This fall, Tufts students will help bridge the gap between traditional community organizing and online organizing through social networks. In the new class “Facebook, Social Networking, and Community Organizing” students will develop a Facebook application to map local civic networks. The result will then be used by area residents to promote volunteerism, collaboration, activism, and problem-solving.
Taught by Peter Levine, Tisch College Director of Research and Director of Tisch College’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), the course is offered through the Experimental College/Communications & Media Studies. Additionally, the course is part of a three-year project on using social media to increase civic participation supported by the Corporation for National & Community Service (CNCS).
The students will help to build one large, public, online “map” of the civil society of the Boston region which can be used to find service opportunities, to recruit volunteers, to analyze power relationships, and to assess how well organizations collaborate. Once the map is more robust, it will be accessible through a special public website and through applications that can be downloaded for Facebook and MySpace.
“Students in this course will help guide the application’s development and its adoption at other Boston-area colleges,” Levine said. “This is a unique opportunity for students to apply modern tools to traditional community organizing strategies.”
Throughout the course, students will learn about Facebook and other online social networks, traditional community networks, and how people can enhance networks for political or social purposes. Additionally students will blog regularly about their work and reflect on the intersection of social media and community organizing.
The project is now in its second year. Levine laid the groundwork for this course last school year, working with students from Tufts and UMass/Boston to build a database of area nonprofits and government agencies and noting how they do or do not collaborate.
“Building on the framework developed in earlier semesters, students this year will work in teams with community partners to understand and map those organizations' networks,” said Levine. “Additionally, participating Tufts students will collaborate and share their work with their peers at UMass/Boston, Suffolk University, and other institutions, allowing them to expand their understanding of the Boston network.”
Since the CNCS grant includes CIRCLE as the lead organizer among five other groups, students will also have the opportunity to critique and interact with projects around the country that are using social networking software to support volunteerism or activism.
Originally published September 2008
