The Public Library Innovation Program aims to spark innovative library services that improve people’s lives through the use of technology. It's specifically designed to promote partnerships — with nonprofits, business, local governments — that create new services. Anyone can apply — providing that the service you propose is developed in partnership with a public library and serves the library community. Awards are up to $30,000 USD.
eIFL.net is pleased to announce a Call for Propo…
Continue
Added by Christine Prefontaine on November 24, 2009 at 11:30pm —
1 Comment
Way to go Microsoft. Yay! Creative Commons rocks. Read all about it at
http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/11914.
Continue
Added by Christine Prefontaine on December 30, 2008 at 6:02pm —
No Comments
Great article in today's
International Herald Tribune on
mobiles and government services.
Highlights:
"Going online from a personal computer to access government services has been commonplace in some countries for several years. Now, in Estonia, Singapore and many countries in between, many of those same services are available through your cellphone."
and
"One place where the momentum is in full swing is Es…
Continue
Added by Christine Prefontaine on December 21, 2008 at 3:30pm —
No Comments
Telecentre networks implement a range of activities and services that can be augmented by incorporating communications. These include publications, events, study tours, and helpdesks. In designing these activities, remember to incorporate communications. How can you make it visible? How can you share and document? Set aside enough time and resources to contribute to the stream and help your members to do the same. You will quickly reap the benefits of your investment as key supporters and partne…
Continue
Added by Christine Prefontaine on December 1, 2008 at 9:46pm —
No Comments
Make sure your network is prominent in the global sphere, especially important if you want to reach international supporters. For telecentre networks this is easy to do:
• Create a profile page on telecentre.org with feeds and links to your website — and help your members to the same
• Provide network RSS feeds to a
telecentre.org Community Facilitator so that they can promote your content
• Add your best content to…
Continue
Added by Christine Prefontaine on December 1, 2008 at 9:30pm —
No Comments
To think about communications holistically, map out how information will flow between publics: support team, network members, supporters. Write a simple, action-oriented plan that outlines:
Internal practices and systems
Support team members should agree on the collaborative structures, processes, and activities that they will need to adopt to work effectively and efficiently. (The team, be it a formal secretariat with paid employees or a loose group of volunteers, should look inward, to…
Continue
Added by Christine Prefontaine on December 1, 2008 at 9:00pm —
No Comments
Your online presence starts with your website. But it also includes making yourself visible in all the places your publics go: other organizations’ websites, social networks, portals, blogs, forums, and email groups.
When developing an online strategy start by researching what already exists and where your members already go. To cut costs and maximize reach look for opportunities to build on, leverage, and complement existing efforts. What can you contribute to? What partnerships can you form?…
Continue
Added by Christine Prefontaine on December 1, 2008 at 9:00pm —
1 Comment
Networks need a support team to coordinate, motivate, and carry the ball for busy people. For some networks the support team is made up of paid staff working as a secretariat. For others it is informal and volunteer-based. Support team roles can include:
•
Leaders — People with the power to convene and the charisma to rally members around a common vision.
•
Managers — People responsible for overall administration and coordination. Managers develop and implement work plans, maintai…
Continue
Added by Christine Prefontaine on December 1, 2008 at 9:00pm —
No Comments
Touch base regularly with members via email. You don’t need to send much — share content you find exciting, practical, or inspirational. The goal here is to engage members and build a sense of community. Topics may include:
• Number of members and their characteristics
• Most active discussions (either from forums or comments to blog posts)
• Summaries of debates — what’s controversial? Where do members disagree?
• Links to new or most popular content (blogs, resources, multimedia)
• New member…
Continue
Added by Christine Prefontaine on December 1, 2008 at 9:00pm —
No Comments
Creating and maintaining a member directory defines the network, makes it tangible, and provides a concrete service. Gather basic facts from each member: contact information, interests, activities, partners. You may also use the process as an opportunity to learn more about member practices, assets, and preferences — information you can use to develop or update your communications strategy. These include:
•
Internet access — What type of access do your members have?
