It's been way too long since I updated this blog! So many things have been changing in my life lately. For the past few years I have been working as the Coordinator of the TRIP! Project, a youth-led harm reduction initiative that serves Toronto's diverse dance music communities. It has been such an amazing opportunity to work with TRIP!, especially since I've been with the program as a volunteer since 1999. Through being in the coordinator role I've had the opportunity to work on some super cool projects, from being apart of the Youth RISE International Working Group, to collaborating with our sister project DanceSafe in the USA. I have learned so much about what youth-led harm reduction programs can look like, and why it's imperative that youth are involved at every step in creating, shaping and maintaining them. Over the past few years we have sprouted so many new initiatives and projects that work to improve the health and lives of young people who use drugs. Many workshops, conferences and trainings later, I am so inspired by the work we've done, and excited about next steps.
In the last month I have taken a leave of absence from TRIP! to Coordinate the Queen West Harm Reduction Program at Central Toronto Community Health Centre. I am hoping to bring the same innovation to our broader harm reduction services, including better kits, as well as finding better ways to get the word out about our harm reduction services to our target populations. Every day I learn something new, from how to say crack and heroin in Chinese, to how to pack a pipe! I am finding ways to integrate my media and research skills into the job already, and we are already looking to experiment with collecting data on mobile phones. We are currently piloting a new software called NEO to log our needle exchange statistics for OCHART. Before NEO we logged everything on paper, so we are saving ourselves hours of work already! The outreach workers still use paper stats, so I'm hoping that if we introduce mobile phones we may be able to save them some time too. Being in this new role is a great challenge, but already I miss working directly with youth! Still keeping my eyes on the horizon for new opportunities for the future.
I feel like these next steps in my career will really shape the direction I decide to go in. I've always been passionate about harm reduction, youth and new media, but the question is what is next? How do I channel my passions in a direction that will put me where I want to be in the future? Before working with TRIP! I always thought that in order to make change we had to rally on the outside to transform power. Now I am all about working from the inside, and collaborating with agencies, governments and international bodies that have the power to make change. In the future I would love to work for the World Health Organization or UNAIDS in actually shaping some of these polcies that effect service delivery. I want to use my grassroots experience as fuel for transforming the system itself, advocating for young people who use drugs and their human right to health.
Check out how social media is transforming the way that we organize! last year I have worked as a consultant for GetInvolved.ca on the first season of Digital U, a new TVOntario television series that explores how digital media is transforming our society. Digital U is going into its second season, and we're looking for ways to expand in new directions.
Working on Digital U with GetInvolved.ca is a dream come true, as I get to help create and share inspirational stories of how people are taking action locally and globally. Stories like those of OneChild, Bilaal Rajan, Nazanin Afshin-Jam and TakingITGlobal- youth activists from across Canada who are changing the world!
It's so cool to be able to continue to use social media as a tool for change, even as I transition from youth to adulthood. Oftentimes it feels that as youth activists we inevitably face aging out and moving on. I feel so blessed to be able to continue to do the work that I do.
TakingITMobile is a community-based research study conducted in partnership with the social network TakingITGlobal that examines how youth leaders across the globe use mobile communications to create social change within their local communities and internationally. As an e-PAR study, youth participants were encouraged to take the reigns as researchers through the online TakingITMobile Working Group, which comprised of 39 youth representing 20 different countries. TakingITMobile participants (n = 565) paint a picture of the diversity of mobile youth activism around the world.
It was found that the majority of youth reported using their mobile phones to generate Citizen Media to share their message globally, mobilize protests, fundraise, educate their peers and spread solidarity. TakingITMobile participants were passionate about a number of global issues, including the Environment (39%), Human Rights (36%), Poverty (28%), Health (24%), Peace (23.8%), HIV/AIDS (22.4%) and Violence (11.6%). While the most common mobile feature was Voice Calls (75%), TakingITMobile participants used a variety of mobile phone features, including Text Messages (46%), Web Browsing (38%), Social Media (27%), News (26%) and Photography (22%).
It was also discovered that youth who own smart phones are more likely to use their phones for activism (81%) than youth who don’t (71%). As well, females are much less likely (70%) to use their phones for activism than males. Youth ages 25-29 show higher levels of activism (84%) than youth in their teens (67%), early 20s (75%) and 30s (75%). GDP per capita was an influencing factor on both monthly costs, monthly average number of minutes used, number of SMS used and internet data used. Overall it was found that participants from countries with high GDP per capita received cheaper services, with the exception of very high income nations such as Canada and the United States. A number of barriers were identified for mobile youth activists, including cost of services (32%) cost of mobile phones (10%) as well as network coverage (9%) were the biggest barriers to accessing mobile phones.
