Ooh, look at Christian Aid. They’ve launched a new site called Ctrl.Alt.Shift, which describes itself as “a community for passionate and outspoken individuals, joined in the fight against poverty and injustice”. Why it’s good:
(1) it looks gorgeous – really fresh design and layout;
(2) it’s clearly trying to move towards a more engaged and participative approach;
(3) Christian Aid have internalised the lesson that making the conversation happen is more important than getting the credit for being the host: the only reference to Christian Aid on the whole site is on the About page; and best of all…
(4) It’s really edgy. Rather than the usual stuff about ‘more and better aid’ etc. – yawn – it focuses on issues like the cocaine trade or ladyboys in Thailand. Indeed, such is the site’s edginess that it even has a partnership with Vice magazine, who are about as far from being the sort of organisation you’d expect Christian Aid to have as a buddy as you can possibly imagine. (I exaggerate not: Vice’s website currently sports a how-to guide on anal sex as its top story. Christian Aid – who knew?)
