The use of information technology by
the voluntary sector has changed rapidly in recent years. Most
voluntary organisations with paid staff now use computers. Some are
using electronic mail to communicate internally and externally, and
publishing globally using World Wide Web. A few are involved in
telematics projects to promote the use of electronic networking
locally or regionally.
Ten years ago a minority used fax. Now its use is almost universal.
Are electronic mail, bulletin board systems, and the World Wide Web
simply additional communication tools, or will they lead to
significant shifts in the way voluntary organisations operate?
This article - and the one on Community Networks - explains some of
the basics of networking, and touches on policy issues for the
voluntary sector raised more fully by other authors.
For example, will the growth of new media lead to fresh concerns
about the 'information elites', and will it further disadvantage
those without access to the technology? Or can the Internet act as a
leveller, where every user is also potentially an information
provider - a democratic system where readers can become writers?
Opinions differ.
The first barrier to addressing these issues is the mystique of the
world of information technology and the Internet. For those without
experience of electronic networking it is rather like trying to
discuss the future of public broadcasting without having listened to
radio or watched television - so this is a deliberately non technical
explanation.
My main recommendations is that NCVO and other voluntary sector
organisations should work with the telecommunications industry to
help policy makers and practitioners get online and explore the
possibilities the technology offers. Without that first step there
can be no real debate about the virtues or otherwise of the new
medium.
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Computers process information in
files. These may be, for example, word processed files, graphic
images, audio or video files, database records, or financial spread
sheets.
Much of the work of writers, designers, broadcasters - indeed all
communicators - is now being handled by computers. In the jargon, it
is becoming digital. Once in a computer information becomes
infinitely flexible. Text, sound and pictures can be mixed
(multi-media) and then produced in any appropriate format: print,
CD-ROM, video tape etc. Increasingly this can be done by individuals
or small organisations as well as large studios.
Many of these changes are filtering into public awareness. They are
transforming industries: changing, creating, and also destroying
jobs. Voluntary organisations experience these changes when they work
with designers, printers and broadcasters.
While the great majority of voluntary organisations use computers in
some way, the degree of sophistication varies enormously. Some large
organisations match private and public sectors - yet many struggle to
get beyond basic word processing and databases for mailing lists.
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If many voluntary organisations have
difficulty keeping up with basic computer functions, should they now
try and engage with the further complexities of the Internet? To
explore the issue we need first to disentangle the reality of the
Internet from the hype and hysteria.
The Internet is several million computers connected together, some
permanently, some temporarily. Anyone can become part of the network
by using a modem (costing from about £60 to £200 depending
on speed) to connect their computer to an ordinary telephone line,
and so dial an Internet Service Provider (typical flat rate charge
£10 -£15 a month). Then for the cost of a local telephone
call the computer can then be connected to any other computer on the
Internet, and exchange files.
This connectivity has been available for years through commercial
systems like Compuserve and America Online, which also provide
subscribers with news, databases of information, and discussion
areas. In addition technical enthusiasts have for 20 years run simple
bulletin board systems from back bedrooms providing a similar basic
service. Microsoft and others have recently launched additional
services providing connectivity and information.
These bulletin board systems (BBS) can be run on standard low-cost
computers. Users dial in using a modem and phone connection, or - if
the BBS is connected to it, through the Internet. They can then
become 'friendly islands' on the Net.
The Internet is different from earlier commercial systems because it
is potentially universal, low cost, and unmanaged. No one body is
controlling content or access.
While you do need a computer, modem, appropriate software (generally
free) and an Internet Service Provider to use it, you do not need to
join a particular service or bulletin board system, or ensure those
you wish to communicate with are on the same system.
You can connect to the Internet through Compuserve and other
commercial systems, but you do not have to use them. The Internet is
public space. It is a medium where readers can be writers and
publishers, viewers broadcasters, at low cost. All the basic software
is free to users.
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There are four basic functions to the Internet and other forms of electronic networking. These are also covered in the Community Networks article.
