Alongside the emergence of neogeography and volunteered geographic information, the GISciences are increasingly subject to shifts in web-based media. These media-centric shifts toward the online and the interactive have proved enabling for both profit-driven and nonprofit organizations to capture the attention of potential customers and constituents through online social and spatial media. In research on the everyday information- and data-practices of community-based organizations, websites and their appendaged mobile applications such as Facebook and Twitter are examined as the emerging media toolset to build sustained connections to funders, constituents, and others involved in sustained community-based practice. Conceptualized as practices of exteriorization, these technologies and these new pressures around the utilization of social and spatial media have made the daily work of nonprofits more complex. Indeed, as the landscapes of digital information technologies continually shift their interfaces, protocols, and membership settings (including privacy configurations), I suggest that this new normal -- of persistent change in online digital media -- presents challenges for collective memory and the attention-work of community-based organizations. Taking up and responding to concerns around the implications of digital information technologies on memory and culture, this presentation outlines efforts to integrate these diverse media as part of a broader agenda of attentional design for community-based critical GIS practice.

1. Matthew W. Wilson, PhD
University of Kentucky
Harvard University
matthew.w.wilson@uky.edu
@wilsonism
14 May 2013
Contagion Workshop | University of Exeter
Social media, CBOs,
and attention work

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What are the implications of persistent change
in online digital media?

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What are the implications of persistent change
in online digital media?
[ 1 ] community-based partnerships

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What are the implications of persistent change
in online digital media?
[ 1 ] community-based partnerships
[ 2 ] everyday technological practices of
community-based organizations

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What are the implications of persistent change
in online digital media?
[ 1 ] community-based partnerships
[ 3 ] attentional design?
[ 2 ] everyday technological practices of
community-based organizations

7. @wilsonism 7
[ 1 ]
community-based partnerships

8. http://newmaps.uky.edu/community-partnerships
@wilsonism 8

9. @wilsonism 9

10. mapping potential sites for nonprofit healthcare services
@wilsonism 10

11. mapping potential sites for nonprofit healthcare services
mapping predatory lending in the city
@wilsonism 11

12. mapping potential sites for nonprofit healthcare services
mapping predatory lending in the city
mapping food systems in low-income neighborhoods
@wilsonism 12

13. mapping potential sites for nonprofit healthcare services
mapping predatory lending in the city
mapping food systems in low-income neighborhoods
mapping social implications of post office closures
@wilsonism 13

14. mapping potential sites for nonprofit healthcare services
mapping predatory lending in the city
mapping food systems in low-income neighborhoods
mapping social implications of post office closures
mapping historical tourism opportunities in rural counties
@wilsonism 14

15. mapping potential sites for nonprofit healthcare services
mapping predatory lending in the city
mapping food systems in low-income neighborhoods
mapping social implications of post office closures
mapping historical tourism opportunities in rural counties
mapping stray animal control in the city
@wilsonism 15

16. mapping potential sites for nonprofit healthcare services
mapping predatory lending in the city
mapping food systems in low-income neighborhoods
mapping social implications of post office closures
mapping historical tourism opportunities in rural counties
mapping stray animal control in the city
mapping rural economic development service regions
@wilsonism 16

17. mapping potential sites for nonprofit healthcare services
mapping predatory lending in the city
mapping food systems in low-income neighborhoods
mapping social implications of post office closures
mapping historical tourism opportunities in rural counties
mapping stray animal control in the city
mapping rural economic development service regions
mapping progress of neighborhood historical preservation
@wilsonism 17

18. mapping potential sites for nonprofit healthcare services
mapping predatory lending in the city
mapping food systems in low-income neighborhoods
mapping social implications of post office closures
mapping historical tourism opportunities in rural counties
mapping stray animal control in the city
mapping rural economic development service regions
mapping progress of neighborhood historical preservation
mapping user-generated data about river water quality
@wilsonism 18

19. mapping potential sites for nonprofit healthcare services
mapping predatory lending in the city
mapping food systems in low-income neighborhoods
mapping social implications of post office closures
mapping historical tourism opportunities in rural counties
mapping stray animal control in the city
mapping rural economic development service regions
mapping progress of neighborhood historical preservation
mapping user-generated data about river water quality
mapping mobile data to support open urban government
@wilsonism 19

20. mapping potential sites for nonprofit healthcare services
mapping predatory lending in the city
mapping food systems in low-income neighborhoods
mapping social implications of post office closures
mapping historical tourism opportunities in rural counties
mapping stray animal control in the city
mapping rural economic development service regions
mapping progress of neighborhood historical preservation
mapping user-generated data about river water quality
mapping mobile data to support open urban government
@wilsonism 20

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the meme as
engagement

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corporations compete
to control our attention

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devices serve up
the world

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marked bodies become
digital infrastructure

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digital media partnerships
as critical technology practice

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[ 2 ]
everyday technological practices of CBOs

