The Internet is a powerful tool to reach people. Internet usage is growing in every country, especially because of Internet on the smartphone. Unfortunately, this tool is often neglected or underutilized by volunteers and professionals working in the dementia awareness and caregiving domain. Our current methods of reaching out families affected by dementia are unable to cover many segments of society, and the Internet is a tool we cannot afford to neglect any more. This presentation was made in the Asia Pacific Regional Conference of Alzheimer’s Disease International, held on 7-9 November, 2014, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India. It discusses the possibilities and limitations of using the Internet to make information available and also to support families coping with dementia. It covers topics relevant to persons considering whether and how to use the Internet. These include content creation approaches and criteria, and how to increase the reach of online resources and services. The talk also covers aspects like community building, maintenance of online material, and how online resources can complement other modalities used for awareness and support. The presentation briefly discusses how organizations can approach the project of developing online resources.

1. Use of the Internet to Spread Dementia Awareness and to Support Dementia Care
Presented by Swapna Kishore (cyber.swapnakishore@gmail.com)
Asia Pacific Regional Conference (Alzheimer’s Disease International) 7-9 November, 2014, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India
(A brief introduction to a vast potential)

2. Topics
•Why use the Internet for awareness and support
•Possible uses of the Internet
•Create useful, understandable content
•Enhance the reach
•Interact using the Internet
•Plan and manage “Project Internet”
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3. WHY USE THE INTERNET FOR AWARENESS AND SUPPORT
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4. Current dementia support: Some data
•Direct support not enough currently. It cannot be scaled sufficiently
–Example: India (2010 data from Dementia India Report). Estimated persons with dementia (2010): 3.7million, Day cares across India: 10, respite cares: 6
–This is approx. < 1000 persons supported directly
•In many countries, most care happens at home
•We need to empower the people so that they understand dementia, get appropriate diagnosis, and can provide help and support
We need to look at all options that can empower people
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This barely visible blue line represents the % supported by day cares/ respite cares

5. The Internet: A powerful way to reach audiences
•It is fast-growing, has high reach, and people want to use it more
–Especially as mobile Internet picks up
•Often volunteers assume Internet is not common enough to be considered
–But Internet usage/ penetration can be viewed using multiple perspectives, like
•% and absolute current coverage
•Growth is high
•Accessibility through mobile is increasing
•Can reach audiences we cannot reach by other means
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Too often, volunteers assume that the Internet cannot be effective in their country. But we need to base our understanding of the potential of the Internet on data

6. Internet usage (2012 data)
Country or area
Internet users[2]
Rank
Penetration[3]
Rank
China
568,192,066
1
42.3%
102
United States
254,295,536
2
81.0%
28
India
151,598,994
3
12.6%
164
Japan
100,684,474
4
79.1%
33
Brazil
99,357,737
5
49.8%
86
Russia
75,926,004
6
53.3%
81
Germany
68,296,919
7
84.0%
22
Nigeria
55,930,391
8
32.9%
128
United Kingdom
54,861,245
9
87.0%
14
France
54,473,474
10
83.0%
24
Mexico
44,173,551
11
38.4%
114
South Korea
41,091,681
12
84.1%
21
Indonesia
38,191,873
13
15.4%
154
Philippines
37,602,976
14
36.2%
118
Egypt
36,881,374
15
44.1%
99
A country’s % penetration and rank may seem low compared to other countries, but the absolute numbers of users reached may be high (in this data, for example, look at China and India).
Data taken in Sept 2014 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_Internet_users
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The number of Internet users in a country may be sufficient incentive to employ Internet in any awareness/ support campaign

7. Trends: Internet usage across years
This graph is based on data from ITU and is used on the Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet (as on September 2014)
Graph attribution: By Jeff Ogden (W163) (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. The graph is at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AInternet_users_per_100_inhabitants_ITU.svg
Internet users per 100 inhabitants
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Internet usage is increasing in both, the developed and the developing world

