Re: <nettime> please read - and how can this possibly be combatted?

[intertwilight <kovats@intertwilight.net>]

hi Alan,

since 2012 we've been engaged in a number of open tech / open knowledge initiatives in the recently formed Republic of South Sudan. When clashes broke out in the capital Juba in December 2013 we saw how social media (not just FB) was being used to aggravate and fuel the conflict. Early on in 2014 we warned that in South Sudan FB could become the first social media platform through which a genocide may be carried out. We had briefings with UNMISS and other peacebuiliding agencies involved locally, but the notion seemed too abstract and beyond the scope of most to deal with ... until the mechanisms through which social media impacted the conflict became clearer (especially after violence broke out again in 2016). In 2015 we received a grant to help develop strategies (combining both grass-roots awareness and media literacy training with online diaspora interaction) to help mitigate this situation. The initiative, #defyhatenow, is now active in a number of locations in South Sudan and amongst South Sudanese communities in diaspora, exile and refugee contexts including the rapidly growing refugee settlements in Uganda. In a couple of weeks we'll be publishing a first comprehensive 'Social Media Hate Speech Mitigation Field Guide', which is basically a tool kit for trainers, community leaders and activists that includes a detailed resource manual, thematic posters, flash cards, exercises and a USB stick with accompanying multi-media resources (and licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License). An online version will be available in a few months, replacing the current project website (defyhatenow.net).

There are other organisations and initiatives working on similar issues, including 'early warning / early response' (see, for example the work of Susan Benesch - dangerousspeech.org, Peace Tech Lab or the Waayama platoform in Nigeria: earlywarningnigeria.org). Of course none of these things can completely eradicate the conflicts, but they can mobilise, inform and sensitize communities, leaders, diaspora to counter the conflict influencers - and have impact.

greetings,

Stephen

On 22.04.2018 06:32, Alan Sondheim wrote:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/21/world/asia/facebook-sri-lanka-riots.html

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