Jayne
Cravens
Communications
Work Portfolio
social media:
Recommendations
for UN agencies in Ukraine to use social media to promote
reconciliation, social inclusion, & peace-Building
(PDF). I submitted this strategy
on October 2, 2014 on my last day as Surge
Communications Advisor for UN Ukraine. These recommendations
focused on use of Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and other social media to
tools. This strategy includes a review of many of the challenges of
reconciliation in Ukraine, suggestions for cultivating participation
among civil society organizations and government offices, examples of
organizations using social media successfully to promote tolerance and
respect, suggested messaging, and an outline for how to
evaluate efforts.
Leading an
online discussion regarding Gender and the Digital Divide.
In August 2003, I had the pleasure of co-hosting this multi-day online
event on the TechSoup
community forum with Latifat Kadir of Lagos, Nigeria. Latifat and other
women shared their stories of cultural and safety barriers that kept
them from computer and Internet-related classes and community technology
centers (telecenters, Internet cafes, etc.). It's interesting to note
that, in the years since the original discussion a few men have posted
to deny there are any barriers to women using the Internet, including in
developing and transitional countries. Obviously, much more education is
needed. This experience, as well as others, lead to my creation of this
resource on my own web site: Women's
Access to Public Internet Centers in Transitional and Developing
Countries.
Evaluating
Online Activities: Online Action Should Create & Support Offline
Action
Hundreds of "friends" on an online social networking site. Thousands of
subscribers to an email newsletter. Dozens of attendees to a virtual
event. Those are impressive numbers on the surface, but if they don't
translate into more volunteers, repeat volunteers, new donors, repeat
donors, more clients, repeat clients, legislation, or public pressure,
they are just that: numbers. For online activities to translate into
something tangible, online action must create and support
offline action.
What could this look like? This resource can help organizations plan
strategically about online activities so that they lead to something
tangible - not just numbers.
For
Local City & County Governments: You Should Be Using Social Media.
Here's How.
To
not be using social media to deliver information and to engage means you
are denying critical information to much of your community and promoting
an image of secrecy and lack of transparency. In fact, the lack of use
of social media can be seen as your city council or county government
trying to hide something, and even lead to rumors that are much harder
to dispel than they would have been to prevent. This advice talks not
only about exactly what your school should be posting to social media,
but also how to handle tough questions and criticism.
other internal strategies and
proposals:
Rio
Convention Environmental Project in Ukraine Outreach / Marketing Plan
(PDF). This initiative, a part of UNDP, was staffed by just one full-time
person who is not a communications professional. She wanted to know what
she could do within UNDP's communications activities to help reach her
initiative's goals, which included changing behaviors and understanding of
citizens regarding climate change. This was a "no cost" approach that I
authored for her, relying primarily on social media and the UNDP web site
to get messaging out.
Guide
for Facilitating the Preparation of Women-Focused Development Plans
(PDF). By Nika Saeedi, Gender Specialist and Jayne Cravens,
Communications & Reporting Advisor, both at National Area-Based
Development Programme (NABDP) Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation &
Development Kabul, Afghanistan. June 12, 2007. Primary Audience: Afghan
ministry staff at all levels. The full document was also shared with
partner organizations, such as the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP), and several donor governments.
Workshop
for Afghan women to help them improve their public speaking skills (PPT).
This was a workshop I put together for female colleagues at the Afghan
ministry where I worked in 2007. I researched women teachers and public
figures in various Islamic countries and cultures, including in Afghan
history, and contacted several Muslim women's groups with a large Internet
presence for advice to create this workshop. I also relied on my
assistant, a local Afghan woman to help me phrase things properly, and I
put her in charge of creating the design around my words in the slide show
presentation and including culturally-appropriate photos. Read the notes
for each slide, as these offer much more information.
Online
Volunteering @ UNV: A future? (PDF): A review and proposal
regarding the Online Volunteering service at UNV, with a focus on how
online volunteering can be further mainstreamed into UNV and UNDP.
Submitted internally at United Nations Volunteers in August 2004.
online publications
& products:
- Virtual
Volunteering Wiki
A compilation of resources regarding virtual volunteering, a
frequently updated list of news articles and blogs, and a history of
virtual volunteering.
- Virtual
Volunteering in Europe 2013
For much of 2013, I
researched and wrote about Internet-mediated volunteering (virtual
volunteering, online volunteering, microvolunteering, online
mentoring, etc.) in European Union (EU) countries. I've provide some
analysis from that project that either aren't in the paper I've
submitted, but I think they should be out in public for discussion,
or, that are in the paper, but I wanted to highlight them in
particular for discussion.