If you are interested in further exploring how youth activists are using their mobile phones for social change you can download the full report here. As a participatory action research study, TakingITMobile aims to disseminate the results back to the community in order to share best practices in mobile activism and inspire others to take action. In conjunction with TakingITGlobal, we are hoping to produce a Mobile Guide to Action that can serve as a compass for youth activists interested in using their mobile phone for social change. For those looking to help in developing this resource the TakingITMobile Working Group is always open to new volunteers! As well, we are hoping to partner with influential blogs in order to spread the results far and wide. If you are interested in blogging about the TakingITMobile results feel free to contact lisa [@] mobilerevolutions.org for more information.
My Master of Environmental Studies is finally coming to a close. It's been awhile since I've been able to write for the sake of pleasure. It's hard to find time for blogging sometimes. I am craving reflexivity and the medium of the blog offers that with grace. I'm not talking about blogging for hits, which is what I used to embrace and track with glee. One of the reasons that blogs are so political is because they are so personal. To be able to step back from life and reflect and feel heard by your peers. Lately my reflections are taking me to a crossroads. After researching mobile communications for two years I feel drawn to get out of the books and create. A thousand ideas buzz around my head, yet the tools that I've learned to implement are rusty. Academia sometimes means that instead of practicing ideas you're simply recording them. Praxis is calling to create something big. A movement, a new frontier, a network, a mashup, a revolution; the next big thing. My inner digital producer is calling, cajoling, reminding me of why I do the work that I do. August will be a telling month depending on what direction calls. Yet part of me digs into my roots. Working directly with youth is one of my passions. Does creating the next big thing require working with a mothership; merging existing infrastructure, creating partnerships, building in conjunction with multiple teams of developers, or does it mean starting something new? I think these are questions that we all face at one point or another in our lives. Many of us decide to settle for big pay checks with big agencies. Others say no to bosses and create new collective visions. Sometimes working within larger systems means that you have to work slower, jumping hoop by hoop to implementation. There is value to learn from order, but sometimes it's small startups that really hit the ground running.
With the new year on the horizon and my Master of Environmental Studies wrapping up it's time to set goals and to focus on laying down the foundation for my future. I feel like I'm at a crossroads in my career with interests flying in a million directions: mobile phones, social media, youth, social change, HIV/AIDS, health prevention, the list goes on. I feel like my identity is split into different areas which require different vocabularies that never meet.
When I think of what a thesis is I often imagine it as taking two strands of thought that usually never touch and combining them to examine an issue in a new light. For me my thesis work does that through examining the ways that youth activists are using mobile technology for social change. I'm in the midst of gathering data in eight different languages on how you the TakingITGlobal users are creating new innovative ways to use mobile phones, whether it's through text message crisis reporting or for facilitating communication for an environmental youth group. Already the data is showing trends, the most interesting being what issues the youth were interested in according to country. While Human Rights issues are popular among Latin American youth, European youth are very concerned about the environment. It will be interesting to aggregate all of the data into one document and run statistical tests and potentially look at the data private v.s. public. What effect will private v.s. public have on the connectivity and needs of the users around the globe?
In the Economist recently they slammed Ethiopia for having a public phone system claiming that it's stiffing growth. The opposite is true in Costa Rica where their system which is on the brink of being privatized has provided high connectivity rates when compared to the other countries in Central America with one of the lowest price baskets. Only the next few months of analysis will tell and the results should shed light globally on the current popular practices of youth activists. The results should serve as telecommunications policy recommendations for governments across the globe. There are countless examples of mobile phones adding to development across the globe and policies that stifle this like censorship, high price baskets, will be forced to open up free speech.
Are you interested in mobile communications? The TakingITMobile survey is looking for your input! The aim of this research is to share innovation in the field of youth mobile communications and to brainstorm projects and solutions for the TakingITGlobal platform. By sharing examples of mobile innovation, we can examine ways of building mobile tools that are compatible with the existing mobile platform. As well this project aims to tap the larger community's current mobile practices. From the data gathered an environmental scan will be written up to document mobile trends among TIG users and create a list of recommendations for future applications and services. Click here to take the survey in English! The survey is now available in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian, Turkish, Dutch and Russian.
