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 Are we as health promoters using outdated techniques?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]