Continuing on our journey, I thought a little research was in order. I dug into articles and other texts to find out a little more information about the digital divide and technological affects on culture. Here is my list and please feel free to add!
Looking Beyond the Digital Divide: Digital Nation: Toward an Inclusive Information Society, Anthony G. Wilhelm, Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, 2004
Cultural differentiation or social segregation? Four approaches to the digital divide
SINIKKA SASSI University of Helsinki, Finland
AFRICA ON YOUTUBE Musicians, Tourists, Missionaries and Aid Workers
Melissa Wall
Current Media Practices and Trends in West Africa: A Case Study Analysis of the Media of Ghana and Nigeria. Fork-Kintz, Lynda
A social orthography of identity: the N'ko literacy movement in West Africa. Wyrod, Christopher
Twitter and a Newspaper Untie a Gag Order. Protesters were angry at a court order protecting secrets of a shipping company blamed in a disaster in Ivory Coast. Noam Cohen NYTimes October 18, 2009
West Africa: For those who can't read. Cisse, Ibrahima
Voices of African Filmmakers: Contemporary Issues in FrancophoneWest African Filmmaking VAL ´ ERIE ORLANDO
What role can the Internet play in the development of democracy in Africa? Nyabuga, George
Internet subscription in Afica: policy for a dual digital divide. Roycroft, Trevor R.
Africa Through the Eyes of African Reporters If local journalists reported more of the news to Western audiences, their sources and the story's context would be different.
Geoffrey Nyarota
THE INTERNET AND THE DILEMMA OF AFRICA'S DEVELOPMENT. Sonaike, S. Adefemi
Discourse, ‘Development’ & the ‘Digital Divide’: ICT & the World Bank Mark Thompson
Information Technology Access: Cybercafé Diffusion in Sub-Saharan Africa VICTOR W.A. MBARIKA, MUHAMMADOU KAH, KIBILY SAMAKE, AND JEFFREY G. SUMRALL
Myths of digital technology in Africa. Alzouma, Gado
Telecommunication Systems in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire: An Historical Approach. Sey, Araba
WHERE IN THE WORLD IS AFRICA? Predicting Coverage of Africa by US Television Networks. Golan, Guy J.
Blurring boundaries : the "real" and the "virtual" in hybrid spaces. Brigitte Jordan
Beyond Place On Being a Regular in an Ethereal Culture Patrick T. Kinkade Michael A. Katovich
Relationships between culture and technology: the internet as cultural factor Runnel, Pille
Blogging on. Steel, Patrick
Multiculturalism online: the internet and the dilemmas of multicultural politics. Eugenia Siapera
Cyberculture or material culture?: computers and the social space of work. McCarthy, Anna
Navajo cyber-sovereignty. Vitali, Frances
Goodnight for now friends!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
To the Point; Culture (mis)Creation
Lets face it, not everyone has equal access to the World Wide Web or the benefits there in. The rich, the powerful, the technologically advanced, which are very much the minority on a global scale, have become the major and frequently, the only players in the online game. In a world of connections between people and space, we put ourselves on a stage for everyone else to critique, analyze, and hopefully appreciate. The ones that connect are the ones that create culture. Those who don't, unfortunately get discriminated and misrepresented. The powerful fill in the gaps left by those you can't contribute to the world circuit and impose their view of who those individuals, people and cultures are and in some cases, show be.
This culture created my the powerful is arrogant, misleading and convincingly inaccurate when trying to unite the globe in the online environment.
This culture created my the powerful is arrogant, misleading and convincingly inaccurate when trying to unite the globe in the online environment.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Looking for Ivorian Bloggers
I have been scanning the internet to try and pull up any presence I could find of Ivorian digital culture. This has lead me to a few interesting places.
The first is on Rising Voices which is a really interesting concept and site in itself. Poking around on it I found this encourage post.
Although, I tried to look deeper into Théophile Kouamouo's Ivoire Blog network I ran into some deadening obstacles as my French is limiting to nonexistent. But the mere concern gives me resolve in knowing that there are individuals out there in Abidjan that are building a presence online.
Digging in deeper, I discovered the Abidjan Blog Camps and became very interested.
I got around the language barrier and found some translated pages like this to illustrate the movement happening in the region.
"I blog therefore I am..." What a powerful statement from Bob Traoré Djess.
This is a challenging reality. Our shifted to the digital medium of interactions has come with it a plethora of pros. But those have become devastating cons to the majority of the world that cannot connect to the internet or blog.
Where does that leave them? Have they become nothing in our cultures eyes, the peripheral, the looked down on, the non represented? Must a culture have those individuals? But how does the majority of the world's population fall into that?
"I blog therefore I am."
The first is on Rising Voices which is a really interesting concept and site in itself. Poking around on it I found this encourage post.
Although, I tried to look deeper into Théophile Kouamouo's Ivoire Blog network I ran into some deadening obstacles as my French is limiting to nonexistent. But the mere concern gives me resolve in knowing that there are individuals out there in Abidjan that are building a presence online.
Digging in deeper, I discovered the Abidjan Blog Camps and became very interested.
I got around the language barrier and found some translated pages like this to illustrate the movement happening in the region.
"I blog therefore I am..." What a powerful statement from Bob Traoré Djess.
This is a challenging reality. Our shifted to the digital medium of interactions has come with it a plethora of pros. But those have become devastating cons to the majority of the world that cannot connect to the internet or blog.
Where does that leave them? Have they become nothing in our cultures eyes, the peripheral, the looked down on, the non represented? Must a culture have those individuals? But how does the majority of the world's population fall into that?
"I blog therefore I am."
Monday, February 8, 2010
Let's look at our (digital) culture!
