Bridging the Digital Divide

On Saturday, we went to the American Library at the U.S. Embassy up the road, a sprawling campus of Americana. I had never been inside a U.S. embassy, and I was curious to see for myself what these much-talked about libraries were all about, a staple of American public diplomacy during the Cold War. The State Department has been criticized for cutting back on them since, and some suggest the American Library system should be retooled to focus on the Middle East and Central Asia.

Sure enough, it looked just like a library, with a very American theme, of course. (No ethnic cleansing here, just Manifest Destiny.)

We met with about 15 Liberian journalists for David to teach about blogging, a tough thing to maintain in a country lacking ready Internet access. Since there were so many trainees, Vanessa, Michael and I helped out.

In no time the group was tapping away, starting their first blog posts on a range of topics. A few clicks of the mouse and a collection of journalists who only minutes before saw their roles confined to reporting to a tiny country were now writing to the whole world. It was pretty cool, and so important. (For a list of their blogs, click here.)

The single greatest challenge in the post-Cold War, post-9/11 world is bridging the digital divide, getting the latest communication technologies into the hands of the billions who need it most, and training them how to use them effectively. Africa, Asia and South America largely lack the ability to share and spread information as quickly and efficiently as we can in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

It might not seem as pressing as HIV-AIDS, Malaria, good governance and climate change, but communication is about information. Information is education, education is knowledge and knowledge -- yes, you know it -- is power. If a majority of the world can't communicate, they can't coordinate, they can't organize and they can't be part of the global conversation about where to go next.

That's why on Monday Kathleen and I paid a visit to the Press Union of Liberia, or PUL, to hold a digital photography workshop for a dozen or so local photographers and videographers.

The photojournalism in the country leaves much to be desired. Like the articles they go with, the images published in the papers air on the side of scandal and sensation. They lack depth, and rarely look beyond the press conference snapshot, an alarming fact, because with illiteracy one of Liberia's many problems, pictures play an especially vital role.

The poor quality is partly due to the conditions Liberian photographers work under. Most are still using film, and those who do carry a digital camera don't have a computer on which to store the files. The concept of digital workflow doesn't exist.

Moreover, their editors aren't interested in human interest stories, and won't dedicate the time or resources those kinds of stories need; it's much easier to get a quick shot of the latest public figure embroiled in controversy.

Kathleen and I emphasized the importance of personal storytelling. We tried to instill in them a sense of power, that their images can, in theory, influence the course of their country. They seemed receptive, but in all liklihood, their reality will trump the ideal, a scary prospect with a national election looming in 2011 that will demand sophisticated and sensitive reporting.

Some of these photographers, along with editors and reporters, gathered at the Mamba Point Hotel Saturday night the mark the culmination of the media exchange project. It was also to honor Greg Stemn, a Liberian photojournalist with an extensive collection of work from the war years. Greg is a member of our group, coming back to Liberia for the first time since 2003; he has lived in the United States in the 1990s.

Click To Play

It was a friendly, jovial and warm gathering, with kind words for Greg and tough words for Liberia's press environment. Though there was an expressed understanding that it is far from where it needs to be, like Liberia in general, the media here needs a new generation to take over, instilled with new skills and a new definition of robust, impartial reporting.

Pay, infrastructure and education. Until Liberia and the rest of the developing world build these social pillars, their people will remain cut out of the global conversation. The result is a new kind of colonialism that exacerbates the vast imbalance between their world and the developed one.

Whereas "Colonialism 1.0," of the 20th century and before, was about controlling natural resources, "Colonialism 2.0," of the 21st, is about controlling information. If the powerful (whether national governments, corrupt officials or supernational corporations) can keep people uninformed and uneducated, they can perpetuate a reality in which these people can't make proper decisions about their collective destinies, thus creating a false need for these outside entities to come in to decide for them.

Hence why Al Jazeera has been such a groundbreaking renegotiation between the Haves and Have Nots (though, in a twist of nuance, the people behind Al Jazeera -- OPEC sheiks and British media elites -- are themselves very much the former). The Qatar-based news organization for the first time brings to the mainstream a perspective that for decades has either been ignored or presented from the outside. Now millions of people can better control their own narratives.

Which brings us back to the computer room in the American Library and the conference room at the PUL. If only one of those Liberian journalists actually maintains his blog or starts up an online photo gallery, it will be one more Liberian sharing the country's unique story to the world. And in Liberia's case, it might be the only local storyteller the country has.