#137 Being “cutting edge”

Expat Aid Workers love to believe that they are cutting edge. Above all else, whether they’re busy innovating, doing some awesome/rigorous RCTs, enlightening those around them (via well-placed righteous indignation), or explaining the intricate subtleties of local culture to locals, EAWs make a point of knowing what is going on in the aid world.

Which is why this public service announcement is of such critical importance…

You heard about it right here just a few days ago. And now we’re super pleased to formally announce a brand spanking new  website just for you:

AidSource: The Humanitarian Social Network.

AidSource is a collaborative effort between the creators of the site you’re reading now (Shotgun Shack of Shotgun Shack, and J. of Tales From the Hood), and Alanna Shaikh (of Blood & Milk), but with significant and growing ownership and management by the global community of humanitarian aid and development workers – you!

We have been beta-testing AidSource for about the past two months, but as of today, in celebration of our Valentine’s Day gift of love to the aid blogosphere, AidSource is open to the public.

To join, just go here: http://aidsource.ning.com and follow the prompts. It’ll only take you about five minutes to set up a profile and join AidSource.

Once inside you’ll be able to join working groups and discussions about all kinds of things related to international relief and development, see what events are coming up in the aid world (whether it’s a life-saving workshop or an interagency happy hour in your town), blog, or just hang out with others in the aid industry from around the world (and of course much, much more!). There is a special section for students and educators, too, so be sure to check that out.

You’ll find a fair amount of cross-platform functionality present in AidSource. Members who want to can set up their accounts so that once they’re members, they can log in using Google, Yahoo!, Facebook or Twitter credentials. You can also tweet and update your Facebook status from inside AidSource, ‘friend’ other members, upload photographs or documents, and ‘like’ things.

You can also ‘like’ AidSource on Facebook, follow @AidSource1, and read the AidSource blog, AidSpeak.

We think this is not just a very cool idea and site, but also something that (with time) has the potential to drive significant positive change in the aid industry. And just so that you know, AidSource is not affiliated with or in any other way approved or endorsed by any NGO, charity watchdog, UN agency, charitable foundation, corporation, or institutional or private donor. AidSource is a private project – one that we think you’ll like and that we’re sharing absolutely for free.

We hope you’ll take the time to check out AidSource: The Humanitarian Social Network.