My mind as been full of this idea that the "world is shrinking."
What does that mean? I don't claim to know much about tectonic plates, but I am not sure that is where the phrase is going.
We have this idea that, through technology (ie the internet), we have become more connected with the world, with each other, with ourselves.
This phenomenon as been dubbed "globization."
It can be seen everywhere; from food production and manufacturing to transportation and IT help. We are not longer a community of individuals. With technological advances, we have become more, grown together, shared ourselves, officially became friends, supported each other, crossed cultural and physical divides and transformed into a global community.
In a world where Google is a verb, together we have established a whole new culture complete with a new environment, social norms and even a new language.
This new medium was generated out of a desire to become connected. Frustrated with old, one-sided media, the internet paved the way for mundane voices to be heard on a global front.
But how global is this front? It was created for the masses, the majority, common folk. Is that how it has been expressed?
As we see in the later of this video, Africa and Asia seem to slowly drift off the map while the rest of the world collaborates without them.
Taking a look at the data represented on http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm, we can see that there are not very many online users compared to population in either Africa or Asia.
Wait, I don't like the sound of that! Is the internet connecting the world or just the western/ industrialized sectors of the world who are rich enough to get an internet connection.
Well, who is online?
In this community, what culture is emerging? How do you evaluate a culture?
Music has been a rich and important of almost every cultural group since the dawn of man.
Technology has birthed a whole new generation of music, changing very thing from how it is created to how it is distributed.
But where will this take us? What will it do to our current definition of music?
This is not just a change for the industry. It has an impact on YOU!
Musicians now can connect and share there music quicker and to a larger audience. Sites have been dedicated to just that but how can an artist rise about of the confusion of an over populated and over communicated online environment?
Online pressence is everything for an aspiring musician. Through multiple social networks and their own sites, they can get there creations out there and to the world.
However, if not everyone has equal access to the internet, not every artist has an equal opportunity to present their music to the world. Consequently, not every part of the world has a chance to add their input into this global culture.
In fact, looking at Ivory Coast, a quick YouTube search (and trust me, I have done several) will show you that there are very few natives posting videos.
Many come from visiting artists...
Or aid organizations...
What does this say about Ivorian culture? Is it negative or positive?
Even though the world is shrinking, some places are shrinking faster than others. Our views and experiences with other cultures are still limited and narrow. Is this really a "global community?"
Or more of Western representation of a "global community?"
Stay with me as we dive into a lot of these questions. Leave me a comment with your thoughts and ideas. Let's search for the real stories of real individuals. Can we grow together, can we become friends from across land and oceans, are we still limited by our own ethnocentrism?
It is time to find digital footprints of the (not so) mundane!
What does that mean? I don't claim to know much about tectonic plates, but I am not sure that is where the phrase is going.
We have this idea that, through technology (ie the internet), we have become more connected with the world, with each other, with ourselves.
This phenomenon as been dubbed "globization."
It can be seen everywhere; from food production and manufacturing to transportation and IT help. We are not longer a community of individuals. With technological advances, we have become more, grown together, shared ourselves, officially became friends, supported each other, crossed cultural and physical divides and transformed into a global community.
In a world where Google is a verb, together we have established a whole new culture complete with a new environment, social norms and even a new language.
This new medium was generated out of a desire to become connected. Frustrated with old, one-sided media, the internet paved the way for mundane voices to be heard on a global front.
But how global is this front? It was created for the masses, the majority, common folk. Is that how it has been expressed?
As we see in the later of this video, Africa and Asia seem to slowly drift off the map while the rest of the world collaborates without them.
Taking a look at the data represented on http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm, we can see that there are not very many online users compared to population in either Africa or Asia.
Wait, I don't like the sound of that! Is the internet connecting the world or just the western/ industrialized sectors of the world who are rich enough to get an internet connection.
Well, who is online?
In this community, what culture is emerging? How do you evaluate a culture?
Music has been a rich and important of almost every cultural group since the dawn of man.
Technology has birthed a whole new generation of music, changing very thing from how it is created to how it is distributed.
But where will this take us? What will it do to our current definition of music?
This is not just a change for the industry. It has an impact on YOU!
Musicians now can connect and share there music quicker and to a larger audience. Sites have been dedicated to just that but how can an artist rise about of the confusion of an over populated and over communicated online environment?
Online pressence is everything for an aspiring musician. Through multiple social networks and their own sites, they can get there creations out there and to the world.
However, if not everyone has equal access to the internet, not every artist has an equal opportunity to present their music to the world. Consequently, not every part of the world has a chance to add their input into this global culture.
In fact, looking at Ivory Coast, a quick YouTube search (and trust me, I have done several) will show you that there are very few natives posting videos.
Many come from visiting artists...
Or aid organizations...
What does this say about Ivorian culture? Is it negative or positive?
Even though the world is shrinking, some places are shrinking faster than others. Our views and experiences with other cultures are still limited and narrow. Is this really a "global community?"
Or more of Western representation of a "global community?"
Stay with me as we dive into a lot of these questions. Leave me a comment with your thoughts and ideas. Let's search for the real stories of real individuals. Can we grow together, can we become friends from across land and oceans, are we still limited by our own ethnocentrism?
It is time to find digital footprints of the (not so) mundane!
PROUD Video
I have been working with Hannah McSpadden for a few weeks and finally got the video upload.
This tells her story of surviving cancer and receiving help from K-State students through K-State PROUD.
Its a moving story of an amazing girl who was faced with a tough situation.
This tells her story of surviving cancer and receiving help from K-State students through K-State PROUD.
Its a moving story of an amazing girl who was faced with a tough situation.
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