Posts Tagged ‘internet’

Posted on September 22, 2008 - by Frank

Compassion Bloggers (with video)

Marketing is a huge factor in what many NGO’s do. PR and marketing are integral in what such organizations do as they live off support from the public, giving the public the opportunity to be involved in what they do.

A successful marketing and PR tool that has been used by some organizations is the use of bands/musicians to spread the message of their work. Many organizations have bands/musicians aligned to them that promote their work at gigs. It’s a worthy method of promotion.

Compassion International has found another tool that follows very similar lines - it has entered the world of blogging.

Compassion International has adopted a program that brings on board Compassion Bloggers - bloggers that align themselves to Compassion and promote the work done by the organization. They organize trips for bloggers, taking a few people along to different areas it is involved in, thus giving selected bloggers first hand experiences that they then write about.

The potential for a high impact and an increase in awareness of their work is significant. Blogging allows for thoughts to be processed extensively rather than relying on sound-bites from a stage at a music gig where everyone is there primarily to hear the music and the organization hopes to capture some of the audience in the process. When a blogger writes about a given topic, there is nothing else the reader is hanging around for - reading the bloggers writing is the primary reason for being there. The promotion of the work of an organization like Compassion is not a distraction from the main thing (like the music at gigs), if the blogger chooses to write about such things then it is the main thing.

Blogging often also allows for conversation. It allows for the reader to process their thoughts in the community that interacts with the given blog. Thus the participant is given more opportunity than just hearing a musician express their support for a cause, with the organization hoping they will walk away and do something with that, they’re given the chance to engage, ask questions and process their thoughts with others.

Blogging presents a great way for NGO’s to promote their work and create awareness amongst the online community, in a way that provides a deeper engagement than what can take place at a music gig, though I see high value in that in today’s culture as well.

Compassion International has taken a great step by moving into blogging and getting popular bloggers alongside what they do and in so doing, experiencing and endorsing what Compassion does.

Compassion Bloggers & The Dominican Republic

November 27, 2008 Compassion International will take a group of bloggers to see their ministry to over 40,000 children in the Dominican Republic. Known for its resort-speckled beaches, theres another side to this Caribbean nation unknown to most vacationers. Our bloggers will visit a city dump where families scavenge for food and clothing. Theyll tour a neighborhood where drugs are trafficked and children live beside open sewers. And bloggers will also see firsthand how Compassion International and child sponsors are bringing hope to children living in these places by releasing them from poverty in Jesus name.

Posted on September 3, 2008 - by Frank

Cyber Dissidents and the Power of Blogging

Let it be said up front that The Humanitarian Chronicle supports the plight of cyber-dissidents harassed by hostile governments for their expression.

For the sake of clarity, we define the term cyber-dissident in the same way as has been put forward via Wikipedia:

A cyber-dissident is a professional journalist or citizen journalist who posts news, information, or commentary on the internet that implies criticism of a government or regime.

In regions where print and broadcast media are tightly controlled, anonymous online postings by cyber-dissidents may be the only source of information about the experiences, feelings, and opinions of ordinary citizens.

Cyber-dissidence plays an important role in today’s media.

Currently the majority of the world’s mainstream media is centralized under the umbrella of a few select large organizations. The size of these organizations and their economic interests necessitate political interests which often demonstrate a bias in reporting and sometimes a lack of in-depth reporting as the need to churn out stories weighs heavier than the need to create depth in those stories. Not only that, but they are generally heavily controlled in restrictive nations, thus their ability to report micro events or to voice opinion within such restrictive states that is at odds with the voice of the state, is often limited.

For these reasons, the voice of individual cyber-dissidents is increasingly important. It is with this in mind that we recognize the strength of blogging - a blog being a space on the internet that acts like a journal - a web log.

Whilst the majority of active blogs, and the majority of blogs that come and go are simply the free expression of everyday people going about their lives, there are some who use the platform of blogging to express dissident opinion in restrictive nations and to provide a window into realities we may not otherwise see. Many do so anonymously for their own protection, using pseudonyms to identify themselves on the internet.

It is fast being recognized that these voices are valuable voices offering differing thought from other forms of media. These voices are also being recognized as posing a threat within many restrictive nations and some such nations are taking measures to push censorship and create state legislation that allows for the harassment of such dissidents. The result has been some well reported cases of cyber-dissidents being arrested, imprisoned or fined for presenting opinion critical of state heads in some nations.

The free and open platform of blogging, whilst offering a lot of rubbish, must be recognized as an important tool for the free and open sharing of information. Cyber-dissidents are an important factor in such sharing. For this reason, allow me to restate that The Humanitarian Chronicle supports the right to free expression that should be afforded to cyber-dissidents (as defined above) offering critical opinion of governments around the world. They should be allowed to exercise their right to free expression without fear of persecution.

For more information, take a look at the following:

Global Voices
Electronic Frontier Foundation: Legal Guide for Bloggers
International Freedom of Expression eXchange
Human Rights Watch: Free Expression and the Internet
Wannabehuman: Social Software and Cyber-Dissidence

Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents from Reporters Without Borders, with support from the French Foreign Ministry. (PDF)