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welcome In the Halifax region, and throughout Nova Scotia, the organizations of civil society are essential to our quality-of-life. They are often engaged in issues critical to our economy, and of broad public concern. Bluedoor is a collaborative effort by independent artists and communicators to help community-based organizations increase their capacity for effective communication: within their groups, with other organizations, and with the general public. Bluedoor offers a systematic approach to the use of media: tools, information, and common ground for direct connections with people who want to help. How to use Bluedoor. |
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communication for civil society revised 12 april 05 People and companies choose to visit, do business and settle in Nova Scotia, primarily based on the quality-of-life and support services they find here. That this province is still, overall, a safe and genuinely welcoming place, with a relatively unspoiled natural environment, are among our strengths in attracting immigration, investment and job creation. These quality-of-life factors, in combination with local skills to provide support services, are the foundation of our tourism industry, for example. Now, more than ever, that quality-of-life depends directly on the efforts of several thousand local voluntary associations, informal groups, service clubs, that provide essential public services throughout the province. These are the organizations of civil society: voluntary fire and rescue departments, literacy groups, recreation clubs, environmental protection organizations, home and community care for elders...the list goes on. Without the initiatives of civil society, through local action groups, the quality of all our lives would be instantly and greatly diminished. Communities would stagnate, affecting both commerce and government. Considering that many of these organizations are concerned with critical issues of broad public interest, and represent citizens taking an active part in public life, effective communication is critical to almost everything they do. It's also often the weakest link in their process. Community-based action groups--the engines of civil society--naturally tend to focus on the issues they're dealing with, or the businesses they've started. They run mainly on volunteer effort, local fundraising and government grants, using a lot of their resources just to keep things together, while trying to address real issues at the same time. For many organizations in this critical sector of our economic life, concern with communication only starts when they want to use the media. The result is that many action groups never gain the full power of the communication resources available to them. It's not that the technical resources don't exist. Over the years, Nova Scotians have taken leadership in developing excellent group development and communication resources. It's that to take best advantage of the tools--to work effectively in any medium--action groups need a practical systematic approach to the use of media, a communication strategy that follows from their values, their goal and their objectives. At the same time, artists and communicators, those who know the tools best, can use Bluedoor to make their knowledge and service more accessible to action groups. The case histories that illustrate the approach come from our experience as project managers and media workers in Nova Scotia, and from the experience of many others in the Atlantic region and around the world concerned to strengthen community-based action groups. Bluedoor is a local initiative, geographically defined by the local dial-up area of the Chebucto Community Net, an arc extending about 35km from the centre of Halifax, Nova Scotia to Hubbards on the South Shore, Jeddore on the Eastern Shore, Lantz to the north, Peggy's Cove to the south. We particularly acknowledge our debt to the work of Allan Savory and his colleagues in providing the framework for holistic management that we've adapted to the purposes of communication for civil society. And to the Chebucto Community Net, where so many of us have learned what the World Wide Web can mean, and how to use it to help build a sustainable society. Thanks to all. how to use bluedoor Typically, we meet a group that wants to get better results from their existing communication program, or to get the most value from a particular communication project. On a voluntary basis, a Bluedoor participant will help the group take stock of their objectives and resources for communication and quickly coach them through an understandable approach to developing their program or project that gets results from a very early stage, yet lays a good foundation for longer-term development. Since our approach and support materials are available on the web, the group can choose to proceed on its own from that point, using our materials in their own self-directed learning process. If required, Bluedoor participants can work for the organization on an individual voluntary or contract basis to help them creatively adapt the general approach to the organization's specific needs, situation and opportunities. In that process, we have sufficient technical expertise collectively to be able to communicate well with an organization's existing web and print managers, and other service providers. We can also provide or sub-contract for a range of support services, such as meeting planning and documentation, media production and distribution. Thank you very much for visiting our site. Feel free to get in touch with your comments or requests for assistance. Don Black, Editor  |
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