The Borders of the Global Village
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00:00
Flow separationCASE <Informatik>Presentation of a groupSpring (hydrology)Sound effectAsynchronous Transfer ModeBounded variation
01:16
Power (physics)Rule of inferenceMultiplication signLevel (video gaming)MereologyDigital mediaDifferent (Kate Ryan album)Data miningInformationSpacetimeGame controllerQuicksortDeterminantSpring (hydrology)Atomic numberDigital photographyRoutingBit
03:40
Digital photographySpacetimeDigital electronicsLink (knot theory)Point (geometry)Power (physics)Different (Kate Ryan album)Rule of inferenceValidity (statistics)AnalogyLecture/Conference
04:37
Multiplication signDifferent (Kate Ryan album)Point (geometry)Digital photographyTouch typingLine (geometry)
05:37
Multiplication signFrequencySoftware testingBuildingOperator (mathematics)Graph coloringFreewareMathematical optimizationDifferent (Kate Ryan album)
07:26
Multiplication signDigital mediaFrequencyInternetworkingSign (mathematics)Point (geometry)Zirkulation <Strömungsmechanik>QuicksortGame controllerComplete metric spaceEmailMedical imagingTerm (mathematics)Computer configurationData miningGoodness of fitForm (programming)Fitness functionLie groupWater vaporOcean currentComputer animation
09:23
Medical imagingDigital photographyCountingPole (complex analysis)Charge carrierComputer animationLecture/Conference
10:10
Text editorDigital mediaPoint (geometry)Multiplication signRule of inferenceLecture/ConferenceMeeting/Interview
11:07
Prime ideal
11:35
MultilaterationModemBitComputer clusterMultiplication signTrajectoryWhiteboardVideo projectorLecture/ConferenceMeeting/Interview
12:11
Limit (category theory)Digital photographyMetropolitan area networkBridging (networking)Multiplication signEmailNumberComputer clusterModemComputer fileDifferent (Kate Ryan album)NeuroinformatikSoftwareRight angleData miningLevel (video gaming)Computer animationMeeting/Interview
13:53
TelecommunicationLine (geometry)Server (computing)CuboidFile archiverEmailMeeting/Interview
14:18
Server (computing)InternetworkingPerformance appraisalProcess (computing)Gateway (telecommunications)Line (geometry)AnalogyMultiplication signTouch typingSoftwareVirtual machineModemEmailFunctional (mathematics)Level (video gaming)Asynchronous Transfer ModeLecture/ConferenceMeeting/Interview
16:04
AreaConnected spaceNetwork topologyIntegrated development environmentTowerProcess (computing)Shared memorySatelliteTask (computing)Office suiteNeuroinformatikFLOPSBuildingQuicksortDenial-of-service attackMultiplication signEmailSelf-organizationInternetworkingServer (computing)Overhead (computing)HorizonConservation lawLecture/Conference
19:45
HorizonTowerSatelliteNetwork topologyWhiteboardPoint (geometry)Software crackingDigital mediaComputer animation
20:50
Multiplication signSpacetimeMeeting/InterviewComputer animationLecture/Conference
21:14
Volume (thermodynamics)Division (mathematics)ExistenceSpectrum (functional analysis)Multiplication signComputer animationLecture/ConferenceMeeting/Interview
21:38
Type theoryAcoustic shadowMultiplication signIdentity managementComputer animationMeeting/InterviewLecture/Conference
22:02
EmailSpacetimeTouch typingMultiplication signOpen setTerm (mathematics)Decision theoryDifferent (Kate Ryan album)Lattice (order)Level (video gaming)Representation (politics)WordPersonal identification numberFacebookDomain nameIP addressInformationPlastikkarteDigital mediaYouTubeDigital photographyEvent horizonPoint (geometry)EmbargoMechanism designOffice suiteExtension (kinesiology)Metropolitan area networkBitWhiteboardRow (database)Mixed realityPower (physics)CASE <Informatik>Latin squareVariety (linguistics)Total S.A.Software developerValidity (statistics)MereologyLie groupLine (geometry)Formal languageMeeting/InterviewLecture/Conference
28:39
Metropolitan area networkMoore's lawNeuroinformatikType theoryTask (computing)Meeting/Interview
Transcript: English(auto-generated)
00:14
Okay, good to be here. I'd like these lights off, please I I know the video people will hate me for this, but I much rather you see the pictures and see me
00:23
They're more pretty anyway But firstly I'd like to thank doshi well for inviting me here It's a great opportunity to be here with with this audience to discuss some of the things that we're talking about I I will start I'll turn this thing around because I can't actually see the presenter mode here
00:43
But there's been a lot of talk about Could we have these lights down perhaps? Okay, thanks There's been a lot of talk about the Arab Spring about the things that have happened quite frankly Arab Spring is new a Whole lot of things have been happening all over the globe that we've not always
01:04
Recognized or being aware of and I'd like to go back and visit that As such so let's let's look at it I mean if this minute by Farish is dated August 28 1838 pretty close to the invention of photography
01:21
Even lower if possible, please. Yeah So this sense of natives must either be kept down by a sense of our power Etc. Etc. Was a dominant theme at that time Here in Germany standing in front of you, I'd like to remind you that the natives have for some time become restless
01:42
And it's worth remembering so this is Arab Spring in Bangladesh 1971 7th of March people heading towards a rally. This is not actually the rally itself People are heading towards a rally one of the major things we were effectively under occupation
02:03
We were resisting we were trying to find space for ourselves and it was very important at that time to document the movements that were happening of course photographers were the people who were doing it, but While all this was happening. I think what is pertinent is
02:20
