TIGblogs TIG | TIGblogs GROUP TIGBLOGS LOGIN SIGNUP
What I mean is....
What I mean is....
« previous 5


Interview with Dr. Stephen Coleman
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

I found this really cool interview with Dr. Coleman, a professor of Political Communication and Director of Research at the University of Leeds, that was posted as part of this E-Festival I am a pannelist for. (Interesting fact: Dr. Coleman was actually my professor at the University of Leeds when I did an exchange program during my undergrad! And he was awesome!)

In the interview Dr. Coleman gives a good description of what e-participation is, its implications with politics and more, I recommend giving it a listen:

part 1: http://www.vibewire.net/efestival/videos/efestival-professor-stephen-coleman/
Part 2: http://www.vibewire.net/efestival/videos/efestival-professor-stephen-coleman-part-2/

April 11, 2008 | 11:38 PM Comments  1 comments

Tags:


If E-participation is a utopian dream then I say dream on!
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

A lot of people say that e-participation in democracy and global issues is a utopian dream, that online participation is not really meaningful participation that makes a difference. It may be a utopian dream but it makes a difference, I know this because I see the difference everyday here at TIG, I see how the dream has affected me and my daily life and I know how I have affected the people, my family and friends, around me.

Currently I am taking part in the E-festival of Ideas http://www.vibewire.net/ and am a panellist for a forum titled "E-participation: fad or future." I just wanted to share my response to a post that was in a thread about e-inclusivness that stated “Ideas of e-participation and democracy are utopian dreams. Modern Western technology is profoundly shaped by 'digital capitalism' privileging narrow goals of production and profit over genuine human development. This has not shown any signs of changing. The internet and technology in general are the ‘cause and effect’ of capitalist expansion. A capitalist society means there will always be a leading market supported, demanded even, by the wealthy. For this reason divides will be perpetuated. Then again, you never know. Maybe one day everybody will have a computer, like everybody has a bed today? Oh wait...”

Here is my response:

A world without people believing in their utopian dreams sounds pretty empty to me, after all without these utopian dreams the world would have never experienced great historical figures like Martin Luther King Jr. or Ghandi. By pursing those dreams a lot of positive things can be accomplished even if the dream is never fully realized, as the saying goes “reach for the moon, even if you miss you will be among the stars.”

I feel that e-participation and democracy are gaining popularity (or else we wouldn’t be having this online discussion in the first place!) Even the act of us participating in this E-festival is a sign of times changing, in fact by participating we are ‘demanding’ to have a space where this kind of dialogue can exist considering that in our daily lives we are consumers too. Even 'the capitalists' are joining in on the act with sites such as Think.MTV.com Other sites such as TakingITGlobal.org (a not-for profit charity) has grown to over 190,000 members from all over the world. As the office manager at TakingITGlobal I receive phone calls from people from Nigeria to Italy to Canada so I find it hard to believe that people around the world aren’t demanding a space where they can get involved in global issues.

I understand that there is a digital divide but e-participation and democracy also means engaging those who have access to equipment and technology but are just not active or interested. Social networks are growing incredibly fast; as of July 10, 2007 Facebook reached 30 million members! So there have to be people (or consumers-which ever way you want to look at it) who could potentially be involved in e-participation related to democracy if only it was more appealing and interesting and I think that creating more interactive and engaging sites is one of many avenues to do this. I realize that interactive websites aren’t going to be the mother of all solutions to this challenge and that many critics will say that this kind of participation isn’t really meaningful participation, I still think that the mere exposure to e-participation in global issues and democracy is a good start to get youth thinking about the world around them, a world that they are becoming even more connected because of our informational society. By reaching out, networks, interest and demand will start to grow and not-for-profits and companies alike will notice and respond to this trend and hopefully more resources can be allocated to bridge the digital divide.

It is really important to try and focus on the things that we can do and not on the things we can’t; the world is such an imperfect place that focusing on the negative would be absolutely overwhelming. We forget that small things make a difference too especially if we do them together and while doing the small things may seem tedious at times it is then we need to remember our utopian dream, a dream that is a source of hope and inspiration for us to continue to do positive work.

April 11, 2008 | 10:35 PM Comments  1 comments



« previous 5


Jo Anne's Profile

Jo Anne's Friends


Latest Posts
Blog Action Day 2008
Children and Youth...
Children and Youth...
Interview with Dr....
If E-participation is...

Monthly Archive
May 2007
April 2008
August 2008
October 2008

Change Language


Tags Archive
aids aidsconference blogactionday blogactionday2008 eparticipation hiv mexicoyouthforce myf08 youthforce

Filter By Type
Events
Travel
Topics

Friends
Aiden Abram
Caustan De Riggs
ceren
Chiara C.
Christine
Dan
Donna
Emily
Emily Briggs
Francisco Pereira
François Godonou
Heather Girling
Ilan Tsekhman
Incia Zaffar
Jennifer Corriero
Jesse Jennings
Joanne Diep
Kimia
LauraK
Livs
Madelaine Hamilton
Mai
Mehrdad Nadimi
Michael Furdyk
Michael Jacko
Muqing
Nabil Chemli
Nathaniel Cyrus Yue-Kiu Chan
Nick Yeo
Nigel A
Ricardo Baruch
Sam
Susheela
Todd Fraser
Yasmary Mora


5959 views
Important Disclaimer