Social media for political good

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Doc

In my treatment of online social media for social good in previous blog posts, I have touched upon the use of these online social platforms to promote communication for social change as witnessed in what we now call the Arab Spring, to galvanize interest and participation in charitable works, such as with a foundation to help young girls in Liberia to be lifted from poverty through education, and to promote spiritual and religious good by bands that are part of a global Christian youth revival movement that are using the rock concert venue to create a worship experience.

I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the power of online social media and social networking for social good in politics, in this case as witnessed by the rise of candidate Ron Paul who has been largely shunned by traditional media.

In the relatively short span since the defining of the Republican field of candidates and the first political caucus to choose a front-runner, Ron Paul has defied the predictions of naysayers in the traditional media and surfaced as a serious contender on the eve of the Iowa caucus.

That’s not to say that he was absent from participating in nationally broadcast debates and interviews or from newspaper and magazine coverage, but the tenure of followup coverage has seemed to this observer as dismissive or absent relative to the other candidates.

Nor is he free from attacks in online social media on his position and character as witnessed by a flurry of negative tweets and blog posts leading up to the Iowa caucus, seemingly increasing with his rising position in the polls. To experience a robust exchange of ideas – both supportive and detracting, type Ron Paul in the twitter.com search field or click on the following link:

http://twitter.com/#!/search/Ron%20Paul

His unique position on libertarian and constitutional grounds has garnered both followers and detractors, largely on the basis of his frank revelation of his positions on a wide array of political and social issues.

However, his meteoric and unanticipated political prominence speaks also to the robust activity and influence that social media and social networking are assuming in the political sphere and the groundswell of discontent with traditional politics and politicians.

Having said all this, I will admit to being a largely uninvolved and relatively uniformed follower of things political, but when I observed his rise despite this biased treatment, I became interested in his candidacy and his rising position in light of these non-traditional online social platforms of communication.

In August 2011, I expressed this in a tweet that captured my emerging interest: “I rarely talk politics, but two words capture my interest – mainly because these words are shunned by media & political parties: #Ron #Paul”

Since then, I have followed Ron Paul’s tweet stream and noticed that I was in good company in terms of this insight and interest:

http://twitter.com/#!/ronpaul

My latest check of his campaign Web site reveals a groundswell of individually conducted online donations that have already exceeded his initial goal of $4 million and is quickly approaching $6 million as of the date of this blog entry.

http://www.ronpaul2012.com/

A row of icons at the top of his Web site confirms his robust use of online social media and social networking. Clicking on them brings you to his youtube.com channel, facebook.com page, and twitter stream where you can subscribe and follow the latest news and get involved in his campaign.

http://www.youtube.com/ronpaul

http://www.facebook.com/ronpaul

Would all this use of online social media and social networking make this kind of difference for other candidates?

I think not – in absence of a clear position as a dark horse in a field of traditional politicos endorsed by traditional media and a unique and consistent position on political, economic, and social concerns that resonate with a groundswell of discontent with politics as usual.

No matter the outcome, I believe that the effectiveness of online social media and social networking in support of Ron Paul provides the clearest indicator of its growing power and use in the future of our political system – politics for social good.

Who knows, we may be inching closer to changes in the political party system and its “behind closed doors” operations, and sowing seeds of greater public representation of voter expression – even transforming the process more directly to “one-person, one-vote” online voting.

We can hope, can’t we?

Your comments on the use of these online platforms for social and political good are welcome in reply.

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Make a joyful noise

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Doc

Psalms 98:4 “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth; make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.”

In my treatment of online social media for social good in previous blog posts, I have touched upon the use of these online social platforms to promote communication for social (and political) change as witnessed in what we now call the Arab Spring. I have also addressed how social media and social networking can help to galvanize interest and participation in charitable works, such as with a foundation to help young girls in Liberia to be lifted from poverty through education.

In my widening scope of enquiry, I have also discovered the use of social media and social networking platforms such as youtube.com, twitter.com, and facebook.com to promote spiritual and religious good, in this case by bands that are part of a global Christian youth revival movement that are using the rock concert venue to create a worship experience in which the audience can express their praise and worship to the source of their faith and joy.

To share an example of this use of social media, I compiled four youtube video segments as a playlist on my youtube channel in what appeared to be a sequential recording of the actual event flow of a performance by Jesus Culture at their Awakening conference in Chicago in August, 2011.

