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The CommunityNet Aotearoa monthly newsletter.
"News and views on community networking throughout Aotearoa."
In January 2008, the Lottery Grants Board established a new fund to further its aim of fostering the development and application of knowledge in and for New Zealand communities. The Lottery Community Sector Research Fund will consider applications from community organisations to carry out research or evaluation projects.
www.community.net.nz/hottopics/digital-strategy/news/research-fund.htm
The Lottery Community Facilities Fund Committee makes grants to organisations for projects to build or improve community facilities. Funding is provided for community facilities that support participation in community activities and social interaction, to foster cohesion and strengthen communities.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/facilities-fund.htm
Join yMedia as a Community Group Member - Winter 2008 registrations open now - don't miss out! Stay up-to-date with exciting emerging digital tools, engage with young people, and connect with new volunteers, staff and stakeholders.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/ymedia-memberships.htm
The Nelson region’s annual Funding Expo - a mecca for the region’s community groups - is scheduled for 16 May, with speakers and displays on topics ranging from getting your message out to why the job of funder is not as easy as it sounds. This is the third year the expo has been held, and it is now seen as a reliable one stop shop for community groups reliant on funding from government and other agencies and charities.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/fund-expo.htm
The consultation period on the Draft Digital Strategy 2.0 is being extended to 5.00pm Friday 23 May, 2008. “In developing their submissions, we appreciate that many organisations must seek input from their membership. To help facilitate this process the consultation period on the draft strategy has been extended two weeks,” said Brad Ward, Manager Digital Development.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/extension.htm
New Zealanders stood tall in New York with the presentation of the prestigious Roosevelt International Disability Award to the Governor-General at the United Nations on May 7. This award was won by the New Zealand Government in recognition of the progress made in advancing the participation of disabled people across New Zealand society.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/leadership.htm
Does your environmental or heritage project need funding? You or your group might be eligible for the Auckland Regional Council’s Environmental Initiatives Fund. The fund supports Aucklanders to be actively engaged in the enhancement and conservation of important local environments and heritage.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/eif.htm
Paul Prestidge is doing some research on the discourses of relationship between government and community organisations. This will look at and beyond the rhetoric - frequent themes coming from government in recent times of 'partnership' and 'collaboration' juxtaposed with a history of one-sided contractual arrangements and potential loss of charitable status for advocacy organizations.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/govt-community.htm
The New Zealand Carers’ Strategy and a five-year Action Plan have been released to begin addressing some of the issues that impact on the nearly 420,000 New Zealanders who assist friends and family members who need help with everyday living because of ill health, disability or old age.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/carers-strategy.htm
Youth Week 2008 aims to create a society that values young people and affirms their diversity. The week highlights the amazing things young people do all year. Young people are those aged 12-24. Youth Week's vision for New Zealand is: "A country where young people are vibrant and optimistic through being supported and encouraged to take up challenges".
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/youth-week.htm
This survey looked at central government’s funding of non-profit organisations (NPOs). It highlights that in 2005/06 the largest amounts of departmental payments were made to NPOs in the social services, education and health activity sectors.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/govt-funding.htm
Moriah College in Wellington has started a Holocaust Day button collection - we are trying to collect one button for every child who died in the holocaust. This means we need to collect 1.5 million buttons. That's a lot of buttons! The idea is to help the children visualise the enormity of the holocaust. Such big numbers are hard to comprehend, until you try to make it real.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/holocaust-buttons.htm
Nominations are now open for the Wellington Airport regional Community awards that recognise voluntary/not for profit groups working in the community. Awards are presented in the five council regions (Kapiti, Upper Hutt, Hutt City, Porirua and Wellington City) in the following categories: Heritage & Environment; Health & Wellbeing; Arts & Culture; Sport & Leisure; Education & Child/Youth Development.
www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/welly-airport-awards.htm
Latest community news, events, jobs and ads are online at:www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news.
SIDS New Zealand Incorporated is a national organisation established to provide services for families and communities who have had children die suddenly and/or unexpectedly of any cause including SIDS (Cot Death).
http://sids.org.nz
Vakaola is a Pan-Pacific community mental health support service operating two offices Lower Hutt and Porirua.
www.vakaola.org.nz
Online product & service rating directory for women. Helps women make smarter decisions about where to spend their time and money, and provides businesses with direct customer feedback.
www.womensphonebook.co.nz
The Aetherius Society is dedicated to the peace and enlightenment of mankind and our spiritual responsibility to Mother Earth.
www.aetherius.org.nz
Specialists in sponsorship and fundraising. Providing fundraising and sponsorship resources, training and advice to New Zealand communities and businesses since 1993.
www.foresee.co.nz
NiuFM broadcasts nationally offering a mix of cool music, diverse cultures, topical news, and information straight from the heart of the Pacific.
http://niufm.com
Kepa Antric Associates is a specialist health promotion, social marketing and community development agency working with local councils, social enterprises/non-government organisations and workplaces to improve health and wellbeing.
www.kepaantricassociates.co.nz
Practical resources for community groups. We are committed to supporting community groups in their fundraising and sponsorship efforts.
www.exult.co.nz
The Environmental Initiatives Fund (EIF) was established by the Auckland Regional Council (ARC) in 1999 to support individuals and groups to improve and care for the region’s natural, cultural and physical environments.
www.arc.govt.nz/environment/funding--awards/environmental-initiatives-fund-eif/environmental-initiatives-fund-eif_home.cfm
The SPACE programme is for (mainly) first-time parents with newborn babies. 2½-hour sessions run weekly at a Playcentre for 3-4 terms extending through the first year of the child's life.
www.space.org.nz
You'll find these and more links at:www.community.net.nz/links.
