 It
has now become clear that the twenty-first century worldwide revolution
in communications is in full swing. This is not just about the ease with
which we can research online, learn online, bank online, shop online and
even conduct our day-to-day friendships online. We have reached a point
where totally new challenges and new opportunities are suddenly available.
Systems of administration and governance driven by pen and paper were appropriate to the early twentieth century, and electronic record-keeping and email were appropriate to the late twentieth century. But the twenty-first century requires a new model. New relationships (and even some old ones) are now within reach of anyone with access to the Internet. Crowdsourcing - unimaginable even a mere ten years ago - is changing the way that NGOs, charities, and groups with common interests can thrive. WorldU3A and the Asia Pacific Alliance of U3As, by means of the hundreds of their regular video-conferences over the last twelve years, and it's online projects - MYU3A and U3AFORUM, have shown how use of a simple technology can bring us together at virtually no cost. We now live in an age when a newsletter can be distributed to ten thousand readers around the globe in a matter of seconds, and where we are divided from friends and relatives on the other side of earth by time-zone instead of distance. The only constraint is one of imagination, and what is important about all of these possibilities is not the speed with which they can happen, it is their non-hierarchical nature. People speak directly to people and are not constrained by the requirements of Government, or organisations or postal systems. The immediate future will see even more dramatic changes, as keyboard messages give way to voice, and still pictures give way to video clips and real-time camera exchanges. World U3A attempts to address that free-wheeling dynamic world. It has no buildings and no membership. It has no committees, beyond the steering group (seen above) that overlooks the work of the Secretary-General, and its meetings take place only on the Internet. It has the following functions and activities:-
The purpose of WorldU3A is to encourage international understanding and contacts for all active retired people everywhere. It does this through its Internet activity rather than through a traditional organisation structure. It has no membership and is a totally free service. It is acknowledged
by its thousands of users to be a model of effective use of the Internet,
and for that reason it believes it is 'fit for purpose'. |
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It maintains this www.worldu3a.org website, plus several other U3A websites
WORLD WITHOUT FEAR - led by U3A Zelenogorsk (Siberia) which encourages
discussion of this all-important issue