Bletchley declaration: international agreement on AI safety is a good start, but ordinary people need a say – not just elites, theconversation.com (Nov 07, 2023)
Communties online can find it easier to learn from the successes of other communities worldwide, and can celebrate their own successes with the wider online community.
Community action projects
- set up location or project pages in this wiki to tell us all about your community action for sustainability
- green maps
- encourage and benefit from virtual volunteering
- community websites and social networking sites
- encourage participatory journalism
- develop, perhaps co-develop with others, online resources
- Internet activism
Green Map
Green Maps are locally created environmentally themed maps with a universal symbol set and map-making resources provided by the non-profit Green Map System. Based on the principles of cartography a Green Map plots the locations of a community's natural, cultural and sustainable resources such as recycling centers, heritage sites, community gardens, toxic waste sites and socially conscious businesses. W
Internet activism
Internet activism (also known as online activism, digital campaigning, digital activism, online organizing, electronic advocacy, cyberactivism, e-campaigning, and e-activism) is the use of electronic communication technologies such as social media, especially Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, e-mail, and podcasts for various forms of activism to enable faster communication by citizen movements and the delivery of local information to a large audience. Internet technologies are used for cause-related fundraising, community building, lobbying, and organizing. Research has started to address specifically how activist/advocacy groups in the United States and Canada are using social media to achieve digital activism objectives. W
Participatory journalism
- News collaboratives, youth media outlets, and a newsletter bee (“La Abeja”) buzzing around Latin communities. A better media, in California Central Valley, The Daily Alternative (Jun 17, 2023)
Fast and flexible
Current events can be better covered, with more immediacy, when there are more people reporting them.
Topic or place specific
Participatory journalism can tackle subjects mainstream media might leave alone. Examples include environmental disasters and popular demonstrations.
Commentary about local events can be seen through the eyes of people who are most affected by them - people who live in, work in or visit a locality.
Empowerment
Participatory journalism can help develop a sense of empowerment for ordinary citizens and community groups. It can be seen as part of Getting to know your area and can also be used identify positive news and a can-do approach.
The concept of citizen journalism (also known as "public", "participatory", "democratic", "guerrilla" or "street" journalism) is based upon public citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information." Similarly, Courtney C. Radsch defines citizen journalism "as an alternative and activist form of newsgathering and reporting that functions outside mainstream media institutions, often as a response to shortcomings in the professional journalistic field, that uses similar journalistic practices but is driven by different objectives and ideals and relies on alternative sources of legitimacy than traditional or mainstream journalism." Jay Rosen proposes a simpler definition: "When the people formerly known as the audience employ the press tools they have in their possession to inform one another." W
Virtual volunteering
Virtual volunteering is the practice of volunteering using the Internet, off-site from the organization (or group) being assisted. Virtual volunteering is also known as online volunteering or e-volunteering. W
Resources
- New- Public, "aims to inspire and connect designers and technologists to build more flourishing digital public spaces", added 16:00, 23 October 2023 (UTC)
- Global Voices Online, international network of bloggers, translators, and citizen journalists that follow, report, and summarize what is going on in the blogosphere in every corner of the world. W
- 5 Resources for Citizen Journalists, Rising voices
- How To Build An Online Community: The Ultimate List Of Resources (2012) The Online Community Guide
- Loomio School, a collection of case studies and resources about online facilitation, building a collaborative culture, team training, and more. It also provides instruction on using Loomio in your own group. While resources are focused on groups using Loomio, many of them can be used or adapted to any group decision making process. Includes:
- The Loomio Facilitation Guide "What if we started from facilitation principles and worked toward understanding software? This guide goes in-depth about applying key facilitation concepts in the online space."
- Movements.org, a division of the non-profit Advancing Human Rights. It is an online marketplace that connects dissidents in closed societies with individuals with desirable skills such as legal, media, PR, and technological experts in open societies. Activists post their needs and request assistance, and experts and professionals post what they have to offer and respond to requests. W
- Tactical Technology Collective, international nongovernmental organization that trains rights advocates to deploy "information and communications technologies - social media tools, mobile phones, digital security and information design." It works with groups in "developing and transition countries" in particular. W
- Front Seat - Civic software
- Green Net GreenNet supports a progressive community working for Peace, the Environment, Civil Rights and Social Justice, through the use of Information Communication Technologies.
- Teaching Community Technology Handbook, detroitcommunitytech.org
An online community (or virtual community) is connected through email, a forum, a wiki or a social networking platform. Many are for entertainment only, while others are focused on sustainability, tackling poverty, appropriate technology, or design. Communities on such subjects are communities of purpose - however, building and managing such communities require understanding human needs and desires. The members may be more driven, passionate and/or altruistic than those on a hobby forum, but they will still be drawn back to a place where they experience connection and fun.
Maps
Quotes
"The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet." - William Gibson
"only connect" E.M. Forster
News and comment
2021
It takes a village: An alternative social media platform seeks to end the epidemic of loneliness and isolation, Jan 28[1]
2020
Wikipedia Is the Last Best Place on the Internet, Richard Cooke, Feb 17[2]
2016
5 Group Decision Making Resources from Loomio, Dec 27[3]
Introducing the 'Teaching Community Technology Handbook', Dec 20[4]
See also
local information can be found, or shared, via our many location pages
External links
- Wikipedia: Hyperlocal, One Laptop per Child, Internet activism, Citizen journalism, Web 2.0
- One Laptop per Child, setup to oversee the creation of affordable educational devices for use in the developing world. W
