I am pleased to announce the launch of a new site based project being called an "Activist Toolkit". This initiative is the direct result of member input provided in the "Taking the site to the next level -- with your input" thread.
The core idea of the toolkit is to get community input to build, refine, edit and maintain a well organized information section that will provide important resources on becoming and being an effective pro-liberty activist.
There will be two parts to the Toolkit, a fully edited and limited change access section which is the Toolkit itself, and an open sub-forum that can be used to provide input for new material, suggested changes, etc. A link to the Toolkit will be made available from the Navigation Bar (next to Top News, Forums, Chat, etc). This is a project that I personally will focus time on and will also start off as the final editor. In the past we have tried different open access wiki style formats for smaller efforts and they too easily become a mess. There is still some technical infrastructure that needs to be put in place to house all the final data for this to work well, which will come as possible and needed.
This Toolkit will of course not be built over night, this is a long term effort. The approach to developing the content will be to start off with a general overview of activist matters and then link off of that to provide more detail, as it gets developed.
Toolkit Content Outline: The basic structure of the content model for the Toolkit is as follows:
-> List of current projects / efforts to get involved in
-> Why Liberty?
----> Principles and philosophy of liberty
----> History case studies showing why liberty is important
-> Getting started with being a pro-liberty activist
-> Core activist operational principles / knowledge
----> Political campaigns
----> Local party politics
----> Effective local organizing
----> Effective events
-> Material on spreading the message of liberty
----> Effective messaging points
----> Database of key messaging resources, such as videos / essays / books / graphics / slide show decks
-> Activities for advanced dedication to liberty
----> Career opportunities
----> Running for office
-> Resource appendix to orgs, media
Of course this is subject to further development. Below is the raw input that helped shape the idea for the Toolkit.
How you can help: Members can contribute their thoughts and ideas to exiting topic threads within the Activist Toolkit forum, or start new threads on suggested topics that are not already in the published Toolkit. Members can also proofread, provide copy editing or other wise refine verbiage or article layouts.
Fine Print: Everything that will go into the Toolkit will either be completely new material or original material already contributed by members. Third party material can be used if permission from the author/publisher is granted. Large pieces or original work that go into the Toolkit will be directly credited, small contributions from posters will be indirectly credited by links to threads, unless otherwise requested. Contribution to an Activist Toolkit topic thread constitutes an understanding that posted material may be used within the Toolkit.
I am looking forward to this project that is open to everyone! Thanks for all the great feedback!
Bryan
Member Input:
"Get Involved" section. At the top are National/International Events - like Ben Swann Kickstarter - describe the project - where to donate. Then break down Geographically.. state by state.. click on Massachusetts.. there's a calendar.. July 4th "Restore the Fourth Rally - Boston" click here for details.. shows when/where to meet.
there could be a "WIKI Knowledgebase" section of the website.
How about doing a virtual campaign school?
To have a comprehensive "liberty-wiki" in a format that is not only educational but also helpful for people
section dedicated to walking folks through how to hold presentations, and info/vids to support these presentations, on all different topics from austrian school of economics to the free market to what each of the Amendments really means and what they really protect and so on... One thing that a lot of us agree on, is that lasting change will come from the intellectual awakening of those around us. If we had a cohesive message that we could tailor to our specific regions or areas, that would be a great resource. ... For example lets say I wanted to put on a presentation at my local theater or library on keynesian vs austrian economic thought, and how it impacts us on a daily basis. I could come to this section of the site and get references/vids/talking points/etc, but I could also get guidelines and tips on how to navigate that presentation from those that have before. We could also feature videos of presentations that have been successfully carried out, to watch and get an ideas from.
Sticky resources to learn about Ron Paul, Rand Paul, reading lists, videos. Ask questions about liberty (no question too stupid!) Might limit posting in this forum to the OP, moderators, and a handful of knowledgable, calm and reasonable members.
Along those lines, there are many "how to campaign" posts/videos in the archive section of the forum. I found them very helpful in my activism. I agree that an activism "how-to" sub-forum should be available and cover a wide variety of topics.
How about fora on how to organize and publicize events? I mean a real how-to manual online.
database for all of the liberty PACs, and social media groups like C4L, Club for Growth, Constitutional Conservatives Fund, state RLCs, basically quick way to correspond with state and national liberty groups and and if they have Facebook pages.
I also think a liberty graphics or pictures thread is excellent.
I'd like to see subcategories stickied that have pertinent information to foreign policy that can be edited by members of the forums. For example have Syria. Have links and a brief description of our intervention in Syria since the '40s. All in one place. Easy to find and sourced.
The same could be done with other subforums as well. Much of history has been forgotten and thus we are repeating it. Educating people of our previous history is the best thing we can do.
Also, I do strongly feel that every forum should have its own video sub-forum that is moderated. The videos posted to a forum should be examined and those deemed of particular merit should be copied to the library. This preserves them and helps eliminate redundancy.
A sub-forum just for stickied stuff, maybe like that list of streaming news channels and that list of pro2A organizations in the country. All those lists of reporter contact info and call in numbers for radio talk shows...
We can create separate subforums of a subforum with nothing but sourced information. If someone were looking to write an essay, it would all be easily found and sorted.