A Wealth of Possibilities

The Internet is an interactive network that allows people to receive and send information. These capabilities have resulted in a range of applications, and you will want to share these as you build awareness of the Internet with others.

Communication

E-mail, or electronic mail, is the most common use of the Internet. Your organization—or each of the people who work there—can have a unique e-mail address that allows people to send and receive messages from others. You can save on long-distance phone and fax charges and not worry about the time differences and busy schedules that sometimes hinder communicating with others.

In addition, people can subscribe to e-mail discussion groups, in which they exchange information with dozens or thousands of people with similar needs.

Publishing

If your organization publishes newsletters, brochures, special reports, or other printed documents, you can publish them on the Internet—with all their graphics or just the text. You can reach a potentially unlimited audience, without having to pay for postage and printing costs, update addresses, or do time-consuming mailings. Internet publishing does not substitute for traditional paper publishing, but it can expand your audience at a very low marginal cost.



Examples of creative uses of the Internet:

The Centre for African Family Studies Web site has an online catalog of its training courses. It also has summaries of research reports and an easy way to e-mail the Kenya-based NGO for full texts.

The Uganda Coffee Federation became a savvy Internet user within one year. It began with e-mail, then a Web site. A few months later, it hosted a coffee-tasting event in Kampala and Washington, D.C. via the Internet.

Research

Various tools are available to help people do research on the Internet. The amount of such information is astounding. To sort through it all and select what is potentially most relevant, powerful "search engines" have been developed that automatically search millions of Web sites when a person types in a keyword or phrase.

Fundraising and Marketing

Many organizations use the Internet to research funding opportunities, requests for proposals, and other means of raising money. Others have what is called a "presence" on the Web—a site that presents general information in an attractive format—to supplement their brochures and other marketing materials.

Teaching and Training

Schools, NGOs, and others are now using the Internt to expand their distance learning programs. Some offer formal courses with mandatory assignments that offer academic credits; others are less formal. A few examples include classes for health workers on how to process, submit, and access health statistics; advanced training for teachers on the latest pedagogical research; and online "agricultural extension" for farmers.

Commerce

More and more businesses and organizations are selling products and conducting other transactions over the Internet. They can post photos or drawings of their products, answer questions, and take orders when a customer supplies his or her credit card information. Although the technology is sophisticated (particularly to ensure that financial transactions are secure), companies are turning to the Internet as a way to substitute for or supplement their more traditional means of selling.

If you do not have access to the Web, you can still access lots of information and connect with people with similar interests. For example, there are hundreds of thousands of online discussion groups on every possible topic, as well as text-only sites with many organizations' resources. For information on some of these text-based sites, send an e-mail to leland.resources@rrs.cdie.org.


post by santan...29th...july......