e.politics: online advocacy tools & tactics

Supporting Offline Organizing through Online Means: Let’s Make Some Shirts

February 1st, 2007

DeadElephant.ORG Campaign Manager Jeff Goldsmith wrote up a great application earlier today on an email discussion list and kindly gave permission for me to reprint his message. He talks about an interesting way to integrate online and offline organizing by allowing website visitors to design and print their own shirts with the DeadElephant.ORG logo. Roll-your-own protest gear! (Dude, don’t bogart that shirt…).

Apropos of our conversation here about “message discipline” at protest marches, DeadElephant.ORG has just come across a new way to split the difference between uniformity and individuality, and it’s worth considering for your own organizing efforts. As of this morning, supporters can create their own message — any message — on a high-quality printed shirt bearing the DeadElephant logo. You can write your slogan, choose your fonts, and even include your own images. www.DeadElephant.ORG/roll.htm. The service is made possible by the folks at GoodStorm. If a new meme is to emerge as uniquely suitable to our times, our goals, and our values, perhaps this is a means by which that can happen.

Details: The GoodStorm personalized printing service costs us nothing to use, and took about 20 minutes to customize and install on our site. They host the function on their server, but it’s presented as integral to the DeadElephant site through a JavaScript call. This distributed model is similar to Care2′s distributed discussion board service, with which you might be familiar.

Very cool idea — send along any similar organizing tools and I’ll write ‘em up.

– cpd

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