The 'Bloggies' - Christian Web and New Media awards, are now open for nominations. I've taken the liberty of nominating Phil Grooms blog for 'best use of new media in a Christian campaign'.
Of course, there's more to the SPCK/SSG campaign than Phil's blog, though that's very much the hub of it. Many of us who are involved have never met face to face, but through blogs, email, Facebook, online petitions, Google Groups, and even Twitter we've built a network of supporters from several countries, and in the last 2 weeks there has been a mini-avalanche of remarkable results from the pressure that the campaign has brought to bear:
- Durham Cathedral have served notice on the Brewers to leave the premises
- The Charity Commissioners have taken control of the assets of the Society of St. Stephen the Great
- as a result of which an out of court settlement with all the unfairly dismissed staff may be possible without all the wasted time and money of legal proceedings
- and Dave Walker is back to blogging about the SPCK story. Bet the Brewers wish now they'd never tried to shut him up in the first place, a tactic which backfired spectacularly.
I have a slight quibble about the Bloggies, in that anyone using new media well will, quite probably, be using more than one website to do it. The SPCK campaign - which effectively began as a recurring theme on Dave Walkers cartoon blog, has diversified into several 'new media' as it's evolved. Any campaign simply using one platform probably shouldn't get past first base!
If you'd like to nominate the SPCK/SSG campaign too, please do! Here's what I put in the 'additional information' box:
A campaign to scrutinise and hold to account the new owners of SPCK bookshops, which recently resulted in decisive action by both the Charity Commissioners and Durham Cathedral. The campaign provides a discussion space, as well as a focus for scrutiny and lobbying.
Use of new media includes
- several blogs, of which the named blog is the key one. With the censorship of Dave Walkers blog, it's been important to have several blogs reporting the story, so that 'divide and rule' through legal threats won't work.
- online petitions
- Facebook: there are two related groups on Facebook, which give the campaign an online mailing list of around 600 people, as well as a forum for spreading information.
- Google groups, as a forum for the leaders of the campaign to communicate and share information.
- more recently, Twitter.
Many of those involved in the campaign haven't met face to face, but new media has enabled us to network, co-ordinate our efforts, and spread information to a wide group of people.
What can I say, David, apart from thank you, to you and to everyone else who has been involved in this campaign? It's an honour to have the SPCK/SSG blog nominated, but as you say, it's been a group effort using the entire spectrum of new media opportunities.
ReplyDeleteIf there's a cash prize, there's gonna be a party for all involved.