8. Mobile penetration data
Data taken in Sept 2014 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_mobile_phones_in_use
Rank
Country or regions
Number of mobile phones
Population
Connections/100 citizens
Data evaluation date
-
World
6,800,000,000+
7,012,000,000[1]
97
2013[2][3]
01
China
1,227,360,000[4]
1,349,585,838[5]
89.2
December 2013[4]
02
India
904,510,000
1,220,800,359[6]
74.09
31 March 2014[7]
03
United States
327,577,529
317,874,628[8]
103.1
April 2014[9]
04
Brazil
276,200,000
201,032,714[10]
136.2
July 2014[11]
05
Russia
256,116,000
142,905,200[10]
155.5
July 2013[12]
06
Indonesia
236,800,000
237,556,363
99.68
September 2013[10]
07
Nigeria
167,371,945
177,155,754
94.5
Feb 2014[13]
08
Pakistan
140,000,000[14]
180,854,781[15]
77[16][17]
July 2014[18]
09
Japan
121,246,700
127,628,095
95.1
June 2013[19]
10
Bangladesh
116,508,000
165,039,000
69.5
August 2014[20]
Note: this is not the same as smartphone penetration
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Mobile connections per 100 citizens are very high even developing countries

9. Mobile: An extremely powerful technology used in all countries
From the World Bank Report: IC4D 2012: Maximizing Mobile
...The developing world is “more mobile” than the developed world.... ...the developing world is following a different, “mobile first” development trajectory. Many mobile innovations—such as multi-SIM card phones, low-value recharges, and mobile payments—have originated in poorer countries and are spreading from there.
...Mobile technology is helping transform and enhance health care services in developing countries, lowering transaction costs, and delivering more effective health care with limited resources.
More data on mobile usage available: Multiple sources exist. One source is ITU (International Telecommunication Union), the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies – ICTs.): www.itu.int/
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The “mobile first” development in many countries makes mobile-based Internet an attractive tool for transforming society

10. What smartphone users say: Survey
From Our Mobile Planet survey for India, 2013 (http://think.withgoogle.com/mobileplanet/en/)
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Smartphone users are keen to use their smartphone for multiple needs...
Screen capture created in September 2014

11. What smartphone users say: Survey
From Our Mobile Planet survey for India, 2013 (http://think.withgoogle.com/mobileplanet/en/)
Clearly, smartphone users depend on their smartphones and want Internet. We can use this to spread important information and provide support
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Screen capture created in September 2014

12. Internet is effective use of resources:
Make once, Use forever (almost)
• Consider the costs of a workshop on dementia care
– 3-5 days duration, 2-10 faculty members, 30-50 participants (volunteers and
family caregivers)
– Participants and faculty travel and stay expenses are incurred, infrastructure
required, persons have to be available
– Experts conducting sessions unavailable for other work while conducting
these sessions
• Compare this to the same material placed online
– Experts don’t have to be available once the material is created, but their
expertise remains available to persons who need help
– Anyone can access the material, anywhere, anytime
– Persons can view it again if they need a refresher
– The online material remains available for years....
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In traditional workshops, faculty and attendees must be available for a block of time.
Material placed on the Internet can be used 24x7 by an unlimited audience
worldwide, and the faculty does not need to be available after the initial creation.

13. Internet offers many possibilities
We can go beyond traditional approaches. We can use different, creative ways to connect
with people and provide useful information
• Traditional approach
– Information is scarce, audiences feel obliged/ are eager to reach source
– Cannot reach niche markets/ “long tail” easily and directly
– Attitude of “control”
• Internet and possibilities... Some characteristics/ examples...
– Can reach and form communities of “niche” segments (like rare diseases) directly
– Can meet needs of information/ support seekers who don’t know where to go
– Provide personalized web experiences and improved effectiveness
– There is abundance of information creators, information seekers
– Costs of using range from free to expensive
– Information/ service providers need to earn the trust of users
– Users choices and expectations very different those in from traditional models
• (Of course, Internet evolves and changes, so do these possibilities and the platforms
available/ popular)
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Think abundance, think reaching “niche” segments directly, think creative
and effective. But also, consider different user expectations....