Messages sent from one computer to
another in the form of simple text, which might otherwise be sent by
fax or letter. Email may be distributed internally within an
organisation, and/or externally via the Internet, Compuserve or other
system. Messages may wait on a server (large computer) until
collected, if the receiving computer is not permanently connected.
There is generally no message-by-message cost - only that of the
phone call and any service connection charge.
There is no difference in cost in sending a message to one recipient,
or the same message to thousands. It is fast and easy to reply to
with no paper handling. Unlike fax, the content can immediately be
used with no retyping. Surveys show it is the favourite use for the
electronic networker.
This takes two forms: first, public
posting of messages at one electronic address, variously called
conferences, forums or newsgroups; second, distribution through a
mailing list.
To read a conference the user has to 'visit' that address - the
equivalent of a notice board. Mailing lists are different. Any
message sent to the central address is automatically remailed to any
subscriber to the list and drops into their mail box with other
email. There is no charge for joining Internet conferences (called
newsgroups), or mailing lists, and they are relatively easy to
create.
Public email allows the formation of international interest groups,
and rapid propagation of news and views. There are tens of thousands
of mailing lists and newsgroups on every imaginable
subject.
General file transfer theoretically
enables electronic network users to send anything on their computer
to the computer of anyone else on the network: whether formatted word
processed file, magazine layout, spread sheet or graphic. In
practice, the ease of transfer depends on the nature of the system
and agreement of common standards.
Files sent attached to Internet email have to be encoded and decoded,
and this can be troublesome. In addition, unless users agree simple
matters like which word processing format, anything more than a
simple text file must go through tedious processes of
translation.
File transfer beyond email is much easier on systems like Compuserve
than on the 'open' Internet, although you still have to agree on the
file formats you are each using.
While Compuserve, America Online, Microsoft Network and Apple eWorld
are global commercial ventures, some of their functions are offered
by the latest 'user-friendly' bulletin board systems running First
Class and similar software.
These systems are used within large companies for internal email and
to enable teams to work together as 'virtual' work groups. The same
systems can be run on a PC or Macintosh with a couple of phone lines,
or form the basis of a sophisticated system linked to the
Internet.
Media industries use 'the frame' network system to communicate,
search databases, and transfer graphic, sound and video files and are
prepared to pay a subscription of £00 a year for its functions.
However, lower cost systems can be run with more limited functions.
For example pHreak - also run by Intermedia Associates - offers
limited free access and is the home for a pilot version of the
Community Regeneration Network, described later. There a £25
subscription offers users an hour a day access including Internet
email.
The World Wide Web is the application
which has led to most Internet hype, and 'consumer' use, because it
is so attractive and easy to use.
Web browser software presents the user with attractive pages of text,
graphics and hypertext 'hot links' to other pages which may be on the
same computer or anywhere else on the Internet. Just click on a link
and you can 'surf' across the world to further information, download
a file, email a response or join an associated conference.
WWW appears to be the application which makes everything work easily
- but there are problems even there. All pages must be designed and
prepared using HTML - HyperText Markup Language. While this is
becoming easier, it means that WWW is principally a one-to-many
publishing medium, compared with, for example, many-to-many
publishing through a mailing list.
And although WWW can be read as text only, its main benefits require
a computer capable of running Windows, or a Macintosh. Links can be
slow, and combined with the temptation to just try the next
connection to find what you really want, can consume a lot of
time.
Nevertheless, the Web provides organisations - and individuals - with
the opportunity to create a shop window on the Internet, and quite a
few voluntary organisations are doing just that assisted by
organisations like VOIS, Poptel, and One World Online.
The Web provides novice users with an easy route on to the Internet
and is rapidly becoming the standard method for putting information
online in the public domain. New 'groupware' developments are making
it easy for users to contribute material to discussion areas linked
to Web pages.
Email is wonderful. Once you have it,
you want to deal with all written communication that way.
Conferences and mailing lists are excellent low-tech, low-cost
methods for many-to-many networking - but they can be like
unfacilitated meetings: poor signal to noise, dominated by loud
mouths.
File transfer is very useful for working teams, and for creating
libraries of information, but requires special systems like
Compuserve, or their smaller equivalent on bulletin boards, for easy
use.
