Jim Buie and Associates

Humorous Way to Remember Me

Ever since I was a kid, people have been singing this "theme song" to me. I was delighted to find it on Youtube.com, along with excerpts from other episodes of "Jim Bowie."

Services

• Research, Writing, Reporting, Analysis, and Commentary
• Public Relations
• Advocacy
• Online Fundraising and Online Advertising
• Internet Site Creation, Maintenance, Marketing 
• Weblog or Blog Creation: Why Blog?
• Daily News Roundups
• Speechwriting
• Print Publication Writing, Editing, Production and Management
• YouTube Videos; Podcasts; Digital Audio, Video Recording and Editing; Digital Conversion of Photos and Slides

If you would like to discuss any of these services, please contact us (jimbuie2 at gmail dot com) or ask a question in the public forum below.

Online Editor

Jim Buie currently serves as online editor for several websites he created, using "Web 2.0" tools such as interactivity, social networking, syndication feeds, video clips and electronic newsletters that track open rates:

• NAACPNC.org, the official website of the North Carolina NAACP.
• RevWilliamBarber.com, website and blog for the Rev. Dr. William Barber, visionary president of the North Carolina NAACP.
• HKONJ.com, "Historic Thousands on Jones Street" in Raleigh, a coalition of more than 80 organizations in North Carolina that sponsor an annual rally and march, and advocate year-round for a progressive agenda.
• NCProsecutorialmisconduct.com, a site that tracks cases of alleged prosecutorial misconduct in North Carolina and advocates for judicial reforms to restore public confidence in the criminal justice system.
• TogetherWhileApart.com, how parents, children, siblings, cousins, close friends, grandparents and grandchildren use new technologies to remain closely connected despite distance, divorce, military assignment or longterm travel.
• Writestyles.com. This is a site built not on a content management platform but in HTML for two writing consultants who use the Myers Briggs personality test to advise clients on their preferred writing styles.

If you like what you see, Jim is available to create a similar website or blog for you or your organization, as well as to show you how to update the site simply without any specialized knowledge. Email him: jimbuie2 at gmail.com.

Writing, Reporting, Editing and Commentary

Samples of Jim Buie's recently published work:

"Black Men as the Standard Suspects," Op-Ed, News and Observer, December 8, 2007

North Carolina Justice Center's Public Policy Briefs, by Jim Buie, 2007

Addressing the Crisis in Education: Expand Funding for Disadvantaged Students (05/07/2007)

Helping Protect Homeowners from Foreclosure (04/30/2007). Abusive Loan Servicing, An Unfair Foreclosure Process, and Recent Court Decisions are Hurting Homeowners

NC's Dismal Voter Turnout - Same-Day Voter Registration Would Improve Civic Participation
(04/20/2007)

Print Publication Writing, Editing, Production and Management

In 2006-2007, Jim served as managing editor for Community News, published by the North Carolina Justice Center.

COMMUNITY NEWS: Historic Thousands on Jones Street (02/12/2007)
NCNAACP & 60 coalition partners call for a revitalized progressive movement to complete the unfinished civil rights agenda of the 1960s.

Videos; Podcasts; Digital Presentations at Conferences; Audio, Video Recording and Editing for Web Publication; Conversion of DVDs, Videotapes, Photos, Slides and Printed Materials to the Web; Online Slideshows and Teleconferences

Jim Buie and Associates produce and edit digital audio and video recordings and short documentaries, for public events and to publish to the web as shown above, on such sites as Youtube.com, and embed onto your web site that can in a matter of hours or days reach thousands of viewers. Recordings of lectures can be converted to audio files and posted on the web for easy download to I-PODs or other audio players (podcasts). We edit with Windows Movie Maker and Adobe Premiere.

Excerpts from a documentary we produced for the NC Justice Center's 10th Anniversary in 2006.

Public Relations

Jim Buie has served as Senior Account Executive and Manager of New Media for the public relations firm of Barksdale Ballard; Associate Director of Communications for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and Assistant Director of Communications for Americans United for Separation of Church and States.

Since 2000, he has been an independent public relations consultant.

"Reporter's Reporter": As a former daily newspaper reporter, Buie understands the needs and perspectives of reporters under deadline. Reporters tend not to respond to cold calls or press releases unless they can see the "real news" or interesting angles for feature stories. Jim helps reporters do their jobs better.

