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Making Web 2.0 work for the Voluntary Sector

By Richard McKeever

LinksUK blog buttonI attended an interesting event organised by the NCVO Publishers Forum before the Easter break.

Making Web2.0 Work For You was an introduction to Social Networking and online developments relevant to the voluntary sector.

 

As this blog takes off and we ‘learn-as-we-go’ I was grateful for lots of useful information and advice from early adaptors… which was all delivered with generosity and warm encouragement. I particularly enjoyed the sessions from Andrew Brown who blogs for the Drug Education Forum and Anne Welsh who shared some very helpful ideas about promoting publications online. 

The day opened with a scene setting presentation from Ian McClelland Turner Broadcasting’s director of Digital Media. It was great to get a view from a different perspective and it appears that the corporate, commercially-driven, multi-national, multi-platform big players are as new to the social aspects of the web as everyone else – still experimenting and seeing what might work longer term.

In typical voluntary sector style one of the workshops was on “Web2.0 for free” David Nolan of www.textgoeshere.org.uk advised cash strapped organisations what is possible at low/no cost. 

It feels like an exciting time to be starting a blog. Engagement and experimentation with new communications tools will provide channels for Voluntary Sector and Community groups to do what they have always done – talk about their work and share ideas- but to do it in a more efficient and focussed way engaging in a dialogue directly with other interested practitioners and policymakers. … what do you think?

One Response to “Making Web 2.0 work for the Voluntary Sector”

  1. Dave Nolan says:

    Hi Richard,

    I think you’re spot on – it’s a particularly interesting time for the VCS. And the key word for me in what you say is “direct”. Organisations will be talking to and networking with each other *directly*.

    Disintermediation is what it’s all about – and that could seriously disrupt some venerable infrastructure bodies, including not unadjacent to where this event took place :)

    Dave

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