OXFAM has recently launched its “Channel 16.” Thus far, it looks like a platform for OXFAM to aggregate information on a few specific emergency areas they work in (Afghanistan, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda) while offering limited means of the public (abroad and in the field) of getting involved via social media. What do you think?
Thus far, on Twitter, @gentlemandad observed that the site (and I concur, this jumped at me right away) only offers one number to SMS reports too. Whether you are tapping an international humanitarian audience, a general audience, or the people affected by conflict, I would think the site needs an SMS number per emergency country at minimum. From the same observer, apparently the IPadio contact numbers are not terribly useful if you are not based in Western Europe or the US. Once again, a good amount of people who might be interested in these OXFAM campaigns will be based outside this region and often active in or around these emergency zones.
Another observation I would make at first glance: the front of the website is looking primarily for involvement, but not engagement. For example, the first headline “Join the Call to Put Afghan People first” is a voice-petition. I find that my eyes skim over “calls to action” regularly now, but the moment someone starts asking the Twitter and otherwise audience about a specific issue seeking feedback, the ball really gets rolling. We’re moving progressively towards a conversation where the final product – in some cases – would be a (incredibly successful) petition. Getting people’s blood boiling and minds moving.
What do you think?
{ 4 comments }
Hi Siena,
Interesting feedback about ipadio’s numbers. As you might imagine, getting local numbers for people to call in areas of humanitarian crisis isn’t very easy – and getting the government of, say, President Bashir to cooperate in setting up a phoneline that will assist in reporting on his actions to the international community, isn’t going to be straightforward. Similarly, there are cost and technical considerations.
With the ipadio numbers we do have though, they will work if called internationally – ipadio has an 020 London number that’s just a normal phone number (as opposed to a special or premium rate number) that can be called from all around the world.
Hope this helps,
Thanks,
James O’Malley
James, I don’t believe that the UK would be the cheapest number to call from a disaster area. Whilst it might not be possible to get a number in the country where the disaster is occurring, it must be possible to get one in a neighbouring country.
You could at the very least use an INUM number and get access from 45 countries http://www.inum.net/what-is-inum/voice-reach/
Thanks James for this information.
I don’t like ‘about us’ tabs which don’t actually tell you who it is that is actually running the site.