YouthNet blog

Tuesday Apr 29, 2008

Which list would you rather be on?

Last weekend saw eager fundraisers all over the UK buying the Times on Sunday, with a view to schmoosing the UK's rich list and securing some major gifts. No surprises there – the number one entry (Lakshmi Patel and family) is worth £27,700 million, or 27,700,000,000 pounds written in its full glory. Obviously, a donation equal to a tiny fraction of this wealth would make a huge difference to pretty much any charity you care to mention, and no doubt Major Donor fundraisers are poring over the list as I type.

At the same time, The Independent ran an interesting alternative to the "Rich List" – with the slightly unimaginative title of the "Happy List". They selected their entries according to how well they excelled in the following areas: Mental well-being, Physical health, Philanthropy, Charity, Pleasure, Environment, Innovation, Volunteers/time givers, Community service, Entertainment .

 I applaud the move away from the growing trend of using wealth as an indicator of happiness, although if I'm being picky I do find some of the choices slightly bewildering. Seeing the two lists together does pose the question – which one would you rather be on?

Perhaps the real winners are those that feature on both, for example Sir Tom Hunter, who is worth £1,050 million, has pledged to give £1 billion to charity and is quoted as saying "Philanthropy is the only motivator to continue making money".

Friday Apr 25, 2008

A Love-Hate Relationship: When Old Meets New

In this mini-series, we explore how old media covers new media issues. First up, we look at the Daily Mail who seem keen for us to see the internet as a highly dangerous and sinister environment whether it's health, money, sex, education, you name it - it's one bad place to be.

Here's some headlines from the last couple of years.

Internet addiction 'should be recognised as a clinical disorder
Internet addiction is a serious public health problem and should be officially recognised as a clinical disorder, a psychiatrist claims.

Sorry, you can't have the internet... you're over 70
After walking the Great Wall of China and making plans for a trip to Russia, Shirley Greening-Jackson thought signing up for a new internet ...

Jailed terrorists are using the internet to contact supporters...
Terror suspects held at one of Britain's most secure jails are secretly accessing the internet to contact ...

School's bizarre ploy to beat internet perverts - masking pupils...
A primary school has been accused of being alarmist for covering up the faces of pupils on its website – apparently to protect them from ...

Coroner launches probe into 'internet suicide cult' after SEVEN ...
A coroner yesterday launched an investigation into the link between the internet and young suicides - as an MP hit out at websites for ...

Menace of the internet sites urging teenagers to starve
Children surfing the internet are being targeted by thousands of ... not go far enough and called for the groups' web pages to be removed. ...

How one in four teenagers has met a stranger on the internet
Ninety per cent had access to the internet at home. But few of those interviewed said they use the Web to help with their homework or studies. ...

The internet is destroying the world as we know it
For those unfamiliar with such terms, Web 2.0 is the name given by the computer industry to the "second generation" of the internet that has now been made ...

How the web stole our children: Chilling report reveals under-16s...
"Rob and I are at our wits' end on how to stop Daniel using the internet as much as ... Millions are left to surf the web on their own, with six out of ten ...

Sex pills drive rise in illegal internet chemists
Britain is now the second-largest host of unlicensed internet chemists ... said the web boom was worth at least £2 billion annually for six ...

Internet credit card fraud 'up to £500m a year'
UK credit card and debit card fraud on the internet is much greater than ... Earlier this month a report by web security company Symantec revealed that bank ...

Entwistle 'trawled internet for escort girls'
Neil Entwistle tried to find women through internet escort services, police sources revealed last night.

The classroom 'cancer risk' of wi-fi internet
Britain's top health watchdog has called for an inquiry into the use of wireless Internet networks in schools because of concerns they could ...

The world of real party animals: The internet gatecrashers who ...
Not if more recent internet postings are anything to by: "Yeahh it ... for the characters, and web-only mini episodes have been screened. ...

I bought my baby on the internet
You know how it is with shopping on the internet - the sheer ... Desperate to become a mother, she spent night after night surfing the web. ...

Google is watching you! The internet colossus is amassing an...
Virtual Global Taskforce Internet Safety .... Under this Big Brother-ish concept, the details of every web search we launch and every e-mail ...

YouTube massacre: Schoolboy gunman posts threat on the internet...
The internet video phenomenon: Giving killers a voice in the world of ... Eric Harris, and the same track was on Auvinen's web posting. ...

Downloads of Net porn hit record high
Yesterday, the Internet Watch Foundation, the online child abuse watchdog, warned the popularity of Web porn is leading more people into ...

Web will transport two million Brits to their Oz convict cousins...
Virtual Global Taskforce Internet Safety ... Web will transport two million Brits to their Oz convict cousins ...

