Power to the People

Power to the People

Published by mzelmer on October 13, 2010

	By Michael Zelmer

Something you learn pretty quickly in Fair Trade is that there isn't really one definition that covers how everyone understands it, nor is there a single vision that sums up where everyone wants it to go. 

Since we all bring our own ideas to the table, we thought it might be interesting to democratize things a bit. We wanted to create ways for people to ask questions, be exposed to different points-of-view, share their own, and generally discuss different ideas, so the good ones rise to the top and the bad ones sink to the bottom.

Our own website seemed like a logical place to start, so we've created all sorts of ways for you to keep informed (KI) and to have your say (HYS), most of which (but not all) can be found in our "News & Views" section. We've also (finally) ventured into other social media sites too.

We want to hear from you - your ideas, your questions, what you like about Fair Trade and what you don't. So here's a little menu of what we've cooked up to help make that happen:

Newsletters (KI)

It sometimes seems like everyone has an email newsletter, and now TransFair's no exception. Actually, we have two that we send out every two months: The Trading Post (in English) and EquiLibre (in French), each containing some or completely different content. 

But our newsletters are a little different than most for a couple of reasons. First, we wanted to stay true to our goal of offering different points-of-view, so most of the content is written by people outside of TransFair. Second, since we couldn't do much to make email more interactive, the newsletters just give you a round-up of what's new, pointing you to where you can read more and leave comments on things that interest you.

Feeds (KI)

Web nerds like me love feeds because they're a really efficient way to keep on top of exactly the kind of information you want. Feeds allow you to pull new stuff to you so you don't have to check in to see if we've updated our website or wait for us to push it out to you through our newsletters.

We've got feeds all over our website, and a helpful little video and explanation on how to use them too.

Facebook & Twitter

Yes, we now have accounts on Facebook and Twitter, which by our calculations almost brings us up to the year 2007. We think we're off to a pretty good start though, and would love to see you up there too. Does it sound too needy if I say, "pleeeease like us on Facebook" or too strange to want you to follow us on Twitter?

Editorials (KI & HYS)

A prominent place for prominent people in Fair Trade (and beyond) to provide their own points-of-view on anything they want, provided it's relevant to Fair Trade. New editorials are featured on our home page for two months and are key features of our newsletters

In the spirit of open discussion, we've made it so you can leave comments underneath any editorial, and you can even leave them anonymously. We don't maintain any editorial control over what people write, so we get to leave comments too.

Fair Trade in the News (KI & HYS)

We try to keep on top of Fair Trade appearing in the media, and figured it wouldn't take much extra effort to share what we find. We don't necessarily post everything, but we're mostly just filtering out duplicate press and articles that aren't especially relevant or accurate.

We post articles in full, citing the authors, original publishers, and, when available, a link back to the original article. We post for informational purposes, to recognize publications featuring Fair Trade, and to stimulate discussion. To that end, you can leave comments under news articles just like you can underneath editorials.

Fair Trade Finder (KI & HYS)

The Fair Trade Finder is amazing for lots of different reasons. But it's included here for two reasons:

1. You can (and should) add your favourite Fair Trade-selling stores, restaurants, and cafes yourself. 


2. You can leave comments about any location, whether it's to rant, rave, or just make suggestions. Comments are the only way to keep the Finder accurate.

Frequently Asked Questions (KI)

Everyone has an FAQ section, but rather than us just writing up a bunch of questions we think people would want to know about, we set it up so you can ask your questions directly. If you've got questions, we figure it's only right that you get to ask them.

TransFair Blog (aka Our Blog aka What-You're-Reading-Right-Now) (KI & HYS)

In recognition that people often wonder what TransFair is doing, especially when they don't hear from us for a while (it's a big country and there aren't a lot of us), we created this blog so we can keep people (including each other) posted on what we've been up to.

It remains to be seen who at TransFair will actually post to the blog, but the hope is it'll be more than just me.

And that's the round-up. Hopefully you like what we've put together, and you'll like whatever we come up with next. Even if you don't, you could always <ahem> leave a comment saying so.

Also, a big thank you to Expression Multimedia in Montréal for doing a great job with the website, and for putting up with endless fussiness from me.