World Wide Web is an attractive one-to-many publishing medium, but at
present it is not ideal for many-to-many discussion. It can be linked
to public email conferences and mailing lists, but in practice can be
slow to use. Its full graphic capabilities require a PC powerful
enough to run Windows, or an Apple Macintosh.
Because the Internet has no central management, it is rather like an
information car boot sale - or a library with the books in heaps on
the floor. That is changing with the development of powerful 'search
engines' which scan billions of conferences and Web pages through key
word search, but it can still be frustrating and confusing.
Compuserve and other similar networks provide organised information,
but at present are geared to commercial or leisure use.
The vast majority of network users are North American, and that is
reflected in the information available. However, while much of the
information may not be relevant to the UK, some network uses do give
us pointers to the future. There are also some interesting
developments already under way in the UK, and some evident benefits
for users.
Any new initiatives for the voluntary sector are likely to need a
combination of methods - mailing lists, bulletin boards and Web - if
they are to satisfy the needs of users. That becomes evident once we
examine the potential benefits as they relate to the day to day work
or organisations and individuals.
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Michael Mulquin, of the Community Involvement Unit in Newham and
Partnerships for Tomorrow, offers an assessment of some of the basic
advantages of going online. The Unit is developing a major telematics
project with European funding. He writes:
You can send a message to many people at once very cheaply - useful
for building campaigns and alerting users or potential users and
partner organisations to new initiatives etc. It costs the same to
send a message to 1 or to 100 or more people.
Research indicates that there is only a 20% chance of reaching
someone by phone during the business day. Using e-mail eliminates
this problem as both parties can read/write at their convenience.
You can ask a question of a lot of people at once to find if anyone
knows the answer or has relevant experience. Using electronic mailing
lists and newsgroups give access to a theoretically unlimited pool of
international expertise.
You can send documents almost instantly. This includes spreadsheets,
databases, graphics and even sound as well as text and also, using a
scanner, you can copy documents to send.
Bulletin Boards can facilitate the discussion of issues. You can post
your ideas publicly and other people can publicly or privately
comment on them.
You can link up with users and other local, national and
international groups with similar interests, whether they are
voluntary, statutory or private.
The ethnic background, gender, age or physical ability of people
online is much less obvious and so people's contributions are valued
much more on their own merit.
You can acquire a skill that is becoming increasingly important.
You can carry out research by using 'search engines' to hunt through
billions of words on the World Wide Web and in discussions
groups.
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Voluntary organisations already make
extensive use of broadcast media, linked to video, telephone and
print, and are moving on to the Internet. To quote just a few
examples:
TV and radio broadcasters develop programmes with voluntary
organisations, and then use Broadcasting Support Services to answer
enquiries from viewers and listeners directly, signpost them to help
or send out back up materials. BSS can also organise and administer
broadcast-related appeals. It manages media helplines as well as
establishing and running permanent helplines. BSS has recently
started producing pages for the Internet, most notably the Channel 4
Programme Support web site.
Voluntary sector TV broadcasts every Thursday morning between 5 and 6
am on BBC2, successfully relying on people setting their videos. VSTV
includes an open access slot for organisations to broadcast their own
video material. There are plans to provide further materials both in
print and via the Internet. VSTV is produced by The Media Trust.
Poptel has been providing on-line services for the past 10 years.
Amongst its 3000 clients are many voluntary sector organisations,
charities and campaigning groups,trade unions, membership
organisations like the Labour Party, local authorities as well as
businesses and information providers.
GreenNet is Britain's main Internet Service Provider for voluntary
and campaigning groups. Besides providing normal Internet services
(such as e-mail and the World Wide Web) it specialises - along with
its partner networks around the world - in providing international
on-line conferences covering thousands of topics in the fields of
environmental, peace, human rights, and third world campaigning.
GreenNet also provides connections to third world countries.
Recently VOIS - Voluntary Organisations Internet Server - has
launched a service whereby voluntary organisations can easily create
a presence on the World Wide Web within a standardised package. The
aim is to create an online community for the voluntary sector.
