Empowering the Charitable Sector with Interactive Technologies II

15th September, LBi London

We are all guilty. You too.

We have all used Excel as a database, even though it’s really not a database program. Real database programs take training - Excel, however, can make you that call list in the blink of an eye. So you use it. There’s more: many of us have used Photoshop for making pamphlets and posters, even though it’s not actually meant to do either. Worse, we’ve made pamphlets in Word.

The mind reels! Or maybe it doesn’t, because frankly tech tools are made to be subverted. Especially by non-profit staff who are on a grant deadline, and just need a way to get this poster done, fast.

So you can imagine how happy I was to discover ways that people are subverting our new best friends - Youtube, Twitter and Facebook - for fun and non-profit.

I'm having time over this long weekend to catch up on some of my favorite podcasts, including UNICEF's podcast.  In a February 6th program, they announced the launch of the UNICEF vodcast.

Here's what UNICEF's Chief of the Internet, Broadcast and Image Section, Stephen Cassidy, had to say about why they chose to use this new tool:

UNICEF wants to be part of that group of people who are participating in this new technology.  We think early adopters will be people that we want to talk with and that they will spread the word in a broader community.  We want the world to be interested in the health, education, equality and protection of the world’s children.  As part of delivering that message, we’re seeking every possible platform, every single mountaintop from which to call our message, and the vodcast is the latest way that we can accomplish that goal.