Corinne Ramey
Take the DMI blog readers survey and win gift cards to Amazon.com!
Hey there, blog readers,
These past two days, I've been at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York, listening to various bloggers, journalists, and others talk about how technology changes politics. In a session on Monday, Ben Smith of Politico made the comment that getting people to read stories about public policy is like getting people to eat their spinach. People crave stories about the campaign horserace, but how do you get them to care about policy?
On the DMIBlog, we're all about spinach. And the way we make that leafy green public policy taste good is by cultivating a conversation on our blog that's driven not just by DMI staff, but by activists in the field who are on the frontlines in the fight for social and economic justice. For them, policy isn't just something good for you that your mom told you to eat -- it's what is necessary to change people's lives every day.
In 2005, the DMI became one of the first think tanks to have a public policy blog. Today, we're looking for ways to improve our blog -- to make it more user-friendly, more interesting, and to focus more on the issues that our readers care about. We'd also like to make it more interactive with our other web tools, like our YouTube channel, MayorTV.com, TheMiddleClass.org, and other DMI resources.
Please help us out by giving us your feedback! After completing the short blog survey you will be entered in a drawing to win one of three gift certificates -- two $100 and one $50 -- to Amazon.com. The first 25 people to complete the survey will receive a free DMI mug and totebag.
Click here to take the survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Xoqng7Vics4YMqlM_2f9GF9g_3d_3d
If you have any problems with the survey, please contact Cory Ramey at cramey@drummajorinstitute.org.
Thanks, and keep reading our blog! And while you're at it, don't forget to eat -- and more importantly, read -- your spinach.
Corinne Ramey: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 3:24 PM, Jun 25, 2008 in Drum Major Institute
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Comments
I truly enjoyed your site!!! Your site is the first site,
that realizes the crisis to Americans that this malpractice
torte has created.
I lost my wife on the 03 Aug.2006 and to this date I cannot find a lawyer who will represent me or even give me a
consultation, due to her age(81) and as we were told "She had no value" I know when the new President is in office
the statute of limition will expire and I hope other Americans dont experience the horrors we went through.
If you know anyone that could help us,I am pleading you!
We are not looking for monetary but justice for a horrible misjustice.
Sincerely
Melvin Ginzburg
Tel# 7183515068
Posted by: Melvin Ginzburg | July 6, 2008 08:37 PM
few more tips that I’ve found helpful when running reader surveys
Determine What You Want to Know First - I find that these reader surveys are more effective when I have some sense of what I want to find out first. While simply asking ‘how can I improve’ might get some good responses - having some ideas on possible future direction for your blog can be helpful in forming the questions that you ask readers. Use this process to test possibilities. For example in a recent reader survey at DPS (see link below) I asked if readers would be interested in buying a ‘best of… ‘ type ebook to test whether this might be something that I could develop down the track.
Ask Specific Questions - all some of your readers will need from you to give good feedback is an invitation to do so. However other readers will need a little guidance and asking some specific questions will give them the framework to give you the type of feedback you want. So ask a mixture of general questions (like - ‘tell me what you think about my blog’ and very specific ones (like ‘do you like video post?’ or ‘would you like a forum?’).
Set ‘Rules’ - you’ll notice in the two examples that I give below of the most recent times I’ve asked readers for feedback that I’ve set some ‘rules’ in place. The reason I do this is to attempt to get readers thinking positively and constructively about the feedback that they give. Comments like ‘this site is crap’ don’t really help you improve your blog - so encourage your readers to make suggestions and be constructive.
Set Good Expectations - the other thing it is worth doing is giving readers a sense of what you’ll do with their feedback. If you intend to respond to each comment, tell readers that that is your intention. If you can’t respond to each suggestion then tell that. This will save you pain later when readers email to ask why you didn’t get back to them.
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travis
Surveys
Posted by: travis | March 3, 2009 02:00 PM