review process. this has predominantly been happening when people will submit a ticket about having trouble submitting online
  • however, WE DO NOT HAVE AN ACCURATE COUNT of people who are / have mailed in a workshop submission form manually. We need ALL of the manually submitted workshops from the DLOC office so that they can be inputted and we can have an accurate count (thank you to Ife, Gwen, and Oya for helping to make that happen!) if anyone else has manual workshops to submit, they need to be mailed to alicia garza @ POWER

what's coming up:

  • program folks (walda, jerome, kiran and alicia) are headed out to detroit in two weeks to cohere all of the workshop submissions with rooms for them to be held in. we are working with ife, topeka and maureen to get a master grid of all of the reserved locations that can support workshops (2 hour and 4 hour) and PMA's.
  • we need the master grid to be able to put all workshops in rooms by May 13 for the printed program
  • we'll be sending out acceptance emails to all workshop submissions that have been accepted and let them know information about room, size / capacity, day and other logistical information

what we need discussed today:

  • we need an update from logistics about the state of the master grid and how soon we can get that in hand
  • need to finalize the number of email and mail submissions so that we can have an accurate count of what we're working with.

submitted by alicia garza, oc rep from program

Culture

Culture is currently reviewing cultural submissions and solidifying artists that we reached out to perform or present at the United States Social Forum. We have received close to 250 submissions and artists confirmations. We have received dozens of film submissions from all over the world. The goal is to have the schedule solidified by May 10th to leave a cushion for adjustments. We have artists such as John Trudell, Dead Prez, Invincible, Rebel Diaz, Welfare Poets, Jessica Care Moore, Nadir, and many more confirmed.

The budget is a major issue for Culture currently. We do not know how much money is allotted to culture. The stage and AV agreements are now on hold. We are working with artists all over the United States and to assist with transportation/room/board needs. We are also proposing to design the banners for the United States Social Forum that will go in front of Cobo Hall, over the Lodge Fwy entrance, in the cultural center are, and the Renaissance to Cobo area. We are currently negotiating with local unions to defer the costs or to make a donation to the set up needs. Currently it is $80 to put up the smaller street banners. We have reached out to artists collectives in Chicago and Detroit to help design the banners on one side and have the USSF logo with dates on the other side.

Our tasks include entertainment at the fireworks, the opening march, the opening ceremony, cultural expressions from Wed thru Friday night on the three stages, an art gallery, the Children’s Art Village, murals, and graffiti art. We are also setting up the cultural tour for Detroit. Culture will integrate into some workshops, plenaries, and PMAs as well.

What we need discussed is the budget parameters.

Resource Mobilization

Youth

  • Summary:
  • April 24-25 was USSF National Youth Fundraising Day. We will be checking in with folks to see what successes came of that event over the course of this week and next week.
  • Youth working group is in the process of creating the programming for the Youth Space. Each day of the Youth Space will have a theme connected to it. Some of those possible themes are Education, Environmental Justice, Juvenile Justice, Jobs, and Health. By the end of April the youth working group will have the programming set up.
  • April 12-20 Jardyn Lake and Akudo Ejelonu did a Southern Outreach tour in Charleston,SC., Durham, NC., Raleigh, NC., Asheville, NC, Greensboro, NC., and Atlanta, GA. One highlight of the tour was connecting with a large delegation of youth from the Young People's Project during the SNCC conference in Raleigh.

Jardyn's goals from now until the USSF are:

  • Identify and connect with large youth delegations
  • Connect national youth to the youth actions that will be happening in Detroit. The current youth action is in collaboration with the Allied *Media Conference and is the Detroit Summer "Another Detroit is Happening" mural design.
  • Organize the Youth Space
  • Jardyn is planning to be on the Beautiful Struggle radio show to talk about youth involvement with the USSF and the youth space 4/27 @ 8pm PST.
  • Also, Jardyn and Corina are planning to be in Detroit May 20 until the USSF to help organize the youth space and to bring in local youth to the USSF.

Feedback

  • Feedback is needed on any updates with housing (ie. what church spaces are available, spaces that are available outside of hotels)
  • Also, there has been some confusion around the spaces designated in Cobo Hall. The youth working group would like the River Room W152 in Cobo Hall. How can we make sure that that room is secured for us?

Just wanted to clarify that the youth will have a space in Cobo Hall but we will not be having a Youth Tent

International Solidarity Team

Personnel Team