kit blake on Fri, 30 Apr 1999 08:20:11 +0200 |
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Syndicate: Media strategy - Message Board |
A Message Board for Camps, Shelters and Cafes Dear Syndicalists, This idea came out of the Media Strategies group at the Budapest 'summit'. The Message Board is a means for people to find and contact each other after displacement. Think of it as a database driven Personals system (Desperately Seeking So-and-so). The core of the system is a web application, but it is specifically aimed at people who do not have internet access or knowledge, yet would like to find or contact family members or friends whose whereabouts are unknown. The Message Board is a vertical solution to a horizontal communication gap. The idea is ambitious, not in a technical sense (we have the expertise within the network to build the application) but in an implementation sense - it requires the participation of people working in the field. Thus it could be completely unrealistic. So call this an RFC, a Request For Comment. Probably this idea overlaps with other initiatives for refugees as well. Imagine a bulletin board at a camp or a cafe. Messages are posted on the board, like: "Dear Sister, I am alive and well at the Stenkovec camp, in tent 292. Signed, Brother" The board is full of messages, in all sorts of languages. People are reading the board. If they see a message from someone they know, they can reply by posting their own note. Thus if Sister sees a message from Brother, she can write a reply. The next time Brother is at the board, he'll see the message, and can reply to Sister. As there are currently 29,300+ people in the Stenkovec camp, this helps people to find each other. However, copies of the bulletin board are available at the other camps as well. Thus someone in the Neprosteno camp may see a message from someone they know in Stenkovec, and communicate. The 'central' Message Board is a web site, and the local paper boards are printouts from the site's generated pages. People (with Internet access) can query the database: "Display all messages from the Radusa camp." A very long page is the result, too long. "Display all messages from the Radusa camp in the last week." A long page results, and this page can printed on paper. The paper can be physically posted in various locations for people to read. If there is a computer, telephone line, modem, and printer at a camp, this could happen daily, but it is more likely that the printouts will have to be delivered by people going there. At this point, the camps have enough problems supplying basic needs. Delivery requires integration with other infrastructures of the refugee efforts. If the system is running, there will be long message lists posted at camps, shelters, mosques, etc. These message lists will be popular, and I can imagine lines of people reading the lists. How does somebody post or respond to a message? This requires internet access, direct or indirect, and here is where the idea gets ambitious. On the website is a posting form, with fields for name, location, recipient, message, and so forth. Posted messages get a unique number, and a reply to a particular message can be entered. Thus threads can develop, like newsgroups. A paper version of the form exists as well. If someone without internet access wants to post or reply, they must fill out the paper form, and other people must enter the data into the system. This requires manpower, computers and access. For it to be successful, it requires a lot of dedicated people, with knowledge of the local languages, and time. Users with Internet access can directly query the database. This is the power of the system. Users can search for a specific person, or assemble queries based on date, family name, and location. If a camp has an internet connection, I imagine there would be lines of people wishing to communicate. This could become a sponsorship opportunity for telecoms and access providers. The website must also be hosted somewhere. The technical complexity of the database is not high. I'm not a programmer, but I have enough experience to guess that a proof of concept application could be created in a few days, and a robust version would require a week or two of programming time. There are definitely people within the network with the skills to program this. Scaleability is an issue, as if it really works, the data could grow immensely over time. If this idea bears fruit, I would be happy to participate in the specification and execution. But first we must have a reality check. I'm particularly interested in critique from people close to the field Best, kit P.S. This just came in: >From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net> >Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 12:37:45 +0000 >Subject: (Fwd) Re: Refugee finder > >there is also a web site >containing records of refugees registered in Macedonia, so far they >have about 65,000 people registered. > >Its address is http://www.refugjat.org/. Pretty impressive. The Kosovar Refugee Database from ADI (Association for Democratic Initiatives in Macedonia) is being compiled by volunteers, and completely fulfills the 'finding' function. ------Syndicate mailinglist-------------------- Syndicate network for media culture and media art information and archive: http://www.v2.nl/east/ to unsubscribe, write to <syndicate-request@aec.at> in the body of the msg: unsubscribe your@email.adress