Tuesday 13 October 2009

VSO, Web 2.0 and the Social Media Revolution

I set up a Twitter account before I left for Asia as I thought this would help me keep in touch whilst I was away either in Asia or later with VSO. With the Chinese Great Firewall in operation it never really got off the ground. That is, until I got back.

It takes a couple of days to get your head round the point of it as it's often described as Facebook status updates. This is too simple and misses the point. For someone who doesn't work in IT, media or anything to do with the web, I love it and can see how it is essential for those that do. I won't explain it's uses further. Wiki and plenty of blogs have done that for me.

Most charities too now have Twitter IDs and are jumping on the Web 2.0 bandwagon to publicise themselves. The reason why I mention this here is I had a phone call from the VSO Comms department a couple of weeks ago asking if I'd be interested in being given a Flip camera and setting up my own You Tube channel as part of a pilot project with five volunteers. A self-confessed geek in training, I jumped at the chance. So as well as tweeting and blogging I'll now be vLogging. I've been tweeting away and google-ing how to subtitle video clips ever since so I can increase access to the clips. That is, afterall, my job as a Sign Language Interpreter.

Today I got the confirmation that I will be posted out a camera. Honestly, the excitement was more than that of a 5-year-old peeling back the Xmas present paper to reveal the latest marketed must-have. So my You Tube channel is now set up, I've already subscribed to DanandHelen in Zambia's Channel and eagerly await by my laptop to see who the other three volunteers with cameras are and where they are headed.

3-5 working days for delivery apparently. That would be about enough time to prepare for my first few clips.

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