Noesium | Integrative Digital Thinking

Sometime during the dotcom heydays, we were reminded that
Content is King.

It’s still the case.

In the digital world, breakthroughs and advancements are often accredited to technology or design.  But quicker speed, enhanced utilities or visual experience (the How) are essentially vehicles for delivering content (the What).

Let’s take a look at Web 2.0 from this perspective. It is not all about “social” and “technology”; it is an unprecedented way to share content – or, stories, a term I prefer. Consequently, to “do social media” successfully, you really need to have some great stories to share.

I have expressed various times before that Non-Profit organizations have a leg up because they almost always have great content to share, such as inspiring personal stories or pictures of events.

On the other hand, companies who sell products or services don’t always succeed in delivering fetching stories. Telling people functions and features of your products is hardly a story; even celebrity endorsements or user testimonials don’t really fetch attention (remember, consumers are smart, very smart).

We all need to seek and produce our own stories, drawing from our history, our present, our future, our beliefs, our daily life, our networks, and more.

Do you or your company have alluring stories?
What stories have made a lasting impression on you?

On 20 July, I blogged about “A Different Social Media Reality: Doctors without Borders”, my talk at Net Change Week on Social Technology for Social Change, including my consulting experience with Doctors Without Borders, Canada.

The host, Refresh Events, just posted a video of the event, including my presentation.

Presented by Justin Kozuch, Refresh Events is a monthly community event for those interested in the interactive world. During Net Change Week, the Refresh audience will hear from those in the interactive space who have dedicated their work towards social change initiatives.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is probably worth at least two thousands. Enjoy!

Refresh Events for Net Change: Evelyn So from SiG @ MaRS on Vimeo.

For many of us, our communication world is about
using the latest smartphones, choosing a blogging platform,
or experimenting with thousands of API applications

What if you are without even Internet connection?
How would you share your stories?
Does Web 2.0 even matter then?

On 10 June, I provided a one-day consultation with Medicins Sans Frontieres/MSF Canada (Doctors without Borders) at the Social Media//Social Mastermind event (part of Netchange Week) where we helped non-profit organizations to leverage social technologies for social changes.

“Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international medical humanitarian organization created by doctors and journalists in France in 1971. Today, MSF provides aid in nearly 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe…In 1999, MSF received the Nobel Peace Prize.”

Like many non-profit bodies, MSF has a lot of stories (content) to share with their audience, including volunteers, donors, partners, supporters and the world at large, in the form of news, pictures, videos, podcasts, blogs and more. What’s special is that these stories happen in countries threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care, or natural disasters. When an epidemic breaks out, MSF needs to be there at record time; at conflict zones, MSF sets up camps to provide the only health care to the local population. What’s more, MSF must share timely news about these countries and happenings.

MSF aids workers live in a different reality from many of us:

1.They do not have access to the technologies we take for granted, not to mention their jobs are way more important and urgent than blogging for the rest of the world.

2. Their hours are long, days are packed and they operate in demanding conditions both physically and mentally.

I have to say, this is one of the most unique “projects” that also affected me on a personal level. I was immensely humbled by theses heroes who not only volunteer in danger-filled zones, but strive to bring inspiring stories back to us – sometimes right from the field.

This is far from our safe and comfortable world of live blogging, instant tweeting, youtube streaming or flickr sharing.

More voices from these heroes are available at the MSF site.

Typically, I would conduct detailed assessment to formulate a strategy before recommending any tactics. This one-day consulting with MSF was an exception and we did, at the end of the day, came up with a few to-dos. Here are 3 main ones:

1. Capturing stories: Leverage old technologies
MSF must leverage whatever works best in the aids worker’s world. We must not be hung on just the latest and greatest social technology, as much as they do work wonders in our “regular” world of instant content creation and distribution. Tapping into the social communication ecosystem, we recognize that oldies like landlines or even snailmail can be realistic options. At the end of the day, the stories need to be captured and must be done via channels that make sense.

2. Capturing stories: Be creative about generating content
There are so many ways to capture the MSF aids workers’ voices besides having them blog directly from the field or immediately upon their return (my sincere kudos to those who do). For instance, an interview before and after their missions would provide significant insights into their work and state of mind. This can be done via telephone or in person, and can be captured in text, videos or podcasts.

3. Sharing stories: Support content sharing
As much as MSF creates and owns a lot of the content, there are advocates out there who are also keen on supporting their missions. MSF can provide a “social media hub” for user generated content. As sensitive political and religious issues is a concern, it is important for MSF to own and manage this hub with strict policies and an escalation process in place.

4. In-time content distribution: Operation efficiency – insider out
MSF needs to establish a centralized database where content – be it facts about a country or the latest pictures – can be instantly pulled, assembled and populated when news break. Operational efficiency would also include an organization-wide process.

I sincerely hope this post has provided a view of “the other reality”
and generate comments and suggestions on
how technology, whatever form it may be in, can help faciliate social changes.

(MSF Canada can  be found on Twitter @MSF_canada)

Charity Village is the leading online source of information, news, jobs, services and resources for the Canadian nonprofit community. Here’s a recent interview where I shared my thoughts on Charities and Social Media.

A big thank you to Imagine Canada for introducing us!