[Coral-List] Effective communications tools?

RainbowWarriorsInternational southern_caribbean at yahoo.com
Wed Jan 2 10:44:34 EST 2013


There are at least two influential outfits in the USA dealing with ICT tools, IdealWare and NTEN. They provide regular reports on how ICT is used by non-profits.

You have stumbled upon an issue which is better covered in the European Union (EU) than in the USA, primarily because more structured funding exists in the European Union to promote open science, ICT for development in both the EU and the rest of the world.


 
Milton Ponson, President
Rainbow Warriors Core Foundation
(Rainbow Warriors International)
Tel. +297 568 5908
PO Box 1154, Oranjestad 
Aruba, Dutch Caribbean 
Email: southern_caribbean at yahoo.com
http://www.rainbowwarriors.net

To unite humanity in a global society dedicated to a sustainable way of life


________________________________
 From: Christine Beggs <christinenbeggs at gmail.com>
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov 
Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2012 1:41 PM
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Effective communications tools?
 
Hello Katie,

I'm a Master's student in Marine Affairs and Policy at the University of
Miami's Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Sciences conducting my
internship with the Isabela Oceanographic Institute, a nonprofit
organization dedicated to conservation through education. We've seen some
initial communication successes through development of an online outreach
campaign - consisting primarily of a Facebook fan page, online newsletter
and short video series. We've been able to extend our daily interactions
with the local community online, utilizing a Facebook fan page to recognize
and thank local supporters and volunteers and sharing pictures of our work
at http://facebook.com/ioigalapagos.

There are so many social media tools out there today, it can be difficult
to decide how to get started and which platforms to concentrate your
efforts on. I've just finished writing an ebook entitled "Social Media for
Science & Conservation: A Guide to Making an Impact in the Digital
Age<http://projectbluehope.com/product/social-media-for-science-and-conservation/>"
that may be of interest. The ebook is approximately 90 pages long addressing
* *the “who, what, where, when, why and how” of social media usage for
science and environmental communications. Its full of social media
strategies currently being employed by scientists, individual and
non-profits and includes step-by-step instructions on how to get started
using various social media platforms professionally. I've highlighted some
great examples of scientists, students and organizations who are
effectivelyusing social media to
communicate science and conservation messages to a wider audience.

Feel free to contact me directly if you wanted to talk over some online
outreach ideas. Videos and a Facebook page could be a really great option
for establishing a two way communication. You can engage in discussions
over local issues and I've found people are generally willing to contribute
quite a bit when they know they are being heard. But certainly depends on
the community's access to and usage of new technologies. Perhaps the
biggest questions to investigate first are: How is your community
communicating? What (if any) online tools do they use? Whether its Twitter
or email or cell phones, find out what they use to communicate with the
most and be sure you're reaching them via those same platforms.

Also, in 2008, Conservation Magazine published an article entitled, '10
Solutions to Save the
Ocean<http://www.conservationmagazine.org/2008/07/10-solutions-to-save-the-ocean/>.'
There's a great section about using text messaging for marine conservation.
A quick, inexpensive method of communicating, some conservation
organizations were effectively mobilizing action, obtaining information and
eliciting support by having stakeholders send them text messages.

The author writes:

'In the central Philippines, my colleagues and I have fostered an alliance
of nearly 900 fishing families who send text messages to coordinate
conservation efforts across a 150-kilometer arc of isolated reef atolls.
Using cell phones donated by various Filipino sources, these fishers can
alert the provincial environmental management office and local police when
they observe illegal dynamite and trawl fishing, which have helped push
many of their coastal ecosystems to the brink of collapse.. The alliance
leaders have also reported rampant violations and bureaucratic inertia to
the national media through text messages and have given interviews by
return text.'

Good luck and hope this helps!



Best,

Twitter <http://twitter.com/projectbluehope><http://twitter.com/projectbluehope><http://twitter.com/projectbluehope>
Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/#%21/pages/Project-Blue-Hope/169630666405217>
Youtube <http://www.youtube.com/ProjectBlueHope>

*Christine Beggs*
Founder, Project Blue Hope
www.ProjectBlueHope.com <http://www.projectbluehope.com/>

*"The future belongs to those who give the next generation reason to
hope."  **~ Pierre Chardin



*On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 12:00 PM,
<coral-list-request at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>wrote:

Message: 5
Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2012 11:25:53 -0400
From: Katherine McLean <kmclean at lakeheadu.ca>
Subject: [Coral-List] Effective communications tools?
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Message-ID:
        <CAGZfut8XVtoh7UJf83SgH9fT+n0VqZA5fAVkZe+ccC0ZdaDC0g at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252

I work with a small eNGO that operates in the Caribbean. One of the major
challenges I am currently facing is the development of effective outreach
and education campaigns to support our various projects. These projects
generally deal with coastal resource management issues (fishing, coastal
development? the usual for a small Caribbean Island). I am hoping that
there are some of you out there who have recommendations of particularly
effective communications tools that have been successful in community
outreach efforts.



I am not sure that our pamphlets and other papers are very well received by
fisherfolk, and community meetings are often expensive and poorly attended.
We are starting to try out hand at videos/documentaries.



Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Please contact me at
kmclean at lakeheadu.ca.

Thanks and happy holidays!



Katie McLean
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