14. Hence, multiple reasons to consider Internet...
•We need every means possible to reach diverse audiences
•Eliminate need to travel to access a resource; provide access to home- bound, remote person; increase geographic reach
•Communities can also be created across this diversity
•Increasing Internet penetration allows accessing a large population
•Users are using their mobiles more and more for multiple functions
–Hence, a growing base of users familiar with the technology and increasingly dependent on it for their information needs
•Internet resources are “once made, usable much longer”, and hence an effective use of experts’ time and effort
•Rich, engaging content is possible
•Understanding the possibilities the Internet offers, and using creative approaches can provide very effective ways to reach out and help
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15. POSSIBLE USES OF THE INTERNET
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16. Multiple audiences, multiple
objectives
• Inform and support multiple audience profiles about dementia
and related care
• Spread awareness in the general public
• Help families coping with dementia
• Increase effectiveness of concerned persons who are trying to
support dementia care or involved in elder care
• Increase awareness and sensitivity so that it impacts all levels
• Advocacy, policy
• Better research funding, more participants
• Systems/ support services that help affected families
• Others, such as
• Better representation of dementia and care situations in fiction, movies,
etc. (rather than stereotypical depictions/ avoidance)
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The Internet potential can be used in diverse, creative ways
to spread dementia awareness and improve support

17. Possibility: Spread Awareness
•Provide authentic, usable information on multiple relevant topics like
•Dementia, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment possibilities and limitations, care aspects
•Tips on self-assessment and limitations of self-assessment
•Information on relevant and dependable resources
•Venues for audiences to get doubts clarified and queries answered
•Reliable, up-to-date directories for useful services, facilities, tools, etc.
•Enable access to experiences of families coping with dementia
•Respond to queries/ concerns
•Refute misinformation and address myths by presenting reliable and comprehensive data
•Actively “push” information on persons who may benefit
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Spread correct and useful information in an accessible, easy-to-understand way to multiple audiences.

18. How to care
Possibility: Support diagnosis and care
• Provide information on how and where diagnosis
can be obtained
• Provide information, training and manuals for
caregivers
• Basic tools
• Tips for special situations and diverse care situations
• Build and sustain communities of caregivers who
share their personal stories, tips, tools, etc.
• Create online pools of experts who provide
specialized, customized support anytime, anywhere
seamlessly
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Families coping with dementia (whether diagnosed or not) can benefit.
Diagnosis and treatment can start earlier. Care can be supported better.
Who can help
ActivWithieos coafn d haeillyp
living
Caregiver stories
How to care

19. Possibility: Enable Volunteers
•Have online material that volunteers can use to understand dementia and related care realities
•Resources that volunteers can directly use for support, for example
•Conduct awareness programs
•Caregiver training manuals and videos
•Informative brochures to inform others about dementia and care
•Resources that volunteers can use to create services and facilities
•Such as, project report on how to set up a day care center or a memory clinic
•Forums where volunteers can interact to share ideas and observations and have their services/ facilities validated for reliability by authoritative organizations
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Volunteers can become better informed and more sensitive to dementia care situations. They can be equipped to help families coping with dementia. They can learn from each other.

20. Internet offers multiple forums and formats to reach out
•Blog: sharing personal opinions/ experiences
•Website: often a more structured format to provide information
•Video sites like youtube and vimeo: for videos
•Forums: Facebook groups, traditional bulletin boards
•Social media to share tidbits, links, e.g., like Facebook, twitter...
•Simpler chat/ message to spread news about events
–E.g., social media—facebook, twitter, snapchat
•Mobile Apps
•Document/ slides sharing platforms to share material
•Visitors use multiple platforms for their needs...
–Can crosslink to enrich visitor experience, like tweet about a video, or embed slideshare presentation in blog
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Different audiences have different information needs. They are used to different platforms and have preferences. The Internet offers multiple ways to reach diverse audiences. Many types of online resources can be created.

21. More approaches...
•There are already some sites that provide information
•Some are standard, good sites
•Some are not so good, and may even be spreading misinformation
•Some sites let content creators work together to create content
•One very good example is Wikipedia
•Now, available in multiple languages, so a good way to ensure that information in your language of interest is correct and comprehensive
•Article and “how to” forums/ sites where articles can be posted
•Comments on existing blogs, sites, etc.
•Good way of sharing more information
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Some persons want to contribute but lack the time and resources to create fresh content and don’t want to invest in domain or hosting, etc. Many options are available for such persons to share information through existing sites and forums.

