Flickrs, tweets and mobiles
The Digital Divide has been a contentious issue since the mid-90s, so no, it’s not new - though it remains problematic. Minority representation on the internet has a lot to do with access.
To a very large extent the physical demographic minorities are mirrored by the ones on the net. For to be represented on the net, the fact is you must have access, and you must have a certain working knowledge of the Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) available to you.
Representation for minorities means that group being fairly represented. In my first post, Baby steps to getting connected, I tackled the concept of what qualifies a group to be in the minority.
The number of people in a group never really seem to be the factor – hoards can still be overthrown by few. Instead it’s a matter of which group’s ideology wins out in the end. With gender it’s generally males, with race whites, with money the rich, with class the affluent and so the list goes.
So my class and I took a little trip to Jo’burg last week. A moment was needed for lungs to acclimatise to the air’s toxic properties…and for the traffic (which made me miss the general Rhodes populace riding around on bicycles).
As the designated documentation officers for the conference’s three-day duration, we had to pretty much utilise the technologies at hand, save the possibility of their imminent failure or that of internet connectivity or other such ‘glitches in the Matrix’.
Tweets (microblogging regular updates on the conference’s happenings) had to be sent to twitter.com, flickrs had to be posted, pics had to be taken, and video recordings of interviews had to be done. All with the toy of the day – our shiny new Nokia N82.
The Mobileactive08 conference we attended - ”Unlocking the Potential of Mobile Technology for Social Impact”, has been running for three years now.
At MobileActive08 participants will explore how mobile phones are used to advance civil society work, assess the current state of knowledge in the use and effectiveness of mobile technology to advance social action, and investigate trends, needs and investment opportunities.
One of the sessions I partook in a woman from the Philippines shared how cell phones have become an integral part of everyday culture there. Touching on the topical event a couple of years ago, that mobilised citizens to using IT to help topple their president.
As much as mobile penetration in South Africa has passed the 80% mark, for a significant number of people familiarity with this technology remains a foreign concept.
Besides the problems though, incredible strides are being made with regard to the use of mobiles. MobileActive08 was about exposing people to the innovative ways mobiles are being used nowadays. From receiving reminders to help patients with chronic illnesses keep track with appointments and reminders for taking medication.
To farmers keeping up to date with developments happening in local markets, also via SMS. So as not to waste resources and energy travelling to a market where one’s crop is in access, a famer can simply reroute and head to another market where their crops are needed from the get go.
There is a large group of people including sectors from NGOs, citizens, health workers, government, and researchers are who interested in developing this country using ICTs. A truth that was evident at the conference with all the interested parties who attended, enquired, and shared broached their ideas.