OneWorld Online has an impressive range of international partners on
its Web site, with an associated news service. It includes audio and
video clips.
The National Institute for Social Work has established a free dial-up
bulletin board with a range of on-line resources, including full text
of Department of Health circulars and Joseph Rowntree Findings, and a
free e-mail gateway to the Internet
Samaritans provide confidential emotional support by email, which can
be anonymous if the user wishes.
YouthNet - chaired by news reader Martyn Lewis - provides online
information and opportunities for young people.
VOLNET provides a CD-ROM and online access to databases of research
and articles.
Regen.Net started by using a First Class bulletin board system to
enable partners in regeneration projects to access official
information, research, and exchange email. In 1999 it moved to a Web
based system
Community Network offers telephone conferencing to other charities -
up to 10 people can link-up in a discussion enabling those who are
lonely, isolated or housebound to participate in self-help groups.
For Trustee/management meetings it reduces costs, time and travel
demands. All telephone calls are charged at standard rates.
Contact details are given at the end of this article. In addition
there are growing number of local initiatives, which range from very
necessary guidance and training for groups getting online, to
ambitious plans for community electronic networks on the North
American model. These are discussed in the Community Networks
article.
The past year has seen a sudden burst of activity and innovation in
the UK - yet it struck me in compiling this book that many of the new
initiatives do not know of each other, nor of the trail-blazing
efforts of pioneers like GreenNet and Poptel. Despite the
international nature of the Internet there is even less knowledge in
the UK of what is happening in North America.
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The Benton Foundation Communication
Policy Project recently published a set of examples of how nonprofits
use new technology in ways which could be replicable. Details are
given later. The Foundation reports:
'A non-profit organization uses a simple computerized database and
conference calling to help clients find the services they need from
among 3,500 agencies. A low-cost electronic bulletin board enables a
working-class neighborhood to organize a food co-op, publish a
newsletter and establish crime watches. A civic-affairs group uses
satellites to conduct live courses, forums, and town meetings for
community-based organizations all around the country. Other groups
publish extensive reports and case studies on the Internet.
'As these and many other examples demonstrate, the Information Age
could be a golden era for the non-profit sector. New information and
communication technologies are creating enormous opportunities for
non profits to increase their efficiency, improve the quality of
services they provide, and influence policy-makers.
'But even though an array of new technologies is becoming available
and their cost is rapidly declining, all too many non profits have
yet to take advantage of them. And even where non-profit groups have
made effective use of new technologies, their successes aren't well
known. Environmental advocates, for instance, generally aren't aware
of ways that health-care providers have found to use technology to
improve their operations. Social service agencies often haven't heard
of valuable innovations by community organizers. And public interest
groups operating on the national scene often aren't aware of
techniques being refined in localities, while others serving
relatively small areas don't know how large-scale applications could
be adapted to meet their needs.
'These are applications of technology that help non profits to
achieve specific goals and reach target audiences. They help
organizations increase their own efficiency and effectiveness,
improve the quality of services that non-profit groups deliver, and
give non commercial interests greater influence in policy debates.
Expanding use of these technologies could revolutionize the way
non-profit organizations operate, offering ways to broaden
constituencies and reach far larger audiences than previously thought
possible.
'Communications companies are still trying to determine exactly what
technological services the public will demand: Does it want
entertainment or a system that gives people access to health,
environmental and civic information? Does it want a one-way system
for transmitting information that turns individuals into passive
consumers, or does it want the opportunity to originate, as well as
receive, messages--and in the process gain more say in how
institutions are run?
'Public opinion polls have suggested that most people want access to
noncommercial information and new ways to communicate, rather than
additional vehicles for entertainment, home shopping, and 15-second
sound bites. But technology won't be deployed on the basis of poll
results alone. The public debate about the future of the nation's
information infrastructure needs to be better informed about how
technologies are being used to provide valuable services outside the
commercial sector and what's working for nonprofits, their clients,
and their communities. '
The Benton Foundation is promoting that debate, and exploration of
benefits for voluntary organisations in the United States. So far
there is no comparable exercise under way in the UK. Although much of
the promotion of the new technologies is driven commercially rather
than social concerns, there are sufficient evident benefits for
further systematic exploration to be worth while.