These Events are coming up in the next few weeks. Find details at: www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/events.
These Training events are coming up in the next few weeks. Find details at: www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/training.
I often go out and look at the stars. Sometimes I take a telescope or binoculars --- astronomy's a hobby. Every single time I spend more than a couple of minutes gazing at the night sky I see at least one satellite whizzing by: north to south, south to north, west to east, there's always a little dot somewhere speeding overhead.
Some of those hundreds of satellites, and other sources, contribute images to Google Earth
http://earth.google.com
If you've already downloaded and experimented with Google Earth you may have looked for your house or workplace, or checked up on the neighbourhood. Depending where you live you may see a highly detailed image, or one that doesn't allow you to zoom in very far.
For example, I can zoom in from an initial 11,000 Km viewpoint to about 150 metres above the Beehive in Wellington and still see details of the building. On the other hand, there's a whole chunk of the Hutt Valley missing: view it from any closer than 50 Km height and all you see is big, blocky pixels.
Google Earth offers a great deal more than views of your house from the air. Layers of information are available --- photos, movies, descriptions, roads, buildings, weather, news reports, and other special content.
First go to the View menu and show the Sidebar. Several panels appear on the left. At the bottom of the Sidebar is a Layers section. Open up the Gallery item and check the boxes beside Google News, New York Times and YouTube.
At the top of the Sidebar is a Search box. Try searching for 'cyclone nargis', 'myanmar or 'burma' for example. Google Earth takes you to Myanmar and displays numerous icons for YouTube and other content. Click an icon to watch a video inside Google Earth. A small 'newspaper' icon appears near places that are mentioned in Google News. Hover over any icon to see a News headline. Click the icon to see more details in a pop-up window. Details may include text, links, images.
If the icons are all piled up on top of one another zoom in to see them spread out.
Just reading about what's going on in the world doesn't always touch us very deeply --- photos and videos make a more lasting impression. Google Earth brings together rich media around various locations under the heading of Global Awareness as a way to explain issues and reach out to the public.
Open the Global Awareness subsection, under the Layers section of the Sidebar, and double click one of the items, for example, Jane Goodall's Gombe Chimpanzees or USHMM: Crisis in Darfur. Make sure you check the box beside the item to enable icon display. Google Earth goes to your chosen location and presents numerous icons. Click icons to view further information, including blog posts, images and other rich data that presents a coherent view of the topic you've chosen.
Often the content that is displayed provides further links to information available on the web.
Or perhaps check the ARKive: Endangered Species section under Global Awareness and the 'travel' to New Zealand. Read about the endangered Kokako, for example.
There's much more to Google Earth than spotting your own house from space. Explore the Layers section to find out about the world we live in.
Then open your web browser and visit both KML Gallery and Google Earth Outreach:
http://earth.google.com/gallery/index.html
http://earth.google.com/outreach/index.html
At the KML Gallery you can download tiny Keyhole Markup Language (KML) files that overlay graphical information on Google Earth, for example, a visual representation of world oil consumption or world population density.
Google Earth Outreach:
"Gives non-profits and public benefit organizations like yours the knowledge and resources you need to reach their minds and their hearts: See how other organizations have benefited from Google Earth Outreach, then learn how to create maps and virtual visits to your projects that get users engaged and passionate about your work."
Google Earth is an exciting, free piece of software. Use it for fun, entertainment, education and awareness. But keep in mind that it *requires* a broadband Internet connection.
The invitation arrived from a local community group: would I like to attend their next important event?
It looked gorgeous --- it had a frame, the logo, beautiful colours, a 'handwritten' script.
But it was really annoying, and not very useful. You see, this was just a picture of text, and you can't do much with pictures.
When similar text invitations arrive in my e-mail, the software notices the date and time and gives me a link to add the event to my calendar. Not this one: because it was a picture and not real text, my software didn't pick up the date or the time.
So I had to add the event to my calendar by hand. That's not such a big deal: just copy and paste. Except, oops! I can't copy the relevant information and paste it because it's a picture, not real text! I have to remember the details, switch to my calendar program and retype it all.
Hey guys! I'm busy - unless I'm very dedicated to attending the event you may lose me at this step. And if I mistype the date or time or venue, well, I won't be there…
I'm a blogger too and would love to pass on the information about the event to my readers. Usually I'd select the text and click a button in my toolbar to send it to my blog. Except, that's right, I can't! because it's a picture, not text. What a way to lose valuable word-of-mouth publicity.
OK, I added the event to my calendar by hand, I decided not to tell the rest of the world about it in my blog, and I tried to click the RSVP reply address. Except - you guessed it - I couldn't, because it was a picture, not a text link! And I couldn't copy and paste it - you know why. So again, I had to remember the correct address and compose a whole new email to say I wanted to attend. That's because the reply-to address was different from the address the email came from.
So here's an easy rule: if you want to annoy your supporters and keep them away from your events; if you want to throw away publicity from bloggers, then use images instead of real text in your emails and on your web pages.
Or, on the other hand, if you want to maximise potential then do whatever you can to *help* your supporters. Use text for text things, give people permission and tools to spread the word about your group and its events, supply quality photos bloggers can use. Make it *easy* and you'll have more success.
Panui tips contributed by Miraz Jordan, http://mactips.info/
Past Website tips are all available on CommunityNet Aotearoa.
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