"Become the Media": Increasingly, technology makes it possible to bypass the media gatekeepers. Your organization can BECOME THE MEDIA by leveraging new technologies such as web sites, streaming audio and video, blogs, podcasts, and print-on-demand.

"Digital Media Clips": Using the tools of technology, Buie is an expert at creating and digesting "digital media clips" so organizational leaders can get the information they need quickly to stay on top of national, regional and local media trends. Overwhelmed with information overload, executives should look to communications officers to keep them abreast of news in their field. 

"Translating Jargon and Geek Speak to Language Anyone Can Understand": Jim is, above all, a top-notch writer. He communicates clearly and concisely, in ways the public understands and journalists respect. He is a generalist, a journalist by training, with a passion for Internet technology. He speaks geek, shares a passion for technological innovation, but isn't a geek, and isn't naturally technical. He likes to serve as a communications bridge between geeks and "real people."

Media Relations: Jim Buie has engaged in outreach to national, state and local media. The Washington Post, The New York Times, NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, C-SPAN, Time, US News and World Report, and Newsweek often followed up on Buie's media pitches.

He is especially adept at getting his clients recognized on the Internet.

He writes about public relations on his weblog:

• Political Battles Shift to States
• Symbiosis Between Public Relations and Journalism
• What Corporate America Cannot Build: A Sentence
• Natural Evolution of Ideas: Thesis, Anti-Thesis, Synthesis
• Advocacy Groups Need Adversaries or Enemies
• How Weblogs and Citizen Journalism Are Impacting Public Relations
• Quotes from Edward Bernays, 'the Father of Public Relations' »
• Blogs Are Changing Business
• CEOs Who Blog
• When And How Businesses Should Use Blogs

Online Fundraising and Online Advertising

We've been online fundraisers since 2002. We create online fundraising capacity for advocacy and non-profit organizations as well as political campaigns, develop online fundraising plans, and show organizations how to raise money on the Internet.

Example: congressional candidate Chris Van Hollen raised $200,000 online in the 2002 campaign. That was an unprecedented amount for a non-incumbent congressional candidate so early in the development of online fundraising, and helped him defeat Mark Kennedy Shriver in the Democratic Primary, and an incumbent Republican in the fall 2002 election. Chris Van Hollen is now eighth district congressman from Maryland.

In 2003, for Senator Bob Graham's nascent presidential campaign, we helped raise about $100,000 online in three months. This was well before Howard Dean went down in history as the candidate who changed the political world's expectations as to the abilities of online fundraising. Graham was an extremely dark horse presidential candidate, far back in the pack, perceived to have little chance of winning.

We've worked with Advocacy Inc on successful online advertising campaigns and petition drives. Advocacy's web site includes examples and descriptions of successful interactive ad campaigns. ClickZ Network reports that internet advertising will grow "from $7.8 billion in 2004 to $10.2 billion in 2005, a rate reminiscent of the late nineties when the medium was in its infancy," according to the Jack Myers 2005 Spending Forecast.

Jim Buie, on his blog, follows the development of online fundraising as a significant tool for organizations, as part of his longtime interest in the development of electronic democracy. Recent posts:

• Disasters Put Power of the Internet on Display
• Innovations in Online Fundraising Inspire New Givers
• Whopping Growth in Internet Advertising

Advisor to Senator Bob Graham (D-FL)

As a consultant to Senator Bob Graham (D-FL), Jim Buie created an online newsletter, managed email correspondence, drafted statements, produced daily “blogs,” or interactive online journal. The blog was recognized for “originality” by www.evote.com. Senator Graham's blog featured “material a lot more entertaining than what other campaign blogs offer," Evote wrote.

Buie also designed online advertisements, organized petition drives, and engaged in issue advocacy for Senator Graham as well as other political and social causes. 

Advocacy

Jim Buie has represented more than two dozen advocacy groups, causes and campaigns to the mainstream media, generating local, state and national coverage at opportune times. Just a few of the causes we have worked on include:

• social justice, particularly in North Carolina
• religious liberty and the separation of church and state
• health care reform
• better end-of-life care
• a more participatory, electronic democracy
• better care and better insurance coverage for people with severe mental illnesses. Greater understanding of severe mental illnesses as biologically-based brain diseases.
• using technology to bridge distances between family members, and seeking legislation to encourage "virtual visitation" as a presumption in divorce cases
• preventing family violence
• supporting tougher drunk driving legislation
• various candidates for President of the United States, for Congress, and for the North Carolina General Assembly.

