Connecting people in a smart way

When I was a kid I used to write long letters to my cousins and friends who lived in other cities. The telephone was too expensive and there was no internet. I remember waiting for days, even weeks for a letter. The feeling of finally getting one was beyond word!

When I first knew about internet I was already at college. But internet was not even close of the one we have today. Information was confused, search tools were not very specific so it was hard to find things we needed, there were lots of sparkling boxes trying to gain my attention at the same time... Those were reasons enough for me to never imagine internet would become such a big mass communication tool. It was too messy and complicated for an ordinary user like me. I am glad to see how wrong I was.

Definitely, for social workers, internet had developed on a good way. Significant changes were made in most of the pages I visited in the past. Years ago, sites were available as books. It means people accessed them, read them, saw what was of interest and closed them. The most we could do was communicating to developers responsible for the content via an email. Currently, a page that is limited to this is doomed to oblivion.

Today, connectivity counts. Listening to your target audience counts. Starting a discussion counts. The web 2.0 is a revolutionary environment of interaction and participation that encompasses many languages and motivations and has been developed continually by the impact of internet on business and mainly journalistic practices. The involvement of ordinary citizens, once considered mere readers – like me –, helped to make it probably the most democratic tool we have today. That excites me!

Today, a webpage to be minimally framed as part of this second chapter in Internet history must provide content experience for the user. And this content has to be dynamic and open to them, at least, it must avoid blocks of text and provide options for users to choose what they want. Therefore Web 2.0 came as a venue for “collective intelligence”, the paradise for social users, including all kinds of minorities and voiceless categories. So this is our chance to enhance global women empowerment movement. What to do with such a powerful tool in our hands? The answer is: everything. Publishing and editing of internet content becomes an increasingly common practice. We can start a stronger movement, spread the word, denunciate, discuss, share, emphasize, point out our fingers, and after all, make a difference!

Receiving a letter still brings me that indescribable feeling. But nowadays I’m fortunate for being able to receive lots of “letters” every day: a comment in my blog, a facebook message, an article someone read and recommends me or a personal email. Me and others like me, who embrace a cause and want to share and learn and exchange experiences, we want to be, literally, a part of this peaceful revolution. Connecting…