My Web 2.0 World

I love Web 2.0 because it provides global readership to posts. This is exciting. It means – save for media censorship – readers from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe can catch up with me. They can comment to my post. Some may agree with me. Some may not. Some may offer solutions. Some may give alternative approaches to addressing or viewing a particular situation. All in all, the global access to posts provides a learning opportunity. I get to learn from people’s comments. I get to assess divergent views. And most important, I get to educate and influence others. Some people may not have heard or experienced my story. Some may not have seen it from my point of view. Others still, may have heard or experienced it – but were hesitant to take an action. Web 2.0 is thus revolutionary and is one of the positives of globalization.

Apart from benefitting from worldwide comments, Web 2.0 fascinates me because it needs not professional journalism skills. I can comment on other people’s posts or news without a second thought to a particular rule. Provided I avoid foul language, I can share with the world my position on a particular issue. This is liberating. I remove what is in my chest. I get to be part of the world around me. My voice is heard. And most of the times, it is expressed with the passion that drove me to comment. Subtly, I can claim the title of a journalist. Yes! A citizen journalist.

So as I comment on news posts and converse with friends on Facebook, I can use the same media to share and talk on women’s achievements and challenges across the globe. I have witnessed friends championing a number of causes on Facebook. Brief videos and documentaries are aired on YouTube. So can women’s empowerment campaigns. A number of international women’s organizations and United Nations agencies have adopted Web 2.0 to discuss progress made in achieving MDG 3 and the Beijing Platform of Action. Many women’s organizations can now be followed on Twitter and Facebook. And so can grassroots women’s groups share their successes and challenges through Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is contagious. It is indispensable in today’s world.

Because of its significance, I want to use Web 2.0 to pass information on Islam and women’s rights. I am a practicing Muslim woman and a women’s rights lawyer. I do not like the labels put on Shariah concerning women. Nor do I like the misinterpretations of Shariah to undermine women. I find myself called upon to educate those interested in this subject. And I want to start a blog to do just that. That is what made me join 2010 Voices of Our Future. I want to learn how to present this useful information. Otherwise, I have commented on news posts. And it has been very relieving to air my views; and exciting to see my post published.