In addition to initiatives like the Benton project US voluntary
organisations have their own communication system, Handsnet, which
provides access to the Internet and user-friendly conferencing on a
bulletin board system. This means that voluntary organisations have a
means of rapidly exchanging news and ideas within their own field,
and checking what is happening elsewhere in the sector.
Below are some other examples cited by the Benton Foundation.
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Civic Network Television (CNT) is a
non-profit organization that provides equipment and support to enable
local non-profit groups to participate electronically through
satellite teleconferences in courses, forums, and town meetings. The
events take place in Washington, but they are beamed via satellite to
conference rooms across the country. Individuals at remote viewing
sites can observe and communicate via telephone lines with
participants in Washington and other places.
The Civic Practices Network, a nonpartisan, collaborative project
involving a diverse collection of organizations, offers a rich
collection of "civic stories, best practices and case studies"
dealing with creative problem-solving at the community level. The web
site, which can be reached with a computer, a modem, and Internet
access, uses pictures and icons to guide journalists, social studies
teachers, students and community activists to current information on
everything from environmental issues to religion. With a click of the
computer mouse, users can seek information about what's going on in
specific states, search by subject through hundreds of reports and
case studies, or get the names of key contacts.
I*EARN, the International Education And Resource Network, helps bring
together schools and institutions as varied as Save the Children and
the U.S. Information Agency for project-oriented, collaborative
learning. Participants-some 1,500 schools and youth service
organizations in more than 20 countries-communicate primarily by
electronic mail and on-line conferences. Some use speaker telephones
and video telephones as well.
Advances in telecommunications may be turning the world into a global
village, but they also can bring individual neighborhoods
together.
Linking Up Villages (LUV) is a Boston-based project designed to
reinvigorate communities through local electronic bulletin boards and
software called Multi-User Sessions in Community (MUSIC). "The LUV
motto is, rather than focusing on National Information
Infrastructure, to us, NII is really about Neighborhood Information
Infrastructure," says Alan Shaw, president of MUSIC, Inc., the
for-profit counterpart to LUV.
Shaw designed the MUSIC software a few years ago at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology's Media Lab. It enables participants to
create an on-line version of their communities, complete with
"buildings" and, within the buildings, "rooms." Subject to rules
adopted by individual communities, individuals can "stroll" through
this graphical "virtual neighborhood," obtain information on
community services and activities, make their own contributions to
the database, participate in live "chat" groups or engage in
sustained discussions through various community forums. All that's
needed is a computer and a modem.
People's House, which has been operating in Washington, D.C., for
four years, combines two common and easily accessible technologies,
three-way phone calling and a computer database to make getting help
as easy as finding a phone booth. Once People's House gets a call
from someone in need, a staff member types key words into a computer
(donated Macintoshes) to find which of 3,500 organizations in its
database can best help. People's House then sets up a three-way call
to bring client and service provider together. By participating in
the call, People's House makes certain the client's needs can be met;
the search continues until a successful match has been made.
While the idea of connecting students to global computer networks is
one of the hottest topics in educational technology today, some
schools are trying networking on a smaller scale-they're linking
schools and students' homes.
At New Trier High School in Winnetka, Ill., about 75 sophomores each
year are given donated IBM computers to use at home during the school
year. Besides doing much of their English, geometry, geography and
biology homework on the computers, the students use e-mail to
collaborate with fellow students and communicate with teachers.
Parents are urged to use the computers as well; they can consult with
teachers via e-mail, and they can log on to learn their kids' grades,
check homework assignments, and in some cases participate with their
children in projects assigned by teachers.
How do you meet the demand for more services even though budgets are
getting squeezed? That is an increasingly common challenge faced by
nonprofit organizations. Technology may provide one answer.
Reacting to a wave of cuts in city, state and federal social service
spending, United Neighborhood Houses of New York, Inc., which
provides a wide variety of social services and sponsors various
cultural and educational activities, installed a computer network
linking two UNH offices and five settlement houses to common stores
of data. UNH hopes the network, which supports 250 work stations,
will save caseworkers many hours of paperwork by consolidating
records and storing them electronically.
