The malleability of social media
In a previous blog post we wrote about Go Small’s participation in Resilient People + Climate Change. The conference looked at ways to strengthen psycho-social resilience among communities and organizations in the face of rising global temperatures.
Here are some quotes by panelists that were tweeted during the two days:
Culture is a collective narrative across neighborhoods.-Mike Littrell, Cultural Mythologist, Conference Co-Convener
We need to return to historic documents, myths and legends to learn about survival and building our resilience. Survival must incorporate tools not only for the body, but for the mind and spirit as well.-Carl M. Hild, Associate Professor, Public Health Administration, Alaska Pacific University, Anchorage, AK
We can learn resilience from the Squamish Nation, who have lived & survived great trauma. We can become witnesses by listening, observing, learning from the land and returning to community to share our stories.-Nancy Bleck, Photographer and Instructor, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver, BC
We must learn to reconnect with the world and the environment, and women will take the lead on doing this.-Carl M. Hild, Associate Professor, Public Health Administration, Alaska Pacific University, Anchorage, AK
Let’s talk about creating a new emergent, hybrid, global culture, telling new tribal stories.-Glenn Albrecht, Professor of Sustainability, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
What are the characteristics of a resilient individual? Making connections and building deeper levels of trust amongst networks and friends.-Sanjay Khanna, Climate Change Writer and Conference Co-Convener
Besides presenting some powerful ideas for how we can continue to live together on the planet into the future, the conference made me question how to further deepen interactions and strengthen networks both online and in real time.
Essentially social media isn’t about learning the technical aspects of Web 2.0, it’s about finding ways to connect and explore what’s important to us. Stuff that makes us tick, laugh, think, learn, understand each other, grow…. That is why I use the word “malleability” in the title of this blog post because it’s true new media can be hammered into many different shapes without breaking!
Yet often we are so caught up in the “how to” that we forget why we showed up in the first place. These observations spurred us to create a list of questions that in the coming days and months we hope to explore.
What are your chief reasons for using social media?
What wisdom do you find through online connections?
What do you really want to know that you don’t already know?
