Inspiration and empowerment

Web 2.0 gives us all a new way of connecting, learning and developing. I have a curious mind and love the ease with which I can access new information, come across new ideas and connect with passionate and inspiring people. It also allows me to have a direct impact on others – I can share my thoughts, support and collaborate with others and as result change myself, people around me and those who, perhaps geographically distant, are very close to me in the way they feel, think and act. By being able to connect and inspire each other we have started to change and improve the world we live in. As the history of Civil Rights movements shows us, when “others speak for you, you lose” (Dreidger, 1989 p.28) and Web 2.0 provides a platform for women around the world to speak about our problems and seek our solutions.
Web 2.0 enables us to take the global women’s empowerment movement to the global community. The relative ease of access and reasonably low costs of internet participation has enabled more women than ever before to jointly speak up and change the world. Media such as Twitter and Facebook allow for dissemination of information and coordination of our actions. Online learning sites such as Coursera provide very effective and inexpensive ways of learning and citizen journalism enables us to speak out without interference and censorship. Web 2.0 removes the isolation we may feel when we face problems which might appear personal but in fact are global. It allows us to see and hear many wonderful and powerful women who are passionate and determined to make this a better world, and this in turn inspires even more people and thus accelerates the change.
The tools provided by Web 2.0 have helped me understand that I am not alone and that there are others like me who see injustice and want to fight it. The same tools can be used to highlight the problems we are facing, but more importantly, they help us find and share solutions while offering inspiring stories of success. I am now trying to find the strength and the voice to communicate and collaborate with others – this enhanced learning experience coupled with the quick feedback available via Web 2.0 greatly helps in this process. I am confident that “2013 Voices of Our Future”, and other tools enabled by Web 2.0, will provide me with the wonderful, empowering and stimulating experience of learning and working with women from all over the world. By working together using Web 2.0 tools we will share knowledge, amplify our voices and break barriers to ultimately change the world.