"Digital Natives with a Cause?" newsletter Volume III

By Samuel Tettner

Tags: Worldwide , Digital Natives

Welcome to volume number three issue one of “Links in the Chain”. This issue and the next will have as a common theme some questions of identity and its relation with digital technologies. We have reached a point in our technological trajectory where the analogy of the “tool” falls short of describing our relationship with digital technologies. In our workshops the idea that digital technologies are tools for achieving social goals was presented as a way to change the emphasis from the technology to the people. “technology Is like a knife” I heard someone say at the Africa workshop, “You can use it to cut and prepare vegetables or you can use it to kill someone”.

I think we must look for a different analogy which still maintains the inherent ethical non-determinism of “the tool” yet allows us to represent the transformative power of technologies. Maybe an Amulet or Talisman? An object which gives us unheard of powers as soon as we come in contact with them: Bruce Wayne becomes Batman when he puts on his trusty gadget belt (notice he does not have any super powers) and yet he is a super hero; A teenager in rural Africa becomes a digital activism (almost a super hero these days) when she grabs her phone and simply records. This is an idea that Carmelita touches on in this issue. Carmelita, a professor of film and cinema from Buenos Aires, Argentina, conveys that the reality behind the lens is not the same without it: we change our identity when exposed.

The interesting aspect of using historical perspectives is that it allows one to generalize the other way, into the future. Sibley Verbeck, facilitator at the Taipei workshop, shares his views on the kinds of issues we will face in the coming twenty to forty years in terms of identity and technology. As much fun as it is to venture into the vast darkness of the potential unrealized, it is important to be grounded in current realities. The DN in focus section in this issue talks with Evelyn Namara, native of Uganda who shares about herself and about the technology-identity relationship in the modern-day East-African country. Lastly, Fernanda Tuso’s existential comic involving the angst of Nessy the Loch Ness Monster caused by identity loss due to “info-xication” would make Kafka proud.

Here is the first issue of volume III:
Links in The Chain - Volume III issue I

Links in The Chain - Volume III issue II