I am sorry to join the rest of the attendees a bit later, I seemed to be pre-occupied with other commitments but I hope to be able to spend more time with you from now on;)
Let's start with the beginning: kick off in Brussels. I must admit that I needed that meeting to gain a deeper understanding of organizers and other attendees. My first impressions are mixed - from one point of view I feel a bit confused as a blogger who received training on journalism (which would imply I should stick to journalistic style more on this platform) and not too many specific directions on rules and criteria of the competition, and happy as a blogger who was told she can do whatever she pleases to do keeping the main rules of the venue! Let's look at those just for the benefit of those who might read this and were not at the opening:
So, now you know what I am expected to do and how much freedom it gives me. Honestly I think freedom and lack of restrictions can be a huge responsibility as since I do not consider myself a specialist in development issues I think next 6 months I will learn more from my fellow competition attendees than they will from me. I do however have strong views on one aspect of current issues with development - pretty much in general - and those originate from my work and passion towards new media and how technology is changing our world when it comes to empowerment of communities. I know, I know, you will call me crazy - kids who starve do not care for tweeting (I actually heard this statement once), however there is plenty of opportunities and work to be done for people like us, bloggers and citizen journalists to provide the bridge between those who work on solutions and those who need them. Working in social media made me realize the power of successful dialogue, which with the help of current tools is even easier, faster, real time and more personal than ever. New media increases transparency, build trust in amazing individuals, showcase projects and issues we would otherwise not necessarily heard about. It also enables networking of professionals based on our interests but also needs, which is exactly why I think there is a great potential for modern communication channels to respond to many development related challenges. I hope to take a look at many examples of how new media does it today and what is the potential for near future. I hope to discover I am right. And I hope you will agree;)
I decided to approach this competition in a completely non-competitive way hoping it's not against the rules of the competition itself. You will see two types of posts from me: post with 'My Story #' in the title will be dedicated to my personal reflections, comments and discoveries I come across during the competition; posts with 'Their stories:...' in the title will feature projects and ideas I find worth spreading. I feel it's also worth disclosing that I will feed all the posts to other social media channels and try to use as many technologies as possible - but not to win the competition, on the contrary to bring more attention to the entire project which I find really fascinating.
I am priviledged to sit in one team with people like Andrea (Mexico) and Kevin (Australia) from Global Voices, Luan (Brazil) or Hannah (Belgium) and many other wonderful writers! I have a feeling that TH!NK 3 platform will bring even more magic to my life than any other social media projects so far, as I intend to discover many exciting facts, but also opinions and approaches to serious global issues presented from local point of view. I know now that the whole project will shape me into a better person.
I am starting a journey. I wonder where it is going to take me. Join me!;)
Hear! Hear! It is exciting. We are all winners. There are no maps except the atlas. ¡Vamos!
I really like the way you put it!:) Thank you for stepping by, Kevin! Can’t wait to read your posts!
Perhaps you’ll be interested in this pre-TH!NK2 post+discussion: Let’s make TH!NK a success.
Thank you for pointing out, Benno!
Thanks for mentioning me! I don’t think I’ve deserved it. Anyway, it is a complete privilege being with you all in this journey. Let’s make a difference together!
Thank you Luan, really happy to have met you in Brussels and happy to be on board of the same project with you;) I really enjoyed your post, can’t wait to see more!;)
I also think that social media and new technologies can bring a lot to developing communities. Even if children don’t care about twittering when they starve social media will have a great role to play in delivering and improving education for all. I can also see it open up a lot of low cost information channels for women and disadvvantaged group, having a positive influence on egality in society.
Thank you, Daniel, glad to see more people sharing my views. I agree that low cost of new tools is a crucial aspect of it. Also, it’s interesting you are mentioning the idea of egality, as I believe social media is the most democratic community, with high sensitivity when it comes to support towards the disadvantaged as well as to freedom to speech.
Dear Sylwia. Thanks for your comments on my blog ‘Twitter nets’. In as much as I was a bit sceptical about the role of social media, apparently such campaigns can be hugely successful. To see 90,000 bednets leaving for Senegal after a simple twitter campaign is something we cannot ignore. There is power, a lot of power, in social media. But as I suggested in my blog, it cannot be done for solving any problem. It will work for issues where simple 1-liners say enough and only small sums of money (the cost of a net) make the difference. Is this your feeling also?
Yes, I agree. Actually I think you are touching upon a very important point: social media is a medium, set of tools and communities behind them. In order to use it successfully you need to 1. know your goals, 2. deliver value and actual solutions. New media will help you to get it touch with the right people - faster, more efficiently as you will target the right audiences avoiding noise; it will help you raise money and document your actions but at the end of the day you need to do the work yourself and find the right response to each problem. What I find the most interesting is the idea of people establishing healthy dialogue on-line, I am sure it can be used as a model for many difficult issues.
Sylwia, thanks for your post! I like your fresh style, and the “My Story” section. As you said, I’m also here to get to know new stories and issues linked to development, and I’m sure at the end we will all be enriched by our fellow attendees. Unfortunately, I’m not an expert in blogging (as you can see from my posts.. I’m still learning how to put a picture in my posts, or a link to other people as you did..), but I’m hear to learn, and I’m feeling like going in the right way! Looking forward to read your next posts!
Thanks!
Thank you Hussam! I enjoy your posts so keep them coming;) If you have questions on blogging drop me a message;)
Lovely post. You’ve a really interesting perspective and I look forward to learning more from you. Clare
Thank you for initial support, Claire, I really appreciate it!:)