OneWebDay

Originally posted by OneWebDay Sydney Organizer, Vicky Pinpin-Feinstein at http://my.onewebday.org/profiles/blogs/social-history-social-media (log in required)

Global or village—for all of Sydney’s worldly and modern day sophistication, it likes to call itself a city of villages. One of these villages is called Glebe, a closed-in suburb where students, professors, and artists rub shoulders with old timers, working class residents and backpackers. This year, Glebe is celebrating its 150 years and recently launched an oral history project aimed at capturing the eclectic character of its neighborhoods. As the coordinator of the project said,

“We’ve been told tales of illegal bookmakers, the six o’clock swill, housing squats, timber yards on Blackwattle Bay, and the Saturday matinee at the Astor.”

But this is no ordinary oral history project. It is an initiative that blends social history with social media. An enterprising web savvy group teamed up with long term residents, obtained support from the city of Sydney to document the suburb’s rich cultural history. Glebebytes is a result of this collective endeavor. In my view, it is an excellent story of digital inclusion because:

A web-savvy group is working with non-web savvy group of retirees and long-time residents.

A creative example of digital storytelling.

I was at the ceremony on August 4th when Glebebytes was officially launched. There was a lot of enthusiasm and energy among those in attendance. Even more important was the pride I heard in everyone’s voice as residents of this community. One of the best comments I heard was about a resident’s introduction to the web. This retiree and active member of the project remarked,

“A few months ago, I did not even know how to send an email.”

Glebebytes is a good example of digital storytelling and collaboration in support of the documentation of local history for all of the world to see. Imagine how a sense of “community,” can potentially ensue when, for example, a Native American in a pueblo in New Mexico, while surfing on the net, happens to see a Glebe resident online describing that aboriginal residents are increasing in her neighborhood, where once they were not accepted. There are other innovative ways of creating a sense of community that can be possible in projects similar to this.

Glebeytes is made possible online through Wireless House and under the bigger umbrella of the Pool Project. Pool is sponsored by the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), and is described as a collaborative space “where audiences become participants, co-creators and collaborators and ABC’s intent to conduct action research at the intersection of broadcast and participatory media.

The Glebebytes team will be a part of our OneWebDay celebrations in Sydney.

Originally posted by OneWebDay DC Organizer, Chance Williams at http://my.onewebday.org/profiles/blogs/direct-service-in-the-district (log in required)

When I moved to Washington, DC I understood that I was entering a rarefied space where national policy dominates, but I was curious to see how this interacted with the local. I’m not talking about inside versus outside the beltway, but rather how the people who live in the beltway solve the problems that are unique to their own community. I wondered if this space peopled with those who concern themselves with national policy ever concern themselves with community service, if there was any interaction?

As I began work to coordinate the local Washington, DC celebration of OneWebDay for the Media & Democracy Coalition, I found that I had the perfect opportunity to answer my own question. This year’s OneWebDay theme – One Web. For All – was a natural fit for the Coalition because we can bring national broadband policy experts together; however, we also facilitate interaction between local and national organizations. This was an opportunity to connect with local Washington, DC groups that drive digital inclusion efforts in the place where policy is made.

I immediately found two groups that do this work. The first of these, Mi Tierra, promotes the participation of Latino immigrants and their families in the formal financial system. They have found that basic computer skills and Internet access are essential to this work. The second, Byte Back, provides training for under- and unemployed workers so they have the marketable skills necessary to obtain employment in today’s job market. Unsurprisingly, this means hands-on computer training that allows these workers to keep pace with the rest of society.

Both of these organizations are tackling big issues, and both recognize that digital inclusion is imperative to their progress. If not for these groups many of our fellow citizens in Washington, DC would not have access to the technology we all know is imperative to opportunity and progress in the modern world. And sadly, in city where there is a wealth of expertise and brainpower that could be of service, both of these organizations still struggle to recruit volunteers.

During OneWebDay’s service week – September 14-18 – we will encourage Washington residents to seek out these organizations and take advantage of the many volunteer opportunities they provide. As we all continue to work on national media and telecommunications policy, it is vitally important that we continue to engage with our immediate community on these issues.

The Media and Democracy Coalition is a collaboration of over two dozen local and national organizations committed to promoting open and equal access to a democratic media system that serves the public interest. We are coordinating Washington, DC’s OneWebDay celebration.

– Chance Williams, cwilliams (at) media-democracy (dot) net

Originally posted by long-time OneWebDay Organizer, Joly MacFie at http://my.onewebday.org/profiles/blogs/gordon-brown-wiring-a-web-for (log in required)

From TEDGlobal 2009, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown talks about the effect of the web on global politics.

Thanks to Joly for the post. Join the conversation, get organized, and get support for your OneWebDay efforts by joining my.OneWebDay.org!

Originally posted by OneWebDay Sydney Organizer, Vicky Pinpin-Feinstein at http://my.onewebday.org/profiles/blogs/australian-national-broadband (log in required)

For those of us looking for ways to celebrate digital inclusion as this year’s OneWebDay’s theme, Australia seems to be a pretty exciting place to be. Whether you are into Web 2.0 and its workings, in government looking for ways in which social media can help you do your job, or whether you are in the nonprofit community intent on using these new media tools to assist with mission-driven goals, there’s been a flurry of activities in recent months both at the federal, state and local levels related to broadband plans, Web 2.0 or Government 2.0.

