Ethan Zuckerman ~ MIT Soap Box'er Delights!

I'm at the MIT Museum right now for the first of their Fall 2008 series of Soap Box conversations -- all about aspects of social technology -- formally speaking, Grassroots and Global: Technologies & Social Change -- I highly recommend these! The guest tonight is Geekcorps founder and now Berkman Fellow Ethan Zuckerman. Ethan's an incredibly funny and humble guy who builds bridges between us in rich countries and those in developing countries. I really resonate with his notion of educating and inspiring Xenophiles, those who love -- i.e. "phile" -- foreigners -- i.e. "xeno" -- and who are intensely engaged with people of the world, with different cultures, communities, and ultimately compadres. Let's get radically beyond parochialism! Among other things, he tells the fascinating story of Tongans in Texas and what concatenation of events and influences begat this fascinating phenomenon. This is an example of a collective joint project, something several of us are all in together. A critical thing to do! Another humorous example Ethan gives: pregnant women blogging together connected by their common anticipated delivery date! This means women with totally different backgrounds -- conservative, liberal, etc -- get mixed up, engaged with one another, and cross-connected!