Saturday, February 5, 2011
Egypt.
What an example of how community organizing has changed. Social workers first forged the field, but with technology today, the ability to organize neighborhoods, communities... whole populations is accessible to anybody. The uprising in Egypt was started by a single Tweet. And then spread in an amazing way through various social networking tools. Social workers are taught a very manual way of organizing. Still. As teachers of organizing, we need to know the most effective ways of getting our message powerfully and rapidly across. No longer is it organizing blocks of people through canvassing and leafletting neighborhoods. That may be the history, the tradition-- but it no longer moves the mass of people that we need it to. This is a pretty radical curriculum change-- but all of us who teach organizing need to update our methods. To not do this, is to do a great disservice and absolute INJUSTICE to the very social justice causes we hope to impact. Blog, anybody? You're now using one of the most effective communication tools available to the public. I encourage you to keep your voice loud and proud. If you have something to say, say it. People will listen.
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Interesting reflection on current events. Last semester we had an assignment to do some observation at a local organization that served the underserved. Part of the assignment including learning who the client was and what barriers to service they faced. Later, I saw a report on Haiti and the concerns about spreading infectious diseases. They needed to teach the population proper hand hygiene. Seems simple enough, education then them, right? Well, what if the population can’t read, or speaks another language? Their innovative idea, which I found very interesting, was to hire a local graffiti artist, who painted pictures around the community of hand hygiene to education people. It worked!
ReplyDeleteI am very glad to have such a useful and effective tool for community organizing, but I am also wary of the negative effects. Misinformation spreads just as quickly as information, and in this decade where we are all so quick to panic, its difficult to sift through the good food from the junk food. BUT, it worked in peaceful protests against an authoritarian regime, so it definitely has its benefits! I hope that the surrounding countries that are considering following suit don't have their internet shut down by the governement before something can happen. Can Yeoman steal WiFi from its neighbors? ;)
ReplyDeleteInteresting comments... I was just thinking about in my own lifetime, how much communication has changed. In my own job, I RELY on email communications to get information to all my staff in a timely manner. I can't wait for staff meetings sometimes, and I can't rely on telling each staff member the amount of information that comes down daily. The other day my computer was down, and I was on the phone with the HELP desk and the guy said to me if you want we can hang up, and you can work and I will call you when it's done... and I said... I can't get anything done without my computer!! However, I agree with Natasha in that there are still people who hate email, who are not comfortable with computers, and this kind of communicaiton doesn't work for them. And I agree with Kelley, because there is SO much out there online that it's sometimes hard to sort out what's true and what's not. I know as a health care professional it's my responsibility to help people know the difference between Wikipedia and the Mayo Clinic sites, but many times they come to us already haveing looked at all the wrong sites. In class on Monday, our instructor mentioned that a survey had been done on students to see if they wanted electronic books instead of regular books, and the majority said regular books. So this is the younger generation, and I can't wait to get a Kindle... what's up with that??? :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm always pleased with professors, supervisors, teachers etc. who embrace technology as a tool for education. This is certainly relevant to this post considering your position on community organizing being stuck a few generations behind. I believe the curriculum for community organizing is still grounded in the civil rights movement. There is a lot to learn from the great people who made community organizing a respectable profession but we need to take those lessons and start applying them to a changing age. This begins with the people mentoring or transferring knowledge to a new generation of community organizers. We need more educators who step outside themselves and say how do I give my audience the skills they need and not what I needed. This is a intimidating position to take because it challenges educators to be a student and move away from an authoritarian classroom. The dynamics of being in a position of power do funny things to the ego. The less you take this into consideration the higher your pedastill raises off the ground until you lose site of the people you are responsible for. This is why I am proud to be a part of a class that embraces technology because I know the person in charge has jumped off their pedastill and leveled the playing field or at least stepped outside themselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the face of community organizing has changed it's face for social workers, but at the root of it all is still the basic premises, technology or not, we have to build relationships. Networking sites are the new way to build a relationship with a colleague or even someone in the same field with common interests who may be half a world away. I do agree with Kelley, this can have adverse affects. But all relationships either face to face or via internet risk having adverse affects. The more people you know, the more access to resources you have, the better the organizing can be. This is also true for social work in general. The more access to resources, the more informed you can be for your staff, and inevitably, their clients.
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