As anyone who follows me on Twitter knows, last week I participated in the MBTweetRace as a member of #MBTeamS. (If you are not familiar with the MBTweetRace, read this post from Andrew Careaga.)
With Todd Sanders (@tsand) and John Pederson (@ijohnpederson) at the wheel, the higher ed web community stepped up big time. The level of involvement and enthusiam was truly amazing. By Friday night, I was hunkered down in my command center tweeting so fast that my hands actually started to hurt.
I’m happy to report that #MBTeamS won the race going away and in the process raised over $50,000 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Kids and cancer should never be used in the same sentence and I’m proud we made a small step towards reaching that that goal.
I am still processing my thoughts on the larger lessons learned about social media and will share these thoughts at a later date. My guess is that even Mercedes Benz learned a thing or two about social media. In the meantime, check out these post-race thoughts from Michael Stoner, Karine Joly, Patrick Powers, Lori Packer and Robin Smail.
I think the best way to capture the spirit of #MBTeamS is to create a photo mosaic poster made up of the Twitter avatars of the team members to give to St. Jude. I have been very involved with the Ride For Roswell, the major fundraising event for the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY. Last year was the 15th anniversary of the Ride and to commemorate the occasion this photo mosaic poster of the hospital was created. I’d like to do the same for #MBTeamS and St. Jude. Depending on the interest level, we might even be able to sell the poster as a way to raise more money for this great cause.
To make this happen, the first step is to collect the Twitter avatars of all the #MBTeamS members. Chas Grundy has stepped up and created a spreadsheet of the 1,638 people who tweeted with the #MBTeamS hashtag going back to January 31st. This list will need some minor editing. There were a few people spamming the hashtag and I definitely want them eliminated. One big question is a legal one – do we need to obtain permission from everyone who’s avatar we want to use? I am not a lawyer and don’t deal with this issue very often, so I would definitely like some advise and guidance.
Once we have collected the avatars, we will need to design the poster, again paying attention to any legal issues around the images that we use. We’ll need a graphic designer to create the poster and someone with experience with photo mosaics. There are a variety of software packages to create photo mosaics. I do not have experience with any of them and my Photoshop skills have diminished over the years, so let me know if you have any recommendations. I have a meeting tomorrow with the Ride For Roswell and will check with then on how they created their poster as well.
So who’s in? I’ve had dozens of people on Twitter volunteer to help and encourage you to do so as well. Let’s make this happen.
Mark, I think this is a great idea. I’m in! Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.
This takes care of it legally, right?
Dang, I’m not a graphic designer *or* a lawyer!
If it turns out you do need to obtain permissions from individuals in order to publish their avatar as part of a poster, I’d be happy to help with that process (DM, email, etc.)
Great idea. Let’s do it!
I’m in Mark! Anything I can do to help, just shout.
I’m definitely in. And I’m not a lawyer, but my experience has been that if we/you are going to be selling the poster to raise money, then yes you would need the permission of all the participants since their likeness would be used to promote a charity. Not that I think it would be an issue getting everyone to say okay. And you probably wouldn’t need anything more than a tweet/email/comment that says so.
You can count me in! (My avatar will be back to normal tomorrow . . . just need to back in the glow of a Green Bay win one more day.)
Barbara
Consider me in! Thanks for spear-heading this Mark. A great idea. Unfortunately, I too am neither a lawyer nor a designer.
K – so I did legal recon, cause I work at a law school. There is a certain level of privacy we give over when we sign terms of use for Twitter and then post. however, these do not cover our images being used for commercial gain or outside the spectrum of what would be normal use for the medium.
Therefore, to CYA, you can do one of two things: Require that individuals give you the OK by noting that on the spreadsheet. OR allowing them the opportunity to opt out of the process.
Make sense?
Mark, great idea! Let me know what I can help with.
Please feel free to use my @MBteamSWalker image in any project you come up with for this.
Thanks!
Definitely in! Just let me know what I need to do.
I’m in, but my avatar provides a new legal sticky wicket, being my own drawing of a cartoon character whose rights are owned by another. Should I send a photo instead?
I know, I know. Swiper, no swiping.
I’m in. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.
You already know this, but please let the record reflect that I am “in.”
Great idea! I am a Twitter novice, however, so I am not of much use in this project. My Avatar is of one of my quilts – it’s an original design and you have permission to use the image for this project.
Count me in! I think we all would be willing to give our permission to use our avatars. Great idea btw!
Please count me in for your project. It sounds like a really great idea. Todd is one of a kind!!
As mentioned on the Twitters, I am officially in. Use my avatar at will.
I really like the idea. The project shows how one community (even if it was temporary)-MBTeamS supported the St. Jude community and two individual’s quest for adventure. Wow, the entire experience would make an exciting project for a cultural or social anthropologist to analyze. And yes I’m in.
“in” of course. What else can I do? Let me know.
Great idea. You have my permission, of course!
What a beautiful idea! You have my permission, of course.