With the latest official figures at 38,500 dead and 27,838 more missing, and Burma's junta tightening access to areas hit by Cyclone Nargis - it is vital that we collaborate on ways in which we can aid the survivors in Burma.
Only a few international relief organizations are now on the ground in Burma, and are under-staffed and under-resourced and are therefore unable to adequately deal with the overwhelming need there now. The BBC writes "Residents have told the BBC's Burmese service how private citizens have been trying to distribute water and supplies from their own cars - but soldiers have been confiscating the goods."
As it seems unlikely that relief organizations will be able to reach those in need, what resources do we have to aid these survivors in Burma? Are there creatives ways in which we can use technology to support those on the ground? For example, could we use Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, the Hub (for video advocacy), blogs?
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Myanmar: Voices through Tweats
Global Voices blogs about the use of Twitter to communicate the situation in Myanmar (Burma) to the rest of the world.
Twittering is getting popular among Myanmar community and blogosphere. Although many Myanmarnese are yet to make effective use of available tech gadgets and popular medium such as twitter, facebook and the like due to lack of information and resources, a few overseas bloggers and students are beginning to indulge in various communication mediums to express their voices. The so called micro blogging mechanism, Twitter, has become quite active among Myanmar users in reporting recent cyclone Nargis news. @mmblogs (MBS - Myanmar Blogs), Myanmar: Twittering the cyclone disaster,
Kristin Antin, New Tactics Online Community Builder
Using networking websites to encourage creative policies
I've always found websites like Facebook and Flickr amazing because of their ability to network people of all ages and nationalities in a matter of minutes. In this situation, however, it seems impossible to cut out the middlemen altogether and get in direct contact with survivors in Burma.
In Brian Vogt's blog at http://blog.psaonline.org/2008/05/12/time-for-creative-thinking-on-burma-relief/, he discusses the need for creative thinking in this situation on the part of the international community. These social networking sites could be useful in educating the masses in a short period of time about the situation in Burma, which in turn would hopefully encourage such policies mentioned in Vogt's blog. We've seen how causes can become almost fad-like in contemporary society, and what effects that has on policies (Save Darfur, ONE Campaign). Perhaps these sites can help push this disaster quickly into those ranks.
Leveraging Social Media for Micro-Fundraising
I believe that social networking tools are undervalued as a tactical resource. However, the failing point of social media is its reliance on infrastructure. As a general rule, it only functions if everything else is functioning. While Twitter, Flickr, and mobile communities such as Migg33 can be helpful in getting news out of a situation, they are not as helpful for bringing anything in. At least, not reliably.
Social media is much more useful for those on the outside of the situation, where they can be used to mobilize around a few strategic points of entrance. One example of this might be called micro-fundraising. (I'm not sure if that's actually a term. If not, is now!) I'm reminded of social media guru Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan), who has more than once leveraged his social network online to collect micro-donations for a specific cause. With free software such as Wordpress and free add-ons like Paypal's Donate button, one can set up a micro-fundraising campaign and be taking donations over the internet in less than an hour.
That would be micro-fundraising around personal leverage. Someone you know and trust is asking for your help. Another approach is micro-fundraising around a product. There are a number of print-on-demand retailers on the web who let you design the product and then will take care of everything from printing to shipping. Of course, they take most of the money too, but a few dollars profit come back to you this way. The benefit here is that there's a physical item out there proclaiming your message.
Going back to the idea of strategic points of entrance, that is, getting the resources we've collected back into the problem area, social media could be effectively used to gether resources (in this case in the form of donations) and funnel them to a particular source. Although not enough, there are organization there now with their feet on the ground. Using social media strategy to support these organizations, as outlined above, may have a more immediate impact than negotiating entrance or encouraging policy change. (Not that these should be ignored!)
In summary, social media could be used to effectively collect resources from a geographically diverse audience and funnel those resources to a handful or organizations who have established themselves within the problem area. Using available online tools, this could be accomplished for little or no direct cost.
What are your thoughts?
Cheers,
Matt
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More Peace. Less Global Warming.