ROME: 27th September 2007 -- Readers may well have read
and if not have certainly heard, of Thomas Friedman's "The World is
Flat", an interesting look at globalisation and digital culture. Well,
if the world is flat, there's a good chance that venturing near the
edge is dangerous; one might just fall off! So if readers had
concluded, after three week's of silence, that austraLasia's
coordinator had done just that, let me assure you I am safe and well!
This number, #1946 follows on from #1945 three weeks ago - but
there's a good chance it did not get through. Basically I was in
places where any attempt to send blocks of emails (groups, needed to
send out austraLasia) failed. And the only place where I do have a
range of email groups, in GMail, was blocked by policy of one or other
of the places I was in! It is a problem needing resolution for the
future. #1945 was a news item about the inauguration of a statue of
Mary Help of Christians in the new and as yet uncompleted Shrine in
Port Moresby - the item was eventually published through ANS.
'The world is flat' is one perspective on today's digital culture.
'Digital Virtues' of course is another. Your coordinator found himself
in Bogotá at the invitation of CELAM, the Latin American Episcopal
Conference, looking at the contribution that a 'virtuous' approach to
digital culture might have for that continent. A week later in Quito,
where the Universidad Politecnica Salesiana (UPS) wishes to publish the
book in Spanish and distribute it in that part of the world, then a
third week in São Paulo where representatives from Salesian Formation
Centres for Communication were gathered - there are about 30 such
centres worldwide, 16 of them at university level, and the rest through
non-formal education. Most of these were represented in SP where they
looked at increasing cooperation amongst themselves, and at the
interface between media education (often termed educommunication in the
'Latin' world) and open source approaches. Interestingly enough, other
than in South Asia, there are very few if any of these centres in
English-speaking Salesian areas, and the SP meeting looked at ways of
offering some courses in these places, by providing both course
information and personnel on a 'mobile' basis. If any of our formation
centres in the EAO Region are interested in that possibility, they
might make contact with the SC Department here in Rome.
Ironic, then, that in three weeks of meetings regarding digital
culture, the one thing that was not possible was to send out
austraLasia! The world might be flat, but I found myself on the
rougher, pitted side of the coin!
Correspondents are urged to get back to work, now they can be
assured their news will get through. I look forward to items arriving. _________________ AustraLasia is an
email
service
for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an
agency for ANS based in Rome.
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