the the dominance of external powers Originally during British rule that we were trying to resist later on here Occupation within our own country where we'd won an election, but were not handed over power were things We were resisting of course one of the people who was talking about it was Edward Said
02:42
He talked at that time a lot new media now one of the things I want to assure you is I'm not a Pessimist I'm not someone who's saying technology is bad. It needs to be abandoned. I want to Recognize both the past that it has and the threat that it poses Particularly for people in countries like mine
03:02
Which I call the majority world countries, and I think it is important to recognize that there are differences, and it's not a holistic space The information age is also the misinformation age There are a whole lot of things that can be disseminated very effectively There's a whole lot of propaganda that takes the same route and people in power people in control other people who determine
03:27
What sort of information goes down so I think it's pertinent to remember that But there are some things which is worth looking at I mean Nicholas Negroponte when he talks about the difference between atoms and bits
03:41
points out some very pertinent differences, but there are other interesting analogies, I think one of the things that Links digital technology with power with knowledge with love Well power let's leave that one out of it But knowledge and love are quite interesting in the sense that these are commodities that by sharing do not generally get diminished
04:06
And I find that a very interesting difference, which is what gives rise to the many possibilities that we have So I'm talking about all this While this is happening in Bangladesh we were looking to see how we might make a difference how we might create
04:23
Space for ourselves as a practitioner as a photographer. I was very conscious of the fact that We if we needed to be relevant we needed to work in a space where we were closer to the community We dealt with so obviously being in London Paris or New York which were the centers of photography
04:42
Did make sense to us so we set up shop in Bangladesh, but having done so we needed to stay relevant We needed our work to reach out to the public we needed to link up with are we moving yeah We are okay. We needed to link up with the photographers obviously But we also needed to be in touch with the marketplace. This was a time when we had didn't have
05:07
International telephone lines we didn't have faxes We didn't have many of the tools that people take for granted So one of the things we started doing was to look at ways in which we could Circumvent this technological difference the time was also very interesting. I'm we had up till that point
05:28
There was an autocratic general which was running the country and we as activists were in the streets trying to bring down this powerful general The time end of 1990 beginning of 91 several things happened in 91
05:43
There was a cyclone in Bangladesh well sir firstly we actually got rid of this general on the 4th of December 1990 he announced he was stepping down and an early 1991 we had election so that was a major victory There was also
06:01
Operation desert dirts dust storm or whatever it was They call it the war, but I call it the invasion occupation of Iraq That went there was a cyclone in Bangladesh in 91 and later on two tall buildings fell So several things happened which were quite significant, but let's start with what was happening in our country
06:23
Once the general fell down we we had elections and that was pretty significant Khaleda Zia who later became prime minister. This is a beautiful open Situation where the people are obviously jubilant. There's hope there's light. There's optimism
06:41
but we discovered that Having a fair and free election doesn't in itself lead to democracy There are others issues involved and this is Khaleda Zia after she got elected Now this difference sadly doesn't apply only to one regime I think the face of leaders before and after election is something that we've all been
07:04
pretty familiar with and this is something that we had to contend with over a period of time, so While this was happening one of the first tests that this government had to face was this major cyclone that took place At the end of April and the people who came to save us
07:23
Were the people from the angels from desert storm? Having done what they did in Iraq they then came as angels to save Bangladesh from The pain that they had the interesting thing is while we were Vaguely familiar with what was happening in Iraq at that time the fact that a lot had been happening prior to that is
07:46
Something that was not in major circulation now the reason I Point out that time is because that is the sort of time when email started evolving We weren't really using
08:01
Internet in that same way things were beginning to happen even in countries like mine. We were exploring options and I think it's significant to look at what Pilger says at that time there are signs that Washington is about to extend its current war to Iraq Yet unknown to most of us almost every day
08:22
RAF and an American aircraft already bombed Iraq this was happening this was happening over a long period of time It was never mentioned Mainstream media was not interested it didn't fit There was complete control of international media, and this did not come into our reckoning
08:41
This could not have happened today. I think they would not have gotten away with this today But there were other things that happen in terms of reporting This image is quite interesting. I I say where the goodness of pain for a very specific reason I remember Madeleine Albright Talking about how the death of half a million children in Iraq was a price worth paying
09:04
