The Role Of Online Networks In Human Interaction Have Huge Impact On International Relations And Public Diplomacy
In an era in which people trust nonprofits more than governments, technology provides new opportunities around issues of global relevance.
Not only have social media, big data, and the Internet changed the world and how brands connect with consumers, but they've also changed conflict. Revolutions are tweeted. Information is warfare. Citizen journalists bear witness. Non-violent activists circumvent warlords to organize, connect and seek global action. New technologies are leveraged to reach, engage and amplify the voices of non-violent actors caught in the midst of conflict. But how? To what end? What is the potential? What are the risks? Can local and global “connection” help to transform conflict?
Inbox recently dropped by DiploHack's #HackingConflict, an event that combines the expertise of diplomats, social entrepreneurs, tech developers and designers, along with journalists, academics, nonprofits and businesses to ‘hack’ traditional diplomatic problems in start-up style groups. The hope is to create collaborative and creative methods for diplomacy. It's a veritable mashup where civil society and the tech industry meet diplomats and diplomacy, and where diplomats learn about social entrepreneurship, social media, big data, and startup culture can be integrated with their work.
Canadian International Council's Ottawa branch also sought to answer these questions through Prospects for Peace in the Internet Age, a panel discussion about how can new technologies can be leveraged to hack through the fog of war and empower non-violent actors. With Facebook as a battleground and YouTube bearing witness, people in Syria, Ukraine and other zones of conflict are harnessing social media and mobile technologies as never before and transforming them into instruments to advocate for peace, document human rights violations, respond to humanitarian and governance challenges, and give voice to the noncombatant majorities. But can youth and technology disrupt conflict in a meaningful way? Will the new generation of digital natives - those under 25 years of age born into the omnipresent, always on Internet—transform the prospects for peace? Here's how Twitter weighed in on the issue during the panel discussion:
"I agree that there's a security threat in #Canada. But nobody in parliament told us what that threat is." @SenJaffer #digitaldiplomacy #c51
— CICOttawa (@CICOttawa)
May 27, 2015
Attending @TheCIC @CICOttawa event: new technologies and conflicts - opportunities & risks. #HackingConflict pic.twitter.com/3J2rbjiCK4
— Marie Lamensch (@MarieLamensch84)
May 27, 2015
Drones. Social media. Big data. Cell phones. Internet. They have changed the world - and have changed conflict. #HackingConflict #Diplohack
— The MATCH Fund (@MATCHIntFund)
May 27, 2015
May 27-28, Ottawa: six multi-disciplinary teams will undertake a #DiploHack Challenge. We are one of them! pic.twitter.com/EJOmyU1thI
— MIGS (@MIGSinstitute)
May 15, 2015
The #DiploHack challenge continues! Check out teams' progress and updates at #HackingConflict! @SecDevFDN pic.twitter.com/2kTtlGHqGF
— Jessica Pichard (@jessnypichard)
May 28, 2015
Topics: Social Media, People, Technology
