Steve Dondley's blog

Finally, Communicate or Die is getting some love! First thing you'll notice is the new look. We hope you like it. We still need to smooth over some obvious flaws and there are a lot of improvements coming. But in the tradition of free/open source software development, we thought we'd let our users play with this "beta" version and tell us what needs fixing.

Of course, technology and a flashier design can only get you so far, you need real live flesh and blood to breath life into an online community. So, I decided to hire Jason Pramas to actively reach out to individuals and organizations and encourage their participation in the CoD community. Jason not only has a long history of labor activism, he thinks deeply about the web and all of its implications. I bumped into Jason last month when he gave a presentation about his exciting Open Media Boston project, which aims to help promote quality community and labor journalism. The CoD community is very fortunate to have such an eminently qualified person working to help it grow and thrive again.

We'll set up a feedback form shortly. In the meantime, any and all comments about the site are appreciated below.

Trade unionists from around the globe will be descending on Union Island today to celebrate the May Day. If you want to attend, don't bother leaving your house, the gathering is coming to you via Second Life, software that lets you navigate a three dimensional, virtual world using a digital representation of yourself. Read on to learn more.

Last week, I posted about two unions taking their war against each other to the Internet.

Well, I just got done watching a video that popped into my mail box (thanks to Chuck Lezette) which demonstrates how internal union politics is going online as well. The video chronicles an apparent revolt against Doug McCarron, the head of the Carpenters union, by some carpenters in British Colombia, Canada.

Now, whether or not you are for or against McCarron, the video raises a lot of questions about the future conduct of union business and debate in a more connected, transparent world.

Twitter is yet another free Internet service that could open up new possibilities for union communication. Read on for more.

California's hospital executives have a lot to chortle over these days. First, the United Healthcare Workers West launched a site to take on the SEIU with their site, SEIU Voice, and now we have the SEIU going after the California Nurses Association.

You've got a blog, posted a couple of podcasts and some videos on YouTube, now get ready for the next hot way to communicate: live streaming video. You heard it here first. A new company, less than 1/2 year old, called Ustream, offers live video streams to anyone who wants one, absolutely free. I've set one up and coupled it with a live chat feature for my company, Prometheus, and I absolutely love it.

In a couple of weeks, I'm headed down to the Big Apple for the Labor's Voices conference. The LV events are all about helping worker's take advantage of media to deliver their message and organize a movement. Definitely check it out and get to New York if you can!

Using YouTube's free channel feature, a union can set up their own MySpace-like page full of videos, giving any organization the power to cheaply distribute their collection of videos. The IAM has capitalized on this feature and has set up the Machinists News Network.

Using Google's free blog service, SEIU has launched a blog about the Blackstone private equity firm's IPO at Inside the Blackstone IPO and landed an article in the New York Times about it.

It goes to prove that the Internet can give you quite a large voice for very little money.

After being shut down for a long period due to a lack of funding, the ShopUnionMade.org website is open for business. Finally, consumers sensitive about the working conitions of those who manufacture the products they buy can again educate themselves about which products have earned the union label.

A dream of mine for several years---to work full-time helping unions communicate on the Internet---has now been realized. There is no doubt in my mind that communicating labor's message is absolutely key to the labor movement's survival. So, I recently stepped down from my paid position at the Pioneer Valley AFL-CIO and am turning my full attention to my newly launched business, Prometheus, http://www.prometheuslabor.com, which builds union websites. I'm very excited to have the chance to focus 100% of my attention and efforts helping unions do a better job to deliver their vital message to workers and the general public.

I'm going to put on a theoretical, academic hat for a moment and take a stab at creating a general classification system for communication on the Internet. (Real academics please chime in.) Yeah, not the most exciting blog material, I know. But categorizing things is useful for helping us think clearly and logically about the world.

I've written a few times here that labor unions need to begin engaging the public in a two-way dialog on the Internet. But opening up a blog or forum to the general public, especially anonymous posters, is not without its risks and pitfalls. Doing so is likely to open the doors to people who have no other purpose in life but to bash unions. It appears John Ryan, President of the Cleveland AFL-CIO, is learning that right now on his blog which accepts comments. Here's a few good examples of some of the anti-union, anti-worker sentiments expressed on the site.

The AFL-CIO will publicly launch a new blog site this Tuesday. The site, called "AFL-CIO Now," is already live and can be seen at http://blog.aflcio.org.

I just received an email from Art Shostak about unionfacts.org, a web site set up specifically to undermine workers' faith in organized labor. A quick whois reveals the site is registered to Berman and Company in Herndon, Virginia, a PR firm. Based on their proximity to Washington, they were most likely hired by someone like the National Association of Manufacturers or the National Chamber of Commerce.