“We have to not just open our eyes to what’s going on in other places;
we need to open our eyes to what’s going on right in front of us.”
—Forest Whitaker, artist and UNESCO goodwill ambassador
Last month, I attended the post India +Social Good briefing and brainstorming meeting organized by the United Nations Foundation
in Washington DC with many others from the civil society, who
passionately work towards making new innovations using the new media but
also find solutions to the growing challenges to the world’s most
burning issues. It was extremely stimulating to hear stories of success
and questions full of curious calibrations on the measurement of such an
impactful form of development. The India +Social Good Summit
took place in Mumbai, India on April 9th 2014. It brought together
influencing voices from a country with more than 1 billion people who
are passionate about creating the hardest to find innovations. It is
inspiring to see how the journey of Social good has reached its feat in
its present avatar. Connecting the dots with the bits and bytes of
modern day technology, the digital media is doing good for individuals
around the world. There is also a good amount of those who are still
neo’s or have no access to technology. That’s where the idea of social
good comes in.
As an example, India had reached it’s
peak on the social media platform back in 2011, right after the triple
Mumbai bomb blasts. The city of Mumbai in India was made target of
triple bomb blasts by terrorists. Seventeen people were killed and 130
were injured in these blasts. All three blasts took place within a time
period of 10 minutes. What followed the blasts, apart from the loss of
many lives, injuries and a loss of assets, was a complete state of panic
and chaos in the entire city of Mumbai. There was extreme commotion on
streets, telephone lines were jammed and people were left stranded and
helpless. At such an hour, when telephone and mobile lines were jammed,
Internet and social media came to the rescue of many. Soon after the
explosions, the activity on online social websites increased manifold,
users on Facebook and Twitter posted updates about news, the information
about their whereabouts, news of their well-being and helped those in
need.
Amidst this conundrum, a Twitter user, Nitin Sagar created a spreadsheet
on Google to coordinate relief operation among people who needed it
most. Within hours hundreds of people registered on the sheet via
Twitter. People asked for or offered help on that spread-sheet for many
hours ahead. Similarly, a Twitter user created a disaster tracker map
that enabled users to crowd-source information for crisis management
from mediums like Twitter. Most recently, the Delhi Rape case brought mass rage throughout the
globe over social media and on the ground. Many of us in New Delhi the
capital of India were creating awareness online about this brutal attack
on a 23 year old girl. The social media was our way to reach thousands
of young people over the digital platform to come out on the roads and
protest against government negligence and slackness to get out to seek a
strong reform in the criminal justice system. The result of this is now
measured as the most successful outcomes in the social media history.
Voices online and on the ground became fiery, lawmakers were pushed to
act upon taking stronger decisions and make amendments to the Criminal
Amendment Act. A new law which has somewhat started taking things
seriously!
The Social media platform, emerged as a vast data source of
information and support about what followed as an aftermath of the
events not only in Mumbai but all over the world by an individual who
took the responsibility to get together masses. There were real time
spreadsheet for closest blood banks in Mumbai. Examples such as this
boost impact, boost research, boost capacities offline to what lacks
currently is the documentation of the work offline done by India’s large
development sector. With social media leading and driving the pace for
digital development the need of the hour is to build a movement of
creating such documentation and awareness.Social Media can be a big game changer,
as a social media enthusiast and a social development leader, I can
strongly vouch for it. It is like the speed of light traveling around
the universe opening up new avenues for change and development.
“The Internet is allowing for us to really experience people in some of the most distant places in the world — as other people just like us. So get to know people, seek out bloggers from a country you’re kind of curious about. It’s about building empathy and breaking through to the point of recognizing people as people.” — Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia
One last thought: We should remember to
keep it real with the competitive nature of technology. It is to have a
clear vision with focus on the right kind of messaging that will make an
idea sustainable.
#PlusSocialGood #SocialGood #India #atlascorpsrepresent