22. Note: Wikipedia in multiple languages
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Example: contribute to and enhance pages on Wikipedia, especially pages in languages other than English
Screen captures done in September 2014

23. CREATE USEFUL, UNDERSTANDABLE CONTENT
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24. Quality of information is important
•Some characteristics of information
–Correct and authoritative
–Reasonably comprehensive (for whom?)
–Easy to understand (by whom?)
–Up-to-date (outdated information is misinformation)
–Useful for target audience (who are the targets?)
–Layered for usability (most relevant one visible most easily)
–Note: Content is not just text copied from a textbook to a web page!
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The effort to create good content and keep it updated is often grossly underestimated.

25. Language/ style should be suitable
for target audience
• Cannot directly use material from textbook/ report,
because those were for a different target audience
• Does a layperson understand “cognitive function”,
“cognitive decline”, “pathologies”, “DALY”?
– Lay persons think pathology means lab test for blood
• How much effort is required to read and pay attention?
– Sub-vocalization matters, e.g., PwD can be a tongue-twister
– Misunderstanding is costly
• Content must be engaging and usable
– Web visitors are different from classroom trainees
– Rich content is possible (integrate graphics, videos, audio,
comics, text), but also consider user’s hardware
– Concept of “usability”
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DALY? Do
they mean
DAILY? But
that sounds
odd here...
Online material can be made rich, engaging, and
relevant if well-planned and prepared with care

26. What do they mean by “deep bath water” and “bath seat”?
What are advance directives? I don’t think we have them...
All content assumes context...
•Different countries and cultures vary in the way they live and the institutional/ community support they have access to
–Bath in tubs with anti-skid mats vs. bath using buckets
–Eating with plates, placemats, cutlery, on a dining table vs. eating with hand while sitting on the ground
–Late stage care in institution vs. home
•Material of one country may not be directly usable in another
–Assumptions about available services and facilities, health care and insurance, end-of-life care, power of attorney, etc.
–“Call social services”, “call 911”, “choosing a care home”, “advance directives”
•Local languages , idiom, and examples needed to explain impact of dementia on person and family
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Keep the target audience and their context in mind.
Material that is too generic does not engage readers. But detailed material, if written for a very different audience, will not be useful or applicable.

27. Content for audience that may not “read”
•Not everyone can read the language they know
•But reading is not necessary for material on the Internet
–Can have audios and videos
–Videos are viewed even on mobiles
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Use the Internet to reach audiences that don’t have the time/ patience/ ability to read! Choose a suitable media and hosting platform.
Screen capture made in September 2014 from http://think.withgoogle.com/mobileplanet/en/ Data was selected for select countries and video platforms for year 2013.

28. Content creation and validation
•Usually grossly underestimated
–Not everyone can write well
–May delegate to juniors/ P R departments/ Web designers: poor quality, shallow, misleading, contradictory
–Some websites are patchy, inviting articles from multiple persons, ending up having different styles etc. : no editing, conceptual knitting-together
•So, who can create?
–Experts write the articles
–Knowledgeable volunteers interview experts, document it, get approval approved
–Can have participative content creation models like wiki
•Reasons creation does not happen
–Experts often uncomfortable writing
–May not want to “go on record”
–Too busy
–They consider the Internet a waste of time
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Creating good content requires effort!!

29. Content should be up-to-date
•Some material does not need updates
•Some needs updates often (events, city-wise resource lists, links, list of board members, etc.)
–Too many sites have “upcoming events” that happened several years ago
–Some even have their own contact data wrong...
•Content updates are often mishandled/ ignored, especially when organizations depend on vendors
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Outdated content can mislead, especially when related to diagnosis, medication and research. Wrong contact information can waste time. Also, sites with obviously outdated content may not be taken seriously by visitors.
2008? It’s 2014 now... They have obviously closed down...

30. Misinformation and myths are rampant
•Half-baked articles in newspapers written to deadlines
–Available prominently in searches
•Every herb is touted as a traditional cure for dementia
•“Health portals” invite articles but don’t vet them
•Authors write apparently authoritative articles to sell their books on “prevention” and “cure” (but these are often like opinion pieces)
•Service providers creating simplistic articles to claim they know dementia
•Organizations falsely claim they have approval of reputed associations in order to boost their sales
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Misinformation and myths damage efforts to increase genuine awareness and alertness. They can harm persons who believe them
No one in our family will get dementia because we add turmeric to our food. I read an article in the newspaper that this prevents dementia.
But that’s not what they mean when they say--
Why would newspapers print anything wrong!