I have presented a link to the music performance of “We are hungry” and the remaining videos. These four video segments in the playlist constitute an integral part of this musical worship and the spontaneous and lengthy response from the audience expressing their joy and praise.

http://www.youtube.com/docteled#p/c/C036B848649160CC/3/qebCk1uGut0

On their youtube channel and twitter stream (see links below), they share videos from their performances, instrumental performance tips, and/or information about upcoming events.

And here is a video segment created and uploaded by two attendees who capture the performance from the audience perspective and describe their experience:

I welcome your comments on this music-based revival movement and the use of social media and social networking as a tool for its communication with a global reach.

Many thanks for your comments and best wishes for a blessed and joyful new year!

Doc

Jesus Culture Youtube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/jesusculture/

Jesus Culture on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/#!/jesusculture

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The Heart and Soul of Social Networking

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Doc

Amid our ethical concerns about the downside of computer technology in general and social networking in particular, I celebrate the example that people provide in their charitable work, especially in how that work is helped by leveraging the power of many through social networking and social media.

In an article by Bob Braun in The Star Ledger (see online article link below), I became aware of Katie Meyler, who has devoted herself to helping young girls in Liberia out of poverty through education. Katie founded the More Than Me foundation to provide support for this work.

To highlight how social networking and social media can be used to promote a positive ethical purpose, I wanted to share her example and invite your comments on her work and how we can use these online platforms for social good.

Here are some links to her charitable work on the More Than Me Foundation Web site:

http://morethanme.org/founders-story/

http://morethanme.org/speaking-engagements/

And here are some videos that describe Katie’s work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IodJOwiaz4A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYL7_QcbwGQ&feature=player_embedded#!

I welcome your comments about how we can transform the nature of charitable work and giving through social networking and social media.

Thanks for sharing,

Doc

Bob Braun’s article about Katie in The Star Ledger via nj.com:

http://blog.nj.com/njv_bob_braun/2011/11/braun_homeless_somerset_county.html

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Working memory: recognizing our cognitive limits

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Doc

Working memory and chunking – without understanding these vital concepts in human terms, we cannot design information systems interfaces that will work with people’s ability to retain only so much at one time in memory. If the interface does not communicate changing statuses and provide other memory support, most people will sit and stare at the computer and try to remember what to do next.

I became aware of this research literature in the first semester of my doctoral studies in cognitive science with the early published work of George Miller and other cognitive scientists.

When I began reading the first paragraph of his foundational article on this topic, I was enthralled by the way he posed it as a personal dilemma.

“My problem is that I have been persecuted by an integer. For seven years this number has followed me around, has intruded in my most private data, and has assaulted me from the pages of our most public journals. This number assumes a variety of disguises, being sometimes a little larger and sometimes a little smaller than usual, but never changing so much as to be unrecognizable. The persistence with which this number plagues me is far more than a random accident. There is, to quote a famous senator, a design behind it, some pattern governing its appearances. Either there really is something unusual about the number or else I am suffering from delusions of persecution.”

If you are as fascinated by this leading paragraph, I invite you to click on the link below to read what follows and share your comments on how this constraint can affect the way we use information and instructional systems and how we should design them with this limit in mind.

Enjoy,

Doc

The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two

Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information

George A. Miller

Psychological Review © by the American Psychological Association

Vol. 101, No. 2, 343-352

http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/users/peterson/psy430s2001/Miller%20GA%20Magical%20Seven%20Psych%20Review%201955.pdf

Posted in cognition, content management, human factors in information systems design, information architecture, instructional design, knowledge management, learner experience, management of information systems and technology, user experience, user-centered design | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Collaborative reasoning with a social strategy

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Doc

In my previous posts on the value of mental and physical models, I suggested that it is the dialog that we create between these two types of reasoning that helps us tackle the discovery of what is novel and complex:

What Hubble 3D teaches us about model-based reasoning

A mental model of the customer, user, and learner experience

In the field of physical science, an excellent example of this process is illustrated in the Watson and Crick discovery of the double helix structure of DNA. They achieved this daunting task (in part) by building the right kind of physical model from which to test their thinking (mental model) and use this model-based reasoning to validate their hypotheses and make a breakthrough discovery about the nature of life.

However, as we examine the fuller historical record of this event, another vital dynamic in the process of discovery emerges: the value of collaborative reasoning.

It is the underlying social mechanism behind all great discoveries. It derives its benefits from the cooperation and sharing of ideas between people studying the same problem to find a solution.

