Futuríveis
terça-feira, janeiro 04, 2005
Tecnologias transformam e potenciam socorro às vitimas do maremoto
Faced with searing images of suffering and grief in South Asia, Americans are finding an instantaneous way to reach out to tsunami victims: on their home computers.
As never before, people are turning to the Internet to donate money, the latest step in a revolution that has altered everything from shopping to presidential campaigns.
"This is like 1951, when television really took off,'' Paul Saffo, director of the Silicon Valley-based Institute for the Future, said yesterday. "We are in the middle of a fundamental shift from mass media to the personal media of computers and the Internet, and charitable giving is a logical progression.''
At Amazon.com alone, more than 53,000 people had donated more than $3 million by yesterday evening after the company made an urgent appeal on its home page. Catholic Relief Services was so overwhelmed with Web traffic that its site crashed. Online donations to the Red Cross outstripped traditional phone banks by more than 2 to 1.
...
The instant-response capabilities of the Internet, combined with a desire to reach out to bigger audiences, prompted a slew of companies to encourage donations on their own high-traffic Web sites.
The Internet search engine Google posted a link on its home page that offered "Ways to help with tsunami relief.'' Another click brought users to a screen with links to relief agencies ranging from Unicef and Oxfam to the Amazon.com home page.
On America Online's start page, subscribers yesterday found links to donate to disaster relief funds through Network for Good -- a Web-based nonprofit founded in 2001 by AOL, Cisco Systems and Yahoo.
"We're trying to put this in front of members in multiple ways to hopefully encourage donations," said Nicholas J. Graham, spokesman for AOL, which is donating $200,000 through the American Red Cross (news - web sites) and will also match the first $50,000 that AOL employees give.
A recent survey conducted by Network for Good said online charitable giving grew last year to approximately $2 billion.
For small relief agencies, the Internet has become a vital component in the drive to solicit funds. It is especially critical in disasters such as Sunday's earthquake and tsunami, when money and help are needed immediately.
...
Internet Sparks Outpouring of Instant Donations
Italian mobile phone users were reported to have donated more than 11 million euros (15 million dollars) for the victims of the Asian tsunamis through a text messaging arrangement that seemed to be setting a trend in other countries.
The Milan daily Corriere della Sera said Italians could contribute one euro to tsunami disaster relief every time they send a text message to a special number, thanks to a scheme sponsored by the country's four mobile phone companies and its main television channels.
Organisers of Germany's biggest New Year's Eve party, to be held Friday at the landmark Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, said party-goers could make donations to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF (news - web sites)) by sending a text message to a special number.
Every message featuring the word UNICEF sent to the number will raise 2.65 euros for emergency relief. Up to a million people are expected to attend the event.
In Spain, Telefonica moviles, mobile offshoot of Telefonica, announced it was inviting customers to send messages for 0.90 euros (1.20 dollars) to three non-governmental humanitarian organisations with the company donating the entire proceeds raised from the operation to the victims' fund.
A spokesman said Telefonica moviles had set the system in train on Wednesday and added it would stay in place until the end of January.
Portugal's biggest mobile phone company, TMN, said it had opened a special line for its five million subscribers to contribute one euro per text message throughout January and donate the money to the Red Cross or other charities serving the Asian victims.
...
Mobile phone text messagers raising millions for Asian tsunami victims
....
Some of the most vivid descriptions of the devastation in southern Asia are on the internet - in the form of web logs or blogs.
Bloggers have been offering snapshots of information from around the region and are also providing some useful information for those who want to help.
Indian writer Rohit Gupta edits a group blog called Dogs without Borders.
When he created it, the site was supposed to be a forum to discuss relations between India and Pakistan.
But in the wake of Sunday's tsunami, Mr Gupta and his fellow bloggers switched gears.
Text report
They wanted to blog the tsunami and its aftermath.
...
Others blogs are helping to spread information about relief efforts.
Dina Mehta is an Indian blogger who's helping with the newly created South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog. She says the blog is not meant to be filled with first person accounts.
"What we're doing is we're building a resource," she says.
"Anyone who says, OK, I want to come and do some work in India, volunteer in India, or in Sri Lanka or Malaysia, this is the sort of one-stop-shop that they can come to for all sorts of resources - emergency help lines, relief agencies, aid agencies, contacts for them etc."
