Member Starter Guide

Did you Know?

BlackstarVillage is the world’s first community-building platform for people
passionate about creating positive social, economic and political change in Black
communities around the globe. Utilizing powerful, easy-to-use tools members can:
organize, collaborate, communicate and share information, or plan, publicize and
find grassroots events. In this way, members can collectively tackle poverty,
environmental racism, police brutality, malaria, female genital mutilation,
gang/community violence and all causes in between.

In this Guide
Understanding Blackstar Lingo ………………………………………………………………… page 1-2
Before You Get Started …………………………………………………………………………… page 2
Creating a Base ……………………………………………………………………………………... page 2
Growing Your Base: Helpful Tips ……………………………………………………………… page 2-3
Getting Engaged: Organizing & Creating Groups …………………………………………page 3-4
Add Resources ………………………………………………………………………………………..page 4
Invite Others ……………………………………………………………………………………….…page 4
Frequently Asked Questions …………………………………………………………………….page 4

Understanding Blackstar Lingo

 VillageVoice: Blackstar empowers members of our community to “find or amplify” their voice.
Therefore, members are identified by their VillageVoice (i.e. username).

 Solutionary: A person that seeks to develop solutions to the challenging issues that confront
Black communities rather than simply whining, complaining, or remaining apathetic. Because
solutions are encouraged on Blackstar, members are affectionately called solutionaries.

Language and terminology are extremely important on the Blackstar platform. Historically,
language has been invented, distorted, and redefined to the detriment of Black people. In other
words, language has been used to humiliate, disempower and destroy us (i.e. nigger, mammy,
coon, tar baby, pickaninny, brute, buck, welfare queen, nappy headed ho, etc.). Therefore,
Blackstar aims to create or use language that urges us all to constantly think and to become
agents of change which is essential for us to regain our proper standing in the world.

 Passion Platform: Fifteen areas of social activism which include human and civil rights,
politics, education and youth outreach, roots and culture, environment and women’s rights
(click the tab above for all others). To make the Blackstar platform user-friendly all content
including audio, video, images and text is organized around these core areas.

 Cause: A specific issue that falls under a Passion Platform; causes also function as sub-
categories and help filter content. Examples are listed under “Did You Know” located above.

 Base: A member’s dedicated space on the Blackstar platform often referred to as a profile or
personal page elsewhere.

 Inner Circle: Other members of BlackstarVillage that are viewed as friends or supporters that
have been “added to your base”. These individuals should be judiciously or carefully added to
your Inner Circle. Members of BlackstarVillage should be concerned with building “quality
connections” instead of following the Internet trend that places an absurd emphasis on the
“quantity of connections”.

 Ambassador: An official dignitary and public face of BlackstarVillage. Blackstar is currently

recruiting exceptional individuals with positive community track records for this innovative
community-based program.
  CommuniJo: An empowered, independent voice that writes and reports on issues and events
taking place in their community. CommuniJos or “community journalists” ensure that members
of BlackstarVillage are constantly informed about issues happening elsewhere that directly and
indirectly affect their local communities. Blackstar is currently seeking applicants for this
exciting program. No prior experience is required and preference will be given to international
applicants as well as those from the following U.S. markets: Atlanta, Baltimore, Birmingham,
Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Ft. Lauderdale, Houston, Jackson, Jacksonville, Los
Angeles, Memphis, Milwaukee, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, Raleigh, St. Louis,
and Washington D.C.

 TEAM RBG: Refers to Blackstar’s official street team. If you are interested in helping us spread
the word, we would love to hear from you.

 Tags: Refer to keywords that are used to categorize Blackstar content (i.e. audio, video,
images, and text). Example: If you posted a video on microlending in Kenya you may type
“microcredit”, “Muhammad Yanus”, “microloans”, “microfinance” (minus quotation marks) as
tags to help people find your video.

Before You Get Started

 Revisit our “Terms & Conditions” and make sure you are totally familiar with them.
Did you know? It is against our terms and conditions to shamelessly promote your business or
sell products directly from your base. BlackstarVillage is an organizing and community-building
platform not a commercial site or business directory. Therefore, members may only reference
their business. Bases that are commercial in nature or in direct violation of our terms will be
deleted, the person behind it will have their membership revoked and they will be banned.

 Consider File Formats: Only a .jpg or .gif file may be uploaded into the Image Gallery and
only mp3s may be uploaded into the Audio section. Please note the feature that enables
members to upload video files saved directly on their computer to BlackstarVillage has
temporarily been disabled until we better understand user patterns and bandwidth usage. If
you would like to add video you will first need to upload it to a video-sharing site like YouTube.
Next, you will simply paste the auto-generated video link into the field on the “Add Videos”
page located under the Multimedia tab in the Blackstar navigation menu above. It’s real easy!

 Be Mindful of Space and Size Limits: The maximum upload file size of any one image is 2
MB and each member’s total upload space is limited to 10 MB. So, even though you can upload
large photos you are discouraged from doing so as it will reduce the number of files you are
able to share with others. Instead, consider uploading smaller photos between 100-300 KB.

 Remember to check your message inbox (i.e. Blackstar mail) on a regular basis as the
current inbox limit is 25 for all trial membership accounts. To conserve space, delete any ‘read’
messages that you will no longer need.

Creating a Base
 How-To: To create your base, simply drag your mouse over “My Account” then click “Base
Settings”. Next, fill-in the requested information then click the “Save Base Settings” button.
That’s it, you are done! In the future, we may grant access to the “design my base” or “base
design tool” that enables color and graphics personalization.