At the national level, the Rudd government announced in April 2009, a multi-billion broadband infrastructure plan which aims to reach 90 per cent of Australian households and businesses using optical fiber. Over the course of 8 years, the government intends to spend up to A$43 billion dollars to build a broadband superhighway that will improve internet speeds in Australia by up to 100 times, a goal seen as critical because Australia currently lags behind OECD countries in broadband access. The country is behind Japan, Singapore and South Korea and is in the bottom half of OECD countries. The government’s Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy is spearheading all efforts of the plan. In late July, the government announced the appointment of Mike Quigley, recognized as Australia’s most broadly and internationally experienced telecommunications networks executive as the top boss of the federally funded company, the National Broadband Network. Other top officials for the company are expected to be announced soon.

In other initiatives, the government announced in June the establishment of a Government 2.0 Taskforce (http://gov2.net.au) that will look into how government information can become more accessible, usable, and to look for ways in which it can enable more interfaces with its various publics as well as promote greater collaboration across agencies. The taskforce is chaired by Dr. Nicholas Gruen, the CEO of Lateral Economics and long time policy adviser to federal government ministers. Its other members are prominent government and business leaders across the country and who will participate in completing a report by year’s end. In addition, the taskforce is responsible for managing a $2.45 million fund in support of the development of web 2.0 tools and applications that have the potential to enable greater engagement between the government and community. These grants will be administered in the form of funding for pilots and projects or may come in the form of prizes for innovative applications.

Similarly, politicians are joining the Web 2.0 bandwagon through various policy and issues campaign activities. Senator Kate Lundy, a Parliament member since 1996, was an early pioneer and was one who saw the potential of the internet in the 1990s as a medium that can “break down the normal power relationships in society.” (See Senator Lundy’s “How I Became Interested in ICT on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSPRShRc7BY) On June 22, Senator Lundy’s office organized a Government 2.0 one day event in Canberra with 170 people attending, about 300 people following it on Twitter totaling 2,500 tweets on the day and over 400 more watching it on live videostreaming (http://www.katelundy.com.au/2009/06/23/government-2-0-public-sphere-next-steps/). They have just completed a briefing paper which you can access on her blog at http://www.katelundy.com.au/2009/05/29/public-sphere-2-open-government-policy-and-practice/. These efforts have been ably supported by Pia Waugh, her IT &T advisor and a keen observer of all things web 2.0. See her blog at http://pipka.org/. Similar events will follow in coming months.

Inspired by Senator Lundy’s efforts, Member of the NSW Legislative Council, Penny Sharpe, will be convening a Government 2.0 event on September 4. She is actively seeking the participation of segments of the NSW population who are new to Web 2.0 and would like to learn more and engage in it. Ms. Sharpe believes that “new technologies are already changing the way individuals connect and interact with the state as well as how we connect and interact with each other.“ She added that “it’s time for us to discuss what that can mean for our governments and our parliaments.” To this end, she is looking for speakers and panelists interested in discussing the ways in which Web 2.0 can potentially transform models of democracy at the state level. She is also actively seeking ideas, suggestions, recommendations and advice on how the event will be organized and soliciting people’s views on some topics she has listed in her blog. You can find out what these topics are on her web site at http://pennysharpe.com/nswsphere. For those interested in attending this free event, you can sign up at http://nswsphere.eventbrite.com/.

At the city level, the City of Sydney convened a conference on June 24, 2009, to look at how the web is transforming government. Dubbed Web 2.0 in Government Conference, the City of Sydney recognized that more and more governments around the world are increasingly engaging their constituents online in the hope of improving policy development and service delivery. The conference was an opportunity for both the public and private sectors to discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by Government 2.0 initiatives. The conference put together leaders in Government 2.0 in Australia although the one disappointment about it is that for a topic that seeks broad and open government and one which inherently advocates greater participation and access, the conference limited interested parties or individuals from participation because of its pricey registration fee. The one day event cost A$695.00, an amount I would say, would certainly limit people keen on watching their wallets at this time, at least the ones whose companies would not pay for such an event.

The nonprofit community around Sydney, Melbourne and elsewhere are also increasing their engagement of social media tools in pursuit of mission-driven initiatives. They recognized the need for using these tools to engage, advocate, influence as well as improve efficiencies in delivering programs and services to social sector clients. One such company is Energetica (www.energetica.com.au) whose principal and founder, Lisa Harvey is also a member of the Government 2.0 Taskforce. There are also entities such as CollabForge (http://collabforge.com), a company that participated in OneWebDay last year. Its founder, Mark Eliott, is a key member of this year’s OWD in Melbourne. Getup (http://www.getup.org.au), is a grass-roots community organization currently working on campaigns that include climate change, internet censorship, the government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and economic fairness. Over at MakeBelieve (http://www.makebelieve.me), Lily McCombs team, which includes Nick Moraitis, Ben Margetts and others, focuses on helping not-for-profits and other socially responsible organizations in doing good through the development and management of campaigns on issues as diverse as marine life to youth leadership. These organizations are a small sample of what is out there in the Australian nonprofit arena based on the 6-7 months of observing the scene so to speak, since I moved to Sydney. I am certain there are many more that escaped my radar and which I will continue to see as I explore this community. Ping me if you know others–both individuals and organizations that I can feature in this blog and whose support we can solicit in the quest to make many more Australians aware of not just OneWebDay but the significance of the internet in their daily lives.

I will continue to monitor these activities and discuss ways in which these can potentially contribute to OWD’s theme of digital inclusion.

Thanks to Vicky for her post.  Join the conversation, get organized, and get support for your OneWebDay efforts by joining my.OneWebDay.org!