Dave A. Chakrabarti wrote:
>>Actually, Don, it's being argued that much of the rioting was
instigated by blog postings and other technology-driven innovations
on the part of the youth involved, ranging from mass-SMS to a giant
blog site run by a radio station (will have to find the link for
this).
An excellent point! I had wanted to bring it up, but just couldn't
find the way to verbalize this appropriately. Thanks, Dave, for doing
so. Indeed, technology has played a very big role in "organizing"
youth in the riots in France. I've also wondered what role myth/urban
legend has played in the tensions there (I recall hearing some
whoppers after the acquital of the police in the Rodney King beating
that were spreading on the streets without benefit of SMS; I can only
imagine what would have happened if technology had been "better" back
then).
A few years ago, I wrote a paper for the United Nations Information
Technology Service (UNITeS) on the use of hand held networking tech
in volunteer-related efforts, and I touched on the phenom of cell
phones used to organize demonstrations.
http://www.unites.org/Html/Resource/unites/unites0.htm
I included this caution: "Musician and U.S.A. Green Party activist
Jello Biafra noted in an article on Zdnet.Uk: 'Be careful of the
information gossip you get on the Internet, too. For example, late in
1997 I discovered out on the Internet that I was dead.'"
Ofcourse, no one is advocating that youth NOT have access to
networking technologies. This is just an acknowledgement that such
technology isn't *always* used for "good." What implications this has
for community tech/digital divide efforts? Dave brought up some
possible scenarios to consider in this regard. What immediately comes
to my mind is a need for media literacy training to always accompany
networking tech training.
(and on the subject of urban legends/myth interfering with relief and
development efforts, I'm gathering examples of such, and how such are
addressed, here:
http://www.coyotecommunications.com/development/folklore.html).
--
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Jayne Cravens
Bonn, Germany
Services for Mission-Based Orgs
www.coyotecommunications.com
Open University Development Studies
www.coyotecommunications.com/development
Contact me
www.coyotecommunications.com/contact.html
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