[Next Page] [Table of Contents]
Conference
announcements
Conference papers and
reports
Lists of organizations
and literature
Materials from
professional/ academic sources
Research or data
Supporting
organizations - national
Supporting
organizations - local
Discussion
Organizations should enhance their site by clear links to other locations with material that supports their work. An organization may also take responsiblity to develop some of this material for other organizations to use.
Events important to staff and others can be announced online. Short announcements of conferences can be supplemented by pages describing the conference in detail. National conferences can be referenced from local agency pages.
Material may be made available for review by conference participants before a conference begins.
When a conference has concluded, the presentations, workshop summaries and other material can be put online. This extends the value of the conference to participants and those unable to attend. It reduces the amount of paper generated when presenters pass out material. It creates a less formal but effective means of short term publishing - making important material public more quickly.
During panels, discussion groups or other informal sections of a conference, a note taker/ reporter could be designated.
Most presentations are likely to have been prepared on a word processor. It is simply a matter of adapting the material for the online format. This usually involves creating a text only file, adding paragraph breaks and adding a few headline features. It is possible to scan graphics and other material as well. Ideally, a paper could be enhanced with hypertext references to other material online. Or a presenter could also submit detailed text or reports to be available online for review after a presentation.
An organizational home page should be generous in its cross reference to others. There may be other organizations also relevant to a reader. Organizations may split the responsibility for educational and other material by cross referencing each other's sites.
Even when organizations are not online, a list of other organizational resources may be useful. This helps to put the programs offered in perspective.
Literature that may be important, but not available or appropriately put online may be listed, evaluated and described for readers. An organization may provide an on-site library or reference other sources for print materials.
University and other centers archive the results of extensive research. Perhaps more important for community organizations is educational material based upon research but designed to support applied work. Some material may be used for staff development. Other material may discuss alternative models which inform policy options.
But for organizations working with clients over a period of time, education of the consumer may be the most useful. A broad selection of material may be made available in a convenient, easy to access manner. This should begin to reduce the quantity of materials stuffed in file drawers and arrayed on literature racks. It ensures that people get the material they can use in a timely fashion.
(Copyright and other issues have been previously discussed as a part of program support.)
Extensive use of educational material can also raise the cost of Internet for the sponsoring organization. Although some storage space may be bundled within Internet access fees, there would be additional costs for substantial hard disk space on a "server" computer. This is less of an issue when the educational material serves a meaningful purpose for the organization. Duplication and handling costs for printed material may be a more substantial cost for organizations.
The latest insight from research, surveys or other analysis can be made rapidly available. Often studies from other cities are germane to local efforts. Research findings can dispel myths or misunderstandings about a problem and can highlight new insights from prototype programs.
The first nonprofit agencies to come online have been nationally based associations that support local efforts through organizational support, training and advocacy. Some of these organizations are also important in the governance of local affiliate programs.
These organizations may even take on a clearinghouse function - identifying all resources available on a specific subject. They may serve as key locations for local professionals to raise questions and share insights with professionals in other cities. The organization may maintain a list of local organizations around the world doing similar work - encouraging additional communication.
A local organization should include such resources on a "links to the world" page for those interested in additional information.
In many communities, local training and technical assistance organizations support the work of individual service organizations through coalition support, staff development, consulting services or advocacy. Online material prepared by these organizations can be important resources to staff and leadership of community programs.
Programs offered by these organizations may be of interest to many in the nonprofit community and marketed through Internet. Some support services may also be delivered online.