Social Leadership and the Internet

Posted on | December 13, 2007 | Comments Off on Social Leadership and the Internet

It comes in all shapes and sizes

By Mike Magee

Connectivity. That’s the power of the Internet – to bring people and information together, ignoring geographic boundaries, and organizing a response fueled by mutual interest and social capital. At Health Commentary, we’re advancing health populism and self-determination, while simultaneously promoting environmental health and unique early childhood interventions that help economically disadvantaged moms and newborn babies while creating more empathetic physicians. With virtual platforms, passion drives innovation and you can do two things at once.

Here are three sites I recently reviewed that reflect passion, diversity and true public service. Have a look:

1. CodeBlueNow!

CodeBlueNow! is a national, nonpartisan grassroots, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to giving the public a voice in shaping a new health care system. It was formed in October 2003 from the ideas emerging from a national contest to Build an American Health System and is actively working to build consensus on key principles and core elements for a new system. As they put it: ” From candidates to commissions, everyone is leading with solutions. But who’s asking you what you need and want? That is where CodeBlueNow comes in—our mission is to let the voices of the American people be heard!”

2.National Alliance for Caregiving

Established in 1996, The National Alliance for Caregiving is a non-profit coalition of national organizations focusing on issues of family caregiving. The Alliance was created to conduct research, do policy analysis, develop national programs and increase public awareness of family caregiving issues. Recognizing that family caregivers provide important societal and financial contributions toward maintaining the well-being of those they care for, the Alliance’s mission is to be the objective national resource on family caregiving with the goal of improving the quality of life for families and care recipients.

3. Freedom HIV/AIDS

This website is helping build HIV/AIDS awareness in India. It was developed by ZMQ Software Systems of New Delhi, India. As experts in mobile game development, ZMQ developed an innovative methodology to educate people on HIV/AIDS using mobile devices. On World AIDS Day, December 1, 2005, through its “edutainment” based interactive learning solutions in the form of four mobile games, ZMQ was able to reach out to millions of people to teach about HIV/AIDS and spread HIV/AIDS awareness in India. The program was christened “Freedom HIV/AIDS.” ZMQ has publicly declared that as a matter of social responsibility it is committed to fight HIV/AIDS using its core competency — technology-based edutainment based games and educational/ awareness programs.