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Call for Speakers: On Sensitive Subjects
by Elisa Camahort

We've clarified the description of one of our sessions on Day Two, Outreach Blogging is not for the faint-hearted.

Check it out now, and you'll see that danah boyd has agreed to lead the discussion, and that we want to talk about what happens when bloggers tackle the most sensitive of subjects. Subjects like depression, addiction, self-harming behaviors, illness and infertility.

We know that support happens. But we also know that that there are those who believe that bloggers and online community members can become enablers, or at the very least, get in over their heads.

Staffing this session is a sensitive subject in and of itself. Talking to danah I realized it might not be very welcome for me to email a blogger and say "Hey, I see you've blogged your suicidal thoughts! Care to share with hundreds of people?" Even though blogging is public, we don't want to be invasive or intrusive.

So, this is a call for speakers who would be willing to discuss their experiences handling the touchy topics online. And please note: we are open to only identifying you by a a pseudonym in conference materials.

If you have experience with this kind of outreach blogging...either as the one needing or offering support, please contact either me or danah and fill us in.

Submitted by Elisa Camahort (view blog) on Fri, 02/24/2006 - 4:26pm

Comments

 

Invasive and Intrusive?

It can be tough contacting people to talk about sensitive subjects.

Getting in over our heads, that indeed happens. Enabling, that too.

Great topic for Blogher.

~Denise

Submitted by Denise on Fri, 02/24/2006 - 17:16
 

I can put you in contact

I can put you in contact with some bloggers who were very new to the online world when they started blogging for support - and some of the things they learned about reaching out and helping someone else (like when to and not to invite them into your home, when to and not to give them your phone number, when to decide and call 911 w/r/t suicidal thoughts, etc.)

Nancy White
Blogher Contributing Editor, NPO/NGO
Full Circle Online Interaction Blog

Submitted by Nancy White on Fri, 02/24/2006 - 20:16
 

Just a suggestion...

I've seen a lot more talk about sensitive subjects (in particular eating disorders and self-harm) on forums rather than in blogs. Might be worth looking for folks over on that side of the electronic fence as well -- when the discussion is the focus, I think sometimes the forum is seen as a better format than the blog

Submitted by meriwilliams on Fri, 03/17/2006 - 16:20
 

Ah, but that's partly the issue

Thanks for the suggestion Meri.

Forums may indeed be a better format. One of my questions is whether a blogger trying to blog these experiences gets themselves into stickier situations because running a blog looks more authoritative, for lack of a better word, than a more open forum. A blogger is the one in charge, the one in the know, the one who is "leading" the conversation.

I've actually been inundated with bloggers who are willing to go there, so we'll certainly have no shortage. Don't know if that deserves a smiley face or sad face, though.

Elisa Camahort
BlogHer and Worker Bees
elisa@blogher.org/elisa@workerbees.biz

Submitted by Elisa Camahort on Fri, 03/17/2006 - 17:42
 

Every knot has someone to

Every knot has someone to undo it (Syrian proverb)

Submitted by Daily Dog on Sun, 03/19/2006 - 12:24
 

Intercultural Communication Competencies
Needed, Too

Elisa y los otras:

Con mucho gusto! In our training/facilitating field, we try to pay conscious attention to the process and content of interactions, hoping to create some of the "six conditions" and a dozen or more "skill characteristics" intercultural research has shown to be effective in intercultural settings....a balance of "support and challenge" for example, is a well-researched premise that promotes more internalized learning.

Interactive "teach-a-person-to-fish" type learning is also critical in our settings. I have some ex-pat pals who are experts in online intercultural aspects; glad to 'introduce' you to them and their work, tambien.

The field of ICC is very pragmatic, moving constantly between theory and practice, both domestically and internationally, and I feel it's a wonderful, compassionate tool to help create a little bit more sane world...

My website of relevant links is called WAVELENGTHS, but it needs an HTML expert to clean it up, so please visit my 'serious' blog below, and even my 'silly' one. (I need to learn about changing templates and so much more, via blogging....)

While I'm already committed to the Intercultural Institute during the '06 BlogHer Conference, I'd be glad to communicate with you and share resources and ideas.

Recently, two of my colleagues y amigas and I are collaborating on providing some culture-general workshops (intercultural), followed by culture-specific, (in this case Latino/a), in training for some West Coast community college faculty. We worked a decade ago on a terrific multicultural college student leadership project with our hefe, and it's muy fantastico to be sharing ideas and resources again.

We're locally (far northern CA/southern OR, but we hope to 'go online' as well!)also reviving a regional "Mujeres de Todos Colores" group we've had informally for years, with diverse women (in mostly social service/education positions).

Entonces, Adelante, Mujeres! (have you seen that short video?)

Sincerely,

~Kathi
i.e. An Intercultural Educational
Resource Network
http://ieresourcenetwork.blogspot.com/ (serious)

Submitted by kathiwilliams on Sat, 03/25/2006 - 11:44