Cellphones Give Voice to the Unvoiced

Elliot: Mobile technologies are truly empowering. From striking auto workers in China to political activists in Africa, the little cellphone is giving all sorts of folks a way to change their world.
Cathie: I saw in the New York Times a
of the striking Chinese autoworkers use their cellphones to take pictures of security guards roughing up demonstrators…
Elliot: .. and then they post those pictures for the world to see. The Chinese autoworkers are using the text messaging to keep their colleagues up on what is going on since the government is closing down online chat facilities.
Cathie: In the past, it was the typewriter and mimeograph machine that helped union organizers spread the word.
Elliot; But today, it is the web and ubiquitous digital devices such as the cellphone. And in Kenya, in response to a request by an activist being harassed by authorizes, techies set up a website so that anyone can, using text messaging, post a note & location about “violence and other misdeeds.”
Cathie: Yes, yes – the technology is called Ushahidi, which in Swahili means “testimony.”
Elliot:  During the Haitian earthquake, the Ushahidi Open Source website technology was instrumental in saving the lives of individuals trapped by the earthquake.
Cathie: The Chinese autoworkers should be using the Ushahidi technology!
Elliot: Indeed, they should – they probably just don’t know about it.
Cathie: How can we tell them?
Elliot: Step 1 – learn Chinese. Sorry, this isn’t a joking matter.
Cathie: While the earth is indeed flat, many more connections still need to be made.