Public engagement & social technologies

February 5, 2009 at 5:53 pm · Filed under Leadership, Learning, Natural environment, Social Technologies and tagged: new Canadians, parks, protected areas

Today, Nancy White joined one of our calls for leaders in park and protected area systems. Our focus was on how their public engagement efforts might be enhanced through use of social technologies and related tools. A common challenge for these professionals is maintaining the relevance of systems developed with a European-shaped North American perspective of wilderness. Youth who have grown up in cities and new Canadians from Asia, for example, may have totally different perspectives. I think my favourite idea was involving new Canadians in creating videos about their first experiences in parks, and posting them on YouTube. Park organizations could learn a lot about their interests, their ideas of positive experiences and their stories. And their stories could be very powerful for their communities.

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