It is out!

It took long but now it is out! The new FAO in emergencies website has been published and is available at www.fao.org/emergencies/

I think this is a very good step ahead: complete reorganization, much more content, much more usability, social features and a new approach in the content creation with the site ready to host every new content produced in the “field”.

Have a look at all the main changes we made.

More is in preparation and you will see before summer.

World Press Photo 2013

Two-year-old Suhaib Hijazi and his older brother Muhammad were killed when their house was destroyed by an Israeli missile strike: this picture won the World Press Photo 2013.

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Processes not objectives

Great Aikido class last Monday. We had to do several techniques in a row. Each one was well known like Ikkio, Shiho nage, Irimi nage and Kote gaeshi.

But the big difference was in the fact that we had to do three of them in a row. This helped a lot in trying not to focus too much on the final result, the projection of uke, but more on the flowing of the techniques, on the process itself. We had to “feel” it in depth, in tasting each and every second and step of the process, to better the sensation of the contact itself.

I found it extremely positive because too many times we are so focused on the final result that we forget to enjoy the steps to get to it. So doing we loose too much. We loose most of what we are doing every day.

Staying with your uke during the long time necessary to do three techniques in a row gives you the possibility of having a long contact, perceive changes in uke’s attitudes and reactions, feel different kind of strangth at different times. As a final result you can have a better, deeper and longer sensation and gain more experience from what you are doing.

Our Sensei always repeats: “Stay there! Stay in touch with your uke and create a better contact: feel it as much as possible”. Does this work for aikido only or does it apply also to other aspects of our life? I think the second is the right answer.

Barza meeting in Arusha

At the end of September, I was invited by Farm Radio International (FRI) to Arusha, Tanzania, to join the first “barza” workshop. Barza, a swahili word which means “the place where people in a village meet under a tree to talk and sort out questions concerning the community”, is an online comunity dedicated to community radio broadcasters in Africa.

The meeting was organized by FRI to gather both the users, the community radio broadcasters, and the advisory group of the community one year after the birth of this experiment.

The calendar of the three days was pretty intense:

• Day 1 was dedicated to introduce people (most of us knew each other but never met before) and describe FRI’s activity in the past, their intention to set up the community and how people got involved in the experiment. I had a chance to introduce my idea, developed in 2003, when I dedicated the thesis of my Master in International Cooperation to the creation of an online Community for community Radio broadcasters. In the afternoon, people identified problems and difficulties in the current community both in terms of technical issues and offline collaboration and promotion.
• Day 2 was mainly devoted to identify future options for the community to expand in terms of members and of content. The exercise was very interesting: dozens of ideas came on the table and, as usual, Internet seemed to be the Holy Graal, the “thing” that can give you an answer to all your needs, the keyword to solve all the problems, the gateway for accessing everything, everytime, everywhere… It can be true but you have to create the conditions for this to happen, otherwise a failure is just behind the corner.
• Day 3 was dedicated to the advisory group to put order in the inputs received during the general meeting and start planning for the future. We had a franck and long conversation about our perceptions, what each one of us wants and can offer, what the problems for the future can be.

The main problem to solve now is to decide whether Barza is mainly oriented towards people OR content: barza was born as an online community which means to be devoted to create relationships among people. In addition, we live the social media era of the internet where online relationships are the KEY. BUT content is a crucial element in the life of a radio broadcaster and access to good and new content is considered the key by most of the members of barza. So the dilemma between content and people is still open.

Personally I don’t see a contrast between the two things. In my opinion, barza should be characterized as an online community of community radio broadcasters (a very clear group of people with a clear strong interest in common) and use the interaction among people to share and spread among members innovative content about different topics (mainly scripts about agriculture and nutrition but also health, education, human rights, gender issues, etc.).

Thanks FRI, Kevin, Nelly, Blythe and Bart, for the great occasion they offered me to learn more about these guys and their needs and perception of what an online community can do for them.

one billion people: not bad Mark!

Mark Zuckerberg just announced one billion users on facebook!
Does anyone else want to try to reach the same audience?

Next objective is…

Long long time, no see!

It has been long time ago I wrote my last post and now I hope to be back, able to write more about what I’m actually doing as manager of the online communication of FAO in emergencies.

The next big objective is the launch of the new website which is scheduled early next October. The Team has been working hardly on it both on the technical and the content side. Changes do not involve only technical aspects but mainly the way the Division is communicating about its activities, getting people from the field more and more involved in it.

We are working on three main directions:

• present a RESTYLED website,
• increase the VISIBILITY, and
• propose more CONTENT from the field

Interaction and dynamism will be key to get the users involved and interested in the content. Images will help posts in giving a clear description of what FAO is doing in the management of emergency situations all over the world. Contributions from the officers in the field will highlight the engagement of the organization in emergency and devolopment activities.

World Press Photo 2012

Fatima al-Qaws cradles her son Zayed (18), who is suffering from the effects of tear gas after participating in a street demonstration, in Sanaa, Yemen, on 15 October. This picture won the World Press Photo 2012.

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2011 in key facts

I’ll close this year with the summary of what 2011 has been according to Google Zeitgeist 2011:

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