The death of a hundred a half a million American children would definitely not have been considered a price worth paying So it is a question of what is considered human the value of certain lives being different from other lives And I think it's significant to recognize those chips at that time
09:21
What was the role that the media was playing? now this Embedded journalism was not initially done here. It was actually the invasion of Granada where they perfected it, but during this invasion of Iraq certainly Embedded journalism became something that came into public reckoning
09:45
Photographers could only go in through them with the military and If pictures would be sent out they had to be sent out through the military pool Kennet Jarek a contact press images photographer who took this image sent out these image
10:01
Just through the military pool, but it slipped The military pool hadn't actually censored this they let it through but there was another layer of defense The media itself decided that these pictures were not the right pictures. It didn't fit. It didn't go along with this story of the time which is that it was a clean clinical invasion with zero collateral damage a
10:28
Charred Iraqi soldier rocked the boat The story was killed and it was actually in London When it when it first came out the editor was vilified it came out in American photography eventually did leak out
10:43
But the point was there was no censorship certainly not from the military the media itself decided It had to obey certain rules now This is the time when we decide we need to do something else, and I'll now I will try this whoops
11:01
I'm going the wrong way. I'm gonna try and show you something Or give you a sound which will some of you will recognize. I think let's try this whoops No, that's not right That isn't working Sorry about this
11:21
Let's see if this works the quotation from our Prime Minister Khaled sheik hasina Was actually at a later time, but I'm putting it in now because it's still relevant while all this is happening
11:46
Actually only a very small percentage of under dashes of access to electricity So we're talking about all these things when this has to be remembered. Let's move on And I at that time The two cows prop up a projector has an interesting analogy because at that time
12:03
I'd done a little bit of homework, and I worked out that the 1200 board modems that we've been using cost approximately the same as a cow And I was beginning to toy with this idea. What happens when a modem costs more than a cow This was taken in Mongolia where there was a particular show and I could see that the modems were used for different purposes
12:24
Yeah, obviously we've improvised and things like that the modems were losing relevance at this day They still aren't good enough to deliver milk, but you know modems do have their limitations But we started using modems. We started using offline phydonet technology
12:41
We were using what will now be considered very primitive But at that time this offline phydonet technology allowed us gave us a bridge to the rest of the world which is very powerful very necessary and Because of it we were able to do a huge number of things which prior to that would have been considered
13:03
Unimaginable, but let's let's look at the cost implications at that time To transmit one kilobyte of data cost us 30 US cents So a one megabyte file would have cost 300 US dollars to transmit Even that for us was an opportunity and we grabbed it
13:24
So we set up this email network and the next pictures are quite interesting on the left My mum and dad sadly they've passed away my dad teaching my mum to use the computer On the right is that young man Gollam Kasim the first
13:41
Bengali Muslim short story writer. We've published his first photograph at the tender age of 98 When he was a hundred and one he used email for the first time very interesting guy And we have his archives dating back to 1918 and things like that. But anyway, I won't digress on that
14:02
What we'd done was we set up in electronic post box. The emails would come into our server It would go into this electronic post box. We didn't have an international telephone line. So Amsterdam would bring us twice a day The electronic post box would go to Amsterdam from there go on to the server
14:20
From there go on to the internet the reverse process would take place It would all come back to all the people in various places of Bangladesh. We even had a fax gateway So someone from a village in Bangladesh with an ordinary tell analog telephone line could transmit a fax through this process It was phenomenal
14:41
And there are some interesting things but I won't dwell on that because we'll try and do it in question time So the server we were using was an old 286 machine We only had one telephone line So a friend of ours called Mohandas from Bangalore made us a fax data mode and switch So you could use the one telephone line for all three functions
15:02
With that we were providing we were the hub of Bangladesh's email network And the people we were serving were the World Bank embassies the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Big NGOs like BRAC and Grameen and all we had was this one 286 machine
15:21
All of them had very different resources But what what we did with this I found interesting This was Taslima Nasreen the feminist writer who was being persecuted at that time And it was our email network that allowed us to access stay in touch with pen article 19 and
15:41
eventually allowed Safe access to Taslima outside of Bangladesh, but the other players were by then very active in alleviating poverty Poverty of course is an issue that has to be addressed There were all these poor people they had to be saved and the way in which many of them did that was by building
16:02
Monuments to poverty, so let's look at the monuments to poverty this is the rooftop terrace of one of the big NGOs the one tall building in Mirpur at that time and From this terrace looking across you would see another tall building far away. That is the Grameen Bank Tower another monument to poverty
