I know this sounds like a shameful plug for Amazon.com, Google (the new evil empire, to some... yes, yes, I know), and our newly elected president, but like I said: I couldn't resist.
I am reading The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama and I had to share this one excerpt from the book (p. 166). He's talking about visiting Google in 2004.
"These lights represent all the searches that are going on right now," the engineer said. "Each color is a different language. If you move the toggle this way" --he caused the screen to alter-- "you can see the traffic patterns of the entire Internent system."Other than the fact that President Obama is IMHO obviously a great and engaging writer, this is a telling tale about connectivity and communication. The world is connected, but there are places where this connection is slow to arrive. If we use Web 2.0 technologies to reach the world, do we have a responsibility to bring those who are not connected into the fold? Do we just shout out to the existing 'netizens, or do we strive to increase the population? Does that striving come from a desire to educate, a desire to share these great tools, or what?
The image was mesmerizing, more organic than mechanical, as if I were glimpsing the early stages of some accelerating evolutionary process, in which all the boundaries between men--nationality, race, religion, wealth--were rendered invisible and irrelevant, so that the physicist in Cambridge, the bond trader in Tokyo, the student in a remote Indian village, and the manager of a Mexico City department store were drawn into a single, constant, thrumming conversation, time and space giving way to a world spun entirely of light. Then I noticed the broad swaths of darkness as the globe spun on its axis--most of Africa, chunks of South Asia, even some portions of the United States, where the thick cords of light dissolved into a few discrete strands.
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We can make a big impact in Africa as a technology expert. If you would like to help teachers in Rwanda to use these tools that we enjoy to get connected and to access to the world of knowledge, you can join me. We all can do something to help Africa to get connected to the rest of the world.
ReplyDeleteAlex, we can do more than shouting out to each other on the FACEBOOK. As Curt repeatly said, it is great that "We all can learn" with these great tools, but I want to change his mantra to "We all can help others who are not as fortunate as we are". I'd love to take my students to Africa and they can teach Rwandan teachers to use these tools, so they can open the doors for their students. I go there every year, and I provide technology workshops for teachers. I have my my hope; if everyone from this side of the globe helps to light up the other side of the globe, we all can get connected for better understanding of each other.
ReplyDeleteAlex,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great quote! And I like your questions. and I guess I only have more questions, not any anwers I'm afraid. Like what is this global communications system doing to people's own unique cultures? Do we bring technology to other countries to export our culture? Or that a byproduct of doing something that helps people help themselves?
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ReplyDeleteYeah! And it also bring up the issue of the continued anglilcisation of the global language a well as its quickened pace.
ReplyDeleteI think that quote is an excellent thought point for this class. The broad bands of darkness scream of a new class system to me. Today on NPR they had a piece of the "digital divide" here in the U.S. A farmer in Arkansas complaining b/c he had only dial up, and a high school girl who had to do her homework at friends houses (or in the public library) b/c her family couldn't afford broadband. Web 2.0 sounds revolutionary, but only schools with money can implement these things we talk about in class. My school doesn't have the resources for many of the digital projects we would like to do.
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