However, in science as in most of human endeavors, people do not always cooperate, but rather compete and obtain valuable insights from the work of others – sometimes without their permission.

Although this is clearly an ethical and legal issue, much of the end result of collaboration derives from some blend of cooperation and competition.

Looking deeper into the context of Watson and Crick’s “discovery,” there were at least two other people searching for this answer who contributed to their breakthrough in understanding the true chemical and physical structure of DNA in ways that cannot be solely reduced to their brilliant use of mental and physical model-based reasoning.

Linus Pauling was the first to publish a paper on the structure of DNA, but he attributed the structure to a triple helix structure radiating around a sugar phosphate backbone. However, Crick recognized his error in chemistry in which all of these parts of the structure were negatively-charged and would repel each other.

Rosalind Franklin, another scientist working on this problem using the technology of x-ray crystallography produced photographic evidence of this helical structure, but only in the x-shaped image of a two-dimensional view.

One of these images was shown by one of her colleagues (without her permission) to Watson who then showed it to Crick. Crick, with his background in crystallography, recognized it as representing a double-helical structure and that is what propelled them to test this data using mental and physical models.

Here is an excellent video produced by Virginia Commonwealth University that tells this fuller story:

Rather than refuse to acknowledge it (with all of its ethical and legal ramifications), we need to acknowledge and incorporate this social factor into our own work in the “discovery” process – whether we are discovering a solution to a problem in science, solving a business problem, or the design of an informational or instructional system that meets the needs of its users.

Here’s where the technologies we call social networking and social media can support this collaborative discovery process. Perhaps we will see corresponding development of vertical software solutions that address this objective using these technologies, but in the meantime, there are plenty of opportunities to “re-purpose” existing social networking and social media to achieve a similar function.

As comments in reply, I welcome your thoughts about the value of collaborative reasoning in discovery and design and the use of these technologies to support our reasoning process.

Doc

Posted in blogs for research, collaborative computing, conducting research online, content management, human factors in information systems design, information ethics, innovation, instructional design, management of information systems and technology, social media, social networking, strategic management of technology innovation, user experience, user-centered design | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The “How To” of Mental Representations

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Doc
YouTube Preview Image

Isaac Bashevis Singer “Who knows?”

Whether it is walking across the street or browsing Web sites on the Internet, we need to know “how” to do something to be able to successfully navigate and perform tasks. Of course, we can and do learn how to perform many novel tasks from scratch, but much of what we do are familiar tasks carried out with few if any changes to our normal way of doing it.

We rely on a certain kind of mental representation of that task domain – one that is procedural and can guide us step by step through it. This type of mental representation is the goal of training and is refined through practice.

But what happens when you are confronted with an entirely new task domain, but you don’t know that and instead assume it is a familiar one? That is where our mental representations can cause confusion or even danger in certain circumstances.

As designers of software, Web sites, or any other type of environment where users interact in a procedural manner to accomplish tasks, we need to understand the nature of this type of mental representation and make sure we support its development to meet the needs of each user in such a manner (e.g., user-centered design) that they can transfer and translate their understanding across similar task domains, such as designing an operating system or word processing interface in a way that promotes bridging of prior knowledge and experience.

To have some fun with this important concept and try to identify it in the context of customer experience, let’s consider the case of a person who can’t make sense of a restaurant setting and winds up not being served.

There is a story about Isaac Bashevis Singer, the Nobel Prize-winning Polish-born author, who upon emigrating to New York City in the mid-20th century came upon a restaurant and sat down waiting for his first meal in the US.

He waited quite a while, all along noticing that many waiters and waitresses were busily walking by his table with trays of food destined for other tables, but no one stopped to take his order.

Out of desperation, he grabbed the arm of one of these people and demanded that his order was taken.

It was only then that Isaac learned that his type of mental representation was inappropriate for explaining how things worked in this restaurant.

Now given that this story takes place in New York City quite some time ago, you may not be able to fully describe what specific type of restaurant Isaac chose, but a more general type that is still popular today would suffice (besides, I will tell you the name of that restaurant in my reply to this post).

Q: What type of restaurant did Isaac choose?

Q: What is the name for this type of mental representation?

When you think you have the answers (or even if you don’t, but are curious), read the comment in reply that I have posted to see the answers to these questions.

