Wider Gaps in a Smaller World
Here’s something that’s been puzzling me for a couple of weeks now, and maybe the morph gang can help me figure it out.
A few weeks ago, I released the announcement about the We Media Fellowships, which help underfunded nonprofit, academic and independent media to participate in the We Media Global Forum in May at the BBC and Reuters. We are pretty stretched around here, and the last thing we want is to wade through piles of information to select the fellowship recipients, so the application requirements were very simple and straightforward. Basically, we asked applicants to email me a short statement about why s/he wants to attend. There were some additional requirements, such as where in the email to put one’s name, title and organizational affiliation, putting “We Media Fellowship Application” in the subject line, and keeping the statement under 500 words. We also made it very clear that recipients would be responsible for obtaining their own visas and other travel documents – we just don’t have the resources to help with stuff like that, and anyway, the conference is not even in the US!
I posted the fellowship information on the blog, mentioned it in one of The Media Center’s occasional e-newsletters, and sent it across a few discussion lists. Before long, applications were pouring in from the far corners of the world, from as far away as Australia, Vietnam, Chile and Togo.
Now, I said in the announcement that any application that did not conform to our requirements EXACTLY would not be considered. I meant it at the time, but I don’t mean it anymore. Why? Because if I stick to the rules, close to 50 percent of the applicants would be disqualified, including students at prestigious universities, representatives of very worthy and even famous nonprofits, and struggling but cutting-edge media innovators – you know, the kind of very smart, accomplished people whose presence would really enrich the London gathering. So, when I start going through the applications in the next day or two to make the first cut, I will read the statements that run closer to 1,000 words than 500, forgive the misworded email subject boxes, even look through those applications that came past the deadline – like, waaay past the deadline! (BTW, I am really, absolutely NOT accepting any more applications, and anyone who tries to give me one will be turnd away, because the line has to be drawn somewhere!) I understand that people are busy and can’t pay as close attention as we’d like, but …
What do I make of the person who’s assuming a fellowship is already his just because he submitted an application, who followed up with emails expressing “shock” that I haven’t yet forwarded the necessary documents to confirm? Or the fellow who said, “Yes, thank you, I’ll take a fellowship. Now would you please send me letters of support and help me obtain a visa?” Or the person who used the morph blog to ask how to apply (don’t bother looking for it, I took it down), then went ahead and pasted his application in the comments section of the announcement post, right underneath the application instructions?!
We received quite a few applications like these, where the applicants don’t seem to have read the application directions at all. Many of these people are from pretty impoverished, isolated places, and I’m in awe of the fact that they accessed the Internet and found their way to The Media Center. I’m amazed that the Internet can clear away all the degrees of separation between me and people in some of the farthest reaches of the world whom I’ll never get to meet in real life. But while technology really has made the world a smaller place, Internet contact, such as my experience with these fellowship applicants, can also bring into focus some pretty huge gaps, cultural and otherwise, between people.
I understand that some of these applicants may not understand English very well, but “fellowship” was the hardest word in my announcement, and if they could understand that, why couldn’t they understand at least some of the instructions and follow them? I know that some of the applicants may not be very educated and may never have had any opportunity to experience much of the wider world, but why would they assume from a simple fellowship announcement that The Media Center – or anyone in fact – would just reach halfway around the globe and hand them the means to leave their country to attend a two-day conference in one of the most expensive cities in the world?
Even though my graduate studies focused on developing economies and I have visited quite a few over the years, I just don’t get it. My colleague, Andrew Bozek, suggested that some of the applicants live in places where instructions and rules are rarely ever carried out, so they are just culturally wired to ignore them. A part of me is fighting the suspicion that some of the applicants are related to Mr. Joseph Jones Smith – you know, the son of the assassinated prime minister of that oil-rich African nation who needs me to temporarily hold millions of dollars in my bank account for him.
I just don’t know and it bothers me: Because I cannot be forthright and open with such applicants and explain to each and every one what’s uniquely wrong with his or her application. Because some of the applications are so off the wall that I have to ignore them, and it’s against my nature to purposely ignore people who’ve taken the trouble to write a note and send it to me (though I do sometimes forget to get back to people when I’m very busy). Because some of the applicants actually should have the chance to attend an international meeting but can’t come to The Media Center’s because we just don’t have the resources to work it out for them and I feel bad about that.
