Before taking any further steps in Syria, why not ask the people in Syria what they want to happen?Sounds outlandish, but with a little imagination and some basic technologies, its completely possible. It even has a precedent.
Many city governments such as in New York City have discovered the value of combing the landscape for metrics and using this data for city management while organizations like Datakind specialize in extracting and interpreting information from neighborhoods. From mapping the spatial distribution of poverty at the World Bank to Kenyan citizens reporting violence with tools like Ushahidi, lots of organizations have discovered the value of obtaining and leveraging local level information to make informed decisions.
The technologies used to collect and organize this data do more than provide a picture to experts. These technologies also open the floor for broader participation. I am in no way saying that technology solves all problems, but as a tool for communication, it can make voices heard that would have otherwise remained in the shadows.
At this moment the world is in panic and American's are distraught over the decisions regarding Syrian intervention. The decision making process is reliant now upon the influence of popular opinion, congressional interests, media storms, intelligence collection, international agreements, and back room discussions. Yet among all the talk, the most important voice has been excluded from the conversation - the voices of people living in Syria.
Engaging an entire national population, let a alone a population under pressure from the horrors of war, is no easy task. But it is possible, at least to a degree, to use a mobile phone technology like rapidsms for citizens to vote by text message just like popular tv programs that ask audiences to vote for their favorite performer. I was informed this morning by a friend with family in Syria that the mobile communications infrastructure in Syria is not steady, but over the last year it has been working off and on. With a little ingenuity it would be possible to create a window for voting and to filter messages. A little bit of scripting and it is possible to cancel multiple-votes from the same number and even to map the distribution of votes across the landscape.
A simple text message voting system will not capture popular opinion of everyone in country, but it can provide a statistically viable sample. More significantly, implementing a tool such this could refigure the entire future of foreign policy and global security. International policy makers already have the tools at their disposal to engage those populations most affected by military intervention, leaving imagination as the only missing piece to the puzzle.
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