Madeleine's parents subjected to 'spiteful' internet hate campaign...
The parents of Madeleine McCann have become the subject of a hate campaign on the internet.

School's bizarre ploy to beat internet perverts - masking pupils...
Virtual Global Taskforce Internet Safety .... but putting children's pictures on the web in any context these days has to be thought through ...

Grandfather builds gun-toting robot from Internet and kills...
A grandfather who wanted to end his life built himself a gun-toting robot with plans downloaded from the Internet and used it to kill ...

Probe launched after air stewardess performs topless mid-air...
The video was leaked onto the internet by members of the French crew and has sparked a major probe at several European airlines to discover ...

With all that danger, they have their own online safety guide:

Internet safety for you and your family
How can you keep you and your family safe online? Follow our guide.

But at least there are funny curiosities as well:

The piano-playing cat who caused an internet sensation
The latest star to shoot out of YouTube knows the benefit of practice to make you purrfect.

And finally, at least it's not all doom and gloom. There was one upbeat story involving the internet:

Queen becomes instant internet sensation after launching royal...
The Queen's YouTube channel has become a surprise internet hit, with almost 400000 people watching it in its first two days.

Tuesday Apr 22, 2008

The curtain falls

The internet is a wonderful invention and I'm not just saying that because it pays my wage - honestly. The idea of a global communication system allowing for the transfer of knowledge, experience, information and ideas is tremendously exciting. It's hard not to argue that it's been the biggest step forward for humanity for as long as anyone can remember. One thing I've always found most compelling is that sense that national and regional boundaries are no longer the barriers they were. Language is still the same problem it ever was but at least I don't have to actually travel to Japan if I'm looking for a limited edition release of the latest series of Gundam – it's all available at the touch of a button. I can speak to someone in the centre of Basra about their situation at the moment. I can get involved with distributing videos about the solidarity movement in Guatemala. Discussion is unbound, distribution is cheap and anything and everything is available (for good or ill).

Except that's all bollocks now, isn't it? The idea of a global internet linking together the world is being consistently eroded. As the media industries finally try to use the internet suddenly walls are being erected all across the web. As governments realise that the internet provides the opportunity to discuss and criticise anything (including their own policies) they are increasingly repressive in their actions to curtail usage.

TV over the internet is a growing industry. It's been common for about the last 5 years, mainly through pirated shows being streamed online for subscribers. What's changed has been the decision of television networks to try this out and the first thing they've done is to make sure it can only be seen by the people they want to see it.

On some level I can understand where they are coming from. If you're still selling the rights to LOST in Australia then you probably don't want them to watch it at ABC.com but the logic doesn't hold. If I had to wait to watch an episode on Sky One then maybe it would make sense yet I don't have to do that. I can go ahead and download whatever I want for free. It's a bit irritating and takes a while to download and it's not as good as being able to stream the show but in the end I'll get it.

So by restricting access from my country to free ad-supported videos online the television and film industry isn't helping to combat online piracy – it's encouraging it. To be honest I still don't quite understand what the main issue is – every ad I've ever seen advertised on a US show is for the same rubbish that gets sold here. It's not like mass produced corporate pap is only sold exclusively in the US (though they do it particularly well).

In the end it's a desperate need to hold on to outdated regional distribution contracts that is holding back the TV industry from ending pirating of TV shows. A proper centralised distribution model, with ABC or the BBC finding their own nation by nation advertisers would end this and it'd end most of the major trackers of television shows. If you can get a show quickly and easily legally, you don't go hunting eztv or mininova for the latest release.

But there's a more insidious and related change continuing to happen on the internet and it's driven by far more unsavoury individuals than short sighted media executives and greedy network heads. The restriction of information, debate and news throughout the internet continues to grow.  In some cases it's evident and obvious, an extension of already restrictive practices. Turkey's short term ban on Youtube, lifted only when Google removed all the content the regime objected to, is just the latest expression of a restrictive government. Blocking Youtube sits alongside their persecution of gay rights groups, peace campaigners or novelists who dare to mention Turkey's history of genocide against its Armenian population. This isn't a huge surprise but recent moves by the UK government go almost as far.

The conviction of five Muslim men in 2007 for reading 'extremist' material on websites was absolutely one of the most abusive acts by a UK government in living memory (though the decision has thankfully now been reversed on appeal). It was as if Big Brother had finally arrived, egged on by baying politicians and right wing newspapers looking for any scapegoat they could find to justify (or create) their own fears.

Let's be very clear on this – on our discussion board there has been regular discussion of issues around terrorism and extremism. If I choose to Google some of the names and some of the postings by an extremist group then I won't get into trouble. That's because I'm white – the security services don't care what I'm looking at.

