How do Chinese NGOs integrate new technologies to their work? What are the biggest barriers for them to fully take advantage of new technologies? Are information communication technology(ICT) infrastructures still the barriers for grassroots NGOs? What type of assistance they might need to develop integrated practices of the internet to advance their causes? Aiming at answering these questions, NGO2.0 is launching our third ICT capacity survey!

(Scene of 2012 Chengdu Web2.0 Training Workshop, China)

The framework of this third survey is slightly different from the previous two: instead of focusing more on surveying their basic experience with the internet, we are more interested in how their use of the internet and social media can help them fulfill their purposes. Thus, typical questions we ask are no longer just about the frequencies of using particular internet products, for example, “How often do you use Weibo(Chinese Twitter)?” We are more curious about whether their can apply the technology to their purposes, so we ask questions such as “Have you ever used Weibo to interact with participants while you organize workshops or other activities?”

We decided to shift our framework because from our previous two survey results many NGOs respond that accessing to ICTs is no longer their first challenge. In terms of Internet usage, over 85% of the NGOs have their own computers and only 4% do not have Internet access. Over 90% have ADSL or Internet access of equivalent quality. In addition, through our interactions with Chinese NGO practitioners during Web2.0 training workshops this year, many of them request classes covering strategic use of social media and Weibo marketing.