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The CommunityNet Aotearoa monthly newsletter.
"News and views on community networking throughout Aotearoa."
The Health and Disability NGO Working Group are seeking nominations for a number of positions. The Working Group's main task is to reflect key issues facing the entire health and disability NGO sector, and to work strategically on strengthening the sector's relationship with the Ministry of Health. Anyone from a registered agency can nominate a candidate for the Working Group. Nominations will be validated at the NGO-MoH Forum (19 October) and an election will be held by email during October. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/ngoworkinggroup.htm.
Evidence of alcohol-related harms, along with some preliminary ideas for reform of the law, is presented in "Alcohol in Our Lives", a public Issues Paper released by the Law Commission which reviews the rules relating to the sale and supply of liquor. The Commission invites members of the public to be part of the discussion. Hard-copy submissions can be sent to the Commission or you can take part in the Commission's new online discussion forum, called "Talk Law" at www.talklaw.co.nz/liquor . Submissions close on 30 October. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/liquorlaw.htm.
Māori Television is producing a 13-part series looking at Māori working in community organisations. It will be a great chance to not only acknowledge your volunteers, but put your organisation in the spotlight at the same time. The series will celebrate a different volunteer in each episode, giving the audience an insight into their work, their lives and the community they serve. It will profile interesting characters who work in a variety of organisations. If you know a volunteer who would be suitable for profiling in this series, email Meg Douglas at meg@scottieproductions.co.nz . www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/maorivolunteers.htm.
A great resource for Health and Social Service Professionals and the Waikato Community. Linkage Trust is re-launching its Information Consultancy service under the Service Navigation brand. Health and social service professionals are able to refer patients to this free confidential face to face service and self-referrals are also more than welcome. People can either make a specific appointment with a Service Navigator or walk-ins are accepted. The service is also available by phone 0800 WEBHEALTH (932 432) or online at http://www.webhealth.co.nz/waikato then select the 'Service Navigation' tab. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/servicenavigation.htm.
Volunteering Canterbury is delighted to announce that we will host an 'E-engage your community' conference on Friday 16 April 2010 at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology. The purpose of this is to introduce people from voluntary organisations to internet-based tools that can help them meet their mission. We plan a hands-on conference where people will have an opportunity to try new tools that are free or low-cost, and learn about web-related matters. If you use a web-based tool, e.g. Skype, Wikis, Picasa, Facebook, Google apps, and would be willing to share your experience, please contact VolCan manager Ruth Gardner (phone 03 366 2442, e-mail mgr@volcan.org.nz ). www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/eengage.htm.
The Rotorua District Council Community Safety Projects Fund is open for applications from local not-for-profit organisations. The fund is to support local projects that reduce / prevent crime, enhance positive perceptions of safety, or enhance an organisation to do the above. You can find more information and an application form at www.working4youth.co.nz under the "funding" tab. Applications close 4pm Friday 16 October. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/safetyprojectsfund.htm.
The Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector has publicly released a Cabinet paper entitled Government Commitment to Building Strong Community Relationships. This paper proposes a programme of actions to strengthen government engagement with citizens and communities. The programme of action was in response to the Good Intentions report by the Association of Non-Governmental Organisations of Aotearoa (ANGOA) and the From Talk to Action report by the Building Better Government Engagement reference group. Cabinet agreed that a national Community-Government Forum in November 2009 will discuss development of a Relationship Agreement to replace the 2001 Statement of Government Intentions for an Improved Community-Government Relationship. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/safetyprojectsfund.htm.
Skylight has launched an innovative new single edition youth support magazine, 'The Journey Through', which honestly and frankly tackles the very difficult issues teens and young people face. It's been written specifically for young people in New Zealand, and features many stories, words and photos, kiwi teens have contributed. The issues teenagers face are diverse and Skylight recognises how crucial it is that young people get support they can relate to, to help them get through the really rough times. 'The Journey Through' is a colourful, image-rich resource, that helps readers understand, process and manage their tough experiences. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/journeythru.htm.
ComVoices, an independent network of Tangata Whenua and Community and Voluntary Sector organisations, has applauded the Government's announcement today of a new funding model for service organisations receiving money from the Ministry of Social Development (MSD). Minister of Social Development and Employment, Hon Paula Bennett, said the new 'high-trust' funding model would fund organisations through a single contract, and let service organisations decide how their funding was best allocated. The high-trust funding model requires regular communication between Government and the Sector but only requires formal reporting once a year. The ComVoices group welcomed the new funding model's holistic approach, and while in its early, pilot, stage said it had great promise. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/hightrust.htm.
