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Published on culturekitchen (http://culturekitchen.com)

Sunlight-Berkman conference and the future of activism

By liza
Created 19 Jan 2007 - 2:39pm

You can tell by my previous post [1] that technology has been heavy on my mind all this week. Not just technology but the uses of technology that allow people to either keep things same as they ever was or break free into new transformative ground. Especially as I saw them presented at The Sunlight-Berkman Conference on Political Information [2].

Last Monday at the Sunglight-Berkman I was able to witness some of the most interesting uses of Web 2.0 design practices that have the potential of changing not just the way we view Congress but the way we conceive of governance. Yet nothing, absolutely nothing compared to being in the presence of these two girls : Samantha (on the left) and Bianca (on the right).

People who have heard me speak at conference know what I can do with my oratorial skills. Well, I'm nothing compared to these two girls in action. I was completely blown away by how they just commanded that room and swept everybody away with their presentation of the project they're work as students of the The Center for 21st Century Skills [3].

Zephyr and Nisha asked us to wrap-up our thoughts with a question. I had two questions, one about technology and the other politics. They seemed to be separate questions but they're very related --and I honestly cannot remember what were my exact words. But they question that is on my mind is simple : does it make any sense to continue developing software and hardware the way people have been developing it if the face of the future is not a while man but of a couple of dark-skinned latinas from Waterbury Connecticut?

There a longer post here, but I have to run out to pick up my little one at school. Check back on the blog tonight for more.



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http://culturekitchen.com/liza/blog/sunlight_berkman_conference_and_the_future_of_acti