To build the capacity of the EA movement and optimize global flourishing, research suggests it is important to share about your good deeds. After all, so many of our good deeds occur in private, and they can have a substantially bigger impact if we publicize them! So please share any EA-themed accomplishments you have not yet shared on previous Accomplishment open threads, whether recent achievements or ones from long ago. This includes one-time accomplishments or ongoing activities on which you are continuously working.
There is also a Facebook group devoted to sharing about EA-themed accomplishments, which you are welcome to join.
This thread is a completely safe space, with no social norms of "don't be a braggart" applying - just share and be safe in your sharing. Share as many or as few good deeds as you wish. Please both share about your own good deeds and respond to what other people share with your authentic responses, ranging from upvoting to supportive/curious comments :-) Doing so will help motivate each other to greater accomplishments going forward and build capacity for the EA movement.
Now, sharing about our accomplishments may seek awkward at first, since it goes against social norms, but we in Effective Altruism know the benefit of trying out unorthodox approaches for good reasons. This is why the Accomplishments Open Thread was launched in January 2016, and received such positive responses that it became a monthly occurrence, and why the EA Accomplishments FB group is so active. Sharing about our goods deeds results in many benefits for the world:
1) Inspiring others to emulate some aspects of those good deeds through social proof and network effects.
2) Support each other doing good deeds through providing social connections, positive rewards, and warm feelings, which are vital forencouraging further pro-social activities.
3) Amplifying the signal about things you want others to know about, such as EA projects you are involved in, EA articles you published, etc.
P.S. The Accomplishments thread project is very open to optimization - besides sharing about your good deeds, please suggest ways to improve any aspects of it. For the history of previous Accomplishment Open Threads, see here and also this .impact FB discussion.
The last month was quite busy for me with EA activities!
One notable event was holding a videotaped Google Hangout with EA Netherlands about how to market EA-themed ideas broadly.
Besides this videotaped call, we held a number of non-videotaped personal calls and did other forms of support for folks in the EA movement to advance the capacity of EA members in marketing EA-themed ideas broadly, for instance connecting EA folks with publishers, etc.
I published a piece for a prominent outlet, Lifehack, entitled "How To Show Your Love For Animals Effectively!" This is part of a broader collaboration with Animal Charity Evaluators, on whose behalf I wrote the post, and who will also publish it on their blog soon. I hope to get it published in a couple of other venues that allow republication, to get the message out as broadly as possible. And on that note, The Huffington Post republished my earlier blog for The Life You Can Save, entitled "The Panama Papers Reveal The Solution To Global Suffering."
I held a couple more "Everyday Heroes of Effective Giving" interviews, which will be ready soon.
We at Intentional Insights tabled at the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly, holding Speed Giving Games and distributing UU-themed Giving Games packets. By the end, we actually ran out of materials (we printed 50), so there was lots of interest in taking the Giving Games back to churches around the world. I think over 70 people participated in total. The two charities we played for were GiveDirectly and the the local food bank, and about 2/3rds of the people chose GiveDirectly, which is a good sign for engaging with the UU movement.
We advanced the EA Marketing Resources Bank project by founding the Effective Altruism Marketing FB group, in coordination with the Local Effective Altruism Network.
We also founded the Effective Altruism Secular Outreach FB group.
On a more personal and non-InIn note, I co-founded the EA Accomplishments group. This is not an explicitly InIn project, just like this thread is not. It's something I'm personally passionate about and do as my personal contribution to the movement, not in my capacity as InIn President.
You're welcome to join all these groups :-)
That's all for the last month!