lately i have been doing a lot of reading on web 2.0, and social networking sites, but not a lot of writing. i’ve been so busy with finishing the new website and organizing training sessions that it is hard to find time. the workshop that i did at defensa de niñas y niños internacional costa rica went awesome. i presented the new wordpress site, introducing the new functions, such as translation, the news blog, as well as the comments feature. now it is going to be so much easier for the office to update the website. i am following up my workshop with a series of trainings, one of which i have this morning!

ever since the workshop the folks in the office have been very enthusiastic about the website. darío, this sweet sarcastic columbian man who works with juvenile justice already made a comment on one of the articles. both glen and erik asked me individually on separate occasions for blog advice! looks like some new spanish tig blogs will be popping up this week. the coolest part of the workshop was talking more theoretically about how not-for-profits can utilize web 2.0 technology in their organizing work. for this part of the workshop i went to a few social networking sites and searched for not-for-profits. i used greenpeace as a main example, as they have both a myspace page, and a youtube account. i also showed them how tags work on flickr by doing a search for derechos humanos. it was amazing the amount of information we could find through these sites on human rights, social justice, and protecting the environment! while DNI doesn’t have a myspace, flickr, hi5, and facebook account, they are now aware of these technologies and interested in integrating them in the future. like i reminded them in the workshop, social networking sites may seem like a game, but really it is an excellent way to network with other youth (and increasingly adults) who are interested in collaborating to help their cause.