Web 2.0 and Me!

Web 2.0 is the measure against all the boundaries and restriction which the society imposed on women to distance and alienate them from the “public” sphere. Web 2.0 provides all women, regardless of their social, political and economic status, with a space to (re)define and (re)present their identity with which they feel most comfortable and content. Web 2.0 provides the opportunity for me to be “Me, Myself and Somaye”, the identity that I have consciously chosen.

The ability to raise awareness, share knowledge and exchange experience with “others” is the most important role that Web 2.0 can play in the global women’s empowerment movements. Knowing that ‘life’ can be different, knowing that ‘living’ can be different, knowing that our share of life and living can be different would spark and inspire the first steps in the passage towards change. The ability to pass on the message to the ones who are at the verge of determining their future, the ability to shed light on other options and possibilities available to anyone and everyone has been made possible through knowledge sharing. Through exchange of experiences the bitter sweetness of change can be explained and described to the ones terrified by the challenges and the obstacles of the passage towards change. The narrative and portrayal of the challenges on the road would give courage to the ones at the beginning of the road and would ensure them that, regardless of the difficulties, change is near.

There was a point that everything and anything that popped up on my screen was a piece of new information: I absorbed all the packages of the knowledge that were thrown at me from any source and background. However, I am not solely a consumer of information and content any more. I create content and spread information via the means that I have in my hands. I raise awareness about issues that matter to me such as the status of women or the violation of human rights in my country; I share what I have learned throughout my studies at different stages like tweeting about what I have learned in this course or starting a discussion on different groups on LinkedIn. I look for experiences of others to situate myself and my knowledge in different contexts by reading others’ blogs on different websites. Now, I have the means to evaluate the accuracy of the information I receive. I definitely no longer play solely the role of consumer in this era of Digital Media.