Journals

[Guest]

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[IanAnderson]

Hey Guys,

I am a doing a research project on Kiva as an Internet community. I am exploring how Kiva serves to build communities both on- and offline. I have been lurking on the forum for a little while. A lot of the threads have answered some of the questions I have had. There is an amazing community starting to form here.

I just have one question for now. Do you guys use the journals at all? What purpose do you see them serving?

[Wood Fairy Glenda]

  Hi, Ian - I check the journals periodically just to see how people are doing.  I also check any messages anyone might have added to the initial statement (that the loan has been given  to the borrower) from the microlending group. Occasionally I write a message of good luck to the borrower, though I have no idea if it's ever conveyed to him or her.  I noticed one woman in Cornwall, England, wrote a message to a Samoan borrower, asking about fishing methods.  She stated that her husband used to be a commercial fisherman in England.  In other words, I just search out any trivial particle of information that may make me feel more personally connected to the people to whom I lend.

[Ari]

Hi Ian,

Are you a lender on Kiva?  I feel like I've seen your name somewhere.  I'd like to hear more about your on-/offline community research and I'm excited to be a part of the Kiva community!
In answer to your question, I don't really get the journals on Kiva    Sometimes I check the journal section and it can be interesting to read updates but what exactly are these things?  And what does the whole journal recommendation thing mean?  I guess I've never put in the time to grasp the idea behind the journals.

[Julia]

I go in and read the journals, but I don't read 'my lenders' journals at any higher frequency than the other journals.  I just like reading the stories and I think everyone is cool.  I like to read Spanish and French ones to practice.

I've never really been able to figure out how journals are recommended or how to search, etc.  I'd like to see more search functions, like searching by country or business or number of journal entries.

[IanAnderson]

Thanks for the responses.

To follow up, do you guys find yourselves visting the same journal over and over? They haven't fully developed the journal section, which seems to discourage engagement. I haven't really found a way to consistently check a businesses journal. They do offer an RSS feed. However, I haven't looked at it yet.

[Ari]

actually i've gone back to the same journal several times but not through the journal section.  I left a comment on two of my entrepreneurs journal/ profile, so I check to see if they or the loan rep has responded (they haven't).  I access their journal through my lender page, then click on the person's profile and scroll down to the updates.   Those are the journals right ?

[optimistic.bob]

Ian,

I have read the journals of the businesses where I am part of the lending group but been dissatisfied with content. I chalked it up to 'lost in translation'. Imagine that we are not only receiving information that has been filtered through the shift to english but also through the values of the translator. It also seems that these entires follow form ahead of personal stories (likely as a result of coaching from loan reps and inexperience in narrative  of borrowers). I don't want output measurments, I want personal first-person outcome stories.
I haven't returned to journals and agree that rss feed would be very helpful. I would never surf the 175 blogs that my aggregator does everyday but I do scan the Reader headlines and find lots of gems that I might have missed.
Thanks for the research, I am sure many would be interested in your results and  findings.

[Marley]

I started looking at the journals, just out of curiosity. I agree that they are confusing, and appreciate the reasons given above for the difficulty in interpreting them. Someone from inside Kiva would need to explain why they are the way they are, I think, for us to really get why they read the way they do. And each MFI probably has it's own set of conventions. For me, too, it's the individual's story that I'd find most rewarding.
I went to the back of the journal pages to see what the oldest entries looked like. I presume these are from the first loans made in Uganda, the ones mentioned in the Frontline video that I saw at the their website. Clients made final reports about how the loans had changed the circumstances of their lives and their businesses. The field agents would comment on how a business had impacted the community. Some of them were incredibly moving. One feature of how Kiva is doing thier journals is that they load the newest page as number 1, pushing each earlier page down. So every day the numbers can change. As I wrote in another thread, I made a Trailfire thread about Kiva, with several of these journal pages. To check it out, google Trailfire and look under the News section for "Loan $25, Change the World" if you'd like to see these entries. Sign up for an account for the pleasure of the Trailfire features; they're fun.
None of my loans has posted any journal entries yet. I have a suspicion that how these are done may look very different from different regions, MFISs and even field officers. I wonder if strong writing skills are common among the folks working as field officers. Isn't that what would be needed?

[Wood Fairy Glenda]

I just got an update on one of my borrowers from Ebony in Kenya (http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=comment&id=3969&ent=11387).  This is an example of precisely the type of "personal connection" I'm looking for when I decide to support some deserving person who needs my extra money for a while.  I hope that Ebony will continue this type of report and that other microlenders will do the same.

[Kevin]

Because I joined in March, many of the businesses I've lent to haven't started their loans and so there really isn't anything in their journals. If I can write in the language or know someone who can translate for me, I think I will make the effort to write at least one message to each of them. Otherwise, it seems that the journal is used only to update us on repayments. (Sometimes that can be quite a little drama: try reading the repayment journal of any business in Palestine.) I don't think we can quite expect the business owner to enter into a dialog with us, though.