pc4women: livejournal and the Peace Corps

ragingamazon (

ragingamazon) wrote in

pc4women,
@ 2006-11-30 16:03:00

livejournal and the Peace Corps
Hi guys,

So I leave for service in Thailand on January 8th, and I have what might be the stupidest issue regarding peace corps service...should I friends lock my entire lj? On the one hand I don't care...I am very open about who and what I am and believe that hiding things hurts people and does more harm than good. On the other hand peace corps seems pretty concerned with its image and the image volunteers present. While I certainly wouldn't post a rant about my host country or something embarrassing about the peace corps in a public post, do I need to friends lock existing entries?

How have you guys dealt with this in service? Has anyone had issues with blogs or personal websites in the peace corps, or do they really only care about what you say about them?

(Post a new comment)

malwae
2006-11-30 09:22 pm UTC (link)

Yes, lock it. Peace Corps maintains that it owns everything you create, write, design, or communicate during your service. They also maintain the right to kick you out if you reveal too much information about where you are posted, your work, etc.

This has come up before for volunteers; those who had read restrictions on their blog aren't considered in violation of PC policy; also, a locked blog is not as accessible to PC staff.

Keep in mind though that if you use the computers at the Peace Corps office, they maintain the right to monitor everything you do on those machines, and if they are anything like the Uzbek office, they do keep pretty close tabs on everything you write on office machines and every website you go to. If you want to blog, do it from an internet cafe.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

christine
2006-12-01 05:04 am UTC (link)

Locking it isn't bad advice... it's a good better-safe-than-sorry measure, and will prevent you from getting any unwanted attention. But you can probably also maintain a mixed security journal easily, as long as you're being careful about what information is public, and what is protected.

Here is PCs official blog policy, garnered using the FoIA: http://peacecorpsjournals.com/rules.html. It's basically "you're welcome to maintain a blog/personal website, but you should do so with cultural sensitivity, discretion for private information/etc/etc". They don't care if you have a blog/website, but if you do, they want to know about it, and they want to make sure you're well, playing nice.

There are definitely serious repercussions if you post information which is unflattering to the PC/your community/your country/etc. But really, that's not that different than if you were to mouth off at work at a regular job, only to have your boss come across it.

But on the other hand, many many volunteers do maintain public blogs, and they're amazingly interesting, and helpful, and help fulfill the third goal of the PC. And that's a fantastic resource. As an applicant, I've spent many hours reading blogs of volunteers placed in the region I'm nominated for. And I think that makes me a more mentally/emotionally prepared for what I'm putting myself into for it. It's not like the blogs out there represent the PC as all butterflies, sunshine and moondust... it's just a line that you have to be careful about.

Malwae is definitely right about the PC computers though... as you'll see if you read through that whole memo that I linked to, PC uses activity logging software to keep track of what people are using the comps for... so I wouldn't write any sensitive emails/blogs/anything on a PC computer.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	christine 2006-12-01 05:05 am UTC (link)
	Whoops... I meant to make this it's own comment instead of a reply to yours.. .but hi anyway :P (Reply to this) (Parent)

Totally off subject

davina02
2006-12-01 06:04 am UTC (link)

This is totally off topic but I am a RPCV (I was in Moldova) and am heading off to Cambodia on January 8th for a 6 month field work as part of grad school. I was hoping at some point to hook up with some RPCVs in Thailand so I can visit the country. Could I get your email... that way when I want to head over you can at least point me in the direction of who might be in my area? You can send me a message at claredavina at gmail dot com. Thanks!