See you there,

Doc

Posted in content management, customer experience, human factors in information systems design, learner experience, user experience, user-centered design | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Rap Rocks Revolution: Social Protest Music in Social Media

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Doc

YouTube Preview Image

Rayes Le Bled (Head of State) by El General


On December 17, 2010, after police confiscated his vegetable cart, the self-immolation of a Tunisian street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi was a trigger that energized Tunisian youth to take to the streets in protest against a corrupt and repressive government.

At that same time (unrelated to this tragic event) Hamada Ben Amor, a.k.a., “El General” a Tunisian hip-hop musician, produced a rap and uploaded it on his Facebook page and blog, called Rayes Le Bled (Head of State) in which he took direct aim at (then) President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. This searing statement of protest spread viral through online social networking and social media and is also credited as mobilizing the youth in protest.

It was later uploaded to youtube with English subtitles showing El General rapping in front of a mike (see above).

When we talk about the nature of social media and social networking, we generally think in terms of text (written, not spoken expression) on Facebook walls, tweets on Twitter, and messaging within and across these kinds of sites from a variety of wired and wireless devices. Images and videos also play a role in social media as items to be tagged alone, annotated with text, or as illustrations to highlight text.

Social small talk often predominates with a “what’s your status” on Facebook or “What’s happening?” on Twitter, interspersed with promotion, quotes of the day, and useful links to online sources of interest. Music in audio format or as music video plays a similar socially connective role.

Something drastically changes the nature and effect of the social stream when expression is focused on crises like these social protests and there is a strong sense of association with what is occurring.

When music and video are joined in the cause of social protest and made available online, social media and social networking both chase and propel events – in ways we are still trying to assess.

Social protest music and rap music have a long history, but while their effect has been profound in promoting social change, it has never been as swift and on such a global scale.

For social activists and pundits of social media, there is much to be learned from the powerful synergy of the spoken word igniting social response when mixed with music and video and spread through online social networking and social media.

Here are but a few of these powerful social agents of change as online music video on youtube.

Your comments and favorites are welcome in reply,

Doc

Youssou Ndour “New Africa” from documentary, I Bring What I Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFTOqZsLjaw

Bob Marley “One Love” from the award-winning documentary, “Playing For Change: Peace Through Music”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xjPODksI08

Gil Scott-Heron “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGaRtqrlGy8&feature=related

Gil Scott-Heron talks about “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZvWt29OG0s&feature=related

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This is how it will work – social media chases social crisis

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Doc

Google Mapping Violence in Libya

On Sunday, February 20, 2011, Omar Amer (as ShababLibya for the LibyanYouthMovement) tweeted: “we will celebrate the free libya from the square in #tripoli this is how it will work #Libya #Feb17 (god willing).”

If you were following the events unfolding during Sunday, February 20, 2011 and the days leading up to it beginning with the protests on February 17, you would be inclined to think this statement premature.

During these few days, horrific clashes between peaceful protesters and regime-loyal security forces (and mercenaries) in Benghazi and other cities in eastern Libya were filling hospitals with wounded and dead protesters, but the resolve of the people remained strong and their numbers grew despite the dangers.

Yet within hours of tweeting this statement, the wave of protests over the previous three days had finally moved from east to west and into the capitol of Libya like a tsunami. Only four hours later, as Tripoli’s main square was about to be secured as people claimed freedom for their country after 42 years of oppression, their aims were thwarted by a failed regime unwilling to go without exacting a murderous toll on its people.

The usual list of failed regime tactics followed like a formula, from Internet and broadcast media blackouts, to last ditch broadcast attempts to announce concessions and warnings of civil war, but also with new deadly genocidal twists: the beating and shooting of protesters by hired African militias, the injured in hospitals were being killed, and wounded protesters in the streets were being denied access to care.

Trying to keep up with these rapidly changing events was challenging. With broadcaster signals jammed and Internet access varying, newspaper reports delayed beyond unfolding events, and woefully inadequate announcements from foreign governments, you needed to shift to real-time tweets, and video and audio uploads from the protesters themselves and from those whom they were in direct contact with each passing moment.

DJ Meddi tweeted: Facebook status From a Protester in #Tripoli #Libya “Dear friends, am in tripoli and any second I might be killed but it’s ok I will do it for country. In a matter of four hours 80 ppl died in tripoli. They are shooting live bullets at us. to those who died heaven a wait u. Tell the world we died for our country tell them we died with honor. Goodbye”

The Blogs of War Web site at http://blogsofwar.com/libya/ provided several frames in which scrolling tweets related to relevant hashtags (one tracking #Libya and the other tracking: #Gaddafi | #Feb17 | #GreenSquare | #Benghazi | #LibyaVideo | #Tripoli) were displayed along with frames for blog posts and Al Jezeera live streaming video.

