Why are people s relationships important in online work?
A network is only as strong as the people that are part of it. Working for social change requires passion and commitment to a cause. This becomes even more crucial if the work we do is mostly online, because the support of our co-workers is distant and it is easy to lose motivation or the sense of urgency when we interact through a phone, pad, tablet or computer screen instead of face to face.
In this sense, it is important for your organisation to make explicit what you believe in and build common ground among the people in your network, which includes your shared ideas, practices and politics. This is very helpful when new people come into your organisation, so that they can know what everyone expects from them. It can also be a criterion when you build new relationships and collaborate with other people and organisations.
14 December 2020
In 2020, APC celebrated its 30-year anniversary, and this special milestone aligned with our triennial member convening. Whereas in previous years, these meetings took place face-to-face (as with the gathering in Ithala, South Africa, in 2017), the challenging circumstances presented by the COVID-19 pandemic meant that we had to innovate about how we would come together. Throughout the week of 5-9 October, the APC staff and members embraced this challenge with creativity, energy and dedication during our first-ever online member convening, with almost 300 registered participants from around the world connecting through various platforms to a diverse schedule of sessions, workshops and celebrations. In this way, we came together “via the cables and devices of the very same internet and digital technologies that we advocate to be affordable, accessible, open, safe, feminist and fun.”