Disseminating Knowledge for Health on a Micro-Targeted Level
Submitted by K4Health on 9 December 2009 - 10:23pm.
As emerging information and communication technologies (ICTs) diffuse throughout the world, the transference of knowledge, ideas and perspectives has become more seamless, instant and affordable. On the same token, however, the ability to reach the right audiences amidst all the noise is becoming more difficult.
ICTs have democratized publishing, allowing organizations, large and small, to sidestep traditional media outlets and step onto their own digital soapboxes and broadcast their perspectives, knowledge and news in real-time. While empowering, the ease and affordability of publishing have also increased the amount of available content exponentially. Audiences are now inundated with volumes of information and messaging of varied quality, which can lead to information overload.
This presents challenges for content-rich organizations tasked not only to manage and organize knowledge, but also to disseminate it to the people who need and want it the most. It’s no longer effective to merely push out press releases or shoot out newsletters and hope that somebody is listening. To break through all the noise and be heard nowadays, organizations need to be strategic, and balance traditional communication approaches with emerging channels – pretty simple assertions, but something K4Health is taking very seriously.
Although K4Health is relatively young (we launched in October 2009), we’ve been looking beyond the usual suspects – including relevant listservs, email blasts to partners and in-country offices, and the occasional press release – to disseminate our content and have begun mining the Internet looking for communities and people who we believe will be interested in what we have to say and offer. After we identify relevant communities, we begin participating in the conversations, engaging and sharing our content in hopes to bring real value – a significant investment of time, but something that is teaching us the necessary skills to navigate the murky waters of social media and the real-time Web.
So far, our efforts have produced significant and interesting results. Yes, more people are visiting the portal, but those referred from our social media initiatives are staying two- to three-times longer and viewing many more pages, compared with those referred from email blasts, etc. We’re also making connections with other organizations we never thought possible, and it’s only been about three months.
We’re under no illusions of grandeur and understand that social media and, more generally, the Internet are not the be-all and end-all. As a global project focusing on family planning, reproductive health and other health topics, we need to balance the potential of digital technology with the real experiences on the ground and at the front lines. Although the strategies and tactics to promote and disseminate our products and services will differ based on the needs, infrastructure and desired communication channels, we're confident that the skills we learn today to engage and participate online will be invaluable tomorrow.
With that said, we are very excited about what, and who, we can find in the nooks and crannies of the Internet. If nothing else, we’ve been able to disseminate the knowledge we’ve made easy to find and use to those who want it most (at least online), and making some friends along the way.
(This post is cross-pollinated on www.k4health.org/blog)
Chris Rottler, Senior Communication Manager | K4Health
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Steve, Thank you for your
Steve,
Thank you for your very thoughtful comment. You raise interesting and important questions -- the same that we’re discussing quite a bit here at K4Health. Measuring the scope and reach of disseminated knowledge is not easy when you're working in low- and middle-income countries, and can only go as far as one is willing to collect data. The impact of knowledge sharing is also quite difficult and expensive to measure. With that said, though, we’re making an effort to monitor and evaluate all three, as well as the success of our initiatives. The method we’ll use for measurement is being developed and will most likely evolve over time, but continued M&E is a significant part of our project.
For us, success is based on our objectives that were established early on, and not based on the opinions of people in power, but from those on the front lines. We have conducted a global needs assessment, and are conducting extensive needs assessment activities in priority countries to better understand the health information needs of our target audiences. This data has helped us established objectives that are in line with the true needs on the ground and will no doubt evolve as we conduct more, as well as monitor and evaluate the reach and use of our products and services. Luckily, much of our audience is accessible to measure use and the efficacy of our programs; however, our goal is to create a cyclical flow of information between our global portal and in-country platforms. The latter will no doubt be harder to reach, which will make M&E more difficult.
Chris | crottler@jhuccp.org
Disseminating Knowledge for Health on a Micro-Targeted Level
Chris - You have identified some interesting ideas for organisations that are looking to disseminate knowledge which include balancing traditional communication approaches with emerging channels. The new technologies provide the opportunity for conversation and linkage of ideas and people that never existed with traditional unidirectional media. I note that people often enthusiastically embrace the opportunity to share their ideas and projects and this is a new frontier for organisations like K4Health-highlighting people who share stories of implementing know-how and technologies.
The really interesting question to ponder is what is the impact, scope and reach of the knowledge that is disseminated and how, apart from anecdotal evidence and the opinion of whomever is in a position of power, do we measure success?
steve@storytelling.co.za