- The UNITeS, the United
Nations Information Technology Service, an initiative
launched by the UN Secretary General that promotes
volunteerism as fundamental to information and
communications technologies for development (ICT4D). Two
resources in particular were developed by me:
- Using Instant Messaging to Work With Volunteers:
Benefits and Suggestions
The advantages of using Instant Messaging (IM) with
volunteers, based on feedback from various online
discussion groups, from the staff experiences of the
United Nations Information Technology Service, and
various other resources. Here is the archived
version from November 2002, and here is the
updated version.
- Handheld
computer technologies in community
service/volunteering/advocacy
Examples of volunteers/citizens/grass roots advocates
using handheld computer / personal digital assistants
(PDAs) or phone devices as part of community service /
volunteering / advocacy, or examples that could be
applied to volunteer settings. Also included is a
section on Advocacy, and a listing of Online Software
Directories for Handhelds.
- Volunteers:
Essential to ICT projects in developing countries
Why the UNITeS initiative believed that volunteers are
an essential and fundamental element to the success of
information and communications technology (ICT) efforts
in underdeveloped communities.
- Assisting
Others As An Expert Volunteer
This article was part of the online Knowledge Base
hosted by UNITeS. It is an example of the kinds of
resources that were a part of the UNITeS Knowledge Base
to help volunteers applying ICT in the developing world,
and to help organizations who wanted to involve such
volunteers.
- UNITeS
Contributions to the UNESCO Multimedia Training Kit
The UNV staff managing the UNITeS initiative was invited
to prepare a module on volunteers in telecentres and
community media organizations for the UNESCO Multimedia
Training Kit (MMTK). I lead the creation of the module,
which includes a slide show presentation, exercises,
case studies and trainer notes.
- Sanchez Elementary
School Online Mentoring Program
Jayne designed this program, designed the web site, and
recruited, screened and trained the online volunteers who
participated in this program to mentor two classes at
Sanchez Elementary School in Austin, Texas, as part of the Virtual
Volunteering Project. This web site, sans mentor and
student information and interactive functionality, is
provided to help others, particularly schools, to develop
their own online mentoring programs.
- AmeriCorps for Community
Engagement and Education Program (ACEE)
VISTA School Volunteer Management Handbook
A resource guide from 1998 for VISTAs in charge of managing
school-based volunteers for Sanchez Elementary School in
Austin, Texas through the ACEE program, and a good model for
managing school-based volunteers anywhere.
videos:
Samples of my presentations and webinars (all on YouTube):
selected materials from my
web site & blog:
These are resources I wrote for my web site that I feel
most proud of and as a reflection of my professional abilities:
Preventing
Folklore, Rumors (or Rumours), Urban Myths & Organized
Misinformation Campaigns From Interfering with Development &
Aid/Relief Efforts & Government Initiatives
Folklore,
rumors and urban myths / legends often interfere with development aid
activities and government initiatives, including public health programs
- even bringing such to a grinding halt. They create ongoing
misunderstandings and mistrust, prevent people from seeking help,
encourage people to engage in unhealthy and even dangerous practices,
and have even lead to mobs of people attacking someone or others because
of something they heard from a friend of a friend of a friend. With
social media like Twitter and Facebook, as well as simple text messaging
among cell phones, spreading misinformation is easier than ever. Since
2004, I have been gathering and sharing both examples
of this phenomena,
and recommendations on preventing
folklore, rumors and urban myths from interfering with development and
aid/relief efforts and government initiatives.
I've updated this information with new information per the organized
misinformation campaigns targeting Ukraine and the elections in the USA.
Now, with fake news sites set up specifically to mislead people, as well
as crowdsourced efforts by professional online provocateurs and
automated troll bots pumping out thousands of comments, countering
misinformation efforts has to be a priority for aid and development
organizations, as well as government agencies.
Quick
Links
my
home page
my
consulting services & my
workshops & presentations
my
credentials & expertise
My
research projects
My book: The
Last Virtual Volunteering
Guidebook
contact me
or see
my schedule
Free Resources:
Community Outreach, With & Without Tech
Free Resources: Technology
Tips for Non-Techies
Free Resources: Web
Development, Maintenance, Marketing for non-Web designers
Free Resources: For
people & groups that want to volunteer
linking to
or from my web site
The
Coyote Helps Foundation
Jayne's Amazon Wishlist
me on
social media (follow me, like me, put me in a circle, subscribe to
my newsletter)
Disclaimer: No guarantee of accuracy or suitability is made by the
poster/distributor. This material is provided as is, with no expressed
or implied warranty.
Permission is granted to copy, present and/or distribute a limited
amount of material from my web site without charge if the
information is kept intact and without alteration, and is credited to:
Otherwise, please contact
me for permission to reprint, present or distribute these
materials (for instance, in a class or book or online event for which
you intend to charge).
The art work and material on this site
was created and is copyrighted 1996-2018
by Jayne Cravens, all rights reserved
(unless noted otherwise, or the art comes from a link to another web
site).