Technology for change

The blogosphere has been up in arms over the recent xenophobia attacks. It is extremely sad and depressing to see our country in a state like this. We can debate and debate but all that will matter is action. We have to ask ourselves how can we use technology to make a difference?

Stii suggested we create a non profit organisation, to which people donate which is a great idea but I believe that with the brilliant people and the range of skills we have we can do a whole lot more.

Read Write Web recently ran a great article on how to use social networking and media for social change, and Muhammed Karim has an interesting post on using web 2.0 to fight hate. With technology, the costs of coordination are drastically reduced. As a collective group let’s think about ways how we can use technology to make a difference. For example, how can we use technology to educate people? To stimulate entrepreneurship and self owned business? To reduce crime?

Internationally there are sites like kiva who offer micro-lending to entrepreneurs. Sites like wikicrimes or ushadi which are Google maps mashups that show you the hotspots. There are more than three different events being held monthly in South Africa for business networking — surely we can set aside time to make a difference and brainstorm some ideas?

To get this ball rolling I have created a page on the South African Twitter Wiki, add your name to the list and any ideas you may have.

Let’s solve real problems.