The Alive.in Libya service at http://alive.in/libya/ provided translations for the Twitter and Google service “SayNow” where people could tweet by simply leaving a voicemail on one of several international phone numbers and the service will instantly tweet the message using the hashtag #libya and #feb17.

In the midst of it all, both protesters and those who supported them continued to share vital information across the country and across the world – even as word that many in the army and tribes were moving to the side of the protesters. Into the early hours of Monday, February 21 and the days to follow, even the real-time flow of tweets had trouble catching up with quickly changing events – retweets and newspaper and TV reports pulling in information from minutes to hours before.

Some “tweeps” expressed their helplessness as these events unfolded, while others pressed on sharing vital information – interspersed by lagging retweets. As during the Egyptian protests, Mona Eltahawy tweeted (as monaeltahawy) with vital information to and from Libya and the world, helping to bridge gaps of understanding.

Arasmus tweeted (as Arasmus) a link to a Google Map (shown above) that provides locations on a map of Libya and brief text descriptions of events each day – Mapping Violence Against Pro-Democracy Protests in Libya: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&aq=&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=215454646984933465708.00049c59184ae1136341a&z=6

Crowdsourcing the need to seek support, Avaaz.org offered a Web-based petition to send a message directly to all the UNSC delegations, EU Foreign Ministers and the High Representative for the EU to stop the violence and share this with everyone (via twitter and facebook links):

http://www.avaaz.org/en/libya_stop_the_crackdown/?twi

Avaaz is also accepting donations on its site to “blackout-proof” protests through the purchase and distribution of secure satellite modems and phones, tiny video cameras, and portable radio transmitters, plus support to enable activists to broadcast live video feeds even during internet and phone blackouts.

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/blackout_proof_the_protests/?fp

Later in the early hours of that Monday in Libya, Omar Amer (as ShababLibya LibyanYouthMovement) had tweeted again: Tripoli; all of Libya supports you. Libya will be free! #gaddaficrimes #feb17 #libya

God willing.

Our prayers are with you Libya – all who seek and treasure freedom support you.

Posted in content management, human factors in information systems design, mobile computing, social change, social media, social networking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Revolution 2.0 – Social Media for Social Change

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Doc

Pro-democracy protesters - Tahrir Square Feb. 4, 2011

On January 25, 2011, a social movement in Egypt led by young protesters moved to the streets and by February 11, a despotic regime fell and they continued their long journey on a path to securing human rights, social justice, free elections, and a political system grounded in democracy.

Decades of social activism for human rights and freedom had laid the groundwork for change, but gaining and maintaining the momentum of this thrust leading to the fall of a regime had much to do with the flow of information through the Internet as it did with people in the streets in great numbers and resolve, peacefully protesting for their rights.

“Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.” – Henry Mencken

This oft-quoted phrase captures the nature of despotic control of communication and flow of information through state-controlled media and its singular message as well as the attempts to control any other sources that would counter that message.

Set against this hegemony of power, successive waves of Internet-driven change have rolled in with broad and often unanticipated effects on social and political forces.

Seizing the imperative to speak out against injustices, many young media-savvy Egyptians leveraged their access to the Internet to voice their protest through blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter streams, and other social networking and social media sites.

With the brutal killing by police of Khaled Said, a young Egyptian, Wael Gholim and other social networkers rallied sentiment toward a protest to be taken to the streets on January 25, 2011.

When they began their protest, they were faced with violent opposition by the police and many of them were killed in the hundreds and injured in the thousands. The regime tried to control the flow of information by blocking social networking sites, temporarily shutting down Internet access and phone service, and arresting and detaining journalists as well as protesters, but by then the communication, cohesion, and resolve of the protesters was too strong to overcome by brute force.

Throughout this struggle, protesters uploaded video to youtube and photos to flickr and other social media sites of these extraordinary, historical events, and they tweeted, blogged, and posted their plans and aspirations on Facebook walls. Independent broadcasters like Al Jezeera streamed video through their Web site and Facebook page of journalists reporting from Tahrir Square and other locations of protest throughout Egypt.

And the world was not only watching this time as they did with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Iranian protests, but many of them as social networkers were also re-tweeting protester tweets and posting comments on their blogs and Facebook pages to keep vital information flowing.

