I’ve been kind of thinking of doing this for some time.
But I want to do a VSO blog. In short the whole point will be that I actually write very little at all.
I’ll set up RSS searches to dig out news of interest. I’ll catalogue as many VSO blogs as I can find and highlight the best bits. I’ll, of course, set up a Flickr group and provide links to the already established Facebook group.
I’ll take emails with questions and open them up to comments - the aim being to reassure potential volunteers and share expertise among current vols. But I also want to inspire too by linking some of the more emotional posts from around the world. I want it to make people want to sign up.
The rest, I am hoping, wil evolve naturally.
The aim is, if it works, and they like it - I can eventually hand it over to VSO. But I believe whether official or unofficial it can really help them - and dovetail well with what they already do. In the meantime it will be clearly marked “unofficial”.
Any suggestions welcome - plus offers of help too. I’d also like to involve some other past VSO volunteers in this project.
9 comments
Comments feed for this article
April 5, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Will
Please go for it…
I went to the recent 50th birthday bash at the Festival Hall in London, it was a hugely inspiring day with some excellent and very moving speakers. The pics of the event on the site don’t really capture it properly, there was about 800 people there, description of the event here: http://50th.vso.org.uk/whatson/london.asp#0
I’ve never done VSO but have come close in the past, it still sits in the back of my mind as a possible future option. I’m also well aware that not every placement is problem free, hopefully a selection of blogs would present a balanced picture of the true volunteer experience. Both the joy and pain felt during the two years given over to this great cause.
I always thought your KOTO blog was about the best ongoing PR story VSO could wish for, including all those great photo’s. But they didn’t seem to harness it (as far as I know anyway).
Will.
April 7, 2008 at 8:27 am
Tim Little
It sounds like a great idea. I read your “Our man in Hanoi” blog (amongst other VSO blogs) before I went out and found them useful.
April 7, 2008 at 12:42 pm
ourmanwhere
Will, Tim
Thanks - I posted the same quetion as to whether it was a good idea on the Facebook group. I was told to “hold” because VSO is doing their own thing soon. Unfortunately that has been the message for a couple of years now - so I am not sure what to believe.
Certainly their “moodle” thing that has recently been launched I can’t fathom at all. I can’t work out if there is no information and little participating or if I am just reading it entirely wrong. Either way - there seems to be no thoughts on how to actively engaged VSO blogs and bloggers to share info.
As regards Our Man in Hanoi - whenever VSO have asked for info I have offered them anything they wanted to cherry pick from the blog - and they haven’t followed it up. The same goes for pics. In Hanoi we were always being asked for potential publicity pics but no one seemed able to get their head around flickr.
I believe a decent blog that is the hub of a wider social media plan could help everyone - but nothing yet put in place by VSO suggests they think the same.
April 7, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Tim Little
To be honest I’m happier blogging outside of VSO’s direct influence, so deliberately chose to avoid their blog hosting. I feel a bit freer to say what I want (within reason).
I had a look at Moodle a while back but couldn’t work it out either.
April 7, 2008 at 3:41 pm
ourmanwhere
I’ll have to give it some thought - the last thing I want to do is upset VSO. In fact - I’d rather like to do the VSO thing again one day.
The ideal scenario is I set it up - it works and I hand it over to them.
I just get the impression that they don’t really understand blogging. They’ve obviously paid a lot of money to get forums and moodles and all that up and running and they just don’t do what they should.
You don’t need to upload all that info - you just need to create connections between people by giving them the tools to do it.
Even better - VSO can pay me to do it - and I’ll work from some lovely tropical island where my paypacket goes a long long way.
April 8, 2008 at 9:54 am
minxlj
I think Tim has a good point that writing outside of their influence allows you to be free with the writing - potential volunteers NEED to know the good AND bad points of what they are about to get into, and I know at times the VSO can gloss over the bad points somewhat.
I don’t think the VSO realise just how powerful blogging is these days, and the fact that the first thing potential volunteers (like me) are going to do is search the internet. Most of the info I found was from volunteer or ex-volunteer blogs, and it was far more insightful than what the VSO sent me. I know they don’t have the budget for marketing themselves aggressively (although I have seen a few print ads and banners lately) so they should grab this opportunity with both hands.
April 8, 2008 at 10:44 am
ourmanwhere
minxlj - agreed. When I was getting ready to go out it was still in the early days bloggingwise and there was nothing out there.
But you’re right - what I wanted to know was what was my life going to be like. The money, for examples, I just couldn’t work out. Would I have enough to live on, and if I did, what standard of living would it be.
I honestly presumed when I first signed up to VSO that I’d be living in a mud hut somewhere. The reality (in my case at least) was very different.
Every VSO blogger that I have read has also struggled with our comparative wealth and the poorness of the people they deal with. How do you get your head around this. It helps knowing that you’re not going mad - everyone deals with it.
April 25, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Jonny Platt
Hey steve,
I was thinking of doing something similar while sat at the RV weekend. I’ve got a fair bit of experience of doing aggregation and location based stuff with drupal, if you fancy a bit of collaboration drop me a line.
Cheers,
Jonny (15 may)
April 25, 2008 at 1:21 pm
ourmanwhere
Jonny - very good to hear from you. Collaboration sounds very cool.
Will drop you a line - I am just taking a Friday flyer and heading to Amsterdam for the weekend.
I’ll send you an email outling my plans.