DISTSS is interested in finding out what peoples knowledge and use of new technologies are, in a personal or work setting. To gather this information we have put together a Using New technologies Survey that we would appreciate if you could take the time to complete. We hope the responses from the survey will assist us to embed the use of technologies further in its day to day use.

The survey should take about 10 to 15 minutes. Could you please complete the survey by Monday 3 November 2008. The survey can be found at:
www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=fFWn86vVPhJIgsYskq8KZQ_3d_3d

If you have any questions about the survey please contact Linda Budd:
Tel: 03 8686 5622
Email: linda.budd@distss.org.au

Thank you for taking an active part in the further development of DISTSS.

The aim of many organisations is to build communities so as to share ideas and information, collaborate, raise money etc. New technologies like facebook and LinkedIn are ways in which networks can be built online and organisations can connect with people with a common interest in mind.

Technologies such as Facebook has been a tool used extensively in a personal way but is increasingly being used in the not for profit sector particularly to extend their community base.

A lot has been written about the benefits of not for profits engaging in social networking. Some interesting reading that I have come across is listed below.

• Top 10 Social Networking Sites
• Beth Kanter’s Blog on Social Media
• We are Media – Social Networking for Action and Fundraising
• This is a great video by Lee LeFever explaining Social Networking
  

We have not marketed our facebook account extensively or setup a LinkedIn account. DISTSS will be changing its name in December and will then set up and market these social networking tools.

DISTSS took the step about 8 months ago to invest in some online conferencing software called Elluminate. Some of the reasons for this was to:

• try to look at new ways of doing things
• improve the way we connect with the sector
• make our work more appealing to Gen Y

What is Elluminate?

Elluminate is online conference software which allows people to connect in real time through the internet. Elluminate allows you to:

• view PowerPoint presentations
• use icons to make gestures like raising your hand, laughing or agreeing
• use text chat to ask questions, make comments or answer questions
• use headset with microphone to  speak using VOIP technology
• use a pen and symbols to draw on a whiteboard
• use polls to gain feedback from participants
  

How we have used Elluminate?

We have used Elluminate to run a number of workshop, advisory group meetings, focus groups and community of practices using Elluminate. Some of these have been:

• Focus group looking at: The Review of the Community Services Training Package
• Ready4work Resource Advisory Group: Meetings of the advisory group to look at the update of the Ready4work
• Recruitment and Retention Community of Practice: This group met a number of times using Elluminate.
• Workshop – Recruitment and Retention Online Forum – Practical Techniques for Assessing Potential Employees – Dr Ken Byrnes

The most successful forum that we run through the Recruitment and Retention Community of Practice was the “Recruitment and Retention Online Forum – featuring Dr Amy Hewitt and John Sauer from the University of Minnesota”. This was very exciting having technology that enabled us to utilise an expert from the USA to share information with key stakeholders within the disability sector.

Our experience in using Elluminate

People who have attended any of the meetings, forums or workshops etc that we have run using Elluminate have been very pleased. A particular response from people is the extent of that people interact in the Elluminate sessions.

The communication, whether it be through talking or texting has allowed the session to be very relevant to the participants in the Elluminate room. The use of text particularly allows the facilitator to get instant feedback from the group allowing a change in directions of presentation if needed.

The use of Elluminate to run informal meetings has also been very successful. The Ready4work advisory group was responsible to provide feedback on the update of the Ready4work Induction resource. Using Elluminate allowed us to get experts from rural regions to participate. The people from the rural regions probably would not have participated if they had to travel to attend these meetings.

Problems in using Elluminate

Their has been hesitation and reluctance from some people to attend an Elluminate session. Some of the reasons is people not having a real grasp of what Elluminate can do and being a little afraid to take the plunge and give it a go. We have managed to convince some people to come on board and but others it has not been possible. those that we have convinced to come along have been pleasantly surprised at the ease of use of the software and the exte4nt of participation that occurs.

Other issues around using Elluminate is due to some workplaces not being able to overcome the firewall problems to allow them to participate. these have generally been large organisations that don’t have direct contact with their IT departments.

Have a look at some of our sessions

• Recruitment and Retention Online Forum - featuring Dr Amy Hewitt and John Sauer- Elluminate Recording
• Recruitment and Retention Online Forum Practical Techniques for Assessing Potential Employees – Elluminate Recording

More Information

• Elluminate Website – www.elluminate.com/

An interesting article was published in The Age on Monday 25 August – “Technology saves church that didn’t have a prayer”

The article tells the story of a small rural town where the church did not have a minister so they turned to new technologies to overcome the problem. They used a direct internet link with a large city church and a shared morning worship service where they transmitted its 11am family service onto a large screen in Beeac in an experiment that has sparked the interest and hopes of many country churches.

The article can be found at:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/technology-saves-church-that-didnt-have-a-prayer-20080824-41f2.html

This is an example of how technology has been used in a traditional settings. This then leads to us to think about how technology could be similarly used in the disability sector to connect people either within workplaces, between workplaces, communities etc. Looking at the workplace, where connecting with staff is often problematic particularly with the increased casualisation of staff and more and more work happening in peoples homes, technologies could be used in a variety of ways. For example using technologies such as Skype, Elluminate, mobile technology, discussion forums, face book etc. to

• to conduct staff meetings with
• staff supervision
• staff debriefing
• to allow staff to network with each other

DISTSS is going to explore these ideas further.

DISTSS has set up a group on facebook. It is interested in seeing how this social software tool can be used to connect with people with an interest in learning and development, the disability sector and the broad community.

As the DISTSS facebook has just started the number of members are low and with some marketing hopefully this will increase.

Go to facebook.com/group.php?gid=29006920873 to join the DISTSS facebook.

Beth Kanter’s website and blog has been extremely useful in getting practical information about using social software for not for profits. Beth’s blog is at: http://beth.typepad.com/

DISTSS’s leading learning and development in the disability workforce to optimise outcomes for people with disability.

DISTSS has a keen interest in trying and using different technologies to enhance how it does its work and to see how it could be used more broadly in the sector. These new technologies can be referred to as social media, social software, web 2.0 technologies, etc and include things like:

• blogs
• online conferencing
• chat
• photo sharing
• video sharing
• wikis
• twitter
• virtual world
• podcasts
• message boards
• social networking

The development of such technologies has seen a fundamental shift in the way many people communicate. DISTSS sees these new technologies as great opportunities to connect and collaborate with current and new audiences and recognises the importance to get on board, try them and see what happens.

What we have done:

• tinkered, tinkered and tinkered
• used Elluminate to run online forums and meetings
• Set up discussion forums on it website
• Uploaded videos on Youtube
• set up DISTSS Group on facebook

What we will be doing

• seeing what works
• trying to increase the use of specific technologies in our day to day work
• looking to see how the use of technologies can be use within the disability sector.

This blog will look at our experiences and thought on using technologies in our workplace.