31. Countering misinformation
•Organizations working in the dementia domain need to counter the misinformation by
–Creating authentic, easy to understand, complete information
–Making this more visible than sites spreading misinformation
–Actively addressing FAQs, and debunking myths through special, impactful content
–Encouraging interactions and queries that remove doubts
–This combines having visible content on the Internet and also using the Internet for interactions and communities
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Correct, easy-to-understand information should be used to counter misinformation. This should be visible and in believable online forums.

32. Example: Dementia and stigma
•Stigma of multiple sorts
–Denial of medical cause of changed behavior
–Denial of personhood (“she’s not there any more”)
•Multiple reasons, all due to poor understanding:
•Newness of medical understanding,
•Traditional methods of interpreting changed behavior,
•Current imbalance/ hype in way media depicts persons with dementia
•Lack of open, frank, and diverse voices of persons with dementia and their caregivers
•Can use correct information to counter misinformation, e.g.,
–Brain images, Personal stories and expert interviews, FAQs
–
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In societies with low awareness, we should spread awareness correctly from the beginning and avoid mistakes that may stigmatize dementia.

33. ENHANCE THE REACH
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34. To reach the audience...
• Multiple modalities to reach out, and multiple audiences
– Judicious use of mix and match modalities
• Be visible to persons searching for information
– General search engines (like Google)
– Search within platforms (like youtube, slideshare)
– Use of tags, hashtags to be visible in relevant feeds
– As links on related sites, or on printed brochures, etc.
– Searches are often personalized by search engines
• Push information using e-advertisements, paid links, pop-ups on
videos, site banners
• With so much material available, also need to ensure that visitors
find good content and recognize it to be reliable (and discard
misinformation)
• Often, “Content is King”
•
© Swapna Kishore
We need effective ways to make sure people know about our content and
can reach it (and of course, we need good content)
34

35. Different platforms, different audience
profiles and needs
• Use different platforms to reach different user profiles
– Facebook addicts not necessarily the same as blog readers
– People may first search for information on the platform
they use most
• Most platforms also add suggested links based on what
visitors are viewing
• So, a multi-pronged approach is needed
Note: Devices and Internet connections affect both
expectations and ease/ ability to navigate content
• Heavy sites may not load, but text-dense sites without
graphics may seem boring
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Approaches need to be varied depending on platforms and target audiences.
Audiences differ in what they expect from a platform such as what type of material
they expect, how much time they spend, how they view material, how they search.

36. Note: social media activism/ community
•Used for: events, “groups”, sharing links, thoughts
•Pros
–Many people use social media, available on multiple platforms
–No learning curve
•Cons
–False sense of participation/ response
•Facebook “likes” may not translate to actual video views or article reads
•Facebook “attending” is no indication of attending
–Difficult to search/ locate past information
–Have to keep repeating data, as people miss old posts/ can’t locate them: redundant work
–High expectation of instant responses
–Concept of clicktivism (for and against opinions on this)
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30 “likes” on Facebook, but no increase in my video views...
When my father got lost, we got many volunteers by using Facebook and Twitter
A website link someone posted led me to an article on FTD. I realized my father’s symptoms matched, and I was able to get a diagnosis
Effective use of various social media requires understanding the possibilities and limitations.

37. Note: design for mobiles
–Mobile options
»Websites that work well on the Internet
»Websites that have a separate mobile version
»Mobile apps (offline, online)
–Example: Facebook on desktop, mobile, mobile app
–Design: minimal (mobile) to complex (desktop)
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Example: Twitter.com/alzassociation
(note how the design is different for mobile access)
desktop
mobile
Note: Screen captures, September 2014
Users expect different things when using a mobile compared to what they expect when using a desktop. The screen size is also very different. Websites may need to be redesigned/ adapted for mobile-users. Apps may be helpful.

