Skinkers, communication you can't miss

Skinkers, the leader in desktop alert technology, and humanitarian news portal Reuters AlertNet have joined forces to launch an emergency information service that will ensure breaking news reaches the world's humanitarian relief community. Called AlertNet Desktop Alerts, the new service uses sophisticated desktop alert technology from Skinkers to create a high priority information delivery channel that circumvents e-mail overload.

Designed to cut through email inbox clutter, the alerts appear on registered users' PC screens as soon as important information breaks, whether or not they are on the AlertNet website at the time. All AlertNet desktop alerts carry a brief summary of the breaking news, provide a web page click-through option for further information, and automatically disappear when the information is no longer current. Free-of-charge to AlertNet Member Organisations, the desktop alert service can be used to share humanitarian relief information with NGOs in the field as well as subscribing members of the general public.

Mark Jones, Editor of AlertNet, comments: "Feedback from our users shows us that they don't have time to scour the news in full and filter out the information they need to get to in a hurry. Staff from NGOs can become overloaded with information; these desktop alerts allow us to immediately highlight key news. By flashing straight on to the desktop, we can cut through email clutter, make messages more relevant and engaging, and help humanitarian relief agencies to act faster."

Faith Mall, Communications Officer, HelpAge International UK comments: "AlertNet's desktop alerts are really useful to me. The fact that the icon flashes up on screen and give you the choice whether to go further or not, means that they are informative without being intrusive, giving me choice of whether to read the story."

Christina Schmalenbach, Oxfam Humanitarian Officer for East Asia comments: "Like many people I am suffering from information overload, all the time working to stay on top of emails coming in - AlertNet's desktop alerts are very helpful as they jump out at me and can't be ignored."

Rob Noble, Chief Operations Officer at Skinkers says: "In a disaster situation, it's vital that charity and relief organisations can quickly share vital news and information with field workers in remote corners of the world. Recent research has proved that Skinkers news alerts can increase the visibility of important information by up to 400%. Leading commercial news organisations already use our desktop alert technology to reliably distribute breaking news, so we are delighted to be working with Reuters AlertNet to support its work in the not-for-profit sector.

Reuters AlertNet can be downloaded from www.alertnet.org.