Internet and Civil Society in China – CNbloggerCon 2008

Panel – NGO 2.0: Internet and the Growth of China’s Civil Society

Speaker: Lu Fei

The Use of Online Information Platform for NGO Relief Work During Wenchuan Earthquake

The reaction from NGOCN during Wenchuan earthquake:
May 12, start BBS about the earthquake
May 13 set up NGO alliance office in Chengdu for earthquake relief work
Nay 14 Kunming, Xiamen, Shenzhen sends relief supplies
Etc.

Observations:
- QQ groups, BBS, blogs are useful for relief work.
- A lot of netizens used the internet to find out about and to participate in relief work
- In one day we got 1000 volunteers
- NGOs can use the internet to find volunteers
- NGOs can use the internet to send out information about relief work, but still need more strength (development and resources) in this area
- Internet companies and the media increasingly use internet to dissemination and collect information for NGOs

Problems:
- Limited information. No one has accurate information during natural disaster relief work. Too many channels of communication, thus information becomes confusing.
- NGOs cooperate with many different industries, but NGOs do not carry much weight, have no influence over and no persuasive power over industries.
- NGO internal communication is inefficient. Problematic for information platform to drive meaningful communication.

Challenges:
What is the definition of the internet as a platform for information sharing? Is it merely for information dissemination? Should it edit and organise information? What tasks should it execute?

NGO lacks IT expertise. How can we encourage IT industry to participate in NGO and in civil society in general?

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Other successful cases of internet use facilitating NGO relief work:
Liubing xiong renwen zhuanxiang jijinhui 廖冰兄人文专项基 and xintuofeng xingdong 新驼峰行动

From xintuofeng xingdong:
Using sns and blogs during earthquake and snowstorm relief work was very effective.

Bloggers found out about us on the web then they passed on our information amongst themselves. Bloggers who are familiar with each other, trust each other. They disseminated our information very rapidly online. We received a lot of phone calls from people who wanted to donate to us. Thanks to web 2.0, we received tens of thousands of yuan in donations from people (bloggers) who have never met us in person, yet who came to trust us.

We also use the internet to continuously update what is needed on the frontlines and also to communicate with suppliers of relief goods.