VADP Communications Task Force
Friday, July 29, 2011
Charlottesville
MINUTES
PRESENT: Helena Cobban, Steve Northup, Stephanie Saccone, Matt Sellman,
& Michael Stone.
The meeting began with Helena talking about her Twitter campaign about the
district court decision ordering a new trial for death row inmate, Justin Wolfe.
She created something called a “Chirpstory” to link her tweets & comments
by followers. You can see this thread on the Wolfe case here:
http://chirpstory.com/li/1975
After getting positive feedback on this creative social media outreach effort,
the group affirmed Helena’s plan to conduct a similar Twitter campaign
around the execution of Terrell Davis on August 18. Matt will send her some
helpful facts about capital punishment & the Davis case that she can use in
her campaign.
The group then began a discussion of the VADP web site redesign process.
Members had very positive comments about the creative brief that Stephanie
wrote for the group. They felt that she did a very good job of summarizing the
key audiences, messages, & design features. Steve said he would send a few
minor comments directly to Stephanie about the brief. Other group members
were invited to do the same with their feedback.
There was a detailed conversation about the relative pros & cons of having
either an HTML or CMS web site. A CMS site would require significant
additional programming costs to the final bill, but would be easier to update
with widgets. An HTML site would cost less up front, but might require
additional work by a designer for significant changes to the web site.
Stephanie suggested some possible software options that Matt could use for
updates if VADP chooses an HTML site redesign.
Whichever option is chosen, the group affirmed the need for it to
accommodate a significant on-line fundraising capability. While VADP does
little to this point, we want the ability to seek donations via the web site and
social media platforms.
Steve mentioned that he had a conversation with Noah Scalin about
redesigning the VADP logo. Even though the current logo is only a few years
old, the group felt that it could be “freshened” up. Such an updating could be
used to inaugurate the new web site & signal the enhanced capability of the
organization to work for abolition. Matt urged a relative minor redesign so
that we could still use the sizable stock of letterhead and envelopes with the
current logo. The group agreed that any redesign should not be a significant
departure from the existing logo.
At that point the group discussed funding for the web site redesign. If the EU
grant reprogramming request is not approved, VADP needs to seek money to
pay for the redesign & for the video/audio interviews with key people in the
organization. The group felt that fundraising for this purpose would be a
relatively easy project. People understand the need for a good web site &
content to educate the public & recruit new members for the organization.
Michael asked the group to give more though to the proposed video & audio
interview project. He felt that it was important to develop a clear set of
project expectations so that VADP can begin to solicit competitive bids.
Helena thought that the final edited video should be 20-25 minutes long.
Shorter 2-3 minute clips should also be developed for sharing via social media.
Both video & audio versions of the interviews should be made. The audio
versions can be made available on the VADP web site for podcast downloads.
The group identified people that should be interviewed for the project:
“ Jerry Givens - his experience as former executioner for the
Commonwealth
Linell Patterson - murder victim family member
Matt Engle - the Justin Wolfe case
John Whitehead - Rutherford Institute
Richard Viguerie - Republican fundraiser
Jon Sheldon - Defense attorney
Terri Steinberg - Mother of death row inmate, Justin Wolfe
Charles Williams - African-American murder victim family member
Religious leaders - Lynn Litchfield, Jon Barton, & a black pastor
”
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One idea was to link at least some of these videos to Virginia’ standards of
learning (SOL’s). Steve will talk to VADP friend Jean Murray about this.
Helena agreed to develop a scope of work document for the project that
summarizes these points for potential bidders.
One suggestion was for Steve Northup to record a brief daily audio podcast
during the General Assembly summarizing the death penalty related action
that took place. Matt will look into the possibility of doing this.
Stephanie asked the group for web sites of advocacy organizations that “do
things right.” Among the groups identified were Virginia Interfaith Center,
Oxfam, and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The group then discussed how to improve navigation on a redesigned VADP
web site. Among the key sections identified were:
« Home
Who We Are/About
Take Action/Get Involved
Get Informed/Educate/Learn
Contact
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The group felt that the web site needed to clearly present the key reasons for
opposing capital punishment. A few members of the group thought that the
categories identified in the creative brief were really good - morality,
justice/fairness, effectiveness, & cost. Negative victim impact could be
another category.
Stephanie suggested the final navigation categories could be best determined
through a card sort process. The group would together sort index cards with
the name of each VADP web page to ensure that final navigation categories
make sense f or the web site’s content.
The group then set its next meeting for either Friday, September 9th or
Friday, September 16th in Charlottesville. Michael will talk with Steve to
finalize one of those two dates since he had to leave the meeting early fora
conference call.
The meeting was then adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Stone
August 3, 2011
