Campaigns to End Violence against Women and Girls - Virtual ...

and South Asian audiences, it contains valuable general information
applicable to other audiences.
� The Indian organization Gram Vaani Community Media (2008) provides an
extensive on-line guide on community radio, with a particular focus on India. It
includes strategic and technical guidance, information on costs and a host of
useful links, which are also valid in other contexts.
� The World Association of Community Radios (AMARC) offers
comprehensive information on how to use audio, video and print media; how
to conduct evaluations; provides links to media networks in all regions; and a
collaboration space for members. The website is available in English, French
and Spanish.
o The AMARC site hosts the AMARC Women’s Network on a special page
which includes links to major international campaigns and events on
women’s rights.
o The colourful guide on Creating Participatory Radio with Children by
Community Media for Development Productions (South Africa, 2004)
explains how children can be involved in producing radio programmes
such as drama.
6.9 ELECTRONIC CAMPAIGNING
WHAT IS E-CAMPAIGNING?
“E-campaigning” designates the use of “new” communication technology, such as the
internet and mobile telephones, in campaigning. E-campaigning can be a quick, cheap
and effective way of contacting, informing and mobilizing large numbers of people in
contexts where electronic tools are easily accessible and widely used. World-wide data
show that average internet use tends to increase more rapidly than gross national
product (Rosling, H., TED Talk, 2006), making the internet a powerful potential motor for
social progress. Over the past decade, e-campaigning has become a major feature in
campaigns to end violence against women and girls.
E-campaigning involves using passive tools and active tools, often in a combination of
ways. Passive tools establish a one-way communication: users receive information
via e-mail or by consulting a web-site. In recent years, e-mailing, comment and posting
functions on websites and blogs, social networks (such as Facebook and Twitter) and
other new technologies enable two-way conversation, often in real time, turning the
internet into an active tool. Campaign supporters and anyone who finds a message – or
its design – appealing can relay it throughout their social networks by a few mouse
clicks, generating a cascade of communication. The term viral spread has been used to
designate such spontaneous, unregulated propagation of a message.
To make the most of e-campaigning, it is of key importance to design a deliberate
strategy based on an analysis of the target audiences and the ways in which they
use communication technology. E-campaigning can enhance the chances to reach the
campaign goal if effective techniques and tools are chosen to reach the audience. To
monitor progress, different technical solutions are available, such as counting and
tracking “hits” on web-sites; running short internet polls with audiences, gathering and
publishing their feed-back.
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Campaigns December 2011