Leveraging Technology for the Common Good

I read something in the plane on the way home that related to our summit discussion on the topic of Leveraging Technology for the Common Good.  It was in Clay Shirky's new book, Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age. First of all, I love the title because it assumes the best of human nature and the best use of the Internet and social media tools.  Secondly, it is chock full of examples that I found uplifting and inspiring because they illustrate how people from all over the world are using social media as a tool to organize, aggregate and make real change.

Social Media as a Catalyst for Social Change - An Example from South Korea

The example I'll use from the book has to do with teenage girls in South Korea.  South Koreans, according to Shirky, are the most electronically connected of any people in the entire world.   In 2008, South Korea's democratically-elected president, Lee Myung-bak lifted a ban on imported U.S.-beef that had been in place since 2003 after the beef was discovered to be tainted with mad cow disease.   Peaceful public protests broke out, they grew, they lasted for weeks, the government tried to stop them with violence and that fueled more protests as pictures of police violence appeared on websites and blogs.  Eventually, the president negotiated new restrictions on beef imported from the U.S.  And who initiated the protests: teenage girls were among the earliest organizers!!!!   

How'd these Teenage Girls Do It?
According to Shirky, the girls were fans of the South Korean boy-band, Dong Bang Shin Ki, which had a fan site of more than 1,000,000 users which included bulletin boards.  News of the lifting of the beef ban was posted on one of these bulletin boards.  The band's website provided a space for the youth to gather and share their passions as well as organize the protests (the site was neither political nor apolitical).  The official Korean press reported the lifting of the ban, too, but it was the accessibility and permanence of the band fan site (all possible because of the Internet and social media tools) that sparked and sustained the protests, according to Shirky.

Can Public Broadcasting Provide Such a Space?
For me, social media is a great tool for organizing meaningful change and from my perspective as a staff member at a public broadcasting station, we would be so lucky if we could provide a space for such interaction and mobilization!

Kimberlie Kranich, author of this particular post, is director of community engagement at Illinois Public Media in Urbana, Illinois and may be reached at kranich@illinois.edu.