Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Richard Wilson on June 9, 2010 at 10:26

Hello everyone. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy day to talk to me and everyone else. I'm an eConference 'virgin' and I'm enjoying it....

Permalink Reply by Foster Evans on June 9, 2010 at 10:41

Though that was really useful. The emphahis on making things real and immediate, counting bums on seats and numbers involved, and the final point about employing consultants based on success in the social netwroking side is really useful too.

Permalink Reply by Richard Wilson on June 9, 2010 at 10:45

Thanks Foster. I'm not trying to say it's all about numbers but if you look at numbers involved at Euro level over past decade it's very, very low across the board.

Permalink Reply by Kate Damiral on June 9, 2010 at 10:59

Hi Richard - can you say a little more about what 'success' has looked like for the projects you've worked on to date? What were the initiatives hoping to achieve and why didn't people get involved? Was it because they didn't feel the project was relevant to them or was it that people didn't know about the opportunities to participate?

Permalink Reply by Richard Wilson on June 9, 2010 at 11:03

Kate - Big Question.

Of course it depends. I would suggest that there are ? key factors
Delivering Change: workign hard to ensure process locked in policy, service etc.
Incentivising Involvement: understanding your audience and what motivates them: reward, recognition etc.
Communications Integration: press, internal, membership etc.
Feedback: making sure people know what has happened and why.

Permalink Reply by Danny Antrobus on June 9, 2010 at 10:37

Interesting stat from Richard: Average no of people participating in online projects in Europe is 200 people at average costs of hundreds of thousands of euros. Would love to know the exact figures for that, and find out what is meant by european online projects in this context.

Permalink Reply by Richard Wilson on June 9, 2010 at 10:41

Sure email me richard.wilson@izwe.com and I'll send you the link David Osimo (@osmod) can also giove you great stats on this.

I'm thinking mainly of the big e-Participation projects... Euro Peitions etc.

Permalink Reply by Katherine William-Powlett on June 9, 2010 at 10:45

But do you think online petitions have any real power - when they are so easy to sign up to does this not render the signatures of less value? Do you have any examples of online petitions really bringing about the change that they are after?

Permalink Reply by Richard Wilson on June 9, 2010 at 11:08

They clearly do. UK transport policy was totally changed aftyer 1.8 M opposed road charging. I'm not saying it's good but it can be very powerful.

Permalink Reply by Danny Antrobus on June 9, 2010 at 11:34

I agree. I think they're a necessary but not sufficient tool in campaigning. For campaigners, they help get your base level of support who you can then help to facilitate and co-ordinate into further actions. And they give a signal of a level of support or opposition around an issue which could be difficult to gauge otherwise.

Although I say that only with knowledge of local and national campaigning, not at EU level.

Permalink Reply by Richard Wilson on June 9, 2010 at 10:43

Something I didn't say which I should have done is the challenge for NGOs in defining their role in terms of online. Is it facilitators, campaigners, experts. Obviously it can be any. But usually a choice does need to made and this of course effects the technology, approach etc.

Permalink Reply by Somanah Achadoo on June 9, 2010 at 10:44

Richard,

Thanks for this depth overview of the European project. It was very good and highlighted all the challenges ahead of us. I think a lot of ground work needs to be done locally for the organisations involved in Civil Society across Europe.

Local organisations need to have the resources to be able to adapt to this change. As you clearly pointed out, some organisations may not have technology required to be involved across Europe. With e-conferencing and working online, it will be easier for organisations to get in touch with their peers across Europe. But there are a lot of challenges which EC has to tackle to ensure this potential way of working.

Although I like this concept of using e-conferencing to reach organisations across Europe, I think already a lot of groups or organisations have been left out today. Looking at the response from our own local members to participate in this e-conferencing, it's clear that this way of working is not popular yet. We need to get the 'buy in' for them. Local infrastructure organisations needs to get enough resources to get all their members on board.

Regards,

Somanah

www.vac.org.uk

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next ›
• Page