This case stands as an example of a government that has decided to restrict what information can be read and then decide to prosecute and persecute individuals based upon their race and religion. Like the other examples of restrictions on internet freedom this is another action that divides and restricts freedom online. And every step against freedom online is a step that encourages the very worst and knee-jerk reactions to events.

And finally the great example for governments across the world – a beacon for all who want to control what their population hears and sees. Enclosing around a sixth of the world's population the Golden Shield project and the other elements that make up the 'Great Firewall of China' stands as an example to all regimes that it is possible to control what your people see. It's something that other governments seem to envy rather than fight against, especially with the complicity of western corporations willing to sacrifice users to the Chinese security services to ensure their business. It's hard to imagine that the small freedoms granted by the IOC pressure will remain more than an hour after the Olympic closing ceremony.

It should be the place of government to ensure liberty and freedom not to take an active hand in measures that restrict these freedoms. We may not be arresting people for reading about domestic violence figures online or imprisoning bloggers for daring to talk about the situations they see in their own lives but we are on the same continuum, heading in the same direction. Any action to restrict access to the internet encourages restrictions on individual freedom. The decision of government to support attempts by the music industry to force ISPs to become policemen of the internet and ban people from going online is just one step in this direction.

What is developed to stop piracy can soon be turned to stop political movements. It should be the job of government and individuals across the world to strenuously protect the benefits of the internet. Democracy is built on free access to information to make decisions not on hearing only the permitted side of the story.

This curtain continues to fall still further – not made of iron this time but of bits, bytes, mistaken good intentions and cynical political measures. This digital curtain dawn closed by the greed of those desperately holding onto outdated business models and repressive regimes risks everything the internet could have been – a true global freedom of information.

Monday Apr 21, 2008

It's all about us

Recently I took part in a debate on E-Volunteerism about trends in the way Generation Y (those individuals born between 1981 and 1995) is volunteering and how volunteer-involving organisations can adapt to engage Generation Y. Part of the discussion looked at whether Gen Y volunteered more episodically and whether they were more self-focused in their approach to volunteering.

It is really easy to slip into a way of talking about Generation Y that attributes all kinds of characteristics to the way they volunteer, when what we’re actually talking about is the latest evolution in volunteering and not the latest generation of volunteers. This distinction is really important because it changes it from being a debate between those who actively involve Gen Y volunteers to a wider debate about how as a sector we change and adapt with the times.

Good examples that demonstrate this distinction are:

• As employment markets change, so do approaches to volunteering
• As digital technology changes working environments (or human activity generally), so it changes volunteering
• As charities and social movements change and grow, so do the opportunities to get involved

A debate about how best to involve young people from the standpoint of how the world around us (starting with your local community) is operating today, is more fruitful than simply head scratching about what young people are like today. To be clear, if you work to understand how the world around us is functioning today, you’ll better understand what young people are like in the present.

More episodic volunteering?

There is, perhaps, more episodic volunteering nowadays. But this is due to the more episodic career paths we have now on the one hand, and the digital technology which has fragmented the world around us on the other, allowing us to look beyond our local communities. I remember when I worked in Guatemala how struck I was by the commitment many young people had to their local volunteering roles such as health promoters, teachers or church groups. But part of this was due to the reality of volunteering in small rural communities – this link with the local community was not as strong in the larger, urban capital of Guatemala City.

Are volunteers nowadays more self-focused?

Are young people more self-focused than any other age group? I don't think so. Most people approach volunteering with a balance of personal and social motivations. For example, if a younger person is more likely to want to learn a skill and an older person is more likely to want to meet new people, these are both personal motivations. It doesn’t follow that either is necessarily any less likely to want to volunteer for a social motivation like being able to help others.

The phrase self-focused is quite ambiguous. Are we hinting at selfishness or do we mean self-interestedness? Both selfishness and enlightened self-interestedness is about looking after your own needs. The difference is whether you’re being mindful of the needs of others at the same time. Volunteering obviously fits in with the latter; it’s enlightened self-interest. It doesn’t really make sense to talk about people volunteering their time selfishly. As a result, it makes more sense to think about whether we really know how Gen Y express this need to help others (which can show us new ways of volunteering happening today), before we’re tempted to say whether they’re any more self-focused, self-interested or selfish than anyone else.

Not them and us, it's all about us

It seemed to be me that engaging in a them and us debate, missed the bigger picture. Them, the volunteers. Them, the young people. Them, the more self-focused. Them, the episodically committed. It's about us. Us, in a new working environment. Us, in a new way of communicating and sharing information. Us, wanting social change.

Sounds glib, but it really is all about us- all of us :-)