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International Youth Service Models Conference
International Youth Service Models Conference
Nation1: Building a global community of youth online
We've all heard a lot about youth and the Internet. But in what way? It seems compulsory that young users of the Internet demonstrate seven mandantory characteristics:
Must be a nerdy Bill Gates look-a-like.
Must dowwnloads really bad essays from the World Wide Web and hand them in as their own.
Must be a Criminal
Must regularly hack into Defence department computers, throwing financial markets into havoc somewhere along the way.
Must spend all day looking at pictures of sparcley clad females.
Is, at the very least, a multibillionare.
Can never ever be female.
Seriously, what I'm going to talk about today is a project that challenges these stereotypes and tackles some thorny global governance/youth empowerment issues at the same time.
A couple of years ago, Massachusetts Institute of Technology began a major research project called Junior Summit examining the way children interact in a globally connected world. Of course, whatever people say, the world is not connected - so much of their work went into visiting communities in 139 countries, including the USA and providing Internet access and training to 3000 selected youth participants between the age of 12-18. I was one of these young people.
We were placed in an online forum where we selected a topic important to us and discussed it with the other young people forming conclusions on the role technologies could play in the future. My discussion looked at "How to bring about cross-cultural communication and understanding", which obviously linked in with other groups such as "How to preserve existing cultures" and "How to end war and bring about peace?". As a 14-year-old who had already had a signifcant interest in the Internet for some years, the Junior Summit was still a revelation. To come home each night from school and receive literally 40 or 50 e-mailed thoughts on the issues involved from Ukraine, India, Colombia, Costa Rica, Papua New Guinea and the little South Pacific Island of Niue was utterly incredible. While I believe our Action Plans had significant merit -- easily equally anything UNESCO could put out, idea-wise, if not in the length of each individual word, I think even more exciting was the personal experience it gave us as participants. In the space of two months, I learnt about the Indian obsession with cows, the logistics of a youth-run radio station in Costa Rica, a perspective on life from a disabled Ugandan teenager, and heard first hand daily from Indonesia about the uphevals that were happening there at the time of Soharto's downfall. In my group, children from India and Pakistan, and Greece and Turkey worked together. These 'lessons' challenged many of my assumptions about other communities and stimulated my curiosity to investigate more about the world outside my sheltered life in Australia. We participants soon realised what MIT had probably known all along - Jr Summit's online component, which eventually culminated in a real life event which was incredible in different ways - was a dramatic and concentrated cross-cultural exchange in itself.
Even though it's not technically correct, for all intents and purposes Nation1, the project I represent here today grew out of the JrSummit and the buzz of commucating with each other for months on end. In reality, we had grown so attached to each other online that, in a funny way, even though we lived thousands of kilometres apart, we couldn't bear to disband. We also hoped in building Nation1, we could extend the experience of Junior Summit to cover at least 100 times as many children.
So that's the background.
In my role as chief contact point in Australia for Nation1, I've made this kind of speech a number of times. At this point, generally I begin to notice people quietly getting up out of their seats and making for the door. I perservered, wondering why they had to physically leave, instead of nodding of to sleep or something. But after this happened a couple of times I accosted one of the deserters in the corridor and demanded an explanation, more out of a need for feedback then anything else. This particular man looked me the face and said "I won't have anything to do with Pauline Hanson!". So in today outlining what Nation1 is, I had better start with what it ISN'T. I can reassure you today that there is no link what-so-ever with the former member for Oxley.
Nation1.net, to go online in July will be an online community with a number of key features:
A discussion center, where big picture or newsworthy issues can be debated. After discussing the issues, and perhaps hearing the opinions of children actively affected, users will be able to propose and vote in polls and ballots which will be promoted to all users. The results of ballots will be passed on by e-mail to the United Nations, individual countries - or companies.
An action center, where young people can link with others based on shared interest, or local region to collaborate on action projects. They will be automatically paired with adult mentors and provided with resources such as contact databases and event listings, as well as tools to help them promote and fund their activities.
A media center, where youth initiated media will be aggregated - from student media, youth TV programs and from contributions of the users living in the countries where news is breaking. We believe that this online news source can present a different perspective to that of the existing news agencies such as Reuters. You can visit a prototype at journal.jrsummit.net
Yesterday, in the roundtable forum, Lucy suggested young people did not identify with the word "citizenship". I believe this is because often they are not allowed to. I'm too young - I can't vote. Neither can most of my friends. I believe it is absurd that governments expect young people to be engaged in politics or government, and then when they don't, wonder why they are dissolutioned. If you can't vote, you can't participate. If you can't vote, you have no reason to follow politics, because, at least in the most narrow definition, you have no influence or opportunity for input. At Nation1, we are calling our users citizens. In many ways, Nation1 is an online 'country' for young people who want to voice their opinions via the ballot box.
The other issue that stimulated my thought yesterday was the question of "owning globalisation". I think that young people, at least those I am regularly around, see globalisation as something that takes, but gives nothing in return. I personally don't think Globalsation is always bad. Afterall, that we are all at this International conference, is another example of a smaller world. But we, I, am unusual. When it comes to globalisation, I think we at Nation1 have begun to "own the term" - perhaps on our own terms. The opportunity to be global, allows young people to be so much more powerful in developing, researching and organising their causes. It gives us more clount on a LOCAL level. Multinatonal corporations have been the best at "owning" globalisation and using it in their interests to date. But that is the old order: when to be global REQUIRED you to have billions of dollars, thousands of offices and huge budgets. The new order, the Internet, allows people, at first young people who know it best, to coordinate actions to match, if not better the multinationals. We just have to be clever about how we use the technology: which is what Nation1 is all about.
Yesterday, when I was preparing this presentation, I went back to the JrSummit action report we wrote two years ago. Sasha Galetsky from Ukraine had contributed this closing paragraph.
We acknowledge that the plan will not be perfect. We will have problems. We'll mess up. In fact, we acknowledge that the odds are against us changing the world through this scheme. But think about this: if for every 1 000 000 kids that participate, perhaps 10 will go away with a vision. Perhaps for every 10 that go away with a vision, 2 might try to change the world. And for every 2 that tries, perhaps 1 will succeed.
Let's hope.
Thanks.