Digital Divide or Digital Commons: Toward Global Knowledge Sharing International Conference April 21, 2005Why this and why now?Geoffrey BowkerWith the advent of microfilm, there were predictions that within twenty years everyone would have in their homes access to the world’s knowledge through the miracle of miniaturization. With the advent of television, there were predictions that this new medium would revolutionize the educational process: we would have access to the best minds and the furthest corners of the globe through the miracle of a small box in every living room. With the advent of the personal computer, there were predictions that new forms of social engagement would emerge within twenty years with a revolutionary impact on a slew of developmental concerns. We would, in the words of Marshall McLuhan, become a global village. Where are we now with these visions? Microfilm readers are buried in the basement of libraries, television suffers from the ‘500 channels and nothing on’ syndrome, and our global village stands in some danger of becoming a global strip mall. And yet, none of this should lead to despair. Each new medium has injected vitality and vision into our ways of being in the world. Television has become a major educational resource and the personal computer has, after a faltering start, brought the world closer together.
The Internet abounds with promise, predictions, and perils. The promises are indeed exciting. Recently, Google has announced a plan to digitize the collections of major research libraries in the United States. This opens the possibility of global access to materials that span millennia and encircle the globe, access that previously was available only to the privileged few. The Web already provides an encyclopedia richer by far than the Britannica – and considerably cheaper!
The Tiananmen Square demonstrations were predicated on and publicized through the Internet. And yet, despite the hyperbole that would have everyone be their own publisher (blogs being but the latest example) and all knowledge being available all the time, all is not sweetness and light. The vast majority of web pages are in English, continuing the linguistic imperialism that has accompanied the development of ‘global’ culture. Most content is provided by white males. Most importantly, there is no evidence that of itself the bridging of the digital divide in so many places is leading to measurable social benefits.
The Internet, then, is at the crossroads. It can go the way of former trumpeted revolutions and leave us largely with better, faster access to the same old stuff. Or it can indeed lead to a fundamental shift in our ways of dealing with the pressing social and environmental concerns that abound. There is a huge potential in the possibility of sharing knowledge in new and rich ways. A water treatment discovery in Germany may lead to cheap, safe water supply in outback Australia. With effective use of information technology, the path from breakthrough to innovation on the ground can be a matter of weeks and months rather than decades. A project for building wire-pull bridges in Nepal might benefit from ongoing mentoring from social entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. Indeed the Global Social Benefit Incubator at Santa Clara University is dedicated to just this proposition. Finally, we may indeed find that the English-speaking, developed world could benefit from the knowledge and intellectual resources of far-flung communities, if only we could learn to really listen to and share their ways of knowing.
The Global Knowledge Sharing conference at Santa Clara University on April 21 2005 draws together leaders from academia, business, government, and non-governmental organizations to explore how we can take the digital revolution to the next step – how we can not only share both information and knowledge globally to address social and environmental issues that require the full participation of the world community. After an opening plenary, there will be four panels, exploring:
This rich mix of speakers will engage in a promising dialogue that can help us collectively and globally, to take the next step. It is particularly appropriate that Santa Clara, the Jesuit university in Silicon Valley, should host this conference. Ignatius sent directives that his missionaries should collect and send along information about “such things as the climate, diet, customs, and character of the natives and of the peoples of India.” This information was then summarized, collated, and disseminated throughout the world. His directives, then, led to a highly sophisticated knowledge sharing network in what has been rightly seen as one of the first global corporations, the Jesuit order. Central to the Jesuit ethos has been the collection and sharing of knowledge not just for its own sake, but in order to give social benefit and encourage social justice in the communities it touches.
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