So many changes! Josue and I are settling into our life in Toronto and I have to say that the city is treating us very well. So many amazing smart people working on incredibly innovative projects, with lots of ideas in the mix. The last article I posted talked about Toronto 2.0, and boy are we ever on the run. In the last half a year I have been blown away by the amount of cool internet applications from TTCUpdates to my new place of work as Community Evangelist with GetInvolved.ca. The thing that touches my heart is not just the technical talent embedded in this city, but the city's many artists and activists that are creatively forging ahead using the urban landscape as their canvas, from community mural projects to large festivals and conferences.
Not only is this city beaming with talent, it's beaming with opportunity. Collaboration is in the air, and when there is a will there is away. People are enthusiastic about supporting innovation be it social, creative, technical or otherwise. I really feel like anything is possible at this point, and that Toronto is rapidly challenging large American cities for supreme coolness. Will Toronto murals rival San Francisco's? Will our artists challenge NYC and LA as the top North American art market? Will we take over Silicon Valley with our startups, or should we leave that for Waterloo? Either way Toronto is kicking ass!
In a corner of his wife's office in the Centre for Social Innovation, in an old red pile on Spadina, Mark Surman is trying to find a spot quiet enough for a phone interview.
"Tonya, can I sit here or will I drive you guys nuts?" he asks above clattering keyboards.
"You'll drive us nuts, but we love you."
The space is a bit too open to afford much privacy. The centre is a buzzing hive of glass offices and wood beams with a movie-set quality to it; it's an open-concept home for dozens of social-minded groups. Tonya Surman, 39, is the centre's executive director. Her husband, also 39, is the new, Toronto-based executive director of the open-source Mozilla Foundation, the organization behind the popular Web browser Firefox.
"Open" is a hot item in Toronto these days. Mr. Surman is an evangelist for the cause of openness. It's not just free, open software like Firefox, built by a coalition of volunteers and paid staff. It's open ideas, open information, and now, open government. And activists like his wife are pushing these ideas into the realm of social innovation.
Nobody ever accused Toronto of being Silicon Valley North. But the ethos of open-ness has caught on, and it's starting to turn Toronto into a capital of a different kind.
The Surmans are in the midst of an emerging scene that's sprung from geek culture to embrace not only programmers and designers, but also wonks and activists and politicians, right up to the mayor's office. Social change and Internet ideals have gotten hitched, and the results are going to change the way Torontonians live.
If open culture is thriving in Toronto, it's in part because Toronto is a conspicuously connected place. It's not just its modest but vibrant Web-startup scene, or the fact that Google recently opened offices in Dundas Square, in the heart of downtown. The city is a perennial front runner in social-network rankings, most recently coming in eighth worldwide in a survey of Twitter users.
the conflicts going on today are not impossible to resolve.if we cause a problem,we can also find the solution.everybody has a right to exist on earth be them palestinians or israelis or gypsies or whoever.nobody has the right to wipe anyone out from the face of this earth.its not our duty to do that.we have to respect each other and give each other our rights,thats the only way greed and selfishness can be conquered.we should all advocate for peace,tolerance and understanding. our diversities are blessings,not curses.war mongers will never prevail,only peace makers
This project is a working group for TakingITGlobal members who are interested in mobile communications. The aim of this working group is to share innovation in the field of youth mobile innovation, and to brainstorm projects and solutions for the TakingITGlobal platform. By sharing examples of mobile innovation, we can examine ways of building mobile tools that are compatible with the existing mobile platform. As well this group aims to tap the larger community's mobile practices by developing a Global Mobile Survey. By sharing our practices we can start to brainstorm questions, and a survey will be distributed to the over 200,000 TakingITGlobal members. From the data gathered an environmental scan will be written up to document mobile trends among TIG users and create a list of recommendations for future applications and services. Click here to get involved!
the world leaders should be ashamed of themselves for turning a blind eye and deaf ear on whats going on in palestine.how on earth can the top world powers sit back and allow such to be taking place.violence on group of people irrespective of their origin is wrong and unlawful.please let us pray for the innocent people and do anything we can to help.please please please,this madness has to stop.enough is enough.people of the world wake up!
what happened in jos,plateu sttate of nigeria and in mumbai,india are examples of how far humans can go inbeing merciless.at the end of it all,what is the gain? has their objective been reached? who will support their movement or goal or whatever it tis they are trying to prove.it is useless,lives were lost and they certainly made no friends nor supporters.never use religion as an exuse to carry out your evil acts.religon has nothing to do with politics or geography.
what happened in jos,plateu sttate of nigeria and in mumbai,india are examples of how far humans can go inbeing merciless.at the end of it all,what is the gain? has their objective been reached? who will support their movement or goal or whatever it tis they are trying to prove.it is useless,lives were lost and they certainly made no friends nor supporters.never use religion as an exuse to carry out your evil acts.religon has nothing to do with politics or geography.