The lessons learned from this extraordinary event are certainly focused on the power of people to amass in great numbers and resolve to resist oppression and peacefully protest, but we should also consider the power of the people to control the flow of information through social networking and social media to bring about social and political change, not only from oppressive regimes, but in every aspect of our lives.

Wael Gholim coined the phrase “Revolution 2.0″ at the point where positive social change in Egypt was imminent and hindsight revealed the influence of the Internet as a driving force for change. In part, he was reflecting on the prior emergence of Web 2.0 as a change from static information to interactive exchange of information on the Web and the social media platforms through which many voices could be heard to effect change.

As we look forward in time and around us in the world and in every aspect of our lives, we can envision further social change for social good by harnessing the power of the press through social networking and social media – inspired by the resolve and ingenuity of these young Egyptian social activists.

I join all those from around the world who are thankful to them for their courage, sacrifice, and leadership for the sake of human rights and social justice.

Your comments are welcome in reply,

Doc

The photo (used under a Creative Commons license) of Tahir Square on Feb. 4, 2011 was taken by Mona Seif. Mona’s photostream on flickr (in which this photo appears): http://www.flickr.com/photos/89031137@N00

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#jan25

Posted on January 29, 2011 by Doc

Twitter hashtag #jan25 search results

January 25 is an important day in Egypt’s history. On that date in 1952, when British troops stormed a police station where Egyptian police officers acting as commandos were holed up, a Free Officer Movement led to a revolt that later moved the country from a post-colonial corrupt monarchy to a republic.

Ironic as it may seem, this date in 2011 became the official public holiday to celebrate this history as “Police Day.”

This date in 2011 also became a day where the riot police faced down demonstrators seeking a change in their government.

January 25, 2011 is also the day that this date became an iconic “hashtag” on Twitter (#jan25) as one of the ways to follow tweets about the ongoing revolt in the streets of Cairo and throughout Egypt.

Perhaps we need look no further than these events in Egypt to see how social media can be used to support vital needs of communication and learning.

With so much uncertainty and danger in the streets of Cairo and in towns across Egypt and so much need for people to express their ideas in ways that broadcast media cannot address, Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube have become the vox populi of media: the online voice of the people.

If on the days following January 25th, you wanted to know what was going on and know it from the perspective of people who are either in those streets or talking with their family or friends who are there, you would need to turn off the tube and turn on your smartphone or PC and follow these streams of information from the source.

Twitter streams:

http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23jan25

and/or

http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23egypt

Likewise, a search on Egypt on youtube.com or facebook.com would generate similar results. However, in Facebook, you will get a long list with only Egypt as your search term. Begin typing “Egypt day of” and the live search feature will attempt to complete your search with relevant topics. As January 25 is also known variously as the Day of Wrath, Day of Anger, Day of Rage, and similar names, you will get more relevant search results. Among broadcasters, Al Jazeera live streaming video feeds in English on Facebook boasts the most feet on the ground: http://www.facebook.com/aljazeera. In youtube, to get the latest video uploads, you can search on “egypt revolution” and click on the Search Options link to select Upload Date from the Sort By option and Today from the Upload Date option.

Of course, social networking in this social context relies on access to Internet by those closest to the source, but as the underlying infrastructure is an open architecture, there are limits and workarounds to the censorship that can be achieved when firewalls are closed: alternative IP addresses to access popular social sites, proxy servers, dialup modems, VPN, mobile apps, cloud computing, and a mix of word of mouth and alternative media to the point where Internet access becomes available.

When I consider the role of the Internet and social networking in social change, I can’t help but wonder and wish: if we could engender anything like this need and purpose for social media as one of the ways to positively transform education and training. If we did, we might transform our learning in a meaningful way close to the spirit of what people are doing to reshape their societies for social justice.

The successive waves of Internet-driven change continue to roll in with broad and often unanticipated effect.

A commonly used phrase associated with innovation is “change is inevitable, but not all change is good.”

Planned change can make the difference if we do so in a way that does not marginalize groups of people who are innate stakeholders, but rather enable them and give them a voice in change.

If we don’t find ways to be inclusive in planned change, the ready availability and open system architecture of the Internet and its powerful ways to enable social communication, collaboration, and learning will become the popular back-channel to our “best-laid schemes.”

Comments welcome,

Doc

Posted in content management, emerging educational technology, human factors in information systems design, information ethics, innovation, instructional design, management of information systems and technology, online learning and teaching, social change, social media, social networking, strategic management of technology innovation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment