TH!NK 3 post: My Story #1

I am sorry to join the rest of the attendees a bit later, I seemed to be pre-occupied with other commitments but I hope to be able to spend more time with you from now on;) Let’s start with the beginning: kick off in Brussels. I must admit that I needed that meeting to gain a deeper understanding of organizers and other attendees. My first impressions are mixed – from one point of view I feel a bit confused as a blogger who received training on journalism (which would imply I should stick to journalistic style more on this platform) and not too many specific directions on rules and criteria of the competition, and happy as a blogger who was told she can do whatever she pleases to do keeping the main rules of the venue! Let’s look at those just for the benefit of those who might read this and were not at the opening:

So, now you know what I am expected to do and how much freedom it gives me. Honestly, I think freedom and lack of restrictions can be a huge responsibility as since I do not consider myself a specialist in development issues I think next 6 months I will learn more from my fellow competition attendees than they will from me. I do however have strong views on one aspect of current issues with development  – pretty much in general – and those originate from my work and passion towards new media and how technology is changing our world when it comes to empowerment of communities. I know, I know, you will call me crazy – kids who starve do not care for tweeting (I actually heard this statement once), however, there is plenty of opportunities and work to be done for people like us, bloggers and citizen journalists to provide the bridge between those who work on solutions and those who need them. Working in social media made me realize the power of successful dialogue, which with the help of current tools is even easier, faster, real time and more personal than ever. New media increase transparency, build trust in amazing individuals, showcase projects and issues we would otherwise not necessarily heard about. It also enables networking of professionals based on our interests but also needs, which is exactly why I think there is a great potential for modern communication channels to respond to many development related challenges. I hope to take a look at many examples of how new media do it today and what is the potential for near future. I hope to discover I am right. And I hope you will agree;) I decided to approach this competition in a completely non-competitive way hoping it’s not against the rules of the competition itself. You will see two types of posts from me: post with ‘My Story #’ in the title will be dedicated to my personal reflections, comments and discoveries I come across during the competition; posts with ‘Their stories:…’ in the title will feature projects and ideas I find worth spreading. I feel it’s also worth disclosing that I will feed all the posts to other social media channels and try to use as many technologies as possible – but not to win the competition, on the contrary, to bring more attention to the entire project which I find really fascinating. I am privileged to sit in one team with people like Andrea (Mexico) and Kevin (Australia) from Global Voices, Luan (Brazil) or Hannah (Belgium) and many other wonderful writers! I have a feeling that TH!NK 3 platform will bring even more magic to my life than any other social media projects so far, as I intend to discover many exciting facts, but also opinions and approaches to serious global issues presented from the local point of view. I know now that the whole project will shape me into a better person. I am starting a journey. I wonder where it is going to take me. Join me!;)

This post is a part of TH!NK 3 European Blogging Competition. You will find the original post here. Enjoy!