Speechwriting

Since the 1980s, Jim Buie has written speeches for public officials. He believes that the best speeches communicate basic beliefs, outline the foundations on which they are based, draw on inspiring quotations from great leaders and aphorisms from great literature.

He maintains a weblog of inspiring quotes that reflect the foundations of his own beliefs, and that he uses in writing speeches for people of like mind. He is also something of a student of history's greatest speeches, having listened repeatedly to every audio file of famous speeches posted at www.americanrhetoric.com.

As a radio commentator, Buie has learned that short, declarative sentences generally work better than long, complex sentences. And he has learned how to boil complex ideas down into three minute commentaries.

Buie wrote his first major speech for former vice president Walter Mondale's presidential campaign in 1984. The campaign invited the communications staff of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, where Buie served as assistant director of communications, to provide talking points for a major address at B'Nai Brith outlining distinctions between Mondale and President Reagan on religious liberty. Mondale used significant chunks of Buie's draft. The speech even today is remembered for these aphorisms:

"The Queen of England is Defender of the Faith but the President of the United States is Defender of the Constitution, which defends all faiths....Today, the religion clauses of the First Amendment do not need to be fixed; they need to be followed....Whatever his private beliefs and religious practice, a president must be the guardian of the laws which ensure America's religious diversity..."

In the 1990s, while working for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Buie was invited to produce talking points for members of the Clinton administration on health care reform, particularly in requiring insurers to provide the same coverage for severe mental illnesses as for physical illnesses.

Buie has also written speeches on the impact of Internet technology on society:

• Early 'Vision for a New Democracy' Has Come True -- Internet Has Revitalized Both Political Parties
• Using New Technologies to Battle Extremism, Terrrorism, and to Inspire Civic Activism

Giving Voice to the Voiceless

Angela Greene is an attorney residing in the Hebrew Home in Rockville, MD. As a result of a stroke, she cannot speak. Utilizing text-to-voice software installed on a Tablet PC, we've helped her to communicate. Watch a brief video clip from her. For more information on this model program at the Hebrew Home in Rockville, MD, click.

Jim Buie's Software and Hardware Knowledge

Jim Buie has been learning software programs, particularly in the areas of online publishing, since 1992. His working knowledge includes:

• Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access.
• Website and Blog-Building Tools: Typepad, FTP, Fetch, FrontPage, MacroMedia Dreamweaver, Adobe GoLive, and customized web-based website building tools.
• Scanning and Graphics Programs: Canon Canocraft; Adobe Photoshop.
• Financial Management Software: Quicken, Quickbooks.
• Advanced Communication Software: Net Meeting, Skype, and webcam video conferencing programs.
• Basic familiarity with Adobe Premiere video-editing software.
• Hardware: extremely experienced with IBM-compatable Windows machines; also experienced with MACs; digital video cameras; scanner and slide scanner.

10 Good Reasons to Blog

Jim Buie and Associates can quickly set up a weblog or blog for you, and show you how to update it easily by simply placing text into a form, emailing text to a specific address. We can also show you how to add photos and video to your blog quickly and easily. We work with more than a dozen blog templates for quick and easy design.

Why Blog? Here are 10 Good Reasons

1. Bloggers have garnered a great deal of media and corporate attention because "their readers and writers are highly influential," according to Forrester Research.

Intelligence Reform

Jim Buie built the web site for the Council on Intelligence, a group of former intelligence officers seeking to improve intelligence-gathering after 9/11. He also nurtured online discussions and moderated listservs for the group.

Our New Site Is Based on Digital Convergence of TV, Radio, Movies, Video, Internet

As an outgrowth of the daily news round-ups we have produced for OvationTV.com since 2000, we've recently created our own blog, "Experience the Arts Online Now: Peruse Latest news. Follow Links. Listen to Music. Watch Clips, Previews, Movies, Slide Shows," where arts aficionados can peruse the latest news, and in many cases watch movie previews, download music and video clips or purchase movies and music online.