Requests for Proposals are being sought for community service providers interested in running the newly announced Break-Away School Holiday Programmes. The Break-Away School Holiday Programmes is designed to give young people from disadvantaged areas more opportunities. 30,000 young people will get the chance to attend a fun but structured holiday activity programme daily for one week of the school holidays. This $3 million programme ($1.5 million in the first year) provides 3,000 places per week for the 12 weeks of school holiday every year. The tender process will be managed by Family and Community Service and tenders close 16 October. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/breakaway.htm.
Te Ao Auahatanga Hauora Māori is a new fund set up to support Māori service providers to develop whānau ora initiatives that advance whānau ora and improve Māori health outcomes. Te Ao Auahatanga Hauora Māori is investing $20 million over 4 years! Eligible providers are able to apply for up to $200,000 per annum, for up to four years ($800,000 maximum) to design and implement proposed programmes and services. Applications are open now! Registration of Interest forms, the Fund Guidelines 2009 and other information is available on the website: http://www.moh.govt.nz/maoriinnovation . Registrations of Interest close on 23 October. www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/maorihealthinnovation.htm.
One of the key findings from a recently released OECD report (involving 30 countries) was that NZ spends considerably less on child welfare, particularly for younger disadvantaged children, compared with other member countries. According to the NZ country highlights page "material conditions for Kiwi kids are relatively poor". We also fare poorly on a number of health indicators such as youth suicide, immunisation rates and child mortality. On a more positive note Kiwi kids have high rates of educational achievement. NZ is urged to invest more on younger disadvantaged children. The General Secretary of the UN acknowledges that public budgets are under pressure given the recession but warns "any short term savings on spending on children's education and health would have major long term costs for society". www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/oecdchildren.htm.
If your charity is a deposit-taker you should be aware that new rules are coming in that could affect the way some charities are governed and managed. From September 2008, The Reserve Bank became the regulator of non-bank deposit takers in New Zealand. This means that all persons who meet the definition of "deposit-taker" will be regulated by the Bank and will be required to comply with specific prudential requirements set out by the Bank. Most charities won't be affected – because they do not take deposits as defined. Even for those that are caught, the Bank has the power to exempt entities from these obligations where they can be proven to be unduly onerous and burdensome. The Reserve Bank's full communication, including a definition of "deposit-taker" is available on an information sheet from the Charities Commission's website: http://www.charities.govt.nz/ . www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/deposittaker.htm.
The Enliven Befriending Service is looking for volunteers to help bring a little sunshine to people's lives. Their clients are over the age of 60, who want to remain living independently, with no family support in Auckland. Volunteers can be all types of people, befriending for all types of reasons, but what makes them the same is the willingness to be a constant smile in someone's life who really needs it. Enliven expects volunteers to give at least an hour a week (2 hours a fortnight) to a client, for a minimum of 6 months. If you are after a bit more information or are interested in giving a little care and attention to someone in need, please contact: tracy.kenyon@psn.org.nz . www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news/national/befriending.htm.
Latest community news, events, jobs and ads are online at:www.community.net.nz/communitycentre/news.
Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Charitable Trust provides support to Grandparents who are primary caregivers, and to grandchildren in difficult circumstances, and works to ensure fair treatment from the legal and child protection services in New Zealand, in order to stablise and normalise the life of the children involved. www.raisinggrandchildren.org.nz.
Not-for-profit organisation maintaining Polish culture, history and traditions, and supporting new migrants from Poland. poloniaauckland.co.nz.
Adage Business & Media Services offer a range of services to not-for-profit organisations and small-medium businesses. At Adage we understand the needs of not-for-profits and will work with you to ensure your message is heard. We offer discounted rates to not-for-profit groups, and will do pro bono work on a case-by-case basis. www.adagebusiness.co.nz.
A New Zealand start page with quick links to popular NZ-related websites. www.kiwihomepage.co.nz.
Working Well is New Zealand's premier mental health training programme for the workplace. Expert-led, we are innovators in the field of workplace training, working in ways that develop the capacity of all our partners - building powerful staff, strengthening businesses and increasing diversity within any organisation. www.mentalhealth.org.nz/page/31-Welcome.
Careerjet is a New Zealand employment search engine. In one simple search, Careerjet gives job seekers access to a large selection of jobs that are compiled from various internet sources, saving the trouble of having to visit each site individually. www.careerjet.co.nz.
TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It brings together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. TED is a global and growing community that believes passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. The website is a growing clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other. www.ted.com.
