hi Alan,
since 2012 we've been engaged in a number of open tech / open knowledge
initiatives in the recently formed Republic of South Sudan. When clashes
broke out in the capital Juba in December 2013 we saw how social media
(not just FB) was being used to aggravate and fuel the conflict. Early
on in 2014 we warned that in South Sudan FB could become the first
social media platform through which a genocide may be carried out. We
had briefings with UNMISS and other peacebuiliding agencies involved
locally, but the notion seemed too abstract and beyond the scope of most
to deal with ... until the mechanisms through which social media
impacted the conflict became clearer (especially after violence broke
out again in 2016). In 2015 we received a grant to help develop
strategies (combining both grass-roots awareness and media literacy
training with online diaspora interaction) to help mitigate this
situation. The initiative, #defyhatenow, is now active in a number of
locations in South Sudan and amongst South Sudanese communities in
diaspora, exile and refugee contexts including the rapidly growing
refugee settlements in Uganda. In a couple of weeks we'll be publishing
a first comprehensive 'Social Media Hate Speech Mitigation Field Guide',
which is basically atool kit for trainers, community leaders and
activists that includes a detailed resource manual, thematic posters,
flash cards, exercises and a USB stick with accompanying multi-media
resources (and licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution-ShareAlike
4.0 International License). An online version will be available in a few
months, replacing the current project website (defyhatenow.net).
There are other organisations and initiatives working on similar issues,
including 'early warning / early response' (see, for example the work of
Susan Benesch - dangerousspeech.org, Peace Tech Lab or the Waayama
platoform in Nigeria: earlywarningnigeria.org). Of course none of these
things can completely eradicate the conflicts, but they can mobilise,
inform and sensitize communities, leaders, diaspora to counter the
conflict influencers - and have impact.
greetings,
Stephen
On 22.04.2018 06:32, Alan Sondheim wrote:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/21/world/asia/facebook-sri-lanka-riots.html
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