UWI Guild Elections 2012 and Social Media

I think that this year more than ever will we see social media used in the UWI St. Augustine Guild of Students election.  This presents a great opportunity for students to receive what the candidates have to say directly from the source.  My concerns come as to how students take advantage of this opportunity.  No longer should popularity be the basis of voting.  We have an opportunity to question and challenge what is said by the candidates.  The candidates also have the opportunity to defend themselves and prove to us why they should be managing our $4million Guild of Students.  


We need to also not just assume the worst in candidates but challenge them to defend their points.  While some may just be in it for the perks, some may actually want to make a difference.  This is where we get the opportunity to voice all that we have been voicing about an ineffective guild.  This is where we get to take them on publicly, one on one.  Let them use social media!  But also, let students act up and question.  Students are being given power by the marketing tools implemented this elections.


Good luck to all the candidates but more so to the student population!  Change can only be brought about by doing things differently.  Social media will hopefully be a spectacular tool in shaping the outcome of this elections!

Social Media: implying that the masses do not think?

There has been mush discussion about the "Kony 2012" video around the world.  I personally am annoyed by the  constant bombardment of this single source of selected information.  For some reason many people seem to believe that everything they see online is true...  Or perhaps it is because the video hails from an American organisation that provides the creditability?  From the war in Iraq and the US Government's general framing of information to the messages transferred in programming and advertisement in American media, why should the creditability American publications be questioned?

Again we see the "developed world" speaking for the "underdeveloped world".  Where are the voices, views and opinions of the people of Uganda in all of this?  As with all "development" tactics, the rest of the world is pushing for something without consulting the people on the ground.

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/03/09/kony-2012-and-the-potential-of-social-media-activism/kony-2012-is-not-a-revolution

Angelo Izama, a Knight Fellow at Stanford University and a journalist in Uganda states that ""Kony 2012" leaves a false impression that there is a war going on in Northern Uganda... Besides getting the geography wrong, the video takes away attention from existing problems where the conflict festered fro 22years."

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/03/09/kony-2012-and-the-potential-of-social-media-activism/a-flawed-call-to-action

As Angelo Opi-Aiya Izama points out, "to call the campaign misrepresentation is an understatement".  He is in no way denying that Kony should be brought to justice, but is concerned about the way in which this viral video is portraying the situation, neglecting the successes of the combined efforts on those people actually involved.

http://thisisafrica.wordpress.com/2012/03/07/acholi-street-stop-kony2012-invisible-childrens-campaign-of-infamy/

As capitalism and consumerism also get to frolic via this event, it raises concerns about who is actually benefiting from all this 'activism'.  Aside from the merchandise sold by the video's authors, "Invisible Children", Kony 2012 items and apparel are now being produced and marketed at various scales worldwide.   In Trinidad, Kony 2012 T-shirts have hit the market via Facebook and may possibly be lucrative considering all the Blackberry broadcasting and social networking spamming of the issue.

Social media and the internet gives people the ability to seek out information from different sources.  Granted that one may be limited to whatever is available, it should not hamper one from trying.  There are many discussions, debated and publications around the Kony 2012 issue but the masses appear to not be concerned.  Clearly rhetoric with a strong emotional appeal is the easiest way to capture people's the attention and interests.  Considering that the dominant discourses around this issue are not based on ground-level input or not fuelled by a quest for accuracy, I am left to be even more concerned about the future of humanity...

US mass media for Reformation and Rehabilitation

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/CABLE-TV-FOR-INMATES-140986213.html

Cable TV for Inmates
Coming soon at Santa Rosa prison

Please click on the link about and then you'll ask yourself the same question... Seriously???  This is the ingenious plan by Commissioner of Prisons Martin Martinez.  Let us help a better Trinidad and Tobago by filling those deemed socially unacceptable with ideologies, ideas, meaning and concepts coming from America. Does he understand the power of the media or what is presented in US programming and advertising?

Do these people realise what it is that is popular on cable television?  I don't think that they do.  Give the inmates some books, art or music classes or something please, not cable TV.

Photo from "I fucking love science"