An online Community for Featherston, Wairarapa. A network to help build a better community in Featherston and keep residents up-to-date with what's going on around the town. featherston.ning.com.
The Taoist Tai Chi Society of New Zealand is a volunteer-run incorporated non-profit organisation dedicated to bringing the Taoist Tai Chi® internal arts of health to all who wish to benefit from them. The society has branches in Rotorua, Tauranga, Taupo, Matamata, Tokoroa, Te Puke, Wellington, Nelson and Queenstown and is being introduced to other centres throughout the country. www.taoist.org.nz.
WTG is a unity platform working to enable all Muslims in New Zealand to cooperate, progress and contribute socially and economically to New Zealand society. WTG works closely with individuals, community groups, organisations and mosques to provide services that are needed in the community. wtg.org.nz.
The Probasee Bengalee Association of New Zealand Inc is a cultural organisation primarily consisting of Bengalee-speaking members, with the primary objective of upholding Bengalee Art, culture, literature etc in New Zealand. www.probasee.co.nz.
Delta Community Support Trust runs a broad range of community services and engages in community development initiatives in Richmond and wider Christchurch. The focus of Delta's current activities are to empower people experiencing personal hardship, loneliness, intellectual and psychiatric disability, and to support vulnerable older persons. www.deltatrust.org.nz.
Agencies for Nutrition Action – Ngā Takawaenga Hāpai Kai Hauora (ANA), is an incorporated society working cooperatively with relevant sectors to help New Zealanders improve nutrition, increase physical activity and reduce obesity. The website has been created as a tool for people who work in promoting nutrition and physical activity in New Zealand. www.ana.org.nz.
shine* is a national organisation offering a free helpline, training and consultancy throughout New Zealand and is the country's largest single family violence prevention service with a focus on keeping people safe in their own home. Call free 0508 DVHELP (384 357). www.2shine.org.nz.
Tides is a registered charitable trust, offering community-based Rite of Passage outdoor events for girls becoming young women. Tides works with 13 – 16 year old young women to empower their transition through puberty and into adulthood. www.tides.net.nz.
Tracks is a registered Charitable Trust specialising in outdoor camps that are a Rite of Passage for boys becoming young men. These camps help the fundamental shift from boy to man, both emotionally and psychologically. They are also a whole lot of fun for all involved! www.tracks.net.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.
It's a good old-fashioned activist technique: clogging the phone lines. But when it's used on the Internet we can all suffer.
Picture this: your local radio station runs a competition where the 15th caller will win something good. Suddenly 1,000 people are all on the phone trying to win the prize. While a radio station may easily handle 1,000 phone calls in a day, having 1,000 people all trying to call at once jams the switchboard.
We see the same kinds of traffic jams at rush hour during the work week, for major sports events, and at the supermarket just before a long holiday weekend when the shops may be closed for few hours.
If a system that is designed to handle a large volume of traffic spread out over a period of time suddenly has to handle it all at the same time things usually just break down.
Sometimes this kind of 'traffic jam' happens on the Internet. It may just be a random event, where suddenly a website gets very popular after a news report, but sometimes, just like a protest march, it's deliberate.
There's a thing called a Distributed Denial Of Service attack, otherwise known as a 'DDOS'. The purpose of a DDOS attack is to bring a website or other Internet service to a standstill.
All you need to do, is to have thousands or hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of computers all try to visit the same website at the same time.
It's easy to do if you have direct control over those computers.
This is where organised crime, or organised activist groups, come in.
There are millions of people out there whose computers are infected with viruses and other malware. Those infected, or 'compromised', computers become part of a botnet.
A botnet is simply a whole lot of computers networked together, probably through the Internet, and under the control of one person. The person controlling the botnet is likely to be part of a criminal group, such as a Mafia.
Often these botnets are used for sending out spam, but sometimes they're used to attack certain targets.
So it was that recently some popular websites and services such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and various blogging systems were subjected to a DDOS attack. The DDOS attack brought those services to a standstill.
It seems that one blogger in the Republic of Georgia had made himself unpopular with certain Russians. The attackers' intent was to prevent him writing and speaking about the political situation.
By effectively clogging up his communication channels they were aiming to prevent him from airing his opinions.
As a side-effect, this attack caused outages and problems for all users of those systems — including you and me.
The hardest hit was microblogging site Twitter, which experienced an enormous system crash that blocked access for 45 million users worldwide for hours Thursday morning. Other sites, such as Facebook, were operational but experienced slowness and much longer load times. — Via: www.crn.com/security/219100483.