American cultural imperialism has a large effect on how youth construct their identities, creating hegemonic ideals of beauty, and most importantly defining cool for an entire generation of youth. Yet culture is not a one-way transaction, as much of global youth pop culture has been appropriated into the mainstream media, creating alternative reverberations. Gramscian notions of hegemony come into play, as we can observe how global corporations extract consent and incorporate dissent from global youth culture. Concepts around hybridity and mestizaje help to shape how we perceive these shifts, as marginalized cultures borrow from the status quo, and vice versa. Youth are targeted more than ever by the global cultural industry through television and advertisements. The culture of consumerism is not only affecting youth in developed nations. The Haatso Youth Club in Ghana articulates this phenomenon in their report to the International Youth Parliament (Heaven & Tubridy 2003):
Globalization has brought us a life surrounded by mass-production and mass-consumption. We are driven under enormous pressure, into a very consumerist lifestyle, stimulated by transnational corporations as well as commercial mass media. In contrast, we witness at the same time the stark poverty widespread in our region and the world. We see our own cultures giving way to a consumerist monoculture. There is an urgent need to revisit, appreciate and participate in the evolution of our own cultures, which are community-orientated, non-materialistic, eco-friendly and holistic in their worldview. We need to develop our capacity of cultural perceptibility towards creative interaction between cultures.
The art of the remix has infused itself into youth culture across the globe, as genres such as Hip Hop find themselves in Australia, and Punk Rock takes popularity in Japan. Hybrid artists such as M.I.A., and Up, Bustle, and Out have blended genres of music, sampling artists across the world to create a fusion of global sounds. New genres emerge out of the ashes of the old, as Reggaeton takes the stage, combining Reggae with Hip Hop, with a distinct Latino flavour. Television shows like Heroes take place across the world, and across time. The movie Babel marks a theme for this generation, transcultural narratives which weave through our lives, showing the invisible connections which we all share.
As cultures transfer, they take on different meanings, and risk hybridizing in ways which can be offensive and detrimental to indigenous cultures (Loomba 2005). bell hooks cautions us that (1992:21), "Within commodity culture, ethnicity becomes spice, seasoning that can liven up the dull dish that is mainstream white culture." When is hybridity appropriate, and when does it verge on cultural theft? Ella Shohat reminds us (1993:100) that in order to understand these concepts, we need to "discriminate between the diverse modalities of hybridity, for example forced assimilation, internalized self-rejection, political co-optation, social conformism, cultural mimicry, and creative transcendence." With these tensions in mind it is important to incorporate media education into the learning canon, preparing the youth of today for the challenges and opportunities of new media technology.
Lately I've been writing a lot about youth, new media, and social change. As a youth who uses technology in all of my work, I'm constantly on my laptop, or toying about with my mobile phone on the subway. I love it, live it, write it, research it-- yet yesterday when I was trying to type out my final Plan of Study for my Masters I froze up. This weird bizarre tingly feeling in my hands... no it's my wrist... fingers.... everywhere? It's been happening more and more lately. After over 20 years of exposure to computers, my hands are starting to give on me. Last year it was my finger joints, and now it's more of this radiated tingling that makes me paranoid as I try to bang off essays on how technology is creating a whirl of social change.
As I go into full thesis production mode this discovery is worrying. Google informs me that I'm not alone in my strange tingling. Others have experienced similar sensations. The conundrum is that I never felt like this before I had my iPhone. Somehow having a computer processor nested so close to my palm makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. As well, right after I announced my thesis project, Toronto Public Health decided to publish a study stating that teens should limit their talk time to 10 minutes a day.
So in diving into this world of mobile communications one comes across barriers. Now that the rose colours have started to fade, I find myself at a crossroads. First off, am I addicted to technology so much that I can't reduce my usage to improve my heath? And secondly, in covering the potential of mobile communications among youth activists am I in turn endorsing it as a solution for youth engagement? I think that as academics it is important that we explore all sides of the coin before jumping to conclusions but I think that it would be dishonest not to mention the health risks of such over exposure. The question is, is there any going back?
