Alex Rollin wrote:
Do we have enough for a Wikipedia entry yet? Is this more of a demeanor, a
leaning, or, is it a 'career,' or perhaps a bent.
I believe that we could say that it's a general descriptor, sort of like
'concerned citizen'. I think we can break technology activism away from
'technological activism' - activism centered around technology. The
human-centric perspective is the way I see technology activism (and
appears to be the consensus so far). As Jeff Mowatt pointed out, being
such an activist can come with a heavy price tag. I wouldn't say that
it's been horribly disfiguring for me, but being who I am and speaking
my mind as I do definitely rubs a lot of the 'powers that be' the wrong
way and has (sometimes serious) repercussions.
Technological activism, on the other hand (and I just made this up), is
more of the activism for specific technologies. A technology activist
might take part in technological activism - in saying that technology X
would be useful in country Z because of Y. But being a technological
activist doesn't mean that one is a technology activist - in the Venn
diagram, it's a merge point with mainly business. For example, I vocally
support Digicel in Trinidad and Tobago for providing competition to what
is still presently a legal monopoly for telecommunications, so that's a
form of technological activism. But the reason I am doing it is because
it gives people more options, not that I particularly like Digicel - so
it's technology activism. If I worked for Digicel, it could still be
technology activism, I suppose, but not as credible because of the
direct financial benefit.
I don't know about other people who call themselves technology
activists, or are called technology activists, but I think largely it's
a matter of making things better for people. Were we in a period where
fire was invented, we'd be the people handing out burning twigs to other
tribes. A technological activist might sell them for dinosaur eggs,
shells, or so forth... and that's clearly not technology activism. When
we figured out how to make fire, we'd share that too... but a
technological activist might not, instead using it to barter. I think
at the end of the day... technology activism could be seen as a selfish
act. In a way it is for me. I don't get progress unless the people
around me get progress... and one of the principles of this is that we
want a better world, we're dissatisfied with the one we see, and we
don't believe in advancing by pushing others down so we can stand on them.
But all of this is just a tip of the iceberg on my perspective...
someone commented on my blog that as a phrase, 'technology activism'
doesn't mean too much... and yet, it's the ambiguity of the phrase that
gained my acceptance... it doesn't limit what I do. It defines HOW I do
things pretty well. If I had a lot of money, I'd probably still be doing
what I am doing. It's a theory worth testing. Someone give me lots of
money and let's see what happens! :-)
--
Taran Rampersad
Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Looking for contracts/work!
http://www.knowprose.com/node/9786
New!: http://www.OpenDepth.com
http://www.knowprose.com
http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/Taran
Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/
"Criticize by creating." — Michelangelo
_______________________________________________
DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org
http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE
in the body of the message.