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It is easy to get carried away with
enthusiasm for the applications of the new technology, so I asked
Terry Grunwald to review reality at the grass roots.
Terry is Project Director of NCexChange, an initiative that promotes
and supports electronic networking for nonprofit organisations and
low wealth communities in the state of North Carolina.
NCexChange was the first statewide program in the US designed to meet
the special networking needs of the nonprofit community. Since
September 1990, NCexChange has helped over 160 North Carolina rural,
human service, and community development organisations connect
electronically for information exchange, communication, and
collaboration. Terry responded:
'There is no way that voluntary organizations (I will call them NPOs)
will participate in the policy debate unless they experience tangible
results that make them feel they have a stake in
telecommunications.
'The Internet is only theoretically a "leveller" ... NPOs will need
incentives to participate: online information designed to meet their
specific needs and a support framework to handhold them through the
process. These are key. Who in England is willing to provide these
incentives?
'There are pre-existing reasons why NPOs don't participate more
actively: lack of time and resources, a reluctance to share
information, the problems inherent in any kind of collaboration, etc.
Telecomms can't solve these problems.
'Too many people inside the Beltway (Washington D.C.) try to hype the
Info Highway without acknowledging the real barriers that NPOs face.
NPOs need to go online with their eyes open - prepared for the
commitment it entails. Otherwise they may sour on networking
completely
'I've seen it happen a lot.'
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Single copies of the Benton
Foundation Communication Policy Project report: Inventing the Future:
Nonprofits and the new technologies are available free from the
Foundation, 1634 Eye Street, N.W., Washington D.C 20006, USA
Tel: 001202-638-5770. Fax: 001 202-638-5771
Email: benton@benton.org
URL: cdinet.com/benton
Terry Grunwald, NC Client and Community Development Center, PO
Box 28958, Raleigh NC 27601, USA
Tel: 001 919-856-2176. Fax: 001 919-856-2120. E-Mail
hn1006@handsnet.org
Broadcasting Support Services
Tel: 0181 280 8000. Fax 0181 810 0169. Email (publishing):
bss-pub@bbcnc.org.uk
URL for Channel 4: www.c4support.bss.org
The Media Trust
Tel: 0171 637 4747. Fax: 0171 637 5757. Email:
mediatrust@easynet.co.uk
Poptel
Tel: 0161 839 4212. Fax: 0161 839 4214. Email:
info@mcr1.poptel.org.uk
URL: www.poptel.org.uk
GreenNet
Tel: 0171 713 1941. Fax: 0171 833 1169. Email: support@gn.apc.org
URL: www.gn.apc.org
Community Development Foundation
Tel: 0171 226 5375 Fax: 0171 704 0313. Email:
cdf@geo2.poptel.org.uk
VOIS - Voluntary Organisations Internet Server
Tel: 0171 435 5787. Fax: 0171 435 8144. Email: info@vois.org.uk
URL: www.vois.org.uk
OneWorld Online
Tel: 0494 481629. Fax: 01494 481751. Email:justice@oneworld.org
URL: www.oneworld.org
National Institute for Social Work
Tel: 0171 387 9681. Fax: 0171 387 7968. Email:
Mwatson@nisw.org.uk
URL: www.nisw.org.uk
The Samaritans
Tel: 01753 532713. Fax: 01753 775787. Email:
admin.@samaritans.org
Support by email jo@samaritans.org or samaritans@anon.penet.fi
(anonymous)
YouthNet UK
Tel:0171 6051693. Email: info@thesaite.org.uk URL:
http://www.thesite.org.uk
VOLNET
Tel: 0171 226 5375. Fax: 0171 704 0313. Email:
cdf@geo2.poptel.org.uk
Regen.Net
Tel: 0141 248 8541. Fax: 0141 248 9433. Email planex@dial.pipex.com
http://www.regen.net
Community Network
Tel: 0171 359 4594 Fax: 0171 704 6471. Email:
101347.213@compuserve.com
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