History of comment by David Bale

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---- Original Content from Sat, 10 May 2008 14:38:05 PDT ----
Mark said:

   it still feels like I need a little more step by step instructions in the manual as what as an individual I am to do.

That's exactly right.  I need to expand on this bit:

While there is a great need for more individuals to get involved in the pre-launch phase of this project, I understand Mark to be referring here solely to what individuals might do post-launch in order to participate.

(BTW By "launch", I mean going public with the project in a large way.  We'll only be ready to do this when random partner allocations have been made & verified and listings are ready to be released.)

I think the manual should give dozens of examples of what individuals might do (with an index of course!) depending on their personal circumstances.

But first there is the problem of how they can fit into a local organisation that - at the time of launch - won't actually exist.  With up to 4,800 separate connection areas, the project is far too large to be managed centrally.  So the first major obstacle to be overcome in each area will be to develop some organisational structure.

What I have in mind is the central registration of a contact person in each area - initially we might call these Acting Correspondents for their WWC # Area. 

The idea would be to use the manual to invite anyone willing to do so to register as Acting Correspondent for their area.  They would do this by posting their contact details on a central list of all the WWC areas.  Anyone else from that WWC # Area interested in participating in the project would then contact them.  The Acting Correspondent would be expected to maintain a local list of the contact details of local members so that they might work together to organise inaugural events.  His position should be an interim one, to be confirmed or changed by the agreement of all members once a local organisation has developed.  Other posts could also be created in the same way.

Hopefully, though, in many cases the Acting Correspondent will become a key figure in helping to set up the area's organisational structure.  Since each area will have a catchment of around 500,000 people, members will in practice belong to several different local districts or communities.  Hopefully individuals will feel inspired to set up WCP community groups within these separate localities where they themselves live: they might be sub-sections of existing groups or newly formed.  Their initial agenda will not only be to get organised, but also to find out more about their partner area, particularly those aspects of their partner area which are related to their own interests.  They might be a group at a hospital or clinic with an interest in health or sanitation.   They might be school or performing arts centre with interests in education or drama and music.  Of course, any or these groups might be particularly interested in some other aspect altogether - say, for example, microfinance or agriculture.  Some kind of organisational structure will be needed in order to coordinate these separate inquiries.

It might be a good idea for each area to form a CARG (Connection Area Research Group) to discover where their partner area stands in relation to the factors that go to make up the UN's Human Development Index: life expectancy, literacy, access to clean water, income per capita etc.  Also to find out about the work of international development agencies already working in the two partner areas (perhaps using the listings in the nonprofitslist_) to see how they might contribute to their efforts.  The CARG could also arrange and organise awareness-raising events or exhibitions that could travel around the area's separate localities.

The manual can give examples, introduced perhaps with wording similar to these examples:

 "You are a soccer player who aspires to a professional career.  You want to know if anyone in your partner area would be interested in giving you a trial or else in helping local talent in your area to develop.  What can you do?"

 "You believe many of the world's problems could be solved if there was universal access to the internet.  You'd like to help improve internet access in your partner area.  What can you do?"

 "You'd like to get in touch with people in your partner area interested in the same things as you.  What can you do?" 

 "You'd like to start a business to provide better for your family's needs, but you lack the resources to do so.  What can you do?"

 "You'd like children in your area to link up with their counterparts in your partner area.  What can you do?"

 "Your village would like to be in partnership with people in your partner area but they do not yet have an Acting Correspondent.  Also, you do not know how to contact anyone in your partner area, nor exactly where it is.  What can you do?"

And so on.

Perhaps Nedsters could suggest some examples of their own, preferably complete with answers.

I don't mind starting. Bearing in mind Mark's original question:

 "You are excited by the possibilities offered by the World Connectory Project and you want to get others in you areas excited too.  What can you do?"
         
Answer:

 Perhaps you might write a list of all (or many of) the organisations in your locality that have an email address and then send them a message telling them about the project and about the partner area allocated to you.  You could arrange a meeting and invite each organisation to send a representative.  The agenda for the meeting will be to discuss what you all might do to develop links with your partner area.

 (It might be helpful for the WWC Manual to contain specimen wording for emails of this kind)

Does this start to answer your question, Mark?
 

---- Edit on Sat, 10 May 2008 15:24:36 PDT ----
@@ -5,2 +5,4 @@
 That's exactly right.  I need to expand on this bit:
+
+ **Step-by-step suggestions for getting started** *(a range of situations will be discussed in which readers of the Manual may feel they may wish to respond.)*
 
@@ -52,1 +54,2 @@
  
+*edited for clarity*