Communications Working Group

Work package 3

2007-10-26T11:54:00.000+01:00

Hi there!

I contacted some people to find out how we could proceed with our work package No. 3, i.e. to find out the opinions on how we can best reach people from areas with pour data accessibility and how we can include them in the network. This is what I found out and some ideas I had:

In general working off-line is very difficult, especially as we are worldwide network. However some methods we could use are:

1.Creating a bulletin, which could be mailed every 3 to 6 months to the interested ones and which could include the present movements of our network and in the special areas. It is also a chance for people from the development countries to present what’s going on in their regions. As it is something tangible it mediates the sense of urgency and significance.

2.There could be off-line meetings, but not just at such big events like world conferences, where our colleagues from remote areas are updated with movements and news from the Health Promotion front as well as they cold update us with their issues.

3. SMS contacts – I am not sure in which way we could use them, but I think it is worth to keep them in mind

4. Distributing business cards to promote the ISCEN in a way that also people without internet get to know us and join us.
While I was thinking about this issue I realized that we haven’t got a Cooperate Identity that labels us. I think it is really important to have a symbol that people connect to us. It would be also something we should have on our blogs and later on the website.
At the beginning the regional coordinators, the general secretary and all who promote our movement in the public should be provided with these cards.

However I also heard that internet-services are increasingly spreading in development countries which will be a huge advance for our work. It allows us also to have some communications through Skype, which was another suggested method to keep in touch and which as far as I know, some of us already started.

We definitely should have feedback loops with the affected people so that we find out what we should change and in what we are doing well.

I also got some further contacts, who we could 1. ask to join us and 2. who could help us in our further endeavors to create a network, that is accessible for everyone. But before we do that I think we should talk about some concrete steps, we want to go in the future.

The realization of a lot of these ideas is not possible without a funding, so it is really urgent to find ways how we could finance us!!!

At this point I want to thank all the people who shared their ideas with me! You are amazing!

Kristin

WORK PACKAGES

2007-09-06T09:57:00.000+01:00

Well, after the previous posts it seems that we have quite a few good ideas to work on! Thanks for sharing and being active!

I have extracted three 'work packages' that might help us move forward. My suggestion is that each of you look at the package to chose the one you feel most like doing, and then we see if they distribute nicely... it is good if we can work with first preferences.

To make a test web site. This includes finding somewhere to host a site, downloading Drupal, and construct a 'test site', which is just for experimenting.
To get in touch with the presenters from our IUHPE symposium. The intention here is to follow Kristin's idea and gather information on which means of communication has been most successful. Of course, others than the mentioned presenters may be contacted as well! This work package will also have the task of investigating whether we may get economic support somewhere. What we need the most, is money for the fee of a web domain. It need not be expensive.
To contact people from areas with poor data accessibility. The goal is to find their opinions on how we can best reach them with info and include them in the network.

So, what do you feel up to doing? Post your preferences as a comment, and we'll see how things work out!

Torill

Some ideas from Kristin

2007-08-30T03:53:00.000+01:00

Hi All!

I also thought a bit about how our communication could look like and about the questions Torill raised. But before I start I have to admit that I am not a computer or Internet specialist o at all. I joined this group as I am convinced that the objectives of the SECN are really worth to try to achieve and as I would like to help to reach them.

Torill – I think your ideas are really great and I agree with your thoughts on this one page of the IUHPE domain. I also think that we should link this one with the page(s) where the actions of the SECN are really reflected and discussed.

http://drupal.org/ provides a good possibility to create one own homepage with features such as Blogs, Bibliographies, where you can list relevant literature, Calendar, Forum where you can discuss different issues, projects where you can publish ongoing projects etc. It would be also possible to publish some abstracts there like Torill suggested. All in all it covers the features we were thinking of to include. As far as I know it is also for free. The team I am working with at the moment is using this provider and it works really well. However, what we should not forget is that it takes a lot of time to create all this stuff and to update it, no matter what service we choose in the end. This also leads me to the question of funding and money. Does actually anyone know whether we get financial support by the IUHPE. As we really address the needs of a growing number of members of it, we might approach them in the future with this question. Because if we don’t get any money from them to do advocacy for the young community, how can they feel that there issues are really valued by the IUHPE?

