Does the Internet know more about Star Wars than Africa?
An interesting essay from Pitchfork’s Chris Dahlen:
On YouTube, searching for “star wars” pulls up a wealth of fan films, movie scenes, and that fat kid playing with his lightsaber. By contrast, the first clip about Africa is the music video for that Toto song. On the other hand, for still photographs, Africa does much better. The amateur pix posted to Flickr.com include over 250,000 images tagged under “Africa”— and they are startingly beautiful: a yawning hippo halfway underwater, a fat, gnarled Baobab Tree. Meanwhile, a search for Star Wars pix will just get you nerds. Advantage, Africa.
But things really get interesting when we look at the blogs and pocasts. Now, it’s true that Star Wars inspires hundreds of blogs and podcasts by fans comparing notes on the latest collectible toys. You can’t find as many blogs or podcasts from Africa— but the smattering of voices from across the continent are far more intense. In the “Paradise Lost” podcast, a white ex-pat from Zimbabwe interviews a man who’s spent 31 years working for the National Railways. In South Africa, a 24-year-old rape victim who contracted HIV talks about her dream of becoming a photojournalist. A tourist’s guide to Cape Town, South Africa recaps centuries of history in less than three minutes. And an aide worker in Uganda lets her frustration boil over after a hot day in a Sudanese refugee settlement.
Each of these voices added a little information and a lot of perspective: Putting them together was like scratching names and places onto a blank slate. I was starting to know what I didn’t know.
Dahlen links to journalist and blogger Rebecca MacKinnon. Her piece is well worth reading — when many North Americans feel a disconnect to the world outside their borders, can journalists improve the situation — doing better international reporting via citizen media, and connecting to local communities of interest — a necessity in the face of international bureau cuts from major news outlets.
February 18, 2007 1:06 PM
