Shocked! Blackout - IOFFL

MS

Please do not take this as being an insult to anyone! But since i have started telling everyone about our up and comeing Blackout i have been shocked by the amount of people that just do not even know IOFFL exist or about the Blackout. I mean people working in Eircom / Erricsons / Elan / Esat / Colleges / etc. etc. etc. IOFFL have only 1,000 members out of the whole population that use the internet. This begs to ask the question 'Why?' No one is to blame everyone did their bit but ? We are not reaching enough people there are still a LOT! of users out there that need to be made aware of what is going on. Not just the people that read these boards. Can i suggest that even after the Blackout the we continue to make Flyers and get people to post them into every letter box. Post them to the owners of companies and ask them do display them on Notice Boards etc. Again i ment no insult to n e one i see exactly whats going on and i see the work that is being done by everyone involved. Anyone else got any suggestions on how we can reach these people ?

MS

PS This is not posted to be or ment to be an insult to anyone I was just a bit taken back by how many people i spoke to didnt even know about it.

bubbles

I was touching on this subject in another post I made somewhere else, about the location of the protest.

I think the Ireland off Line crowd seem to think their cause is very well know, but nothing could be further from the truth. I mean I wouldn't even know about it if I didn't use boards.ie, and even other users that do, they will only learn of it if they wander into the Ireland Offline forum.

I'm sure you could get free ads in irish computer mags etc if you ask nicely, as I'm sure their staff, like the rest of us would be in support of the group.

Not I'm not trying to say it could be run better, or what have Ireland Offline actually done... but I work for eircom IT, and trust me, 97% of people in there never heard of it. In my group for example, there are about 40 people working there, most of whom are internet users. In a conversation the other day with about 20 of them present, not one of them heard of it.

Alot of work went into Ireland Offline by some people, yet no one knows of it? Thats a pretty big **** up in my honest opinion.

Of course I pointed them to the ireland offline webbie, so I did what I could in my local situation, but thats nothing in the grand scale of things.

Anyway, if anyone asks, i'm pro eircom :rolleyes:

dahamsta

Uh, not trying to be smart boys, but does it really need to be pointed out that the whole Blackout concept is about raising awareness of IrelandOffline and the problems it is trying to fix? Have you read the post at the top of the forum? I had to have the producer of a radio programme move my slot tonight so I could fit in another interview - does that not say something to you?

adam

bubbles

dahamsta, it does, just saying(not being smart here) it would have been better if you publised it alot more from the beginning.

Anyways, me off to bed, have to be up nice and early for work tomorrow to help do my part to make eircom become even better and more profitable... I guess.

(watch how fast I go)

MS

Origionally posted by Dahamsta

Uh, not trying to be smart boys, but does it really need to be pointed out that the whole Blackout concept is about raising awareness of IrelandOffline and the problems it is trying to fix? Have you read the post at the top of the forum?

Yes i have read it and i agree with it... but! please dont take this as a personnel attack on you D even GOD knows at this stage all the work u have put into this (ok so i told him so what LOL! . All im saying is that we are missing a LOT! of people that use the www. Not everyone is as intellagent as the 1,000 people that are are in and for IOFFL and help in any way the can. There is a LOT! more peple out there that will just pass us by. Take for instance a Sign in a Shop Window ? Everyone sees them every day and just passes them by. We need something that will stand out to these people and make them sit up and take notice. As i have said in my previous post. I am not trying to insult anyone! Its just a Fact! I know that 1,000 people is only a trivial amount of the people that use the www in Ireland. The Blackout will get through to some. So how can we get through to the rest ? Maby we should not just stop at the Blackout and try arrange that posters/flyers be put through ever door .... i just dont know. But after talking to several people that use the www that just didnt know about IOFFL or the Blackout i feel there is something we are missing.
Again thats just the feeling i have after talking to several people about it. I know someone out there knows what we should do so lets hear it ?


MS

dahamsta

dahamsta, it does, just saying(not being smart here) it would have been better if you publised it alot more from the beginning.

I realise what you're trying to say bubbles, but Real Life[TM] doesn't work that way. You don't just ring up and say: "Look, we're an important pressure group, we'd like an article today please. Up high on the agenda please. No, take the peace process down, we're more important than that."

Ok, I'm being sarcastic, but it's true. It takes time to build up the respect of the media to the stage where they'll admit our existance. It takes time to get to the stage where the ODTR will surprise us all by saying it "shares our goals". It's not an overnight thing, and I think Elana did admirable work in getting IrelandOffline to the position it is. She certainly made it a hell of a lot easier for me.

I can't say for certain, but I imagine there's a hell of a lot more people know about IrelandOffline this week than did last week.

adam

seamus

I sent a nice long email to everyone in my year (about 150 computer-type people) and urged them to forward it. That was about 2 weeks ago and have received no feedback whatsoever. I don't know what that means, but as we all know, most people don't care about something that doesn't directly affect them. And here in our lab we can get d/l speeds of 1Mb per sec, so I don't think a lot of people are going to campaign to get something they don't need, or have no decision-making power over - ie most of them still live at home, so the whole internet issue is really up to their parents.

I do think, though, we need to keep focussing mainly on people who are involved in the technology sector, instead of just the average user, because as history shows us, you have to educate the people who understand, and then the population will follow them, because they don't understand.

Btw, I had always thought the point of the Blackout was twofold - to make eircom sit up and listen, and to make the general population aware of our existence. What was it Elana said on that RTE programme - if even 10 people came out and supported her, she would consider it a success(I think). I would agree