28. practices of exteriorization
@wilsonism 28

29. “The effort takes a network of volunteers to ‘glean’
and distribute produce to neighborhoods where it
is needed, farmers and farmers' markets that are
willing to donate leftovers and neighborhood
captains like Torp who help distribute the produce
and build communities.” (Herald-Leader, 25 July 2012)
@wilsonism 29

30. “I was wanting to start a
Twitter account for us,
but I think Twitter is more useful
for us in bringing in information.
Because farmers don’t Twitter.”
(CFA)
@wilsonism 30

31. So then I’m trying to move people
and go:
‘This is gonna go away.
Stop liking this!’ …
You have to just ditch it and
start over from scratch, which is
kind of what we did.” (FF)
@wilsonism 31
“And then I ended up changing our Facebook page
to a page for a non-profit organization
as opposed to a group. …

32. “So I don’t know if there’s a good gauge about
which things to adopt, which things to pass
while they wither on a vine somewhere.” (SL)
@wilsonism 32

33. “I’ve pulled the pictures out
because of course we’re using the free Dropbox.
So, I’ve pulled the pictures out
and I started putting them on Picasa.” (FF)
@wilsonism 33

34. “As a director, I do make time to be
in front of a computer 1 or 2 hours each day.
And that’s a tension for me, because on one hand
I understand that time in front of the computer
can help time in the garden, but …
If I’m not in a garden,
SeedLeaf work isn’t happening.” (SL)
@wilsonism 34
< >

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“You basically go with an
email marketing company.
And there’s several out there.
So you look through them all,
but since we’re small and
have no money,
we get the free ones.
So then you spend all this time transferring
your stuff from there,
trying to figure out how to use that program.” (FF)

36. software changes / choosing among tools
frequency of personnel changes
limited (free) functionality
storage ceilings
need for multiple modes of communication
equipment needs
impact and measurement regimes
@wilsonism 36

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[ 3 ]
concerns / opportunities for attentional design

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Have you updated your security questions?
Is this your most recent contact information?
So and so user has started following you!
Do you want to follow so and so user?
Your social network has new content!
You haven’t visited us in a while. Are you there?
Someone else may have accessed your account!
There are new Pins from your followers!
Our privacy settings have changed. Do you accept?

48. This is a struggle over capacity.
@wilsonism 48

49. This is a struggle over capacity.
Yes… and more…
@wilsonism 49

50. This is a struggle over capacity.
Yes… and more…
There are broader challenges that
give rise to the more mundane
struggles over digital information
technologies.
@wilsonism 50

51. This is a struggle over capacity.
Yes… and more…
There are broader challenges that
give rise to the more mundane
struggles over digital information
technologies.
These are struggles to capture and
retain attentional control.
@wilsonism 51

52. This is a struggle over capacity.
Yes… and more…
There are broader challenges that
give rise to the more mundane
struggles over digital information
technologies.
These are struggles to capture and
retain attentional control.
@wilsonism 52
attentional control
attentional control
attentional control
attentional control
attentional control
attentional control
attentional control

53. Strategies in the wake of persistent change?
Greater training for organization personnel.
Sustain access to digital information tech.
Centralize frequently used web functions.
More university-community partnerships.
Develop new or tailored digital tools.
@wilsonism 53

54. Strategies in the wake of persistent change?
Greater training for organization personnel.
Sustain access to digital information tech.
Centralize frequently used web functions.
More university-community partnerships.
Develop new or tailored digital tools.
@wilsonism 54
training training training training
change change change change
access access access access
used used used used used used used
partnerships partnerships
Develop Develop Develop Develop

55. This struggle over attention
intervenes in human practices
of exteriorization:
 retention,
 collective memory,
 production of culture.
@wilsonism 55

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Systems of Care
(Stiegler 2010 [2008]: 4-6, 13)
ego:
repository of
“primary retentions”
[ perceptions ]
(Husserl)
secondary retentions
[ memories ]
unconscious
[ repressed ]
preconscious
[ latent ]
provides
material
pleasure principle
jouissance
[ enjoyment; dies ]
desire
[ différance;
objects maintained ]
supplementarity
[ pharmakon ]
conscious
tertiary retentions
[ intergenerational sedimentations ]
drive
[ foregrounding
the future ]
psychic apparatus
 psycho-technical apparatus
psychotechnological systems of psycho power

57. constituting collective memories
and cultures of action
@wilsonism 57

58. constituting collective memories
and cultures of action
 partnering long-term
@wilsonism 58

59. constituting collective memories
and cultures of action
 partnering long-term
 strategizing to build audiences
@wilsonism 59

60. constituting collective memories
and cultures of action
 partnering long-term
 strategizing to build audiences
 recognizing attention work as action
@wilsonism 60

61. constituting collective memories
and cultures of action
 partnering long-term
 strategizing to build audiences
 recognizing attention work as action
@wilsonism 61

62. @wilsonism 62
thank you