16:22
Right now of course there are many other tall buildings at that time that was the only one there from there further down the road in Makhali, this is the lobby of BRAC their new center again one of the largest NGOs in the world providing saving millions across the globe
16:42
And not to be outdone The UNICEF office and all of these organizations were being provided email by that 1286 server in our office they were scattered around a place called Hanmundi where we are and consolidated to move to the Sheraton Now you have to really suffer to to save the poor and I my heart goes out to these people who worked so hard
17:06
To save the poor while all we were doing was providing connectivity to them So we thought we'd provide connectivity in a different way we went to the people that they had decided they were not going to give technology to and we went to a
17:22
Small village just outside of Sillette to provide connectivity To a place called Durga Pasha a village and these are Conservative areas girls going to schools in places which were ostensibly considered not too progressive and
17:41
We we'd worked out what we had to do to to make them accept The fact that this technology could be useful so we came up with what we thought was a great idea We looked at Environment we looked at poverty alleviation tried to marry the two and we came up with this idea that if a donor spent
18:00
$15 to Support this to sponsor a tree We would have ten dollars from that fifteen go to the school for its technology The five dollars would actually go to planting the tree We would split it up between the landowner and the worker they would grow crops. They would generate revenue from it
18:20
it was a lovely idea where we grew trees and the process of growing trees supported this and The trees would grow up to be big things and we would sell the trees give the money back to the original Sponsor so the sponsor who spent fifteen dollars would get back something like
18:40
$250 after 20 years and we would even factor in insurance say the tree died they would get paid for it It was a lovely idea, you know beautifully thought of all things considered it didn't work as many great ideas it was a complete flop because The people weren't interested in trees all these nature-loving agrarian communities that we looked at wanted computers
19:08
and we had a flood so shortly after that and even during the floods we had to deliver computers because that's what they wanted and We had a lot of learning to do through this process
19:21
But we also had some practical problems and some practical solutions Which I'll share with you this one is a tower that we built. Why did we build this tower? It's by then we'd actually gone on to internet itself We had a v-sats on the rooftop very expensive technology But the in satellite we linked with Intel sat 2 which was directly overhead was very expensive
19:44
There was a cheaper satellite lower down across the horizon called a gila and But that there was a tree in the way so we couldn't access this cheap satellite So we built a hundred-foot tower put our v-sat on top of it to peer over the tree to get the teeper satellite
20:03
So, you know we improvised and I think it's it's interesting to see how these things happen But the point I'm making is that there is while all this is happening we had to recognize that there was a cultural and a Technological dominance we needed to deal with and I'm not for once
20:23
Suggesting that I be pessimistic that I say there are problems with this there are problems But I think we need to take it on board. I think we use our ingenuity our Flexibility our ability to Go slip through the cracks to turn this thing around and I think that remains the important challenge now
20:44
I'm going to try and show you something here, which Hopefully will work this is a festival of photography that we do the time that we do every two years and We do it in very difficult circumstances
21:01
I Mean I'm showing you this because I think it's important to recognize that The space is within which we work and how we make it work because for us it's very important that we engage And use all the tools that are disposal culture technology One of the things that's happening here is an outdoor mobile exhibition that we do regularly
21:22
We do the high-profile exhibitions struggles that but let it in. Can we have the volume on that before? Spectrum it's also evidence of Rich resilience that we were able to pull off a major international festival at a time When most things in Bangladesh being switched off the tap was being
21:42
No, I'm Chomsky. We had my shadow. They're being Like streaming we've got some from MIT talking to my show that they beat with the local audience Happen before I mean we haven't been able to pull together in a sense such a fantastic
22:02
People in one under one space. It's a festival because of the mail. We were able to get in touch with the Nessa Mandela Foundation But at the same time we say very relevant very close to the public engaging with that audience if you have fun
22:21
We took to the streets And I think it's worthwhile remembering that Technology in itself It's not the answer is how you use technology how you merge it and the power of technology and culture together I think provides a very very strong mix which is difficult to put down
22:42
Constantly come across the situation here. I am a bit bearded Muslim in front of you So often the question you do not ask is how many wives I have how much I beat them up all the other things But there is a different Bangladesh that I'd like to remind you of from right now one of the things which are very important for us is the
23:01