The hardest hit was microblogging site Twitter, which experienced an enormous system crash that blocked access for 45 million users worldwide for hours Thursday morning. Other sites, such as Facebook, were operational but experienced slowness and much longer load times.
It makes you think.
Still, I guess when Twitter and Facebook are 'down' we all have a bit more time on our hands…
For more information read Twitter, Facebook DDOS Aimed At Pro-Georgian Blogger: www.crn.com/security/219100483.
Provide a 'media kit' that anyone can use, including text and photos, and maybe even audio and video.
In the old days it was easy to get publicity: distribute leaflets; have supporters tell-a-friend; sweet-talk the news media into a story. News media meant radio and tv stations, newspapers and magazines.
The Internet has changed all that: your leaflets can go on your website or your Facebook page, your supporters can email their friends, or mention it on Twitter or Facebook or their blogs, and as for the news media…
TV, radio, newspapers and magazines are now just a tiny portion of the 'news media'.
If you think of the 'news media' as where regular folks go to find out what's happening, then the 'news media' is now millions of blogs and websites, audio and video podcasts.
It includes news aggregation sites such as Google News, video and photo aggregation sites such as YouTube and Flickr, and results from searches of Twitter, bookmark sites, blog comments and forums.
What's more, your supporters are no longer a tiny group of people who dedicate themselves to attending meetings or volunteering each week.
Your supporters can now include millions of people who have a passing interest in your cause. They include bloggers and those who tweet. They include those who will 'favorite' or rate a video or photo, or embed it in their blog, or simply share an URL with others.
The connections are worldwide. A tweet from someone in New Zealand can instantly reach their friend in Rome, and when they retweet it (pass it on) it can reach their friend in Dunedin moments later.
The real reason I'm writing this Tip is because I'm a blogger, and I'm frustrated.
Time after time I hear of a New Zealand community organisation doing something cool. I set out to blog about it.
When I write a blog post I also tweet about it. Others retweet some of my tweets.
I visit the organisation's website. I know that if I include a good photo or other image more people will read my blog post, but I find that all the images on the organisation's website are locked down with copyright.
As for information: there is nothing about the event, or very little on the website. That little is poorly worded and I'll have to take half an hour instead of 5 minutes to gather a good blog post together.
Now I'm gone. I don't have half an hour to spend on your organisation's behalf — I had 10 minutes and I've just used them up.
If you make it hard for me to write a good blog post or a good tweet about your event I just won't do it. I'll get back to writing Panui Tips or passing on information about other things.
You may be saving the 'lesser banded smaller coot' and I may think that's a wonderful cause, but give me some photos of the bird that I can use in my blog posts. Let me and my readers see what this little bird looks like, and where it lives.
Give me some concise paragraphs I can copy and paste. Don't make me wade through 800 words of waffle to pull out a few key points. I just won't do it.
And when I don't do it you've lost both me and my hundreds (or maybe thousands) of readers.
Here's what to do next time you're planning an event or action, or even just for your ongoing work.
Make bloggers your friend. Give them photos and topics or causes they can write about and they may well spread the word about what you're doing. They reach many people. People are the 'new' media.
In early November, Miraz is running a workshop called Blog, Tweet, KaPow) for participants at the Wellington Engage Your Community Conference
Actually, people don't read web pages; they glimpse them. This hands-on workshop teaches you how to connect with your audience via web pages, emails, Twitter and other 'web' media. Learn specific techniques to get more of your message across, more quickly and more effectively. This workshop is for everyone who writes emails, web pages, blog posts or documents to go 'on the website'.
Actually, people don't read web pages; they glimpse them.
This hands-on workshop teaches you how to connect with your audience via web pages, emails, Twitter and other 'web' media. Learn specific techniques to get more of your message across, more quickly and more effectively.
This workshop is for everyone who writes emails, web pages, blog posts or documents to go 'on the website'.
Panui tips contributed by Miraz Jordan, http://knowit.co.nz
Past Website tips are all available on CommunityNet Aotearoa.
In September 2009 there were 59,938 visits (August 60,989).
Last month, 96 new community items were published.
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There were 8,394 files downloaded (August: 9,731). The most popular file download in September was the Sample Board Policies section of the Governance and Management How-to Guide (565 downloads). In August this was also the Sample Board Policies section of the Governance and Management How-to Guide (896 downloads).
Find quarterly CommunityNet statistics at: www.community.net.nz/about/website/statistics.htm.
Remember: please forward the complete Panui to others who'll find it useful.
Nick Stanley, Web Content Writer.
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