Together we have everything...

One of the things which made a big impression on me during the PRASDA workshop was Josef's statement that 'together we have everything'. I like that, and it seemed that as the discussions progressed we were starting to find a way to combine our knowledge and perspectives into something bigger.

I have been following recent posts, and just like in the workshop, some things speak to me more than others. But I am struggling to understand or clarify what contribution I can make to the 'everything'.

My work until now has been around issues of participation, communication and power. Clearly this ties into technology in terms of ICT, but focuses more on what people are going to do with technology than technology itself. In this group, the discussions seem to quickly move to the issue of choice of technologies, which I can't engage so easily with. Although I feel that the same questions of power and participation are important in this context, I can't seem to find an entry point for them.

So my question for the group is... are we here to experiment, develop, share and find appropriate tools for social activists; or are we also a group willing to think and talk about how choices are made, how the control and use of technology can be made more accesible and equal, how people with technological expertise can work in synergy with other processes, so that collaboration and networking of our knowledge and skills can happen in a way that transforms power and society? If so, then perhaps we need to take a step back and change the nature of our discussions, or at least integrate a new thread into the heart of our work?

Hannah