trial of the war criminals that we're trying to do and Bringing in Ocampo was also part of that the fact that we wanted to give legitimacy to to what we were doing Now we come to something else and I did tell you earlier that What we were talking about in terms of the act of governments before and after election is
23:22
Not new and even with the new government I can see my friend the ambassador sitting here He might not like this, but this is something. I also need to tell you about The Sufyan's work related to crossfire and other things that were happening It is something that has been happening in Bangladesh for a long long time extra judicial killings cannot be tolerated
23:42
Will not be tolerated, but are continuing what we did was we put together a major exhibition Doc looking at extra judicial killings, and this was a Google map Google Earth map which we put up which Was backed up by extensive research where every pin relates to a particular killing somewhere in Bangladesh
24:02
And it was available online the idea was ordinary people could come on and Provide information which would add to it that too didn't work Because the ordinary Bangladeshi Doesn't feel confident enough to come online When they can be tracked when their IP addresses can be mapped and then Facebook and YouTube have already been stopped in Bangladesh
24:26
And people have been arrested it they find themselves vulnerable what we did was we Were strategic we utilize the fact that there is international media. We had a media embargo staggered across the continents so on the 17th of March
24:42
New York Times ran it as a front-page event it slowly came across But on the day there was The Government closed down our entire gallery the office is itself it was surrounded by riot police
25:01
While that was happening I went inside we were meant to do a Skype interview with the secretary-general of Robert de Saint-Fautier And This is what I'm doing. I'm actually doing a Skype gallery walk with Rapporteur Saint-Fautier inside the gallery being live-streamed the whole
25:20
world is watching interacting while there's riot police surrounding my gallery Stopping people from coming in so I think it's it's interesting how how these mechanisms can be used to work So and right now the show is in New York at the Queen's Museum of Art But while the riot police was around we did two things we can we have a little bit of volume, please
25:49
So it's interesting this man Has made a death threat against me. He doesn't realize I'm filming him I'm doing an interview of him, and he is in front of the riot police
26:00
Making threats to me and the police are reaffirming. What is happening, and we've of course got it on record So this gets added on to the body of work that we've done and So we take on board everything that is happening at one stage and turn it around to our advantage In this particular case we took the government to court they were forced to back down
26:22
We had the show open for one day. I don't have a lot of time to dwell on that I'm just gonna end with a couple of pictures One looking at what we're now Attempting to do we've set up an entity called majority world, and I have that has a history in itself We were called third world
26:42
Developing world least developed countries. I don't want to be third anything and I see no reason why Countries like these should be called first world, and we should be called third world and we wanted to remind These this first world countries that the GA countries constitute
27:01
13% of the world's population and When they sit down in their meetings and make decisions with it which affect the farmer in my country I want to remind them that the words that they use democracy and freedom Doesn't represent us we never chose them to be our representatives And when they make decisions that affect our lives there is a serious issue at stake so we set up initially we
27:26
Try to address the terminology we instead of calling ourselves third world We called ourselves majority world, and that's a term that's become far more familiar And we set up I did something smart. I bought the domain majority world calm many years ago
27:43
What we also did was to set up an online portal which represents the work of? Latin American African Asian photographers photographers of the majority world So we began to utilize the technology to create a space where our work would be seen would be disseminated
28:01
Where we could tell our stories? There is a very interesting African phrase it goes something like Until the Lions can tell their own stories stories about hunting will always glorify the hunter And I think that is something that we want to remind people of Till this point to a large extent its white Western photographers who come to my country who have told my story
28:27
Who have represented me to the wider world I think we do want to turn it around and this technology Offers us now finally a chance to do that, and I will end with a photograph taking last week
28:41
Those of you who might be transmitting it can we have the lights down for this one at least because this is a nice Picture now it's much prettier to see that than to see me But this young man his name is Russell John, and he does something very interesting He and His friends use their computer power to link up with computers all across the globe
29:04
To pool their computing resources together and look for foreign aliens And I found that fascinating I see no reason why? Bangladeshis should not be engaged in things like that and only be relegated to certain types of tasks, and I asked this guy
29:22
Why are you doing this and he had a very interesting? Answer he says you know if I discover an alien it will be named after me And I see no problem Why some star some planet in some galaxy out there? Should not be named after a Bangladeshi called Russell John. I'll leave you on that. Thank you