Ms Mehta also says she wishes that governments in the region would realise the power of blogs.
...
Web logs aid disaster recovery
As never before, people are turning to the Internet to donate money, the latest step in a revolution that has altered everything from shopping to presidential campaigns.
"This is like 1951, when television really took off,'' Paul Saffo, director of the Silicon Valley-based Institute for the Future, said yesterday. "We are in the middle of a fundamental shift from mass media to the personal media of computers and the Internet, and charitable giving is a logical progression.''
At Amazon.com alone, more than 53,000 people had donated more than $3 million by yesterday evening after the company made an urgent appeal on its home page. Catholic Relief Services was so overwhelmed with Web traffic that its site crashed. Online donations to the Red Cross outstripped traditional phone banks by more than 2 to 1.
...
The instant-response capabilities of the Internet, combined with a desire to reach out to bigger audiences, prompted a slew of companies to encourage donations on their own high-traffic Web sites.
The Internet search engine Google posted a link on its home page that offered "Ways to help with tsunami relief.'' Another click brought users to a screen with links to relief agencies ranging from Unicef and Oxfam to the Amazon.com home page.
On America Online's start page, subscribers yesterday found links to donate to disaster relief funds through Network for Good -- a Web-based nonprofit founded in 2001 by AOL, Cisco Systems and Yahoo.
"We're trying to put this in front of members in multiple ways to hopefully encourage donations," said Nicholas J. Graham, spokesman for AOL, which is donating $200,000 through the American Red Cross (news - web sites) and will also match the first $50,000 that AOL employees give.
A recent survey conducted by Network for Good said online charitable giving grew last year to approximately $2 billion.
For small relief agencies, the Internet has become a vital component in the drive to solicit funds. It is especially critical in disasters such as Sunday's earthquake and tsunami, when money and help are needed immediately.
...
Internet Sparks Outpouring of Instant Donations
Italian mobile phone users were reported to have donated more than 11 million euros (15 million dollars) for the victims of the Asian tsunamis through a text messaging arrangement that seemed to be setting a trend in other countries.
The Milan daily Corriere della Sera said Italians could contribute one euro to tsunami disaster relief every time they send a text message to a special number, thanks to a scheme sponsored by the country's four mobile phone companies and its main television channels.
Organisers of Germany's biggest New Year's Eve party, to be held Friday at the landmark Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, said party-goers could make donations to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF (news - web sites)) by sending a text message to a special number.
Every message featuring the word UNICEF sent to the number will raise 2.65 euros for emergency relief. Up to a million people are expected to attend the event.
In Spain, Telefonica moviles, mobile offshoot of Telefonica, announced it was inviting customers to send messages for 0.90 euros (1.20 dollars) to three non-governmental humanitarian organisations with the company donating the entire proceeds raised from the operation to the victims' fund.
A spokesman said Telefonica moviles had set the system in train on Wednesday and added it would stay in place until the end of January.
Portugal's biggest mobile phone company, TMN, said it had opened a special line for its five million subscribers to contribute one euro per text message throughout January and donate the money to the Red Cross or other charities serving the Asian victims.
...
Mobile phone text messagers raising millions for Asian tsunami victims
....
Some of the most vivid descriptions of the devastation in southern Asia are on the internet - in the form of web logs or blogs.
Bloggers have been offering snapshots of information from around the region and are also providing some useful information for those who want to help.
Indian writer Rohit Gupta edits a group blog called Dogs without Borders.
When he created it, the site was supposed to be a forum to discuss relations between India and Pakistan.
But in the wake of Sunday's tsunami, Mr Gupta and his fellow bloggers switched gears.
Text report
They wanted to blog the tsunami and its aftermath.
...
Others blogs are helping to spread information about relief efforts.
Dina Mehta is an Indian blogger who's helping with the newly created South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog. She says the blog is not meant to be filled with first person accounts.
"What we're doing is we're building a resource," she says.
"Anyone who says, OK, I want to come and do some work in India, volunteer in India, or in Sri Lanka or Malaysia, this is the sort of one-stop-shop that they can come to for all sorts of resources - emergency help lines, relief agencies, aid agencies, contacts for them etc."
Ms Mehta also says she wishes that governments in the region would realise the power of blogs.
...
Web logs aid disaster recovery
posted by CMT, 3:13 da tarde