Maybe we could also get in touch with the already existing networks, that were presented in Vancouver and find out what works well and what is difficult in terms of communication. Maybe we also should think about asking them joining our SECN – so we could build a bridge from the regional to the international level and would have strong partners who also could do advocacy together with our regional coordinators.

In terms of the offline communication we should contact some people who work in areas with poor data accessibility. They know best in which ways we can reach them and how they can participate in our network. Maybe we can also touch base with some organizations like the UN, WHO or of course IUHPE itself, who must have be confronted with these difficulties before and who might found some good alternatives.

I hope these thoughts help us a bit to move on!

Kristin

SOME INITIAL THOUGHTS FROM TORILL

2007-08-27T08:18:00.000+01:00

Hi,
I just want to start sharing some initial thoughts about a communication system for ISECN. Nothing final, just something to start the process!

As you know, we will get one page on the IUHPE domain. This will have to be webmastered by the same professional firm that do the IUHPE site. So, it will not be easy for us to do changes here, like adding blogs, links, updates etc. Therefore, I suggest that the content on this page should be of a stable kind, about the mission of ISECN etc- it should be friendly, inviting and looking like we mean business at the same time.

This first page could lead to another page that we edit ourselves, on another server. I have looked a bit into this, it will not be hard to do. To have a really good site we would have to pay between $30-$120 a year. This would give us a good domain name and good functions on the page. We could have countless subsites, and we could link to blogs etc. So, this is an alternative to just having blogs. Anyway, I believe it would give us far greater flexibility to let the IUHPE page lead to some place that we can easily edit and change.

As for content, I think we have already been talking about many of the possibilities. I believe the various regions should have their own subsites/blogs. These sites could connect networks in the region, inform about events, education, local challenges etc. They could be in the appropriate languages, which could handle part of the language equity challenge.

I also believe we should have a site with a really good and well organised link collection, helping people access good online HP resources. I am currently working with a project mapping such resources, so I could develop this into such a site.

I also wonder whether we should have a site with abstracts from scientific work by members - posted together with contact information. This could help connect people with the same research interests.

We also need to think about communication 'off-line'. This is a challenge - how to reach hp workers in regions with poor data accessibility, or with poor economy. Of course, as already discussed, P&E is distributed to all IUHPE members. So, a section in each issue for a network update would be one of the easiest ways. But I believe we should look more into which information needs this 'off-line' group would have, to be able to assess how we can meet them.

These thoughts leave me with some issues that we need to look into:
* Are blogs or home pages most convenient, or a combination of both?
* Who delivers the best blog options?
* Who delivers the best home page options?
* Who delivers the best options for discussion groups?
* What should the content on the IUHPE page be?
* Can we afford a page fee for a good home page?
* What are the information needs of the 'off-line' community? and -
* How can we meet it?

Eagerly awaiting more thoughts! Let's play with ideas!

Torill

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT OUR WORK

2007-06-20T07:29:00.000+01:00

Hi!

I just thougth I'd share some initial thougths about our work. I guess we won't get properly started until over the summer, but we can do some thinking.

- What would you like to contribute with in the working group? Any special interests and competences?

- What do you think is important for a good communication system for our network?

- How do we provide fair opportunities as discussed in the Vancouver symposium?

If possible, I think it could be a good idea if the members of this group could have the opportunity of meeting at Skype for phone conferences. It is easy to register at the Skype homepage. Is this an option for you? Which parts of the world do you live in :-) ?

Torill

Welcome!

2007-06-18T21:56:00.000+01:00

Hello all,
and welcome to our blog! I thought this could be part of our tool for communicating with each other. I'll soon post an introduction of myself - but it is getting late, so I'll wait till tomorrow... Just wanted to get started right away :-)

Torill