Problem Statement

How can we make Advox less news-oriented and more action-oriented? Beyond writing, what more can we do to achieve our goals? Could we develop a team of GVers dedicated to designing and executing campaigns and other kinds of activism?

Desired Outcomes

Come up with a set of creative ideas to carry out the above — campaigns, research, creative activism.

Conclusions Reached

This discussion stemmed from the belief that we might need a more active approach to issues, that we need some sort of defined response to incidents and a set of actions that we can implement when certain things occur. However, to some degree Advox has already done most, if not all, of these things, which would probably mean 1) that we are in fact interested in doing them and that they fall within our scope and 2) that what we need is a more coordinated plan for action (a dedicated team, perhaps, or a clearer roadmap).

Next steps

• Creation of a mechanism of response to incidents (blogger arrests, evil legislation). We do respond to specific incidents, so this would probably be more about having a mechanism in place, sort of a protocol to follow so that we can respond more rapidly and more effectively. We should collaboratively design this mechanism and stablish roles or responsibilities for responding to incidents.
• Campaigning (non violent actions using humor, memes, caricatures; campaigns such as information requests). It has been pointed out that we all don't have the same skills for creating campaigns, so it would be very cool to have a group of skilled, experienced gvers to advise and help out with the creation of campaigns. Also designers, graphic artists, etcetera.
• Debates with the authors about the issues we address (as a way of driving reader engagement). This, also, is very similar to what is already being done in GV Face. Should we consider the possibility of also doing non-virtual events of the sort?
• Making tangible the digital: Building relationships with law schools, journalism schools and other institutions to get more people involved in campaigns, maybe through alliances with local ngos.

Submitted by: Afef Abrougui