Women and Media Empowerment
The expansion of ideas through technological innovation is the new approach to how we communicate with each other in the world today. This is the use Web 2.0 tools, technologies, and strategies to impact change around our communities. Web 2.0 storytelling picks up these new types of stories and runs with them, accelerating the pace of creation and participation while revealing new directions for information flow between one another. It’s the combination of these factors at the same time that have created the change that we are experiencing. New Media is great, the approach of many to many and knowledge sharing across multiple groups is extremely powerful but without the technology you are limited to off line geographically limited groups and can’t express your views and contribute to your world. This serves as forum for announcements which has replaced the talking drum in most communities in the world, for example the used of sites like Face book and YouTube provides a sound opportunities for easy communication. Sharing is the constitutive activity of Web 2.0 and has enhanced the functioning of social network sites. This is the new approach to how we communicate with each other.
But what excites me most is the art of conveying events in words, images, and sounds to people within a limited time duration. This has greatly contributed to educate women with Internet connection to speak for them and to create awareness in their various communities. Women have been introduced to new vocabularies of Internet technology and applications like blogs, wikis, RSS and social bookmarking, which has enhanced new applications of empowerment to support their views.
However, Web 2.0 could provide some solutions to the global women's empowerment movement but this will greatly depend on the number women who have Internet connection and are educated with this new technology, especially in Africa. If more women are trained in Web 2.0 and social media, it will help to build critical opinions, attitudes, knowledge and engaged platforms which will transform visible social construct against women into useful communities. This will also develop a dynamic and unique generation of grassroots women leaders who will easily sort out solutions without limitations. This may also serve as a useful tool to amplify issues which concern women and which couldn’t be solved because of some strong traditional and custom barriers. The women could speak their minds and sharing their visions without fear from different angles. Web 2.0 could encourage and build a stronger network of social women communicators who could advocate and propose concrete solutions.
Well I believe Web2.0 and social medial tools can better empower me through its vast interconnected networks of women entrepreneur who will help me develop a sound thinking mind for the betterment of my community. It will also help me to figure out how to use the various online tools to further my missions in creating awareness in the fight for a better world for girls and women.