Virginia Tech and the New Definition of Community

Your intentions are good and this a meaningful heart-felt post. Technology, however, will not save the world. That's a long propogated myth and every time new technology emerges we believe it will solve all of our problems. Technology doesn't create our problems and so it can't fix them.

Agreed, technology will not save the world. However, if we collectively use this technology in productive and useful ways, maybe we can save the world. And this is all assuming the world needs to be saved. I personally think it just needs a few minor changes.

I recommend you watch the web 2.0 video on our MySpace page
http://myspace.com/employeeevolution

Regards,

-Ryan

I think the emphasis lies on the "community" technology allows us to create. Technology won't save the world, but I feel like the point Ryan tries to make is that people, the cause of the worlds problems, can use innovative means brought on by technology to fix the flaws of humankind.

Technology is just the vessel, not the captain of the ship.

Tyson,

That pretty much sums up the point I was trying to get across. Below is a poem written by a friend of mine who wishes to stay anonymous:

On April sixteenth a nation was torn
A school came together and as a nation we mourned.
No one can understand an unspeakable act
Yet Tech stuck together, remaining in tact.
They joined each other and stood together as one
As a school and a nation we won't come undone.
United We Stand, Divided We Fall,
One Coward Empowered Won't Concur Us All.

-Anonymous

I've seen the web 2.0 video before– it is a good one.

And I am a web 2.0 junkie. I love the web. I love technology. You both are right in that technology is just a tool to use in our efforts to create positive change. I worry when people rely on it so heavily however, myself being no exception. I wonder, in the grand scheme of things, how it is so different than past technological innovations. The printing press, the telephone, the television- they were all supposed to revolutionize how we interact (and did), they were all "innovative means brought on by technology to fix the flaws of humankind". Yet, problems exist, as they always will. None of these technological innovations has made a significant dent in finding solutions. And some technological innovations aggravate our problems.

The web is allowing us to create community, yes, but a different kind of community. Technology has created many definitions of community and we now belong to many of those simultaneously. We've had many tools in the past that make it easier to affect change, and we have many more now. But it is ultimately not even how we choose to use those tools, but making the commitment and decision to do something, to take action. The amount of effort we put into our causes is what will create change, not the amount of effort we put into building the printing press, the telephone, the television, or the better, more collaborative, more inclusive web.

It is our actions, not the means, technological or not, that is the vessel of the ship; it is our effort that will make a difference.

Rebecca:

Well put…and I think what is so great about the Internet, when compared to the printing press, telephone, and television, is that it allows for a non-exclusive community of dialogue to discuss these issues. Not to mention, it's the first form of mass communication owned and operated by the people.

Sure they'll always be those people out there who "aggravate" our problems by abusing technology, but I think we're getting a lot better at controlling these antagonists. Maybe I'm wrong.

There's a part of me too that's always skeptical at people's ability to take action, but I've already seen some great groups get together and make things happen at a magnitude that would have not been possible without the web.

For now at least, I'm keeping myself optimistic.

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