TakingITGlobal
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| TakingITGlobal | |
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| Type | Not-for-profit |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Headquarters | Based in Toronto, Canada |
| Key people | Jennifer Corriero, Michael Furdyk |
| Employees | 36 |
| Website | http://www.takingitglobal.org |
| "Inspire, Inform, Involve" | |
TakingITGlobal.org or (TIG) is a global non-governmental organization (NGO) that runs a large online community and social network for youth who are interested in social, political and global issues. TakingITGlobal also runs a number of offline engagement projects and partnerships that are strongly linked or supported by its online initiatives.
The mandate of TakingITGlobal is to help young people express themselves, take positive action, and understand global issues. TakingITGlobal is based in Toronto, Ontario with offices and staff in New York City, Argentina and Moscow. In the fall of 2005, the online community at TakingITGlobal.org registered its 100,000th member. More than 5 million young people have used TakingITGlobal.org since it launched in 2000. In 2006, TakingITGlobal was granted Charitable status by the Government of Canada.
According to a report published by the Center for Social Media at American University on Youth as E-Citizens, "TakingITGlobal can be seen as the deluxe version of international youth dialogue... For a young person seeking a portal into global issues or a chance to talk with peers from around the world, the site is a dazzling launching pad."
TakingITGlobal was awarded the 2007 Tech_Museum Award for Education.
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[edit] Program Areas
Online Community Engagement - Through the primary online community TakingITGlobal
TakingITGlobal's main programs can be summarized into five main areas:
[edit] Make Connections
- Discussion forums- Message Boards on a variety of topics including the Millennium Development Goals
- Groups- a simple and free way for members with the same interests to connect.
- Member Stories- Members can write their own biographies and explain what qualities a leader should have.
- TIG Blogs- online space for members to post their opinions
- Other Tools- Member Search, E-Cards, Link-To-TIG, and Newsletters
[edit] Take Action
- Local Engagement - Organizing open forums and engaging youth at a local level for face-to-face contact with other youth, including those who do not have access to internet
- Projects - a collection of youth-led action projects, and a tool for youth groups to organize and promote their action projects.
- Toolkits for organizations and the "Guide to Action"
[edit] Browse Resources
- Databases of events, professional opportunities, and financial opportunities
- Organizational Engagement - Providing online spaces for knowledge sharing and management of international networks to help bring continuity and support collaboration.
[edit] Express Yourself
- The Global Gallery - a collection of artwork submitted by young artists from over 100 countries
- Panorama - an online magazine written by young people from around the world
- TIG Magazine- an online publication of the best artwork and creative writing submitted by TIG Members
- Intersections - a database of images
[edit] Understanding Issues
- Thematic Engagement - Helping engage youth around issues such as ICTs at the (WSIS) conference or HIV/AIDS at the AIDS 2006 conference in Toronto, Canada. TIG created a section with educators to help young people understand major global issues
[edit] Explore the World
- Profiles of every country of the world
[edit] Other Projects
- Student and Educational Engagement - Assisting educators engage youth in the classroom though TIGed
- The Digital Divide Network is operated by TakingITGlobal.
TIG's website is currently available in 11 major languages and will soon be in additional languages. The languages that TIG is currently available in are: English, French, Spanish, Russian, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Romanian, Turkish, Arabic and Simplified Chinese.
TakingITGlobal works with numerous United Nations (UN) agencies and events to help young people get involved in, and become aware of, the UN's policy processes and decisions. For example, TakingITGlobal facilitated youth participation at the first World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) conference in Geneva in 2003, and co-facilitated participation in Phase II of WSIS in 2005.
[edit] Online Community
TakingITGlobal's online community has been called the MySpace for civic engagement. TakingITGlobal.org provides youth with blogs, profiles, discussion boards, and a web messenger. It also offers an event and organization lists, and group and project features that are similar to Yahoo! Groups. These tools are all provided within the context of information about global issues, such as Women's Rights and poverty on sections such as "Understanding the Issues." In this way, youth are encouraged to use tools such as blogs and profiles to affect positive social change.
[edit] History
TakingITGlobal was founded in 2000 by then teenagers Jennifer Corriero and Michael Furdyk along with a core team of other young people. Starting with only one paid staff member, TIG now has approximately 20 paid staff as well as 25 volunteers located throughout the world.