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	Re: Totally off subject ragingamazon 2006-12-28 04:06 am UTC (link)
	Hey, sorry it took me so long to get back to you. My email is ragingamazon @ gmail.com. I will be in Thailand by mid January and will do my best to answer any questions or point you at someone who can. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	do you want your CD to read your blog? ticklethepear 2006-12-01 08:59 am UTC (link)
	My husband works for PC/Burkina Faso, and in conversation with the country director, she mentioned that she reads Burkina PCVs' blogs. Just as a heads up. (Reply to this)

	adri_nwnderland 2006-12-01 10:03 am UTC (link)
	It depends on how intense your country director is. I try to post anything not trivial as friends only. Many of my friends dont have an account to i post travel stuff publicly, but its better safe than sorry in this case. (Reply to this)

arandomparadox
2006-12-01 02:00 pm UTC (link)

Here's some extra information that I've gathered while trying to make that decision myself:

This started wayyy back in the early days of the PC, when a group was training at a university in an African country (Kenya I think?). At the time, there was a strong anti-imperialism movement in the progressive youth of the country, and they already had mixed feelings about the PC there. One young female volunteer dropped a postcard (?) to her boyfriend before she mailed it, and some students found it. She didn't think what she had written was objectionable at the time --although this was the 1960s/70s. She wrote that she loved it, but it was a big adjustment, and something about "primitive technology" I think. At any rate, the students were VERY upset and started protesting and harrassing the trainees. They had to leave, or at the very least, I believe the girl who wrote it was kicked out and had to make a public apology.

The point of this is, that while most mail may not be searched anymore, blogs are easy to find. If you have a frustrating day, or even if you don't think what you're writing is bad, someone may take it a different way than you intended it. There have been numerous instances of HCNs or PC staffers finding objectionable comments in blogs in recent years that have caused problems for certain volunteers or their country's PC program as a whole. It can do a suprising amount of damage. Part of it is the PC's image, but part of it is your personal safety (there are many people who shouldn't know exactly where to find you) and/or your ability to make a difference to the people you live with. Find the thirdgoal site; it's by a volunteer who had just that problem, and he was admin seperated. He started the site as a way to give other volunteers a safer means to anonymously express their true feelings about serving in the PC, negative or positive.

So as the end result of this, I am putting up the disclaimer recommended by the PC on my livejournal and myspace accounts, but I'm locking up pretty much everything anyways. A month before I leave, I've told family and friends that I will send an email asking who would like to be included in occaisional email updates on what I am doing. I'm going to post the same things, and possibly more, in my livejournal as friends-only. I've also seen lots of people make Yahoo groups for their families/friends, so they can allow certain people to join and see what they write, then comment back. Not a bad setup either!

So give it some more thought, and see what you think.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	swiss_chard 2006-12-02 03:11 am UTC (link)
	The full story of the postcard incident can be found here. It's actually quite interesting - http://www.peacecorpswriters.org/pages/2000/0001/001pchist.html. It happened in Nigeria actually. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	arandomparadox 2006-12-02 03:26 am UTC (link)
	Oh! Thanks, I wasn't sure where I had read the story. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	marniequa 2006-12-03 10:38 pm UTC (link)
	I kept a PC LJ while I was serving for my friends and family to read. I never had any trouble with it (even though I held little back and wrote whatever I wanted to), but I did hear of another PCV who had to change his blog address numerous times because he got in trouble a couple times for the things he said. He never really had to deal with any consequences though... (Reply to this)

(Anonymous)
2006-12-16 01:33 pm UTC (link)

depends on your PC director/country. there are countries where the reputation of the volunteers is important (like muslim countries) and the director wouldn't want the pc reputation to be ruined because a volunteer complained about a counterpart or mentioned that they went out drinking with other volunteers. you probably wouldn't be able to complain about PC rules, either, in case your director reads blogs (mine does). it's good to be open, but not where PC is concerned. if you don't want to lock it then don't put anything too negative about anything, just send those comments through mass e-mails.

(Reply to this)

	paris327 2006-12-26 04:03 am UTC (link)
	a question I have is how DO your directors find your blog? Do you have to tell them what your blog address is? (Reply to this)

Username:		Create an Account Forgot your login or password? Login w/ OpenID
Password:
	Remember Me
	English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…

About

Help

Get Involved

Legal

Store

LJ Labs