The NonProfit Times - February 15, 2009 - (Page 6) TOP WEB SITES Continued from page 5 tion to keep them interested in the work conducted by the nonprofit. “When Interplast launched its blog in January 2005, it was one of the first international humanitarian organizations to have a blog,” said Sara Anderson, chief information officer at Interplast. “It was developed to give a deeper understanding to what we did in the field and to connect readers to our work as it was happening, to see photos and read the stories of medical volunteers, international partner surgeons and especially patients,” she said. While it primarily still serves that purpose to connect and to inform readers about our specific work in the field, it is also used to provide more timely updates about what is happening at Interplast, from the organization’s gala to recent news stories. “We hope to launch a new section on global health and key humanitarian issues, giving links and stories to provide a greater context and background for Interplast's work in the field,” she said. While the blog is well read and well regarded, the organization would like to improve its ability to be interactive, according to Anderson. The current blog rarely receives posted comments and would like to encourage more visitors to do so, she added. The choice to upload almost all of its photos on flickr.com with a Creative Commons license has greatly increased its visibility in the online world. Interplast receives thousands of hits on its photos and it has been another successful tool for communicating its story. Interplast’s compelling and emotional stories, photos and videos are updated regularly and maintenance on its site are done in-house -- for budget reasons and to have the flexibility to change its site whenever needed. The new design was outsourced but with the goal of being able to make changes easily in-house, Anderson added. Those changes will include adding more pictures and videos to make the site more compelling and reducing the amount of text to further improve navigation. The organization is also considering ways to create more interactive opportunities for people to stay involved online. The current and planned changes will be evaluated thanks to a grant provided by Google.“Google Analytics has become essential in us tracking the effectiveness of our Web site and our online efforts, which we hope will lead people to our Web site, Anderson explained. “As we launch calls to action on our social network sites, send out mailings or newsletters, have a story in the media, etc., we are able to see the ef- fectiveness of those efforts by monitoring the traffic to our site after a given call to action or shout out. Additionally, we are able to track what outside Web sites direct the most people to our Web site. As we track that information, it helps us decide where to focus our efforts.” THE OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES URL: www.playagainstallodds.com Main or micro: Microsite. Traffic: Over 2.9 million hits and 12 minutes 47 seconds is the average visit duration (U.S. statistics). Dollars raised online: The site is not used as a fundraising tool. Distinguishing features: An interactive game, available in nine languages, that allows users to explore issues facing refugees. Ross reveals: “A really fantastic way to explore this issue.” Imagine having to make decisions that might force you to flee your country to seek protection from persecution, war or a violation of human rights.The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has brought this reality to its microsite, Against All Odds, so that students can better understand the plight of the world’s more than two million refugees. Teachers’ materials with classroom exercises are provided for a more in-depth understanding of the issues.The organization has used the site to raise awareness and serve as a gateway to get young people interested in both the UNHCR and refugee matters. The Stockholm, Sweden, UNHCR regional office covers several countries and languages and received a donation from the Norwegian oil company Statoil, which made it possible to develop Against All Odds. The site was first designed for the Swedish language, followed by Norwegian, with the aim to promote integration by targeting young people. The organization needed to find a way to reach as many people as possible, in a way that would be as attractive, while taking into account the existing technology in schools, according to Kiki Rodriguez Norman, member of the external relations unit at UNHCR in Stockholm. Against All Odds was designed to streamline a refugee story so it was not country-specific, nor time-specific, but with a long shelf life. “We had to adapt the development of the game to the financial constraints we had,” explained Rodriguez Norman. “So, we had to choose text boxes instead of voiceover for instance -- new language versions would have been far too expensive otherwise and young students with hearing problems could not play it. We had to find a kind of balance/compromise between our two target groups: young students and teachers. We did not have the financial possibilities to produce a game which could compete with ‘normal computer games’ -- it would be far too expensive for us, with more advanced technical options.” Since UNHCR produced several language versions, it felt it was appropriate to create a microsite name for each language version, which also provided the game its own identity. Now users can find a microsite in each language and the branding is stronger than had the different countries been included on one respective Web site, Rodriguez Norman added. The backbone of the content is human rights and how refugees are forced to flee due to violations of those human rights. The site also includes a historical perspective of asylum and the act of providing protection to fellow humans. In each language version, UNHCR tried to include information of national and regional character regarding refugees. For instance, the Nordic language versions contain information about the refugee flows during World War II in the Nordic region. At the same time, there are chapters in the game where players can “step out” from being a refugee to learn about the differences between being an immigrant or a refugee, who cannot return to his/her home country for fear of persecution, or to illustrate how we all globally integrate each other’s cultures, traditions, habits, and inventions -- how people change, experience and influence each other by crossing cultural borders. “The facts exceed the fiction when people get to know and understand what people have gone through and what they have been exposed to [and] we believe people get to understand more in-depth what it is like to be a refugee and that it is not about ‘we and they,’” Rodriguez Norman said. “You can identify more easily with other people when you listen to their stories and experiences. Of course, this can be the case with good fiction as well. But we have the knowledge of so many life stories, so we need to tell them.” PLANET CANCER URL: www.planetcancer.org Main or micro: Main site. Traffic: 200,000 unique visitors in 2008 with an average on-site time of more than 11 minutes. Dollars raised online: Exceeded 2007 6 FEBRUARY 15, 2009 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.nptimes.com http://www.flickr.com http://www.playagainstallodds.com http://www.boxwoodtech.com http://www.planetcancer.org http://www.boxwoodtech.com http://www.nptimes.com
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