On Tue, 21 May 1996 09:22:39 -0400 Steve Manske wrote:

> Thanks Dennis, for your summary.  I am interested more
broadly in mobilization of potential stakeholders in
advocacy issues. Are we as health promoters using outdated
techniques?  Is there a literature describing evaluations of
effective mobilization methods?
>
> Dennis got two responses to his plea.  Are there better
ways?

Steve, I am much struck by the sense of helplessness that
most individuals have. I have been up in Canada so long,
that I don't know whether it is a Canada issue or a cohort
issue.   While I was employed at the Ontario Ministry of
Education, I was stunned to discover that every letter had
to be answered and signed by the Minister.  And of course, I
was the one that had to write the letter! We received very
few letters, even though parents were going bananas over
the state of the education system.  Perhaps they were afraid
they'd be swooped up in the night by the government.

Similarly, politicians work on the assumption that every
letter sent represents at least 100 other individuals.  So
you can understand my frustration when people who are
impacted by an issue do not follow through on things such as
letter writing.

The extent to which the Internet will be a successful
mobilization device will be the extent to which such
mobilizations are feasible at all. Why should we expect
that, for example, the Internet will help improve public
transportation, when individuals will not pick up a phone or
write a letter complaining about the level of service and/or
fare rises?

For me, reading Herzog by Saul Bellow while a graduate
student made me into a inveterate letter writer.


>
Dennis Raphael, Ph.D., C.Psych.
Associate Professor
University of Toronto
Division of Community Health
Faculty of Medicine
Department of Behavioural Science
McMurrich Building, Room 101
Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8
Tel: (416) 978-7567
Fax: (416) 978-2087
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]