• Preferences — Where…
Continue
Added by Christine Prefontaine on December 1, 2008 at 9:00pm —
No Comments
Create a simple information kit for new members and external publics. It can be in electronic format and posted on your website. Include:
• A fact sheet with your vision, mission, activities, number of members, number of telecentres, number of people served (use the information collected for the member directory). For guidance on clarifying vision and mission see IDRC’s
Outcome Mapping Guide.
• Examples of program and success st…
Continue
Added by Christine Prefontaine on December 1, 2008 at 9:00pm —
No Comments
A network is a community of purpose — a group of organizations and individuals that come together to achieve common goals. Reasons for creating networks include:
Exchange information and learn from one another
People form networks to share ideas, experiences, solutions, and information; to learn about each other’s activities, strategies, and programs; and to identify best practices and innovative ways to address common problems
Coordinate approaches, programs, and activities
Thro…
Continue
Added by Christine Prefontaine on December 1, 2008 at 8:30pm —
No Comments
Communications and knowledge sharing are often treated as if they are separate things. In reality, however, they are points along a continuum — two aspects of the flows of information to, from, and between the publics upon whom an organization’s success depends. It’s all about getting the right content to the right people at the right time. Similarly, much communications planning focuses exclusively on external publics. But the actions of internal publics (and in particular the network’s leaders…
Continue
Added by Christine Prefontaine on December 1, 2008 at 8:30pm —
1 Comment
This post is the first in a series that together form a basic guide to communications for telecentre networks.
The guide is simple: It starts with a
quick overview: what a network is, why we choose work through networks, and the role of communications. It then proposes “
the eavesdropping model” — a new way of approa…
Continue
Added by Christine Prefontaine on December 1, 2008 at 8:00pm —
9 Comments
Tino Kreutzer, formerly with the
UNDP in the Central African Republic, is now doing an MA at the
Centre for Film and Media Studies at the
University of Cape Town. He's now working with a research project that aims to assess mobile access to media and the Internet among low-income South African youth.
From his blog:
Growing mobile access to media and the Internet is often considered a…
Continue
Added by Christine Prefontaine on November 6, 2008 at 12:00am —
No Comments
Yesterday I commented on
The Tactile Book, a post that
Hugh McGuire wrote on
The Book Oven Blog. You can
read the full post and our discussion. He makes some great points that are very relevant to our community. Here are the juicy bits:
Christine: At the risk of sounding like a luddite, I just don’t see the appeal of ebo…
Continue
Added by Christine Prefontaine on October 20, 2008 at 12:00pm —
No Comments
Last Saturday, I was on a
panel at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, discussing online media and social activism. I talked a lot about telecentre.org — and particularly our move to a "social networking"-based website and an online strategy that would support (rather than compete with) our partners and that would build on spaces that people already know and trust, like…
Continue
Added by Christine Prefontaine on October 1, 2008 at 9:30am —
1 Comment
This week, I attended an intense
Outcome Mapping training at
IDRC. I'm trying to apply what I learned right away. So I want to share with you a draft vision statement for our
Knowledge Sharing initiative, which created and manages this website.…
Continue
Added by Christine Prefontaine on September 26, 2008 at 4:00pm —
No Comments
Today
Silvia,
Kike,
Meddie,
Floro,
Partha,
Frank, and I got together to provide feedback to Meddie, who writing telecentre.org's
network support strategy. As part of the meeting, Floro asked us "What's the one piece of practical advice you'd give to a…
Continue
Added by Christine Prefontaine on September 4, 2008 at 9:00pm —
No Comments
The European Telecentre Leaders Forum started today in Riga, Latvia. The
Latvian Information Technology and Telecommunications Association (LIKTA) — the event's host — is ridiculously well organized. Registrations went smoothly and, along with the regular papers and swag, we even got Latvian history books and
Black Balsam in our welcome kits.
Professor Imants Freibergs, LIKTA Board Member and Preside…
Continue
Added by Christine Prefontaine on April 8, 2008 at 12:00pm —
No Comments
