Roberto Verzola
NGOs explore email
Some 53 representatives from 36 non-government organisations (NGOs) gathered recently in Manila, to discuss email and other forms of electronic networking.
Judging from the conference discussions, email among NGOs is a networking tool whose time has come. Asian non-government organisations (NGOs) are not only going on-line; they are also setting up their own email hosts for networking with other groups. In the next few months alone, training programs have been scheduled in Kuala Lumpur, Bombay and New Delhi for potential NGO email users.
The conference was held jointly by the South-east Asian Forum for Development Alternatives (SEAFDA) and Interdoc, a loose network exploring applications of new technologies for NGO communications, research and documentation. The participants came mostly from Asia, but also included a participant each from Australia, Latin America, North America and Europe. Women's groups were amply represented (Isis International, Asian Women's Human Rights Council, Womanhealth Philippines, and Center for Women's Resources), as were local alternative media organisations.
Electronic mail (email) is messages sent as a text file over the telephone line to an intermediate computer, where the receiving party can pick it up with their computer, also over a telephone line. The intermediate computer is called an email host, or simply a host.
Email, like fax, is reliant on a stable telecommunications infrastructure. However, it differs from fax in two important ways:
1) Email messages are sent and received as computer files and not as paper printouts. Because an email message is on disk, it is perfect for materials which have to be edited or somehow processed further on the computer. An incoming fax message would have to be retyped into the computer, if it were, say, a submission for a newsletter.
2) Email depends on the use of a host computer, which holds the electronic message until the receiver can pick it up. While the host adds an intermediate step, it also adds great flexibility. Aside from providing email service, the host can also provide other on-line services like computer conferences and electronic databases, which would be impossible in a fax-based
system.
While NGOs can opt to use commercial email services or larger Unix-based email hosts, resource persons in the conference expressed preference for small PC-based hosts that could be set up and maintained by the NGOs themselves. Of these small email systems, the most widely used is called Fidonet, a DOS-based email system that first gained ground among hackers and hobbyists. Fidonet turned out to be much more reliable and robust over noisy phone lines than the Unix-based system and much cheaper than commercial systems accessed via the packet-switching network.
Many NGOs are now considering Fidonet systems for an affordable and manageable introduction of email.
The participants nonetheless wanted Fidonet-based email hosts to be linked up with the bigger email networks such as the Association for Progressive Communications, Geonet and the biggest electronic network of all, the Internet.
The Manila conference adopted a Framework Plan, which set the general direction for Interdoc's work in the region. SEAFDA laid down its own plans for the sub-region, and Pactok, the Australian-based communications network for Asia Pacific NGOs, presented plans for extending its own South-east Asian and Pacific network.
Should more Asia-Pacific groups begin to communicate electronically in the next few months, then we will know that email for NGOs is indeed a networking tool whose time has come.
[Roberto Verzola is Interdoc coordinator, Asia-Pacific Region.]