Monthly Archives: April 2014

What I learned at Build Peace, the first conference for technology and conflict resolution

The organizers of Build Peace tell me it was the first conference specifically on peace and technology, and they should know. I don’t know the peace building field very well, but I could see that some of its leading lights were in attendance. I learned quite a bit, and I am very glad I went.

I have to start by saying I don’t think “technology for peace” is a sure win. My understanding is that peace building is incredibly difficult work, and rarely truly successful, and I don’t see why technology necessarily changes that. Yet I am also a technologist and I presented some of my own data-driven peace work at the conference. Clearly I believe it might be good for something.

There is a great need for conversations between capable conflict resolution workers and thoughtful technologists — hence this conference. Here are some of the things I think I learned.

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Questions about the NYPD I cannot answer

Recently, the NYPD started a Twitter hashtag campaign, and it backfired.

Several of my friends — actual, real life good friends — shared this story on Facebook in a, let’s say, somewhat triumphant mood. And I wasn’t sure what to think. This is what I wrote.

I’m having trouble understanding what all this signifies. Here’s what I come up with that I am sure about:

I’m having trouble understanding what all this signifies. Here’s what I come up with that I am sure about:

  • my friends do not like cops
  • clearly there are other people who do not like cops
  • people who do not like cops are either more common on Twitter or more vocal than those who like them
  • the NYPD sure have beaten up a lot of people

But, these are the questions I remain unable to answer:

  • I think we probably want a police force that engages with people on social media. How should they have engaged?
  • Were any of these beatings “proportionate?” This is horrible language, I know, but give it a pass for a moment.
  • Is any beating ever proportionate? How could we even know the answer to this in principle, let alone in specific cases?
  • What is the overall record of the NYPD? Is this a question that even has meaning given the multidimensional nature of the problem? Can the answer be anything other than “terrible” if there are incidents like these?
  • What would I do if I was king of the NYPD?
  • Will my friends perceive this post as “defending the cops”? Will there be social sanctions of some sort for expressing these ideas? Is my echo chamber just as pernicious as the echo chambers of those that belong to my perceived “other”?

– Yours in sadness and inquiry.

The post has not received any “likes.”