So, everyone, please share your thoughts and insights about this. It really does bug me.
TAG: wemedia
Previous Comments
I don’t understand the problem? You made it clear that if someone didn’t follow the rules in submitting their application that they shouldn’t be considered. That shouldn’t change simply because (you think) the person has qualifications that seem to suggest they deserve the Fellowship. There are several criteria for obtaining the Fellowship. The applicant has to want it, they have to deserve, and they have to apply. There are lots of people who would want and deserve the Fellowship who may not have received your announcement — but we aren’t going to hold American Idol style cas
ting calls or go on an exhaustive search through college newspaper offices on campuses around the world in search of ‘the next great editor.’
I too find it frustrating the the folks who seem the smartest, and with the best qualifications, would be so careless. But it is the obligation of the applicant to follow the instructions as posted. No exceptions. You can email/call all the applicants who did not submit their information correctly and give them a second chance to re-submit. But it would be unfair to select someone for the Fellowship who did not apply properly over someone who did.
(And yes, i was deliberately trying to sound like The Ethicist from the New York Times – grin)
Gloria’s obligation here is first to her organization and second to the people who will be attending the We Media Global Forum. And the goal is to ceate the richest possible experience at that event. If she wants to consider the applications that don’t adhere to the rules….and she is doing this in order to benefit the ultimate goal of a great event…I say more power to her!
I agree that sometimes rules have to be followed to the letter, but I hate to hold small mistakes against very busy and accomplished people when they’re expending so much time and energy on other things, probably bigger things, which got them where they are in the first place and which got my attention. Only a robot can do everything perfectly every time, and only a mechanized process penalizes every time something happens outside the programmed options. Remembeer, to err is human… The fellowship instructions were designed to keep things as simple as possible, but if we can manage to review all the applications, as long as we review all of them, I think it’s still fair. If we were Columbia Univeristy and received unmanageable numbers, and we had a huge number of desirable conference participants (though this time we DID get a lot of great applicants) then we would rely on the rules to help cut down the numbers. But you know what? I daresay universities are actually pretty forgiving of small mistakes on college applications from very smart-but-only-eighteen year-old kids.
I think Gloria Plan is in a serious trouble in sortig out right applicants. Despite limited resources and so many problems she is currently facing to sort our deserving applicants to participate in the Forum, I suggest her to give priority to the applications from the global South.
Kiran Chapagain
The Kathmandu Post
Nepal
Gloria, a structured versus unstructured means of collection would be very helpful and would solve the problem. Your experience is consistent with ours. It would also help you to categorize, classify, and characterize the applications much faster. With infinite choices of method, even given directions a high percentage of the population will not follow the direction, whether in the US or offshore.
Kim, yes, a structured means of collection would absolutely solve all the issues I talked about. And if we ever get to the point where our events are so famous that fellowship applications run in the thousands rather than the humble hundreds, that will be the way to go. But one disadvantage I see in using a collection mechanism is that applicants would be filling in forms rather than sending an email to someone; the sense that the information is actually going to real people rather than an impersonal organizational entity would be gone. For now, it’s still possible for The Media Center to put a “human face” on our communications, in this case, mine. 🙂
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if some of the misguided applicants are victims of an Internet game of “operator.” Since they’re just sending you an email instead of filling out an online form, they might not be responding directly to your original post. Perhaps they are responding to another blog post pointing to it, or several degrees of separation away to a post that says “hey, there’s this lady giving away free trips to London.” It’s sort of like when we got all those comments that said “Joel I love you!” on my post about the blog written by Joel Madden from Good Charlotte. Somewhere out there is a fan site with a link that says “comment here to send a message to Joel.”
And, some people just get kinda goofy when stuff is being given away. Something about a contest or giveaway alters some people’s thought processes in frightening ways, often giving them a false sense of entitlement. Work in a radio promotions department for a couple of weeks and you’ll see what I mean!!!!