Growing Your Base: Helpful Tips

 Show Your Face: Unless your photo cannot be posted due to religious reasons, you should
always make it a point to post a picture of yourself on your base instead of a stock icon or
photo. This simple step can help members establish a sense of trust and openness between
each other which in turn will help them grow their respective base.
  Avoid excessive text/graphics: As people shy away from bases that take a long time to
load or view (i.e. scroll).

 Avoid posting text that uses a hateful/negative tone: As it will only alienate you and
put you at risk for having your membership revoked and being banned from BlackstarVillage.
Blackstar members should be action and solution-oriented not hate mongers.

 Search & Connect: You can easily build your Base/Inner Circle by finding and connecting
with other likeminded members using our powerful search tools which let you filter queries by
Passion Platform, cause, geography and more. To begin, click on “Members” located in the
navigation menu above.

 Blog: Not just once, but on a consistent basis. Blogs or web logs (i.e. journals) are one of the
best ways to engage others, promote your cause and build your base. You can create a blog
by following this order and dragging your mouse over each item in the menu above:
Be Heard > Blogs > Write New Blog (click on this one).

 Participate in Forums: Forums also called message boards are a great information
resource. Participation in forums will help raise your profile on Blackstar and will give you an
opportunity to raise awareness for your cause. When participating in a forum, make
meaningful contributions and not “irrelevant noise”. Posted comments should be clear, concise
(less is often better), and applicable to the topic. Efforts to shamelessly promote any
company, organization, agenda or base by way of “comment spamming” or by any other
means will be strictly prohibited.

 Maintain Communication: As you grow your base remember to keep in touch with people
in your “Inner Circle”. If you senselessly add people to your “Inner Circle”, it will be harder for
you to devote time for relationship-building.

Get Engaged: Organizing & Creating Groups

 Education and organizing form the core of BlackstarVillage; however, before you decide to
create a group consider the following. First, what issues are you truly passionate about? Are
they social, economic, political, or environmental in nature or are they grossly intertwined? If
you find a Passion Platform and/or specific cause that interests you make sure you gather
enough background information to better equip yourself. The amount of legwork required will
depend on your background and familiarity with the issue. Obviously, if you wanted to form a
African-centered study group in a small town versus a human rights group in a major city less
homework would be required.

 Once you have this part figured out, check to see if you can join an existing group that is
working to tackle the issue. It is typically best to join a group that has an agenda closely
aligned with your passion and goals rather than “reinvent the wheel” by starting a new group.
By joining an existing group you naturally strengthen its clout and ability to make a
sustainable impact. If your group opts to be entirely web-based meaning even the meetings
are conducted online plans should still be made for offline action/activism.

 To search for an existing group drag your mouse over each of the following using this order:
Get Involved > Grassroots Action Center > Organize! > View/Join A Group > View All (click)

 If no group exists, you should begin mapping out the purpose of your group, as well as some
goals. Before you get started you are encouraged to check out the following resources below.
Bear in mind they are intended to serve as a basic framework and should be adapted as a
group/organizer sees fit. Your plan does not need to be any particular length; however, it
should be based on a “ real passion and sound ideas”.
 Once you and/or your team decide what direction to take, the Group Base should include a
catchy heading, tags, description, and group picture. If you are starting a group by yourself,
be sure to upload your picture in lieu of the “group photo” as it will help establish trust
between you and prospective members. Again, people tend to shy away “faceless” groups.

GROUP RESOURCES
Questions to Consider Before Starting A New Group:
http://www.vcn.bc.ca/citizens-handbook/1_01_begin.html

Organizational Planning: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/citizens-handbook/1_03_plan_act.html

Planning & Facilitating Meetings: http://www.tenant.net/Organize/meetings.html

Using the Internet for Outreach & Organizing:

http://www.netaction.org/training/reader-html/

Food For Thought:

What is a group that never meets?
What is a meeting without an agenda?
What is an organization without action?
What is an organization that claims to be progressive, yet bashes or stifles the growth of its
female members?

Add a Resource
As a member of BlackstarVillage you can suggest Internet resources related to organizing,
community-building, or a Passion Platform. Send us an email with a link to where the resource is
published. If it meets our criteria we will gladly add it to the Resource Library. If you are the creator
of any relevant documents or activist toolkits we would love to hear from you. Should we decide to
post your material in the Resource Library we will be sure to give you credit for your work.

Invite Others
 You can easily invite your friends and family to BlackstarVillage by first logging in then
clicking on “Invite” which is the last tab in the second row.

 If you have more than five people you would like to invite at once we recommend that you
open a second window and log into your regular email program (i.e. AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail,
Gmail). Next, you will click the menu tab above in this order (in the original window): Get
Involved > Help Build Our Base > Spread the Word. Now, you can paste our sample email
message into your email program. Don’t forget to send the message as a “bcc” or blind
carbon copy to protect the privacy of each recipient.

 If you are a text messaging pro, spread the word using your cell phone or PDA.

Frequently Asked Questions

 How do I change my password: Following this order, drag your mouse over the following:
My Account > Settings > Account Settings > Click “Change Password” link

 How can I show my support for BlackstarVillage during my free trial membership?
1. You can help us grow our base by spreading the word to friends and family.
2. You can add a resource to the Resource Library.
3. You can buy Blackstar merchandise from our store starting September 2008. Your
purchase will help us build our base, remain self-sufficient and continuously upgrade our
platform.
 Are Black people behind BlackstarVillage? Yes. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

 Does any corporation back or fund BlackstarVillage? Absolutely not.