We've also created an email newsletter where the latest arts news, cleverly written, including hotlinks to the web for further exploration and interactivity, can be enjoyed. To receive this brief and breezy enewsletter, send email to experiencethearts-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

The blog and the email newsletter are supported by unobtrusive ads (no spam).

Sponsorship of this blog by businesses seeking to reach specific customers are available.

It is very easy for us to duplicate this concept for other communities of interest on the web. If interested, contact Jim Buie. 

Who We Are

Jim Buie: Resume. Jim's blog.

John Huth

Michael Gough

Michael Vaughan

Bruce Johnson

Steve Mencher

Matthew Buie-Nervik

Lillian Secrest Buie

Ron Moore

Ann Loomis and Carol Shumate

Andrew McDowd Secrest

Jim Buie Resume

Jim Buie

594 Fearrington Post, Pittsboro, NC 27312-8527

Phone: 919-386-3504; Email: jimbuie2 at gmail dot com

Profile: Seasoned writer, reporter, author, editor, webmaster, online community builder and social media specialist. Public relations executive, experienced in health care, technology, political, educational and advocacy campaigns, especially in Internet strategy. Bylines have appeared in The Washington Post and occasional commentary heard on National Public Radio. Internet pioneer -- creating interactive online publications since 1992. Producer of short video documentaries for YouTube.com and other online services.

Experience:

President, Jim Buie and Associates (2000-2009): Implement communications strategies, produce print and email newsletters, daily news round-ups, books on demand, speeches, build and maintain web sites and blogs attuned to online social media and networking, provide media relations for organizations, and write freelance articles. Author, Teacher of Our Town.

Senior Editor, North Carolina Justice Center (2006-2007): The Justice Center is a statewide non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to securing legal, social and economic justice for persons living in poverty and disadvantaged communities. The Senior Editor works closely with key Justice Center staff to develop and promote strong messages for progressive social change. The position also involved some speaking engagements, media relations and legislative contact.

Senior Account Executive and New Media Manager, Barksdale Ballard & Co (1997-2000): Managed Internet and traditional media for several accounts of this public relations firm in Northern Virginia.

Health Care Reporter and Editor (1987-1997): As employee of American Psychological Association (1987-1990), National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (1990-1994); as contractor and freelance writer (1994-1997).

Other Reporting and Editing Experience:

Newsletter and Book Editor, Education Research Group, Capitol Publications, Alexandria, VA. Co-wrote book, Teen Pregnancy: Impact on the Schools (1986-1987).

Associate Editor, Church & State, a magazine published by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Covered legal and social issues in religion, including national court cases (1983-86).

General assignment, features, arts and entertainment reporter and editorial page columnist for daily newspapers in North Carolina: The News and Observer (Raleigh), The Durham Morning Herald and The Fayetteville Times (1976-1982).

Education, Awards and Affiliations:

• Won seven reporting, writing and editing awards from National Association of Mental Health Information Officers and Associated Church Press.
• Masters Degree, Journalism and Public Affairs, The American University, Washington, DC.
• B.A., Journalism, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Order of the Grail Honor Society.
• Member, North Carolina Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.

Bill Moyers and PBS

As part of the public relations firm of Barksdale Ballard, we worked with Bill Moyers, Public Affairs Television and PBS on "On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying," a four-part PBS documentary. Jim Buie was a lead editor for the Community Leaders Guide to Improve End-of-Life Care, chief writer for the outreach newsletter, and part of the community action team.

Read about and discuss Moyers' retirement (at the end of 2004) on Jim Buie's Blog.

Download community leaders guide for On_Our_Own_Terms_1.pdf

What People Have Said About Our Work

From U.S. Senator Bob Graham (D-FL)

"Dear Jim. Thank you for your invaluable assistance to my Presidential campaign. While we did not achieve our goal of election to the Presidency, I am proud that my campaign shaped the ongoing national debate. The issues that we focused on are now the issues that will help decide the future of America...Please know how appreciative Adele and I are for your professionalism, and your dedication to our cause..." (The letter includes handwritten notes from Senator Graham and his wife Adele.)

Buie managed Graham's weblog. Evote.com praised Graham's blog for "originality." It featured “material a lot more entertaining than what other campaign blogs offer," Evote wrote.

