poverty level, for example – or to examine more specific facets of the community’s physical, social, or
economic character. Some possibilities:
•
The age, nature, and condition of the community’s available housing
•
Infrastructure needs – roads, bridges, streetlights, etc.
•
The presence or absence of functioning businesses and industrial facilities
•
The location, condition, and use of public spaces
•
The amount of activity on the streets at various times of the day, week, or year
•
The noise level in various parts of the community
•
The amount and movement of traffic at various times of day
•
The location and condition of public buildings – the city or town hall, courthouse, etc.
Tool 9:
Building online communities
When to use
Purpose
Time
Resources
Stages 2 - 4
Enable access to a community
when physical access is difficult
or impossible
Various
Appropriate hard- and soft-ware
What is an online community?
As with any community defined in this Guide, an online community is a virtual space where people
come together because of shared interests, concerns, identities, purpose, or beliefs. They mirror a
physical community but in a digital world. In a HRCLD context, these online communities work together
to identify their priority human rights issues, and to plan and implement ways of addressing them.
Types of Online Communities
1. Public social networks: Public social networks are online communities that only require someone
to have an account to be part of the community – such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
and TikTok. In these communities, there aren’t many guidelines or restrictions about who joins the
community.
2. Private online communities: Private online communities require membership. Participants are
required to have the right credentials (experience, common interests, location, etc.) to have access
to the community. Imagine facilitating HRCLD with a community of young disabled people in your
country, or with the employees of a company, or a regional community of SOGIESC actors?
Usually a HRCLD community would be private – open to community members only. However, depending
on the human rights priorities of the community and the outcomes it wishes to achieve, it may use a
mixed model including public social networks to progress its work.
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