Filed under: Blogs We Like, Current events, Politics, Snippets
Posted by: Georgia
All of this is enough to make me think that the population is really politically savvy and educated despite the lack of structured civics education in our school system. What I worry about is whether the online community, with ready access to computers and the Internet, are an accurate representation of the general population. What about the political opinions of those on the other side of the digital divide? And it may be that the Internet is just the latest forum for Trinis to do what they do best, talk. How much this translates into action is another question. Like a friend of mine, wary of all the online talk that has been taking place, recently wrote: “While we, ‘the future’, sit and occupy our time amusing ourselves with all these…discussions, the true leaders in the real world are doing as they please.”
Blogger Shivonne du Barry, expressing some healthy skepticism about the “alternative spins” on Trinidad and Tobago politics being provided by blogs and social networking sites. And now it’s my turn to play devil’s advocate, and a highly optimistic one at that!
Juxtapose the 12% internet penetration rate and Danah Boyd’s infamous findings about Facebook and class (assuming they apply to Trinidad and Tobago) and you conclude that Shivonne’s concerns are well taken, as of course they are - they’re the concerns perennially expressed in discussions about the role/value of the the internet in “developing” societies. But they also assume that, in the absence of Facebook and its equivalents, the political dialogue/activity taking place among this select group would have taken a different (and possibly superior) form (as well it might). Or taken place at all.
They also assume (more than likely correctly) that there’s not some innovative parallel activity taking place “on the other side of the digital divide” using cell phones and SMS. They also assume that all online political activity will necessarily be partisan. Might we not see some serious citizen reporting this upcoming election season? Might some ordinary person not happen to capture some priceless image or bit of footage on a cell phone camera that the jaded media practitioners have missed?
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Hey thanks for that Danah Boyd link. As for all online political activity being necessarily partisan, that’s definitely not the case. My post highlights (but doesn’t elaborate on) some of the other issues that are being dealth with online that have political ramifications: environment (ie aluminum smelters), reprodutive rights, governance, the economy, education system.
As for the other side of the digital divide, I’d like to know what’s going on. The medium of choice here may be talk radio, but I’m really interested in what youths are doing. What is the level of political consciousness?
And yeah, camera phones and YouTube do raise some yummy possibilities *remembers Danah Alleyne*
Comment by Shivonne 09.05.07 @ 3:50 pmLeave a comment
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