More and more youthworkorganisations find their way to the
internet. The Flemish youth has an ever-growing interest for this
new medium. More than 120 youthworkorganisations already have
their own pages on the internet. They offer information on their
work and other 'youth-topics'.
The principal idea of YWN is to gather at one spot all possible
information concerning youthwork an youthworkorganisations in
Flanders, that is present on the internet.
Every one, who has already visited the internet knows that it is
difficult to find all the information on one topic. Whit the
start of a specific domain (e.g. www.jeugdwerknet.be and
www.youthworknet.org) we want to offer youthwork on the internet
a place of their own, which is easy to recognise.
Youthworknet wants to become a forum
On this moment you find us at http://www.jeugdwerknet.be/ with
our different Youthworknet parts. Our site grows constantly,
thanks to the inbring from participating youthwork organisations.
Addresses (url's) from pages made by youthworknet organisations
There you will find all the addresses (url's) of youthwork pages in Belgium. The Belgian url's are almost complete. We also offer links to general youthwork sites in other countries. The list is frequently updated and has lots of visitors.
Email addresses from youthworkers:
We recently started an index of e-mail addresses of youth workers in Belgium. There are a lot of youth workers (e.g. university students) who are connected to the internet but do not offer a page. The e-mail addresses are only added to the index, when the concerned youthworker sends a mail to give permission. Youthworkers can register their E-mail address by mail or by visiting our form.
If you are looking for Jobs in the youthwork sector. We offer a selection of available jobs. This list is updated once a week.
We get a lot of questions about people who are looking for information or who want to make something public. We place these messages on our wall.
If you would like to make a 'tour d' horizon' through the wild youthworkcountry on the internet. Thanks to Youthworknet you can pay a visit to all your collegues. Pays a visit is a 'webring'. Youthwork organisations can become member of this ring. On their page they have to put the "Youthwork pays a visit" logo. Visiters can then jump from one Youthworkpage in the ring to another.
This is an electronic newsletter (Dutch only) which is distributed via e-mail. In the newsletter you can find the latest news on youthworknet. We also announce the newest pages with comment, publish a calendar of interesting activities and introduce our new volunteers. And of course we also have extra space for (preferably enthusiast) reactions of our readers. The first edition was send in November 1996. The newsletter will be published every first and fifteenth of the month. we. Also have an archive Internet-abeten can receive a version via fax.
Discussion forum about youthwork. Via het internet kan je vrij direct informatie verspreiden naar andere organisaties. Tevens kunnen discussies over jeugdwerk via dit kanaal tot stand komen. Op die manier kunnen mensen van de meest diverse pluimage op een gemakkelijke manier met elkaar in contact komen. Onze mailinglist is zo'n forum. Iedereen die beschikt over een email adres kan zich hiervoorinschrijven. Je kan actief deelnemen aan de discussies maar evenzeer gewoon meekijken (lurken) naar de berichten.
1. Forum for questions and discussion on youthworknet.
Internet is very well adapted to spread information directly to
other users and organisations. The medium also enables open
discussions on youthwork. This way people with the most diverse
background can contact each other easily. We will start this
forum by means of a mailing list.
2. Education program youthwork and internet.
Good education for youth workers is necessary to enable them to
explore the possibilities of computers and data communication.
The knowledge about technical aspects is the basis on which
youthworknet together with youth workers, wants to look for the
most creative and useful applications in data communication. At
the start of the project we want to emphasise on education for
'decision makers' in Youthwork to get them acquainted with the
internet.
In the near future
The above mentioned activities are the basis products of
Youthworknet on short terms. The project wants to reach further
and become a central place for youthworkinformation on internet.
The growth of the next aspects is closely related with the input
of the Flemish youth organisations, that want to participate in
Youthworknet.
Hosting of all youth organisations
In order to enable outsiders to get faster access to youthwork on the internet we want to host all existing pages. Youth organisations will be asked to present (directly or mirrored) their internet pages at the url http://www.jeugdwerknet.be. This way youthwork will be very easy to recognise.
E.G. You can find the information of youth club the
chequespistols not only at
http://www.lug.ac.be/cpistols/index.htm but also at
http://www.jeugdwernet.org/cpistols.htm
On the same domain you would also find for instance
www.jeugdwerknet/scouting43st/
www.jeugdwerknet/jint/
www.jeugdwerknet/Minister for Youth/
Within this domain we can create sections related to e.g. a specific form of youthwork or a region, to enable faster search results.
And now for something completely different: CONTENT
The possibilities of the internet reach further than the
replacement of paper brochures and other publications with a
digitilased version. Therefor the stimulation of applications
that have a valuable effect in contents, is one of the major aims
of youthworknet. In the first place we will try to offer a strong
content on our home pages. The information has to be open to all
people, who show interest in youthwork and they also have to be
very dynamic. In second place we will stimulate
youthworkorganisations, that coöperate to create a good content
and to explore all the possibilities of this medium in that
sense.
Presentation of information
On the pages of youthworknet we want to present different information-packages. The aim is that youthwork becomes the provider of this information
1. Laws en subventions for youthwork
In order to let you find your way in storm of all the subventions
youthworknet will try to sort all this information in a easy to
use format. We also gather all laws on youthwork in Flanders. A
partnership with the different authorities has to enable
youthworknet to keep the information correct and up to date.
2. Youthwork calendar
All information on activities that reach further than the
fund-raising sales to one's neighbours could make part of the
calendar: invitations for regional activities, seminars, large
open activities, etc....
3. Archive for rapport's and documents
The idea is to present on-line the rapport's of for instance the
staff meetings of a organisation. This offers an fast and
renewing view on the work of other youthworkorganisations. Browse
in the youthworkpolicyplan of town X or the rapport's of the
Flemish youth advice council from your PC at home; it has to be
possible.
4. Databases with youth-information
At this moment there already exists a lot of databases with
information that is valuable for youth and youthwork. It concerns
many topics: leisure, justice, health, jobs, volunteering,
etc.... Youthworknet wants to examine the possibilities to
present this information via the internet to wide range of
people.
5. Newsgroup be.jeugdwerk
In the coming months youthworknet will start a mailing list on
youthwork. In the future we could replace with a news group. News
groups are open for everyone and enable a very unrestricted
discussion.
6. On-line activities
The first virtual scouting group already exists. But this not
exactly what we had in mind. We do want to develop on-line
activities on a regular basis. The organisation of IRC meetings
and seminars on youthwork with international participation is
certainly one of the aims.
Finally
An important aspect of the youthworknet concept is the
coöperation of all participating youthworkorganisations. We
expect a lot of input from the participants. Youthworknet mainly
offers a 'neutral' channel to present the information. Therefor
the service must be easily accessible and has to be able to grow
very dynamic.
Every body on the net
Youthworknet is certain that internet is a medium that , next to
the other media, gains importance every day. The present
evolution of infrastructure and prices will attract many users on
short terms. We realise that the step to the internet is still
quite big for many youth workers.
Youthworknet tries to get better conditions from a provider for a
internetaccount for youth workers.
Who's youthworknet?
Youthworknet is a non-profit organisation (VZW) that started with
some people who are deeply rooted in
Youthwork. Youthworknet wants to remain a independent
organisation that is run by all the different sections of
youthwork. We try to attract as many as possible partners.
© 1996-1997 JWN
Last update: 13/03/97