38. Visitor characteristics, behavior
•Understand your visitor profile and usage of site
–Tools like Google analytics
•Get loyal customers
–Mailing lists, newsletters, etc.
•Get feedback/ suggestions from visitors
–Reward those who contact, conduct surveys, etc.
–
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We need to understand user expectations, usage, and site experience so as to design effective online resources, and to refine them over time.

39. Google analytics to understand usage
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Examples from Google analytics; many types of reports are possible using such tools
Note, for example, in the above data, almost 40% visitors use mobile/ tablet....
Screen captures of google analytics data of my site

40. What people read
Data collected using http://wikipediaviews.org/
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Wikipedia usage data can help us understand what people want to know about

41. Example: Viewing search trends at Google
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Example of utility to see the words/ phrases people use in searches (http://www.google.com/trends/)
Screen capture, October 2014, using terms vascular dementia, alzheimer. dementia, senility, memory loss

42. Example: search trends, Google
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Screen capture, October 2014, using terms vascular dementia, alzheimer. dementia, senility, memory loss
It is possible to try different parameters to see how different target audiences vary in their search behavior
In this example, we see how selecting “Australia” instead of “Worldwide” shows a different trend for the search terms “dementia” and “alzheimer” (compare with previous slide)

43. Data on usage of Internet and mobile
•Multiple data sources for data across countries, like: www.itu.int/, http://thenetmonitor.org/, etc.
•Also : Our Mobile Planet surveys by Google, to learn about smartphone adoption and usage across 48 countries. (http://think.withgoogle.com/mobileplanet/en/)
•Based on 3 waves of surveys (site includes methodology details and gathered data)
•Can see usage of smartphones, ad viewing/ action, use of search engines, Internet on mobiles, etc.
•Can check by country, age, gender, year, etc.
•These can help make decisions such as what to investigate and use for your target audience, such as
–Platform, which search engines to tune for, whether to advertise, etc.
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Mobile usage data is also available
Screen capture created in September 2014 from http://think.withgoogle.com/mobileplanet/en/ for India, 2013

44. Create material considering this information
•Use data on Internet and mobile usage, search terms, etc., to decide on various aspects
–content style, depth, layout, platforms used, etc.
•Know the basics of Search Engine Optimization
–Content is most important
–Understand how search engines interpret your content
–Consultants charge large amounts for SEO, but any informed and good web designer can ensure basic SEO criteria are met in the material
•Know the basics of social media usage, etc.
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Tools are available to understand audience needs and characteristics. We therefore have the data we need to reach our target audience effectively.

45. Examples of small things to remember
• So, how do search engines decide what our sites have, and whether to
list them in search results?
– Basic understanding of search engine criteria is available. One resource:
https://www.google.com/webmasters/
• Examples:
– Content usefulness, reliability, and usability most important
– Page titles and text on page used to understand page content
– But obvious attempts to “keyword stuff” not okay
– Images cannot be “read”, but data attached to images can
– Links to and from the site show content richness and reliability, but links from
or to spam sites can harm rating
– Adding a site map helps
• These are all anyway part of good site design
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We need to create sites such that search engines can get a correct
understanding of the content and quality of our pages. This will make search
engines list our sites in relevant searches.

46. INTERACT USING THE INTERNET
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47. •Experts can interact with persons who need information/ help
–Web forms
–Email
–Facebook and other social media type forums
–Bulletin boards
–Online chat software
–Ability to call up helpline from the webpage
–Regularly updated FAQ databases
•Communities can be created for specific visitor types, or for combinations
–Persons with dementia, caregivers, volunteers, experts....
Interact using the Internet
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24 x 7, geographic spread, any place any time
Enabling, empowering, cost-effective

48. To create/ maintain useful forums
– Ensure a set of committed, participating members
– Encourage members to make sufficient posts with useful
information, tips
– Create a structure which contains enough posts/ threads to
stir ongoing discussion and sharing even by reluctant
members
– Moderate continually to ensure no unpleasant exchanges/ no
promotion of snake-oil miracles/ no medical advice by non-professionals
– Ensure that anonymity does not lead to abuse
– Ensure good influx of new members because old members
will drop out... Forums die as existing members “move on”
– Build in required privacy and confidentiality measures/ rules
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A robust, useful online community needs ongoing commitment of well-informed,
mature volunteers with good writing and moderating skills

