“In a war, the normal codes of civilized behavior are suspended. It would be unthinkable in so called normal life, to go into someone’s home, where the family is grieving over the death of a loved one, and spend long moments photographing them. It simply wouldn’t be done.”

In 2009, the founders of Collective Lens will travel to Africa, the Middle East, and Asia to showcase the cultures, issues, and charitable organizations of third world countries. No matter where you live, there are many stereotypes and assumptions about other cultures that often prohibit one’s ability to make a personal connection. By showing the differences and similarities between cultures, we believe that more people will be encouraged to reach out to their neighbors across the globe.

To survive in this economy, nonprofit organizations will need to find alternative solutions to maintain operations. Here are five reasons why utilizing virtual volunteers will help you survive today’s global economic “crisis”.

We’re on Twitter, and here are some interesting links from our contacts.

Links from around the web relating to photography and social change

Wednesday, October 15th is Blog Action Day. This year’s theme is poverty. If you have a blog, you can join thousands of others in promoting awareness of poverty around the globe.

Volunteer recruitment has never been so easy, if you pay attention to the details. This article presents a four step process for professionals and ordinary citizens who want to learn a simple and effective method for recruiting and organizing volunteers for their cause.

During the recent post-election riots in Kenya, bloggers and other “citizen journalists” began an online project to map the locations of attacks and violent outbreaks, and Ushahidi.com was born

Some tips and advice on why nonprofits and NGOs should be using photography to promote their causes.

Social Actions, which aggregates social actions and campaigns from various nonprofits, has released an AdWords-style widget which you can place on your website to recommend various causes, volunteer opportunities, and organizations to become involved with.