AIDS, computers, and organizing: part I, toward a revolution in fundraising? A report from the Planetwork conference

AIDS Treatment News, June 27, 2003 by John S. James

Recently I attended Planetwork, a three-day conference in San Francisco on new ways of using computers and online technology to help people work together for a better future (1). Some new communication and organizing tools, many available now, could make a big difference in AIDS and health. I have a background in computers and was the only AIDS writer there, and will report to the community on some of this new work, and why it is important for us.

Over 300 people, some from as far as London, heard 100 presenters, many of them well-known leaders in the computer industry, in three parallel meeting tracks. The conference was supported by registration fees and by industry partnerships, mostly with small technology companies.

This article will look at software for extending existing social networks, as a way to help people around the world work together on common goals and projects -- even when some of them have no computer, email, or Web access.

Online Social Networks -- and Fundraising

A key theme of the conference was establishing trusted communication online, to assist existing networks of friends and colleagues who already work together and trust each other. A semi-official "white paper" for the conference (The Augmented Social Network: Building Identity and Trust into the Next Generation Internet) explored some of these ideas (2). "Trust" in this case refers to personal judgment, especially knowing someone and having confidence that you can recommend him or her to associates for a working relationship.

To show what augmented social networks could mean for AIDS, here is a fundraising scenario we expect to be happening within a few years. The software required either exists today or could easily be written. What will take time is for people to learn about this possibility and start using it together.

For this example we will take a hard problem -- raising money for local AIDS and health clinics and other grassroots projects in developing countries. But the same tools could work for many purposes.

It is well known that small amounts of money can save lives or otherwise make a big difference in poor countries (see the new documentary film, A Closer Walk, http://www.acloserwalk.org/). Today almost all money donated goes through governments, big nonprofits or churches, or other large organizations. For some projects this is the best or only way to proceed. But many people would be more willing to give directly through a personal connection. (We suspect that these two kinds of giving will be more synergistic than competitive -- that if donors had good ways to give directly they would become more personally involved, leading to more political will to support government, nonprofit, and church programs, rather than less.)

The problem today is that the people and personal networks who can donate are far away, both geographically and socially, from the people and personal networks where their money could do the most good. Most potential donors living in the U.S., for example, do not know anyone in any developing country -- especially in remote villages where many of the people live, and where a little money could often go farthest. And most donors today do not personally know who is really doing the most important work, but must rely on public relations and carefully crafted images, which they know very well are unreliable discouraging commitment and contributions. On the other side, those who have the first-hand knowledge usually have no good way to reach many donors and establish credibility.

How could computers help? Imagine that a few years in the future, you hear that $25 could save a life in poor areas through health care or famine relief (as is the case today). Perhaps you want to make a small contribution directly to an organization or person on the scene -- for example, a local group somewhere in Africa that is doing superb work but may not be part of any big charity or international organization. You want to contribute based on the personal recommendation of someone you trust. Usually there are people you trust -- but none of them are at the scene, so they cannot help you directly.

So instead of making dozens of phone calls to try to find a chain of recommendations that reaches from your personal network into villages in Africa, you go to a social-network Web site where basically anyone in the field (global MDS or health in this case) could publish a profile for themselves -- including a list of people or groups they recommend.

For example, since you are reading this newsletter, perhaps you trust me. I do not know who in poor countries could best use your contribution -- but I do know well-regarded doctors, activists, and others who work or volunteer there, whose judgment and recommendations I trust. Perhaps none of them know what is really happening on the ground in a particular area, but they are closer than you or I, and will know people closer still.

Health activists and professionals who work regularly in developing countries could create a profile of themselves on a social-network Web site for international AIDS, or international health. Their profile would include a list individuals and organizations that they recommend as doing good work -- and who could also put their own profiles on the site, where they list others they recommend. Those listed need not have access to computers, nor speak English or whatever language is used on the site, because their colleagues who want to recommend them and help raise funds could work with them to prepare and submit their profiles. These profiles might include specific projects that need doing, with a budget for each.