From U.S. Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)

Handwritten note after his come-from-behind victories in the 2002 campaign against a better-funded primary opponent, Mark Kennedy Shriver, and an incumbent congresswoman. "Jim, you did a terrific job...I appreciate the many hours of hard work you dedicated to the campaign. We did it!" -- Chris.

Movement Advances to Use Video-Conferencing to Maintain Parent-Child Relationships Despite Distance or Divorce and to Reduce Isolation Among Elderly

Since 1994, Jim Buie has been a pioneer in using the Internet to maintain and enhance family relationships electronically. He has been instrumental in a national legislative campaign to give families the rights to "virtually visit." Utah in 2004 and Wisconsin in 2006 became the first states to enact laws, and at least 13 other states are considering legislation. The movement has been covered internationally by the Associated Press, The New York Times, Canadian Television, Italian Television, BBC Radio, National Public Radio, US News and World Report, and by many national, regional and local media outlets.

Buie first wrote a piece about his experiences as a "virtual dad" for The Washington Post in 1995. Through articles, radio and television interviews, presentations, a website, www.virtualfamiliesandfriends.com, and a soon-to-be-published book, he reports on this revolutionary new trend in family communications and family law, for better and for worse. He is also available for video-conferencing and virtual tutoring sessions with individuals and groups. Contact him.

In 2004, he teamed up with Michael Gough, a high-level computer security consultant and "virtual dad" in the Midwest who, inspired by Buie's example, convinced the state of Utah to pass "Saige's Law" (in honor of his daughter) to make a child's right to "virtual visitation" with a non-custodial parent a presumption in divorce cases. Gough's web sites are Internet Visitation.org and Videocalltips.com

"Visitation Rights Become High-Tech: Many Courts Grant Webcam Visits With Children" is Buie's 2004 article for The Washington Post. Click to read.

In 2004, Buie also teamed up with Dr. John Huth, (click on video Greeting from Dr.  Huth), an octogenarian and retired engineer from Arlington, VA, who is on a crusade to use computers to reduce isolation, depression and boredom among senior citizens. We've helped him utilize a Tablet laptop PC, video email, and video conferencing with a $90 Logitech webcam. Visit his blog.

Dr. Huth is especially eager for comments on his post, "Video-conferencing: the Killer Application to Reduce Isolation and Depression Among Senior Citizens." To discuss this issue, click. Take a look at the screen shot (actual size) of a video conference Dr. Huth set up using MSN Messenger (free software). Anyone with a high-speed Internet connection can learn to set up crisp and unlimited video and audio connections for free or at minimal cost.

Jim Buie, Michael Gough, John Huth and other members of our virtual team are available to train you, your family, friends or caregivers to utilize these connections, to enhance relationships between parents and children or grandchildren. Contact us.

"Bridging the Digital Divide: Teens Help Seniors Go Online" is article Jim Buie wrote for The Washington Post's Style section in August, 2003. With the help of teenagers from high schools, nursing home residents send video email, hold video teleconferences with family and friends, play games with grandchildren via computer, and relate stories from their lives to events in 20th century history for students. Click to read the Post article.

Internet Site Creation, Maintenance Just Got A LOT Easier!

Web site creation and design have recently become far simpler, cheaper, and far more interactive.

With innovative web-based templates, a sophisticated-looking site can be created in a matter of minutes or a few hours, before your eyes, and text changes can be made by you or your staff in-house using cut/paste/submit buttons and even by email.

We can sit down with you, and quickly create an attractive site for you in an afternoon. We can quickly train you or your staff in how to make changes. If you can operate Microsoft Word, you can now build an attractive web site or blog.

We charge highly economical hosting and maintenance fees.

Samples of web sites we've created text for and designed (aside from this one):

• Writestyles.com
• Traveling Matthew
• Virtual Families and Friends.com

Jim Buie and Associates have been offering webmaster and web construction services since 1995. We help you decide the best use of your online dollars, devise an online marketing and campaign management plan, help you achieve higher search engine rankings.

We build online communities of people who share interests, and are mostly likely to be your best customers, your best word of mouth or "word-of-email" viral marketers. We provide customized online advertising.

We provide online marketing plans for books, services, and organizations. We create online stores, or help you decide which online stores or auction sites to tie into.

Independent Analysis:

• How Much Does A Non-profit Website Cost?