Once upon a time, when Jesus-horses roamed the earth (the heathen call them dinosaurs), the world comprised of one giant land mass we long after proclaimed as "Pangea." All earth. One earth. One planet. Then, one day - let's say Tuesday - a geographic shift began as the tectonic plates of the earth shifted. This broke the planet into the 7 magnificent continents we have today (though I have long had a serious bone to pick with Australia being both a country and a continent). And that is how the world has remained.
But now, a group of media moguls, including Mister Live Aid himself Bob Geldoff, are trying to bring the world back together in a multimedia event that calls itself the "first global campfire." It is Pangea Day. According to the event's official Web site:
On May 10, 2008 - Pangea Day - sites in Cairo, Dharamsala, Kigali, London, New York City, Ramallah, Rio de Janeiro, and Tel Aviv will be videoconferenced live to produce a program of powerful films, visionary speakers, and uplifting music. The program will be broadcast live to the world through the Internet, television, digital cinemas, and mobile phones. Following the event, the Pangea Day organizers will facilitate community-building activities around the world by connecting inspired viewers with numerous organizations which are already doing groundbreaking work.
Personally, I think this is superb. For all the celebrity gossip, porn, bad consumer generated media and wildly off-base muckraking (as blogged about on this site) that the Internet enables, the Web and Web 2.0 social networking create a true platform for education, collaboration, communications and art. I, for one, am wildly intrigued by the Pangea Day project and will be keeping a close eye out for more information. What first got my attention? This actually quite fantastic piece of viral video created by the Pangea Day people. If they wanted to get my attention, they certainly succeeded. More to come as Pangea Day comes together.
1 comment:
I too am incredibly intrigued by Pangea Day!
And, btw, I was going to send this article to you and tell you how much I enjoyed the writing and the clip in order to get your thoughts. Then I saw that it was your blog and your article.
Well done.
Your very observant sis-
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