49. PLAN AND MANAGE “PROJECT INTERNET”
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50. The Project (“Use the Internet for...”)
• Need to have a clear objective and target
– No such thing as a “good website”
• Good by what criteria?
– No such thing as a useful website
• Useful for whom and for what?
• Make choices and plans based on clear objective and
target, etc.
• Allocate persons and funds
• Ensure that persons involved in the project will
communicate with vendors, monitor and manage the work,
make timely decisions, etc.
– Volunteers who are computer professionals may be able to help
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Deciding how to use the Internet and creating the required material, apps,
etc., is like any other project...

51. Multiple development and design
approaches
• Do it yourself to create material, videos, audios, etc.
– Use free standard software products (like Wordpress, Audacity, free
programming and database software)
– Use free platforms to upload (Youtube, Slideshare, free blog platforms)
• Execute the “project” using others:
– Use volunteers to develop and maintain
• Can’t force volunteers (free work, no control)
– Use web developers (Small developers/ reputed firms)
• Use appropriate domain and hosting
– Common problems
• Communication gap with tech persons
• Important design choices left to tech persons who don’t understand domain or users
• Wrong design/ technology choices -> maintenance costly/ time-consuming/ impossible
• Difficult to move between vendors, especially when bitterness sets in
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Like any other project, there are multiple possible approaches, and we need to
select one that meets our objective given our resources and skills...

52. Consider relevant project
components...
• As in any important project, understand and evaluate components like...
• Scope of contracted work
• Cost components
• Domain name, Hosting, Site development, Content creation, Maintenance, etc.
• Cost of managing the project and coordinating the effort
• Criteria that will be used for judging completeness and quality of work
• Clarity on ownerships and copyrights
• Whose name as domain registrant, who has passwords for domain management, hosting
• Who has the source code, content, etc.? Who owns it? How will it be transferred if
needed
• Maintenance strategy
• Backups and restores, renewals of domain, hosting, etc.
• Content updates: what will be updated, with what response time, and modality of
communication and coordination for this
• Be clear of the timelines, and how progress and quality will be monitored
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Don’t underestimate content creation effort/ ongoing maintenance effort,
or even the effort of “managing” the techies

53. AND SO...
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53

54. Internet is an extremely powerful medium
•Has good reach, which is growing and is also being increasingly supported by governments who want to empower the public
•Good potential to reach multiple audience profiles for multiple types of material
–Illiterate, remote, home-bound, etc.
–Information, training, events, support forums, etc.
•Very friendly for multiple types of rich, engaging material
•Cost effective as benefits are possible with zero or very low ongoing availability of experts, and cost per person benefitted are also very low
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54

55. Get going on Project Internet
•Study possibilities and overcome reluctance
–Typical reluctance is because of discomfort with technology
•Remember: more and more things are possible through technology, so focus on what is best suited and go ahead
–Don’t aim for perfection right in the beginning
•Content is King. Create relevant, engaging content that provides information and support and counters misinformation
•Reach out to your target by understanding audience preferences and characteristics and then integrating this knowledge in your approach
•Internet is available 24x7. Use it to provide enhanced support using interaction and participative communities
•Make Project Internet more effective by analyzing usage and tuning the components
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56. Integrate the Internet project with traditional methods
•Internet resources provide a base to refer persons to when they have queries
•Can be used by volunteers to understand the domain and do their work more effectively
•Material can be printed out and circulated
•Videos can be screened using traditional screens and projectors at remote locations
•Online material makes it easy for volunteers to access and circulate material
•(And remain flexible; Internet evolves over time, and so do the possibilities it offers)
Increase the effectiveness of the Internet project by combining it with other methods, so as to increase the reach and support...
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57. Thank you!
Contact me at cyber.swapnakishore@gmail.com
English site for dementia caregivers in India: http://dementiacarenotes.in
Hindi site for dementia caregivers: http://dementiahindi.com
Blog for sharing personal experiences: http://swapnawrites.wordpress.com
Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/swapnawrites,
http://youtube.com/user/dementiacarenotes
Presentations and documents: http://www.slideshare.net/swapnakishore/